I Believe John Hagee Is Becoming a Statesman

It's been interesting to watch the development of a statesman. That's how I feel about my longtime friend John Hagee. He has been tried in the furnace of adversity and, in my opinion, he's come out shining like gold. I can't imagine anyone who has suffered more controversy than Hagee has in the last year.

I had only a moment to greet Pastor Hagee after the Night to Honor Israel event Tuesday before his staff whisked him away, but I looked at him in the eye, told him that I was proud to serve with him in Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and that I believed that he was developing into a real "spiritual statesman." I agree with my friend Rabbi Aaron Rubinger that he is not only one of the great friends of the Jewish people, but I believe he is one of the great Christian leaders of our time.

Full disclosure: Not only am I Hagee's publisher, but I've been involved with CUFI since it was founded in February 2006. I serve as CUFI regional director over Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Hagee's trial by fire began with the controversy over his book In Defense of Israel, which I had the privilege of publishing. Interestingly, In Defense of Israel won a first place in the "social issues" category of the Retailer's Choice Awards, which were announced at the International Christian Retailer Show in Orlando, Fla., last week.

Hagee had not known about the award, and his staff asked me to present it to him at one of the CUFI events in Washington, D.C., this week. It was very meaningful to him because the book had come under such criticism that he ended up rewriting large sections in order to clarify what he believes about Israel and God's plan of salvation for the Jews. Some Christians accused him of believing in “dual covenant” theology, which teaches that Jews can go to heaven by keeping the Law of Moses.

In the first session at the CUFI Washington Summit July 21-24, there was a 15-minute question and answer period. Someone went to the microphone and asked Hagee about what he believed about dual covenant. If I remember what he said correctly, he said that he never believed in dual covenant--that he didn't believe in it now and never would.

The next controversy that drew national attention came two months after he endorsed Sen. John McCain for president in Texas in early March. McCain won the Republican primary in Texas, and I believe Hagee’s endorsement proved to be pivotal. Sen. McCain had flown to Texas to personally ask for Hagee’s endorsement.

Several weeks later, Sen. Barack Obama came under criticism because of comments his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made that many consider to be racist and anti-American. I believe that there were those on the left who wanted to create a Rev. Wright-type of controversy around Sen. McCain and tried to connect him to John Hagee, whom they were trying to portray as being as radical as Rev. Wright. Nothing is further from the truth.

Hagee has actually had very little interaction with Sen. McCain. But these leftists, principally a rabbi named Eric Yoffie, took a comment that Hagee made about God using the Holocaust to bring about the founding of Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1948 out of context.

As it's turned out, the Jewish community has generally stood solidly behind Hagee, and at the CUFI conference several Jews even said that what Hagee said is considered mainline theology, particularly in the Orthodox community. One of my rabbi friends, a conservative Jew who admits that he does not take the Hebrew Scriptures literally, told me that there are three different times that the Torah says that nothing happens without it being God's will, which would include, taken literally, that the Holocaust, as horrible as it was, had to be God's will.

These evil people tried to twist that into saying that John Hagee is anti-Semitic. The fact is that no one has probably done more for the state of Israel or the Jewish people in our generation than John Hagee, a fact that is recognized by many. My friend Aaron Rubinger, who attended the CUFI summit as a guest, leaned over during the session and whispered in my ear that John Hagee may be one of the greatest friends of the Jewish people of all time, a comment that he later repeated to John Hagee when we were chatting privately.

Thankfully, that controversy died down quickly, but not before the McCain camp made a knee-jerk reaction and said they rejected Hagee's endorsement. Hagee followed up by withdrawing his endorsement.

During his rousing speech at the Night to Honor Israel event Tuesday Hagee made several comments, emphasizing on each of them what the Jews say about the Holocaust: “Never again!” And in a humorous moment he added what his response will be when asked to endorse a presidential candidate: “Never again!” The crowd laughed and seemed to love it.

The other great controversy was over the Roman Catholic Church. He was accused of calling the Catholic Church the whore of Babylon. That is a term from the book of Revelation, not one that Hagee made up. There are some extremist Bible teachers who have taught that over the years, but Hagee is not one of them. He teaches that the apostate church—the ones who don't follow the Bible and who reject Jesus—will be the great of whore of Babylon.

He recently sat down with Roman Catholics, met with them face to face, and they not only resolved their differences but emerged as great friends.

I've known John Hagee since the early 1980s—before he had a large TV ministry or was famous. I admire his work in San Antonio at Cornerstone Church. He has built that church to 19,000 members. I also admire the family life he has. I know each of his children personally. They are all fine young people, all of them involved in ministry in some way. I've seen him interact with his family, and he's a great role model. To me, John Hagee is the real deal.

However, Hagee has always been a bit of a loner, in my opinion. He's been the kind of person who has put his head down and did what he had to do to get the job done, and didn't really care if he got approval or not from others. That is a great trait, and he has accomplished a lot of great things.

But that trait of doing things yourself does not make it easy to be a networker, and it doesn't make it easy to learn to dialogue with your enemies, or even sometimes to compromise in the sense of learning the things that offend others and perhaps learning to make your statements in ways that do not compromise what you believe, but to say it in a way that is non-offensive to others.

