Robertson as Protestant Pope: "Doesn't Represent Evangelicals"

Robertson Apologizes for Calling for Assassination

Much has been said about Pat Robertson's foolish comments on the 700 club earlier this week. On Monday, Robertson said of the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, "I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

The comments were condemned not just by the left, but by the State Department and Christian leaders around the country. Steve Camp gave Robertson a well-deserved "mulligan" for his comments.

One evangelical leader has taken it upon himself to not only apologize on behalf of evangelicals here in the U. S., but wants to meet with Chavez personally. Ted Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, will have to make do with meeting a Chavez assistant. Haggard and others have expressed concern that Robertson's call for an assassination puts evangelical missionaries in Venezuela in danger. Haggard said "he thinks a meeting with Chavez could range far beyond an apology. Haggard said he and Chavez would have a lot to talk about, including Venezuela’s evangelical population — a minority that makes up 13 percent of the country."

Richard Ostling, Associated Press religion reporter, notes this isn't the first time that Robertson's mouth has gotten him into trouble: "Six years ago, Robertson said the U.S. could send agents to kill Osama bin Laden, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and Saddam Hussein. "Isn't it better to do something like that ... to take out Saddam Hussein, rather than to spend billions of dollars on a war that harms innocent civilians and destroys the infrastructure of a country? "It wasn't the first time Robertson has made eyebrow-raising remarks. Last year, he said President Bush told him before the Iraq invasion, 'We're not going to have any casualties,' but that 'the Lord told me it was going to be (a) a disaster and (b) messy.' The White House issued denials.

"Following the Sept. 11 attacks, he said that 'God Almighty is lifting his protection from us' because 'we have insulted God at the highest level of our government,' allowing things like abortion and pornography and barring school prayer.

"And in launching a 21-day 'prayer offensive' in 2003 to pray for three justices to leave the U.S. Supreme Court after it had decriminalized sodomy, Robertson said: "We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court.' One justice was 83 years old and two others had serious ailments, he noted."

And then there's Hurricane Gloria. Anecdotage.com lists this Robertson gem: "In 1985, with Hurricane Gloria headed toward the east coast, televangelist Pat Robertson promptly went on the air to pray. 'In the name of Jesus,' he declared, 'we command you to stop where you are and move northeast, away from land, and away from harm.' Incredibly, the hurricane did in fact begin to head northeast. Robertson's claims to have changed the course of the hurricane were met with considerable scorn, however, particularly in Long Island - which lies to the northeast of Robertson's native Virginia and was devastated by Gloria after she changed course."

Among those putting the latest Robertson foolishness in its proper perspective has been Marvin Olasky, journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and senior editor of World Magazine.

Olasky spoke for most of us when he told MSNBC’s Nora Norah O'Donnell that Robertson ”doesn’t represent Evangelicals, and I hope that people in Venezuela don’t think that he represents the United States.” O’Donnell seemed taken aback that Robertson does not speak for the rest of the nation’s evangelicals. Olasky pointed out that Robertson’s comments are not biblical: “Biblically, assassination may be used in times of war, last time I looked we were not at war with Venezuela. We’re supposed to pray for those in government and those around the world in positions of leadership, not assassinate them. So he doesn’t represent a Christian view as far as his interpretation of scripture, and I’m not sure he represents how many people he represents in the Evangelical community."

Olasky attempted to cement the distance between normal evangelicals and Robertson by pointing out he didn’t have the support of evangelicals even in his run for president: “He ran for president 17 years ago, and at the peak of his popularity he didn’t get a whole lot of votes, so I’m not sure what clout he really these days either.”

Olasky noticed O’Donnell’s line of thought, saying later in his own TownHall.com column: “National and international journalists also played up the story, often treating Robertson as if he were the Protestant pope”, while at the same time radical Islamic clerics have been given a pass.

Unlike Robertson, Olasky applied the Chavez situation to scripture: “…it's hard to see either general or specific biblical warrant for his fatwa. In general, as Paul wrote to Timothy, Christians are to pray ‘for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.’

“Hugo Chavez is an evil tyrant, but so were many Roman emperors -- and Paul told Romans to ‘bless those who persecute you. ... Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all…’

“…Applying Old Testament history to current politics is sometimes exegetically tricky, but the wartime assassinations in Judges 3 and 4 -- Jael hammering a tent peg into Sisera's brain, Ehud the left-handed man thrusting his sword into the fat belly of the king of Moab -- also do not provide warrant for taking out Hugo Chavez. Nor do any of Christ's words or deeds suggest a WWJA (Who Would Jesus Assassinate?) list...

“…God is the God of history. He raises up leaders and strikes them down. The Christian goal is to follow biblical principles, including ‘just war’ ones, and not to create new orders. Christians who are careless bring dishonor to God's name by making many believe there is no difference between the pre-eminent religion of peace and the many religions of violence.”

The Christian goal is to be what we are in Christ. Because Christ has spoken God’s will to us in the scriptures, we must allow the Bible to dictate for us not only the reality in which we live, but our attitudes and actions within that reality.