John Hagee

John Hagee is a controversial right-wing Christian leader and founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a Christian Zionist organization known for its militarist stance on U.S. policy in the Middle East. Hagee is also the pastor of Texas-based Cornerstone Church, an evangelical “megachurch” established in 1975 that seats 5,000 people and has some 18,000 members. Television broadcasts of Hagee’s religious services, promoted by his Global Evangelism Television (GETV) corporation, also reach several million viewers.[1] Although a well-established figure among many conservative Republicans and evangelicals—and well known among the pro-Israel right wing as a prominent evangelical supporter of their goals for many years—Hagee reached a new level of celebrity during the 2008 Republican presidential primary for his backing of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which McCain eventually repudiated when a video surfaced of Hagee making apparently anti-Semitic remarks.[2]

But Hagee has found a very receptive audience in both the Trump administration and the right-wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu. In July 2018, he said, “Never in our history have we had [God’s] favor at the same time with the president of the United States; with the prime minister of Israel; with the secretary of state; with the ambassador to Israel or the ambassador from Israel. All of those people are suddenly helping us achieve our objectives because the favor of God is with this organization,”[3]

New Prominence In the Trump Era

After the embarrassing scandal with McCain, Hagee’s star dimmed until the election of Donald Trump. Hagee did not come out in support of any candidate during the primaries, but strongly implied his support for Trump in his race against Hillary Clinton. He told his followers on his internet show that “to see evil and not call it evil is evil” and they “have a responsibility to go vote. If you can read a newspaper, you know who I’m talking about.”

Hagee went on to say, “I’m going to vote for the candidate that’s going to make the U.S. military great again because the party in power has reduced us to a World War II level where the Japanese attacked us for the very reason we felt we were too weak to defend ourselves…I’m not going to vote for the party that has betrayed Israel for the past seven years…No candidate is perfect but I want you to go vote and may God give us a leader who has the courage to put America first and stand up for ‘we the people.'”[4]

His support for Trump, his large and influential congregation, and the religious affinity Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence has for Hagee led to Hagee meeting with Trump several times during his first six months in office. A journalist for the Jewish newspaper The Forward wrote, “Hagee has enjoyed something of a return to the political spotlight this year. A vocal supporter of Donald Trump, Hagee has visited the White House several times recently. He was among a group of evangelical leaders who ‘laid hands’ on Trump in prayer…Hagee’s support for Trump seems to hinge largely on his belief that the president is a ‘friend of Israel.’ And, in Hagee’s theology, those who support Israel will reap material and spiritual benefits. ‘I have been asked 101 times plus, “Why do you think Donald Trump won?’” Hagee said in a November address. “And I have an immediate answer—because he was the only one who was blessing Israel.’”[5]

With Trump in the Oval Office, Hagee—who had long said that Jerusalem must be Israel’s and Israel’s alone, in direct contradiction to the two-state solution framework for the Israel-Palestine conflict—pressed the issue of the holy city even harder. For example, in July 2017, Hagee stated on Twitter, “The Palestinians have no claim over the city of Jerusalem. It belongs to the Jewish people!”[6]

Just before Trump announced his controversial decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Hagee told the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), “Many presidents have promised to move the embassy and declare Jerusalem as the eternal capital, but they have promised without performing. President Trump, when I spoke to him in the White House about this several weeks ago, he said this very emphatically. He said, ‘Other presidents have failed you, but I will not disappoint the Christian community in this issue. I will stand with Israel, and we will at some point in time, move the embassy,'”[7]

Hagee was selected to give the closing benediction at the ceremony marking the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, an unusually religious trapping to a diplomatic event. Knowing his audience, Hagee elected to focus in Trump in the blessing. “We thank you, O Lord, for President Donald Trump’s courage in acknowledging to the world a truth that was established 3,000 years ago — that Jerusalem is and always shall be the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” Hagee said.

“And because of that courage of our President, we gather here today to consecrate the ground upon which the United States Embassy will stand reminding the dictators of the world that America and Israel are forever united.”[8]

During the same speech, Hagee also said, “We stand reminding the dictators of the world that the United States of America and Israel are forever united. Let every Islamic terrorist hear this message: Israel lives. … Let it echo down the marble halls of the presidential palace in Iran: Israel lives.”

Hagee is a strong backer of aggressive action against Iran. In a writer statement to the The Texas Observer, Hagee stated, “The sum of Iran’s evil is greater than the whole of its parts. We are focused on ensuring U.S. policy maximizes the likelihood that Iran ceases its malevolent behavior.”

