The unthinkable has happened before (such as the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic). He says America is heading into a “perfect storm of human error driven by the winds of complacency and overconfidence...” (5)Hagee bothers me when he says, “The welfare state has far more voters than those who pay taxes to pay for the demands of the welfare legions. Washington's present solution is to tax those who are working day and night to give it to people who are sometimes social parasites, who are able to work but refuse to do so.” (10) (In 2008, there were 216,885,357 taxpayers in the U.S. In 2010 census there were a total of 308,603,513 people in the U.S. with 91,718,156 not paying taxes, that includes too old, too young, unable to work and those without jobs. USA reported that January, 2010, there were 37 million on food stamps, nine million on unemployment, and four million on welfare. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-25-welfare-rolls_N.htm Now, do those figures support what Hagee said? Let's see, 50 million out of 308 million, nope! I think Hagee's wrong.)
Hagee bothers me when he writes about electromagnetic pulse (EMP). “Here's what EMP does. ...[I]t kills electrons.” (17, repeated again on 66) Hagee is no physicist! EMP causes intense magnetic fields that burn out power lines, surges. (See http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-10-26-emp_N.htm for a good (and true) explanation of EMP)
He predicts, “There will be a nuclear war in the Middle East unless prevented by military force.” (54)
He bothers me when he is vindictive. For example he says, “I'm confident that if a nuclear attack happens with this administration, and if there are enough people left in Congress to vote on a given bill, someone will quickly craft a bill calling the 'the rich' to pay for the damages created by a nuclear attack and someone else will craft a bill blaming George W. Bush because the attack happened!” (72)
He reviews the country's financial history. (Nixon, a Republican, took the dollar off the gold standard, 80) (So, according to the chart on page 87, the U. S. deficit really started to get bigger in 1980, continuing through 1996, hmm, that's Reagan and Bush, Republicans, then a surplus from 1997 through 201, that's Clinton, a Democrat, then an even bigger deficit from 2002 through 2008, hmm, that's Bush,a Republican) He notes the increased expenses with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. (The chart on page 99 really shows how the trade deficits increased during George W. Bush's presidency!) Hagee predicts “soon, we may very well witness the death of the dollar...” (103)
Concerning Israel, Hagee believes this land was given to Israel 3,500 years ago. In his eyes, Israel is beyond criticism. Israel is important “because World War III is about to begin over the failure of humanity to recognize Israel's historic right to the land.” (108) It is obvious from Ezekiel 38, he says, Russia and Iran are planning a “brazen and massive invasion” of Israel. (145)
He addresses the criminalization of Christianity and the agenda of the ACLU.
The latter third of the book is Hagee's position on biblical prophecy. He covers the basics of interpreting prophecy and notes those already fulfilled, at Jesus' first coming. Hagee believes, “We are the terminal generation.” (181) “The generation which sees the rebirth of Israel is the terminal generation.” (193, hmmm, didn't Hal Lindsey say something like that 35 years ago?) “God tells us when, how, and where the world will end...” (181) He lists “ten prophetic signs clearly indicating that we are the terminal generation and that we are well on our way on the road to Armageddon.” (182)
“...[T]he next prophetic event...is the rapture of the church.” (201) “The rapture could happen any second...” (206) The church will escape the horror of the tribulation. (203) BUT, only if you are watching for Him. “...[I]f you want to go with Him, you must be watching for Him.” (210)
The last fifty pages of the book are about the tribulation. If you are watching for the rapture, you won't be here so you can skip this part.
Hagee bothers me when he makes statements he cannot prove. For example, “Consider this fact: every military weapon ever invented has been used in combat.” (191) If you have studied logic, you know that in order to prove that statement is true, Hagee would have to have knowledge about every single weapon ever invented – in all of time and all over the world. (Perhaps in a village in Mongolia a thousand years ago someone invented a weapon, tried it on his brother, then discarded it...)
Hagee bothers me when he says, “God is sovereign!” (182) yet also notes that his ministry basically “fulfilled” one of his “ten prophetic signs” by providing over $17 million to bring 23,000 Russian Jews to Israel. (194) It must be a powerful feeling to know you are helping a “sovereign” God out by fulfilling a prophecy!
Hagee bothers me when he says if you want to go in the rapture, you must be watching for it. (210) The implication is that if you aren't “watching,” you'll be left behind, even if you are a Christian.
Hagee bothers me when he criticizes those who attack the doctrine of the rapture. (211) Since the secret rapture was not “revealed” until the 1830s (that is another story in itself), there were 1830 years of believers who had never heard of a secret rapture, let alone believe in it!
Hagee bothers me when he has a paragraph describing what Richard Hoagland believes about Dec. 21, 2012. Hoagland has claimed advanced civilizations have lived on the moon, Mars, and some moons of Jupiter. Why was Hagee watching a SyFy TV program (his footnote source)? (Go ahead, Google Hoagland.)
You can surmise that I am no Hagee devotee. Please be discriminating when you read this book.
Howard Books, 260 pages
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