Freedom Writer - December 1995

Road to Armageddon

By Skipp Porteous

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is the undisputed king 
of religious broadcasting. Additionally, he is a significant 
figure in American politics today. That combination 
poses a grave threat to the separation between church 
and state and a democratic society.


In 1989, after his failed presidential campaign, Robertson 
founded the Christian Coalition. He vowed to make the 
Christian Coalition the most powerful political force 
in America by the end of this decade. Ahead of schedule, 
Robertson has already surpassed
 many of his goals.

Before the media started paying attention, the Christian 
Coalition operated without controversy for a couple 
of years. Then, to dodge charges of religious and political 
extremism, the Christian Coalition cleverly framed 
its agenda as "pro-family." Likewis
e, its public relations machine successfully turned 
most media attention from Pat Robertson to a usually 
rational-sounding Ralph Reed, the group's hired executive 
director.

As the Christian Coalition works toward its goal of 
taking over the Republican Party and becoming the most 
powerful political group in the United States, it becomes 
more important than ever that people know as much as 
possible about the group's guiding li
ght, Pat Robertson.

The Christian Coalition is not Robertson's first controversial 
political organization. In 1981, he formed the Freedom 
Council as a vehicle to get conservative Christians 
involved in the political process. The Freedom Council 
was funded by the Christian Br
oadcasting Network (CBN), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, 
and listed on CBN's books as simply Project 0015. The 
Freedom Council, as a 501(c)(4) political organization, 
was allowed to lobby. However, it is illegal for a 
politically restricted non-prof
it group like CBN to channel funds into a political 
organization like the Freedom Council.

In January 1986, the Freedom Council changed its name 
to the National Freedom Institute. In the same day 
a new Freedom Council was formed. Then, nine months 
later, the Institute was dissolved, leaving only the 
new Freedom Council in place. 

The reborn Freedom Council applied for tax-exempt status, 
telling the IRS that two large donations were hinging 
on such approval. IRS approval came quickly. Published 
reports said later that there never were any big prospective 
donors waiting in the wings
. Then, just as the IRS began an audit of CBN, the 
Freedom Council abruptly closed. 

In 1986, Americans for Robertson formed as an exploratory 
committee for Robertson's presidential campaign. Americans 
for Robertson came under criticism for its alleged 
failure to report its financial dealings. After raising 
millions of dollars toward Robe
rtson's campaign, it, too, closed shop. The Christian 
Coalition was a direct outgrowth of Robertson's failed 
campaign.

In his numerous books, personal appearances, and tapes, 
Robertson makes it clear that he believes that he is 
one of God's prophets. His followers somehow overlook 
the fact that the Bible says that if a prophet predicts 
something that turns out to be false
, then the man is considered a false prophet. 

Anyone who has studied history and natural science 
can make educated guesses about future political events 
and natural disasters. Robertson's success rate at 
predicting events is about average. But sometimes Robertson 
makes dogmatic assertions, leaving no
 room for error. For example, in his 1984 book, Answers, 
he flatly stated, "There will be an invasion of the 
nation of Israel by the Soviet Union." Of course, it 
didn't happen, and now the Soviet Union doesn't exist. 
In 1989, a year after running for pres
ident, Robertson wrote The Plan. In that book he wrote 
that God spoke to him and said, "You will not want 
to do it, but I want you to be [emphasis added] president 
of the United States." Robertson would have been better 
off if he had claimed God said, "I 
want you to run for president," and left it at that. 


Robertson's 1985 claim to pray away a hurricane headed 
for Virginia Beach has been much reported. He pulled 
the same stunt on "The 700 Club" earlier this year 
when Hurricane Felix headed in his direction. Because 
of the jet steam and the west-to-east weat
her pattern, most Atlantic hurricanes actually veer 
away from the mainland.

One of Robertson's most amazing declarations concerns 
the Second Coming and the role of his Christian Broadcasting 
Network. In a 1995 16-page booklet titled "The Harvest 
Begins With You," Robertson wrote that God gave him 
five years to reach the world wit
h the gospel — then it's going to be over.

Robertson explains CBN's part in the end-time scenario: 
"I will never forget the time, April 29, 1977, when 
we had built the first earth station ever to be owned 
by a Christian ministry in the history of the world, 
and we were the first ever to take a ful
l-time transponder on a satellite. We were the third 
broadcaster in America — we were with HBO and Ted Turner. 
But we were the first basic cable network in America, 
so we were pioneers in this area. I remember it was 
ten o'clock in the morning when we wen
t on with the broadcast. We then cut to the Mount of 
Olives in Jerusalem, a little after five o'clock in 
the afternoon. There were some clouds forming over 
the Temple Mount, and Merv and Merla Watson were on 
the mountain. We had a camera on them as they w
ere singing and praising God. The signal was picked 
up and microwaved to Tel Aviv. On a big earth station 
it was relayed across the satellite down in New York 
City; then it was picked up again either on landlines 
or satellite and sent back here to Virgini
a Beach, where we picked it up and processed it through 
our equipment, and then re-broadcast it on our earth 
station to our transponder all across the United States 
of America. And when I saw the Mount of Olives, and 
I saw where my Savior is going to put 
His foot down when He comes back to earth, I was thinking, 
'I'm transmitting it! The Bible says every eye is going 
to behold Him, and here it is happening! We see how 
it is going to be fulfilled right in front of our eyes!'"

Robertson recently came out with _The_End_of_the_Age_, 
a book he calls his first work of fiction — although 
he says it is based solidly on the Bible. In _The_End_
of_the_Age_, Robertson paints a bleak picture of the 
end times he says 
we are about to enter. He writes about a Christian 
militia-type group raised up to fight a tyrannical 
American government, and the dropping of a neutron 
bomb on Israel. Then, glory be to God, Jesus comes 
back with a company of angels and destroys the enem
y, and the saved live happily ever after.

Now, Robertson not only opposed Rabin's peace efforts, 
but suggested that God removed Rabin because he stood 
in the way of Bible prophecy. He quipped that God would 
remove him too, if he stood in the way of God's plan.

Robertson has every right to espouse his beliefs and 
act politically. Nevertheless, with the Christian Coalition's 
dominance in the Republican Party, people need to see 
how the radical theology of Robertson and his Christian 
Coalition threatens world peace. In the opinion of this writer,
Robertson isn't looking for solutions to the world's problems,
he is looking to lead us down the road to Armageddon.

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