The Observer noted, “Hagee has long advocated for war with Iran, even calling it the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. With Obama’s nuclear deal scuttled and the warmongering John Bolton in place as Trump’s national security advisor, the pastor just may get his wish.”[9]

Hagee made his relationship to Vice President Mike Pence clear when the decision to move the embassy was announced. “The vice president has been a lifelong friend to Israel,” Hagee said in a statement to Politico. “During the campaign, I saw the president’s choice in running mate as further confirmation of the value President Trump places on the U.S.-Israel alliance. And for millions of Evangelical voters, the President’s position on Israel was a central factor in their support for him in the 2016 election. I think over the past year, and of course in the past week, we’ve seen that our trust in President Trump was well-placed.”[10]

In his CBN interview, Hagee also explained his larger view of Israel’s role in his worldview and, by extension, his vision of U.S. policy toward it. “I believe at this point in time, Israel is God’s stopwatch for everything that happens to every nation, including America, from now until the Rapture of the Church and beyond. Christians should care about Israel because the entirety of the Bible beginning at Genesis all the way to the end is God’s position paper on the Jewish people…World history can be summed up in one sentence. The nations that blessed Israel were blessed of God, and the nations that cursed Israel were cursed of God.”[11]

Religious Views

Like many Christian fundamentalists, Hagee sees Israel as having a key role in fulfilling biblical prophecy. Hagee and other Christian Zionists share a particular reading of the Book of Revelations and other prophetic biblical texts, according to which the return of all Jews to the Holy Land is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus in the End Times. This idea traces back to the 1600s but gained prominence with the creation of the state of Israel in 1949.[12]

In Hagee’s view, the End Times feature a global struggle between the armies of good and evil in the battle of Armageddon, located in what is now a valley in Israel.[13] Unlike most fundamentalists, Hagee predicts a specific imminent scenario. According to the BBC, in his 2006 book Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World, Hagee argues that Russian and Arab armies will attack Israel and that God will step in to destroy them. This event will spur conflict between China and Satan’s earthly agent in the End Times—the antichrist, who will be masquerading as the head of the European Union—over the fate of Israel, which in turn will lead to the second coming of Christ.^[14][15]

Hagee is an adherent of the evangelical concept of “Rapture,” an end-time prophecy which holds that godly Christians will be drawn away from the Earth while God punishes non-believers. Author Barbara Rossing has said that Rapture belief can lead to provocative encouragement of strife in the Middle East as a way to hasten the End Times fulfillment of prophecy.[16] Hagee and many other believers in apocalyptic Christian prophecy support Israel’s control of the ancient Holy Land because they expect Jesus to return to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem once Jews have rebuilt the Temple of Solomon—an act requiring the destruction of Islamic shrines and mosques currently on that site.[17]

Hagee has linked his end-time prophecy to Iran diplomacy. After the July 2015 international nuclear deal was reached with Tehran, he said that “the day we validate this Iran nuclear deal as signed, sealed and delivered, will be the day we stick our finger in the eye of God.”

In his 2013 book Four Blood Moons, Hagee promotes the idea that the four lunar eclipses occurring in 2014 and 2015 portend a “world-shaking event” occurring.[18] He proclaimed in April 2015: “Do I think the four blood moons is a messenger of a coming storm? Absolutely. History repeats itself…I believe, in the fall of this year, America and the world will face another economic crisis, perhaps as a result of war in the Middle East or an economic crash.”[19]

A September 2015 Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) story which featured an interview with Hagee stated: “[Hagee] believes the current tetrad of four blood moons is a sign from God to the world that something major is about to happen involving Israel—with Iran’s drive towards a nuclear weapon being a possible trigger.”[20] Hagee told CBN: “The evidence is very clear scripturally that God controls the sun, moon and stars. And that God is sending us a signal through the sun, the moon and the stars. The question is, are we listening?”[21]

Christians United For Israel

In early 2006, Hagee founded Christians United for Israel (CUFI) to promote his vision of Middle East politics. CUFI describes itself as a “national grassroots movement focused on the support of Israel” and claims to “serve over one million members and conduct over 40 pro-Israel events every month.”[22]

CUFI states its goal is to provide “a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or individual in America can speak and act with one voice in support of Israel in matters related to Biblical issues.” Gary Bauer, another pro-Israel Christian Right leader, serves on CUFI’s executive board.[23]

