The death of Oral Roberts brings to a close one of the more colorful chapters in American religious history. Born into rural poverty in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, Granville Oral Roberts became one of the best-known televangelists of the twentieth century. He translated pentecostalism from the sweaty tents of the revival circuit to the cool professionalism of the television studio.
Roberts was among the first to figure out that television solved forever the riddle of itinerancy. The miracle of television allowed preachers to be everywhere at once. Itinerancy was never the same. Preachers flocked to the television studios the way that the faithful had flocked to the revival tents, and the age of the televangelist was born.
In a sense, Roberts' challenge was far more daunting than that faced by Billy Graham, Roberts' contemporary. Graham was a mainstream evangelical, everything from his boyish good looks and media savvy to his barely discernible touch of Carolina drawl. Graham's "crusades," as he called them, attracted celebrities and extensive media coverage. Although Graham's preaching was energetic, especially in his younger years, it was also measured.
Roberts, on the other hand, was an Okie with a bit of Cherokee blood. His brand of evangelicalism, known as pentecostalism, featured "glossolalia" (speaking in tongues), ecstatic worship and divine healing. Yes, Roberts eventually toned down some of his tent-revival antics for television, but pentecostalism was undeniably a tougher sell than Graham's smooth, corporate-style evangelicalism.
Roberts migrated to television in 1955, just as pentecostalism itself was about to burst onto public consciousness. Roberts himself had been influenced by Kathryn Kuhlman, a healing evangelist; Roberts in turn influenced such "Seed Faith" preachers as Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, who promised riches to the faithful if they sent money to whichever televangelist was making the appeal.
In the 1980s Roberts was part of the trifecta of televangelist scandals, although he really didn't belong in that company. Whereas Jim Bakker had a tryst with (you can't make this up) a church secretary from Long Island and sought to cover it up with hush money from ministry funds and Jimmy Swaggart was frequenting Louisiana motel rooms for voyeuristic encounters with prostitutes, Roberts' notoriety in 1987 was a very different sort. He informed his followers that God would "call him home" unless God's people ponied up something like $4.5 or $8 million (accounts differ).
This may have been the first time in history that God had taken a hostage and demanded ransom.
Roberts survived the incident and the embarrassment - and he got his money. The funds were supposed to support his City of Faith hospital, an ill-fated venture that turned out to be financially disastrous, especially in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which already had a surfeit of hospital beds.
Roberts was more successful in setting up a university in 1963, although he initially resisted the eponymous designation. A few institutions of higher education in America are named after individuals. Harvard, Yale and Brown come to mind, and Duke and Vanderbilt and Stanford. Oral Roberts University, by some measure, must be included in that roster - along with Bob Jones University. Oral Roberts University had an NCAA division one basketball team in the 1980s, and several of the players went on to careers in the NBA; the joke at the time was that, with Roberts' skills as a healer, the team didn't need a trainer. Some of the university's graduates include Copeland, Ted Haggard (former head of the National Association of Evangelicals) and Michelle Bachman (member of Congress from Minnesota).
Not bad for an Okie who himself never graduated from college.
Any retrospective about religion in the twentieth century must include prominent mention of Oral Roberts, this son of a preacher who became a preacher himself. And beside his name should be included words like minister, educator, pentecostal and one of the pioneers of televangelism.
Daniel Krotz: Jim Bakker and the Counterfeit Hell Robbers
Oral Roberts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oral Roberts University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in Calif. at age 91 - Yahoo! News
Local Churches Remember Oral Roberts
Late televangelist Oral Roberts once spoke to Savannah crowd of Methodist ties
Richard got his home tax-free. The parsonage allowance given to ministers is only subject to self-employment tax, not income tax. The 9th Circuit, in dicta (not binding opinion) stated that this treatment is unconstitutional.
http://sexsomnia.blog.com
All you mockers please be aware that 'better loughs the one he laughs at the end'...
Oral Roberts regardless of his faults and mistakes, at least 'knew whom he believed in'...
