For John Hagee, McCain's controversial 'spiritual guide,'
dead children is the price one pays for rapture.
Robert Weitzel says that since the beginning of the
second intifada in September 2000, over 1,000
Palestinian and Israeli children have been killed by
bullets and bombs. According to Pastor John Hagee
and his evangelical organization, Christians United For
Israel, this is an acceptable -- if not desirable since a
majority of the children were Muslim -- price to pay
to bring about Armageddon and the Second Coming
of Jesus Christ. Hagee endorsed McCain's presidential
bid, and McCain "was very proud to have Pastor
John Hagee's support."
Robert Weitzel
Safa Abu Saif, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl, was visiting a
friend's apartment when the bullet fired from an Israeli rifle
slammed into her chest, punching a gaping exit wound in her
back. No ambulance could reach her because of the fighting.
Safa died in her father's arms three hours after being shot.
Danielle Shafi, a 5-year-old Israeli girl, was killed by the
bullet fired from a Palestinian rifle as her mother combed
her hair in the child's upstairs bedroom. Drenched in the
blood of her wound, Danielle slowly stopped breathing and
died in her mother's arms minutes after being shot.
According to a United Nation's report, 971 Palestinian and
Israeli children were killed between September 2000 --
the beginning of the second intifada -- and July 2007. Of
those destroyed children, 854 were Palestinian.
The intifada and the dying continue.
Safa and Danielle are two of the children whose lives the
evangelical political action committee, Christians United
for Israel, are willing to sacrifice on the alter of their
fundamentalist eschatology in the hope of bringing about
Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Pastor John Hagee, televangelist to 99 million viewers
and pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church
in San Antonio, Texas, established the CUFI in 2005
following the publication of his book, The Jerusalem
Countdown: A Warning to the World. Hagee envisions
CUFI as the Christian version the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby whose
political clout has a significant influence on U.S. foreign
policy in the Middle East.
The late Molly Ivins, a Texas political commentator and
author, described Hagee as a "pre-millennial
dispensationalist, whose theology focuses on selected
apocalyptic passages of the Book of Revelation." In 1998,
Hagee teamed up with Christian filmmakers to produce,
Vanished in the Twinkling of an Eye, a docudrama about
the tribulations following the Rapture.
Despite Pastor Hagee's obvious interest in eschatology,
he insists that CUFI's support for Israel has nothing to do
with end time prophecy. But in an unguarded moment
in the intimate confines of his 50,000 sq. ft. multimedia
chapel, Hagee set the truth free, "The judgment of the
nations is going to happen as soon as Christ returns to earth.
As soon as he sets up his throne on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem, he's going to rule the world with a rod of iron.
That means he's going to make the ACLU do what he wants
them to ... We will live by the law of god, and no other law."
The problem with Hagee's version of the truth is the fact
that the Temple Mount is Islam's third most sacred site,
upon which sits the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the
Rock, the oldest extant Islamic structure in the world.
According to Judaism, the Mount is where the final Third
Temple will be rebuilt before the coming of the Jewish
Messiah. Unfortunately for CUFI, the Second Coming of
Jesus is on hold until the temple's completion, and that
cannot happen until Islam is destroyed --
Hagee's holy grail.
Predictably then, the good pastor opposes any peace plan to
end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, supports Israel's
persecution and "imprisonment" of 1.5 million Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip, and advocates pre-emptive nuclear strikes
against Iran. John Hagee lives, and CUFI exists, to light the
fires of the Apocalypse using Israel as the match.
To get a candid look at CUFI and its members, journalist
Max Blumenthal took his cameras to the CUFI's
Washington-Israel Summit held last July in the
nation's capital.
Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo.
His video, above "Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized
Christians United for Israel Tour" I found it on The Disclosure
here it opens with Blumenthal
cornering disgraced former Republican House Majority
Leader Tom Delay and asking him how important the
Second Coming is in his support of Israel. The "Hammer"
replied, "Obviously, it is what I live for. Really, I hope it
comes tomorrow. Obviously, we need to be connected to
Israel to enjoy the Second Coming of Christ."
Blumenthal mingled with the 4,500 CUFI rank and file
attending the Summit and asked their opinion on
Armageddon and the identity of the Antichrist:
Q. "Are you looking forward to Armageddon?"
A. "I'm looking forward to Armageddon and the
cleansing of the earth."
Q. "Who is the Antichrist?"
A. "He will be a man of peace. So he will be one who has
promoted peace for many years. The one who forces Israel
into a peace treaty with the Arabs is the Beast."
A. "Another reason that we support Israel is that we
have a common enemy, the Muslims. We are fighting
what is behind the Muslim people, which is Satan.
Satan is actually the one who is trying to destroy
the human race."
After asking Pastor Hagee the "wrong" question
during a Summit news conference, Blumenthal and
his crew were escorted out of the building by off-duty
police officers.
John Hagee is not without fawning friends in Washington.
Presidential hopeful John McCain made a campaign stop at
the Summit and admitted to the audience that, "It's very
hard trying to do the Lord's work in the city of Satan ... "
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt followed McCain to the
podium and assured the faithful that "This is a mission,
this is a vision that I believe is a vision for God's time."
Senator Joe Lieberman was there and described Pastor
Hagee as an "Ish Elokim," a man of God.
Never one to be left out of a well-attended Christian
Right convocation, President Bush sent his best wishes,
"I appreciate CUFI members ... for your passion and
dedication to enhancing the relationship between the
United States and Israel. Your efforts set a shining
example for others ... "
Cultivating his friendship with the man who believes the
U.S. will be in Iraq for the next one hundred years,
Pastor Hagee endorsed -- and hugged -- John McCain
for president at a news conference held at the Cornerstone
Church. Senator McCain graciously accepted, saying,
"I'm very honored by Pastor John Hagee's endorsement today,"
When asked about Hagee's extensive writings on Armageddon,
McCain responded that "all I can tell you is that I am very
proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support.''
Considering the above, the following should not
need to be said. Pastor Hagee's right-wing Jewish allies
will do well to consider that after Islam is destroyed and
the Temple rebuilt and Jesus comes and raptures all
"true believers," all non-believers -- including Jews --
will be hunted down and converted or destroyed ...
that is, those few who survived the nuclear holocaust that
was prayed for and schemed for by the "Ish Elokim"
and the CUFI.
In the meanwhile, Palestinian and Israeli children will
continue to die singularly or in small groups by the bullets
and the bombs and the fire send their way on the wings of
CUFI's prayerful machinations.
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