Pat Robertson is back in the news with another mean-spirited, cold-hearted pronouncement. This time the “700 Club†host declares that Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has had a stroke because God hates him for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.
Two days ago, Sharon, 77, suffered a massive stroke. Doctors have performed two brain surgeries, but Sharon remains in critical condition. Yesterday, as Sharon remained in a coma, Robertson declared on his live TV show, “The 700 Club,†which is viewed by up to 1 million people daily:
The prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who “divide my land.” God considers this land to be His. … For any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, “No, this is mine.”
Robertson also said he considered Sharon a friend. With friends like that — well, you know the rest.
Robertson is referring to an Old Testament prophecy, Joel 3:1-2, which says:
In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.
Most Christians and Jews agree that Bible prophecy is very hard to interpret. Perhaps Joel was talking about events in his own day, more than 2,500 years ago. Perhaps he was prophesying about the end times, as Robertson believes. But it does not take a scholar to see that the word “enmity,†meaning “deep-seated hatred,†a word which was so ready on Robertson’s lips, does not appear in the passage. It also is plain that God is pronouncing his judgment on nations, not on any one individual.
For Robertson to speak for God and to announce God’s enmity on an individual person, while that person lies in a coma in a hospital bed, while his wife and children and grandchildren anxiously offer up their prayers, is mean, callous, and arrogant. Palestine has been divided every which way for the last three millennia. Robertson is just plain wrong to single out Sharon for vilification. Pat Robertson ought to leave God’s judgment in God’s hands.
This thing of Robertson making a big news splash with shocking statements is getting to be a regular thing. It was just last November that Robertson spoke directly to the people of Dover, PA, again on his live TV program, saying:
I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God. You just rejected Him from your city. … Don’t ask for His help, because he might not be there.
Robertson delivered that stern judgment upon the people of Dover after they voted out their school board over an Intelligent Design debate.
Two months before that, Robertson called on the U.S. government to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:
He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he’s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. … If he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.
What is especially troubling is that every time Robertson spouts one of these pontifications, the media can’t wait to serve it up to the whole world. Why? Because they know that such vicious remarks embarrass us Christians. By simply reporting Robertson’s actual words, all believers end up looking bad, and unbelievers are confirmed in their opinion that Christianity is not for them.
So what’s with Robertson? Some speculate that as he gets older (he will turn 76 in March), he’s just losing his grip. I have a different theory. At this stage of his life, Robertson has few reasons to hold back on what he really thinks. What we are witnessing is actually the emergence of the real Pat Robertson. The broadcaster once aspired to political office. In 1988 he was a presidential candidate. His father blazed the trail, serving in the U.S. House and Senate for 34 years. As long as Robertson speculated about another political campaign, he had to exercise some caution about alienating voters.
Now, however, it is all but impossible that Robertson’s name will ever appear on another ballot. That ship has sailed. And with it has vanished Robertson’s concern about what he says or who he turns off. He is remarkably successful (he owns and heads numerous corporations), abundantly rich, and very powerful (he speaks his mind each day to a million eager viewers). Fooled by his own success and power, Robertson now presumes to speak for God himself, declaring God’s judgment on world leaders, calling for the assassination of other leaders, and telling entire towns that God won’t answer their prayers.
There was a man once who knew the mind of God and actually did speak on God’s behalf. Brother Robertson, you aren’t him. And the difference is stark. He preached that God loves the whole world – the righteous and the unrighteous — and that we should do the same. Mr. Robertson, speaking to you as a brother, I exhort you: try on a little humility.