Jesus is the one we all humans need to look at. Not any man or woman. Humans are imperfect. Jesus lived the perfect life and showed us the perfect example. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.... and even though he is waiting for all humans to repent of their sinful-rebellious life, His Day is very near... What day?
"On the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus" (Rom. 2:16).
Just understand that when this man's ministers promised my best friend's grandma that if she'd send $5000 to his ministry, she'd be cured of her cancer, she did it.
She also bought $1000 worth of vitamins from a slick fella claiming the same thing.
The cancer was in her brain. My friend's mom found out too late and there was precious little money left by the time these liars had gotten through with her.
She died less than a month later. I guess that's the power of vitamins and prayer.
My friend's mom asked for her mother's money back, explaining that her mother had dementia because of the cancer. The ministry people were incredibly rude and condescending to her. She was told by several lawyers in Tulsa that she wouldn't win if she went to court.
So you still think these are honorable people?
Whatever gets you through your day.
tax all religions for what they are: predator corporations!
I want all you haters out there to just consider something for a moment - just consider it.
You may not agree with everything the man did, or anything the man did. But you can't deny that at least SOME good came from this man's life. I know MANY people who attended ORU and are positively changed for the better because of it. I know MANY people who followed his ministry and were greatly blessed by him. And I know SEVERAL people who were personal friends or acquaintances of his, and ALL say that he was a kind, wise, strong, and compassionate man.
Was he perfect? No. Are any of us? Of course not. The man's dead, people. Be respectful!
Like he respected me?
No way mate!
Yes, there are probably a lot of wonderful people who went to ORU, and personal friends found him good, but his services were like an infomercial to get money.
I realize that one can build large edifices and a hospital by only receiving a little money from each person who watches a show, but the pleadings that came on TV and through the mail from his organization are flat out obnoxious. Jesus threw out the money changers, didn't he? OR was one of them, as far as I'm concerned.
Oral wasn't a cynic, like Elmer Gantry, but he was self-delusional. He had the hubris that comes from being successful without any checks and balances. Since he felt his guidance was from God in his visions, his imagination ran wild.
I think of him more like a carny writ large. I'll quit criticizing people like him on financial grounds when they open up their books to public scrutiny.
But I don't believe in heaven or hell.
So...
Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah...Hey, hey, goodbye...
Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah...Hey, hey, goodbye...
sing it with me...
I know...I'm not a nice person. But I have spent too much time in Tulsa.
Two years later, after I helped pay for his career, worked, got my masters and kept a perfect home, all at once, he took his wings and flew off with someone else. As terrible as that sounds, NOTHING compares to the misery of living in Oral Roberts' territory for a year.
I forgave him for all and carry NO baggage but, I will never forgive him for that year in Robertsville!!
It was a terrifying experience. I must say, and may God forgive me, it was good news to me!
Pass the collection basket and pay up kids. It costs tons of money to build a monolith for a hypocrit.
The day after hs "fall", Swaggert's wife and son guested on the early morning Trinity Broadcast Network's program with Paul and Jan (sniff, sniff, cry.....) Crouch. Mrs. Swaggert told the Crouch's and their nationwide audience:
"I was directed to come here this morning by THE LORD! I was awakened by a bright light at the foot of my bed today and soon realized that it was Jesus! Jesus told me that Jimmy had fallen, because he had not been lifted up enough by his congregation. He instructed ne to come on this program and tell you all that if you DO NOT YET HAVE A 2nd MORTGAGE on your homes, he wants you to go out and get a loan to help lift Jimmy up in this, his time of need"!
I could hardly believe my eyes and ears! All through this con job, Jan Crouch with her 2 ft high platinum hair and 3 lbs of eye make-up held her trademark hankie to her eyes, crying! They all then prayed together that their partners would follow Jesus' instructions and help Jimmy!
All the money collected of course, on PUBLIC OWNED airwaves, was completely non-taxable!
When PT Barnum said "there's a sucker born every minute" he was off by about 999,999!