Televangelist Jack Van Impe called Robertson "an Osami bin Laden"

Televangelist and self-proclaimed Biblical prophecy expert Jack Van Impe denounced Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, comparing Robertson to Osama bin Laden.

From the August 30 broadcast of Jack Van Impe Presents:

VAN IMPE: And right now, the National Association of Evangelicals informs us that this man has done damage, and it could actually take the lives of some of the missionaries in South America because the news media in South America is bombarding this thing across the airwaves around the clock. God forgive him.

[...]

Not only that, but Mr. Robertson, you are pro-life, and yet you wanted the members of the Supreme Court to die last year, and now the president of Venezuela. We believe this book: Thou shalt not kill; Exodus 20, verse 13. And my Bible says that this is wrong, and I want to challenge you right now to change your ways. Because we as Christians do not need an Osami [sic] Bin Laden leading us.

The weekly program Jack Van Impe Presents is carried on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest Christian broadcasting outlet; TBN also broadcasts Robertson's The 700 Club, on which his comments about Chavez originally appeared. Founded in 1973 by Paul and Jan Crouch, TBN currently owns 23 U.S. full-power television stations and 252 low-power TV stations. TBN has also produced films, including The Omega Code. Van Impe's program, in addition to appearing on TBN, is syndicated to TV stations across the country and is broadcast internationally as a radio program. Van Impe is the author of several books, including Revelation Revealed: A Verse-by-Verse Study (W Publishing Group, 1997).

—M.B.