"Sometimes I miss." Now, what sort of person might utter a phrase like that - A basketball player? A sharpshooter, perhaps? A 2 year-old boy learning how to hit the toilet? Maybe. But what about a prophet of God? Probably not.
The Bible is pretty clear - if you are God's spokesperson, you speak the truth. There just ain't any getting around it. Jeremiah 28:9 tells us we can know that a prophet has been sent by God if what he says comes to pass.
A week ago Pat Robertson continued his annual tradition of making predictions based on what God told him. This year's big brouhaha? A "mass killing" after September, most likely affecting millions of people. The Lord declined to fill Pat in on the mechanism, so Pat speculates that it might be nuclear.
Now, if Pat is telling everyone on his show, the 700 club, that he is getting "words of knowledge" from God, it would behoove us, given the proclamation of Jeremiah, to double-check Mr. Robertson's previous direct revelations from God.
Robertson said Bush would win his second term in a landslide. Not quite; he barely won with 51% of the vote. He said Bush would pass Social Security reform in 2005. Didn't happen. And in 2006 the can't-miss event of the year was supposed to be serious storms and a possible tsunami hitting the East coast. Well, we had some strong rains and flooding in New England but that was about it. (Pat was quick to point out that the flooding "partly fulfilled" the prophecy; apparently even the Lord tends to get rain and tsunamis confused.)
When asked about the prognostications that fail to materialize Robertson offered this explanation: ""I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss." Sometimes he misses? Do you realize what he is saying? A self-proclaimed mouthpiece of God telling us that not everything he receives from God comes to pass. That, my friend, leaves us with two options. (1) God is a liar. Or (2) Pat Robertson is a false prophet.
That's not a difficult choice for me to make. I wonder if Pat Robertson has ever read Ezekiel 13? If you haven't I would strongly suggest doing so now. It's a very strong passage, and indictment of God against the prophets who have spoken falsehood. God says, "I am against you." Yikes.
2 comments:
Wow, thank you for bringing this up. I was thinking the same thing the other day. If the masses hear Robertson saying these words are from our infallible God and they don't come to pass, then who is Robertson? It would appear that we have yet another very public Christian leader (or personality) that appears to be "out there".
Furthermore, since Robertson attests to knowing when God punishes people and for what, I wonder if he knows how God will punish him for falsely prophesying on matters? Sorry, I'm just a little tired of the way some Christian leaders act.
Robertson is another very prominent personality, and many groups are waiting for just such a "leader" to fall, so they can further attack Christianity. It also hurts Christians who may fall into doubts about their leaders. Maybe that's where I am right now with some slight apprehension about trusting my religious leaders.
Then again, we're all human, and I need to live with a spirit of forgiveness. I don't mean to sound like I'm despairing. I'm not. Just some frustration.
Oh, and thanks for starting a blog. This might replace some email discussions we have...or not. We'll see.
Thanks for being my first-ever commenter, Tom!
Yes, hopefully we can get some good discussion going here.
TTYS
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