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John Hagee believes Yeshua is not Messiah?

UPDATE: a commenter points out that John Hagee may not actually be saying Jesus is not the Messiah, but rather, Jesus is not the Messiah the Jews were looking for. In short, Jesus was not the triumphant Moshiach ben David (Messiah son of David) the Jews were looking for, but rather, he was the suffering servant Moshiach ben Yosef (Messiah son of Joseph); John Hagee may be stating this fact in his book. However, I've yet to verify either claim. Perhaps if John Hagee or one of his supporters could comment to this post, we can bring clarity to this matter for the body of Messiah.

Update #2: I've written another post that clarifies Hagee's position on Jesus as Messiah.

I'm always skeptical and a little put off by TV evangelists. While some mean well, too many are money-focused, some claim God will bless you if you give to their ministry, and there is no shortage of wolves among the sheep: false prophets, thieves, liars; a good pharisaical bunch, all in all.

John Hagee is a televangelist, and despite his support of Israel, his stand against Islamic fascism, and his stance against sexual immorality, I'm rather disturbed & confused by this book promotion, which claims that Jesus denied and rebuked claims to be the Messiah.



Let me restate that in gentile western Christian terms: he claims Jesus denied being Christ. Thus, it would be inaccurate, as a Christian, to call him Jesus Christ. In fact, gentile believers in Jesus wouldn't be called "Christian" at all, since Jesus supposedly wasn't Christ; you'd be called Jesusian or something. :-) And I wouldn't be a Messianic Jew, I'd be a Yeshuatic Jew. :-)

Ignoring for a moment that this is against modern Christian theology (after all, I am against most Christian theology too!), I don't understand how one can fudge around concise, surgical statements made by our Messiah in places like John 4:

Yeshua said to her, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain in Samaria nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we Jews worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman replied, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he'll explain everything to us."

Then Yeshua declared, "I the one you speak to am he."


If anything, this only reinforces the view of apparent corruption of televangelists. Do televangelists represent evangelical Christianity as a whole?

If any of you fine blog readers believe I've misrepresented John Hagee in any way, please let me know in the comments; I don't mean to spread lies about anyone, but only to bring things to light, resulting in clarity.

22 comments:

  1. Judah,

    I don't think that you have misrepresented Hagee. I think that he is off on some kind of ego trip. He has set himself up to be some kind of expert on the end times and how they will play out in Israel. He is in line with the Darby/LaHaye end times view, which I don't think is correct.

    For the most part I avoid watching any TV preachers. Every time I do I get mad at someone wearing a $1000 suit asking me to send in my "seed money" so God will bless me.

    In Christ,
    Gary

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  2. I would have to read his book to be completely fair to him, but I agree with you I have no idea how he can square this circle. Other than through semantic word games or something. He seems to be veering off from one of the most basic understandings of the early Church of the Circumcision which was passed on to the Gentile Church.

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  3. I think Hagee is dead wrong on just about everything, but the guy has some serious influence (or it appears that way).

    He scares me almost as much as that Jesus Miranda guy with the 666 tattoo.

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  4. He is stating the issue poorly, probably for the shock value of it.

    He is trying to say that Yeshua (Jesus) did not come as the perceived Messiah by most Jews but came as the suffering servant. Most Rabbinical Jews that I know only know of the Messiah as the coming King (Meshiach ben David).

    What Hagee is trying to say here, but it is offensive, is that He did not come as King but as the servant, “Meshiach ben Yoseph”.

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  5. You know, Holy Spirit is so faithful. This morning, during devotions, I clearly heard Him say, “Go to Isaiah, the verse from yesterday”. I was in two different places in Isaiah yesterday, but I felt like I should go to the 61st chapter reading.

    This is the part that says, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted;”…

    When we get to verse 2 it says, “To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,”. This is saying that the Messiah will bring mercy, the first part of the verse, and judgment, the second part of the verse.

    However when we read the same reference in Luke 4:1-19, we find that Yeshua ends with “TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” In effect He was saying I have only come to bring mercy. I have only come as Meshiach ben Yoseph.

    Very interesting…

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  6. Isquez, I'm interested in clarity, not spreading lies about anyone. If what you say is true, then my blog post is mistaken, and I will modify it accordingly. Do you have any evidence to suggest he's speaking of Moshiach Ben David vs. Moshiac Ben Yosef? I understand the difference, and if that's what he's saying, then I will gladly update the post to account for this.

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  7. I had never heard of Messiah son of Joseph. Here is an interesting link: Mashiach Ben Yosef

    I still think John Hagee is on the wrong track here.

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  8. I’m going to see if I can get a copy of the book.

    I read some comments on the book and again it looks like Hagee is trying to say that the Jewish people thought He was coming as the Messiah King, because of prophecy in Zec 9:7 (riding on the donkey). Therefore they saw Him as the King that would rid them of the Romans.

    So what I believe he is saying is that Yeshua did not come as the Messiah they were expecting. We’ll see.

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  9. Jesus didn't merely claim to be *a* Messsiah (Saul, David ... and Darius were all 'Annointed Ones'), he didn't even merely claim to be THE Messiah (that is, the most important of all the 'Annointed Ones').