Because I'm his publisher and because I've been involved in decisions on how to word things I can say that John Hagee does not compromise—he believes the Bible, and he does not back off in any way. But he has also learned that the kinds of things that sound great in a Pentecostal sermon and get charismatics excited sometimes are misunderstood or offend people from other religious backgrounds. He has learned to be a real diplomat and move in very high circles, not only among Christians but also in the Jewish community and now among Roman Catholics.

One of the sessions that I enjoyed the most at the CUFI event was a speech by radio talk-show host and columnist Dennis Prager, a Jew from Southern California who came to John Hagee's defense during the recent controversy. Prager said a lot of great things, but one thing that stood out to me was his comment about the difference between being famous and being significant. He said that very rarely are the famous significant, and only rarely are the significant famous. I believe that John Hagee is a significant leader.

I know for a fact that Hagee gets things done behind the scenes, he motivates thousands of people at the grassroots, and he inspires millions more through his books and television program. But it's interesting that, due to his recent media firestorm and of course his own exposure in media through television and books, that he is one of those few people who is both significant and famous.

I encourage you to make plans to attend the CUFI Washington Summit next year, particularly if you live in the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Those are the states in the region that I lead. I was very proud of the people from our region who turned out in great numbers and enthusiastically lobbied our congressmen and senators.

I also appreciate the leadership of Bishop Paul Zink, the Florida state director, Pastor Michael Stevens, the North Carolina state director, and Scott Allen, who substituted very capably for Bishop Jim Bolin, the Georgia state director, who is recuperating from an illness. Currently, I am the acting state director for South Carolina, and we had a great group from that state.

There are others who are also involved in leadership, principally Scott and Cindy Thomas of Lakeland, Fla.; Gary Cristofaro of Melbourne, Fla.; and others who are too numerous to mention. I want to publicly thank them for all they've done and say that I had a lot of fun in Washington meeting with them, working with them and solving a few logistical glitches that came up. And as I told the group, just coming to Washington and being a part of history, and seeing what God is doing with Christians United for Israel, is a lot of fun.

Be sure to add your comments at the end of this blog.

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Many of you receive The Strang Report because you are on my personal contact list or have signed-up through my blog. If you are not a current subscriber of Charisma, I urge you to begin your subscription today!

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I encourage you to also begin a subscription to Ministry Today, which I believe is one of the most important magazines I publish because it influences the influencers in the church. If you are in active ministry, you’ll appreciate its analysis, prophetic insight and practical help every other month. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Sunday Adelaja’s ground-breaking book “Church Shift” with your paid order of Ministry Today.

Report from the International Christian Retail Show

The big news this week is the International Christian Retail Show held this year in Orlando, my hometown. If I counted right, this is my 30th show sponsored by the Christian Booksellers Association. When you're in the Christian products industry like we are, this is the big show of the year.

Our industry has changed a lot in the last three decades. Christian books are sold more and more in secular channels, yet the independently owned Christian bookstore remains a very important channel.

The convention is not as large as it's been in the past, but it's still very important. I've had many very important meetings, some of them impromptu, which have resulted in connections and deals that would have never happened otherwise.

The people I talk to are generally upbeat, even though gas prices are up and there is a lot of talk nationally of a sagging economy. It is causing people in our industry to be a little more conservative and that's why some people cut back on the convention by having smaller booths or sending fewer people.

For us at Strang Communications, this has been very important. Of course, we report on it within Christian Retailing magazine and you can click here to read a more detailed update-- the same one we email to the industry professionals who subscribe to our "Christian Etailing" free newsletter.

A highlight for me personally was a breakfast we had with many key people in the industry to teach and update them about our new Christian Advertising Network which allows Christian ministries and organizations to take advantage of reaching the millions of Christians who now use the world wide web. The response was much better than we could have ever expected.

We also had David Tyree, the New York Giants player whose amazing catch won the Super Bowl and is the subject of our new book called More Than Just The Catch. David is a dynamic spiritual Christian and you won't want to miss his book when it's released on September 2.

Judy Jacobs signed her book Don't Miss Your Moment and President Bush impersonator John Morgan signed his book called My Life as a Bush...and My Heart for Imitating Jesus in our booth. Kim Daniels also signed her new book Inside Out. These and many more books are available by clicking here to order direct from us.

One evening there was a great autograph signing party with many artists from various companies. We had more than 16 authors signing books. The hall was crowded and the excitement was high.

At that autograph signing was Martha Munizzi signing her new CD called "Change The World." I've listened to this CD dozens of times. I think it's my favorite Martha Munizzi CD. It is special to me because my wife and I had the privilege of being present when it was recorded live at our church The Gathering Place in Sanford, Florida.

Martha has a special place in my heart as I've known her since she was a young teenager and watched her grow up. For a couple of years she worked for our company in our Production department-- this was before she became so well known as a singer. Her latest album debuted at #4 on Billboard's Gospel Chart and has been in a "Top 10" position over the past 12 weeks (Billboard). I encourage you to check out her website by clicking here to sample each track and purchase the CD for yourself if you haven't already.

