The morning after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, began his globally broadcast Sunday sermon with a special note about the “brilliant execution of Operation Epic Fury.”
“It’s refreshing to know that God is in total control and he has plans that will not be removed,” he told his parishioners.
Hagee, too, is in control, and the war in Iran is part of his — and his lobbyists’ — plans.
As the founder of the ten-million-member group Christians United for Israel, Hagee is a leading voice in the Christian Zionist movement, a subset of Evangelicalism that calls for the return of Jewish people to the “Holy Land” of Israel to bring about the second coming of Jesus. For Hagee and his colleagues, that end-time prophecy runs through Iran.
And while much attention has focused on the Israel lobby’s efforts to draw the United States into war with Iran, Christians United for Israel and the broader Christian Zionist movement have also been pushing for Iran regime change.
Since 2016, the group, which claims to be “one of the largest pro-Israel organizations worldwide,” has spent millions lobbying Congress on a plethora of causes related to penalizing the Iranian government and boosting Israel armament. It also boasts on its website that it helped pass bills providing Israel with military weapons and persuaded states to adopt laws opposing the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
What’s more, several people in Donald Trump’s inner circle have embraced elements of the movement, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
The White House, the Defense Department, and the US Embassy in Israel did not respond to requests for comment.
For Christian Zionist followers, the war with Iran isn’t just about Israel’s “right to defend…
Auteur: Freddy Brewster
