Oral Roberts passed away yesterday a month shy of his 92nd birthday. He was one of the very first televangelists this onetime Charismatic Fundamentalist watched on TV. Each week I would be greeted by his "Something good is going to happen to you" theme song and watched as he talked about things like seed faith (the roots of the prosperity gospel) and other stuff from the bible. I really liked Oral and in the summer of 1979 my first wife Ellen and I traveled down to and stayed at the Oral Roberts University campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was there that my eyes were really opened to the nastiness of strong-armed donation solicitation.. we left after the first night and I never quite felt the same way about him after that distasteful experience in Tulsa - one of the reasons I probably never embraced the prosperity gospel.
Are you old enough to remember Oral Roberts' ministry or his TV program?
Grew up on the man. I don't know exactly when he turned me off, but it was in my teens. By the time he gave his death threat, I was already gone.
ReplyDeleteMay the Lord's kingdom advance in spite of all he did.