On yesterday’s 700 Club televangelist Pat Robertson told a poor elderly woman that she and her ill husband would not be suffering from health and financial problems if they were tithing properly.
Right Wing Watch reports Robertson told an elderly viewer she and her husband would not be suffering from health problems, and therefore medical expenses, if they were tithing properly.
The viewer said that she and her husband are “retired and living on a small pension and Social Security income” and “barely have any money” because of her husband’s medical expenses.
The woman asked Robertson if it would be “wrong to use [tithe] money towards medical expenses instead?” Robertson told the viewer it would be wrong not to tithe. In fact, Robertson went so far as to say that as long as she tithes she and her husband would be healthy and as a result not even encounter medical bills.
Citing Malachi, Robertson said: “Your husband has all these medical problems because the ‘devour’ has not been rebuked. You need to rebuke him. You give your tithes faithfully and God said, ‘I will rebuke the devour,’ the person that is eating up your money and eating up your health. So you want to be healthy? That’s a promise in the Word.”
Many will not be surprised that Robertson would tell a vulnerable elderly woman to send money to the church rather than pay for medical and living expenses. Previously Robertson has insisted that even people about to fall into bankruptcy must continue to tithe. The New Civil Rights Movement, while reporting on the story, notes Pat Robertson‘s greed is the subject of legend.
Adding insult to injury, according to a new documentary, Robertson used millions in aid donations meant for Rwandan refugees to fund his personal diamond mining venture in the Congo. Robertson is reportedly worth tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.
In other outrageous and offensive comments, Pat Robertson recently claimed gays are deliberately transmitting the AIDS virus to unsuspecting people by cutting them with a special ring when shaking hands.
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