Next week is Christians United for Israel's Washington/Israel Summit in Washington DC. I'll be attending and will be reporting from Washington what takes place at that great event.

Meanwhile, I've been promised interviews with both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama and will be reporting on that, not only in Charisma magazine, but in the Strang Report, after those interviews take place.

Declaration of American Values

Last week's Strang Report about the July 1 Denver meeting with the evangelical leaders received wide coverage. Associated Press quoted the Strang Report since I was the only one who reported from actually inside the meeting. At the end of the blog there are several links to articles that were written if you're interested in reading them.

Because I was the only person who was both at the June 10 meeting that Senator Barack Obama had with evangelical leaders in Chicago and the July 1 meeting in Denver I found myself being interviewed by numerous reporters. As a former reporter myself it's an odd feeling to be on the other side of the interview process.

At the Denver meeting organizer Mat Staver handed out a Declaration of American Values. There was some discussion and debate about some wording and it was referred to a small committee to take into consideration the suggestions that were made. Because the final report was not ready last Wednesday when I wrote my last Strang Report, I'm including it below.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get interviews with both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. I've received tentative approval from staff members in both campaigns for an interview. I'm eager to interview each candidate and report what they say.

Meanwhile, my son Cameron, Founder and Publisher of Relevant magazine was able to interview Senator Obama last week by telephone. His report was picked up by several of the major news services. Because his interview made Obama look more moderate on both abortion and same-sex marriage, it made the radical left go crazy (according to many of the blog postings that were written) as they are upset that their champion is moving toward the center. At the same time some on the right are horrified to read any depiction about Obama that is not extreme, concerned that some Christians may decide to back him.

You can click here to read Cameron's report.

Click here to read the articles that quoted last week’s “Strang Report.”

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/07/christian_conservatives_unitin.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jrzRNJWPgYEArLcxWtJSmGR-3nFgD91M2DAO0

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/john-mccain-con.html



Here is the Declaration of American Values. Feel free to add your comments below in our blog.



Declaration of American Values

We the people of the United States of America, at this crucial time in history, do hereby affirm the core consensus values which form the basis of America’s greatness, that all men and women from every race and ethnicity are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We adhere to the rule of law embodied in the Constitution of the United States and to the principles of liberty on which America was founded. In order to maintain the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves and our posterity, and recognizing that personal responsibility is the basis of our selfgoverning Nation, we declare our allegiance –

To secure the sanctity of human life by affirming the dignity of and right to life for the disabled, the ill, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and for the unborn from the moment of conception. Every person is made in the image of God, and it is the responsibility and duty of all individuals and communities of faith to extend the hand of loving compassion to care for those in poverty and distress.

To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

To secure the fundamental rights of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children regarding their upbringing and education.

To secure the free exercise of religion for all people, including the freedom to acknowledge God through our public institutions and other modes of public expression and the freedom of religious conscience without coercion by penalty or force of law.

To secure the moral dignity of each person, acknowledging that obscenity, pornography, and indecency debase our communities, harm our families, and undermine morality and respect. Therefore, we promote enactment and enforcement of laws to protect decency and traditional morality.

To secure the right to own, possess and manage private property without arbitrary interference from government, while acknowledging the necessity of maintaining a proper and balanced care and stewardship of the environment and natural resources for the health and safety of our families.

To secure the individual right to own, possess, and use firearms as central to the preservation of peace and liberty.

To secure a system of checks and balances between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches within both state and federal governments, so that no one branch – particularly the judiciary – usurps the authority of the other two, and to maintain the constitutional principles of federalism which divide power between the state and federal governments.

To secure our national sovereignty and domestic tranquility by maintaining a strong military; establishing and maintaining secure national borders; participating in international and diplomatic affairs without ceding authority to foreign powers thatdiminish or interfere with our unalienable rights; and being mindful of our history as a nation of immigrants, promoting immigration policies that observe the rule of law and are just, fair, swift, and foster national unity.

To secure a system of fair taxes that are not punitive against the institution of marriage or family and are not progressive in nature, and within a limited government framework, to encourage economic opportunity, free enterprise, and free market competition.

We hereby pledge our Names, our Lives and our Sacred Honor to this Declaration of American Values.

Finally Something is Happening

It’s well known I supported Gov. Mike Huckabee in the primaries. From my perspective as a conservative Christian he was the perfect candidate--strong on the issues important to me yet an effective leader in Arkansas who is articulate, passionate and caring for those less fortunate.

I couldn't understand why more conservative Christian leaders--especially some in the Arlington Group--didn't support him. Some said he couldn't beat Sen. Hillary Clinton. Ironically Sen. Barack Obama is now the one to beat.

But now I'm supporting Sen. John McCain. I've long admired him as a great American hero. On the important issues I believe he's right on. However, he hasn't cozied up to the so-called religious right. But that's not a problem to me. Too many leaders in the Christian conservative movement wait to see who asks for their support instead of being principled. At least McCain is principled.

Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio, who met with McCain, came away a believer too. He sent out an email that is printed below along with an article about his meeting with McCain.

Burress wrote: "John McCain, unlike most politicians, will not be bullied, threatened, paid off or pressured into changing his position. That was refreshing."

At first some Christians leaders said they could never vote for John McCain. Other leaders seemed to be waiting to see which way the wind was blowing, lamenting that Christians don't seem to know what to do.

The fact is that most Christians will vote for McCain because of his stand against abortion and his support of traditional marriage. Read Burress' email and an article from the Los Angeles Times below to find out more of what McCain is now saying he will support.

But other Christians, if not fully informed, will be lethargic and just stay home on Election Day. Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum, told a meeting of evangelical leaders in Denver Tuesday that staying home would be a vote for Obama this year.

Marc Nuttle, an attorney from Oklahoma and author of Moment of Truth, says many people also "vote their pocket book" especially when the economy isn't good or gas prices are high. He said the stakes are high because other issues are involved in this election. (Click here to receive a free copy of Nuttle’s book if you subscribe to Charisma or renew your current subscription.)

I've reported on the meeting I had on June 1O with Barack Obama and another group of leaders--mostly more liberal denominational leaders and middle-of-the-road evangelicals in Chicago. Obama did a great job of saying just the right things to that group, and he sounded like a sincere Christian.

The problem is that his record doesn't back up his nice words, and he is known to say different things to different groups. Even though his personal Christian faith is right for him, he says, others can get to heaven believing in a different religion or no religion. That's universalism, and as I write in my column in Charisma, that's just wrong.

I've gone to a couple of meetings with Christian leaders in the past four months lamenting the current political situation and the dangers a Democratic victory poses to Christian values and religious freedom. At one meeting, not much happened except that we prayed for hours together. There is nothing wrong with prayer, but it was as if they didn't know how to bring together a strategy, only how to pray. For Christians it seems strategy is hard. Prayer is easy.

Now I believe some Christian leaders are waking up and beginning to understand that McCain does not need to cuddle up to the religious right to deserve our support. And they must get out the message to their millions of followers.

But there is a longer-term problem. The religious right (as the secular press calls us) is known for what it is against more than what it is for--a point Tim Clinton, president of the American Association of Christian Counselors in Lynchburg, Va., articulated well at the Denver meeting.

This reputation comes because a couple of the national Christian leaders come across as grumpy and self-righteous. They are sometimes so dogmatic that if you don't support the things they support with the verbiage they use and to the extent they feel it should be supported, you are suspect and probably shouldn't be a part of their coalition.

Thankfully, one or two leaders best known for those traits weren't invited to the Denver meeting.

Instead there seemed to be an awareness that Christian conservatives must show they "care" for people, for the poor and for the environment and aren't just "against" things.

"We're at a crossroads," Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law school at Liberty University, told the Denver group. "We're not speaking with unity and clarity. We've been a fractured movement the past 18 months."

Staver, who called the meeting, had several articulate young people give a tutorial to the mostly gray-haired group on how younger conservatives view things.

To me the meeting showed that leaders are recognizing that we must get out the word to elect John McCain. Egos are being put aside. There seemed to be unity--especially when Mike Huckabee's name was mentioned as a potential running mate.

I'm trying to get an interview with both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama. I want to ask them the same questions and run their answers in Charisma as well as on the Internet. I think that it will be very telling and the average Christian will understand which way to vote.

The election is only four months away. A lot can happen in four months as Hillary Clinton discovered earlier this year. I predict McCain will win—not by a lot—but that's my prediction from where I sit.

Read the material from Phil Burress and please give us your opinion below.

Steve Strang

---

To: Friends of CCV

From: Phil Burress
June 27, 2008


As a result of 40 Ohio Pro-Family Forum leaders meeting with two McCain Campaign staffers last Saturday, six of us were asked to meet privately with him yesterday afternoon. There was a lot of media coverage, but the attached story does the best job of explaining the meeting. However, it does leave out the fact the Ohio Pro-Family Leaders have decided to move forward and start working to educate Ohio Values Voters about the vast differences between McCain and Obama. Personally, I can’t wait any longer and can’t take the chance that Obama will be our next president. I spent an hour sitting next to McCain, questioning him and listening as the group took him to task on issues like embryonic stem cell research. Dr. Willke, Founder of National Right to Life, gave him every reason to reverse himself on that issue. For me this election is primarily about the next Supreme Court appointments, even though McCain is with us on many other issues as well. Watching him, looking at his broken body and thinking about the price he paid as a POW was overwhelming. When he reached to scratch his eyebrow he had to take his right hand to lift his left to do so. I understand the difference between respecting this man as a war veteran, and working for him as candidate for president of the United States. But I must say that it is men like this that guarantee us our freedom. I also understand those who say they will not vote for him and I respect their principled position. Yesterday, though, I saw and listened to a man who likewise is principled. John McCain, unlike most politicians, will not be bullied, threatened, paid off or pressured into changing his position. That was refreshing. I was once one of those people who said “no way” to Senator John McCain as President. No longer. The stakes are too high. And if Obama wins I need to able to get up on November 5th, look at myself in the mirror, and when I pray, say, “Lord, I did all that I could.” Blessings.



