William Fisher: Go, Pat, Go!

Not to worry. Throw out your Farmer's Almanac! Burn Nostradamus! We now have a new source for good news about the world's most dysfunctional region.

Our newest Maven of the Middle East is none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson, Star of The 700 Club, onetime presidential hopeful, and founder of the Christian Coalition.

Pat assures us 2005 is going to be "A Super Good Year."

In a recent broadcast of The 700 Club, he made predictions for the New Year based on what he said God told him during a recent prayer retreat.

Here's what 's going to happen: "In America, again if I'm hearing God right, we will see a tremendous incidence of miracles in the year 2005. ... God's spirit is going to be moving in dramatic power around the world. "And his spirit is going to be touching the hearts of many in the Muslim world and they will be turning to the Gospel, to Jesus Christ. I think many of them already are, but this is going to be an acceleration that will really amaze the world. ... "Revival will break out throughout the Muslim world, my [God's] truth will penetrate their hearts. The hold of that falsehood that has gripped them will be broken.

"The terrorist threat will diminish."

But don't get too complacent. Two thousand five won't be all good news, Pat warns us. "Nations will walk in peace, but it will be an illusion. The peril to Israel is greater now than it has ever been for she will be seduced into a false peace that will leave her vulnerable." But, now that we know what to expect, we can all rest a bit easier.

After all, just look at the Rev. Pat's track record.

In 2003, just before the US invasion of Iraq, he said President Bush dismissed his warning that the United States would suffer heavy casualties in Iraq. On a CNN appearance, Robertson said the president told him, "We're not going to have any casualties." Bush campaign advisor Karen Hughes said Pat "must have misunderstood or misheard" the president. But Robertson did not back away from his comments. While Bush's response was a mistake, he said, God has blessed the president anyhow. Robertson told viewers God had told him Bush would win re-election "in a blowout." In the CNN interview, Robertson said he thought Bush would win by a "razor-thin" popular-vote margin but by a substantial Electoral College victory.

"God favors Bush's re-election, " he added.

God and Robertson were right about Iraq. Casualties as of January 29: 1,427 US dead, 10,502 injured; 15,000 estimated Iraqi dead -- and counting.

They were right about the election too, except that somewhere on the road to the White House the president's razor-thin margin turned into a mandate to bring freedom to the whole world.

About God favoring George's reelection, I'm not so sure.

But it's hard to argue with success.

Go, Pat, go!

William Fisher has managed economic development programs in the Middle East for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development, and served in the international affairs area in the Kennedy administration THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BILL FISHER (http://billfisher.blogspot.com/)

© Scoop Media