The San Francisco Chronicle reports that many in the evangelical community are growing increasingly weary of Pat Robertson’s tendency to make ridiculous statements, such as his recent claim that God told him to expect significant terrorist attacks near the end of 2007 that will claim possibly millions of lives:
It’s downright embarrassing,” said Todd Spitzer, pastor at Regeneration in Oakland and Dolores Park Church in San Francisco. “When he makes these statements and ties God’s name to it, he’s like the self-proclaimed spokesman for God and evangelical Christianity. It’s an obstacle to us when we want to present a reasonable faith.”
The more outrageous or quirky the comment, the quicker it zips into newspapers and television news programs and floods the Web. The result, evangelical ministers say, is that sincere believers get tarnished in the process.
The Bay Area, despite perceptions to the contrary, has dozens of evangelical churches, including many of the region’s largest. Evangelical ministers said they are constantly battling stereotypes of evangelicals as uncritical thinkers who are “marching lockstep to some leader.” They said Robertson’s comments only strengthen those misperceptions.
Not only is Robertson embarrassing some of his fellow evangelicals, but he is also, according to some, committing heresy:
Several Bay Area evangelical ministers said Robertson’s purported divine prophecies are heretical because the statements presume that he can add to the inerrant word of God, as written in the Bible.
“He’s going beyond the authority of Scripture,” said Lee. “He’s walking out on his own plank.”
