John Hagee - In Defense of Israel, Revised: The Bibles Mandate for Supporting the Jewish State

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In Defense of Israel by John Hagee

Published by FrontLine

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NAS are from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission.

Quotations from the Quran are from The Quran Translation , seventh edition, by Abdullah Yusef Ali (Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Quran, Inc., 2001).

Cover design by Marvin Eans

Design Director: Justin Evans

Copyright 2007 by John Hagee

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hagee, John.

In defense of Israel / John Hagee. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-59979-210-1

1. Israel (Christian theology) 2. Christianity and other

religions--Judaism. 3. Judaism--Relations--Christianity. I. Title.

BT590.J8H34 2007

231.76--dc22

2007028267

E-book ISBN: 978-1-59979-681-9

This publication is translated in Spanish under the title En defensa de Israel, copyright 2007 by John Hagee, published by Casa Creacin, a Charisma Media company. All rights reserved.

To the regional, state, and local directors of

Christians United for Israel

dedicated leaders who have taken a bold stand

In Defense of Israel!

Contents

DURING DIFFICULT DAYS SUCH AS THIS, when it seems that the whole world is against Israel, many in the Jewish community nervously scan the globe, searching for friends.

Standing behind the massive gray podium with the blue AIPAC logo, I looked out across the darkened banquet hall. Candlelight flickered from glass containers on the tabletops. Faces were indistinguishable, but I sensed six thousand pairs of eyes scanning the stage. I was well aware that most of the largely Jewish audience disagreed with me on many political issues. But on the issues of the need to support Israel and recognition of the dangerous situation in the Middle East today, we were in total agreement.

You look toward the United Nations, I continued, which Ambassador Dore Gold calls the Tower of Babble. You look at Europe, where the ghost of Hitler is again walking across the stage of history. You open your newspapers and read about American universities, where Israel is being vilified by students taught by professors whose Middle Eastern chairs are sponsored by Saudi Arabia. You look to Americas mainline churches and see their initiatives to divest from Israel. You go to the bookstore and see slanderous titles by the former president of the United Statesand you feel very much alone.

I leaned into the podium, feeling as confidentand as earnestas if I were addressing my Cornerstone congregation. I want to say this as clearly and plainly as I possibly can: Israel, you are not alone. Ladies and gentlemen, its a new day in America. The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. Fifty million Christians are standing up and applauding the State of Israel.

Suddenly six thousand people were standing to their feet and applauding the support I offered on behalf of evangelical Christians, whom I was honored to represent as the first pastor ever invited to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest and most influential advocacy group for Israel and the Jewish people in the United States.

How I came to be a keynote speaker during the AIPAC 2007 Policy Conference is part of the story of this book. In these pages I want to convey the same message to you that I presented to that audience. Its the message Ive been preaching on television and in churches and auditoriums across America for twenty-seven years.

As an avid student of history, I am convinced that we are facing the same situation the world faced in 1938.

Iran is the new Germany, and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is the new Hitler. Iran poses a threat to the State of Israel that promises nothing less than a nuclear holocaust. The only way to win a nuclear war is to make certain it never starts. We must stop Irans nuclear threat and stand boldly with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.

Millions of evangelicals in America have joined me in Christians United for Israel. We have agreed to set aside our theological and political differences in order to focus on one issue: support for and defense of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. I can assure you that we will not sit by in silence this time while another maniacal leader plots and plans the destruction of the Jewish people. There will never be another Holocaustnot on our watch. Never again.

Just prior to World War II there were obvious and clear warnings that Hitler was moving forward to implement his Final Solution. Winston Churchill tried to warn the forces of appeasement. He said that an appeaser is someone who feeds a crocodile in the futile hope it will eat him last. In 1938 Czechoslovakias Sudetenland was turned into crocodile food for Germany. The Nazi beast smelled the weakness in the international appeasers and devoured most of Europe, systematically slaughtering six million Jewish people.

What did America do? We debated the situation in Congress, and we let isolationist sentiments keep us from getting involved while millions of innocent people died.

Today, the same warning signs are present and, in the age of mass media, more obvious than ever. Numerous groups calling themselves religions are spouting hateful, racist vitriol, and many observers who should know better are trying to wish the situation away. Every time Israel defends herself, critics cry foul and try to accuse Israel and the United States of wrongdoing. This is history repeating itself.

We are constantly hearing calls to appease the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. Once again those who would appease seek to do so at the expense of Israel. They tell us that if we want the Sunnis and the Shiites to stop massacring each other in Iraq, then Israel must give up land. They tell us that if we want the Syrians to stop murdering the leaders in Lebanon, then Israel must give up land. They tell us that if we want the Saudis to permit women to drive and to vote, Israel must give up land. If we want the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, Israel must give up land.

Let me be clear: Israel is not the problem, and making Israel the scapegoat will not solve the problem. The problem is the rejection of Israels right to exist. The problem is radical Islams bloodthirsty embrace of a theocratic dictatorship that believes they have a mandate from God to kill. The problem is the failure of the moderates in the Arab and Muslim world to stand up and rein in Islamic extremists.