Hagee's "Apology" To The Catholic ChurchDon't crap on my shoes and call it a spit-shineJohn Hagee
recently stated in an interview with Fox News some of the following; (Emphasis mine)
Hagee has claimed that his “great whore” remarks were taken out of context, and that he was not directing them at the Roman Catholic Church. A spokesman said via e-mail Tuesday that Hagee “never used this phrase to refer to the Catholic Church.”Interesting. In an article from
Alex Rich that was printed in the New York Times, Rich asks the following painfully simple requests -- (Emphasis mine)
...Go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.
What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.I've done one better... here's the video itself. You tell me exactly what was "taken out of context".
Uh huh. So a "church" founded by a bunch of white guys who read a bad translation of the Bible and judged the entire Roman Synod (and completely ignorant of the synods in the East) by a few bad apples and denied historical truths like the Real Presence, the Divine Liturgy and Apostolic succession and has seen schism after schism after schism to about 30,000 different sects is the "true church" and we're all in an apostate system? Whatever. People like him make me want to take sides with the commies...almost
ReplyDeleteGee then what was this guy referring to?
Hagee needs to make a living and I'm sure anti-Catholicism pays well. Christ who was hated by the world predicted that his true followers would also be hated by it. Hagee is just joining the band wagon.
ReplyDeleteMay the Lord allow him to realize it is actually he who is riding on the beast. And may the day come when he hears "John, John, why do you persecute me?" because in his hate for Christ's Church he persecutes Christ.
While he was most undoubtedly talking about the Roman Catholic Church, and there is no doubt in my mind that he means that, he actually never says it directly. When he says "Roman Church" he is actually quoting something Hitler [supposedly] said...
ReplyDelete"When Adolph Hitler came to power he said, 'I'm not going to do anything in my lifetime that hasn't been done by the Roman Church for the past 800 years, I'm only going to do it on a greater scale and more efficiently.' and he certainly did."
Sorry, the first time I watched this, I listened carefully and, like Christina, felt that Hagee was never directly calling the entirety of the Catholic Church "the Great Whore." For him to say, "this false cult system that was born in Genesis 10 and progressed through Israel and became Baal worship" is an indicator that he doesn't see the Catholic Church and the Whore as fully one and the same. I think he believes the false cult-cum-the apostate church has resided within the Catholic Church at certain points in church history when Jews were on the losing end. Alex Rich overstates the identification.
ReplyDeleteDo read Hagee's apology to the Catholic League (downloadable pdf available here). It's fascinating.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI agree. He never completely comes out and says it... he only strongly implies. Such is the way of the weasel.
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MVM,
I believe that he did mean Catholicism. The "Great Whore" itself very well may have been born in Genesis, but it resides in Catholicism to this day, not just in certain points in history.
I recommend the following article; http://catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11335
You may find it interesting.
Even though I may disagree on some of the specifics that you state, I did find your posting thought provoking. Keep 'em coming!!!
Kevin, thank you for the encouragement. In reading quotations from Hagee's book reproduced in the Catholic Agency article you link us to, I have to agree that these are damning. However, I think Hagee's recent apologia is a sincere one, and I especially found the change of his opinion regarding Pope Pius XII astonishing.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like I gave a bum link for that apology. It can be downloaded from this url:
http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1436
This article by Deal Hudson goes into greater detail about Hagee's source for his writings on the Catholic Church (he depended on a Catholic source) and his purported generosity to the Ursuline Sisters:
ReplyDeletehttp://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3243&Itemid=48
I have spent enough time with Protestants of the genuinely anti-Catholic variety ("All the good works aren't going to save Mother Teresa unless she's accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior" and so on) to recognize that Hagee wouldn't have supported a Catholic endeavor if he were of the Jack Chick stripe.
MVM,
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting article you gave reference to. I must admit, I wasn't all that shocked when I read of the Ursulines who attended Hagee's church, complete with it's denial of most of the Sacraments, not to mention denial of Papal supremecy and Apostolic succession. But then again, I know from first-hand knowledge that the Ursulines out-Protestant most Protestants.
One example that comes to mind is an Ursuline here in North Carolina who publically states that "Purgatory is nothing more than an invention of The Church back in the Middle Ages, just to make money". And that flippant denial of a basic dogma of The Faith is just one example.
But I do like the example that you gave; "I have spent enough time with Protestants of the genuinely anti-Catholic variety ("All the good works aren't going to save Mother Teresa unless she's accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior" and so on)...". That perfectly illustarates how weak they are on both Sacred Scripture and the official Teachings of The Catholic Church (BTW, all Biblically based), but as we both know, it's Faith AND Works, not Faith OR Works. Just like how St James told us.
But back to the crux of the matter. Mr. Hagee is a political animal. I find it difficult to believe that he's change a lifetime of vehement anti-Catholic rants into playing nice at a moment when the heat is turned up.
For someone who claims to be a biblical scholar and student of Church history, I would find Mr. Hagee's conversion of the heart as sincere, if it was followed by a conversion of the soul. In other words, he's be Catholic by now.
As we both know, anyone with even a basic knowledge of The Holy Bible and Church history knows that Catholicism is the One, True Church.