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. . . And God Said
by Norma Sherry
www.dissidentvoice.org
March 6, 2004
First Published in Op Ed News.com

It would appear that the messages Pat Robertson has been hearing from God are not from God at all, but a cruel, conniving imposter.

It’s sad, but true. But, he’s in very good company. For instance, my 4-year-old neighbor predicted that if she kissed a raindrop she’d become a fairy princess. Clearly, she’s no prophet, either.

There have been many self-proclaimed prophets in our history.

In the year 960 A.D., European scholar, Bernard of Thuringia, confidently announced that the world would only exist for thirty-two more days. John Toledo, in 1179, predicted the demise of the world based on the alignment of the planets.

The Flagallents, who would viciously beat themselves in bloody repentance, announced that the end of the world could be delayed no longer in 1349; in 1603, Govan Domenico Campanella, prophesized the Earth would collide with the sun.

Christopher Columbus, of bold New World fame, configured that the world was created in 5343 B.C., that 7,000 years hence would be 1658. Therefore, he forewarned the end was near. Columbus popularized his calculations in, “The Book of Prophesies”, which he published in 1505.

Pentecostal Reverend John Mason had a vision of Christ in 1694, which prompted his revelation that the Second Coming of Christ would take place on the Pentecost of that year, in his rectory in Water Strafford, Buckinghamshire. 1736 brought a British theologian who predicted a flood likened to Noah’s…and the band played on.

There is no shortage of God-fearing men and women who commune with God and as such, are privy to His private utterances.

The founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, said a meeting of the Mormon religious leaders was called because God had commanded it. At that same meeting, in February 1835, Smith also proclaimed that Jesus would return within fifty-six years.

The Watchtower Society has been quite prolific in their predictions for Armageddon:  1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, and 1994, were some of their dates. Their current portent is 6,000 years after the creation of Eve. The question; however, remains, when was that?

Today’s preachers rarely dabble in such folly. Nay, their assertions are harangues intended to incite and divide. Their pulpit is used to bully and harass. The notion of love and brotherhood are far removed from their public pronunciations.

Lest you think I categorize all men and women of God as such, let me please proclaim that is not so. I am writing of those few whose congregation’s are in the multitudes. The tele-evangelist’s who demonstrate miracles on television with a wave of their hand or a touch on the head - to those who proclaim to do God’s work as they don their six-thousand dollar Armani suits, board their private jets, and flaunt their superiority while they sit upon their golden-gilded chairs in front of the cameras of their church-owned television stations.

The Pat Robertson’s, the Jerry Falwell’s, The Benny Hinn’s, and who can forget past evangelist’s Jimmy Swaggart, and Jimmy and Tammy Faye Bakker.

They preach to their minions’ half-truths, falsities, and destructive examples that inflate egos, separate people of differing beliefs and life-styles, and they do so with a high and mighty commanding declaration that their mutterings are the truths that their congregation was heretofore denied.

When Rev. Falwell said, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen,'" before a 700-Club television audience, was he acting pastoral? Was he walking in the shadow of Christ? Or was he preaching separatism, bigotry, and filling his congregation with hatred?

In an earlier preaching, the good reverend told his flock that the cause of 9/11 was “the throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked." In a prayer before his television congregants, he reinforced his position by proclaiming that the ills of our country are a direct result of “taking the Bible away from schools” and “forbidding little children from praying”.

In 1980, to a throng at a Jesus rally, Pat Robertson shouted, “We have enough votes to run the country. And when the people say, ‘We've had enough,’ we are going to take over.” In a fund-raising letter to his constituency, Rev. Robertson wrote, “We at the Christian Coalition are raising an army who cares. We are training people to be effective -- to be elected to school boards, to city councils, to state legislatures, and to key positions in political parties.... By the end of this decade, if we work and give and organize and train, The Christian Coalition will be the most powerful political organization in America .” Now, that was prophetic.

Today, as we find ourselves shaking our heads and our hearts are beating an unfamiliar rhythm over the demise of the separation of church and state, we should remember, we were warned. As far back as 1993, Rev. Robertson, said, “There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore.”

Rev. Robertson from his on-high pulpit has preached on every important topic facing our country and our citizens; his opinions on the Supreme Court and the court system in general borders on lawlessness and irresponsibility. He has instructed his followers, “Why should you and I be bound because of the ineptitude, if you will, or the skill of one or more defense lawyers, or the plaintiffs in any particular lawsuit?”

And, of course, the Lord spake upon his Holiness, the good Reverend Robertson telling him, “George Bush will win in a walk”, referring to our upcoming presidential election. What a man he must be for God Almighty to speak unto him – and to him alone.

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