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Fiery preacher says dividing Israel is not God's will
by Joseph Ernest January 7, 2011
Newscast Media -- One of the most controversial and fiery preachers from San Antonio has denounced any effort in the Middle East peace process between Israel and Palestine, that involves dividing land, saying that any division of land is against God's will. Pastor John Hagee cited several Old Testament scriptures saying that God made an everlasting covenant with the Jewish people regarding the promised land.
Hagee pointed his critics to a scripture in Genesis 13:14-17, which reads, "The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. ALL the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring FOREVER.
Other verses he highlighted include Genesis 17:7-8, in which God says He will establish an "everlasting covenant" with Abraham, Psalm 89:28-36, and Genesis 15:18-21, which Hagee says describes the location of the land God gave to the Israelites.
Hagee, after citing these verses said, "Jerusalem should never be divided for any reason. It is the property of the people of Israel. The president of the United States has no authority to tell the people of Israel what they can and cannot do with the city of Jerusalem. God did not make a covenant with Washington, D.C. He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that covenant stands. It is still the covenant."
However, other theologians like Dr. Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., sees the scripture differently. He argues that even though it is true that the earliest promises God gave about the future of the people in the Middle East were to Abraham and that God made a special covenant with Isaac and his descendants,t God also promised Abraham that He will "bless" his other son, Ishmael, the father of the Arab peoples, and make him "fruitful and exceedingly numerous" in Genesis 17:20.
"We have an obligation today to honor that promise of blessing as well," Mouw said. The respected theologian also said people should not quote God’s ancient promises to the people of Israel regarding their land without noting His concern about how they use that land. The Old Testament prophets, said Mouw, were clear that God will not bless Israel if she does not practice justice toward her neighbors and the oppressed peoples within her border.
Similarly, Pastor Joel C. Hunter of Northland, A Church Distributed near Orlando, Fla., disagrees with Hagee’s interpretation of the modern land of Israel. Hunter, who is on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Evangelical Alliance, said Hagee’s view represents "a limited portion of Christians who are millennial dispensationalists in their theology," or those who believe that the nation of Israel is distinct from the Church and that God has yet to fulfill His promises to national Israel. The promises include giving Israel the land that will be the setting for a millennial kingdom where Christ, in his second coming, will rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years.
The Israel-Palestinian peace negotiation has been ongoing, with numerous stalls, for the past 17 years since the Oslo accords of 1993. Add Comments>>
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