Pat Robertson, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Exposed

As a progressive Christian it is often difficult to watch those who take the bully pulpit in the name of Christ but apparently forgot to bring Jesus along for their ride. Just recently I was lamenting why we couldn’t have one Christian leader at least appear sane, or at the very least not appear to be a blatant hypocrite. The stunning events of today should give all Christians a reason to pause and remember that we need to be ever so vigilant in who it is that we choose to follow.

Granted Pat Robertson has not exactly been too lucid lately with his claims that God told him that 2006 would be a disastrous hurricane season for the east coast only to see not one storm reach shore. Then this year he claimed God told him there would be a disastrous terrorist attack in late 2007. Mix in his ridiculous statements of God’s judgment through natural disasters and advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez and hopefully most Christians would have long since realized that Pat was serving himself more than God. That aside, no one can discount the clout Robertson has in Christian circles.

For years we have had to listen to Robertson and his ilk berate Christians to only vote for two issues; anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion. That was it as far as people like Robertson were concerned. Budget woes impoverishing generations of people? Nope, doesn’t matter. Endless wars killing hundreds of thousands of God’s creations? Nope, doesn’t matter. Raping of the environment, pillaging our educational system, kids without healthcare, genocide in the Sudan? Nope, doesn’t matter. Christians were led to believe that the only issues that would matter to Jesus Himself, would be gay marriage and abortion. Never mind that the number one cause for Christ when He walked the earth was taking care of the neediest in society. Christians were admonished that they would in fact not even be good Christians if they did not vote for the candidates that represented these two values. Luckily for Pat and his cohorts in every election the candidate that represented these values was the republican. That all changed today.

Enter Rudy Giuliani. Rudy is the pseudo-Christian political operative’s worst nightmare. He is the republican candidate but he is the antithesis of everything they have preached for years. Rudy is twice divorced. Not only that, but while he was condemning Bill Clinton, Rudy was sleeping with his mistress, while still married to his second wife, with his kids sleeping down the hall. It gets worse for the Robertson’s of the world though. Rudy is pro-gay marriage and pro-choice. Mix in his ties to Bernard Kerik and the mob and you have a recipe for disaster. There is no way that Pat Robertson could cast his lot with Rudy…

Oops, he just did. Today, Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for president. After years of vociferously advocating that Christians only vote for the two Rovian wedge issues, Robertson shows us what he really has been all along, a liar.

He comes off as worse than a liar though because he did not have to make this choice. He could have waited and seen if it would have been Rudy against Hillary and played the “lesser of two evils card” but he didn’t. He chose Rudy in the primary over Dr. Ron Paul, John McCain, and Mike Huckaby. At least Paul, McCain and Huckaby are all pro-life and anti-gay marriage. Huckaby is actually a pastor! In choosing Rudy over these three men who embodied what he has preached for years, Robertson reveals himself for what he truly has been all along. Not only a liar, Pat Robertson has been nothing more than a political puppet and republican shill hiding behind Jesus Christ for far too long now. He is now exposed fully as an operative of the Republican Party, fooling Christians all the while.

Now I am sure this comes as little surprise to many outside of Christian circles. It certainly was no surprise to me. It is however an opportunity for Christians to reassess what their vote is supposed to mean. It can be so much more than the cynical two issue mandate which is designed to distract us from the other important issues of our times. Poverty should matter to Christians. Healthcare should matter to Christians. War and death should matter to Christians.

There is so much at stake in 2008. It deserves better than hypocritical men claiming the mantle of Christ but speaking out of both sides of their mouths. Pat Robertson is just a microcosm of what is wrong with the majority of the would-be Christian leaders today. They have embraced a political agenda over the agenda of Jesus Christ. That would be bad enough but they take it a step further to merge the two and claim that their political agenda is the agenda of Christ. Then they tell you as Christians that if you do not embrace it as well, then you are somehow not being a good Christian. We have been sold a bill of goods that we should have inspected closer. The Bible tells us we are to discern. It says that if the blind leads the blind they will both fall into a pit and into a pit we have fallen. With Pat Robertson shaking Rudy Giuliani’s hand and laughing all the way down. Jesus Christ deserves better than the hypocrisy of man.