Folklore theology: Small God, big devil

John Mark Reynolds rightly calls out the bad theology behind Pat Robertson's comments about Haiti and an alleged "pact with the devil" entered into by that nation's founders. He does not, however, go into much detail concerning the false assumptions in Robertson's theology which undergird those comments. A few observations are in order before putting this matter to bed.

1) Despite his success as a religious broadcaster and founder of a Christian university, Robertson has never matured intellectually beyond the level of what might be called folklore theology. He sees the world in terms of a devil who is unrestrained in his power and a God who is unable to rein him in. The devil has people and nations enter into "pacts" with him in exchange for temporal favors. God can only respond by pouring out his wrath on the victims of