Oral Roberts
Granville Oral Roberts was born January 24, 1918 in Pontotoc County, near Ada, in Oklahoma. His parents were deeply religious. His father was a farmer who also preached the gospel and established Pentecostal Holiness churches. His mother regularly prayed for the sick and led people to Christ. While she was still pregnant, Robert's mother committed Oral to God's service. Even though Oral had a very strong stutter his mother would tell him that one day God would heal his tongue and he would speak to multitudes.
The Roberts family was desperately poor. When Roberts was 16 he moved away from home, hoping for a better life. He rejected God and his upbringing. He started living a wild life and his health collapsed. Roberts had contracted tuberculosis. He returned home and eventually dropped to 120 pounds. He was a walking skeleton. God spoke to his older sister, Jewel, and told her that He was going to heal Oral. During this same time Oral turned his heart back to God and gave his life to Christ. A traveling healing evangelist named George Moncey came to Ada and held meetings in a tent. Oral's elder brother was touched when he saw friends of his healed in the meeting. He decided that he should get Oral and bring him to be healed. On the way to the meeting God spoke to Oral and said "Son, I'm going to heal you and you are to take my healing power to your generation. You are to build me a University and build it on My authority and the Holy Spirit." Once at the meeting Oral waited until the very end. He was too sick to get up and receive prayer, and so had to wait for Moncey to come to him. At 11:00 at night his parents lifted him so he could stand. When Moncey prayed for him the power of God hit him and he was instantly healed. Not only that but every bit of his stutter was gone!
After Roberts was healed he began to travel the evangelistic circuit. He met and married Evelyn Lutman, a school teacher from the same Holiness Pentecostal background as Roberts. They had their first child Rebecca and then the entire family began traveling as ministers. In 1942 they left the evangelistic field for a while and Roberts became a pastor. He also returned to college to further his education. While a pastor he prayed for a church member whose foot was crushed. The foot was instantly healed. God continued to speak to Roberts about his call to the multitudes. God called him to an unusual fast. Roberts was to read the four gospels and the book of Acts three times consecutively, while on his knees, for thirty days. God began to reveal Jesus as the healer in a new way. God also began to give Roberts dreams where he would see people's needs as God saw them. God called him to hold a healing meeting in his town. A woman was dramatically healed, several people were saved and Roberts' ministry changed overnight.
Roberts resigned his church in 1947 and began an itinerant ministry. Notable healings began to occur. One man tried to shoot Roberts. God used the story to bring him media attention, which expanded his ministry very quickly. Roberts felt called to purchase a tent and take his evangelistic ministry to larger cities. His first tent held 3,000 but he quickly exchanged it for a tent that held 12,000. In July 1948 The Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association was established. Oral began traveling continuously throughout the United States. Like many of his Pentecostal brethren Roberts held inter-racial meetings. This brought him a lot of negative attention from groups who didn't like his stand. He even received death threats for not holding segregated meetings. In 1956 Roberts was invited to Australia. He held meetings in Sydney and Melbourne. In Melbourne there were outright physical attacks and destructive gangs. He was literally driven out of the city for praying for the sick. Often when people discuss the healing revival of the 1950s Oral Roberts and William Branham are listed as the most widely recognized leaders of the movement. Others came along side and many emulated them, but they were the most widely recognized personalities.
Roberts was a man who understood and used the media for his benefit. Roberts began publishing a magazine almost immediately upon starting his ministry. He grasped the power of radio and television. In 1954 Roberts began filming his crusades. He began playing his sermons on radio and then airing the crusade tapes during evening television prime time. Unfortunately there is some evidence that healing meetings were scripted ahead of time, and not all healings were genuine. People began writing to the Ministry headquarters by the thousands. They were accepting Christ as their savior after seeing a person healed on TV. By 1957 the ministry was receiving 1,000 letters a day and he was getting thousands of phone calls. He established a round the clock prayer team to answer calls and pray for people who contacted the ministry. In 1957 Roberts claimed 1,000,000 salvations. Between 1947 and 1968 Roberts conducted over 300 major Crusades. Money was flowing into the organization at an unprecedented rate.
In the late 1950s the healing movement was waning and ministries were under attack for their lack of financial accountability. Roberts began to move on the vision God gave him to build a University. It was chartered in 1963 and became open to students in 1965. Roberts was having a significant national impact in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For several years his named appeared in the Top 100 list of the nation's most respected people. Although Roberts continued to hold healing meetings his focus shifted to the University and the television programs.
