Jordon
I can empathise with your reaction.
Jesus gives us a number of DIRECT commands and principles to live by.
True christians know and follow them and they love truth – so when we see deceit – it can fire up our sense of Justice. Christ had a STRONG sense of social Justice (look at his comments about the money changes and the poor widow). Actually although the established Church has often fought social Justice, Many times Christians have opposed the church AND fought for social Justice. The commands of Jesus himself are clear and if someone is NOT following them first over all else – he is NOT "Christ Like" (not a christian) whether they call themselves that or not.
Do NOT Judge others
Love you neighbour – and it should be noted that in the parable of good samaritan – Jesus makes it clear that our Neighbours are not those who think like us and are the same as us – but those who we would call enemy and who practise what we would call Heresy.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ( Do these people want marriage denied to christians ? IF not they DIRECTLY disobey Jesus when they deny it to others)
Those that do not feed the sick, the poor, the hungry, the homeless and those in Jail will burn in eternal fire (Jesus's words – not mine)
Now many people CLAIM to be christian – but they dont obey christs teachings.
In Matthew, Mark AND John – Jesus tells us if we want to be perfect to give all we have to the Poor – and so anyone who HASNT done that is on VERY thin ice Judging others. Also in Luke – Jesus also says " "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
So – Does Pat Robertson follow Christs teaching. Is he even close ? Does his acts match the Gospel. Google Pat Robertson and you will see that his personal wealth is estimated to be somewhere between $200 MILLION and $1 Billion dollars. He is known to have bought a race horse alone for over 1/2 Million Dollars. In 1990 International Family Entertainment Inc. of which he was the Founder – was sold to Disney for $1.9 Billion dollars.
Robertson's response to the 2010 Haiti earthquakewas that that Haiti's founders had sworn a "pact to the Devil" in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners and indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being "cursed" for doing so.
Does that sound like someone obeying Jesus command to love your neighbour ? and do not judge others ?
Jesus says by by their fruits and also says that Deceit is akin to Murder. So lets look at his track Record. DO you think making untrue prophesies is a sign of a man of God ?
"In late 1976, Robertson predicted that the end of the world was coming in October or November 1982. In a May 1980 broadcast of The 700 Club he stated, "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world."
In May 2006, Robertson declared that storms and possibly a tsunami would hit America's coastline sometime in 2006. Robertson supposedly received this revelation from God during an annual personal prayer retreat in January. The claim was repeated four times on The 700 Club. In May 8, 2006, Robertson said, "If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms." On May 17, 2006, he elaborated, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.
On the January 2, 2007, broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson said that God spoke to him and told him that "mass killings" were to come during 2007, due to a terrorist attack on the United States. He added, "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."
In October 2008, Robertson posted a press release on the Georgian conflict speculating that the conflict is a Russian ploy to enter the Middle East, and that instability caused by a predicted pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran would result in Syria's and Iran's launching nuclear strikes on other targets. He also said that if the United States were to oppose Russia's expansion, nuclear strikes on American soil are also pending. "We will suffer grave economic damage, but will not engage in military action to stop the conflict. However, we may not be spared nuclear strikes against coastal cities. In conclusion, it is my opinion that we have between 75 and 120 days before the Middle East starts spinning out of control.
Theres plenty more – but the point of this is – the man does NOT follow christ's teaching and his track record is pretty bad in the prophetic stakes
Interestingly enough – he also claimed God had told him who the winner would be of the election – and he campaigned FOR Mitt Romney. Still if one wants to be pedantic – he didnt name the winner… he just knows WHO the winner is.
My point of all this isnt so much to run Pat Robertson down – as to point out – theres NO point argung scriptures with him OR his followers because they arent interested in scripture. Not really. (except to take occasional verses out of context to Justify WHAT THEY WANT – rather than taking ALL of the commands of Jesus and obeying them)
The problem Christians have is they love truth and honesty and it riles us when we see lies and deception spread – especially lies in the name of Jesus…. BUT Christianity now is BIG Business – worth millions – and people are not going to let truth get in the way of power and money. Sadly many people are NOT interested in following the commands of Jesus – they are interested in success. Still measure their actions actionst the commands of Jesus. If they dont follow the commands he gave – you know they only pay lip service for their own reasons and usually – they wont be listening to what you say – BUT if God puts it on your heart to speak to them – then its worth doing. Sometimes its worth waiting for the emotional reaction to settle down though…
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