Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.
"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, "The 700 Club."
"God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'" he said.
So what's going on here? Is there any truth to this? Was it a 100% false statement or just bad timing on Pat's part? Doesn't the Bible demonstrate God's wrath on individuals and whole nations throughout the scriptures? Well just trying to get some minds thinking out there! It is obviously a hot topic! Let me know what you think!
Personally I think Pat Robertson has lost it. Between calling for the assasination of Chavez in Valenzuela and this, he really isn't doing much for the Christian community. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more of the most, if not the most, dangerous of conflicts in the world. Any effort of encouraging peace in those relations should be commended not comdemned. Condemnation is what the extreme Muslim community does as well. I find this whole issue of the Holy Land to be very Old Testament. As I recall the curtain in the temple was torn and God doesn't reside in a building anymore. He lives in the hearts of believers. To value a certain piece of real estate, however historically important, over the human lives at stake in this conflict, to me, cheapens the significance of the heart and body as the temple.
ReplyDeleteYou are right in saying that God does not reside in a building anymore, but that has nothing to do with the fact that God made a covenant with Abraham about a portion of land on the southern half of the Euphrates River. Does God lift his promise from the Old Testament after a few thousand years? I think we would all be wise to check out the events and conflict in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteThat would be great, but the Euphrates is no where close to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Euphrates is in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteI bet he is closer to the truth than we give this man credit for...we are looking at the person Pat Robertson, not the words that the Lord may have given him. Didn't they laugh at the Bible time prophets as well? Be careful how we judge! God spoke through an ass...he could surely speak through Pat!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with legendary on this, although anonymous' last comment is worth Pat Robertson's weight in gold.
ReplyDeleteGod told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands of the sea (Gen 22:17, 32:12). I don't know if any of you have been to the beach lately, but that's a lot of dang sand. That many people crowded onto that little strip of land would seem like God's cruel joke, and we would have to ask ourselves what they were actually chosen for. Also, we have to consider Paul's words to the Romans concerning "authentic" Jews (2:29) - It is a matter of the heart, as circumcision is of the Spirit - not of birth or of the foreskin (can I write foreskin on this blog?). I think what he was saying is that, if you are a Christ follower, you are one of God's chosen people, i. e. a Jew, and I don't feel led by Him to return to the land that he gave our father Abraham. Do any of you? Not that I wouldn't like to visit. Also (last time, I promise), if we are considering only the physical, then we have to concede, that the sons of Ishmael, as a son of Abraham, may have just as many ownership rights to the land as the sons of Isaac, even though Abraham chose to bless Isaac while he was still living.
I understand the whole God's people by heart now and not just physical (Jewish race) Which I enjoy because I love a good slab of pork ribs every now and then. But as you read the Old Testament, there is a whole lot of promising to God's people about land and stuff like that. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever...I'm not to convinced that absolutley everything that God promised is now metaphorically speaking because its more convienent for our western civilized minds!
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