Other Wonders, Too

Robertson handed the public a real whopper when he claimed on one TV broadcast that during a crusade in China he delivered his sermon in English, as usual, and was pleased to learn that his audience was miraculously able to understand every word because God had arranged for them to individually hear Robertson’s words in their own regional dialect of Chinese. Another wonder occurs when people at home are healed by Pat by videotaped histrionics that were recorded weeks before. On one occasion, a woman’s broken ankle was “healed” this way, and it was later discovered that the video healing was performed before the woman broke her ankle. Such discrepancies mean nothing to Pat Robertson—or to his followers, all of whom are apparently accustomed to this sort of logic.

A Sour Note from a Colleague

Gerry Straub, a former associate of Pat Robertson and his television producer, pointed out in his book Salvation for Sale the astonishing fact that God seemed able to time miracles to conform with standard television format. God would stop speaking to Pat and stop healing exactly in time with the theme music. He described his former employer’s “Word of Knowledge” performance:There was nothing “mystical” to understand; it was simply “statistical.” Robertson’s little faith-healing procedure is a charade—he simply “calls out” an illness and predicts its cure, and with millions of viewers the statistical probabilities are that someone will have the disease named and that they will naturally recover. People put their faith in the belief that God speaks to Pat.

Straub relates a nonmiracle he witnessed while still a believer in the ministry he worked for. He describes Robertson, at the close of a “700 Club” videotaping, shaking hands with members of the studio audience:He stopped when he reached a man sitting in a wheelchair. The elderly man looked as if he were moments away from death’s door. Emaciated and jaundiced, his head and hands shook constantly. I felt sick just looking at him. Someone pushing his wheelchair whispered to Pat about the man’s condition and that he wanted to see the show in person before he died. The man hadn’t walked in months.... Pat ... laid hands on him as everyone prayed for a healing.... At Pat’s urging the man stood up. The people cheered as the man took a couple of very shaky, small steps. While everyone applauded God, I feared the man might fall. The next day we showed the nation the miracle [on the “700 Club” broadcast].

What has just been described by Straub is not untypical of many “cures” my colleagues and I have seen taking place with other faith-healers. What Straub describes next is also not unlike results we have experienced:I simply wanted to know if the old man in the wheelchair was permanently healed by God or if he temporarily thought that he was healed. A few weeks later I had an assistant track down the man’s family in order to see if the cure had lasted. He had died 10 days after his visit to [the Christian Broadcasting Network]. We reported his “healing” but not his death.

That last sentence puts the finger on just where the deception takes place. Straub sums up his experience with faith-healing in the Robertson ministry with these words:During my two and a half years at [Christian Broadcasting Network], I never saw one clear-cut, “beyond a shadow of a doubt” type of healing; however, I did see a tremendous amount of faith in healing—cleverly created, I believe, by Pat Robertson.... The prophet-turned-healer could have been described as prophet-turned-fake for the sake of a profit.

Robertson has been criticized for his insistence that his followers can earn and control God’s favor. In Beyond Reason: How Miracles Can Change Your Life, he implies that people can control miracles by using “faith strategies,” and in the final chapter, “Master Keys to Miracles,” he endorses what has become known as the “Pelagian heresy,” which says that after one has followed the prescribed formulas, if a miracle is not granted, it is the fault of the supplicant. It says that those who demand favors from God have every right to do so, and God must grant this boon, according to contract. Faith-healer A. A. Allen may have originated the modern use of this idea, quoting as he did from Isaiah (“Command ye me”) and from Job 22:28 (“decree a thing”) to establish scriptural sources for the notion. After seeing what he claims are “thousands” of miracles in his 25 years of preaching, it would seem that Pat Robertson would be willing to share at least one with me. On March 24, 1987, I sent him my final letter of three:Reverend Robertson:   I am presently preparing the manuscript for a book to be titled The Faith-Healers. A certain portion of this book will deal with your ministry. You have frequently, in the past, laid claim to the performance of some of the “signs and wonders” referred to in Holy Scripture. May I hear from you regarding your evidence for the performance of these miracles as a result of your ministry? I am particularly interested in your claims concerning healing of the sick, and I am aware that you believe that God, not you personally, brings about these events. I require that any claims of healing should provide medical evidence both before and after the event. Thank you for your attention to this request for information. I trust that this letter has come to your personal attention, since it is so marked, and that you will provide me with a response.

Though I wrote him over a period of several months, earnestly—and persistently—requesting such information, I was denied an answer. The only response I ever received was a note from administrative assistant Barbara Johnson, who wrote:Your letter of March 24th to Pat Robertson has been received. He is away at this time, but I will share your letter with him upon his return, which will be next week.

That was five months ago.