Posted on 01/05/2006 10:59:44 AM PST by areafiftyone
The Rev. Pat Robertson said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being punished by God for dividing the Land of Israel. Robertson, speaking on the “700 Club” on Thursday, suggested Sharon, who is currently in an induced coma, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, were being treated with enmity by God for dividing Israel. “He was dividing God’s land,” Robertson said. “And I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.”
No, a Christian does NOT know the mind of GOD.
A Christian knows the Christ.
Semantics?
NO.
As I stated, they act just like a bunch of high school kids beating up the least popular kid.
It shocks me when I see how so many putative "conservatives" act like herd animals sometimes.
Just like ALL of our most vile and evil enemies, (leftist pond scum), do.
I like Kool-Aide also, but I drink what flavor I want, when I want to.
It's better to be "right" than popular.
Some of y'all need to get a grip.
.. And this is supposed to be a man of God?
Almost word for word the same statements as the President (sic) of Iran who called Sharon's imminent death "a gift from God".
Shame on you, Pat, for the company you keep.
Pat, will you please...SHUT THE HELL UP!
But you're not "right". Defending a cranky old man who has far outlived his usefulness to ANY cause, most especially Chriatianity, is not being "right". It's pandering to a fruitcake because he's a member of your "club". You're no different from the leftists who defend the kookery that comes from Howard Dean's gaping maw. They will defend him because he's a member of the "club" as well.
Nope. Not at all. Actually, I think if God were going to take an active hand in Israel after over 2,000 years of His absence, He'd have done something a little more productive than given Sharon a stroke.
Amen to that!
Robertson should not be defended for what he said just because he's on "your side" or he has a right to "free speech". Your defense is just as disgusting as his comments.
Pat Robertson, like all television evangelists, has always been a sanctimonias a$$. Now, that Robertson is sinking into the depths of senility, he is turning into a morass of asininity.
Extremists boast they cursed Sharon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552923/posts
I do not know that this was judgment from God. Sharon is old and heavy. He got a stroke which is not unusual for a man his age and weight. I am not a Pat R. fan in paticular. I am not convinced at all that he hears directly from God mouth but rather he sounds like he is speaking from his knowledge of how God may have acted. I am not convinced that he actually hears from God on his show concerning healings etc. But Pat did not say, that I can see, that the stroke was a direct cause of dividing Israel. But he is right Israel is God's and it is not wise to mess with Israel. Those that bless Israel are blessed and those that curse her are cursed. I fear God and will try my hardest to bless Israel and not curse her. In this regaurd Pat is right. Anybody who thinks that God does not judge nations and individuals for their actions is wrong. God is to be feared. He is not just a big, happy, smiling softy. God is to be feared and obeyed or there are consequences. He is love but he is also the righteous judge. We need Christians who are not afraid to proclaim that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and He is not to be messed with. I hope and pray that soon His righteous judgments will fall like lightning from the sky on the truly wicked and I believe they will.
Too many people think that God is just another version of Santa Ckayse. You are right He is to be feard. The Bible talks about the wrath of God over and over.
"I am not convinced that he actually hears from God on his show concerning healings etc."
You would be suprised to see how many follow-ups they do on people who get back to them confirming these things. I know someone who received a healing as described. Accurate too. On the Sharon illness I am not sure but PR is correct. But the Bible is very specific about the division of or cursing of Israel. It is the well spring that spawned of all Judeo-Christianity in the world today.
What I find interesting in Robertson's statement is how small, vindictive and petty God is to him. I mean... God doesn't smite Sharon immediately after the Gaza withdrawal, and He doesn't stop the Gaza withdrawal... which one would assume is within His powers. No. He waits, allows the withdrawal, then the very day before the 77-year-old, overweight Sharon is scheduled for heart surgery God smites him for "dividing God's land." Robertson has a right to his views. I also have a right to mine: He's totally nuts.
Late to the thread:
Answer: NO the bible in fact specifically condemns the type of stuff Robertson engages in. There are a number of biblical principles, but two SPECIFIC cases refute the idea that men can discern the Judgment of God for activity in this world 1) Jesus himself said that looking for the sins of others to "explain" bad things shows both an amazing lack of the complexity of the reasoning in the mind of a sovereign God (there may be other reasons unrelated to anyone's guilt- cf John 9:1 ff) and 2)in Luke 13: 1-5, Jesus specifically warns us against this type of skullduggery of linking human tragedy with the active punishment of God in this world. He was VERY clear in linking two contemporary tragedies with the "sinfulness" of these people and said, in essence "You have enough of your own sin crying out for judgment from God. Theirs is none of your business, and it is inappropriate for you to make this kind of jump."(if I can be so bold as to put words in Jesus mouth)
The second, and equally large problem with the kind of junk Pat was saying comes from the way he accords "chosen people" status with a godless, atheistic, out of covenant group of Semites who have rejected the promises and blessings of God. The fact that there is a political entity composes largely of Hebrews does NOT make them heirs of the OT promises of blessing on "Israel." You can pull your dispensational charts out all day long and tell me about what God is "going to do," but the fact is that the covenant promises are only for the covenant PEOPLE of God, and Jesus himself stated that those who reject him are not sons of Abraham, but sons of the devil. Paul echoed this in Romans 4 and 9-11 by stating that sons of Abraham of the FAITH IN CHRIST that Abraham had, and that physical progeny of Abraham may not depend on their lineage to claim ANY blessing, including that of inheriting the "eretz" ("land" but translated "world" in most modern translations of Romans 4).
Do God's future plans include a political restoration of Jews to a politically and covenantally bound people to God from the crowd of atheists and unbelieving Hebrews who occupy Palestine? Maybe. We can argue whether or not my good dispensational brothers are correct about what God is "going to do" at a later time. For now, however, it is both morally wrong and biblically incorrect to infer that the covenant blessings and curses of God have anything to do with a people who have no interest in the CORE of God's covenant promises to them. They show this by flatly rejecting the Messiah Jeshua (Jesus) and continuing to do so to this day. Do not listen to people who are so emotionally committed to an "eschatology" (theory of last things) that they jump even outside the demands of their own theology to infer that curses and blessings NOW flow from God's commitment to a FUTURE repentant Israel. For now, at least, they are just like any other nation, alternately under God's blessings and curses, while we hope "the kindness of God" will"lead us to repentance" In short, pray for the peace of Israel, and don't listen to Pat. He is a wingnut.
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