The Comeuppance for Evangelicals Who Sold Their Souls to Trump Is Coming

Picture: Tiffany Trump/Facebook

„Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.“

By Ed Simon | History News Network/Alternet

This Advent season, while watching Donald Trump in front of a garishly green-and-red banner which proclaims “Make America Great Again,” take the opportunity to reflect on the Faustian bargain which allowed conservative evangelical Christians to “Keep Christ in Christmas” while seemingly divorcing Christianity from Christ. That Republican supply side economics, exemplified by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell’s cruel tax “reform,” contradicts Matthew 5:3 is clear. That Trump’s draconian immigration policy, which new reports indicate could now involve splitting families apart, violates the essence of Exodus 22:21 is obvious. And it shouldn’t have to be said that the new nationalism, this new fascism, with its “blood and soil” metaphysic, stands in opposition to the sublime universalism of Galatians 3:28.

For those 81% of white evangelicals who voted for Trump, and more troublingly for the profoundly inhumane, greedy, wrathful ideology that he embodies, and who have seemingly forgotten their scripture, I have another passage to remind them of: Matthew 4:10. Following the dark Adversary who took Christ up “an exceeding high mountain, and she with him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” And Christ, choosing to follow the small, humble, yet sacred path, rejected the temptations of worldly power declaring, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

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Pat Robertson: Atheist women were likely raped, and that’s why they reject Jesus

Image: Church and State.org.uk

Pat Robertson offered his views on why there are women who are atheists. According to The Raw Story, in his mind, women who are atheists and openly hostile to any mention of God have something seriously wrong in their pasts. Answering a viewer’s question on why someone she witnessed to was that hostile, Pat Robertson said there was probably abuse or rape in her past.

By Rika Christensen | Church and State/Addicting Info

Perhaps this rapist hurt her, and then acted like he was behaving in a Biblical manner. Or, perhaps he told her that God said it was a man’s duty to rape his daughter. Or something to that effect. Regardless, Pat Robertson believes the hostility is because this woman has bad past experiences she associates with God.

Why are some atheists hostile towards mentions of God?

So, it couldn’t possibly be because atheists are sick of being told they’re possessed by demons or under demonic influence. They couldn’t possibly be tired of hearing that they’re sinners, and God will judge them and condemn them to hell. It’s obviously not because atheists are sick and tired of feeling like Christians are forcing their religion on everyone around them.

Some atheists might be hostile because they’re angry at God. But not all.

An article on CNN in 2011 discussed a study of college students that found atheists and agnostics seemed to report more anger towards God in their pasts than believers did. The study appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and, according to CNN, also reported that younger people tended to be angrier at God than older people were. The researchers believe that might be due to the shifting cultural norms surrounding religion.

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Pat Robertson Blames Vegas Shooting on Lack of Respect for Donald Trump and God

Why did the shooting in Las Vegas happen? Police don’t know (or haven’t released) the motive. But that’s okay because Pat Robertson has the answers.

By Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist

“Violence in the streets, ladies and gentlemen. Why is it happening?” he asked. “The fact that we have disrespect for authority; there is profound disrespect for our president, all across this nation they say terrible things about him. It’s in the news, it’s in other places. There is disrespect now for our national anthem, disrespect for our veterans, disrespect for the institutions of our government, disrespect for the court system. All the way up and down the line, disrespect.”

“Until there is biblical authority,” Robertson continued, “there has to be some controlling authority in our society and there is none. And when there is no vision of God, the people run amok … and we have taken from the American people the vision of God, the whole idea of reward and punishment, an ultimate judge of all our actions, we’ve taken that away. When there is no vision of God, the people run amok.”

Robertson didn’t explain why so many mass shootings occurred before Donald Trump entered office and the NFL protests against racial injustice began… I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.

