Israel’s Fight is Our Fight

[Editors' Note: Below is a speech given by Pastor John C. Hagee at the Restoration Weekend event hosted this past weekend by the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Palm Beach, Florida.]

John C. Hagee is a remarkable man, with many talents. He is a pastor, a philanthropist, an author, and an inspirational speaker, as you will hear.

As a young pastor, he founded Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas — a nondenominational evangelical church which has grown under his leadership to more than 19,000 active members. But in addition to those 19,000 members, he reaches millions of people in 235 countries around the world, through his international television ministry.

As a philanthropist, his focus has been on helping the people of Israel. Over the years, John Hagee Ministries has raised more than $70 million to help humanitarian causes in Israel.

And to further his support for Israel in 2006, Dr. Hagee founded Christians United for Israel, or CUFI. CUFI is a grassroots international organization that has grown in four short years to over 500,000 members.

CUFI provides a platform through which every pro-Israel Christian in America can speak out and act in support of Israel. Each month, CUFI holds 40 pro-Israel events, including events such as Nights to Honor Israel, in cities across America. And in addition, it holds an annual summit in Washington, D.C., where CUFI delegates meet face-to-face with members of Congress to lobby and support [of] Israel, the promised land.

And with all that, he still finds time to write. He is the author of 28 books, including two that were on the New York Times Best Sellers List. His most recent book, “Can America Survive?” was published just a few months ago by Simon & Schuster.

I first heard Dr. Hagee in 2007 at the AIPAC Conference in Washington, D.C. Even there, among highly regarded public speakers, he stood out. He was without a doubt the most charismatic and dynamic speaker at the conference. He mesmerized the audience with both the content and the energy of his presentation and received thunderous applause and numerous standing ovations.

I am truly honored tonight to introduce to you this evening a very special man, a man with an important mission, which includes supporting our traditional American values, supporting the Constitution of the United States, and supporting the Jewish State of Israel. Ladies and gentlemen, Pastor John C. Hagee.

John C. Hagee: Thank you for the privilege and pleasure of speaking at this important gathering tonight.

I’d like to begin by thanking David Horowitz and the David Horowitz Freedom Center for all that they have done for the freedom of America, especially on our college campuses.

We all know how hard it is to stand up for truth on America’s college campuses these days, when pro-Israel speakers are being shouted down and pro-Israel students are being publicly ridiculed by professors, unbelievably. This is why I’m so very grateful to have friends like David Horowitz and the David Horowitz Freedom Center, providing invaluable information, training and support for those brave students who are willing to confront the lies and the religious hatred of radical Islam.

We meet tonight at a difficult and dangerous juncture for America and for the cause of freedom around the world. Like many of you here tonight, I have subscribed to the concept that the Jewish people are the West’s canary in the coalmine. History has repeatedly demonstrated that when the Jewish people are singled out for persecution, the freedom of all citizens is at risk.

Therefore, when the Jewish people are being attacked, all Americans should stand up and wake up, and express their outrage because we are next. As Americans, we must snap out of this politically correct fog and admit that we are at war with radical Islam.

This is a war of survival. This is a war of good versus evil. This is a war of light versus darkness. This is a war between those who love life and those who worship death. It’s an easy choice. But that’s the reality. And the reality is, like it or not, you and your children and your grandchildren are in this war. There will be a winner, and there will be a loser. And to the winner goes our children and our grandchildren.

And tonight, we must commit ourselves to absolute victory over radical Islam. No exception.

Today, the Jewish people are still our canary in the coalmine. It is the Jewish State in particular that serves as the West’s warning system. America must wake up to the understanding that Iran fully intends to destroy the United States of America. When someone threatens to kill you, you should take it seriously.

We must recognize those who threaten Israel have the United States in their sights. To anyone with eyes to see and ears that hear, it is clear that Israel is in the greatest danger it has faced since six Arab armies tried to strangle the Jewish State in the birth canal in 1948.

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I know that during difficult days such as these, when it seems that the whole world is against Israel, many friends of Israel such as yourselves nervously scan the horizon for friends. You look toward the United Nations, which Dore Gold calls the Tower of Babel. And I agree. You look at Europe, where the ghost of Hitler is again walking across the stage of human history.

You open your newspapers and read about America’s universities, where Israel is being viciously vilified by students taught by American — taught by professors whose Middle Eastern chairs are sponsored by Saudi Arabia, whose fees are paid with petrol dollars that went through our gas tank. You look to America’s mainline churches and their initiatives to divest from Israel. You go to the bookstore, and you see slanderous titles from a former US President, and you feel very much alone.

