“Pact to the Devil” to Blame for Haiti Earthquakes, says Famous Televangelist
NASA satellite photo of Haiti's Gonave Island
Dr. Pat Robertson, the world renowned founder of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), recently commented on last Tuesday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake which toppled much of Haiti.
Robertson blamed the disaster on the country’s alleged “pact with the devil.”
According to officials and several international news reports, more than 100,000 people perished in what has been recorded as the country’s most severe quake in over 200 years.
During his Wednesday broadcast of “The 700 Club,” Robertson said, “Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever.”
Robertson continued by claiming that, “They [the Haitians] got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Okay it’s a deal.’ [And] ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another.”
Robertson’s comments have continued to draw fire from several conservative Christian pastors and speakers, including renowned author, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners Magazine Jim Wallis.
In his recent blogs, both on “The Huffington Post’s” official web site and at his personal blog www.godspolitics.com, Wallis wrote, “As I reflected on Robertson’s comments, I was reminded of how many times he has embarrassed so many fellow Christians with his intemperate comments.”
Wallis also added, “As a Christian leader, I have had to spend too much of my time trying to overcome an image of Christianity that was created by the likes of Pat Robertson […] The God I serve, the God of the Bible, does not cause evil. God is not a vengeful and retributive being, waiting to strike us down. When evil strikes, it’s easy to ask, ‘Where is God?’ The answer: God is suffering in the midst of the evil with those who are suffering.”
Followers of Robertson’s broadcasts know that this is not the first time he has linked natural disasters or terrorist attacks to political decisions.
During his Sept. 12, 2005 airing of “The 700 Club,” Robertson attributed the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina upon The Gulf Coast to the U.S.’s abortion of unborn children.
“We have killed over 40 million unborn babies in America,” he said.
“I was reading, yesterday, a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood. And he [the author] used the term that those who do this, ‘the land will vomit you out.’ But have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected in some way?”
CBSNews.com reports that the Robertson-Haiti story continues to rank high among Google search trends and is even gaining attention overseas.
Robertson simply does not realize the harm he does to Christians and Christian good works with his awful blanket statements that only appear to non-believers as hateful Christian judgmentalism.
It’s true. People there pretty much invented voodoo.They had to get their punishment sooner or later. I’m not saying God wants revenge, I’m saying punishment and that’s a different thing. And it’s a real thing. If God didn’t or didn’t punish no one would go to hell. Or it would be like the catholics say “the evil people go to the purgatory and then when their clean they go to heaven”. That is not true. But the whole hurricane Katrina thing is kind of strange though he has a point.