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Trumps Evangelikale: Die Freundschaft hält – Eine Art Wohlstandsevangelium im Weißen Haus

Picture: Tiffany Trump/Facebook
Dear Lord, I pray in the Mighty name of Jesus, that you would give Donald J Trump wisdom and that you would protect him and fill him with Your Spirit and help him to withstand the fiery darts of the enemy

Weiße Evangelikale haben maßgeblich zum Wahlsieg von Donald Trump im vergangenen Jahr beigetragen. Der Rückhalt bleibt. Umfragen zeigen, dass die weitaus meisten mit der Amtsführung des neuen US-Präsidenten zufrieden sind.

evangelisch.de

Über traditionelle Werte predigende Pastoren und ein zeitweise ausfälliger Immobilienmogul: Das war bereits im Wahlkampf eine schwer zu verstehende, komplexe Freundschaft. Doch sie hält. US-Präsident Donald Trump kann sich offenbar auch bei Krisen auf seine betenden Fans verlassen. Deren Spektrum reicht von evangelikal und pfingstkirchlich bis zu Anhängern des im US-Protestantismus weit verbreiteten, doch oft verspotteten Wohlstandsevangeliums, dem zufolge Gott Gläubigen materielle Erfolg schenken will.

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With God on Their Side: How Evangelicals Entered American Politics

Billy Graham preaching at Madison Square Garden, 1957. (Photo: Cornell Capa / International Center of Photograph)

When Jimmy Carter described himself as “born again” in his 1976 run for president, most academics and journalists had a vague idea of what he meant, but few experts on religion could be found within their precincts. Back in those days presidential candidates kept their faith to themselves unless, like John F. Kennedy or George Romney, they were adherents to a religion historically disdained by the Protestant majority.

By Alan Wolfe | State and Church

Here’s a quiz: What is the faith of Carter’s running mate, Walter Mondale? (It is not Lutheranism, the dominant religion of his home state of Minnesota.) If Mondale were running today, you would know.

In the same year in which Carter ran for president, Jerry Falwell, then emerging as a leader of the religious right, claimed that the notion that religion and politics should be kept apart “was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.” The Devil having been last seen on American shores conversing with Daniel Webster in Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1937 short story, Falwell was actually suggesting that modern American politics would be taking a radically new direction. He was correct: We now expect confessional declarations from our candidates, even if, as in Donald J. Trump’s case, they lack any shred of spiritual sensibility.

Frances FitzGerald’s “The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America” is a 700-page historical overview of the conservative Protestantism that has become so omnipresent in our public life, including its offshoots in fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. It is, simply put, a page turner: FitzGerald is a great writer capable of keeping a sprawling narrative on point, even as it descends into discussions of Keswickian holiness, pretribunalist rapture and theonomic governance. (Don’t ask.) Anyone curious about the state of conservative American Protestantism will have a trusted guide in this Bancroft and Pulitzer Prize winner who has previously written about Vietnam, Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative and American textbook controversies. In addition, FitzGerald clearly took her time; she reports on a visit to an important religious site as early as September 1987. We have long needed a fair-minded overview of this vitally important religious sensibility, and FitzGerald has now provided it.

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Pastor Claims He Has Seen Aborted Fetuses Hug Jesus In Heaven

Pastor Jesse Duplantis. (Jesse Duplantis Ministries / screen grab)

Pastor Jesse Duplantis is a religiot of epic proportions, on par with the likes of Kenneth Copeland and the “Godfather” of incomprehensible religiosity, Pat Robertson. One small difference makes this “pastor” even more deserving of the ridicule of those who use their brains: he claims to have been in heaven, seen everything there in detail and to have all of the answers that the mentally-disturbed faithful ask of him.

By Jen Froderman | Church and State

In fact, he is now claiming that heaven takes on all aborted babies as well as any child who dies before the “age of accountability.” Speaking on aborted fetuses, he says any child that “the world rejects, heaven accepts.” Ok, that is kinda odd, does that mean that children that the almighty does not allow to be born (and therefore, were rejected by God himself) are not accepted? That was probably just an oversight in his presentation, right?

Here is the rub, if the children who die are in the same “looking” body as they were when they died (or they wouldn’t have appeared as children hugging Jesus in heaven) then what kind of heaven is there for a fetus? Most abortions happen when fetuses are unrecognizable as humans, just basically a bunch of cells… how does a bunch of cells hug Jesus?

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Pat Robertson: Single Mothers Should Be Forced To Get Married Or They Will Go To Hell

Pat Robertson has attacked single mothers, warning that they’ll go to hell if they aren’t forced to get married.

