Pat Robertson has said some crazy things over the years. Some of them are amusing. Some of them are dangerous…
And some of them are pure idolatrous.
The other day on the 700 club, Pat said something that stepped far outside of any legitimate form of Christianity, and strayed so far into idolatry, that he might as well boil down his jewelry and make a calf out of it.
A reader wrote in a question as to why so many people would be opposed to Donald Trump and his quest to “make America great again.” To the reader, this didn’t make sense, so Pat explained. In his answer, Pat said he believed that what was happening was truly “satanic” because “America is the great hope of the world.”
America is the great hope of the world?
I had to rewind the tape three times to make sure I heard him correctly.
Sadly, I did– so let me be ridiculously blunt with you:
It doesn’t matter if you are a republican or a democrat, a liberal or conservative.
It doesn’t matter which denomination you belong to, or what version of the Bible you prefer to read.
It doesn’t matter if your church has a worship band or prefers to sing hymns to the piano.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in church every time the doors are open, or have started a global ministry.
If you think that America is the “great hope of the world” you have yet to become a Christian.
Why?
Because Jesus is the great hope of the world. That’s the *entire* premise of the Christian religion.
Apart from the saving, transformative love and works of Christ, there is no hope. No matter what kind of Christian you are, we are all united in this core belief: Jesus is our great hope, and we believe he is the great hope of this world.
This is why we spread the Gospel of “good news” whether you view that Gospel through a conservative lens, a liberal one, or something in between.
This is why two millennia of Christians have spread out across the globe and invited every nation, every tongue, to come to know Jesus.
Everything we do is rooted in the belief that Jesus is the great hope of the world.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that we have this hope as an anchor, and that it is solid and sure. The anchor of Jesus is the only one we have– it is the only thing we place our hope in; it is the only thing we place our faith in.
The anchor of Jesus is God’s promised deliverance for us. Generations of God’s people waited for this hope. They wrestled with God, asked God how long they’d have to wait for the promise, and paved the way for hope to take on human flesh and walk among us.
Once hope became flesh, followers of God clothed themselves with it. They abandoned everything else– worldly allegiances, physical possessions, personal ambitions… they gave up everything and began a quest to change the entire world, once they realized that Jesus was the great hope the world had been waiting for.
It’s all Jesus, folks. It’s what Christianity is about.
Jesus has, and always will be, the great hope of this world.
There is no other hope.
To say that America is the great hope of the world? To invite people to put their hope, their faith, and their trust in the United States?
That’s pure idolatry. Wicked, evil, perverse idolatry– idolatry no less wicked than the idolatry that led to the golden calf or bowing down to Baal.
It’s always idolatry when we place our hope in something fashioned by human hands, whether it’s a statue or a nation.
America is the great hope of the world?
No, Pat. Jesus is the great hope of this world.
It’s only Jesus.
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13 Responses
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
Man this is a good one. And I agree 100 %. Nor the U.S of A. or Donald Trump are the hope of this world. But if i’m going to be honest, I liked D.T economic policies and yes I think we need to put out country first, and fix what’s broken here first before we lend a hand.
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Jesus was a JEW no load. He celebrated the passover, his mother went through a ritual cleansing after his birth, he was called Rabi by some. Jewish he was. Only Jews went to Synagogue back them-he was found teaching at the temple. People like you are the reason I’m in anger management…
Yes Jesus is the great hope of the world and the only hope. I think you completely twisted what Pat Robertson said. Obviously you hate him so you must just be watching him to try to catch him at saying something you can pervert and then write a defamation of. Character story about. I’ve watched Pat occasionally over 40 years and love him inspite of his occasional snafus. I am however, deeply concerned though about how he idolizes Trump.
In The Late Great Planet Earth, wasn’t Russia the Antichrist? And wasn’t whoever partnered up with Russia the Beast? It seems to me that Trump and Putin fulfill Biblical prophecy. Conservative Christianity has always followed the Spirit of Antichrist, and now that the Antichrist and Beast have taken form, they bow down and worship.
Amen!
If there’s one good thing about the current administration, it’s that no other country will harbor the illusion that the United States is a savior or a model everyone should emulate (assuming there are countries besides the United States that think that). It might be kind of nice to get edged off the world stage.
the arrogance in believing that the US is the hope for the world, as if God is not actively working through other believers in other nations and other nations is quite amazing.
And it also shows the insidiousness of the nationalistic religion that has replaced Christianity in many ways in our culture. While Robertson would say outright that Jesus is the hope of the world, he cannot see or fathom that his politics, nationalistic pride, and patriotism have become idols to him and he has actually let Christianity dissolve into nationalistic religion. he still uses the same words about Christ and the Bible, but they are slapped onto the nationalism to make that a valid religion rather than idolatry in his eyes. A stark warning for all of us.
Although I´m not nearly as patriotic and nationalistic as I used to be, I am happy for the good that America does in the world, but I attempt to keep that belief in check by reminding myself of what you just shared. Thanks.
Although I agree that Pat Robertson´s statement is a strange one, I´m rather certain he wouldn´t disagree with the main point of this article either. Sadly, Robertson like so many conservative evangelicals has taken the bait that empire has cast in front of him.
You and the Fundiegelicals are mirror images of one another; without the other to denounce, your funding would dry up and the streams of indignation fueling your self-righteousness would disappear.
Wait. I’m supposed to be getting paid?