Do you subscribe to Charisma or Ministry Today?

Many of you receive The Strang Report because you are on my personal contact list or have signed-up through my blog. If you are not a current subscriber of Charisma, I urge you to begin your subscription today!

Charisma will keep you up-to-date with what God is doing in the world by reporting on stories and subject matters that are not discussed as in-depth anywhere else, and what you read will build your faith. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Marc Nuttle’s new book “Moment of Truth” which I recommend in this issue of The Strang Report.

I encourage you to also begin a subscription to Ministry Today, which I believe is one of the most important magazines I publish because it influences the influencers in the church. If you are in active ministry, you’ll appreciate its analysis, prophetic insight and practical help every other month. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Sunday Adelaja’s ground-breaking book “Church Shift” with your paid order of Ministry Today.

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It's going to be a long election season

If the reaction I got to my last Strang Report is any indication, this is going to be a long and divisive election season.

It will be long because there will be endless speculation over whether Sen. Barack Obama and the Democrats will make any headway into the typically Republican support of evangelical Christians. So far it’s only Obama who is courting evangelical voters. Sen. John McCain seems to be distancing himself from the religious right. I'll let you know if my request for an interview with Sen. McCain is granted.

The election will be divisive because once again the Christian community will be split. Typically evangelical Christians who are African-American vote Democratic even though the Democratic positions on certain moral issues are repugnant to those of us who believe the Bible tells us that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman and who believe that life begins at conception. This position leaves no room for supporting the radical gay agenda or abortion.

But this year it appears the split will be even more pronounced than usual. Obama is making inroads into more “moderate” Christian circles by focusing on the social justice aspects of the Gospel and playing off the fact that many Christians are unhappy that Republicans don’t seem as concerned about those issues.

It’s sad to me that it must split down racial lines like this. In a way, I wish I could vote for a black candidate. I think it’s about time America had a black president. But black or white, Barack Obama is just a typical very, very liberal Democrat. He supports abortion rights and also civil unions for gay couples—positions I cannot support, no matter what other policies might be attractive.

One of the African-American leaders I have considered a friend for more than a decade called me to complain that I implied in my last report that a person couldn’t vote for Obama and be a Christian. (I didn't say that, but he read that into what I wrote.) My friend said he is against abortion and special rights for gays, but overall he feels the Democratic party supports the black community better. He doesn’t understand why I don’t see that that is just how it is among blacks--even most evangelical blacks.

Another African American friend cancelled an important appointment, supposedly over my last report.

But those were nothing compared to what some of the bloggers said. You can read their comments here and add your own.

One of the aspects of a meeting Obama recently had with Christian leaders that is not generally reported is that one of the leaders, who voiced support of Sen. Obama, gave a little lecture at the end of the meeting on all the things about John McCain that should keep Christians from supporting him--such as the fact that McCain was known to swear publicly and had a rather public divorce (as well as a few other things I won’t repeat here since they weren't nice, and I’ve not had a chance to research if they are true). Obama smiled and said he wasn’t going to get involved in accusing his opponent of those things.

The point seemed to be that there are things for Christians not to like about the Democratic candidate, such as his stand on abortion and gay rights, and there are things not to like about John McCain, such as how he lives his personal life and the importance faith plays in his life. Then it becomes a toss-up for Christians about whom to support.

To me, supporting life from conception and the importance of traditional marriage trump all other issues. And this isn’t a matter of who is the nicest person or who can say all the right things about his personal religious faith.

I found Sen. Obama to be very likable. I was impressed with how easily he talked about a faith that seems very sincere. He even knows the jargon we Christians like to use. But he also made clear that though he believes in Christ, he thinks all roads lead to God. We call that universalism, and it’s wrong.

But we are not electing a theologian-in-chief. We’re electing a man who will sign laws that will make abortion easier and will appoint judges that will keep Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. If Obama is elected, it is nearly certain that civil unions will become the law of the land and that hate crime legislation, which will make it illegal to even speak against homosexuality from a biblical point of view, will be passed.

In our hour-and-a-half meeting no one asked about hate crimes. And I was the only one who asked about abortion.

I said, “Senator, I want to ask a question I'm sure you are expecting regarding your position on abortion. I represent a segment of the church where nearly everyone considers the issue of supporting life to be the most important issue and where nearly everyone would be opposed to abortion. I want to ask what your stand on abortion is and if you believe what I think you believe, how you justify that with your Christian faith and why you think we should vote for you.”

My notes say he answered by saying he thinks this is a difficult moral issue. He said he is not "pro-abortion," but he struggles with whether the government should make the decision for women. He said there are areas of agreement with conservative Christians, such as wanting “responsible sexuality” and ending unwanted pregnancy. He spoke of making adoption a viable option. He specifically said one of the worst raps against him was that he was not in favor of infanticide or opposed to the “born alive” bill.

He said he knows it is a deeply moral issue and he has friends who strongly oppose his stand on abortion. And in a statement that surprised me, he said: “I’ll always admit there’s a possibility I’m wrong.”