By Stephen D. Foster Jr. | Church and State

During his 700 Club show, Robertson took a question from a father who has been actively trying to force his daughter to marry the father of her child, even though she has been through two divorces and doesn’t want to marry for a third time.

“My daughter has been living with a man for 3 years and has a baby with him,” viewer Mark wrote in an email. “She has told her kids that they are married but she won’t marry him because she has had 2 husbands already.”

This didn’t sit well with Robertson, who believes that all women should be forced to marry, have babies, and cook and clean. Without even having met the man’s daughter, Robertson assumed that her relationship issues are due to a bad upbringing and that she must be rebellious instead of being submissive to the man in her life.

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Robertson: “David Bowie Is Not Dead, He Was Kidnapped By Demons Summoned By Rock Music”

Recently on “The 700 Club,” Pat Robertson fielded a question from a teenage viewer who wanted to know if it is a sin to listen to rock music.

By Lea Vat Kens|NEWSLO

The televangelist said that while people shouldn’t try to completely avoid mainstream music, they should be wary of listening to songs that may contain violent, satanic lyrics and beats that could summon demonic beings. “It depends on what rock you’re listening to,” he said. “Some of the stuff is just evil. They used to talk about killing your parents. There were odes to Satan. You don’t want that stuff coming into your mind. In one Indian context, they were playing rock music and the person said, ‘Why are you calling on the demons?’ because that was the kind of music they used to summon demons.”

“And it’s true, just look at what happened to David Bowie,” Robertson continued. “I mean, here you have a person who everybody is referring to as a legendary musician, an innovator, someone who changed the course of pop music history. In reality, Bowie was a deeply tormented gay drug addict, and it showed through his music and on his face. I mean, just take a look at any picture of him and tell me that’s not true. Tell me he doesn’t look like he just finished having a gay orgy, complete with a ton of drugs. And now people think he is dead. I’m kind of thinking, na-aah, no way. I’m thinking the demons kidnapped him to entertain them in Hell, because they got tired of mainstream punk-rock, and suddenly decided they were in the mood for some ‘Space Oddity.’”

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Pat Robertson Has to Explain to Viewer Why He Has Surgery When He’s Supposed to Have Faith

I love it when Christians challenge each other.

On The 700 Club yesterday, Pat Robertson was asked by a viewer why he visits doctors if his faith is supposed to pull him through.

By Hemant Mehta|Friendly Atheist

And then the rationalizing began.

… I think that godly people are used by God to come forth with the healing techniques that alleviate sickness and suffering and so forth… the Lord might say, “You prayed, and go to see that doctor and he’ll take the mole off your chin” or something.

…

I don’t know what else to say. If you have enough faith… maybe I don’t have enough, but I have faith for other people. But for myself, I think I did the right thing.

In short, God’s not really going to help you. God’s just going to point you in the direction of people who can help you. But God’s still the one who deserves all the credit. It makes sense, dammit! NEXT QUESTION!

If only there was a way to ask follow ups… What if the doctor’s an atheist? If the godly doctor’s taking care of you, do you still pray in the operating room? How does Ben Carson work?

(via Right Wing Watch)

Pat Robertson: Brittany Maynard Shouldn’t Kill Herself Because “God Can Heal Anything”

Image: Friendly Atheist

Brittany Maynard (left) is the 29-year-old with brain cancer who has chosen to kill herself in a few days so that she can die with dignity before the disease takes away everything that she believes makes life worth living.

By Hemant Mehta—Friendly Atheist

Pat Robertson commented on her story last night — you know you were waiting for his opinion — explaining how she should totally not kill herself because God will heal her… and how her decision is just a symptom of death-loving liberals:

… It’s amazing; the so-called liberals are a culture of death, they want to kill babies, they want to kill the terminally ill, they don’t seem to honor life…

…

We should fight for life. It is a slippery slope… She has brain cancer, but brain cancer can get healed, God can heal anything.

If God cared so much, maybe he shouldn’t have given her the brain cancer to begin with…? Just a thought.

To repeat, there is no known cure for what Maynard has and the only options to extend her life would “destroy the time” she has left (her words).

Right Wing Watch points out that a woman once claimed Robertson faith-healed her brain tumor, though doctors made clear it wasn’t cancer. No alternative explanations were offered.

