PAT ROBERTSON: Well we've got just a minute or two for some

questions before we have to sign-off,

but you've got that question.

WENDY GRIFFITH: I got a couple questions for you.

You ready?

OK, here we go.

PAT ROBERTSON: Lay it on me.

WENDY GRIFFITH: Chace writes, "As a minister and a man of God

through all these years, what is the right stand

on the conviction of the Holy Spirit

regarding the living for God, but going out sometimes

for entertainment-- secular but clean?

Is it not wrong to live set apart-- Is it not wrong

to live set apart, and yet when outside of ministry time

go and enjoy this way as a rest?

I watch the program daily and I would love to hear from you."

PAT ROBERTSON: All right.

Look.

If you've taken a vow of poverty or you're a monastic order,

of course you don't do that.

But if you're in the world, there's

nothing wrong with that.

I think Martin Luther and others they had dinners.

They had banquets.

They had joyous time with one another.

There's nothing wrong with that.

God is a God of laughter.

He's a God of joy.

The Lord says, hither to you ask nothing in my name, ask

and you will receive that your joy might be filled.

Well there's nothing wrong with showing joy.

This Puritanical idea that you got to dress in black

and sit on a hard bench, I mean that isn't Bible.

That isn't the Bible.

The Bible wants you to enjoy.

The Lord has created all things richly

that we would enjoy them.

All right?

WENDY GRIFFITH: That's great.

Julie says, "What five books of the Bible

would you recommend reading first if you're a new believer

or someone seeking God?"

PAT ROBERTSON: Well we talk about the Gospel of John.

John is easy Greek.

I mean he wrote in easy Greek and it's easier to read.

So John the gospel, first and second John, the little books

of the Bible, I think the Book of Proverbs,

and the Book of Psalms.

I think you read in Proverbs and Psalms-- Proverbs

is a wonderful way of ordering your life.

Psalms is the marvelous expression of God.

So that's where I would start.

All right.

Another one?

WENDY GRIFFITH: All right, Janet says, "I tithe

and I've learned to do it faithfully.

Does the tithe have to be given to the church

where we congregate, or would it be

OK to give it to a person in need--

such as a sponsored child and their family

in another country?

Or would this be something I pray about to discern?"

PAT ROBERTSON: Well I think you pray for discernment,

but I know the Church is teaching.

You don't blame them.

The tithe belongs to the church, so of course they

preach that because that means that their benefit.

But I think the worldwide Church of God

includes missionaries, includes educational institution,

includes hospitals, it includes philanthropic organizations,

and, I think, orphanages and people who are poor.

So in the old days they had a tithe and they bought food

and they had a big feast on it.

They went to a place.

It's not legalism.

We're leaving with Today's Power Minute from Psalm 55.

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you."

We'll see you tomorrow.

Bye bye.