McCain Gets Hell For Embracing Armageddon Sect

John McCain continued his quest for conservative bona fides by embracing millionaire televangelist and leader of the "End-Times" Evangelical movement, Pastor CEO John Hagee. 

In addition to believing that we are the last generation before God destroys the earth and that "international television" is a sign that Christ's return is nigh, Hagee has maligned the Catholic Church as 'The Great Whore' and 'a false cult.'  Accordingly, the Hagee endorsement has raised the ire of Catholic activists who claim Hagee is a bigot who regularly preaches anti-Catholic hate and blames the Catholic Church for the Holocaust.

In an interview with Glenn Greenwald, Catholic League Director, William Donohue, warned that there would be hell to pay for McCain's embrace of Hagee:

He's not going to get away with this with the Catholic community...We're going to get this out to the Catholic community and Catholic press around the country...We're going to ride this out and see how far he wants to talk about this.

(full article here)

Donohue previously entered the 2008 presidential race when he demanded the resignation of John Edwards' blogger in reaction to writings on the blogger's personal web site.

According to Donohue, both McCain and Huckabee are equally reprehensible for courting Hagee:

If Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were fighting over the support of Louis Farrakhan, we'd say they're nuts. So what are we to conclude about McCain's embrace of Hagee, and Huckabee's lament for not getting the bigot's endorsement?

(link)

In a press release just previous to his critique of Huckabee and McCain for embracing Hagee, Donohue decried Obama for championing a culture of death during the last Democratic debate in Cleveland, Ohio.

McCain's embrace of Hagee follows on the heels of a recent expose by Bill Moyers showing Hagee as the leader of the influential Christians United For Israel.  Moyers' documentary showed a host of Republican leaders including President Bush, Newt Gingrich, and Roy Blunt, as well as  Joe Lieberman of the Lieberman for Connecticut Party, embracing Hagee's group.  In addition to showing long sermons in which Hagee warns that Armageddon is near, Moyers  showed members of Christians United For Israel lobbying Congress to stop the Israel-Palestinian peace process and to wage a preemptive military strike against Iran.

McCain's embrace of Hagee is consistent with his continued support of Bush's military policies, but it also puts in play all of the baggage that Hagee's fringe sect brings to politics. 

Hagee and his followers believe, for example, that the suffering experienced by the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was a caused by God seeking revenge for Israeli settlers forced to relocate out of the Gaza Strip:

BILL MOYERS: According to John Hagee, devastating consequences await those who violate God's word. God, he says, may already have sent Hurricane Katrina to punish the U.S. for its role in helping Israel remove Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

JOHN HAGEE, SEPTEMBER 18, 2005:I want to ask Washington a question. Is there a connection between the 9,000 Jewish refugees being forcibly removed from their homes in the Gaza Strip now living in tents and the thousands of Americans who have been expelled from their homes by this tremendous work of nature? Is there a connection there? If you've got a better answer, I'd like to hear it.

(full transcript here)

Beyond the Catholic League's objections, anti-Arab militancy, and wide-eyed application of prophecy to politics--Hagee regularly talks about Jews and Judaism in terms that many Americans find offensive.

Both in sermons and in conversation, Hagee and his followers seem incapable of distinguishing between actual Jewish people living in the world today and the symbolic "Jews" mentioned in the prophetic scriptures that are the focus of their Evangelical religious practice.

Hagee's insults of the Catholic Church are bound to alienate many voters. Just as many voters will be offended by Hagee's constant reference to Jews as a puzzle piece to be put in place to bring about the return of Christ.

Moreover, to an American electorate eager to find big solutions to long-term challenges, Hagee seems like an obstacle to progress. 

And yet, desperate to be seen as a real conservative, McCain has little choice but to embrace a pastor who believes destruction of the world in a storm of fiery torment is just a few years away.

Without Hagee and his flock supporting him, McCain's campaign may burst into flames much sooner than that.

Cross posted from Frameshop.

Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman

Comments

[BenMurphyNYC]

The Bill Moyer's piece was one of my favorites of all time. I especially like this quote from John McCain when speaking to CUFI:

JOHN MCCAIN: It's very hard trying to do the Lords work in the city of Satan [Our Nation's Capital - Washington DC] and I'm very grateful to have all of you here.

[lanceomatic]

Of course, Catholicism is a cult. So is any branch of Protestantism. So is Judaism, Islam, any other belief in a supernatural system. The only difference between what is deemed a "cult" and a "religion" is just a matter of size. If a group ha 10 people, it's a "cult." If it has 10 million, it is a respected "religion." It is all a collection of ancient beliefs that has no place in world where rationality should be pre-eminent. The is no basic difference between Hagee, Ratzinger or Farrakhan as far as the realm of reality vs. unreality goes.

[robeson]

Where are the Jewish voices, (Richard Cohen for one) denouncing this true relationship between McCain and the hate cult of Hagee? They were quick to point out an imaginary one with Obama. Are they silent because of Joe Lieberman's connection with Hagee?

