Fake News about John Hagee and “Let’s Go Brandon”

This week John Hagee made his Tiktok rounds when cellphone footage of a crowd at Cornerstone Church San Antonio being led in “Let’s Go Brandon” chants from the platform appeared online. The headline: “They are chanting, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ from the church pews.” I was incensed. If this were true, this would be blasphemous. Throughout the day I heard many criticize him and the church for doing this. However, upon further research – since I don’t always trust what I hear online – at the end of the day though, I realized this was fake news about John Hagee and “Let’s Go Brandon.” The question is this: Why would someone think John Hagee may be leading cheers of “Let’s Go Brandon?” I’ll explain it here.

The Original Accusation and Church’s Explanation

The Q-Anon crowd is at televangelist John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

They are chanting, “Let’s Go Brandon” from the church pews. pic.twitter.com/pGqUmUXezn

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 14, 2021

As you can both see and hear above, the crowd is chanting “Let’s Go Brandon.” In the following tweet you will see a feed from the stage of the same event.

Clearly you can see that the man on the stage was leading this chant.

The church released the following statement explaining what happened:

“This past week, Cornerstone Church facilities were used by an outside organization. Cornerstone Church is not associated with this organization and does not endorse their views.”[1]

The footage was from a multiday event known as the “Reawaken America Tour,” which featured speakers such as former Trump National Security Advisor retired Gen. Michael Flynn and controversial radio personality Alex Jones.[2]

Three Problems

As I see it, the church and his ministry have three problems stemming from this event.

First, if you are going to let your church be rented by another organization, you run the risk of them doing something you disagree with and possibly detest. However, churches are often rented. In many communities they are the biggest venue in town. Because of that, churches often let people use their facilities. For Cornerstone, in this instance, this could not have gone worse.

Second, the church is an easy target of criticism because they connect love of America, God’s love of America, and belief in Jesus Christ together so tightly. I simply listened to the two most recent services as I was doing some work yesterday. In both recent services, John Hagee discussed politics in various ways referring to Virginia’s governor’s race, Texas amendments, Congress, many current events, and President Biden. In this clip, you can hear what Hagee says to his son about President Biden. He shares that “Joseph Biden is the worst president in American history” as the crowd claps.

Third, this highlights that all too often the appreciation for the United States and love of Jesus are too tightly woven together in local churches. God’s common grace no doubt has been demonstrated to us in that we get to live in this time and in this place. No doubt the United States of America provides us so many benefits and blessings. However, a pastor in a worship service must be very careful and appropriate as they seek to celebrate being a citizen of America alongside a citizen of Heaven. The two cannot be as if the two were the same in one.

Churches and Christians Exercise Caution

As we live everyday in our world and for the Lord, we must exercise caution in two areas.

First, there is a clear separation between love of Jesus and love of the USA. We are both citizens of heaven and citizens of the United States of America. However, there should be no comparison between our much greater loyalty to Jesus Christ versus our loyalty and appreciation for this county. Yes, we can rejoice in our amazing country even with all of its weaknesses. As such, we are responsible as citizens for what God has granted to us. As citizens of the United States, we do have a stewardship of what God has given to us. However, you can’t miss this. Your loyalty, appreciation, and commitment to Jesus Christ should far and away exceed any commitment to a country. We mix messages when we connect these two things so tightly that those around us would believe that to love Jesus means you must be a certain kind of citizen of the United States. We must exercise extreme caution here as we seek to be a good stewardship of our relationship with Jesus Christ and as citizens of the USA.

Second, I watched many Christians immediately criticize John Hagee and Cornerstone Church for chanting this in a church service. Friends, we must be very careful not to post hot takes when we do not have all the facts. You cannot trust any news at this point. Each of us must do our own research to see what is going on in a particular incidence. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon to criticize any person, we must demonstrate caution and self-control. This is true regardless who the person or organization is; however, it is especially critical for those who also proclaim Jesus Christ.

Although I disagree with some of Mr. Hagee’s theology and his methods, I defend him today against both fake news and unjust criticism. At the same time, I still believe there is plenty to see here in this story which should provide us the motivation to exercise careful caution. May God always be honored in the way we act, use our facilities as churches, and as we engage other followers of Christ around us. We must carefully guard the testimony of the Gospel and Jesus Christ to the extent that we can live wisely in the world around us.

Image Credit Screenshot