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism, has criticized CUFI and argued that its far-right ideology could threaten the bipartisan support Israel has enjoyed in the United States by driving away young, socially-liberal Jews from supporting Israel.[24] “What they mean by support of Israel and we mean by support of Israel are two very different things,” Yoffie said in a 2008 conference of the Union of Reform Judaism.[25]

Yoffie has on other occasions described John Hagee as someone “who is contemptuous of Muslims, dismissive of gays, possesses a triumphalist theology, and opposes a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”[26]

Journalist Max Blumenthal wrote for the Huffington Post after attending a 2007 CUFI summit in Washington, DC: “[CUFI’s] support for Israel derives from the belief of Hagee and his flock that Jesus will return to Jerusalem after the battle of Armageddon and cleanse the earth of evil. In the end, all the non-believers—Jews, Muslims, Hindus, mainline Christians, etc.—must convert or suffer the torture of eternal damnation.”

Blumenthal further noted: “A dozen CUFI members eagerly revealed to me their excitement at the prospect of Armageddon occurring tomorrow. Among the rapture ready was Republican Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. None of this seemed to matter to [Sen. Joe] Lieberman, who delivered a long sermon hailing Hagee as nothing less than a modern-day Moses. Lieberman went on to describe Hagee’s flock as ‘even greater than the multitude Moses commanded.’”[27]

In 2006, Blumenthal reported on the apparent political clout of the then nascent group. “Over the past months, the White House has convened a series of off-the-record meetings about its policies in the Middle East with leaders of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a newly formed political organization that tells its members that supporting Israel’s expansionist policies is ‘a biblical imperative,’” Blumenthal said. “CUFI’s Washington lobbyist, David Brog, told me that during the meetings, CUFI representatives pressed White House officials to adopt a more confrontational posture toward Iran, refuse aid to the Palestinians and give Israel a free hand as it ramped up its military conflict with Hezbollah.”[28]

CUFI’s annual 2014 summit, which coincided with the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, attracted an array of politicians, media personalities, and conservative figures. On-stage guestsincluded personalities from Fox News, Weekly Standard editor-in-chief Bill Kristol, former CIA director James Woolsey, Elliot Abrams, and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz. “We’ve come to Washington to ask our government to stop demanding for Israel to show restraint,” John Hagee said at the event. “Let Israel finish the job. Let every rocket be dismantled. Let every tunnel be destroyed.” During the event, Hagee also gave a special award to Republican super PAC donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who are key CUFI allies.[29]

CUFI’s 2015 summit in Washington, D.C., attracted an array of right-wing American and Israeli politicians, including several 2016 Republican presidential candidates. Speakers included Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Ted Cruz (R-TX), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer.[30]

In July 2015, CUFI establish the CUFI Action Fund, a Washington-based lobbying organization that aims to promote CUFI’s agenda. Hagee has said that Republican politicians should be cognizant of how many “pro-Israel” voters CUFI can mobilize: “Every person running for office [in 2016] is going to be aware we have 2.2 million households. If I were a candidate especially in the Republican Party I’d be aware of how many voters will cast their vote principally on Israel.”[31]

Controversial Views

Hagee has been a staunch critic of President Barack Obama. At a November 2014 Zionist Organization of America-sponsored gathering of prominent Jewish American donors with potential Republican presidential nominee Ted Cruz (R-TX), Hagee alleged Obama was “the most anti-Semitic president ever.”[32] His comments drew swift condemnation from even the unabashedly “pro-Israel” Anti-Defamation League, which called them “offensive and misplaced.”[33]

Hagee has also suggested the 2014 Ebola crisis was brought about by God because of President Obama’s lack of support for Israel. “Our president is dead set on dividing Jerusalem. God is watching, and He will bring America into judgment,” Hagee said during an October 2014 broadcast of his “Hagee Hotline” internet show. “There are grounds to say judgment has already begun because he, the president, has been fighting to divide Jerusalem for years now. We are now experiencing the crisis of Ebola.”[34]

Hagee’s views on Mideast politics, as well as his ability to mobilize the sentiments of large numbers of Christian evangelicals in the United States, have earned him the support of many militarist U.S. political figures. Perhaps most notable among these has been John McCain, who Hagee endorsed during the 2008 Republican presidential primary.