In a way I agree that everything should be done to eliminate the need for abortion. Actually, I don't believe many Americans truly want to abort a baby; abortion is usually “birth control of the last resort” to end an unwanted or inconvenient pregnancy. People who support abortion seem to be oblivious to the fact that an unborn fetus is a living, breathing human being whose life is being taken during an abortion.

I also believe that we do need to be concerned about life outside the womb. My impression is that Christians are concerned, and in fact, usually it's the Christians who are most active in trying to help babies get adopted or helping them in other ways. But liberals use well-worn clichés to try to denigrate pro-life people who make a big deal about life in the womb, suggesting that they are not interested in the baby after it's born.

There are many other important issues in this campaign—national security, the economy, illegal immigration, how we fight the AIDS epidemic, environmental issues, energy policies, Middle East policies and how they affect the security of Israel. In other e-newsletters we’ll deal with some of those issues.

But to me it comes down to this—how I vote is based on whether the candidate is for or against life, period.


Do you subscribe to Charisma or Ministry Today?

Many of you receive The Strang Report because you are on my personal contact list or have signed-up through my blog. If you are not a current subscriber of Charisma, I urge you to begin your subscription today!

Charisma will keep you up-to-date with what God is doing in the world by reporting on stories and subject matters that are not discussed as in-depth anywhere else, and what you read will build your faith. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Marc Nuttle’s new book “Moment of Truth” which I recommend in this issue of The Strang Report.

I encourage you to also begin a subscription to Ministry Today, which I believe is one of the most important magazines I publish because it influences the influencers in the church. If you are in active ministry, you’ll appreciate its analysis, prophetic insight and practical help every other month. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Sunday Adelaja’s ground-breaking book “Church Shift” with your paid order of Ministry Today.

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Obama's "off-the-record" meeting with Christian leaders

I’ve never been invited to meet with a Democratic presidential candidate. So I was surprised when I received an invitation a couple of weeks ago to join “a small group of religious leaders, academics and faith-based organizations” to meet with Senator Barack Obama in Chicago on June 11. Since I am opposed to the leftist political stands of the Democratic Party and of Obama specifically, I didn’t really want to attend.

But I was curious what the junior Senator from Illinois would say to Christian leaders when it’s well known that he supports abortion and the gay rights agenda. In addition, he has ties to Islam as a child through both his father and stepfather. The denomination he has attended as an adult is the most liberal Protestant denomination. The church in Chicago that Sen. Obama and his family attended, Rev. Jeremiah Wright was its pastor. It’s well known that Rev. Wright believes in Liberation Theology. He has also accused the government of spreading the AIDS virus among blacks and famously preached the Sunday after September 11, 2001, that God should “damn America” rather than bless it for all the so-called evils he thinks America is guilty of.

What could he have in common with “conservative” Christian leaders?

I returned from the meeting very concerned. Here is a liberal—Obama--reaching out to the Christian community at a time the conservative--Sen. John McCain--seems to be distancing himself from the so-called “Christian Right.” I think McCain has a lot of work to do to get the support of the Christian community. Obama seemed to have the support of at least half of the 43 leaders who attended the Chicago meeting. And in my opinion, he “made points” with the rest. The tone of the meeting was respectful and generally upbeat.

I was curious to see who would attend. They wouldn’t release a list of invitees ahead of time. It turns out my son Cameron, who founded Relevant Media Group, was also invited. But neither of us knew this until I copied him with an email saying I intended to go, and he told me he was also attending.

The invitation to the meeting stated, “This is an off-the-record (no media) time for questioning and listening, with no expectation of endorsement.”

We were told that some of the attendees, who covered a wide range of the Christian community, wouldn’t come if the meeting was on the record. However, the press had found out and there were news reporters and television camera crews waiting to ask questions as we left the building to get a taxi to the airport. By the time I had arrived at Midway Airport and began to check my e-mails while awaiting my flight to Orlando, someone had sent me a blog that was surprisingly accurate about the meeting (click here to read it). Today an Associated Press report quoted a couple of attendees (click here to read it). Without revealing specifically what was said at the meeting, I’ll confirm that most of the report was accurate.

So I am merely reporting my personal reflections of the meeting with Sen. Obama while keeping my word about it being “off-the-record.”

Sen. Obama personally took time to meet each person and shake their hand. He’s not as large a man as I envisioned from seeing him on television. But, he’s warm and personable --- obviously one of the reasons why people like him. He seemed to remember names well. He hugged a couple of the participants—mostly the black preachers who attended. He also seemed to be on top of the issues; and he’s obviously very intelligent.

The questions were mostly “softball” questions in my opinion. I was concerned after three or four general questions that we wouldn’t ask the most important questions. So I raised my hand and he called on me. I said, “Senator, I want to ask a question I'm sure you are expecting regarding your position on abortion. I represent a segment of the church where nearly everyone considers the issue of supporting life to be the most important issue and where nearly everyone would be opposed to abortion. I want to ask what your stand on abortion is and if you believe what I think you believe, how you justify that with your Christian faith and why you think we should vote for you.”

