I was going to report on this incident in my latest “Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies” post, but I felt the need to use more than a short paragraph to deal with it, so I ended up with this post.
Pat Robertson has a history of making foolish claims and false prophecies. What makes him even more dangerous is that he has the ear of the media, who promote him as a leader in the Christian faith. Of course there are some of the secular media who actually get that he is a false teacher (hard to believe, I know). All one has to do is Google Robertson to see the many outlandish claims and false prophecies he has made (he claims to have a direct link with God). I have already written a full article about Robertson, exposing him for the false teacher he is.
So, with all this being said, I need to deal with Robertson’s latest harmful, nonsensical and false teachings. It seems that a non-discerning and deceived woman who watches Robertson’s show wrote to him asking for advice as to “how to respond to a co-worker who is struggling to believe in a God who would allow her 3-year-old child to suffer and die.” The child had apparently spent most of its short life in and out of hospitals.
Robertson decided that God’s dealing with humanity in general isn’t the same now as it was in the Old Testament times. He claimed that God was responsible for everything in the O.T., but in New Testament theology, “human beings have an agency, they have responsibility.” And then he explained his idea of free will.
Let’s just stop and think for a minute. Isn’t God still responsible for everything, in that He is sovereign and can decide what He will allow or disallow in this world? Can he not still intervene in people’s lives or world events if He so chooses? Of course He can! Why would Robertson think otherwise?!?! And didn’t the people before Christ have free agency and responsibility for their actions? Of course they did, which is why God would punish people for rebelling against HIM — He held them responsible for their choices and actions.
“A lot of things happen, because of what humans do,” Robertson said, citing medical malpractice and mistakes made by doctors and nurses as examples of how individual choice can sometimes lead to situations in which people negatively impact others.
In this statement, Robertson is actually 100% correct. There are consequences for human actions. But there was no information given to him (at least reported by the media) which said that the toddler’s death was caused by human actions. Such a statement then becomes irresponsible.
“As far as God’s concerned, he knows the end from the beginning and he sees a little baby and that little baby could grow up to be Adolf Hitler, he could grow up to be Joseph Stalin, he could grow up to be some serial killer — or he could go up to die of a hideous disease. God sees all that. For that life to be terminated as a baby, he’s going to be with God forever in heaven. So, that isn’t a bad thing. … A good God is going to take that baby to heaven right now.”
Again Robertson has one thing right — that God is outside of time and sees the end from the beginning. BUT, then Robertson gets foolish. According to Robertson, God took the child because He saw it would grow up to be some horrible person. Wow: God allowed the baby Hitler and the baby Stalin to live, but He thought this woman’s baby would apparently be a worse person so He took the child to heaven. WHAT A HORRID THING TO TELL A MOTHER! It is not only unbiblical, and just plain false, but it does nothing to comfort the woman when you tell her that her child was apparently going to grow up to be another Pol Pot!
If the woman was struggling to believe in God before Pat’s counsel, she’d want nothing to do with such a fickle God that Pat describes.
The right thing to say may have just been that this is a fallen world, and God allows death and suffering because it is the result sin entering the world. God does not intervene in every situation, and in fact rarely does intervene. Whether He heals the child or allows the child to die, He will bring about good from the situation, even if the good is only that you will see the child again if you are saved.
Pat Robertson blasphemes God and is a blight on the Christian faith.
7 comments:
I used to watch Pat Robertson, but don't anymore. It is clear to me now that he is a false teacher with false "prophecies" (for example, the Lord told him that Mitt Romney was going to be elected president...and people still follow him???). When you examine who he has as guests on his show - Heidi Baker, Joel and Victoria Osteen, Dutch Sheets, Benny Hinn, just to name a few blatant heretics - it should become apparent that he has no discernment and is just as false as his present company. He also promotes his health diet plans, giving people the impression they can live longer by changing their diet. A discerning Christian should know that our times are in God's hands and He doesn't take our diet into consideration. And he is also very politically involved, placing the emphasis on some man's power to be able to change the world. God is the only One with that power and His script has already been written, as we can read in scripture.
"Pat Robertson blasphemes God and is a blight on the Christian faith."
I SOOO agree. Thanks for this clear explanation of why Christians need to avoid him
Pat Roberson really tipped his hand as someone who doesn't believe the Bible when he said the following:
"There is just no way the earth could be 6,000 years old as Ham and the Young Earth Creationists hold ... There ain’t no way that’s possible .. To say that it all came about in 6,000 years is just nonsense and I think it’s time we come off of that stuff and say this isn’t possible.”
We either believe the Bible, or we don't. It is obvious that he doesn't. It is a joke for him to even pretend to believe the Bible.
And yet he pretends to be a Christian.
In 1986 Robertson ran for president. On his show, he announced that God had told him he would be the next president. God "tells" people a lot of things that never happen. Why do so many people fall for these heretics after seeing their "prophesies" fail? Why are seemingly good people so duped?
Joe,
Because they are not told by their pastors from the pulpit about false teachers. Pastors refuse to name names, don't want to step on toes, don't want controversy, etc. So these false teachers prey on these gullible and ignorant people who have not been properly discipled.
Glenn,
You are correct, many pastors will not name names of false teachers off the pulpit, because they consider such activities to be "negative". I've found pastors will usually only warn vaguely about false teaching, and if they do give an example, it's usually the health/wealth/prosperity 'gospel', which honestly is a pretty easy error to spot. You don't often hear pastors condemning more subtle errors, nor naming the names of those who propagate such.
-Carolyn
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