[Sundialsvc4]

"My sheep know My voice, and another's voice they will not follow."

For literally thousands of years now, men have claimed to "pwn" The Mind Of God. They have brashly clamed that They "pwned" 'The Right Interpretation' of All Mysteries ... and as if to prove it, they have a cassette tape to sell you for "$19.95, On Sale Today."

With the utter calmness that bespeaks True Authority, yet "it is written"... "If someone tells you 'He is over here,' or 'He is over there,' do not [bother to...] go."

For every man who sought to "turn the Temple into a marketplace," surely there was someone else who first convinced that man that it was "God's will" that he should do it. Yet into this cacophony of competing noise, "a still, small voice" rings true: "My sheep know My voice." Trust your feelings.

Political candidates and insecure preachers may rail against such simplicity for the brief duration of their mortal lives, but they will achieve nothing.

[RadioFreeBabylon]

What many don't seem to understand is that Hagee's followers are not a "fringe sect." The teaching that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon (of the book of Revelation) is the belief of the MAJORITY of American Protestant theologians.

This is nothing new - and far from "fringe" if you look into it. Most mainline denominations will steer clear of dissecting the last book of the Bible from the pulpit, but find yourself a Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) or Baptist Bible study devoted to the book and you'll quickly find that this teaching is very old, accepted and taught to this day. They cite the mention of "the city on seven hills" as their proof.

I've battled them for years, but they think they've got it all figured out. They've been blinded, afraid and unwilling to see their own country clearly depicted in the Revelation.

[Sundialsvc4]

... as if "a majority of humans" could ever possibly determine "the mind of God?"

I know nothing. The wisdom of Man is the foolishness of God. Of what possible worth could ever be the 'greatest' production of my pathetic mortal mind? "Have mercy upon me, a sinner."

[transendentilist]

While I'm no big fan of Catholicism, I detest worms like Haggee. His lunacy promulagates war. He is another millionaire preacher who uses religion for personal gain. When will people realize that genuine christians aren't usually millionaires. Christ taught something completely opposite of what these creeps believe. Why are they all millionaires? Why don't they give that money to the poor and infirm? Why don't they help the less fortunate of this world, like christ taught???
Phonies, the lot of them.
Hagee is a glaring example of why there should be a seperation of church and state.

[Sundialsvc4]

"By their fruits shall ye know them."

"My sheep hear My voice, and follow it. And another's voice they will not follow."

"Selah."

[moda31]

the media has been way too soft on mccain over this issue, i just watched Sen. Bay Hutchinson on CNN saying that McCain was right not to reject Hagee's support because Hagee has a large & devoted following, and he has done some good things regarding Isreal. this was apparently an acceptable answer because there were no further question on the issue. HUH? in what universe is that a reasonable justification? because someone has a large following they can get away with claiming that Hitler learned the antisemitic views that inspired the Holocaust from attending a Catholic school as a child? Hagee's comments are just as disgusting as anything Farrakhan has ever said, yet I'm still waiting to see the appropriate outrage displayed.

[pfc1369]

Commentors please take note:

The last book of the New Testament is REVELATION, not REVELATIONS.

Please be accurate when citing Bronze Age mythology.

[RogerHWerner]

Actually, let's be technically correct: Revelation is a product of Hellenism and the Hellenistic Period in Palestine. Bronze Age ended some 1250 years before anyone heard of Jesus.

[pfc1369]

The imagery, cosmology, mind set, and prophetic style is straight out of the Bronze Age, regardless of when Revelation was composed.

[Sundialsvc4]

As scholars well know, and so-far have archaeologically discovered, "apocalyptic literature" is one of the most-popular bits of surviving literature yet discovered. It does appear that when you were being persecuted by the authorities of your day, you really enjoyed writings that would tell you in explicit detail how the God was gonna come down upon you and whup-a*s.

Okay ...

... so what?

It's just you, and this book, and all the "other books," and that niggling "still small voice" that you know has always been with you since you were the youngest child that you can possibly remember.

So... What...?

[MajorKong]

Well if you want to get persnickety, my Catholic Bible calls it The Revelation of Saint John The Divine.

[wmbear]

I ***HOPE*** THIS DOES MCCAIN IN...

Although I'm inclined to doubt it will. The MSM are such pussies these days, it won't make much of a splash (I predict) and no one will follow up on it....

[dolphy]

If Huckabee gets in the white house, we'll officially have the US of A Taliban as our government.

