On Pat Robertson and Predictions
The Associated Press reports that Pat Robertson has predicted a horrific terrorist act on the United States that will result in mass killing late this year:
Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September. "I put these things out with humility," he said.
Yeah Pat, it's really humble to keep insisting that you have an open line to God. Here's a prediction of my own: Sometime in the next few years Robertson will run through the streets naked yelling, "Listen to me people! I am God! Send Money!" After that he will be forced out of his ministry and will start selling used cars.
In response to a summary of his mixed results from previous predictions:
"I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss."
Since his predictions are based on his conversations with God, is he saying that God sometimes misses? Is God playing with him? It is said that God works in mysterious ways. I can think of nothing more mysterious than God working through Pat Robertson.
Have you ever noticed that very seldom is there a headline that announces a missed prediction? Occasionally someone will report on the spotty record of some prognosticator, but mostly we only hear about predictions that come true. The fact that the media tends to select the hits more than the misses reinforces the idea that certain people are able to predict future events.
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You know, Pat Robertson should be extremely careful with his predictions. People in the Old Testament who made predictions were called prophets ... but they had to be *100% accurate* ... not even 99 44/66 correct .... 100% correct.
To be less accurate was to be stoned to death.
People in the old testament who claimed to make this kinds of predictions that didn't claim to be prophets were called seers. The Old Testament (story of Solomon) tells us that God forbids us to listen to seers ... people who are familiar with this should quit watching / listening to Pat Robertson.
He used to be mildly interesting, but now he's just annoying. When he's not telling me that I need to send him money, he's hawking vitamins (which he endorses and which you can order from the 700 club) or telling me how to live a better, more healthful life. I've seen the man. He doesn't look all that healthful. I'd be crazy to take his advice.
Just my two cents worth.
I suppose that most of these big-time preachers start out with the right motives but then are spoiled by their success.
I agree ... it's like they start "believing their press" and all the adulation by believers who admire and respect them, and then they start to believe they deserve it ... and so much more. I'm a Christian, but I don't tell people how they have to live (that's legalism0 or that I can tell them what God wants for them (that's way beyond me). I can only tell someone what I think/believe and what I might do in the same situation, and recommend that they pray and search the scriptures.
I also detest it how they think that their interpretation is the only one. Personally, I believe that there are books that are history (yes, I really do believe that those things happened), poetry, law, prophecy. Although I believe that prophecy is really such, I believe that some of it is "literal" and that some of it is written in figurative language.
Does that make me crazy or a religious right loon? To some. But there are plenty out there that agree with me, and we won't know for a while if we were right, will we?