07. Chapter 6: The Plan Of Salvation According To John Hagee

Chapter 6 The Plan Of Salvation According To John Hagee

John Hagee is the pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. His mission in the ministry is to “aggressively fulfill” the Great Commission by making disciples out of all people, to bring the lost to Christ, and to support fellow believers. John Hagee’s television show can be seen all over the world. His show is on most every day on the TBN station, as well as on other stations. He has written many books. Hagee is an all-around good guy who believes in what he is doing for Christ and for others.

Hagee is a good, sincere man who preaches his sermons with both a force and a conviction rarely seen in other pastors, today. In fact, one of his trademarks is to shout loudly phrases such as, “Give Him praise and glory...” at specified intervals during his sermons. He is thoroughly entertaining, very intelligent, and a master of the art of public speaking.

Hagee’s ministry operates a well-built Internet site. You may visit his John Hagee Ministries Website and read about him, his ministry, and about everything his ministry accomplishes. To learn of John Hagee’s plan of salvation, you will have to watch the salvation video that is posted on his ministry’s Internet page. Simply go to his site and click upon the link entitled “Salvation” and you will be taken to his video presentation. When you arrive, you must click on the middle of the viewing screen where it shows “Click to play.”

I will paraphrase for you the plan of salvation according to John Hagee, rather than provide it to you word-for-word so as to avoid any legal copyright issues. The plan of salvation according to John Hagee is as follows (paraphrased):

John Hagee says that we are all sinners. He quotes Romans 3:23, which says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Hagee then says that we all need Christ’s blood to cleanse us from our sins. Hagee says that our good works cannot save us. He says that God loves us, and he then quotes Romans 5:8, which says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Hagee then says that Jesus is God’s gift to us. He then quotes Romans 6:23, which says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hagee says repeatedly that salvation is a gift from God and that we cannot earn this gift by our works.

Hagee then quotes Ephesians 2:8-9, which states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” In his explanation of Ephesians 2:8-9, Hagee says repeatedly that salvation is “not of ourselves.” He repeatedly says that salvation is by “grace” though “faith” and that it has nothing to do with “us.” He says that good deeds, such as giving to the poor, cannot count toward our salvation. Hagee then talks about repentance.

Hagee defines repentance as turning from your sins. Hagee says that turning from your sins is a “required action” on our part if we want to be saved. Then Hagee quotes Romans 10:9, which says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Hagee says, in light of this verse, that we have to confess Jesus as our Lord with our mouths, verbally, and that we also have to confess our sins. Hagee then teaches that we have to ask Christ to come into our hearts. His prayer of salvation instructs us to admit to God that we are sinners, to ask God to forgive us, to ask Christ to come into our hearts, and to be the Lord of our lives. Hagee says that we must tell God that we will obey Him and that we will follow Him all the days of our lives. In sum, that is the plan of salvation according to John Hagee.

Old television shows are the best, and when you get right down to it, I’m sure you’ll agree that they just don’t make television shows like they used to. As for me, I absolutely love the television show known as “Green Acres.” The show is based upon a lawyer who becomes tired of his job and of life in the big city. He, along with his reluctant wife, move to “Hooterville” where they buy an old ramshackled house on several acres of farmland. Mr. Douglas’ neighbors are truly unique personalities who always end up giving him tremendous amounts of grief. What is so funny about the show is the utter frustration that his wife and neighbors cause him. There is a form of constant “communication breakdown” that occurs in all of his dealings with the townsfolk of Hooterville, which is actually very entertaining and worthwhile to watch as a whole because we realize the show is only make believe. It is not real; therefore, it is funny in its own, crazy way; however, if the problems that Mr. Douglas had to deal with during each episode of this show were true, it would be a different story altogether. It would be a sad and terrible show to watch and would provide no entertainment at all. When it comes to a person’s eternal life, we cannot afford any “communication breakdowns.” A good way to view a presentation of a false plan of salvation would be to equate the preacher of a false gospel to that of a lawyer who is guilty of malpractice. When a lawyer is found guilty of gross negligence in his or her duty, resulting in egregious error, they are often found guilty of malpractice and, as a result, are not allowed to practice law anymore. They become an object of scorn and they become disbarred. This also occurs to physicians who are grossly negligent or incompetent in the practice of medicine. But for a pastor to be guilty of “malpractice” is much more serious. When a pastor or a bible teacher promotes a false plan of salvation, the results are eternal and not merely temporal. At this point, I would like to share with you the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ. Since Christ wrote the bible using the inks and scrolls of people, I would like to share various verses with you on what Christ says about salvation — some quote Christ directly, while others do not; however, they are the words of Christ, nevertheless.