In July 2007, McCain spoke at the group’s Washington meeting to warn of threats from Iran and dire consequences if the United States withdraws from Iraq. He also used his opportunity with a CUFI audience to publicly affirm his Christian beliefs. According to MSNBC, “The Arizona senator concluded his remarks by commenting on his own faith.… He said that his own personal religious beliefs helped get him through his time in a Vietnamese prison camp, telling a story of a guard who drew a crucifix on the ground for him when he was allowed to go outside on Christmas Day one year.”[35]

McCain’s enchantment with CUFI ultimately proved to be short-lived after a video of John Hagee surfaced in which he suggested the Holocaust was a essentially a fated Biblical event meant to force Jews to settle in Israel. In the 2005 video, Hagee said: “then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.” The publicity and outrage the video garnered resulted in McCain rejecting Hagee’s endorsement of his presidential candidacy.[36]

In another similar video, Hagee has argued that Adolf Hitler merely built on the work of the “Roman Church,” which he called “the Great Whore,” in spilling the “blood of saints,” who Hagee claimed are mainly Jews.[37] Hagee defended his comments, saying that by “the Great Whore” he meant “the apostate church, namely those Christians who embrace the false cult system of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism”[38] However, many Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists have for centuries denounced the Roman Catholic Church using terms such as “great whore” and “whore of Babylon,” drawn from their interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelation.[39]

A March 2015 WorldNetDaily review of Hagee’s Four Blood Moons ended with a quote from a Hagee spokesperson stating that Hagee believes that Jewish people who do not accept Jesus will go to hell. “WND falsely claimed that Hagee does not believe that Jews need Jesus to be saved. In fact, Hagee never made such a claim and years ago directly denied assertions that he holds a dual-covenant theology,” the article stated.[40]

Commented a writer for Mondoweiss: “Apocalyptic Christian Zionist John Hagee censured the publication for spreading a lie and defensively clarified that he does indeed believe that the Jewish people are going to burn in Hell for all of eternity unless they abandon Judaism and convert to Christianity.”[41]

Hawkish Views and Islamophobia

Hagee has a long history of making Islamophobic statements. In a 2006 interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio, for instance, Hagee said that there was “no room for compromise” with “radical Islam.” When Gross asked about “Islam in general,” Hagee responded, “Well Islam in general—those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.”[42]

In a March 2006 interview with the right-wing Human Events, Hagee predicted that by May 2006 Israel would militarily engage Iran, the country that he blamed for attacks on targets in the Western world. Asked if the United States should support Israel against Iran, he said, “Iran is a threat to western civilization…not just to Israel. Iran with nuclear weapons will be the world’s worst nightmare. America and Europe will be blackmailed to bow to the Islamofacist agenda. The attack on 9/11 proved Islamics have the will to kill us, they are now searching for the power to kill us…nuclear power.”[43]

Hagee has also supported calls by former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for U.S. military strikes against Iran, saying in a 2007 interview with journalist Bill Moyers: “It is time for America to embrace the words of Senator Joseph Lieberman and consider a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America.”[44]

Business

Hagee controls a formidable media empire. According to his CUFI biography, “John Hagee Ministries occupies a 50,000 square-foot production center which houses both radio and television studios, 100 telephone prayer partners, and a vast distribution center. Currently, Hagee telecasts on eight major networks, 162 independent television stations, and 51 radio stations throughout the globe broadcasting in over 190 nations.”[45]

The ministry, which is incorporated as the nonprofit GETV,^[46] has spurred accusations of inappropriate enrichment of Hagee and his family.[47] The San Antonio Express-Newsreported that GETV’s 2001 tax statement showed the nonprofit organization earned more than $18 million that year and that Hagee’s compensation package amounted to nearly $1.25 million. “As the nonprofit organization’s president, Hagee drew $540,000 in compensation, as well as an additional $302,005 in compensation for his position as president of Cornerstone Church, according to GETV’s tax statements,” the Express-News reported. “He also received $411,561 in benefits from GETV, including contributions to a retirement package for highly paid executives.” According to the Express-News story, Hagee’s retirement trust “includes a $2.1 million 7,969-acre ranch outside Brackettville, with five lodges, including a ‘main lodge’ and a gun locker. It also includes a manager’s house, a smokehouse, a skeet range and three barns. Taken together, his payment package, $842,005 in compensation and $414,485 in benefits, was one of the highest, if not the highest, pay package for a nonprofit director in the San Antonio area in 2001.”

