Reiter der Apokalypse

Quelle: US Department of Defense

Religiöse Fundamentalisten stellen mit Sicherheit eine große Gefahr für den Weltfrieden dar. Einer von ihnen heißt John Hagee und würde wohl am liebsten Iran sofort mit einem amerikanischen Nuklearschlag vorsorglich vernichten, um die Wiederkehr Jesus' schneller herbeizuführen. Langsam wird man auch in Deutschland auf solche religiösen Politclowns aufmerksam:

Der 66-jährige John Hagee stammt aus Texas und leitet in San Antonio eine Megakirche mit 18.000 Mitgliedern. Hagee hat Israel mehr als 20 Mal besucht und würzt seine Predigten gern mit biblischen Endzeit-Prophezeiungen. In seinem jüngst erschienenen Buch Jerusalem Countdown stützt er sich auf Informationen, die er von israelischen Geheimdiensten erhalten haben will. Sie hätten ihm offenbart, dass Teheran noch vor dem 6. Oktober 2006 im Besitz einer Atombombe sein werde und dass al-Qaida plane, Amerika mit sieben Nukes in die Knie zu zwingen. George Bush kommen solche Horror-Geschichten gelegen, ein Empfang der "Vereinigten Christen für Israel" im Weißen Haus fiel überaus herzlich aus.

Das wirre Weltbild des durchgeknallten Christenmannes lässt dabei insbesondere Europäer als zukünftige Lakaien des Antichristen ziemlich alt aussehen:

When addressing audiences receptive to Scriptural prophecy, however, Hagee welcomes the coming confrontation. He argues that a strike against Iran will cause Arab nations to unite under Russia's leadership, as outlined in chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, leading to an "inferno [that] will explode across the Middle East, plunging the world toward Armageddon." In Hagee's telling, Israel has no choice but to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, with or without America's help. The strike will provoke Russia -- which wants Persian Gulf oil -- to lead an army of Arab nations against Israel. Then God will wipe out all but one-sixth of the Russian-led army, as the world watches "with shock and awe," he says, lending either a divine quality to the Bush administration phrase or a Bush-like quality to God's wrath.

But Hagee doesn't stop there. He adds that Ezekiel predicts fire "upon those who live in security in the coastlands." From this sentence, he concludes that there will be judgment upon all who stood by while the Russian-led force invaded Israel, and issues a stark warning to the United States to intervene: "Could it be that America, who refuses to defend Israel from the Russian invasion, will experience nuclear warfare on our east and west coasts?" He says yes, citing Genesis 12:3, in which God said to Israel: "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you."

To fill the power vacuum left by God's decimation of the Russian army, the Antichrist -- the head of the EU -- will rule "a one-world government, a one-world currency and a one-world religion" for three and a half years. (Hagee adds that "one need only be a casual observer of current events to see that all three of these things are coming into reality." The "demonic world leader" will then be confronted by a false prophet, identified by Hagee as China, at Armageddon, the Mount of Megiddo in Israel. As they prepare for the final battle, Jesus will return on a white horse and cast both villains -- and presumably any nonbelievers -- into a "lake of fire burning with brimstone," thus marking the beginning of his millennial reign.

Hagee doesn't fear a nuclear conflagration, but rather God's wrath for standing by as Iran executes its supposed plot to destroy Israel. A nuclear confrontation between America and Iran, which he says is foretold in the Book of Jeremiah, will not lead to the end of the world, but rather to God's renewal of the Garden of Eden. But Hagee is ultimately less concerned with the fate of Israel or the Jews than with a theocratic Christian right agenda. When Jesus returns for his millennial reign, he tells his television audience, "the righteous are going to rule the nations of the earth When Jesus Christ comes back, he's not going to ask the ACLU if it's all right to pray, he's not going to ask the churches if they can ordain pedophile bishops and priests, he's not going to ask if it's all right to put the Ten Commandments in the statehouses. He's not going to endorse abortion, he's going to run the world by the word of God The world will never end. It's going to become a Garden of Eden, and Christ is going to rule it." (Hervorhebungen nicht im Original)

Dummerweise befindet er sich nicht in einer geschlossenen Anstalt, wo man in solchen Fällen heutzutage professionelle Hilfe leisten könnte. Auch wenn nur eine Minderheit der Amerikaner solchen Kindergarten-Theologien anhängt: Bis zu einem Viertel aller US-Bürger, so Schätzungen des Pew Research Center, sind Evangelikale und glauben an die wortwörtliche Auslegung der Bibel - auch daran, dass der Showdown zwischen Gut und Böse in Israel stattfinden muss. Die "Road Map" führt nach Armageddon...