Jesus told Nicodemus point blank that he had to “believe” on Him alone in John chapter 3. Jesus said to Nicodemus (and to us all) in John 3:16 that, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The only “requirement” Jesus mentioned in this verse is “believeth,” which in the original Greek manuscript means to “trust.” Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to be born again he had to “trust” that Jesus was the Messiah, that He would die for the sins of the world, and that He would rise from the dead. By implication, Christ always meant that He would die, be buried, and rise from the dead when He spoke of “believing in Him.” Nicodemus asked Christ how he might go back into his mother’s womb, and Jesus had to correct him by telling him that being born again involved being reborn spiritually.

Christ did not tell Nicodemus (or you and me) that he had to stop sinning or that he had to follow Him for the rest of his life in obedient discipleship “in order to” be born again. Christ said simply to “believe in Him,” and again, by default, He always means that 1) He is the Messiah, 2) He would die for our sins, 3) He would come back to life three days later. Nicodemus believed Christ. Nicodemus became born again the instant he believed Christ; however, Nicodemus never became a disciple of Christ. Judas, on the other hand, was a disciple of Christ, yet Judas never trusted Christ as his savior.

Nicodemus is in heaven as we speak, but Judas is in hell, awaiting his sentence at the future Great White Throne Judgement, where he will be sentenced by Christ Himself to the eternal lake of fire. In Thessalonians 4:14, we see Christ’s plan of salvation with complete clarity: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Pay close attention to that first phrase. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again...” is the plan of salvation according to Christ. The second phrase deals with the dead-in-Christ whose bodies will rise out of their graves at the rapture. While this chapter of Thessalonians deals primarily with the future event of the rapture, we are given the plan of salvation according to Christ in its most superlative simplicity. This is exactly what Jesus was telling Nicodemus (and us) in John chapter 3.

According to Ephesians 2:8-9, God is telling us (through Paul) that, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” This means that salvation is a free gift given by God to all who place their trust in His Son ALONE, apart from works, and by “works” God is, in fact, referring to “anything of self” such as “turning from sins” and “following Him in obedience for the rest of our lives.” Those are aspects of discipleship. To be a disciple, one must “first” be born again. Any plan that mixes “grace” with “discipleship” is a false plan of salvation, according to Christ. While those are right and honorable things to do, they do not count toward salvation, rather, they come “after” salvation if you “choose” to be His disciple. While Hagee quotes Ephesians 2:8-9 in his salvation video and vehemently agrees with this verse, Hagee then contradicts himself and this very same passage of scripture because of an academic mistake. Hagee misdefines the word repentance. Instead of using the original Greek translation for repent, Hagee uses the English definition for repent, which is different from the intention God conveys in His bible. The English definition includes turning from sin, feeling sorry for sin, and quitting the activities or behaviors that lead to sin; conversely, the Greek definition for repent is to have a “change of mind.” The Greek word for repent is metanoia. “Meta” means “change” and “noia” means “mind.” Join them together and you have “a change of mind.” When Christ told people to repent, He was always referring to the Greek meaning of “a change of mind” and never to the English definition. The Greek word for “turn from sin or to feel sorry for sin” is “metamelomai” and it is never equivalent to “metanoia.” Christ always spoke of “metanoia” when He said “repent.” In context, Christ was always telling people to “change their minds” from what they were currently trusting in to get them to heaven and to instead trust only on Him to get them to heaven.