Responding to a critic who argued that Hagee’s earnings were “unconscionable” for a minister, Hagee told the newspaper, “I have no salary here [with GETV], none whatsoever. What I have is a royalty from products I produce. That’s very, very different. And to call that an income would be a misappropriation of terms.” He added, “We are hiding absolutely nothing from nobody. I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of the government, but I am afraid of God. And I’m not going to lie to God and go to Hell over this.”[48]

 

SOURCES

[1] Cornerstone Church, http://www.sacornerstone.com/; Analisa Nazareno, “Critics say John Hagee’s Compensation Is Too High,” San Antonio Express-News, June 20, 2003.

[2] “Why Did Elie Wiesel Speak at CUFI?” Loonwatch, 2009, http://www.loonwatch.com/2009/10/why-did-eli-wiesel-speak-at-cufi/.

[3] Stoyan Zaimov, “Pastor John Hagee sees ‘the favor of God’ in President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Christian Today, July 25, 2018, https://www.christiantoday.com/article/pastor-john-hagee-sees-the-favor-of-god-in-president-donald-trump-and-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu/130075.htm

[4] Joshua Fechter, “San Antonio pastor John Hagee pretty much says he’ll vote for Donald Trump, but doesn’t name him,” My San Antonio, May 24, 2016, https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/politics/article/San-Antonio-pastor-John-Hagee-pretty-much-7942086.php&cmpid=artem

[5] Sam Kestenbaum, “Controversial Pro-Israel Pastor John Hagee Basks In Return To Spotlight,” Forward, July 18, 2017, https://forward.com/news/377303/controversial-pro-israel-pastor-john-hagee-basks-in-return-to-spotlight/

[6] Pastor John Hagee, Twitter, July 17, 2017, https://twitter.com/PastorJohnHagee/status/887124842696372229

[7] Mark Martin, “’Biblical Timing of Absolute Precision’: John Hagee Praises Trump’s Jerusalem Decision,” CBN News, December 10, 2017, http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2017/december/biblical-timing-of-absolute-precision-john-hagee-praises-trumps-jerusalem-decision

[8] Matt Korade, Kevin Bohn, and Daniel Burke, “ Controversial US pastors take part in Jerusalem embassy opening,” CNN, May 14, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/13/politics/hagee-jeffress-us-embassy-jerusalem/index.html

[9] Gus Bova, “Under Trump, Islamophobic Pastor John Hagee’s Star Rises Again,” Texas Observer, August 9, 2018, https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-pastor-john-hagee-texas-jerusalem/

[10] Matthew Nussbaum and Seung Min Kim, “Tax reform gets in the way of Pence’s Jerusalem victory lap,” Politico, December 14, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/14/mike-pence-delays-israel-trip-295494

[11] Mark Martin, “’Biblical Timing of Absolute Precision’: John Hagee Praises Trump’s Jerusalem Decision,” CBN News, December 10, 2017, http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2017/december/biblical-timing-of-absolute-precision-john-hagee-praises-trumps-jerusalem-decision

[12] Donald Wagner, “Evangelicals and Israel: Theological Roots of a Political Alliance,” Christian Century, November 4, 1998, http://www.publiceye.org/christian_right/zionism/wagner-cc.html.

[13] Robert C. Fuller, Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995; Paul S. Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture, Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 1992.

[14] Richard Allen Greene, “Evangelical Christians plead for Israel,” July 19, 2006.

[15] Glenn Greenwald, “Some Hateful, Radical Ministers—White Evangelicals—Are Acceptable,” Salon.com, February 28, 2008, http://www.salon.com/2008/02/28/hagee/.

[16] Barbara A. Rossing, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, Boulder, CO: Westview. 2004; Richard Abanes, End-Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon? New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1998.

[17] Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount, New York: The Free Press, 2000.

[18] Todd Leopold, “September Blood moon has some expecting end of the world,” WSVN News, September 21, 2015, http://www.wsvn.com/story/30078759/september-blood-moon-has-some-expecting-end-of-the-world.

[19] Albert Salazar, “8 Crazy Things John Hagee Actually Said,” San Antonio Current, June 24, 2015, http://www.sacurrent.com/Blogs/archives/2015/06/24/8-crazy-things-john-hagee-actually-said.

