John Hagee's endorsement of John McCain has prompted Frank Rich of the New York Times to make a rather labored and ill-fitting comparison between Hagee and Barack Obama's long-time pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Rich's comparison is ill-fitting in that, while Jeremiah Wright was Obama's pastor for more than twenty years, Hagee has never been McCain's pastor. Indeed, I rather doubt that McCain has more than a vague idea of who Hagee is, and is certainly ignorant of what Hagee teaches at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

But even though Rich's comparison is lacking substance and is an obvious attempt to stir up a fire storm similar to that caused by Obama's relationship with a pastor who is fond of asking God to damn America, I think that there are some legitimate comparisons to be made between Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee. Rich's feeble attack on McCain gives us a platform for scrutinizing the very real faults of one of our so-called Evangelical leaders.

Please understand that this writer does not suffer from a latent fear of the deceitfulness of all fat people. I like a rotund Santa Clause just as much as the next guy. But I can not trust a man who spends a great deal of time preaching about the sins of the flesh – pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality, alcohol consumption -- while he personally exemplifies the very real sin of the flesh, gluttony.

I am sensitive to the fact that a number of good people carry around extra weight from time to time. During the winter months when my outdoor activities are curtailed, I tend to put on unwanted pounds. But I think that the majority of Christians would agree that God would have us to be good stewards of the body that He has given us, and so we discipline ourselves to avoid gaining unhealthy pounds. But John Hagee has been severely overweight for many years and seems to happily wallow in his obesity. He seems content to tell us that our bodies are the temples of the Lord while ignoring the fact that his own temple is better described as Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. Hagee physically demonstrates a lack of personal discipline that makes me skeptical of anything that he has to say.

Beyond Hagee's obvious problem with gluttony, he, like Jeremiah Wright, is a guy that never allows the facts to get in the way of his sensationalism. Jeremiah Wright has been heard saying that the United States government introduced AIDS into the African-American population in order to accomplish a planned genocide. Of course, Wright has no basis in historical fact for such a radical claim, but making such a claim was sure to influence church attendance.

Likewise, when Hagee noticed that his popularity was dwindling and the money was not flooding the coffers in a way that would support his lavish lifestyle, he published a book entitled In Defense of Israel and in promoting this book, he specifically stated, “It scripturally proves that the Jewish people, as a whole, did not reject Jesus as Messiah. It will also prove that Jesus did not come to earth to be the Messiah. It will prove that there was a Calvary conspiracy between Rome, the High Priest, and Herod to execute Jesus as an insurrectionist too dangerous to live. Since Jesus refused, by word and deed, to claim to be the Messiah, how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?”

Of course, in making his sensationalistic statement that Jesus did not claim to be the Messiah, Hagee forgot the little story of the Samaritan woman at the well found in John 4. In verse 25, the woman says, “I know that the Messiah cometh,” and Jesus responds by saying “I that speak unto thee am he.” That sounds to me remarkably like a claim to be the Messiah.

When Hagee's obvious lack of attention to what the Bible actually says was pointed out, Hagee made the following statement: “I am writing to share with you some important news pertaining to my latest book, In Defense of Israel. It has come to my attention that my choice of language and some of the interpretation being given that language in Chapter Ten has caused some confusion and actually led some readers to question whether I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If people are reaching such a conclusion, then I have clearly failed to communicate my views as well as I should have. I have decided to release a new edition of In Defense of Israel with an expanded Chapter Ten. The new version will make the same point as the prior one, but using language which cannot mislead anyone about my bedrock belief that Jesus was and is Lord, Savior and Messiah.” Now we have some insight into the work of a truly remarkable charlatan. When his poor scholarship is pointed out to him, Hagee completely changes his position and, in an act of pure mercenary genius, prints a new book to sell.

Speaking of mercenary genius, there can be little doubt that the motives of both Wright and Hagee are mercenary. From the pulpit in his church, Wright enjoyed pointing out the evils of “rich, white people.” He saw no irony in his ownership of a luxurious, million-dollar home in a gated community. Additionally, much to the chagrin of Obama, Wright has continued to seek the spotlight and has been very candid in admitting that he does so because he is going to be publishing a book very soon.

It must be admitted that Wright's mercenary aspirations seem pitiful compared to those of Hagee. Indeed, when the truth is finally revealed about Hagee's holdings, I suspect that his money-grubbing ways will dwarf even those of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. In 2003, the San Antonio Express News published the following:

“According to income tax statements that GETV [GETV is Global Evangelism Television, Hagee's “non-profit” television arm] filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the nonprofit organization drew $18.3 million in revenue in 2001, the most recent year the organization submitted a return to the IRS. That year, Hagee's total compensation package amounted to more than $1.25 million.”

“Like most nonprofit organizations, GETV is obligated to disclose its finances by making IRS income tax statements, called 990 forms, available to the public. In return for complying, it isn't required to pay income taxes on revenue, business and operation taxes and property taxes. It also receives a discount on bulk mailing.”

