Hagee denies Jesus claimed to be the MessiahPDFPrintE-mail
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Written by Chris Perver  
Saturday, 10 November 2007 11:31

I was sent this link by my friend Steve a few days ago, but I didn't read it until this afternoon. I do get a lot of emails on a daily basis and it's not always easy to cover them all, especially when I'm feeling under the weather. I have commented on John Hagee's unscriptural views before on this website. A few of you emailed me expressing your concerns, that perhaps I was mistaken or Hagee didn't really mean what he said. Yes, John Hagee does do a good work in encouraging Christian support of Israel, and that is needed today more than ever before. Perhaps a person in his prominent position cannot actively encourage evangelisation of Jews, and I could understand it if that were the case. But unfortunately not only does Hagee discourage efforts to preach the Gospel "to the Jew first" (Romans 1:16), but his belief that the Jewish people can be saved without coming to Christ may be damning many of them to hell. John Hagee is the main proponent of the "dual-covenant" theology, which teaches that the Jewish people can be saved by simply by keeping Torah, rather than by trusting in Yeshua HaMashiach for for forgiveness of sin. When recently confronted about his unscriptural beliefs, Hagee publicly denied that he believed in a "dual-covenant" system. But in a letter sent to the Christian Institute dated October 18,1994, Hagee confirmed that he believes the Jewish people can be saved through the old covenant system... 

Quote: "“The Jewish people are judicially blinded to the identity of Messiah... Question: If God blinded the Jewish people to the identity of Jesus as Messiah, how could He send them to hell for not seeing what he had forbidden them to see? ... Inasmuch as God has blinded them to the identity of Messiah, targeting the Jewish people for mass evangelism is fruitless.”  

According to this statement, not only does Hagee believe that Yeshua's death was in vain (if people can be saved without it), but he also questions God's wisdom on sending unbelieving Jews to hell. Unfortunately Hagee did in fact mean what he said, and is backing up his statements with a new book he has written, "In Defence of Israel" (video removed from YouTube by Hagee, see another copy here and here), which he says will shock Christian theology to its core. Now Hagee is claiming that not only did God judicially blind His people to the identity of the Messiah, but that Jesus Christ never came to earth to be the Messiah in the first place. In his own words...

Quote: "[In Defence of Israel] Scripturally proves that the Jewish people as a whole did not reject Jesus as Messiah. It will also prove that Jesus did not come to earth to be the Messiah. It will prove that there was a Calvary Conspiracy between Rome, the High Priest and Herod, to execute Jesus as an insurrectionist too dangerous to live. Since Jesus refused by word and deed to claim to be the Messiah, how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered? Read it in this shocking exposé, In Defence of Israel".  

Now I haven't read this book, and I do not know if Hagee's comments are to be taken at face value or not. If not, then his statements are at best foolish. But if this book claims what Hagee has stated in this commercial, then it seems Hagee is apostate. This is very sad indeed. There are many verses in the Old and New Testament which prove that Yeshua's First Coming was indeed as the Messiah of Israel. The first time Jesus entered the synagogue to read, He quoted from Isaiah 61...

Luke 4:16-21
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The term "Meshiach" in Hebrew literally means "Anointed One". To say that Jesus Christ did not come to earth to be the Messiah the first time is deception at best and makes God a liar at worst. In Peter's proclamation of the Gospel to Cornelius and his household in Acts 10:38, he once again uses this term, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him". Daniel's prophecy also proves that Jesus Christ came to be the Messiah at His First Coming to earth...

Daniel 9:26
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off (killed), but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Jesus refusing by word and deed to claim to be the Messiah...

John 4:25-26
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

I am told that in the Aramaic, the saying "Thou sayest it" is a positive affirmation. In my country we have a similar expression, "You said it". In other words, the person who is talking with me has issued a statement that I need not affirm as truth, for it is self evident that the statement is indeed the truth. Sadly some false teachers such as Kenneth Copeland have used these verses to promote their belief that Jesus Christ never claimed to be the Messiah of Israel. This teaching is demonic, for it puts a question mark over the person of Christ and His purpose in coming to earth. 

John 18:37
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

The Jewish people as a whole not rejecting Jesus as Messiah...

Matthew 27:24-25
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

The question is, why would Hagee and Copeland deny that Jesus Christ publicly claimed to be the Messiah? Why are others such as Creflo A. Dollar publicly denying the Deity of Christ? The only answer I can come up with is that Satan is preparing the way for the appearance of a false Messiah who will make that claim publicly. Jesus Christ came in His Father's name, He never came to bring glory to Himself. But there is one coming who will claim to be the Messiah, and he will be accepted by Judaism, apostate Christianity and Islam.

John 5:43
I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Source Apostasy Watch, YouTube, YouTube

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