[20] Erick Stakelbeck, “Hagee on Iran Deal: Final Blood Moon a Divine Warning,” CBN, September 18, 2015, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2015/September/Hagee-on-Iran-Deal-Blood-Moon-a-Divine-Warning/

[21] Erick Stakelbeck, “Hagee on Iran Deal: Final Blood Moon a Divine Warning,” CBN, September 18, 2015, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2015/September/Hagee-on-Iran-Deal-Blood-Moon-a-Divine-Warning/

[22] Christians United for Israel, “About CUFI,” http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_AboutCUFI.

[23] CUFI, “Executive Board,” http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_executive_board.

[24] Ali Abunimah, “Islamophobia, Zionism and the Norway Massacre,” Al Jazeera English, 2011, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011829164395822.html/

[25] Hana Levi Julian, “The Fight for Jerusalem Begins,” 2008, Arutz Sheva, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125815#.VDQzwfldW1c.

[26] Ali Abunimah, “Islamophobia, Zionism and the Norway Massacre,” Al Jazeera English, 2011, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011829164395822.html.

[27] Max Blumenthal, “Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour,” Huffington Post, July 26, 2007, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/rapture-ready-the-unauth_b_57826.html/

[28] Max Blumenthal, “Birth Pangs of a New Christian Zionism,” The Nation, August 8, 2006.

[29] David Weigel, “Inside the Most Insanely Pro-Israel Meeting You Could Ever Attend,” Slate, 2014, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/christians_united_for_israel_the_most_insanely_pro_israel_conference_of.html.

[30] Jennifer Rubin, “Get ready for the pro-Israel NRA,” The Washington Post, July 12, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/07/12/get-ready-for-the-pro-israel-nra/?postshare=8571436722924177.

[31] Jennifer Rubin, “Get ready for the pro-Israel NRA,” The Washington Post, July 12, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/07/12/get-ready-for-the-pro-israel-nra/?postshare=8571436722924177.

[32] Chemi Shalev, “Sharp dressers, tons of food and heaps of right-wing hyperbole at ZOA gala in N.Y.,” Haaretz, November 24, 2014, http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.628156.

[33] Anti-Defamation League, “ADL Says Pastor Hagee’s Remarks Criticizing President Obama “Offensive and Misplaced,” November 24, 2014, http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/israel-middle-east/adl-says-pastor-hagee-remarks-criticizing-obama-offensive.html.

[34] Kyle Mantyla, “John Hagee Says Ebola Is God’s Judgment On America Because Obama Is Trying To Divide Israel,” Right Wing Watch, October 15, 2014, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/john-hagee-says-ebola-gods-judgment-america-because-obama-trying-divide-israel.

[35] Andrew Merten, “McCain on Iraq, Iran, and his faith,” 2007, NBC News, http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2007/07/17/4431293-mccain-on-iraq-iran-and-his-faith?lite.

[36] “Why Did Elie Wiesel Speak at CUFI?” Loonwatch, 2009, http://www.loonwatch.com/2009/10/why-did-eli-wiesel-speak-at-cufi/.

[37] “John Hagee Compares Roman Church to Hitler,” YouTube, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uViQ0hVV57Q.

[39] Fuller, Naming the Antichrist, pp. 145-148; John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860–1925, New York: Atheneum, [1955] 1972, pp. 5-9, 77-87.

[40] Ben Norton, “CUFI Leader John Hagee confirms Christian Zionism is anti-Semitic,” Mondoweiss, March 27, 2015, http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/confirms-christian-semitic.

[41] Ben Norton, “CUFI Leader John Hagee confirms Christian Zionism is anti-Semitic,” Mondoweiss, March 27, 2015, http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/confirms-christian-semitic.

[42] Terry Gross, “Pastor John Hagee on Christian Zionism,” National Public Radio, September 18, 2006, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6097362.

[43] Robert Bluey, “John Hagee: Iran Poses Grave Threat to Western Civilization,” Human Events, March 16, 2006.

[44] Bill Moyer’s Journal, “Transcript,” October 5, 2007, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10052007/transcript5.html.

[45] “Pastor John Hagee,” CUFI, http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_pastor_john_hagee.

[46] “John Hagee Ministries/ Global Evangelism Television,” MinistryWatch.com, http://www.ministrywatch.com/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=741986308.

[47] Analisa Nazareno, “Critics Say John Hagee’s Compensation Is Too High,” San Antonio Express-News, June 20, 2003.

[48] Analisa Nazareno, “Critics Say John Hagee’s Compensation Is Too High,” San Antonio Express-News, June 20, 2003.