Seperation of Church & State

Robertson said (about Sharon);" He was dividing God's land. And I would say, 'Woe unto any Prime Minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.' God says, This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.' "
I don't know what was said before or after, as this was the only quote I could find. Everything else I heard was some news reporters' interpretations of his comments.
Israel is still a chosen people of God. After the Rapture and during the "Tribulation Period", 144,000 of these chosen Israelites will evangelize the world. They will become the true priests God intended them to be before their stiff-necked ways (rejecting Jesus Christ) caused Him to turn to the Gentiles to be His ambassadors.
If they are basing their blasting of Robertson on these comments alone, they may be completely off-base, and Robertson could very well have hit a home run with his comments.
He's not my favorite by any means, but I'm hesitant to question him on this.

I agree with you UT1 and I've not ever been one to jump on the Pat Robertson bandwagon but I'm also a little afraid to straight out doubt the man. Lets put it this way...many theologists, history experts and Jews themselves are sure that the land currently occupied by Palestinians(non jewish arabs who settled in the area while it was under British rule) belongs to the people of Israel. Assuming they are correct and going by what Biblical scripture tells us about God's chosen people being the Jews, then it is safe to say that some of the actions of Ariel Sharon would be in direct contradiction with that. For those who have not followed the story Sharon had recently relented under heavy pressure from the UN, US, and European Union and agreed to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip area in Israel as well as several Jewish settlements in the West Bank area. Now anyone that wants to say ole Pat is crazy go right ahead but you have more testicle fortitude than I do, thats for sure!

All I said was that I don't agree with him using God to make a political statement. I think that's a dangerous thing for anyone to do.

Could I get your response to one of my previous posts football_fan?

"He's God--I have faith that whatever his will is, regardless of what we do, will be what happens."

Are you suggesting that the actions of man have no bearing or affect on what actions God may take?

God gives us free will, and my opinion and belief is that God has a plan. Due to the infallability and perfectness of God and his plan, the means to his end do not matter, because the end result will still be the same. Us as human beings all have a purpose on this earth granted by God, should we accept it. If we do not accept this purpose, he will get it done one way or another (explaining "miracles", I think).

How can us, as His creation, have an affect on what He wants to get accomplished? I don't see that mortals can have an affect on the plans of the one and only God. I feel that any action God takes is to keep his plan in line and on track to fruition, whether that be blessing or chastisement to his believers, and really, non-believers alike (they just don't know it or acknowledge it). Do our actions have an affect? No--they cause an effect, or action, by God upon us, but do not deter from his overall plan, which in the short term means we could have an atheist in office and God would still get done in this country what needs to get done--I have faith in that.

I agree that God's will is eminent and ultimate...I think the fact that he gave mankind freewill in turn makes their destiny uncertain and thus the destiny of any government/country etc.. which is operated by man uncertain as well. I don't believe Adam and Eve would have been thrown out of the Garden of Eden had their actions(resulting from freewill) not dictated such. I also don't believe Sodom&Gemorhha would have been destroyed or Noah would've had to build the Ark if the actions of those at the time(resulting from freewill) didn't dictate as such.

I think its scary to disregard the huge realm of negative possibilities we potentially bring upon ourselves if this country continues to move toward the secular and almost atheistic society which many want our government to sponsor and be at the forefront of. Thats just my view of the current social climate and I'm sure there are many who differ but I think there has been alot of underlying and non-vocal support as well as vocal support of that kind of ideaology in recent years...like I said before I think alot of it could be somewhat of a defensive response to the strong secular movement(might I add huge minority movement) of the present generation. I don't think many Christians have any problem at all with separation of church and state but I think the moral majority including those Christians feel the liberal left wing including secularists and the like have gone too far in efforts to remove God, Christ and religion in general completely from society.

Excellent post! I agree totally with what you're saying, especially in that secular society is trying to undo what our forefathers based this country on. Like, its O.K. to celebrate particular religious holidays in school systems, as long as they are not Christian holidays.
I don't believe prayer should be a mandatory exercise at school ( would you trust just anyone with the religious upbringing of your child?). I think prayer should be allowed at school, as long as it is treated like any other activity and does not interfere with classes. (My daughter once told me that as long as there were exams, there would be prayer in school!) The problem is not that we've taken prayer out of our
schools, but that we've taken it out of our homes. The same can be said for corporal punishment.
And I agree with a_f_f in that God's plan will come to fruition, regardless the actions of man.
Robertson very well may be right in his take on the Sharon situation, as the OT repeatedly reveals the actions of a stiff-necked people, and what God had to do to bring them back in line.....kind of like a broken record, as it is repeated again and again. We see them in Egypt for 400 years, much of that as slaves, then wandering around for 40 years, then again held in captivity for 40 years. The only reason Israel is still a nation is because God keeps His promises.

Thanks UT1 and you've made some excellent posts as well and good gospel based points you have brought out especially the one about why God turned to the Gentiles to spread his word after what happened with the Jews in relation to Christ.