Andy Birkey Minnesota Monitor Apr 27, 2007 -- 12:36 AM CDT
Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, will be a special guest of Pastor Mac Hammond of Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park for "A Night to Honor Israel." The event will join together two of the highest-paid pastors in the country, both of whom have faced criticism for their large salaries and benefits in their respective states. Hagee's enthusiastic support for Israel has won him friends in the Jewish faith. Yet Hagee's strong opposition to much of the Islamic world, especially Palestinians, and an Armageddon doctrine that sees Israel as central to Jesus' return have caused some to caution Hagee's cause of uniting Judaism and Evangelical Christianity.
Preaching a Gospel of Wealth
Both Hammond and Hagee have been criticized for financially benefiting from their ministries. While Hammond won't disclose his salary, he secured favorable loans and leasing deals with his church that earned him a healthy profit, which some have alleged violate Internal Revenue Service rules regarding churches. In February, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed its second complaint against Hammond alleging financial wrongdoing.
John Hagee, pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and creator of a widespread broadcast ministry, faced similar criticism several years ago when it was discovered he made more than $1.2 million in salary and benefits in 2001. His pay has remained at almost $1 million a year, according to forms filed with the IRS: "(I)n 2003 John Hagee was paid $948,964 in pay and deferred compensation for devoting 16 hours a week to his duties as CEO of GETV. This works out to about $1140 per hour."
When critics pressed Hagee on the million-dollar salary, Hagee said, "We want a set of books so that when the IRS comes in here and looks they'll say, those people are clean. And I am waiting for the day that the IRS is going to come look at our books. I have spent a chunk of money waiting for them."
Hammond himself issued a similar missive this winter following media reports of his religiously obtained wealth: "In a perverse sort of way, I would almost welcome an IRS audit. I've labored for twenty-five years to dot every i and cross every t," Hammond said.
Evangelicals United for Israel
Hagee's CUFI says that "as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need." Indeed, Hagee is very supportive of the Jewish community, as the roots of Christianity are based in Judaism. Hagee says, "Every Christian should remember the debt of gratitude the Christian community owes to the Jewish community. The Jewish people do not need Christianity to explain their existence or their origin. But Christians cannot explain their existence without Judaism."
Hagee's Christians United for Israel has done extensive lobbying for pro-Israel causes and has donated millions to projects in Israel and programs around the world to provide support for Jewish people to move to Israel.
Hagee's interest in the Jewish community and Israel stems from not only good will and a sense of theological kinship; Hagee sees Israel as the key to the Rapture and the return of Jesus, the Christian messiah. At a July 19, 2006 CUFI event in Washington DC Hagee told the audience, "The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation [...] and [the] Second Coming of Christ."
Hagee has gotten the ear of several prominent Republicans, including praise from President Bush. Blogger and journalist Max Blumenthal explains: "This is the Republican base. This is the only component of the Republican base that still supports Bush's policies in Iraq without question, unconditionally, and supports Israel's expansionism." Many evangelicals see military operations in Iraq, and the Middle East in general, as signs of Jesus' return.
Some in the Jewish community have spoken out against Hagee's activities, gestures that seem at first glance to be beneficial. "It's immoral to be involved with Pastor Hagee when many of his activities are bad for the present and future of Jewish life in America," said Rabbi Barry Block, who is the senior rabbi at Temple Beth El in Hagee's hometown of San Antonio, Tex. "Pastor Hagee espouses an end of days theology in which our Jewish people don't fare well at the end of the story unless we convert to Christianity," Block says.
A Night to Honor Israel will be Sunday at 6:30 pm at Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, Minn.
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