“But was he a perfect man? Mark Rutland, current President of the university Oral founded and was chancellor of to the end, addressed that in his funeral oration “We do not today celebrate the passing of a perfect man; none of us is perfect…He was an extraordinary man; he was a giant who served a perfect God.” And the secular media has ensured that we never forgot that! They remind us that he once “cajoled” believers into raising $9million by telling them God was going to call him home if he did not raise $8million. They remind us of the controversy over his City of Faith Medical Center, a $250 million investment that didn’t quite fly, and the law school that he founded that had to close. They won’t let us forget that his son, Richard, had to step down as President of Oral Roberts University because he was accused of mismanagement of funds. All of which are reminders of his humanity."
God had told Oral Roberts to break from the mould. Don’t be like other men; be like Jesus, He told him. Heal like did. It was a marching order. But, as we saw, he didn’t know where or how to begin. He had an idea of what God was asking him not to be. But, what did it mean to be like Jesus? He posed the question to God and promptly came the answer: take a crash course in “Jesus-ology.” It was to be a 90-day course of reading on his knees, the gospels and the book of Acts. It was a study in the birth, growth, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus, as well as, its immediate aftermath.
Oral obeyed and what he found was to shape his own ministry. Of great import to Oral’s legacy was his discovery that Jesus had a three-fold ministry – preaching, teaching and healing. In the Ultimate Voice, Oral last book, he emphasised that these “three worked together. In other words Jesus was not a preacher who also taught and healed. He was not a healer who preached and taught. He was all three in one. He didn’t have three ministries. He had one ministry which preached, taught and wrought miracles.
Oral defined the ministry this way: “To preach is to proclaim the good news that God wants to have an intimate relationship with every person. To preach is to tell the plan of salvation and God’s desire to meet every need in a person’s life.; To teach is to tell others what the Bible says about the way men and women are to live in right relationship with God. Teaching involves explaining the lasting principles and concepts of God—His nature, His commands, and His promises (and); To heal is to remedy whatever might be lacking or faulty in a person’s life—whatever is not in keeping with God’s original creation and design. It is doing whatever you see to do to help another person be made whole.”
He was also fully persuaded that what God was asking of him was what Jesus had authorised his disciples to do. His words: “Finally, I came to the quick conclusion that what Jesus did, He not only wanted but authorized His disciples to do. He expected His disciples to have the same faith and compassion for the deliverance of lost and suffering humanity as He had. He transmitted His power to them and gave them full authority to cast out devils, heal the sick, preach the gospel, win souls, and inspire people to believe for the full blessings of God in their lives. Jesus wasn’t about religion. He was about relationship. He wasn’t about protocol. He was about powerful persuasion. He wasn’t about compromise. He was about change. He wasn’t seeking fame or fortune. He was seeking souls for heaven.”
He also saw in the book of Acts that “…the followers of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit that Jesus had sent to them, conducted their lives as if Jesus was still present with them and working through them. The spirit within them was His Spirit! I saw that the apostles of Jesus had the power to heal, to work miracles, and to cast out demons. Miracles were not a rarity in places where the apostles preached; taught, and healed—miracles were the norm! (So) I didn’t believe for one second that the days of great miracles, signs, and wonders were over.”
This set of beliefs form the bedrock upon which Oral built his ministry and life. That explains why he famously said, “After I'm gone, others will have to judge how well I've obeyed God's command not to be an echo but to be a voice like Jesus”. Happily, most of the tributes paid him at his passing adjudged him as a consistent voice of faith, propagating, like Jesus, the love of a heavenly father who wants his children whole, spirit, body and soul. CONTINUES BELOW
But was he a perfect man? Mark Rutland, current President of the university Oral founded and was chancellor of to the end, addressed that in his funeral oration “We do not today celebrate the passing of a perfect man; none of us is perfect…He was an extraordinary man; he was a giant who served a perfect God.” And the secular media has ensured that we never forgot that! They remind us that he once “cajoled” believers into raising $9million by telling them God was going to call him home if he did not raise $8million. They remind us of the controversy over his City of Faith Medical Center, a $250 million investment that didn’t quite fly, and the law school that he founded that had to close. They won’t let us forget that his son, Richard, had to step down as President of Oral Roberts University because he was accused of mismanagement of funds. All of which are reminders of his humanity.
One of the areas of his early life though, that I identify with, and which as a minister to men, I find we must pay very special attention to, is this. Roberta, his only surviving daughter made this insightful statement his home-going event: (Our father) "left his family behind, knowing they would be hurt…He chose to go where God's light is dim, then he chose to build that university that God called him to build. ... There may be some of you whose fathers or grandfathers made a similar choice. It hurts…” Although she went on to say that “you have to make the decision as to whether you believe he made the right choice (and that) I know my father made the right choice…" it was clear: it took its toll on the family. That his oldest son committed suicide in 1982 after problems with morphine is instructive.
Oral Roberts died six years after he told the Hagin Family in a condolence letter that his “heart feels the tug of Heaven as it won’t be long until I am with him (Brother Hagin) face to face in Heaven;” and three weeks after he told legendary contemporary, Billy Graham that “he was near the end of his life's journey.” Incidentally, Billy Graham’s also contained a longing for heaven: “I look forward to the day that I will see Oral and Evelyn Roberts again in Heaven--our eternal home.”
I conclude this serial in the words of Dr Jack Hayford, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel” who said: ““If God had not, in His sovereign will, raised up the ministry of Oral Roberts, the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred…Oral shook the landscape with the inescapable reality and practicality of Jesus’ whole ministry…He taught concepts that spread throughout the world and simplified and focused a spiritual lifestyle that is embraced by huge sectors of today's church.” I wholeheartedly agree. (CONCLUDED)
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