I have been doing some reflection on both what Pat Robertson said about judgment in Haiti as well as the reactions to his words and timing. I believe Pat Robertson is a true man of God and perhaps even a prophet in our times. God has done amazing things through Pat and his ministry. Operation Blessing has helped millions of people, including in Haiti. I would be surprised if Operation Blessing and Pat's ministries weren't already planning a great outreach in Haiti to minister during this disaster. Pat Robertson spoke a truth about a deal that Haitians made long ago with the devil to break free from slavery. The Haitians made that deal long ago and have been reaping the consequences ever since. Sometimes natural disasters have been a form of judgment throughout Biblical history. Generally, they are just natural disasters with bad things happening to the righteous and to the wicked as a "natural" consequence of the fall of the human race in sin. Pat also used the occcasion of Katrina to speak a word about New Orleans...wondering outloud whether the wickedness of New Orleans had helped bring about this devastation. One can wonder...there has always been great wickedness in that city. It is also true that a part of the judgment upon New Orleans was a natural consequence of having and keeping a major city at below sea level so that a tidal surge of any consequence would bring flood and disaster. People build in flood plains, on fault lines, on cliffs and on mountain sides and then wonder why bad things happen...did God do this to punish them for building there...no but God did not stop the disaster either and the consequences are made worse because of the free will of the human race choosing to build in such locations. Pat also spoke out about a possible national judgment at 9/11. That is entirely possible....God does judge nations, communities, families as well as individuals.
At issue with Pat Robertson's observations and pronouncements (even more than their content) is the timing of such pronouncements. The possibility that non-believers would be turned off by his pronouncements to the Good News is always a possibility. But let me clear here...Jeremiah and Ezekial were not listened to either. People (believers and non-believers) were not happy with the timing or words of the early Biblical prophets. The timing on Pat's words could be better served and received (although many would still call him off-base) if they had been a bit later on. Some would consider his words those of a quack religionist, regardless. Most people believe that now is the time for compassion and outreach to Haiti not words of judgment. Satan wants to use this disaster for evil and God wants to use this natural disaster to turn people by the millions to serve and worship Him. God wants His words spoken into this situation...healing words, holiness words, words of peace, but also words of warning. A greater disaster will fall on those in Haiti should they not turn to God in this terrible time. A greater disaster awaits those who merely reject Pat Robertson's words as those of a failing old man who has lost his edge. There is truth in His words but now is not necessarily the time for these specific words. But remember, Pat has been preaching about the judgment to come for those who are outside of faith for decades...not as a threat or in a mean spirit but in the spirit of one who genuinely wants millions to come to Christ. He is a man who has believed for decades that those outside of faith face an eternity in hell. An earthquake is not the greatest disaster...going to hell is. He does not merely wait for tragedies to happen to speak a Word from the Lord. He preaches the same way all through the week. He seeks to call the lost into a personal relationship with God. He consistently preaches, apart from any disaster, that those who make deals with the devil will always have bad consequences. We hear about these pronouncements now because most people don't regularly listen to brother, Pat. He sees himself as called by God to be a watchman on the wall, calling all of us to see in this and other disasters those sinful patterns in our own lives, families, communities, states, and nations that may set us up for disaster and natural consequences and the even greater disaster of a life separated from God. That is the heart of Pat Robertson...I have seen it.
We as fellow believers wish he would not make it harder on us by speaking these words, seemingly out of season. Before we cast a stone at Pat Robertson, maybe we should look at the Old Testament Prophets and see how they were treated when they spoke a thus saith the Lord in the midst of national and natural disasters. The modern world always struggles with the prophet because it doesn't want to hear a, "Thus saith the Lord." Look at Pat's heart and his words when there is not a disaster...they are consistent...he doesn't want people to experience hell nor the greatest natural and supernatural disaster of all...separation from God because of the choices we make as individuals, families, communities, states, countries and the world. Woe, Woe to us if we only look at the timing of his words and not the actual words and urge people that the time is urgent...people are perishing and going to hell in Haiti, in New Orleans, in New York, and in Toledo, Ohio because they reject God.
Now there is the separate issue as to whether God still does judgment in this way. Consider this, friends, in the Book of Revelation, the Bible reminds us that 1/4 of the earth will perish in a single natural/supernatural disaster of judgment before Christ returns triumphant. That is over 1.5 billion dead in a single event or cataclysmic disaster. That will be far, far worse than Haiti or the tsunami in Indonesia a few years ago. The world does not want to believe that a loving God would still work in that ancient and archaic manner any more but the Bible tells us a different story. Peter tells us that since the world will melt away in a fiery storm, what kind of people ought we to be and how should we then live. This is not popular preaching these days but it is Biblical preaching.
So as Captain Hook said to Peter Pan in the movie, Bad form, Peter...bad form...so we may say to Pat Robertson that his timing was not good or how we would do it...but maybe God was also speaking through Pat an uncomfortable truth about an even greater disaster...one that Pat had been preaching about for decades and now looks bad because we do not see it in the bigger context.
I am not willing to cast a stone at Pat Roberston on this one. But I am praying that millions of people around the world would look at "natural disasters" and seek God and turn from their wicked ways, humbling themselves and praying so that God would heal the land. Haiti could use such a healing and so could we. God wants to work in this but so does Satan. Let's not let Satan win on this one. Let's rise up as believers, seek the Lord, proclain His Word faithfully, and seek to turn a dying world to God who has a better way. May God have mercy on us...we all deserve judgment but while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God is rich in mercy...but it also says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. We know these things as believers...but now is the time to rise up and pitch in to do a "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven thing" for the people of Haiti...for the people of the world ...for God's sake.
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