“And it is also able to sell products tax-free and at a 50 percent profit because selling religious books, tapes and albums fits within GETV's broadly stated mission, which is to "spread the gospel of Jesus Christ."”

“According to the 990 forms for GETV, the organization in 2001 netted $12.3 million from donations, $4.8 million in profit from the sales of books and tapes, and an additional $1.1 million from various other sources, including rental income.”

“As the nonprofit organization's president, Hagee drew $540,000 in compensation, as well as an additional $302,005 in compensation for his position as president of Cornerstone Church, according to GETV's tax statements.”

“He also received $411,561 in benefits from GETV, including contributions to a retirement package for highly paid executives the IRS calls a "rabbi trust," so named because the first beneficiary of such an irrevocable trust was a rabbi.”

“The John Hagee Rabbi Trust includes a $2.1 million 7,969-acre ranch outside Brackettville, with five lodges, including a "main lodge" and a gun locker. It also includes a manager's house, a smokehouse, a skeet range and three barns.”

“Taken together, his payment package, $842,005 in compensation and $414,485 in benefits, was one of the highest, if not the highest, pay package for a nonprofit director in the San Antonio area in 2001.”

One may wonder why we have no public records of Hagee's more recent “non-profit” dealings. Shortly after the San Antonio Express News published the foregoing story, Hagee re-registered GETV as a church named “Grace Church of San Antonio,” and thereby became exempt from IRS filings. Apparently, Hagee did not care for the public scrutiny of his mercenary habits. One can only guess at the millions in compensation that he will receive in 2008.

I do not believe that a pastor of a church should be required to take a vow of poverty. I believe that it is the responsibility of a church to properly compensate it's pastor in a manner that is consistent with a comfortable lifestyle. But no pastor on earth is deserving of compensation and benefits on the scale that we see with John Hagee, and quite frankly, I do not believe that a good pastor could conscientiously receive such compensation. In another example of his unbridled gluttony, Hagee has forsaken the shepherding of his flock in order to take up the much more profitable exercise of fleecing it. Nothing in the mercenary behavior of John Hagee even remotely bespeaks the behavior of our Savior, who, by the way, either is the Messiah, or is not the Messiah, or claimed to be the Messiah, or did not claim to be the Messiah, depending on which position will sell the most books written by Hagee.

When confronted with the amazing reality that people actually listen to and support monetarily men such as Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee, one is compelled to wonder why these two charlatans have followers. It it this writer's opinion that the followers of each of these two men are attracted to the gimmick that each provides. With Jeremiah Wright, the gimmick is quite simple and as old as the art of conversation. Wright uses class-envy rhetoric to make his listeners feel better about themselves.

In 2^nd Timothy 4:8 the apostle Paul tells us that there is a crown of righteousness that the Lord will give to all “who love His appearing.” Hagee is crafty in that he knows that his audience is not really so focused on the Lord's appearing as much as they are focused on the possibility of their own potential for disappearing. Unfortunately, there exists a large number of Christians who, because of indebtedness, or poor health, or just a plain inability to adjust to the difficulties of life on this earth, are focused not on the potential of soon seeing their Saviour, but are rather focused on the rapture which will take them away from whatever undesirable circumstances that they face here. Hagee preys upon these people by constantly preaching his misguided interpretations of prophecy in Scripture. In 1993 he went so far as to predict that Christ would return by 1998. Week after week, Hagee harps on what is going to happen in the future, thereby providing hope of escape for thousands. Under normal circumstances, I would not have any problem with a person providing hope to people, but Hagee provides a false hope which is provided only as means for supporting his own lavish lifestyle.

Here is where the comparison between Hagee and Wright falters dramatically. When confronted with the firestorm about his strident, unsupportable, and anti-American remarks, Pastor Wright did not apologize or retract anything that he said. When confronted with the potential for a firestorm about his anti-Catholic remarks, Hagee spinelessly sent a letter to the the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights expressing his “deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.” Much as he did with his moronic statement that Jesus did not claim to be the Messiah, Hagee lies about past statements he has made concerning the Catholic Church. In the past, Hagee has repeatedly referred to the Catholic Church as the “great whore.” There is a video of Hagee on YouTube that demonstrates this succinctly. In his letter to the Catholic League, Hagee lies about what he has said in the past by saying that according to his interpretation of Revelation, the “great whore” only appears during the seven years of tribulation, so he could never have been referring to the Catholic Church when he spoke about the “great whore.”

John Hagee is a glutton who lies when it suits his purpose, preys upon people's hopes and fears about the future, and makes a great deal of money in the process. There is nothing about John Hagee that remotely qualifies him as an Evangelical leader or as a pastor of a flock. The comparisons between John Hagee and Jeremiah Wright are unfortunately legitimate, but not for the reasons that Frank Rich posits.

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