Terror attacks were 'wake-up' call from God - evangelist

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called the September 11 attacks a ‘‘wake-up call from God’’ and said America can shield itself from future attacks through a spiritual revival.

‘‘The Lord is getting ready to shake this nation. We have not yet seen his judgment on America,’’ Robertson told about 1,000 people attending a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the on-air debut of his Christian Broadcasting Network.

‘‘This thing that happened in New York was child’s play compared to what’s going to happen. It was a great tragedy. It tore at our hearts when we saw that suffering, but it was a wake-up call from God,’’ Robertson said.

Afterward, Robertson said that by revival, he meant a time when people put spiritual matters ahead of everything else.

‘‘It involves a great deal of repentance, it involves humility, it involves, really, people beginning to live the way the Bible tells them to live.’’

Robertson also said he stood by a statement he released after the attacks in which he said that Americans had insulted God by, among other things, allowing abortion and ‘‘rampant Internet pornography’’ and that ‘‘God Almighty is lifting his protection from us.’’

Robertson’s family and longtime employees reminisced at the ceremony about his first broadcast on October 1, 1961, from a UHF TV station in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Today, the network says it provides programming to more than 90 countries in 65 languages.

Robertson also founded the Christian Coalition and ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.

Michael Little, president and chief operating officer of CBN, read letters of congratulation from Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, US Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Reverend Billy Graham.