Since his response was “off-the-record,” I can say that the time he took to answer was probably 15 minutes. He came across as thoughtful and much more of a “centrist” than what I would have expected. He did not appear to be the crazy leftist that is being supported by George Soros and his radical leftist friends. Sen. Obama looked me in the eye as he answered my question, almost as if it were a one-on-one interview. I had already read the chapter on “faith” in his book the “Audacity of Hope.” If you want to know how he answered the question, read that chapter. In other words, other than his demeanor and obvious attempt to win over the Christian leaders in the room, he didn’t say anything new.

I knew personally about one-third of the people in the room. I had heard of another third of the invitees. Some of the people from the more liberal part of the church were unknown to me. Those from the evangelical community tended to be more the ones who are interested in global warming and social justice as well as the two issues conservative Christians are known for—pro-life and pro-family.

You may know that I supported Gov. Mike Huckabee during the primaries. Like Huckabee, Obama was winsome and good with giving extemporaneous answers to difficult questions. I had hoped that Huckabee would have gotten the nomination. Huckabee was never able to raise the kind of money that Obama has raised. But he did get a lot of the grassroots excited as Obama has obviously done.

Sen. John McCain was my second choice for the nomination. He is a true American hero. He has served well in the Senate for many years. He is strong for our national defense at a time we are in a war with Islamic terrorists. And, he is strong for Israel. He also has the right stands, in my opinion, on abortion and the sanctity of marriage.

Unlike Huckabee, he is not comfortable talking about his faith. It’s well known he has a temper and he has been known to swear in public. The fact he divorced the wife who stuck by him and raised his children while he was in a prisoner of war camp to marry a much younger woman, doesn’t sit well with those of us who believe marriage is for life.

But, we’re not electing the person we think is the most righteous. We’re voting on the one we think will lead America in the right direction for the next four years. Whether Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton or any of the other Democrats had gotten the nomination, I believe the policies they espouse are dangerous not only to the security of our country if they are weak in the battle against terrorism, but they will hurt businesses if there is more governmental interference. And, on the moral issues such as the sanctity of marriage, it’s absolutely scary to think of what will happen if same sex marriage is allowed in this nation. At the same time, the next president will probably nominate not one but several Supreme Court justices to replace some elderly justices who obviously can’t live forever.

My friend Marc Nuttle recounts this in his book “Moment of Truth,” which I highly recommend. You can get it by clicking here.

There’s probably a lot more that I could say about the meeting. But the most significant thing is just the fact that the meeting was held and that several dozen prominent leaders took time to meet with Sen. Obama who I believe won over the loyalties of many.

I urge Sen. John McCain to have a similar meeting—or several such meetings. There is a lot of latent support for him in the Christian community. But after being “still armed” by the McCain camp, while being wooed by the Obama camp, this may be the first time a majority of evangelicals will vote for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter, who talked of being “born again” and got many evangelical votes in 1976.

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Support Hagee by going to Washington

This is a very strange election season. Who would have thought last summer that Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama would be their respective party nominees? Didn't the media nearly coronate Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton as the nominees?

You may remember that I endorsed Gov. Mike Huckabee to be president and I still hold out hope that he may be the vice presidential nominee. I will write about this in an upcoming Strang Report.

But now the focus is on John McCain who received and then rejected endorsements from two friends of mine--Pastor John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley.

When McCain wanted and needed to win both the Texas and Ohio primaries, he was happy to get these endorsements from Hagee in Texas and Parsley in Ohio. But then when Barack Obama's radical former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright became a controversial figure in the election, some liberals looked for controversial clergymen who backed McCain to use to blast him. They latched on to Hagee and Parsley.

I may opine about Rod Parsley in a coming Strang Report. He's well known as a lightning rod (no pun intended) and much of what we believe about God and the fight against good and evil makes perfect sense to us in our churches, but to the unbeliever it sometimes sounds like nonsense. And there are enemies of the gospel who are actually opposed to merely speaking the truth. Look at the attacks on those who preach what the Bible says about sexuality.

But with Hagee I think the attacks go beyond them merely misunderstanding to being downright unfair. That's because Hagee is being called anti-Semitic--a charge so wrong it borders on being ludicrous.

When I heard these charges I had a hard time believing it. Hagee has done more than any other Christian in our generation to show love to the Jews and to stand strong with Israel. Yet he made one comment, taken out of context about Hitler, that some liberal blogger says makes him anti-Semitic.

That makes me mad. First, the comment can be explained. He was searching for reasons why a loving God would let something as horrible as the Holocaust happen. And he said something about it was what God used to give the Jews back their homeland in the Middle East. That doesn't justify the Holocaust. But it is true that the entire civilized world was feeling guilty after World War II for the atrocities against the Jewish people. And in this groundswell of sympathy, Israel was created by the United Nations less than three years after the end of the war.

Meanwhile, a quarter century later, a young pastor went to Israel as a tourist and came home a Zionist. That is how John Hagee described the experience that has propelled him to do more and more and more to help the Jewish people.