Hagee tells us that salvation is a “free gift” that cannot be earned, but he then turns right back around and makes quitting bad habits as well as obedience to Christ’s Lordship an “essential part” of salvation. To give you an accurate equivalent of what Hagee is saying here, imagine if you were to ask him for directions on how to get to San Francisco, California. You want to go to San Francisco with all of your heart, and you ask John Hagee for the directions that will take you there. But instead, he gives you directions on how to get to Tampa, Florida. If you take him at his word, you will not arrive in San Francisco; instead, you will end up in Tampa. If you take him at his word, but then look at the directions and then question him about your final destination, he will say emphatically that he has, in fact, given you accurate directions to San Francisco. If you press him on the subject, he will read various portions of a road atlas to you, but even though you may have doubts about arriving in San Francisco, you assume he knows what he is talking about and you trust him, anyway; however, days later you find yourself in Tampa rather than in San Francisco, despite all the signs you saw along the way that never pointed to San Francisco. You saw the “Tampa signs” and you knew you were going in the wrong direction, but you so wanted to believe he told you the truth, so you didn’t follow that small, soft voice inside of you that said, “This is wrong!” You chose to trust him rather than in what you knew to be “right.”

Friends, when you are “on the road” of a false plan of salvation, you will see “God’s signs” all over the place if you are able to understand only a handful of the verses I have shared with you in this chapter.

If you are on a road that leads you in the opposite direction of where you know you want to go, pay attention to the signs. In terms of salvation, God says it is “not of works.” Hagee also uses the same scriptures that I do and he claims salvation is “not of works.” But reader, “turning from sins” and “obeying Christ as the Lord of your life” IS WORKS. It takes effort. And since Ephesians 2:8-9 says that salvation is “not of yourselves,” how then could John Hagee turn right back around and imply that salvation IS of yourselves while simultaneously saying over and over that it is “not” of yourselves.

Something is wrong! Something is very, very wrong! Either Hagee is right and Christ is wrong, or Hagee is wrong and Christ is right!

Isn’t it sad how so many intelligent and learned men and women cannot rightly define repentance. What they say about repentance flies in the face of the very scriptures they point out to us. If you say that salvation is a free gift and that we cannot earn it, and then turn right around and imply that it will cost you, that you have to change your behaviors, submit yourself to following Christ in obedience to His Lordship “in order to” be saved and make it to heaven, then that is nothing more than “double-speak.”

It is literally the same thing as asking for directions to San Francisco but receiving directions to Tampa, instead. Trusting in “turning from sins” and “making Christ the Lord of your life” in addition to faith in His death and resurrection from the dead sounds completely wonderful and holy, but it is not the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ. It is just a “counterfeit” of the original.

Yes, Hagee is a good man. I admire Hagee in a lot of ways, especially his support of Israel. But Hagee presents us with a plan of salvation that differs from the one Christ Himself presents in His bible. Friend, if you choose any plan of salvation other than the one Christ offers, you will stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgement. You will acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord, and you may even tell Him about all of the wonderful works you did in your lifetime for Him. Jesus gives us an idea of what standing before Him at the Great White Throne Judgement will be like:

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”(Matthew 7:21-23).

Reader, if you remember only one thing from this chapter, I want you to remember what the will of God the Father is concerning how to be saved. Jesus said, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). Jesus is saying that if we recognize Him as the Messiah, that if we trust in Him alone (death, burial, resurrection) that we will be saved. Nowhere does the bible say that we must repent of sin. The phrase “repent of sin” doesn’t even occur in the bible, nor does it ever imply that we must “turn from sin” in order to be saved.

If you place your trust in any plan of salvation other than the one Christ gives to us in His bible, you will not go to heaven. Jesus said you wouldn’t. Instead, you will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. Look at what God says about it:

Revelation 20:11-15 : “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”