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Granville Oral RobertsAmerican Pentecostal televangelist, preacher
Date of Birth: 24.01.1918
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Biography of Oral Roberts
- Ministry and Television
- Oral Roberts University and Abundant Life Prayer Group
- Vision of a Medical Center and Controversies
Biography of Oral Roberts
Early Life and EducationOral Roberts was an American Pentecostal televangelist and preacher, considered one of the most well-known and charismatic American preachers. He was born in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, the fifth and youngest child of Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts and his wife Claudia Priscilla Irwin. After completing high school, Roberts attended the Baptist University of Oklahoma for two years and then transferred to Phillips University for another two years. In 1938, he married Evelyn Latman Fanshok, the daughter of a preacher. Despite not obtaining a degree, Roberts became a traveling healer after completing his college education.
Ministry and Television
According to Time magazine, Roberts gained recognition primarily through his large mobile tent, which could accommodate three thousand folding metal chairs. It was in this tent that Roberts held his miraculous healing sessions. Later, he ventured into television and became one of the first televangelists. His television programs began in 1955 and quickly gained popularity. In 1947, Roberts left his position as a priest in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. He embarked on a series of evangelistic and healing crusades throughout the country. Roberts frequently appeared at various conferences and meetings as a celebrity speaker. Hundreds of sick individuals were willing to wait in line for the chance to stand before Oral Roberts and receive his prayers.
Oral Roberts University and Abundant Life Prayer Group
In 1963, Roberts founded the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to his account, he was prompted by a divine command. The necessary approvals took the entire year, and the first students were admitted to the university in 1965. Students were required to take a pledge not to drink, smoke, or engage in intimate relationships outside of marriage. Another important component of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association was the "Abundant Life Prayer Group."
Vision of a Medical Center and Controversies
In 1977, Roberts claimed to have seen a nine-hundred-foot Jesus, who instructed him to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center. The construction took place in Oklahoma and lasted until 1981. The center operated for nine years before closing down. In 1983, Jesus appeared to Roberts again and authorized him to search for a cancer cure.
Roberts' methods were not universally accepted. In 1987, he launched a fundraising campaign, stating that if he did not raise eight million dollars by March, God would call him to heaven. Many interpreted this as a suicide threat, but Roberts managed to collect 9.1 million dollars by the deadline. Later that year, he claimed that the power of the Lord had resurrected a dead person during one of his services. His son, Richard Roberts, supported this claim, stating that he witnessed his father miraculously revive a deceased child. Despite such apparent divine support, Oral's income continued to decline, and the Oklahoma center continued to lose money rapidly.
In November 2007, Richard Roberts resigned as the president of Oral Roberts University after becoming a defendant in a case involving the improper use of university funds. Oral Roberts stated that he would return to administrative activities to assist his son, facilitated through his "regent," Billy Joe Daugherty, who became an executive member of the university's board of trustees.
At the time of his death, Oral had almost retired and was residing in Newport Beach, California.