The 1970s and 80s brought many crises to the Roberts family. Their daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Marshall were killed in a plane crash. Their son Ronnie struggled with depression after serving in Vietnam and also declaring himself gay. He grew despondent after losing his job and committed suicide. Richard Roberts got a divorce. After Richard remarried he and his wife lost a new born son within two days. Roberts began teaching a doctrine of "seed faith" where he claimed that if you gave to his ministry then God would pay you back in multiplied ways. The television ministry received heavy criticism for the constant requests for money. The Roberts were living an extravagance lifestyle while many of their supporters were not wealthy. Financial questions were raised in how Roberts used University endowment funds to purchase personal homes and cars.
In 1977 Roberts had a vision to build a hospital where people not only received care but received healing prayer. It was to be called City of Faith. Roberts put his heart and soul into the project, believing that God would build it as He had the University. The hospital struggled along and Roberts called his followers to give to the project, believing he had a vision from God to raise the money. Roberts even claimed twice that if money didn't come in that Jesus would "take him home." The hospital was built, but never succeeded financially, and finally closed in 1989. Financial giving was plummeting for both the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.
Roberts retired in 1993, at the age of 75. Roberts, with his wife Evelyn, moved to California to live near the coast. Evelyn died in May 2005. Although Roberts influence waned after the problems of the 1970s and 1980s, he was still recognized for his pioneering work on the "sawdust trail", television evangelism, and building a Christian University. He often appeared on religious broadcasting networks as a recognized leader in the healing movement of the last half century. He died December 15, 2009 at the age of 91.
Oral Roberts' legacy is a mixed one. Roberts brought the truth of God's healing to the public in a way that few others accomplished in his lifetime. His financial and personal issues and increasingly extravagant claims eventually brought his ministry into disrepute. The University he established continued to have financial crises under the leadership of his son Richard Roberts. It was only after Richard stepped down in 2009 and new leadership took over the University that it stabilized financially. The University is no longer connected to the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association.
my times are in your hand - learning to trust the speed of god
Did you know your head ages faster than your feet? Scientists have confirmed this, proving again that Albert Einstein was spot-on in his theories of relativity: the speed of time is relative to a particular frame of reference. For us terrestrials, that frame of reference is earthâs gravitational force. The higher up from the earth something is, the weaker the gravitational pull and the faster time moves. An implication of this is that we frequently put our trust in a frame of reference on time different from the one we experience. For instance, the Global Positioning System (GPS) we rely on to accurately and safely guide us as we pilot our cars, ships, planes, and spaceships only works because itâs programmed, based on Einsteinâs theories of relativity, to compensate for the distance between earth and space. Without those formulas, our computers and smartphones would soon get disastrously out of sync with the GPS satellites, which orbit in a different time. Stick with me; I am going somewhere with this. How we experience time depends on our frame of reference. And our particular frame of reference is not always the one we should trust. In fact, sometimes itâs critically important that we trust another framing more than our own. One Day with the Lord For Christians, this concept is nothing new. Over three millennia ago, Moses wrote, A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4) And some two millennia ago, Peter wrote, Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8) In other words, time in Godâs eyes moves at different speeds from time in our ours. And in the life of faith, itâs critically important that we learn to rely on Godâs timing more than our own â to learn to trust the speed of God. How Long, O Lord? Learning to trust Godâs timing is not easy, to say the least. This is partly due to our sin and unbelief. But itâs also because trusting a frame of reference different from ours is, by definition, counterintuitive. Since we canât calculate Godâs time, his timing often doesnât make sense to us. Thatâs why after Peter described one God-day as being like a thousand years for us, he went on to say, âThe Lord is not slow . . . as some count slownessâ (2 Peter 3:9). The âsomeâ he referred to were âscoffersâ who mocked Christiansâ hope in the return of Christ (2 Peter 3:3â4). But the truth is that all of us fit into the âsomeâ category at times. I donât mean as scoffers, but as children of God painfully perplexed by our heavenly Fatherâs apparent slowness. We cry out, âHow long, O Lord?