I came here tonight to speak about Christians United for Israel, and the millions of evangelicals in America who have a deep, faith-based belief, to love Israel, to speak up for Israel, to stand up for Israel; to stand up enough to, once a year, annually, charge up Capitol Hill with 5,000-plus delegates from every state in the Union, visiting as much as 87 percent of the US Congress, saying, Stop pressuring Israel to give land to terrorists who will not recognize Israel’s right to exist.

I came here tonight to deliver a message from those 50 million of — for those 50 million evangelicals. And I want to say this very clearly. Tonight, Israel is not alone. Your fight is our fight; your enemies are our enemies. We’re in this together to the end.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a new day in America. The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. Christians are joining Jews in speaking out against militant Islam. As you know, Ahmadinejad poses a threat to the State of Israel that promises nothing less than a nuclear holocaust.

I have been saying on national television, in churches and auditoriums across America, it’s 1938 all over again. Iran is Germany, and Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler of the Middle East.

We must stop Iran’s nuclear threat. And candidly toothless, limp-wristed sanctions from Washington is simply not going to get it done.

The only way to win a nuclear war is to make certain it never starts. Iran’s president has not limited his maniacal threats to Israel; he’s also asked fellow Iranians to imagine a world without America. That’s pretty clear. It’s a clear threat to destroy the United States of America.

I have something to say to the president of Iran. Mr. Ahmadinejad, do not threaten the United States of America. Do not threaten the State of Israel. Do not threaten the State of Israel, saying, “They will pass in a sudden storm.” In the Bible, whenever Pharaoh threatened the Jews of Egypt, he became fish food in the Red Sea. Whenever Haman threatened the Jews in Persia, which is modern-day Iran, he and his sons hung on the very gallows he built for the Jewish people.

Our message, Mr. Ahmadinejad — that threats against Israel have a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. You may be well speaking about your own demise when you say, “Israel will pass away with a sudden storm.” But you are not talking about Israel’s demise. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is watching you. King David writes, “The God that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Christians believe there’s a spy in the sky, and he’s Jewish.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, the Christians of America will not sit by in silence and watch you plan and plot a nuclear holocaust. There will never be another holocaust, not on our watch, not ever.

Beyond the threat from Iran, there’s another, more subtle threat that concerns me. I am concerned that in the coming months yet another attempt will be made to parcel out parts of Israel in a futile attempt to appease Israel’s enemies in the Middle East. I believe that the misguided souls in Europe, the political brothel that is the United Nations, and sadly our own administration will once again try to turn Israel into what Churchill called crocodile food. Winston Churchill, one of my favorite statesmen of all time, said — and I quote — “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile in the futile hope that it will eat him last.”

In 1938, Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland was turned into crocodile food for the Nazi German beast. The Nazi beast smelled the weakness in the appeasers, ate the food, and then marched on to devour most of Europe and systematically slaughter six million people. Six million Jewish people.

We are again hearing calls to appease the enemies of Israel. Once again, those who would appease seek to do so at the expense of Israel. Israel is always the one called upon to sacrifice. They tell us that if we want the Sunnis and the Shiites to stop massacring each other in Iraq, then Israel must give up land. And if we want the Syrians and Hezbollah to stop murdering the leaders of Lebanon, then Israel must give up land. And if we want the Saudis to permit women to drive or vote, the obvious answer is that Israel should give up more land.

And if we want the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, the obvious answer is Israel should give up some more land.

Let me be very clear about this — Israel is not the problem here. Scapegoating Israel is not going to solve the problem. The problem is Arab rejection of Israel’s right to exist.

The problem is Israel does not have a legitimate partner for peace. The problem is radical Islam’s bloodthirsty embrace of a theocratic dictatorship that believes they have a mandate from God to kill Christians and Jews. The problem is the failure of moderates in the Arab and Muslim world to stand up and rein in these Islamic terrorists.

If the moderate Arabs believe that murdering Christians and Jews is wrong, then stand up and speak up. Your silence is deafening. Appeasement, my friends, is not the answer. To quote the great evangelical abolitionist [William] Wilberforce — he said, “Appeasement is nothing more than surrender on the installment plan.”

America should not pressure Israel to give up more land. And America must never pressure Israel to divide the city of Jerusalem.

What the Jewish people do with the city of Jerusalem is the business of the Jewish people, not the United States of America.

. Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel,.... until the full number of the Gentiles come in,... and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,.... ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’; ‘and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’.... As regards the gospel they are [presently] enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election.... they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers...... For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable..... Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now [for the time being] been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all. (Romans 11:1-33)

The Church is not called to go thru the Tribulation Period....Israel is.