Not only has he given away more than $30 million to Jewish charities, but he has inspired many like me to do the same. I'm only just beginning, but I've been responsible for raising $400,000-- a pittance compared to Hagee-- for Israel and it is a direct result of his example and influence.

It’s well known that John Hagee started Christians United for Israel which is the largest Christian pro-Israel group ever established. I have the privilege of being director for four southeastern states--Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. So I have seen up close and personal all the time, money, blood, sweat and tears that has gone into this organization.

Now the third annual "summit" in Washington DC will be held in about six weeks from July 21-24. I plan to be there and I hope you will too.

John Hagee has done so much for Israel and the recent attacks are so unfair that I hope there is a huge outpouring of support for him. If you hadn't planned to go for any other reason than to show your support, I believe it would be a good thing-- as the Jews call it, a mitzvah-- to support Hagee by going to Washington.

We need to make the naysayers sit up and take notice at the outpouring of support from the Christian community for Hagee. Already the Jewish community has come to his defense. And Senator Joe Lieberman, a Jew, will be at the Summit and has been defending Hagee. Click here to read the statement he has released.

My longtime friend Mike Evans is as mad about this as I am. He fired off the op-ed piece below about Hagee. Take time to read it since he has a somewhat different perspective than me.

And take time to go online to register for the CUFI Washington/Israel Summit in July at http://www.cufi.org/. You can also write Pastor Hagee a note of support on his website http://www.jhm.org/.

I know he'll appreciate it.

----------------------------

John Hagee is No Anti-Semite
by Mike Evans

John Hagee is no anti-Semite. The secular, liberal, God-hating media has been obsessed with Pastor John Hagee, insinuating that he condones the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler’s actions.

I have been a credentialed Middle East journalist for more than thirty years and I am very familiar with the games the secular media play, especially during election years.

Anyone with a brain knows that when you have a liberal Democratic presidential candidate, Barak Obama, whose pastor Jeremy Wright has, in fact, made numerous anti-Semitic statements, the strategy of the liberal Left media is to find a conservative, Republican-supporting pastor and use him as a scapegoat, no matter what the truth is.

John Hagee was the perfect candidate because of his unapologetic Christian Zionist stand. The truth is, being a Christian Zionist is the only thing the media could accuse Pastor Hagee of with any credibility; but of course, that is old news.

You can’t be a Christian Zionist and be anti-Semitic. That would be akin to being a card-carrying member of the KKK while marching with Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first time I heard the name John Hagee, I was in a meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his senior advisor, Dr. Ruben Hecht in the fall of 1979. We were discussing the subject of Christian Zionism, naming those who were the strongest Christian supporters with whom Israel could build a bridge.

Dr. Hecht brought up John Hagee’s name and expressed how impressed he was with him. He said Hagee was a very strong Christian Zionist. I did not know John Hagee at the time, but realized Ruben Hecht would certainly have done his homework before making such a statement. Later, Christian journalist Jamie Buckingham met with me and said, “I want to tell you about John Hagee and his uncompromising love for Israel.”

Jamie Buckingham and Dr. Ruben Hecht were right about Pastor Hagee. His support for Israel has become legendary.

As Chairman of the Board of the Corrie ten Boom House in Haarlem, Holland, a locale made famous by the book The Hiding Place and the movie of the same name produced by Dr. Billy Graham, I have spent an enormous amount of time defending the Jewish people and combating anti-Semitism. The Ten Boom family gave their lives to save 800 Jewish men, women and children by hiding them in their clock shop during World War II. Three of the family members have been honored by Yad Vashem in the Hall of the Righteous Gentiles in Jerusalem: Corrie, Betsie and Casper ten Boom.

To accuse John Hagee of being anti-Semitic is as absurd as accusing Casper, Corrie or Betsie. If they were alive today, I am certain they would be speaking up in defense of John Hagee.

To accuse John Hagee of being anti-Semitic is as absurd as accusing Martin Luther King, Jr. of being anti-Semitic. It was Dr. King who said,

“You declare, my friends, that you do not hate Jews, you are merely anti-Zionists. And I say, let the truth ring forth from the highest mountaintops. Let it echo through the valleys of Gods green earth. When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews. Zionism is nothing less then the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land.”

Truthfully, the secular media hates pro-Israel Christian Zionists and John Hagee has become the poster boy for that hatred because of his organizations, Christians United for Israel and his Night to Honor Israel Conferences.

Anyone who stands up to the liberal Left media as Hagee has done in defense of Israel is labeled as ignorant, evil, racist and a bigot. The vast majority of the media are secular humanists and liberal democrats. They make excuses for evil, and even worse, deny that evil exists and refuse to confront it.

How in the world can the media sell such stupidity when a pastor has founded the fastest- growing, pro-Israel coalition in America that combats anti-Semitism and lobbies for the rights of the Jewish people?

Before President Ahmadinejad’s last United Nations appearance in New York, his spiritual advisor told me that Ahmadinejad likes Jews; he just hates Zionists. It is more believable to call Ahmadinejad pro-Israel than it is to call John Hagee an anti-Semite.