In Defense of Israel by John Hagee - Reveiwed by Judah Sheppard

IN DEFENSE OF ISRAEL
By John Hagee

Reviewed by Judah Sheppard

The book, In Defense of Israel, is authored by the Evangelical Christian leader, John Hagee and contains 207 pages in 12 easy to read chapters. Pastor Hagee is well known for his public support of the Jewish State and has raised millions of dollars for it. In his latest book, Hagee attempts to show the historical, political, and spiritual reasons why the United States and all Christians should support and defend Israel

Beginning with the first chapters, Pastor Hagee explores the history of the people of the region as a means to build his case for defending and supporting Israel. Chapters 1 through 7 reveal to the readers the origins of Christianity, including the historical separation between Judaism and Christianity, including some details concerning horrible atrocities brought upon the Jewish people by some who have named the name of Christ. These early chapters do contain many interesting facts for the readers. Beginning with Chapter 8, John Hagee details many of the positive contributions the Jewish people have contributed to the United States and the world. In Chapter 9 and through Chapter 10, John Hagee advocates his belief in two distinct yet connected Israel(s). In doing so, his view rejects many aspects of the Messiah’s purpose for the Jewish people and the world. His stance, whether knowingly or unknowingly, sets up a wall separating him from nearly all Jewish believers thus minimizing the mission focus of Jewish believers in Israel and the United States to reach Jewish people who do not know Yeshua as their personal Messiah. I believe this book serves only to widen the gap and cause further discord between Jewish believers and evangelical Christians.

Chapter 9 concentrates on the point that through practical and material support of Israel, the nations of the Gentiles would receive the spiritual and material blessings of God. John Hagee quotes scriptures from the Torah and B’rit Hadashah (the Bible) as his source to support his view. As I looked up the quoted scriptures, I could not agree with John Hagee’s interpretation, finding many of them to be taken out of context to support his view.

The most controversial chapter in this book is Chapter 10. As I read this chapter, I found myself in complete disagreement with John Hagee’s views. His own statements and interpretation of the scriptures make clear his position that Yeshua did not come to reveal himself as the Messiah to the Jewish people but rather to become the “Light” unto the gentiles by way of the Jews. He seems to be saying in this chapter that the message of salvation had to only come “of the Jews” but not to the Jews. John Hagee states in this chapter that Yeshua denied he had come as the Messiah and quotes scriptures supposedly that confirm the author’s viewpoint. John Hagee proposes that Yeshua had not come for the Jews at his first coming and that the Messiah the Jews are looking for now, will be Yeshua at this 2nd coming. It is John Hagee’s contention that God did not intend for Yeshua to be the Messiah to the Jews, for if he had, God would have allowed Yeshua to perform “miraculous signs” unto the Jewish people and to remain “alive”. The chapter continues with statements that Yeshua came for the salvation of the gentiles. He implies in this chapter the Jewish people who did believe that Yeshua was the Messiah, believed that He would lead the Jewish people in a revolt to break off the yoke of Rome. He explains that once Yeshua was crucified, these 1st Century Jewish believers ceased believing he was the expected Messiah. John Hagee does directly state and attempts to use scripture to support his claim that Yeshua refused to be the Messiah to the Jewish people, choosing instead to be the savior to the world. John Hagee states that even at Passover, Yeshua denied being the Messiah of Israel.
As controversial as most of Chapter 10 is over the implications of the messiahship of Yeshua to the Jewish people, John Hagee also advances replacement theology as part of his argument for supporting Israel. He argues that the “church” is not the new Israel, which is a valid point. However, John Hagee states his belief to be that there are two Israels: the physical Israel and a spiritual Israel. It is his contention that the spiritual Israel (the church) is responsible for the physical Israel via monetary and material support. In doing so, the spiritual Israel will receive the blessings of God. His statements seem to advocate the untenable position that the Jewish people do not need to come to know Yeshua, and that they are supernaturally protected until the 2nd coming in which all of Israel will be saved. Rather than risk his agenda in Israel, John Hagee keeps his distance from those Jewish people who believe in Yeshua. Incredibly, his advocacy is more in line with the position of those in Israel who disclaim Yeshua as the Messiah rather than fellow Israeli and Jewish believers who daily suffer hardship for being Jewish followers of Yeshua the Messiah!
Despite all that John Hagee has done for the State of Israel and in advocating for the State of Israel among Christians, his book ignores the ministry of Yeshua to the people of Israel first and then to the gentiles as Romans 1:16 expresses. His words in the book imply that Jewish people do not need to believe in Yeshua at this time. He opines that Yeshua had come to provide the salvation plan to the gentiles so that they would be spiritually inspired to obey God and physically support Israel until the appointed time when Yeshua will return for his bride, the church, which will then include the physical Israel and the spiritual Israel together. If one was to accept this erroneous conclusion, where would this leave all the believers from the beginning to now? This book is written as if to say that the Jewish people from the beginning died for nothing since Yeshua had not come for them yet. It would be the same as saying that during the 3 years that Yeshua was walking all through Judea sharing the good news of salvation to the Jewish people, healing the sick , the blind, and the lame, He was just marking time until the appointed season He was to die and be resurrected for the gentiles.

I could not recommend this book for reading to either Jewish believers or for the Christian who does have the love for our Messiah and for the Jewish people. I found John Hagee’s positions rather selfish and self-serving with a seeming agenda to promote his missions that are currently going on in Israel and the United States while totally neglecting, I find that such love for our beloved Israel and our Jewish people is greatly misguided since it purposely ignores the growing numbers of Messianic believers and the rapidly evolving messianic congregational movement. In defending Israel, I would have hoped that his message and mission would have been to encourage Israel to know Yeshua, the Messiah, who has come and will come again, and not to tacitly disparage or discourage Jewish people from turning to Him.