DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705020780

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion

SOURCE: DAVE ADDIS

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

WHY, PAT, DO CLOUDS ALWAYS GATHER ABOVE YOUR EFFORTS?

Sometimes when you see Pat Robertson on television, or when you read of his latest doings in the newspapers or the magazines, you can't help but wish that he'd materialize, full-sized and grinny, in a chair in your living room.

Then, instead of fuming at the TV screen, you might have a chance to ask some of those questions that never seem to get straight and simple answers.

For instance: Why, Pat, is there so often a scent of fish lingering in the air over the good works you purport to do for mankind?

Why, for example, did you find it necessary to send humanitarian aid to Zaire with one hand, then try to snatch diamonds from its rivers with the other?

You've said you wanted to help jump-start the economy of that hell-hole of a nation, for the good of its people. If true, that's noble.

But you knew, didn't you, that a suction dredge employs but a handful of workers? And surely you knew, as the rest of the world knew, that any serious money earned from Zaire's natural resources went not to its beaten and starving people, but into the silken pockets of its oppressor, Mobutu Sese Seko. You've seen the pictures of his opulent estates in Europe, haven't you? They've been on all the networks - except, perhaps, yours.

The World Bank quit sending money to Zaire long before you invested there because the dictator you were dealing with became one of the richest men in the world by raping what had been one of the richest regions in Africa. Full details of Mobutu's human-rights atrocities and rampant theft were readily available from the State Department.

Why, then, when your own government - a government you once felt qualified to lead - was at long last revealing Mobutu to be a devil, did you feel the need to make a deal with him for diamonds?

We're not trying to be mean-spirited here, Pat. Honestly. But such questions have troubled some of us for a long time.

Like this one: In a world where, to millions, a slice of bread can mean another day's life, was it really a good idea to divert your time and talents to that Kalo-Vita sales scheme? Why, Pat, with so many good works to your credit - you built a worldwide ministry, a university, a law school premised on Christian ethics, an international aid agency - why, after all that, did you feel the need to reach out to a man's soul with one hand, then try to sell him vitamin potions and skin balms with the other?

All ministries and aid agencies must struggle to raise money to keep doing good work. Yours is not unique in that regard. But why is your ministry the one that's always having to explain itself? Truly good works do not require rambling, legalistic rationalizations of their every mote and pin-point. Their motives are self-evident.

The answers, though, seem always to be the same: Anyone who criticizes you is out to get you. You hunker down into that boxer's crouch, tighten your jaw, and profess once again that the heathens and jacklegs, all in league with the devil or the Democrats, have hatched a global conspiracy to trap you - and they're likely to do it, too, unless everybody out there sends another dollar.

Has the message penetrated the brickwork at CBN, Pat, that even among starch-shirt conservatives and family-values believers, some are growing weary of the constant tattoo of fear and paranoia? Did it trouble you at all that the daily beacon of conservative capitalism, The Wall Street Journal, greeted your last book with this headline: ``New World Order Nut''?

One last question: Have you ever considered, Pat, that among the many you believe to be your enemies, ultimately, you may be your own worst one? MEMO: Dave Addis is the editor of Commentary. Reach him at 446-2726, or

addis(AT)worldnet.att.net. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Pat Robertson

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