Just as in the Christian community today there are many who believe themselves to be saved, but are not. The Nation Israel also will have such thru the Tribulation period. God continueously speaks of distinctions among believers, nations, beliefs and practices. There is a clear distinction between Israel and the Church. Thru the Tribulation there will be many Jews who will come to know Christ....but it is truly Israel as a Nation who passes thru the Tribulation, not the church.

more......

The remnant will be saved through this time of trouble, which is clearly the tribulation. The Lord will chasten that nation ofIsrael during this time...... “Only Iwill not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished” (Jer. 30:11).... This chastisement will result in Israel’s conversion: “And you shall be My people,And I will be your God” (Jer. 30:22). Jeremiah says that these things will occur “in the latter days” (Jer.30:24).

Theprophecies of Daniel 12 are set within the time frame of the tribulation (Dan.12:1)...... “Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand,.... but those who have insightwill understand” (Dan. 12:10). We see in this passage the continued theme of purging out the non-elect Jews during the tribulation but also see the rescue or salvation of the elect. These events are said to occur during” the end time” (Dan. 12:9).

A number of other passages speak of the need to refine the Jewish people, often in association with the city of Jerusalem (Isa. 1:22, 25; 48:10; Jer. 6:27-30;9:7; Mal. 3:2-3)..... ArnoldFruchtenbaum tells us,.... “As a purified, believing nation, they will THEN turn to the Lord. Here again he speaks of ....a worldwide regathering in unbelief in preparation for a specific futurejudgment,... but the purpose of the judgment is to bring them to national repentance.”[1]

Your link is a great, concise and clear understanding of remnant Israel, national Israel and the church.

" The Church is Jews who have been physically called out of the nations, but also spiritually called out from unbelieving Israel, and Gentiles who have been spiritually called out of the nations to worship the God of Israel.

Both spiritually called-out peoples form one called-out people known as the Church. These called-out ones are saved by faith in the pattern of their spiritual father, Abraham (Romans 4:11). Thus, while only some in the Church are physically Jewish, all in the Church are spiritually Jewish. They are circumcised of the heart (Romans 2:29), the offspring of Abraham (Romans 4:16) and citizens of Israel (Ephesians 2:12, 19)...

When speaking of the distinction between the Church and Israel, people have failed to make the necessary distinction between national Israel and remnant Israel. Remnant Israel is a spiritual body, national Israel is not.

Gentile believers are grafted into remnant Israel, whose holy root is the Messiah. Gentile believers have taken the place of Jews who have not believed, but Gentiles as a whole have not replaced Jews as a whole. Only part of Israel has been hardened (Romans 11:25). And God is able to graft Jews back into remnant Israel/the Church when they believe (Romans 11:23).

The proper understanding of Israel and the Church is not replacement theology nor separation theology. The Church has not replaced national Israel. National Israel never was a spiritual body of people, but merely a nation of saved and unsaved, like others nations. And God has a future program of prophecy to fulfill for that nation. Neither has the Church replaced remnant Israel. Paul considered himself part of remnant Israel (Romans 11:1-5), part of Christ (Romans 9:3), and part of the Church (Ephesians 5:29-30). This shows that the Church, the Body of Christ and remnant Israel are synonymous.

Therefore, the Church is not separate from remnant Israel. The Church is remnant Israel. Through faith in Christ, Gentile believers are no longer excluded from citizenship in Israel, nor from the covenants of the promise (Ephesians 2:12). They have been grafted into the Church, an olive tree natural to Jewish people but unnatural to Gentiles. It is for this reason that Paul exhorts his Gentile readership not to be arrogant about their membership within the Church (Romans 11:20).

AMEN!

“...but the purpose of the judgment is to bring them (Jews)to _national_ repentance.” ~ caww

Really?

Here’s something you may not have considered:

Are The Jewish People Ethnically Pure?

The idea that the so called Israelite peoples are a distinct ethnic group differing radically from others seems to me to be flawed by the simple fact that there are virtually no ethnically pure groups on earth today. When Yair Davidiy claims [without any serious evidence] that “the Danes” are Israelite because of the verbal similarity with the tribe of “Dan”, this implies that actually the “Danes” aren’t ethnically Scandinavian but Semitic. That proposition is ridiculous. Further, the implication seems to be that whoever lives in Denmark is also a “Dane” and therefore also Semitic- because so many tribes moved around and came to live in Denmark over the past few millennia. But these theories presuppose that the original Jewish or Israelite tribes who supposedly moved to Denmark and Anglo-Saxon countries were themselves pure. A brief review of their history shows this is far from the case:

- Abraham, father of the Israelite peoples, was not an inhabitant of the land we now know as Israel. He was from far away, in modern day Iraq.