Pat Robertson: Robin Williams killed himself because he worshiped false gods

I was trying to think of a way to introduce this video that wouldn’t simply be an ad hominem, but all I could think was “This man is a sick, twisted, evil fuck.”

By JT Eberhard—wwjtd

Pat Robertson, because if you don’t believe in Jesus you’ll probably kill yourself, assuming the hurricanes created by gay pride parades don’t get you first.

“His god was money!” says a man with a net worth of at least $200 million.

Robertson’s extensive business interests have earned him a net worth estimated between $200 million and $1 billion. A fan of Thoroughbred horse racing, Robertson paid $520,000 for a colt he named Mr. Pat. Trained by John Kimmel, Mr. Pat was not a successful runner.

But that’s the message of religion: whatever ails you, believe what we do and you’ll be ok.  That’s why Christians never get depression or commit suicide.

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Pat Robertson: Don’t ‘get your father busted’ if he threatens mom with a gun

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Wednesday advised children whose mother was being threatened with a gun by the family’s father not go to the police.

By David Edwards—The Raw Story

“Whenever my parents fight, my dad threatens my mom with his gun,” a viewer told Robertson in an email. “Fortunately, this now means nothing to my mom, and she never goes nuts about it; she is very calm.”

“But as a child, I get nervous and worried when this happens,” the viewer’s note continued. “Even my younger brother saw this incident. What should we do about it and him?”

“Well, again, you don’t want to get your father busted, but you could,” Robertson explained. “You ought to go to your mother and say, ‘Mom, this thing is scaring me, and I ask you please to get my father to have some help.’”

“This kind of rage — I mean, one day he’s going to pull the trigger,” the TV preacher warned. “It doesn’t take too much if you’ve got a loaded weapon and you’re brandishing it around, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ And the next thing you know, the thing goes off. It may be accidentally, but the mother will end up dead.”

“But you’re a kid, what do you do? You know?” he said. “Your mother ought to take care of that.”

Creationist Ken Ham: Atheists love ‘pagan’ Pat Robertson for making Christians looks silly

Ken Ham called televangelist Pat Robertson a pagan tool of secularists for his critical remarks this week about Young Earth creationists.

By Travis Gettys – The Raw Story

A “700 Club” viewer challenged Robertson on Tuesday for agreeing with scientists that the Earth was billions of years old, which creationists believe contradicts the biblical account of the universe and its origins.

“You have to be deaf, dumb and blind to think that this Earth that we live in only has 6,000 years of existence,” Robertson told the caller. “It just doesn’t. I’m sorry.”

Ham, who leads the Answers In Genesis ministry that operates the Creation Museum in Kentucky, blasted Robertson in a post Wednesday on his personal Facebook page, reported Right Wing Watch.

The creationist attacked Robertson’s comments point by point, accusing him of “utter ignorance of science” for disputing the “literal history” of the Bible – “as it is meant to be taken,” Ham said, “as Jesus takes it.”

Ham took offense to Robertson’s observation that the Earth and all of its observable phenomena could not have been created in just 6,000 years.

“Really Pat Robertson?” Ham said. “You mean there is no way God, the infinite Creator, could not have created the universe in six days just six thousand years ago? God could have created everything in six seconds if He wanted too!”

He said Robertson and other insufficiently doctrinaire Christians “compromise the Word of God with the pagan ideas of fallible men,” and that’s why his ministry works to promote the literal interpretation of the Bible.

“Sadly, it’s Pat Robertson who makes Christianity look silly, which is why the atheists love him today,” Ham said. “What a travesty! This man uses his position on a major Christian TV program to help the atheists mock God’s Word!”

Pat Robertson: Stop the church-state separation ‘nonsense’ before atheists take over everything

Image: The Raw Story

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Thursday warned that militant Islamists, militant atheists and other secularists had taken the separation of church and state “nonsense” too far in an effort to “destroy the fabric” of society.

By Dave Edwards – The Raw Story

British Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire after writing in an op-ed last week that his people should be “more confident about our status as a Christian country.”

British Attorney General Dominic Grieve explained the controversy by saying that people did not want to be identified as a Christian nation because they were “turned off” by the rise of fundamentalism.

