man of god didn't say what he said...they say

Man of God Didn't Say What He Said...They Say By Dale Short People on TV say so many dumb things, nowadays, that at some point we kind of start listening with one ear, because we think we've heard it all. Or at least I did, until I heard the video clip last week of Rev . Pat Robertson, of the Christian Broadcasting Network, explaining that the country of Haiti had brought this horrendous earthquake damage on itself. My other ear started listening, then. He went on to say that it all started in 1791, when Haiti was a colony of France, and a group of rebellious slaves held a voodoo ceremony calling for their independence. They got their independence, he said, and as a result the country had been under a curse of the devil ever since, of which the earthquake was just the latest example. I mulled on this for a while. The next time I checked my messages on Facebook, there was a note fr om a friend of ours in Colorado urging people to phone Robertson's network and tell them how disappointed we were that a prominent “man of God” would say something so ridiculous and demeaning. (And in the 21 st Century , at that. Didn't educated people stop doing the “curses” and “witches” thing not long after the bad stuff at Salem the church doesn't like to talk about any more?) I phoned the CBN to register my complaint, and during the minutes I spent on hold, waiting for a “prayer counselor ,” a different recorded voice (a “sales counselor,” maybe?) kept telling me I should order Rev . Robertson's new book. The lady who finally answered the phone was cheerful and listened patiently while I told her what my problem was. I said that I had been aware of Robertson's ministry for most of my lifetime, and even though I generally disagreed with him theologically , I used to think he was a respectable and logical person, but this junk he said about Haiti had changed that opinion. “I'm sorry you feel that way , sir,” she said, in a cheerful prayer counselor voice, “but your feelings don't change the facts. And what Rev. Robertson said is a proven fact.” I let this sink in. A p roven fact? I repeated the phrase to her. “Oh, yes,” she said. “Even some of the radio stations have started to pick it up.” I allowed as to how I take a back seat to nobody in my love of radio stations, but it was news to me that they could make something a “fact”

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Page 1: Man of God Didn't Say What He Said...They Say

8/14/2019 Man of God Didn't Say What He Said...They Say

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Man of God Didn't Say What He Said...They Say

By Dale Short

People on TV say so many dumb things, nowadays, that at some pointwe kind of start listening with one ear, because we think we've heard it all.

Or at least I did, until I heard the video clip last week of Rev. Pat

Robertson, of the Christian Broadcasting Network, explaining that the

country of Haiti had brought this horrendous earthquake damage on itself.

My other ear started listening, then.

He went on to say that it all started in 1791, when Haiti was a colony

of France, and a group of rebellious slaves held a voodoo ceremony calling

for their independence. They got their independence, he said, and as a result

the country had been under a curse of the devil ever since, of which theearthquake was just the latest example.

I mulled on this for a while. The next time I checked my messages on

Facebook, there was a note from a friend of ours in Colorado urging people

to phone Robertson's network and tell them how disappointed we were that a

prominent “man of God” would say something so ridiculous and demeaning.

(And in the 21st Century, at that. Didn't educated people stop doing the

“curses” and “witches” thing not long after the bad stuff at Salem the church

doesn't like to talk about any more?)

I phoned the CBN to register my complaint, and during the minutes I

spent on hold, waiting for a “prayer counselor,” a different recorded voice (a“sales counselor,” maybe?) kept telling me I should order Rev. Robertson's

new book.

The lady who finally answered the phone was cheerful and listened

patiently while I told her what my problem was. I said that I had been aware

of Robertson's ministry for most of my lifetime, and even though I generally

disagreed with him theologically, I used to think he was a respectable and

logical person, but this junk he said about Haiti had changed that opinion.

“I'm sorry you feel that way, sir,” she said, in a cheerful prayer

counselor voice, “but your feelings don't change the facts. And what Rev.Robertson said is a proven fact.”

I let this sink in. A proven fact? I repeated the phrase to her.

“Oh, yes,” she said. “Even some of the radio stations have started to

pick it up.”

I allowed as to how I take a back seat to nobody in my love of radio