- Isaac and Jacob both took wives from tribes who were the forefathers of the Arabs. God reminds Israel of this later: “Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite” (Ez. 16:3,45)- as if to say ‘Listen Israel, ethnically you’re really no different from the surrounding Arabic tribes’. It is following the faith of Abraham which makes people his children, rather than fleshly descent (Rom. 4:12-16; Gal. 3:7-9). Hence Paul’s comment: “They are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Rom. 9:6).

- Some of the children of Jacob were by his servant girls, who were also ethnically ‘Arabic’ rather than ‘Israelite’

- Joseph married an Egyptian, Asenath- Ephraim and Manasseh his sons were half Egyptian.

- The community which left Egypt and journeyed to Canaan included a very large “mixed multitude” (Ex. 12:38, Heb. ‘a mongrel people’). However there was no ethnic distinction made between them and the descendants of Jacob, neither in the Law of Moses nor in any social legislation. They were assimilated.

- Repeatedly, Biblical history laments how the children of Jacob intermarried with the local Canaanite tribes and surrounding nations.

- Solomon’s mother was an Ammonitess. Yet he was in the royal line. Other kings also had Gentile mothers.

- In captivity in Babylon, the Jews quickly assimilated, adopting paganic Babylonian names. Only a minority of them returned to the land under Ezra and Nehemiah, and even these were characterized by marriage with non-Jews, to the point that their children couldn’t speak Hebrew (Ezra 10 etc.).

- Much research has been done to investigate why despite the small number who returned from Babylon, by the time of Christ a few centuries later, the population of Palestine had increased so many fold. It’s apparent that there was large scale immigration into Palestine of various groups who assimilated with the Jews.

- Throughout the past 2000 years, the ‘Jewish’ people have continued to follow a pattern of assimilation and intermarriage, persecution, separation, acceptance, assimilation...

This brief summary shows that the Jewish people are far from ethnically pure- in fact they have experienced far more dilution of their ethnicity than most other races! What is clear is that being ‘Jewish’, being the children of faithful Abraham, is a matter of faith and spiritual culture rather than genetics or blood ethnicity. That’s why modern Israel includes black Africans, Chinese, Filipinos, Americans, pale skinned, blonde, blue eyed Scandinavians... all wearing skull caps and claiming to be Jews. That simple fact shows that the Jews simply aren’t ethnically pure, and to claim that all those nations of origin are somehow legitimately ‘Israelite’ is therefore a genetical and ethnological fallacy.

It follows from all this that God counts people as His Israel on bases other than genetic purity. At the time of the exile, the few Jews left in the land complained that because Abraham had posession of the land, therefore they too should have such possession (Ez. 33:23,24)- and God said that this was wrong reasoning. They did not follow the steps of their father Abraham, therefore they could not claim to be His seed. The New Testament comment that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Rom. 9:6) was true in Old Testament times too. This theme of being counted as Israel without being genetically pure is witnessed many times in the genealogies of 1 Chron. 1-9. The context of those records was perhaps to comfort the returned exiles who couldn’t prove their ancestry- they were still “Israel” even if there had been inter-marriage in Babylon. And there are other examples of this kind of thing. Take Caleb as an example. He was a Gentile (Num. 32:13; Josh. 15:17; Jud. 1:13; Gen. 36:11); and yet in Num. 13:6; 34:19 his descendants are incorporated into the tribe of Judah. Or reflect upon Samuel, an Ephraimite (1 Sam. 1:1), counted as a Levite (1 Chron. 6:16-28). Indeed it would appear that ‘genealogies’ in the Bible very often reflect themes of associations rather than being literal accounts of blood descent.

The fact many Jewish rabbis assume Jewish genetic roots are pure doesn’t mean that they are. An often quoted Rabbinic maxim is that “When the Holy One, blessed be He, causes His Shekinah to rest, it is only upon the families of pure birth in Israel” (1). Yet the Hebrew scriptures are clear enough that no Israelite is “of pure birth”. Frequently the Mishnah and later Rabbinic writings have warned against marriage of Jews to non-Jews, lest ethnic and genetic purity be lost. Yet the fact is, Jews have already intermarried hopelessly. The Biblical warnings against marriage out of the faith are in order that the Jew would not go and serve other gods- there is no interest in preserving cultural or genetic purity. And our own position against Christians marrying unbelievers should be likewise motivated.

Notes

(1) As quoted and referenced in Marshall Johnson, The Purpose Of The Biblical Genealogies (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2002) p. 87.

Source: Debating Bible Basics by Duncan Heaster http://www.aletheiacollege.net/dbb/14-10-3.htm

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