Pastor John Hagee at Stephen Wise Temple

Pastor John Hagee spoke on March 11 at Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, before a receptive and appreciative crowd of more than 600 people.  In his colloquy with Rabbi David Woznica, he was asked when the last time he had spoken at a Reform synagogue was, and he answered:  “22 years ago.” 

In the above video, he describes how he established the “Nights to Honor Israel” that have raised millions of dollars for Israel, as well as the annual Washington, D.C. Summit that brings thousands of Christians to study issues relating to Israel and then spend a day lobbying Congress:

. . . So in February of 2006, I brought together 400 of the leading evangelicals in America — pastors of megachurches, guys who did all the television five times a week nationally, people who own the radio and television Christian networks, presidents of universities — people who are the impact people, and I presented the idea about a Christian Night for Israel. 

And briefly, I said Israel is in a state of danger, we have a Bible mandate to stand up and speak up for Israel, we have never done anything as a Christian group that gets close to a unified canopy under which every person who calls himself a Bible-believing evangelical can speak up for Israel. And we’re a one issue organization – Israel, Israel, Israel.  Don’t start bringing up all of these evangelical hot button issues about which you’ve been fighting for thirty years, because we have to stay focused on what we’re doing.

And I said we will do a Night to Honor Israel in every major city in America . . . and they all of them stayed, and that’s how I knew God was in the house.  And I said we’re going to go to once a year to Washington and take as many of our leaders as we can.  We’re not going to stand out on the grass and sing “Amazing Grace,” because Congress could care less about “Amazing Grace.” 

They only care when you go in their offices, look them in the eye and say “I’m a Christian and I support Israel” and you give them a list of talking points for every one of them, and every senator and every congressmen hears the same message from Americans from Maine to California on one day. . . . 3500 people climbed the Hill.  And our first talking point was:  there’s a war [in Lebanon] going on.  Do not send the State Department over there in three days and cause a cease fire and have Israel have to do it all over again in six months; give Israel the opportunity to respond to the enemy that has attacked them.  And they did. . . .

Christians United for Israel will hold its third annual Washington, DC Summit on July 21-24, 2008.  At the July 21 banquet, Dennis Prager will be the guest speaker.  At the “Night to Honor Israel” on July 22, the speakers will be Senator Joseph Lieberman, Pastor John Hagee, and Sallai Meridor, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Study Sessions will be conducted by Roz Rothstein (Director of StandWithUs), Frank Gaffney, Cliff May, Daniel Pipes, William Kristol, and Walid Phares, among others. 

On July 23, the attendees will spend the day meeting with their Senators and Representatives to present their positions in support of Israel.

The videos of Pastor Hagee’s stunning and spectacular speech last year at the annual AIPAC conference are here.

Doris Wise Montrose, the President of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles, with Pastor John Hagee after his presentation.

David Brog, who blogs for Christians United for Israel, and the editor of Jewish Current Issues.