The Latest on Hagee

John Hagee seems to be backpedaling on statements he made earlier in his book In Defense of Israel, which I commented on earlier. In an open letter, Hagee says that there was confusion over his use of the term, "Messiah," in which he apparently distinguishes between the "suffering Messiah" of the First Advent and the "reigning Messiah" of the Second Advent. He wrote that he is releasing a new version of the book with Chapter 10 expanded and revised to make his position more clear.

I am going to have to wait and see what changes he makes - how far he backpedals - before commenting further. In his letter, he says:

"I was surprised to learn that some people were interpreting my words as a rejection of this most fundamental Christian belief that Jesus came to earth as the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. I have been preaching the gospel for half a century."

If you read what he wrote, and listen to what he said on his TV ad, it's extremely hard to come to any other conclusion. He has already said that Jews do not need to trust Christ for salvation, and he keeps some pretty radical company in the heretical word-faith movement, so he didn't exactly have my trust to begin with. In fact, a claim that Jesus did not come to be the Jewish Messiah seems to follow logically for someone who has taken great pains not to offend Jews or the nation of Israel, and who said that Jews can find salvation apart from becoming a Christ-follower.

I'll remain skeptical, but I'll wait and see what Hagee has to say before commenting further.