In the past I have taken little notice of Pat Robertson. I largely write him off as a kook, or laugh at his extreme pronouncements. Last week I thought it was a great joke to post the first video below from him. Once again, here was evidence of my opinion that he’s a complete fool.
Pat Robertson Prediction: The GOP Health Bill Will Pass
Right Wing Watch has this to say about Robertson’s pronouncements on the American Health Care Bill:
“It’s going to go through the Senate, and we’re all going to rejoice that we’re going to pay less on health care,” he said, despite the fact that if enacted, most people would see their premiums skyrocket.
Robertson said that “he knew that the Lord was going to give Trump victory” and that God is using the president to do great things.
“They’re going to get it,” he said. “They’re going to give it to the president. Mark my word: it will pass. They will get those extra votes. It will go through. They’re going to work together to give us tremendous health care.”
Of course, to the relief of millions of USians who would have lost decent health care if it had, the GOP Health Bill didn’t pass.
However, this latest pronouncement may tell us why Pat Robertson thinks his fellow countrymen don’t need health care. If they’re sick, it’s their own fault.
Multiple Sclerosis is Demonic: Rebuke it and Healing Will Occur
In the e-mail questions section of Robertson’s show the 700 Club, he dealt with this missive:
First, I just want to say I love you. (“Well, we love you too,” interjects Robertson’s sidekick.) I pray, I read the Bible, I’ve asked for healing and have been prayed over many times. What hurts the most is I feel abandoned by God when I have loved Him so much.
I have MS [and] I am chemically and environmentally sensitive, which means I am allergic to many everyday things – there are only a few foods that I can eat. I feel forsaken. I’ve been watching your show for a long time now, waiting for my name to be called when you have word of knowledge.
I’m so happy for those who say they are healed … but is healing not for everyone?
– Tiffany
Pat Robertson’s Response to Tiffany
Robertson’s response to Tiffany is appalling. He starts by telling her that there was no one Jesus didn’t heal. There were some that had to go through a testing time, but he didn’t say “No” to anyone. Robertson goes on ( via Right Wing Watch):
“I know this sounds strange but I do believe there is a spiritual component in MS, it’s like a demonic—it’s one of those things that you literally have to cast out,” … “I have seen people with MS get up out of a wheelchair and push the wheelchair out of the room where we were. I’ve seen it. I’ve been involved in it.”
While he did tell the viewer to “check with an endocrinologist to see if there’s something, some chemical or something that could be done that would build up that immune system that you’ve got or if it’s something that you’re eating that’s causing a problem,” Robertson assured her that “you need in the name of Jesus to rebuke that thing and to say to your body, ‘You will be whole!’”
It’s bad enough to say these things at all. But in this instance, Robertson is saying them to someone who believes deeply in him. He’s telling her that it’s her fault that she has MS, and she would get better if her belief was strong enough.
This poor women told him she feels “forsaken”. She’s been watching his show for years, desperate for relief from her illness, believing that he can help her get better. She will feel worse than ever after this – I know from personal experience.
My Own Situation
I was never someone to look to a character like Pat Robertson or any of the other personality cult preachers. From childhood I was pretty disdainful of religion. I found the way it saw women disgusting from a very early age, and there was a lot that didn’t make sense. Also, I was never one who thought illness or injury was susceptible to cure via prayer. However, I did have a pretty strong faith that there was a God, and He was all about love.
I’ve had a lot of really bad things happen to me and have to live permanently with the result of them. Because of my faith, there was a time when I wondered what was so bad about me that I had to deal with all this. What had I ever done that was so wrong? (Perhaps God knew I was going to become an atheist! 🙂 )
So I understand to a certain extent what Tiffany feels. She’s in a far worse situation than I ever was though. She’s constantly deteriorating, her condition will kill her, and she believes prayer can heal her.
In a way, becoming an atheist made me better able to cope with all that life has thrown at me, and continues to throw at me. It’s not my fault. It just is.
I doubt that Tiffany is in a situation where she will be able to have a better relationship with reality. I hope at least she there’s someone close to her who can give her the illusion of a loving God. One who is non-judgmental and doesn’t blame her for her circumstances.
She needs to be rescued from the evil that is Pat Robertson before her mental health suffers permanent damage, if it hasn’t already.
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OMG, what a fucking nitwit he is. It makes me sick that he has influence over anybody, let alone someone who is suffering as this woman is. Death can’t come soon enough to this moron. He is evil incarnate.
I feel nauseous when I watch or listen to the guy, so I don’t .
I’ve always felt that way about any evangelist. Why doesn’t everyone see them for the duplicitous, oleaginous, smarmy con-men that they are? Obviously religious indoctrination can be a disgustingly stubborn thing to kick.
Con men survive – one might even say thrive. From which fact, we can deduce the (possibly upsetting) complex psycho-social fact that there exists a sufficient population of credulous humans for them to prey on. It’s a sad state of affairs that some people really are that stupid, but the continued existence of successful con men (including Robertson and his ilk) is plain evidence that this susceptible population does exist (and also, that Robertson and ilk can find them). It may not be a classical “please fill in this questionnaire before looking at the flashing lights” type of psychology-sociology experiment, but their existence is no less an experimental test of the state of humanity than the Milgram Experiment (the “turn up the voltage and fry the test subject” one).
Which is me analysing Robertson and con men as being a natural hazard like drowning or being eaten alive by camel spiders (I’ve been writing job applications this morning. It puts one in a certain mood.) ; but what makes Robertson and company different – and here I agree with your label of “evil” – is that they use their influence over the young and credulous (a natural state for children – it’s quicker and safer to believe adults than to find everything out by experiment ; see under “drowning” and “being eaten alive by camel spiders”) to prevent the formation of “critical thinking”, so guaranteeing themselves a future supply of victims.
Oh look – a lorry load of lambs drives past the house to the slaughter house. Where they’ll be led into the killing pens by a “Judas Sheep.” I’ve more respect for the professional ethics of the Judas Sheep than I have for Robertson and his ilk.
Wasn’t it L. Ron Hubbard who said something like, “If you want to make money you don’t write science-fiction, you start a religion.”?
It seems that he likely made that same basic comment several times. It also seems likely that his inspiration for that comment and the idea to start a religion to get rich came from another science fiction writer.
I’m a pretty serious science fiction reader, have been since 6 or 7 years old. I’ve read LRH and he really wasn’t all that great. Simplistic, juvenile even. He definitely wasn’t up to the level of most of the other writers he used to hang out with before he started religion-smithing. Like Alfred Bester(!), CM Kornbluth, Harlan Ellison himself, and several others that went on to become known as the greats of the Golden Age.
degenerate old twat.
You’ve hit the nail on the head re Robertson and those of like kidney – JC cures people, so what’s the need for comprehensive, affordable health insurance? And if you can’t pay confiscatory premiums and Jeebus doesn’t cure you, that simply proves you’re one of the damned.
This doesn’t surprise me one bit, but it does make me appreciate anew just how vile Robertson, and his ilk, truly are. They are carnies preying specifically on those that are in extremis, for personal profit and power. Channeling Christopher Hitchens, I won’t feel the slightest bit of sorrow when Robertson finally dies. I could add to the list too, starting with that asshole Bakker . . .
That’s pretty much my reaction really. Not surprised, but reminded just how vile they are. His inhumanity, especially considering he’s someone who says he seeks to emulate the supposed humanity of Jesus, is quite shocking.