Appendix A

On July 18, 2010, I listened to and watched the television broadcast of an entire sermon by the Rev. John Hagee of San Antonio, Texas. The sermon was not about Christ, and I remember nothing of gospel in it. It was again, as one might expect from Hagee, about Israel and her enemies. Hagee taught from Ezekiel 38,39 that God would destroy Russia and Iran. Twice when he predicted that, the people in the church cheered at the thought of the annihilation of these nations. I hope the people in those countries are not aware of such a callous attitude within the American Christian community. It made me think of Luke 9:51-56 when Jesus’ disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven on some Samaritans. The Lord Jesus rebuked them for this. Hagee did not rebuke his congregation. May our Lord bring many more in Russia and Iran to Christ by means of a message of God’s grace to sinners.

In both Revelation 19:17-21 and 20:7-10, we read of this battle in Ezekiel 38,39 from Gog of the land of Magog (one battle referred to twice). It is presented in Revelation as the final assault on Christ and His army (19:19), the worldwide assault against the saints and the beloved city 20:9, identified in Revelation 21:2,9 as the Bride of Christ (not the secular State of Israel). Hagee teaches that Ezekiel predicts Russia and Iran invading Israel. The political application naturally is that we must increase our resistance to Russia and Iran in support of Israel. The current political agenda may have considerable influence on how he interprets Ezekiel 38,39. When Hagee says that Meshech in Ezekiel 38:2 is Moscow, he stands in great need of clear evidence that his interpretation is valid. I think such support is not available.

Rev. Hagee is off on a tangent far from the message of the Bible, far from the Apostle Paul’s central emphasis, “… I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2). None of us is capable of interpreting all of Scripture. Many passages are not as clear as the central message. There is no excuse for allowing a dubious and strained theme to dominate the message we must proclaim.