I haven't felt led to comment much lately about the ongoing activities of
local cult leader Johnny Robertson and his personal "Church of Christ" sect (which, I need to reiterate, is
nothing like the
real Churches of Christ that most people have respect for). For one thing, some have passed along the observation that Robertson and his followers seem to have slacked-off on their harassing of innocent people. Maybe the cultists are finally starting to straighten up and behave themselves.
I will note that a number of people have informed me that Robertson apparently made some allusion to me during his What Does the Bible Say? broadcast - or as I call it "The Martinsville Taliban Show" - last Thursday night. Something about how I was waiting to shoot him in the street. Which is a lie and patent nonsense. I will however open fire if he ever shows up at my home and I will recommend that others give him the same dire warning, because who in their right mind wants a dangerous psychopath/pathological liar who stalks women, attempts to disrupt worship services in other congregations and levels baseless accusations of child pornography against churches showing up on their doorstep? Quite a number of folks have told me during recent weeks that they will certainly do likewise if Robertson tries to start trouble at their homes. But I digress. That's not what this post is about...
I happened to catch Robertson's broadcast tonight, and as has become the usual custom some of us had fun with a "running commentary" during the show on Facebook. Among the usual nuttiness, Robertson compared this area to Sodom and Gomorrah, and then boasted that if he were to "take it to the next level" that he would certainly be arrested (to which one poor sap called in to tell Robertson that he needs to raise "an army"). And at the moment Robertson's son Micah - is that really his son? Micah only refers to Johnny Robertson as his "brother" - is saying that Jesus Christ is NOT the same "yesterday, today and forever" (somebody show this kid Hebrews 13:8).
But now folks, I am going to do something that will no doubt positively astound everyone who has followed this blog's chronicling of Johnny Robertson and his evil cult. For the first time ever, and I am absolutely confident in saying this: tonight, I would have to say that Johnny Robertson is ALMOST correct about something!
In fact, were it not for one minor detail, I would even be man enough to admit that Robertson is perfectly in the right.
And yet, even on this, Robertson is still missing the mark bigtime.
Tonight Robertson was ranting against Jesse Duplantis, and I've heard he's been doing this for the past few weeks. A few things I have to comment about here: I do believe that miracles still happen today (something that Robertson claims is impossible). I do not believe that a real miracle is something that any sincere follower of Christ can call on God to deliver according to our own will, however.
And there has never been a miracle of God that has served to glorify anybody but God, and God alone. I've been following up on people like Benny Hinn and Jesse Duplantis for a long time, and in my opinion they are nothing but hucksters and shysters who are not far removed at all from Simon Magus: wanting to purchase with money the power of God.
For calling out Jesse Duplantis for what he obviously is, Robertson would otherwise be - I have to admit - right.
Here's where it all goes utterly, irredeemably wrong for Johnny Robertson and his followers, however. And this is the real point and purpose of this post...
However right they might be about Jesse Duplantis and anyone else in the "name it/claim it" racket, Robertson and his disciples are not motivated by the truth of Christ and earnest love of that truth and others.
Their motivation is, instead... pure hate.
That has been the motive for everything that Robertson and his cult have done.
That is but one reason why God can not and will not bless their efforts. They worship their own understanding instead of worshiping Christ for His sake. And that dark absence of Christ, His truth and His love, bears itself out in Robertson's current pursuit of Jesse Duplantis.
Robertson shouldn't even be obsessed with people like this anyway. For all the airtime that the cult buys and for even calling their shows "What Does the Bible Say?" and "A Word from the Lord", the local "Church of Christ in Name Only" does nothing to preach Christ! They don't even seem to have any real doctrine to call their own! All they possess is "we hate churches that aren't like us" and "the words 'Church of Christ' make us special, damn you to Hell!"
There is a lesson here, I believe, for any who profess to follow Christ. Because Christ and all that He is must be our sole motive for everything that we dare to do in His name.
And hatred, of any kind, has nothing to do with the name of Christ. We don't have that right. It's not given to us.
I learned a long time ago, through hard experience: if anything is done, however pure and noble it might appear or be intended to be, but with the wrong motivation, then the entire work becomes corrupted and impure. And in the end it will self-destruct.
There are people who are seeking Christ for the right reasons. When they see antics like those of Johnny Robertson - and they do realize that his motive is hatred and not love of God - then that not only drives those people away from whatever mad doctrine Robertson and his cult are preaching, but it may well drive a lot of them away from Christ entirely.
(And at this moment Micah Robertson and Mark McMinnis are spouting unbridled hatred about everyone who worships in a Baptist or Methodist church. These guys just keep proving my point.)
This is not what God has called us to do. This is not how we show Christ to the world around us that is dying without Him!
We can be as "right" as we think we can possibly be. But without Christ and His honor and glory being what drives our purpose, without the sincere love that we are called to have in our lives...
"...I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."-- 1st Corinthians 13:1
But then, this is no doubt all for naught. I have also learned through experience that you can
never convince a hyper-legalist that we can not merit salvation or the love of Christ on our own. So it is with Robertson and his cult: bound and determined, as Jesus said in Matthew 23:15, to
"travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."But hey, can't say that I didn't try :-)
BioShock 2 may have been pushed back to next year but that's not keeping 2K's PR team from going to some extraordinary lengths of viral marketing for the much-anticipated game. This past week a mysterious note appeared on the game's teaser site listing numerous beaches around the world and a time to be there... which was yesterday morning.
