John Hagee: Reflections on My Facebook Post (Part 1 of 4)

Several days ago I posted a comment about John Hagee on my Facebook wall. Hagee is a New York Times best-selling author and pastor from San Antonio, Texas. In this comment I posted a link to a site that was critical of Hagee about his growing predictions of “the end of the world.”

John Hagee is the founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational evangelical church with more than 19,000 active members. He is the founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel. (Note this as I will reference it again later.) He is also the president and C.E.O. of John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his national radio and television ministry throughout America and can be seen weekly in 99 million homes and in more than 200 nations worldwide.

John Hagee graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, then earned his Masters Degree from North Texas University. He received his Theological Studies from Southwestern Assemblies of God University and an Honorary Doctorates from Oral Roberts University, Canada Christian College, and from Netanya Academic College in Israel. He is the author of twenty-two major books including two New York Times bestsellers.

I have never met John Hagee personally. I went to his church back in the 1990s when I visited San Antonio several times for meetings. It looks like a Texas mega-church, with a huge parking lot and a box-like structure that feels more like a television studio. Satellite dishes and trucks surround the place.

Hagee’s most recent best-seller is: Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change (Worthy, 2013). This book, which the blog link I posted on Facebook referenced, is built on the words of Jesus: “…There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars…Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:25a, 28).

The publicity available online about this book says: “It is rare that Scripture, science, and history align with each other, yet the last three series of Four Blood Moons have done exactly that. Are these the “signs” that God refers to in His Word? If they are, what do they mean? What is their prophetic significance?”

The publicity for the book goes on to say: “In this riveting book, New York Times best-selling author, Pastor John Hagee, explores the supernatural connection of certain celestial events to biblical prophecy—and to the future of God’s chosen people and to the nations of the world. Just as in biblical times, God is controlling the sun, the moon, and the stars to send our generation a signal that something big is about to happen. The question is: Are we watching and listening to His message?”

The answer of John Hagee, to the question of whether or not these celestial events demonstrate that we are near the end of this age, is clearly in the affirmative. No one can read anything that he writes, or watch him on television for even a few minutes, and not realize that my conclusion is obviously true. Hagee recently broadcast a live television event to reveal “direct connections between four upcoming blood-moon eclipses and what they portend for Israel and all of humankind.” This kind of broadcast is common to the man and his mission.

John Hagee asked during a recent sermon, before quoting Acts 2:19-20, if Christ was going to return soon. He answered, “I believe that the heavens are God’s billboard, that he has been sending signals to planet Earth. God is literally screaming at the world, ‘I’m coming soon.’”

Hagee has predicted that four eclipses (three of which have happened) are signaling a “world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015.” He concludes: “God sends plant Earth a signal that something big is about to happen! He’s controlling the Sun and the moon right now to send our generation a signal, but the question is, are we getting it?”

Some readers of my Facebook link to Hagee’s comments about the coming of Christ posted comments that were directed to me about what I wrote. Here is what I wrote on my Facebook wall: “O no, say it ain’t so. I thought Harold Camping was gone but his spirit lives on in Texas!”

Seriously, that is ALL I wrote when I put up a link to another site about Four Blood Moons. My reference to Harold Camping should be fairly obvious given the media attention the late radio-preacher created a few years ago when he boldly announced the day when Christ would return. It seemed at the time that every late-night comic had a field day. Even mainstream news covered the issue on the day that Christ was supposed to return. Harold Camping actually bought billboard signage in major cities announcing the End. Some will recall that he had announced the End many other times before that last prediction. Camping’s final prediction got the biggest response because some of his followers, as well as his media ministry, invested so much in public advertising that everyday people saw these city signs and heard the cultural buzz. Thus I connected Hagee’s words and books with Harold Camping because he was the most recent “prophet” to mislead people and to bring reproach on the person and message of Jesus, especially regarding his coming again.