It has to be said,

I have to say some things about Pat Robertson's comments about Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez. Ever since Pat's connection to Charles Taylor was exposed, he's been even further outside the Christian mainstream, and that connection, which involved supporting a brutal dictator because an investment in gold mining, makes me wonder if Pat has a stake in the potential departure of Chavez as well. The minute the motives of any minister are mixed in with financial gain is the minute their ministry dies. And it's not like we weren't warned about it...

And that's just one of the many ways that Robertson's comments are outside of what's acceptable for a believer. He calls for the death of a ruler of another country for spreading Communism and Islam. I'll leave the inanity of combining atheist oppression with theological fascism as a common threat for others, instead, I'll issue a challenge to Robertson and his supporters: Show me a passage in the New Testament where we are to pray for the death of our enemies, or call on God to kill them, or anything other than ask God to do His will. And no, Revelations doesn't count, unless you believe we're in the midst of the Tribulation as we speak. If anything, we should be praying for something else.

I look at Robertson, Bakker, Falwell and the rest of the Christian leaders who've ran afoul of either the law or common standards of acceptable behaviour, and they have one thing in common: They are all leading according to mankind's standard, from the front, where they can be seen and receive the glory for their actions. When we're specifically told not to do that. Sure, to us, that makes sense and *seems* the right thing to do. But we're told, again and again and again, that God's ways are not our ways.

Letting others, especially God, take the accolades is not something we, because of our sinful nature, are able to do.

Fortunately, I don't have to do it by myself. I have someone to help me.