He added that atheists were “deluding themselves” if they thought “1500 years of Christian input into our national life” was going to change overnight.

On Thursday, Robertson praised Grieve’s rejection of atheism and wished “we could have some more of that here in the United States.”

“This nonsense about the separation of church and state has gotten way, way beyond the bounds of what the Founders of our Constitution thought,” Robertson opined. “We’re under assault by militant Islamists, militant atheists, secularists, those who want to destroy all the fabric of faith in our society. And the great freedoms we have found on our belief in God.”

The TV preacher later blamed the “elites” for mistakenly thinking that “we just cannot be intolerant of Islamic people, their faith is as good as anybody else’s faith. And they’re entitled to express their views. They’re entitled to have their call to worship out of their mosque. They’re entitled to do this and do that and do the other.”

Robertson warned that the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal was “world domination,” and that they had already infiltrated “the highest counsels of the security apparatus of the United States of America advising our leaders as to how to deal with terrorism.”

“Nonsense!” he exclaimed.

 

Pat Robertson: Atheist women were likely raped, and that’s why they reject Jesus

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday offered viewers an explanation as to why atheist women refused to accept Jesus as their person savior: They were probably raped.

By Dave Edwards – The Raw Story

A viewer named Sandra told Robertson in a letter that she didn’t understand why an atheist coworker was “openly hostile at the mere mention of God” when the viewer tried to “bring her to Jesus.”

“Should I abandon the idea of being a positive influence on her and just let her perish?” Sandra asked.

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Pat Robertson: Shut up Ken Ham

Pat Robertson implores creationist Ken Ham to shut up: ‘Let’s not make a joke of ourselves’

By Scott Kaufman – The Raw Story

Pat Robertson responded to the recent debate between Young Earth creationist Ken Ham and Bill Nye, a.k.a. “The Science Guy,” by reiterating his disagreement with Ham’s form of creationism.

“Let’s face it,” Robertson said, “there was a Bishop [Ussher] who added up the dates listed in Genesis and he came up with the world had been around for 6,000 years.”

“There ain’t no way that’s possible,” he continued. “To say that it all came about in 6,000 years is just nonsense and I think it’s time we come off of that stuff and say this isn’t possible.”

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Pat Robertson Explains Divine Genocide

Genocide is okay if its purpose is to stop man-animal sex, Pat Robertson explained today on the 700 Club.

By Brian Tashman – RIGHTWINGWATCH

When a viewer asked the televangelist about Old Testament accounts “where God told his people to wipe out cities and take their lands,” noting that it “sounds like Islam to me,” Robertson responded that God was actually showing mercy on the annihilated peoples because otherwise they would pass their sinful ways onto their children and grandchildren.

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Pat Robertson: We Have Found The Secret Atheist Plan To Destroy Christmas

Pat Robertson: Letting lesbians in your house might turn your kids gay

Televangelist Pat Robertson warned a viewer on Thursday that she should be careful when allowing lesbian friends into her home because “you don’t want your children to grow up as lesbians.”

By David Edwards – The Raw Story

A viewer named Catherine told the TV preacher that she had recently reconnected with a childhood friend, who was a lesbian. She invited the friend to meet her children but became concerned when she asked to bring her same sex partner.

“I don’t want her to think that I’m okay with her ways,” the viewer explained. “And I don’t feel comfortable having her around my children.”

Robertson advised the woman not to “shun” her friend, “but at the same time, you don’t want your children to grow up as lesbians.”

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Pat Robertson Claims Low-Carb Diet ‚Violates‘ God’s Principles

Dieters, beware. That slim-down regimen you’re trying may be going against God’s plan.

HUFFPOST Religion

This week colorful televangelist Pat Robertson took aim at popular low-carb diets like the Atkins Diet and slammed such plans as ultimately unhealthy and as violations of God’s principles.

The subject was broached during Monday’s episode of Robertson’s „The 700 Club“ program on the Christian Broadcasting Network. The segment included a story about Jimmy Moore, a formerly obese man who was able to lose 180 pounds in one year by cutting out carbohydrates like bread and loading up on proteins and fats, like eggs, cheese, butter, coconut oil and bacon.

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