John Hagee 'Blessed Virgin Mother of God.'

From the files of 'Let the Holy Spirit penetrate people's hearts' comes this story straight out of San Antonio Texas.  Let me just say that it is extremely rare that I post three days in a row,..but sometimes stuff happens that needs commentary, but more importantly needs prayers!  This is unbelievably joyful news.  As Catholics, we are incredibly blessed to know that Our Lady will put her mantle over us when fly to her protection.  Obviously this Grace stems from Jesus who is the source of all,..but Mary will always never be refused anything from her Son.  See the Wedding Feast of Cana. (John 2:1)  Besides we already know that she is the Immaculate Conception (Luke 1:28).  Yup!,..ITs riiiiiiight there in de Biiiiiibullll! 

Back to Pastor Hagee who ministers a Church called Cornerstone Church,.in the past Hagee has been accused of Anti-Catholic bias.  Sometimes referring indirectly to the Church as the whore of Babylon, critizing the Church's handlings of the Jews during World War II and lambasting the Church for Her role in the Crusades.  The first point is debatable, but so what if he did?,..He subscribes to a different theology and is genuinely concerned about our souls as Catholics!  Not like some modernist 'Catholics' or 'mainstream' prots who believe everyone goes to Heaven,..uhhh,.not what Jesus said!  I say good for him if he has balls!  On the second point regarding the Church's (Pope Pius XII) handling of the Shoa,..Yes he's wrong, but I think first and foremost we need to critique the revisionist historians who have an authentic hatred for God and his Holy Church putting forth propaganda.  The third point again, falls into leftist fiction,..as plainly said, if it weren't for the Crusades, we'd all be muslim today.

During the 2007 US election campaign he stirred controversy by endorsing McCain.  Bill Donahue, who does a lot of good work came out denouncing McCain as aligning himself with an anti-Catholic preacher.  (Again debatable..)  What followed was Hagee personally writing an apology to Bill Donahue,.which was sincere and classy.  Then 'other' stuff started happening, such as the Holy Father's visit to the US,...So let's start with some of Pastor Hagee's letter to Donahue.  See here.  I don't feel the need to paraphrase as the letter clearly indicates a spirit of good will.  If you noticed he also gets his facts straight with regards to Pope Pius XII and his personally interveneing on behalf on the Jews!  Next we have this beautifully written piece which appears in the Washinston Times entitled Thank-you Pope Benedict,..see here.  Okay so we've come this far,..Yes, the loud dude on TBN,.otherwise known as the smorgasboard of protestant opinion network,..(please don't count Fr Michael Manning as Catholic..) is extremely open to Catholcism,..and sees us as true believers in Christ.  I have said before on this blog, that while I may disagree on many issues regarding evangelical Christianity,..there is no doubt in my mind that we as Catholics could take a lesson in living the Faith from our seperated brethren.  Pro-Life,.pro-traditional marriage, they don't cower or wimper in the face of adversity.  They are active in the public square, and man,..are they on fire!  I've also mentioned that I do believe, and we are seeing it among their pastors,..that they(evangelicals..) are about twenty-or so years away from discovering Mary in the Bible. 

Now we can come back to the title of this post.  A recent John Hagee sermon, called Mary, 'The Blessed Virgin Mother of God.'  WOW!!!  Need I say more?  He affirmed Theotokos!   Now look at his evidence, his two letters, his wife's Catholic upbringing, his affinity for the Old Testament (which by the way, my protestant friends prefigures Mary at every turn, Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:20, Samuel 2: 1-10, ,..names such as Eve, Mother of all living, daughter of Zion, morning star,..) and his ministry supported  a convent!!!!  Methinks we'll see Pastor John on a future episode of EWTN's Journey Home!...hmmm..

My protestant friends, I've said this before,..you lose NOTHING of your faith and zeal for Christ coming into the Church, instead you gain the Eucharist!  That puzzle that you were trying to find that piece for is all there,.the intellectual tradition, the history, Apostolic Succession, and yes the fullness of Truth!  Jesus established one Church and despite all Her blemishes is still the beacon of light for humanity.  Think about it, if the Catholic Faith was not divinely protected, it would have rotted away centuries ago,..All those corrupt Popes you speak of (3 of them!!!) could have easily changed a dogma or doctrine to suit their interests,..(Muhammed in the Qur'an anyone?...) but they didn't!  The hijacking of Vatican II by the modernist crowd could have easily conquered Her,..but She's back up again!  The sex scandals, the corruption,..and guess what ?  We still produced Mother Teresa, Brother Andre, and Padre Pio,.. St Peter denied our Lord three times and was still put in charge!  Guess what we also produced?  Your Bible!!!!!!!!!  Yes, there are thousands who leave the Catholic Church because either they weren't being fed, or worse, it had become part of their culture so the relationship with Jesus wasn't there, but again on the other side, there are much more protestant pastors converting!  Why, because they understake an exercise in futility trying to find the historical Church (Alex Jones conversion) or they try to intellectually take Her apart,.( Scott Hahn conversion) . 

To conclude,..Pastor Hagee, its gonna be tough,.yes you will lose your congregation, maybe your fame..Who knows, maybe you will be called to serve as a permanent deacon, or even still a priest! ( There are exceptions in canon law in the Roman rite regarding converts)  Pray, fast, discern what the Holy Spirit is telling you!  'One flock, one Shepherd?'  We need you,..The Church needs you,..  On a side note, Shawn Michaels, HBK is a member of your community, a lapsed Catholic who found Christ,..bring him home to the Eucharist!  (see here )

Holy Mary Mother of God,............ora pro nobis.