The estimable Mark Silk chastises Time correspondent Joe Klein for his belief that the root of Rev. John Hagee’s support of Israel is End Times theology. “The simple and straightforward basis of evangelical support of Israel lies in Abraham’s covenant with God in Genesis 15,” writes Silk. “Hagee and other evangelicals support the Jewish State because they believe God gave the Land of Israel to the Jews.”
I agree with Mark that liberals often over-emphasize the End Times facets of Hagee’s theology at the expense of the other reason. But to argue that the End Times theology has little impact on Hagee seems off base, too.
To me the toughest questions for pro-Hagee Jews is whether Hagee truly wants peace in the Middle East. He believes that any two state solution — even if supported by the government of Israel — will draw God’s wrath. “There will be grave consequences for the nation or nations that attempt to divide up the land of Israel,” he writes in Jerusalem Countdown. “This is not a time to provoke God and defy Him to pour out His judgment on our nation for being a principal force in the division of the land of Israel.”
Prophecy requires horrific war, an ultimate battle, with Iran as the aggressor, aided by the anti-Christ, who will be the head of the European Union. In the end, the war will prompt the Jews of Israel to accept the returning Jesus as the Messiah, and thereby gain their spiritual life. “He has dragged these anti-Semitic nations to the nations of Israel to crush them so that the Jews of Israel as a whole will confess that He is the Lord.”
In Hagee’s worldview, it’s important to support Israel — and it’s important that Israel be brutally attacked.