ORAL ROBERTS

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15)

The Rev. Granville Oral Roberts, a renowned “faith healer”, evangelist, and founder of Oral Roberts University died yesterday (December 15, 2009). Oral Roberts was the same age as Billy Graham (91). Many of you know that I was raised Roman Catholic and became a “born-again Christian” as a teenager. The person and ministry that MOST affected and impacted my early life as a Christian was Billy Graham’s but in my earliest days, the 2nd greatest impact was from Oral Roberts. In those days in the Boston area, Oral Roberts’ weekly radio program was on Sundays at 12:30 just before Billy Graham’s 1:00 “Hour of Decision” program. I used to catch each program just about every Sunday.

Oral Roberts stressed the importance of being “born again” and “having a personal experience with Jesus Christ” but unlike Graham, Oral Roberts spoke of miracles, healings and the importance of “seed faith”. One can definitely see the roots of the present faith and positive confession and prosperity movements in the teachings of Oral Roberts which go back to the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, many years ago, Kenneth Copeland, now renowned in the faith and positive confession movement, was Oral Roberts' personal pilot. I imagine Roberts had quite an impact on Copeland.

It’s interesting that in discussing his own walk with God and experiences with God, my friend the Rev. Dick Germaine recently said he was greatly impacted years ago by Oral Roberts’ statement about his experiences with God. That statement was, “I know that I know that I know that I know.” That may sound corny or weird, but as a teenager I was impacted by that same statement and I never forgot it.

The Oral Roberts radio programs COULD be kind of hokey. I remember Oral’s wife Evelyn reading the testimony letters of listeners. Her Oklahoma accent was SO strong that you could hardly understand her at times, and I’d guess some folks probably had a lot of fun doing impersonations of both of them! Oral Roberts WAS controversial. I know he was part Cherokee Indian. I know he came out of the Pentecostal Holiness Church and began holding tent crusades decades ago. My understanding is that around 35 years ago he joined the United Methodist denomination. He founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa in 1963. The buildings of O.R.U. were designed and built in what was believed to be a “futuristic” style in the 1960s...kind of a world you’d expect the Jetsons to live in. O.R.U. is only a 3 hour drive from Springfield, Missouri. A lot of kids I went to school with at Central Bible College went down there to see it. I regret that I never did. At O.R.U. (as in many evangelical Christian schools) students were required to sign an honor code pledging not to drink, smoke, or engage in premarital sexual activities. Roberts also built a “City of Faith Medical Center” which closed in 1989. Probably his weirdest and most controversial action came in early 1987 when Oral Roberts announced to his television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home." This was mocked all over the press, although Roberts DID raise the money.

Oral Roberts had been “semiretired” for a number of years. His son, Richard Roberts, had been the President of O.R.U. for a number of years but was forced to step down in 2007 due to misappropriation of funds. I haven’t watched or listened to either in many years. Oral Roberts was a gifted speaker and an anointed man of God. He was also a flawed human being, like all of us, who made some serious errors. Even so, Oral Roberts’ ministry WAS helpful to me in my early days as a born-again believer and so in that sense I do mourn his passing.
I do respect his desire to (to use the evangelical Christian vernacular) see souls saved, people healed, and a mighty work for God accomplished.