    No, Jesus claimed, in no uncertain terms, to be God. His immediate audience 2000 years ago, and we, if we are paying attention, knew/know this.

    For instance, when he said "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will never pass away," he was making a direct claim to be God.

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  10. Correction:

    I meant to mention Cyrus, not Darius, as an 'Annointed One.'

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  11. Hi Ilion, thanks for visiting and posting.

    Yes, there is a difference between kings and the king, an anointed one and the anointed one. Hagee seems to be claiming that Y'shua wasn't the anointed one. However, Isquez has raised some questions about this claim; I'd need to look into it more to say for sure.

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  12. Ah, but my point is that Jesus made claims even more "outrageous" than claiming to be A Messiah, or claiming to be THE Messiah.

    Jesus claims to be God.

    Now, certainly, it is very important to understand what Hagee is saying ... otherwise, one is gossipping and/or bearing false witness.


    BUT, regardless of Hagee's actual position on whether Jesus did or did not make Messianic claims, the claims Jesus made about himself go *far* beyond a Messianic claim.


    Jesus said, in no uncertain terms, "I am God."

    This claim is true, or it is not true.

    If it is true, well, then, it is true and certain facts logically follow.

    If it is false, well, then, it is false and certain facts logically follow.

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  13. I finally (just now) played the video you linked (I generally avoid videos, they usually take too long to get through).

    I agree with Gary Kirkham: "I don't think that you have misrepresented Hagee."


    Besides which, Jesus *did* make Messianic claims about himself (even aside from the more "outrageous" divine claims) -- for instance, when John the Baptist sent disciples to ask of Jesus, "Are you the Annointed One, are you the One we are waiting for?" Jesus' answer was an unqualified "Yes." But, it was intentionally stated so that those who wish to deceive themselves can easily do so.

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  14. Here is a link I found to Hagee on the Glen Beck show: Part 1 of 7

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  15. Ilion, he certainly did make Messianic claims, however, if John Hagee is merely saying Jesus did not come as the triumphant son of David who was to restore Israel and become physical king, then Mr. Hagee is right. However, I haven't verified either claim yet, I'm waiting to see some more information before discerning his views.

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  16. I've posted a follow-up to this blog post, which clarifies Hagee's stance on Jesus as Messiah.

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  17. Jesus is not Messiah ben Yoseph..Messiah ben Yoesph is the son of Epharim. Jesus came from the line of Levi and David.
    Mary was kin to the levites..John the baptist mother and father was of the house of Aaron and Mary was his mothers cousin. Gen. 49 speaks of a head that comes out of Ephraim in the last days he will be mighty and great and he would have the dew of heaven and the everlasting hills.. Jesus is not him... He is from Judah cannot be both everytime someone is mention great in the bible to come they all ways says that Jesus...

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  18. oh yeah Hagge is a false prophet... Anyone denies Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is the spirit of anti christ!!!!
    Christ means messiah in greek

    Yes there has been many messiahs of the past mostly all the prophets and every high Priest has been a Messiah.Lev ch 4
    Jesus is the Messiah that Heaven and earth would listen to who would raised the dead and heal the wounded....

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  19. Hi Tony, thanks for posting.

    I realize Jesus didn't physically descend from the tribe of Joseph, therefore calling him Moshiach Ben Yosef is genetically wrong.

    However, neither did Jesus descend from Levi, so calling him Cohen HaGadol ("High Priest") as the book of Hebrews does, is also genetically incorrect.

    What it interesting is that Yeshua's primary follow is that of the gentiles, in whom is spread the northern tribes of Israel, including Joseph and Ephraim.

    Another thing to note is that Scripture often refers to "My servant David", when speaking prophetically of the Messiah. We take this to mean "anointed king", not necessarily David himself. Likewise, son of David and son of Joseph may not be titles of tribe membership, but prophetic titles give to kingly messiah and suffering servant messiah.

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  21. At the minimal risk of unilateral agreement I confess I have been detoured occasionally by Brother Hagee's expository sermonettes, e.g. tithing. I disagree agreeably with " A Mashiach" or "A Messiah," common error among JWs; the definite article "A" is an unfortunate rendering. Moreover Rabbi Yeshua came as a suffering servant...this time. John Hagee believes Yeshua is the Messiah I spoke to John this afternoon. I don't need to read his book(s), I have read "the Book." John while imperfect preaches the Kingdom principles exegeticaly. I hope we're not viewed by the Goyim of Ephraim as chicken little, straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. The Ruach ha Kodesh has HIS preacher in tow and is merciful enough to reprove, rebuke and correct what HE finds in the recesses of Brother Hagee's heart. I'm concerned what's in mine. I'm convicted to praise G-d for John has clearly has written more books, won more souls and been used for Christ than I have lately. Baruch Ha Shem Adonai

    Toda Rabah
    Rabbi Dr. Phelps, Phd, GA

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  22. http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/YeshuapromisedMessiah.html



    This article has been written very interesting way of the Messiah according to the text of the old covenant.

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