Hagee Urges Prayer, Practical Assistance for Nation of Israel
by Jim Brown
August 16, 2004
(AgapePress) - A popular television preacher from Texas says Christians of all denominations should be sending support to Israel.Dr. John Hagee says because God created and defends Israel, and because Israel is the apple of His eye, going to war against the Jewish state is going to war against God Himself. The pastor of 17,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio says many professing Christians have forgotten that Israel's war on worldwide terrorism is the same war that America is fighting. He describes Yasser Arafat and Osama bin Laden as "twin terrorists in the tapestry of worldwide terrorism" -- then asks:
"Why is it right for America to go around the world to attack and try to kill Osama bin Laden, and not allow the Jewish people to cross the street to fight Hamas? This is unreasonable," Hagee states.
Hagee says contrary to the secular humanist view that Palestinians are an oppressed people, Israel never belonged to the Palestinians -- and the Palestinians have never existed as an autonomous society.
All Christians, the pastor says, should do what they can to be a blessing to the Jewish nation. He says there are several things believers can do to show their support for God's chosen people.
"First, the Bible says to 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; May they prosper that love you' [Psalm 122:6]," Hagee says. "The second thing is to go to Israel personally to see the land, to walk where Jesus walked, [and] to experience what He experienced -- because there is a spiritual explosion that happens in the life of a believer to go to the nation of Israel."
A third suggestion, Hagee adds, is that every church in America do something in a practical sense to be of assistance to Israel. Over the past three years, Hagee's ministry has given $5 million to bring Russian Jews to Israel.
