Pat Robertson, the Imam of Virginia Beach, is back with another round of predictions for 2008:
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, who has made predicting the future an annual tradition, predicts a recession and a major stock market upheaval are on their way for the United States.
Aside from a recession this year, Robertson suggested Wednesday that Americans will be paying much more for gas at the pump as the price of a barrel of oil rises by 50 percent in the coming months.
Specifically, he said oil would reach $150 a barrel - the price hit $100 on Wednesday - with the dollar continuing to lose value in 2008.
“I also believe the Lord was saying by 2009, maybe 2010, there’s going to be a major stock market crash,” said Robertson, who is a millionaire businessman as well as an evangelical leader.
Robertson also claims to know who the next President, but he’s not saying:
On Wednesday, Robertson, 77, implied that God informed him who will be elected president in November.
“He told me some things about the election, but I’m not going to say, because some old man on “60 Minutes” would make fun of me, so I’m not going to tell you who the winner’s going to be,” Robertson said, in apparent reference to CBS humorist Andy Rooney, who turns 89 on Jan. 14.
Of course, last year Robertson made similar predictions of doom:
VIRGINIA BEACH - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson cited communications with God in predicting Tuesday that horrific terrorism aimed at the United States will result in “mass killing” during the second half of 2007.
“The Lord didn’t say nuclear, but I do believe it’ll be something like that - that’ll be a mass killing, possibly millions of people, major cities injured,” Robertson said.
“There will be some very serious terrorist attacks,” he said. “The evil people will come after this country, and there’s a possibility - not a possibility, a definite certainty - that chaos is going to rule.” Robertson did not say where the attacks would occur.
None of his occurred, of course, but Robertson comes up with this convenient explanation:
Robertson acknowledged Wednesday that his prophecy of a nuclear terror attack in 2007 failed to unfold.
He also cited information from God when he predicted on a year go that major U.S. cities would be hit by “very serious terrorist attacks” causing “possibly millions” of deaths.
No such catastrophe occurred.
“All I can think is that somehow the people of God prayed and God in his mercy spared us,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club,” a television show he hosts on the Christian Broadcasting Network, based in Virginia Beach.
So did I miss it? Possibly,” he said of his unrealized prediction. “Or, on the other hand, did God avert it? Possibly. But whatever, it didn’t happen, so I think we can all rejoice.”
Wow, I’m impressed. Praying away a hurricane is one thing. But averting a nuclear holocaust ? I had no idea Marion was such a powerful man.
Of course, there is another explanation, Marion Robertson could simply be a charlatan.
Why Imam Robertson ? Explanation here.
H/T: Matthew Yglesias
