black…MYstory

Well, I’m not done with John McCain just yet.

Much has been made over statements by Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright. From about 30 seconds from a couple of sermons, this man was dismissed as a racist, anti-American kook.

However, little has been made of McCain’s “pastor problem”. Though John Hagee is not McCain’s pastor, per se, he is someone whose endorsement McCain sought out for a year and, even after Hagee’s statements about referring to the Catholic church as “the great whore” and Hagee’s assertion that Jesus never saw himself as the Messiah and his claim that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for a gay-pride parade scheduled in New Orleans, McCain has said that he rejects some of Pastor Hagee’s statements but heartily accepts his endorsement.

In my previous post about Hagee, I promised that there would be more and more there is. Hagee often touts himself as a friend of Israel. There is a belief that there are some evangelicals who want to hasten the coming of Armageddon. The idea would be to bring about the second coming of Jesus and fulfill the prophecies in the book of Revelations. Part of that is to make sure that Jewish people are securely back in their biblical homeland in order for Christ to return. However, in this belief, this would not mean the salvation of most Jewish people. In fact, this belief states that Jewish people would be cast into Hell, along with other “non-believers”, unless they convert. Some friends of Israel, huh?

I say all that to help provide some context for a recently-revealed sermon from John Hagee. In a sermon delivered in the late 90’s, Hagee stated that Hitler was an instrument of God to force the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel.

You read right. Hagee stated that Hitler was doing God’s will when he persecuted, enslaved and murdered millions of Jewish people. But, I’ll let you hear the words for yourself. Someone has posted the audio of this sermon and it’s as crazy as I’ve stated here.

Some will say that McCain’s pastor problem is nothing compared to Obama’s. I would agree — it’s not the same, it’s worse.

You see, McCain clearly referred to these people as “agents of intolerance” when he last ran for president. Therefore, he knew the type of people he was climbing into bed with, politically, when he actively and eagerly sought out their endorsements. He can’t argue that the was blinded by friendship or familial loyalty. He went in with both eyes open.

So, corporate media, is this story sensational enough for you to give McCain’s endorser 1/100th of the attention you paid to Rev. Wright? It seems that Hagee has more than enough material to keep you busy.

Popularity: 17% [?]

So, as we go into what seems to be the umpteenth week of talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I want to know why white preachers associated with other politicians aren’t receiving this same level of scrutiny.

For example, John McCain sought out and got the endorsement of John Hagee. Hagee runs a church with over 17,000 members and is a televangelist. However, Hagee also has some views that many would consider extreme. But — surprise — there is no call for McCain to reject and denounce Hagee.

I have added a couple of clips at the end. The first is where Hagee refers to the Catholic church as “the great whore”, a “false cult system” and quotes Hitler as a way of likening the actions of the Catholic church to some of Hitler’s atrocities.

The second clip shows Hagee hawking a book (”In Defense of Israel”) in which Hagee says that Jesus never saw himself as a Messiah. In other words, he is saying that Jesus never saw himself as the Christ, which I would say is pretty interesting for a Christian minister.

Rest assured, there’s much more on this guy out there and I intend to share it with you. As I understand it, he has made some very interesting statements about why Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and a “slave sale” fundraiser he held in 1996.

At any rate, here are the clips so you can see for yourselves.

Also, here’s a sort of rebuttal of Hagee’s book by a member of the same Christian United for Israel group as John Hagee:

Popularity: 18% [?]