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Act the 28th: In which talk turns to washed-out televaneglists
National Politics, Religion Comments (0)
Folks, I hate to break it to you, but Pat Robertson does not, in fact, have a direct line from God. The Creator of this universe has better things to do with His time than engage in a discussion about the potential for disaster in Iraq with Pat Robertson. If God were to have this discussion with anyone that person would likely be George W. Bush, himself. Pat Robertson isn’t particularly close to President Bush and I seriously doubt that the President would ever discuss major policy decisions in the way in which Pat Robertson describes it.
So, let’s talk for a moment about a group of the most self-conceited men currently walking the face of the earth.
No, I’m not talking about John “Nuanced” Kerry, his running mate John “Pretty Boy” Edwards, Teresa “‘Mom’ is not a real job” Heinz-Kerry, or any other member of the Campaign of the Two Johns.
No, I’m talking about televangelists. You know who I’m talking about: I’m talking about Oral “900 foot Jesus callin’ me home” Roberts. I’m talking about Jimmy “The Crying Prophet” Swaggart. I’m talking about Paul “sit on my” Crouch.
One thing that all three men, and countless others as well, have in common is that they seem to have some form of direct line to God. Or so they’ll tell you. And from this they derive a form of power.
But what I want to know is “Why?” Why is it that God comes and talks to them when the rest of us know that He speaks to mankind through the auspices of His Son through the pages of the Bible (Heb. 1:2 [show] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (ESV)
)? Surely it is not because God has something new and different to say (Gal. 1:6-9 [show] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (ESV)) that these men should declare it. And, it’s not as though God needs to repeat Himself so that men might listen to Him. Jesus illustrates this truth in the story of the rich man and Lazarus: “And he said unto him, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:31 [show] He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" (ESV)).
No, this is about two things: money and power.
Pat Robertson is really a doddering old fool who retains some modicrum of political power based upon the fact that men are willing to allow him to bend their ears. The same holds true with all of the other men who stand up and say things like “God wants you to trust Him for ….” or “send us your ‘Seed Money’ so that God might richly bless you.” So long as the money rolls in, so does the power and they will be willing, much like John Kerry is, to say or do anything to hold onto the power that the money both demonstrates and brings.
The sad thing is that the fact of that modicrum of power causes men and women in the MSM to also turn their cameras and tape recorders toward those fools as well. That means that we have to put up with stories about how Pat Robertson makes the President out to be someone so certain of himself that he “Refused to Listen to God Almighty Who Sent Word Through Pat Robertson”.
Even sadder is how this comes about because men want to make the Church into something that it was never intended to be. People want religious bodies to become political power structures. Politicians want that too. Just this past Sunday John Kerry cancelled an appearance at a church service after being told that political discussions were ‘off-limits’. And really that is the way it should be. Preachers should not be telling people how to vote any more than Pat Robertson should have been trying to parlay his “inside line upstairs” into a position to influence public policy.
The purpose of the Church is to spread the word of God, to win souls to His cause, and to prepare people to live in this life so that they are prepared for the life that comes next. Notice the lack of politics there? This isn’t to say that preachers have no right to discuss moral issues that are also political issues, or that people might not walk away from such discussions and vote accordingly. But to stand up and become an advocate for a political party instead of an advocate for the beliefs that you espouse religiously would be like a meat market salesman addressing a convention of vegans. There’s really no reason for it.
But, it’s all about power. Who has it, and how they can use it to advance some cause in this life. Those that have it, even if only because people will listen to the claptrap they spew religiously, will use it and when it begins to wane, they’ll do what they must to try to regain it.
Such is life.
MickC @ October 21, 2004