Salvation for Sale: An Insider's View of Pat Robertson's Ministry

by Gerard Thomas Straub

Book Overview

Offers evidence that Pat Robertson believes he is in direct communication with God and that he has been personally appointed by the Almighty to be the chief usher at Jesus' imminent Second Coming.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879753579
• ISBN13: 9780879753573
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating personal story

This is really less a scathing indictment of Pat Robertson than it is of fundamentalism in general. Mr. Straub is actually still a Christian, although of an altogether different bent than what he once was. With fundamentalism, it becomes apparent how Robertson and those at CBN saw everything as an "us/them" issue, where they were always believed to be in the right. The anecdotes of CBN staffers leaving tracts in the homes of "unsaved" Catholics or with everyone from passers-by to toll-both attendants were telling. When one believes they're always in the right, they'll justify anything. Look at Pat's "Diamond Mine" ventures with Mobutu Sese Seko (...).Overall a very quick and informative read.

A Jouney From Raucous Certitude To Enlightened Confusion

I couldn't help but to be moved when I read this book. I was once a conservative Christian, and I cringe when I remember how I once defended people like Robertson. Fortunately, this period of my life was confined to my early teens, and by nineteen I had abandoned my belief in Christianity. I suppose that I now have a "won't get fooled again" attitude towards religion in general and Christianity in particular. But, as this book shows, it can happen to anyone. The author was once caught in the fundamentalist quagmire. His formerly agnostic wife is apparently still a Robertson employee. Even Bob Dylan became a pulpit-basher for a while. It can truly happen to anyone. Salvation For Sale allows us to see the inside of Robertson's fundamentalist multimedia empire. As would be expected, Robertson rules his fiefdom with an iron hand and twitching paranoia. Any setback is attributed to the Devil and his satanic henchmen (i.e. liberals). The Bible is the literal word of God and must be obeyed to the letter; unless, of course, you're speaking of those parts about turning the other cheek. Like nearly all of his tele-evangalist contemporaries, Robertson is a militant who sees Satanic conspiracy in everything. And, unlike his religion's namesake, Robertson seems to feel no moral conflict as the financial elite (to which he belongs) hoard the wealth and the poor scrape by. After all, social programs create a dependent society and are the work of the Devil. Salvation For Sale doesn't dwell entirely on Robertson, however. A good part of the book deals with Straub's own questions and conflicting emotions with his faith and beliefs. He no longer adheres to literal interpretations of the Bible, and he apparently no longer believes in Hell or divine retribution. Like most of us, he accepts that life doesn't consist of black-and-white certainty. It's incredibly confusing and more rewarding if you accept it as such.

A Tragedy

I read Salvation for Sale while trying to understand why in the world a missionary with whom I was working had such a low opinion of Pat Robertson. Her husband had been murdered in the Children's Home her husband founded and she alleged three of Pat Robertson's Middle Television employees were responsible for instigating her husband's murder. I thought pain was clouding her perception of Pat Robertson, of whom she was highly critical but I had never researched his work, ministry etc. until compelled to do so. That led me to write Call to Courage! a book about my own conclusions. My perceptions are different than Gerald Straub's as mine are Biblical evaluations but they are no less critical. I sympatized with Gerald Straub's struggles to make sense out of his experience. Few things in life are more unsettling than a major spiritual upheavel.

Update Takes No Prisoners

I can add very little to the long review below, and the shorter all-caps review had a good point in that the more moderate and decent religions don't seem to attract many converts.The main part of the book is the author's attempt to come to grips with his own experience and conversions. However, the paperback edition was released with an update in which the author refuses to mince words about Pat Robertson. The author discovered a recording of Pat Robertson declaiming with relish over the holocaust to come in 1982. The author was outraged not only at Robertson for the speech, but also at himself for having listened to the speech years earlier without noticing anything wrong.Now, it would be wonderful if more people who listen to talk about apocolypse and mass slaughter with joyous rapture and thrills would suddenly wake up and wonder with horror what they were thinking. Also, note that Robertson is a False Prophet.

A fascinating insight into self-revelation...

Before discussing the content explicitly, it is necessary to note that Straub's work is not academic in its structure, nor is it formal in any sense in its presentation or refutation of any institutional religion. Rather, it serves a two-fold purpose: first, it shows the off-stage Pat Robertson, the man viewers and followers rarely get to see, and second, it is a chronicle of the spiritual development of a disenchanted man.The stated goal of the book, that of exposing Robertson's private side, is reached quite cogently. Anecdotes and empirical evidence offer the reader a quite clear picture of the public and private ambitions of the man in question. It is at this point that one must include a necessary caveat. Objectors historically have criticized the book as being a character assassination of Robertson, but this is not the case. While the tone of the work is condemnatory of televangelism and critical of Robertson's agenda, the work is not a visceral diatribe against him. Rather, it attempts to offer a supplement to the national image of Robertson. Though the ultimate balance may be lost on the zealot, overall the work is not as acerbic as many published criticisms of televangelism.The second purpose of the work is to explicate and trace the spiritual development of a man in personal crisis. Straub bares his soul to the reader by including anecdotes and personal experience throughout his life. This is not a mere chronological list, but rather includes his spiritual evolution as well. As his life became more complicated, his traditional beliefs were by necessity called into question. Ultimately he found his beliefs wanting, and as such filled a void within him with teachings from a variety of theosophical traditions. The overall impression of book one should receive is that of a typical religious individual, who through a combination of disaffection and harrowing experience, found himself in need of assurance and understanding.Ultimately the book will not be for everyone. I fou! nd it to be a compelling personal account of an average person who had undergone the same theological uncertainty as many feel. When traditional beliefs no longer make sense, when one is faced with the possibility that truths held deeply for so long may be misleading, it is a relief to find others in a similar situation who have the courage to find something new.It is definitely recommended for all, though some may find it objecitonable in extremis.