War with Iran as a Precondition of the Second Coming

by Sarah Posner, American Prospect... excerpted by Armageddon Cocktail Hour blog

Using
his best-selling book, Jerusalem Countdown, his internationally
broadcast television program, and the viral marketing offered by a
network of mega churches whose pastors have signed on to his new
lobbying effort, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), [Texas
televangelist John] Hagee has spent the past six months mobilizing
popular support for a war with Iran. Based on his end-times prophecy, a
supposed love of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, and false claims that Iran is just months away from a viable nuclear weapon, Hagee maintains that confrontation with Iran is necessary to fulfill God�s plan for the future of the world.

While it hardly seems like a sound basis for foreign policy, as the violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates at the Israel-Lebanon border and beyond, Hagee�s view of Iran�s
central role in a world-altering showdown seems to be catching on. And
not just on the wingnut airwaves or among war-mongering chattering
heads. It�s gaining momentum among certain Republican presidential
aspirants, who, like all Republican presidential aspirants, count beans
and feel compelled to bow to the will of American religious extremists
to win.

The Jerusalem
Post reported this week that remarks by Newt Gingrich and John McCain
that the Israel-Lebanon violence marks the beginning of World War III
have their roots in Hagee�s book.

Knesset
member Benny Elon told the Post that Gingrich and McCain �said this
because they think it will lead to Iran getting involved, which they
believe will set off World War III,�� adding that their �comments
originated with American evangelist John Hagee.�

As Hagee and his minions from CUFI descend on Washington this week to lobby Congress, armed with Hagee talking points claiming that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in six months, could it be a coincidence?

Full Sarah Posner piece

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11742