â (Psalm 13:1), wondering when he will finally fulfill some promise to which weâre clinging. So, Peter exhorts us, the âbelovedâ of God, not to âoverlookâ the fact that God-time is not man-time; therefore, God âis not slowâ as man counts slowness (2 Peter 3:8â9) â as I  sometimes count slowness. Indeed, he is not. God Is Not Slow Someone who has created such a thing as light speed, and who knows whatâs happening in every part of a universe spanning some 93 billion light-years across, is clearly not slow. âItâs critically important that we learn to rely on Godâs timing more than our own.â Itâs also clear, however, that such a being as God operates on a very different timeline than we do â if timeline  is even the right word. For God is not constrained by time. He is the Father of time (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16). He is âthe Ancient of Daysâ (Daniel 7:9), existing âfrom everlasting to everlastingâ (Psalm 90:2). God is not in time ; time is in God  (Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:17). The âthousand yearsâ of Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 is just a metaphor, using a timeframe we can somewhat comprehend to communicate a reality we canât. So, when the speed of God seems slow to us, or when his timing doesnât make sense, we must ânot overlook this one factâ: God-time is different from man-time. God-time is relative to his purposes, which is his frame of reference. And God, according to his wise purposes, makes everything beautiful in its time â the time he purposefully chooses for it. Time for Everything Everything beautiful in its time . I get that from Ecclesiastes 3:11: [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into manâs heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. This verse captures like no other both the mysterious nature of our experience of time, and the pointers God has placed within our frame of reference to help us trust the wisdom of his timing. In designing us with eternity in our hearts, the âeternal Godâ made us to know him (Deuteronomy 33:27). But in limiting the scope of our perspective and comprehension, he also made us to fundamentally trust him and not ourselves (Proverbs 3:5â6). This is how he means for us to know him: I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, âMy counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.â (Isaiah 46:9â10) He is âthe everlasting Godâ (Isaiah 40:28), âwho works all things,â including all time everywhere, âaccording to the counsel of his willâ (Ephesians 1:11). One clear way he reveals the wisdom of his purposes is how he has created, in our frame of reference, âa time for every matter under heavenâ (Ecclesiastes 3:1): a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. (Ecclesiastes 3:2â4) God âmade everything beautiful in its time.â The Hebrew word translated âbeautifulâ means appropriate , fitting , right . Godâs âinvisible attributesâ can be âclearly perceivedâ in the created order we observe and experience (Romans 1:20). They reveal the wisdom of his purposes â a wisdom far beyond ours. And God intends them to teach us that his âbeautifulâ timing can be trusted, even when we donât understand it. In the Fullness of Time God did not merely leave us to deduce his character and wisdom from nature. For âwhen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Sonâ (Galatians 4:4). In Jesus, the Creator of all stepped into terrestrial time, into our frame of reference (John 1:2). In fully human form, he âdwelt among us,â directly revealing the divine attributes with a âglory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truthâ (John 1:14). âTime in Godâs eyes moves at different speeds than time in our ours.â While here, he performed many signs and wonders and proclaimed, âThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospelâ (Mark 1:14â15). As he did so, he displayed the marvelous wisdom of the timing of God, often in ways that surprised and confused his followers (John 4:1â42; 11:1â44). Then, when his time had come (John 12:23), Jesus obeyed his Father to the point of death on a cross, âoffer[ing] for all time a single sacrifice for sins.â And then he was raised from the dead and âsat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feetâ (Hebrews 10:12â14). As his followers, we also wait. We wait for the Father to âsend the Christ appointed for [us], Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long agoâ (Acts 3:20â21). Trust the Speed of God As we wait, two thousand years later (or two God-days), we help each other remember, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward [us], not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) Yes, we must frequently help each other remember: God-time moves at different speeds than ours. God works all things, at all times, in all places, in all dimensions, after the counsel of his will to accomplish all his purpose. God has a purposeful time for everything, and he makes everything beautiful in its time. However God chooses to use our times, itâs critically important that we learn to trust his timing over the relative and unreliable earthbound perspective that shapes our expectations. Our times, like all times, are in Godâs hand (Psalm 31:15). This is what it means to live by faith in relation to time. In choosing to trust the speed of God, we humble ourselves under his mighty, time-holding hand. According to 1 Peter 5:6â7, the amazing reward of choosing to embrace such joyful, peaceful, childlike trust in God is that he will exalt us at the proper time.
