Reactions to Pat Robertson’s Comments Show Some Biblical Myopia

I’ve been bothered by some of the news headlines, editorials and other reactions to Pat Roberson’s recent comment that Haiti’s tragic earthquake calamity is connected with their long history of demonic worship. There seems to be a disagreement about whether Robertson  has his facts right about a pact with the devil, but there is no denying the demon worship that inundates this tiny nation. (Also see here).

My concern is that some people seem to use a small slice of Biblical truth to build a theology not only of “natural” disasters but of the way Christians are supposed to react. Then when they view comments like Roberston’s through the lens of their distorted theology, sometimes putting words in people’s mouths, they react in ways that may muzzle the actual truth, propagate defamation and foment unnecessary division.

Before I continue, I want to say that I have no financial connection with Roberston. I do not  agree with everything I’ve heard him say. But based on what I have seen in the past I respect him as a brother in Christ and for his compassion for people.

There are several Biblical facts to take into account when considering the significance of “accidents” or “disasters” that injure or kill people, whether a few or a multitude.

1. God is ultimately in charge of nature, all its actions and consequences as well as every human death, and takes no pleasure in anyone’s death.

The Scriptural is infused with these truths. See Psalms 33 and 104.

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.” Psalm 33:6-10 (NASB95)

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him [God] who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 (NASB95)

“Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”  Ezekiel 18:23 (NASB95)

2. The world is a spiritual battle-field.

A real spiritual being, called Satan, plays on human self-centeredness to enlist people to worship him, to serve his purposes, to deny God’s existence, truth, authority and love, and to attempt to defy God’s teaching and purposes on this planet. As a result of God’s temporarily allowing these activities, there is a tremendous spiritual battle raging on the Earth that will only end when Christ returns.

Ed Murphy points out that “present reality exists in a state of cosmic-earthly conflict or spiritual warfare. … The kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil supernaturalism are engaged in fierce conflict one against the other…From a biblical perspective, however, this dualism is revealed to be an on-going conflict waged on two fronts: God and His angelic kingdom confront Satan and his demonic kingdom, while the children of God contend with the children of Satan.”¹

“And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9 NASB95)

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ” (John 8:44 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

“and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:26 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

“so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. ” (2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

“I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” (Revelation 2:13 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

Notice that there can be physical places on Earth that are so permeated with Satanic worship that Jesus said Satan dwells there.

Also see 1Peter 5:8; John 8:44;  2Cor. 10:3-4;  Heb. 2:14; Mark 4:15; John 13:17; Rom. 16:20; Matt. 13:24-30.

3. Nations are accountable to God.

When they persistently ignore or rebel against God they are destroyed, sometimes at great physical cost to those who did not participate in the offense.  Again there are numerous examples of this in Scripture.

“From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works. The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.” Psalm 33:14-17 (NASB95)

“Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.  “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;  if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.  “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;  if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.” Jeremiah 18:5-10 (NASB95)

“Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”Jonah 1:2 (NASB95)

“But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26 (NASB95)

Lot’s wife didn’t just glance back. Her longing for her home that was being destroyed caused her to stand there so long that she became encrusted, entrapped in the destruction herself. Yet it does not seem that she participated in the evil that brought God’s judgment.

Also see Haggai 2:20-22; Exodus 23:23; and Gen 15:16;

4. Sometimes God and Satan use nature as a weapon.

Here are a few of the numerous examples of this in the Old and New Testaments:

• God used a flood to destroy life on Earth because of pervasive and unrelenting evil human behavior(Gen 6:5,17)
• God used a major volcanic eruption to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their pervasive an unrelenting evil behavior (Gen 19:24)
• God incarcerated Jonah in a fish (Jonah 1:15-17)
• Satan used nature to attack Job (Job 1:16)
• God used disease in the O.T. to afflict people who rebelled against His authorized leaders
• God used an earthquake in the N.T. (Acts 16:26)
• God promises to use great natural disasters in the future as a partial judgment for evil behavior (Matthew 24:29; Rev. 6:12; 8:5; 11:9; 16:18 )
• God uses illness to discipline people for sin (James 5:15; Micah 6:13)

Jack Hayford says that “the power of ‘the kingdom of God,’ meant … the kingdom of darkness would be confronted and the death, deprivation, disease, and destruction levied by satanic power would begin to be overthrown.”²

5. Despite the previous facts, Christians are not to assume that every illness, accidental injury or death is the result of sin on the part of those who are affected.

