A few weeks ago, to little notice, Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, founder of the new "apocalypse now!" national lobbying group CUFI ( what is CUFI ? see story footnote ) met with Presidential candidate and US Senator John McCain and, over breakfast, discussed Israel and "other matters."

Pastor Hagee declined to detail in the email he sent out to members of the CUFI mailing list because "This newsflash goes to the ends of the earth and I don't want to read it in the media tomorrow."  At a July 19th, 2006 Washington, DC inaugural event for CUFI; following a recorded greeting from President George W. Bush; and with four US Senators and the Israeli ambassador to the US in attendance, Pastor John Hagee stated:

"the United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.".

[7-4-2011 - update and correction: the text, above, is a misquote incorrectly attributed to John Hagee--who has publicly declared (CUFI Washington D.C. summit 2007) that "It is time for America to consider a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America" but has not directly stated that this will bring about the end-time scenario Hagee predicts. For an extended discussion of this misquote, see Christians United For Israel Lashes Out (Anatomy of a Misquote) For an extensive collection of sourced John Hagee quotes here at Talk To Action - see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

So, what were the "other matters" Hagee and McCain discussed last January 29th? And, why is Senator McCain seeking political support from an advocate for apocalyptic war?