Pat Robertson and the 700 Club

Pat Robertson is a very skilled, powerful and dynamic communicator. He is also a very intelligent person. When he came to Portsmouth, Virginia, he had already graduated from Union Seminary in New York. Union Seminary is known for being a rank liberal theological school.

What brought Pat Robertson to Portsmouth, Virginia was the prospect of purchasing the defunct high frequency TV channel 27 for the purpose of renovating the station and opening a Christian TV broadcast station. This was a noble and commendable cause.

People were going back to church again. It was acceptable to speak openly of one's religious experience. It was also a time that gave rise to the charismatic movement. Emotionalism in the form of prayers, holding up of hands and speaking in tongues was more acceptable in the main line churches including the Roman Catholic Church. There was much emphasis on miracles, healings and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Pat Robertson arrived on this scene with his suave and charismatic personality. He went around Hampton Roads speaking in various churches to present his vision to buy the defunct high frequency TV station and to make it a Christian broadcasting station. Many ministers and Christians got sugarplums in their heads when they thought about the possibilities.

Another feature that stood out about Pat Robertson was his presentation that he was going to follow the pathway of the famous George Muller of England, who ran an orphanage on pure faith. To George Muller this meant to have faith in God for the supply of all of the needs to run the orphanage without making those needs known to any human being. The report is that is just what he did. He prayed and trusted God alone. Remarkable things happened. The cupboard would be empty the night before. George Muller and his staff would just simply pray and the next morning food would show up at the doorstep of the orphanage. Only God knew the need. This is the approach that Pat said he was going to follow. If he did follow this approach, it was not for very long. Pat discovered the dynamics and principles of the 700 Club – a certain number of people giving a definite amount of money for a given period of time. If anything, it was a plan that was the exact opposite of what Gorge Muller exercised.

Once Pat had acquired the TV station (even though it operated in a sometimes upside down fashion) with the employment of the 700 Club principles, Pat was on his way to power and glory. Pat knew he had a winner in the combination of the two means of communication, and he took the ball and ran with it again and again. He raised millions of dollars that George Muller never dreamed possible even with simple faith in God.

George Muller had no gimmicks. He only had the instrument of faith. As time went on, Pat skillfully incorporated into the 700 Club show on his TV station the elements of the supernatural in the form of healings, prophecy, word of knowledge, prosperity theology, political and social crisis situations. In this context, he presented himself as a great defender of the faith. When there was no crisis, Pat could create one by saying there is a crisis. This would give opportunity to make an appeal to the 700 Club followers (the fans) for money to save the world from whatever might be the "crisis of the month."

Whereas the medical community in its research uses the "double bind' approach to establish the validity of its procedure, the religious community does no research. The best that it might offer is a "double blind" approach in the form of antidotal accounts (stories) of the spiritual incidents of healings, prophetic declarations, or moral evaluation of human behavior. The conclusions are founded upon subjective, personal interpretations of the one who is in control of the meeting or the incident, as to its validity or authenticity. Further follow-up is only in the form of a statement about the occurrence of the incident.

This leaves the magic of religious practice of healing, tongues, snake handling and interpretation of prophecy in the shadows of ambiguity. The scheme of prophetic teachings runs the gamut from the Jehovah Witnesses to the books and movies by the latest authors who write so profusely about Biblical prophecy. The imagination of the masses is caught up in awe at the drama of the so-called end time proclamations of the evangelical teaching of fear and doom.

If the medical research community was to approach life and medicine with the same format as the preachers on TV, there would be a catastrophe incident of such great proportion that it would set us back in the dark ages as well as result in a great loss of human lives.

What is a reality is that the right-wing element of Evangelicalism in America would like to set up a theocracy to overthrow our democratic way of life. Islam is already a theocratic state. The right wing of Islam has the same intentions to set up a theocracy as does the right wing of Evangelicalism in America. The right wing of any religion is totalitarian. Totalitarianism and democracy are not congruent with each other. Theocracy is totalitarian.

The Roman Catholic Church is already set up as a theocratic state – the Vatican. Its theology and organization are already in place. There is only one remaining need – opportunity. The record of church history verifies this to be true. The Revolutionary War was fought to overthrow a theocratic rule. In the early days of the colonies, Roman Catholics were not allowed entrance into the colonies. Competition with Rome was not tolerated.

It is the operation in the shadows, a literal interpretation of the Bible to a point that borders on the grandiose and at the same time ignores the principles of grammar, that holds the meaning of the context and infuses it into something that was never intended by the author.

Many people are naive and vulnerable regardless of their education, unless they might have a major or minor in religion. Even if they have a major or minor in religion, it might make things worse, if the education was in a liberal setting of orientation. When people are seeking to make sense out of something, they look to leaders of all types as authority figures. This gives an edge to the leaders because of the association with the god-like experiences of childhood. The role of minister is enhanced by this means. The Catholic Church just outright named their priest Father. The priest, in turn, calls the person, "my child." The gun is loaded with extra authority. In this context the participant struggles emotionally with all the issues he had with his own parents, but more so, because of the priest's association with religion. After all, who wants to go to Hell because he disagreed with the father figure of God?

The times, when people are most vulnerable, is when they are very young, very old, physically ill and emotionally stressed out. These are the ones who are the target of the 700 Club. When people are desperate, they will reach out for anything that might give hope and immediate relief.

Pat Robertson and his 700 Club set the stage in television for many other programs of like kind to follow. With the expansion of television into cable TV and the addition of many stations, religious broadcasting has grown rapidly beyond belief. Because of the first amendment, the preachers on TV can make about any claim they want to and get away with it. The FCC needs to set some boundaries as to what claims can be made on TV in the name of religion, particularly when it comes to money and healing.