[McDee]

People like Hagee et al, the End Timers, have tried to hi-jack Christianity and turn
it into some kind of doomsday cult. I've heard him and the others like him preach
and it seems like, for "Christian" ministers, they spend an enormous amount of time
preaching about the bloodiest and most doctrinaire parts of the Old Testament and
Revalations and nor much time on the Sermon on the Mount. (Blessed are the Peacemakers)

[RogerHWerner]

What you say is sort of true. What I find so fascinating is that Hagee's premillenial dispensationalism has no real scriptural base so it beats the Hell out of me how anyone professing the accept the Bible as the word of God could possible believe any of it. Hagee's brand of religion comes straight from the revival tents of the 19th century.

[Querent]

It's because they read at the level of eighth graders.

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: Senator John McCain Continued from Above Post March 1, 2008


The Defender of the Faith: Eva L. Hart A Catholic Christian
Part II

Furthermore the Bible was meant for everyone to read and understand it obviously to save our souls and believe in Jesus. It makes no sense for the Good Lord to write and inspire the Bible and then have no one understand it. I thought that section in Revelation meant Babylon (Known as Baghdad today). You can read it for yourselves and it is not really certain what nation has the bad, ignominous name. The Bible's purpose is Supreme and most important namely to save Souls so no one will go to Hell. It does not have to always take a Minister to interpret the Bible. Just like the Constitution it was written by commoners and common folk so we all can comprehend it. We don't need all those lawyers who law or ministers who minister.

In summation: Let us remember the lesson of Galen back thousands of years ago who was a medical doctor whom everyone trusted and believed in medically for 1,500 years. However he was all wrong and it's a shame that people so ignorantly (I don't mean this in a bad sense) trusted him for l,500 years. Then came along Paracelsus another bright medical doctor who used experience and bedside medical care to improve greatly medicine to heal sick people. Indeed a new medical concept experience and bedside medical observations with compassion. A great, sad tragic mistake it was to believe in Galen,the medical doctor who got it wrong. Sadly too Paracelsus who changed medicine for the great betterment of mankind died in poverty as he spoke out at universities and criticized other doctors and professors to try to improve medical care and change policies of medical care. I am not an expert. I just love to read history and read about Christianity my Religion. This information from The New Popular History of the World with foreward by Lowell Thomas,famous journalist. Editorial Advisers from John Hopkins University,Yale University,Columbia University, and Duke University,etc.

Eva Hart A Catholic Christian In Army 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc 94109

[dolphy]

Hagee, Robertson, Falwell, all these fundies give Christians a real bad rep. Christians should circulate a petition to not ever give any money to these self serving, high living hypocrites.

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: Senator John McCain March 1, 2008


The Defender of the Faith and Not by King Henry the VIII where Defender of the Faith originated because he did not like the Martin Luther Reformation. He defended the Catholic religion however corrupt King Henry the VIII was. He did not approve of the Reformer Martin Luther's seprating from Catholic church.

Senator John McCain you must remember in our First Amendment to the Constitution everyone has Religious freedom. No one should look down on another's faith. We must respect all Religions.


In medieval days around 15--'s it was the beautiful Catholic Church that used music,book­s,painting­s,Gothic churches for the Supreme purpose of Saving souls. Is there much going on of today of churches Protestant or Catholic helping the unfortunate and others. Budget cuts for the poor, budget cuts for job seeker even as my case of quitting evil jobs as a Christian.

Pastor John Hagee is referring in Revelation to Rome,Italy and the Catholic church and having read this I do not and still do not know what Revelations is really talking about. It is not certain Revelations is talking about Catholics or whoever. It could be other nations as well.

Eva Hart A real smart Defender of the Faith. I serve God and Jesus. It was Jesus and the Apostles who started the Catholic church and the most Sacred of Jesus' Disciples. Who is really committing the Sacrilege here. Not the Catholics.

Eva Hart A Catholic Christian In Army 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc, 94109

[LoRiseAntlers]

Hagee doesn't lead a "fringe sect".He is considered to be part of the evangelical mainstream.His views are the views of rod Parsley,Paula White,Pat Robertson,the Falwells and the Roberts and on and on.They are part of the millions who the Republicans rely on.

Don't try to paint this guy as being of the fringe.Evangelicals believe this garbage.The majority of people need to wake up to the fact that there is a huge group of fanatics in our midst,all of whom just might be capable of violence to further their blighted doctrine.

[dolphy]

I forgot. These so called leaders are the so called Talibangelists.

[Querent]

They're only capable of violence when they can do it by contributing to hate groups and voting for Repigs. If push come to shove, they want no part of a real fight. So far.

[Boobaloo]

LoRiseAntlers: You are absolutely correct; it's estimated there are between 60 and 80 million of these right wing,fanatical Evangelical Zionists hell bent on bring the Apocolpyse. They are most certainly not the fringe, they're the main stream.

Have you seen 'Jesus Camp'? They're more than capable of violence, they're training their children to be Soldiers for Christ.

Also, these Evangelical Zionists are behind the war in Iraq and now Iran, proving that violence is the only language they understand and violence is the only language they intend to speak until they bring on nuclear war.

Hagee and his ilk make Bin Laden look like a misguided school boy.