When exactly did 700 Club show host Pat Robertson jump the shark? Was it his agreement with Jerry Falwell in blaming feminists, witches, and lesbians for September 11th? His sympathetic statement on the 1-child policy in China? His call for the assassination of Hugo Chavez?
Regardless of when it happened, its time for him to plan his retirement from the 700 club. What has become obvious in Robertson's recent public pronouncements is that he lacks the good judgment required to host the most prominent Christian TV talk show in the world.
Robertson often has a point in his statements. Yes, Hugo Chavez is a danger to the stability of the region, but Robertson's call for assassination was over the top. Yes, God raises up leaders and he casts down leaders. He governs in the affairs of men. However to make the judgment that God decided he didn't like the way Ariel Sharon was handling the peace process and decided to give him a stroke was presumptuous.
In calling for Robertson to leave, I don't want to pile on. Robertson isn't just some nutjob as many allege. As he steps into his latter years, he leaves behind a complex legacy. He's a Christian Citizen Kane, an American original who has achieved much in a life of ministry and politics.
Citizen Robertson
To begin with, there are countless thousands who couldn't care less what bizarre statement Robertson's made recently. They're the people all around the world who've been helped by Operation Blessing. During Hurricane Katrina, liberals howled about the group getting federal dollars in their relief effort. I researched Operation Blessing and found that it was definitely a worthy cause. Its listed as the 2nd most efficient of more than 400 ministries by MinistryWatch.org. It delivers food to the poor and hungry around the world, as well as medical services to people in the third world. I would daresay that through OBI, Pat Robertson has done more for the world's poor and needy than almost all of his critics.
Robertson also founded Regent University which is producing fine lawyers, journalists, and theologians. CBN is responsible for the American Center for Law and Justice which time and time again goes to bat for the Civil liberties of Christians and against the encroachments of the ACLU.
As a political activist, Pat Robertson's record is mixed. He picked up the slack as Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority floundered with his 1988 presidential campaign and the subsequent founding of the Christian Coalition. Yet, in later years he became known as someone who rather than changing the Republican Party or the country merely delivered the Religious Conservative vote for the establishment candidate in 1988, 1992, and 1996, which is why the coalition floundered.
His television efforts has had mixed reviews as well. For a few years, my family only got TBN, so we rented movies a lot. The only show that I watched other than Christian kids shows was the 700 club. In terms of professionalism and the quality of the broadcast it was light-years ahead of all the other shows on TBN. The show featured well-produced animated features that spread the gospel, interviews with top figures such as actor Robert Duvall, Rush Limbaugh, and Benjamin Netanyahu. On the other hand, Robertson provided his show as a forum for conmen such as Benny Hinn and other false teachers.
Yet, CBN News is the crown jewel of the network. I remember how the reporters and anchors showed professionalism and poise while covering stories the mainstream media ignored. It is indeed for this reason that Robertson needs to step down from the 700 club. His comments detract from the professionalism of the committed men and women who work for his network.
This doesn't mean Robertson should withdraw all involvement. Far from it, Robertson is a big ideas man, one of that rare breed that has the God-given ability to make his dreams become reality. However, a man with foot in mouth disease should not be a broadcaster.
At the end of the day, despite the hyperventilating and the stupid statements of a given moment, Robertson has much to be proud of and leaves us with much to ponder. Certainly, if at the end of my days, if it could be said that I helped feed millions, spread the Gospel across the globe, wrote a book on the end times that was better than Tim LaHaye's and rejected the pre-trib rapture, and hosted a TV show with a former Miss America that'd sound like a successful life to me. If on the other hand, I provided a forum for heretics and conmen, brought shame on my network through ill-chosen and unwise pronunciations, and had my political organization shrink to a shell of its former self because of my organizational decisions, than I'd have to consider my life a failure. What then if both were true? I guess that makes him human. For the flaws of great men are very great indeed.