The primary point of Jesus’ mentioning (Luke 13:4) the collapse of a tower that killed 18 people, was to drive home the fact that everyone deserves death for their sin, not just the people who die in calamities. So the inverse is that their death should not automatically be considered a direct consequence of their own sin.

Jesus did not say that a cause and effect relationship between sin and disaster was totally invalid. To do so He would have to set aside a lot of the rest of Scripture. He did make the point that we should not immediately assume that connection with a judgmental attitude that some people deserve God’s punishment more than others (in particular, us). On the contrary a natural calamity like being born blind could be for another purpose.

” As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “ Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

6. The Church has a commission from God to explain His actions and purposes.

We are to 1) warn people, in a loving, yet forthright manner, that they will experience consequences of their sin, both in this life and in the next and 2) to announce that reconciliation with God is available through faith in Christ’s death.

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB95)

““But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5 NASB95)

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;” (Ephesians 5:11 NASB95)

” Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” (James 5:1 NASB95)

“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” ” (Matthew 7:26-27 ESV)

“but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” (Matthew 18:6-9 ESV)

Destroying your eye, hand or foot was not meant to be taken literally. Rather Jesus employed a common teaching technique called hyperbole meant to bring out the great importance of the main point. But even with the hyperbole, which is Jesus more concerned about, your present comfort, or your eternal life?

A lot of people reject some, or all of these Biblical facts.

Non-Christians certainly do. So the White House’s announcement that Pat Roberston’s statement is “utterly stupid”, is to be expected, and ignored.

George Barna’s research shows that many “Christians” do not believe in a personal devil.³ So they have a broken world view that has no concept of spiritual warfare.

Many people in our culture are incensed at the idea of God’s judgment and idolize the concept of a God who loves and accepts everyone without a need to justly deal with their sin. This false worldly caricature of God has also infected the church.⁴ Even among church-goers, quite a few feel that anyone who speaks of God’s judgment is un-Christian and un-loving.

No wonder these people make skewed evaluations and useless comments about what happens on the planet. We need to be careful who we listen to.

In light of these facts, when we see persistent rejection of God, moral and spiritual perversion with attending physical destruction, it is not unreasonable to suspect and perhaps conclude that God is bringing judgment as well as a warning to persons, localities and nations.

It is not an automatic conclusion. But neither is it automatically unloving to make the connection. It seems to me that Pat Roberston made it in the context of caring for the people of Haiti and from what I read was vilified by people who don’t have an accurate Biblical world view.

I frequently run across and hear about people who think that to speak the truth about God’s judgment is unloving. Certainly it can be said in a very unloving way by uncaring persons. But warning people of the consequences of their rebellion against God can also be said with great compassionate and responsible concern for their future and for the future of those who are watching. In fact this is the model Jesus gave us to follow.

So if God is using nature to cause people to realize how vaporous this life is compared to eternal life and to realize that He does in fact judge persistent and pervasive national sin and demon worship (and so our own nation should take note)  should we not at least raise the issue?

Whether you agree or disagree, share your thoughts in the comments.
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Footnotes

1. Edward F. Murphy, Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, 13 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996). [↩]
2. Jack W. Hayford and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Hayford’s Bible Handbook (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995). [↩]
3. While most of the sample American queried by Barna still affirmed God as the all-powerful Creator, a mere 17 percent of the Catholics, 18 percent Methodists, 20 percent Episcopalians, 21 percent Lutherans, and 22 percent of the Presbyterians told Barna that they thought Satan was real. Reference [↩]
4. “We are a multicultural society, and people expect this American life to continue the same way in heaven.” He [Alan Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College] explained that in our society, we meet so many good people of different faiths that it’s hard for us to imagine God letting them go to hell. Reference [↩]