by Lorette C. Luzajic
Part 7 of the Pillars of Faith series.
Empire of Miracles
He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, and said, Behold, I am coming quickly!
Jesus Christ?
Not this time. The Lord’s good buddy Oral Roberts, of course.
The Oklahoma-born Charismatic faith-healer Roberts had queues of thousands of sick waiting for his healing touch. He also raised people from the dead. Hundreds of them.
He received his commission from the Lord directly — Jesus appeared to him countless times in person. Oral dropped out of Bible College to travel America in the ‘40s, setting up folding chairs under giant circus tents for revival.
And a circus it was. There was weeping and shouting and a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on, as demons and diseases departed from the masses. “I personally laid hands on more than 1.5 million individuals who had all manner of sickness and disease,” wrote Roberts in When You See the Invisible, You Can Do the Impossible.
“I also engaged the demon spirits in tens of thousands, calling to them, ‘come out you foul tormenting spirits of Satan’…. people saw healing for the first time since the days when Jesus and his disciples publicly healed the sick…”
“All of us in the ministry could talk … of certain dead ones being raised,” the big O told 5,000 at a conference in 1987. His son Richard said that same year, “dozens and dozens of documented instances of people who have been raised from the dead.”
Baby, We Can Talk All Night
Pullquote: Oral said God would kill him if the sum fell short of $8 million.
Add to those marvels his gift of prophecy — but perhaps the greatest blessing of the Holy Spirit was giving Oral his name. Tremendous oratory skills granted him a different kind of power than other brilliant speakers like Hitler.
That power included bilking the public for country clubs, Beverly Hills properties, vacations via private jet, fancy cars, horses… his school has faced dire financial problems, but the Roberts families have not — his daughter-in-law once spent $39,000 in one clothing store! (Allegedly, Oral now maintains a humble salary in his old age.)
Once, Oral told his public that God asked him for $8 million. Oral said God would kill him if the sum fell short. The prophecy came true, of course — Roberts made over 9 million and did not die.
Not long after Roberts learned that God wanted him to be rich, he also had a vision of a 900-foot-tall Christ telling him to build a City of Faith, a medical center/prayer/faith healing school, to add to the university he’d previously prophesied and built. His own personal Jesus may have loomed large, promising a cure for cancer, but the medical center shut down quickly. No cure in sight so far.
The university with the giant praying hands towering into the sky goes on, though it’s riddled with the usual money-funneling scandals. There were bizarre allegations against Roberts’ son’s wife for wee-hour conversations with teenage boys — and cell phone bills of $800 per month.
Tragedy, not Triumph
Pullquote: “I’m coming back … and I’m going to get my rightful place. I’m going to rule and I’m going to reign … when I get back from the other side.”
Further woes included the death of son Ronald in 1982, found shot in his van. It was rather uncertainly ruled a suicide and swept under the rug. Ron was an openly gay antiques dealer, says the LGBT community, including MCC, the “gay” church. The Roberts’ deny this. His suicide was blamed on army trauma from Vietnam.
Sadly, Oral’s daughter Rebecca died in a plane crash with her husband. A grandchild also died just after birth.
As of this writing, none of these have been raised from the dead.
The “documented proofs” of Roberts’ healing touch vanish under scrutiny. Many who appeared on his shows with testimony of cures died hours or days later, but these unimportant details were never aired. It has been said that a little hope never hurt anyone, but I beg to differ. I also vote we start charging these con men with murder, because thousands of hopeful believers turn from treatments that could help them.
If there are any doubts of Oral’s intentions, one need only listen to his own prophecies of returning with Christ in the clouds. “I’m coming back … and I’m going to get my rightful place. I’m going to rule and I’m going to reign … when I get back from the other side.”
All that said, Oral is distinguishable from most other televangelists. He was, as far as I can tell, never caught with his pants down.
Lorette C. Luzajic writes about all kinds of interesting people at Fascinating People.
The Devil incarnate.
Excellent article. It’s mind-boggling when people really believe they witness these ‘miracles’. There are a handful of commenters on this blog that have even claimed to see ‘a shriveled hand grow back in moments’. I have seen at least 2 people say this, or something similar. It’s just never documented. One person on this blog even said, “Yes, the arm regrowth was documented, but I don’t have the tape. I believe its in the hands of , though I don’t know that him personally.”
They don’t seem to understand that such tapes would change the entire world, if they were ever produced and verified.
That kind of people can’t understand skepticism.
They have already all the proof they need to believe.
This people have already hard times accepting that for others the Bible is not enough to believe, what difference would make an amputated limb?
The seem to understand skepticism enough when they think about any other religion. It’s their own religion they can’t apply any skepticism to.
…and the amputated limb question has never, to my knowledge, been adequately answered by a christian.
The FOAF always has the proofs…
Is that a direct quote without copy/paste errors? I find it interesting that it says “… I don’t have the tape. I believe its in the hands of , though I don’t know that him personally.”
In the hands of who? It appears like the person fabricated the claim, then forgot to insert a name. Kind of like when you receive a Nigerian scam mail that says “I would like you to receive the sum of [insert amount here]“.
I think it was dwade who made the regrowing arm claim, or maybe it was the flying monster truck claim. I’m not sure if he ever gave a name, but I think Japanther was just paraphrasing him anyway.
VERY close paraphrasing. Here is the link to the first person who made this claim since I’ve been commenting here. The final exchange we had was… painful. If you follow the links I give, read above and below a little for some context. The second quote came days later and that conversation almost made me throw up.
Exact quotes: (first arm quote near the end, days later he posted the video tape claim, also reposted here.)
http://unreasonablefaith.com/2009/05/13/should-zach-tell-his-youth-pastor/#comment-38508
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“Actually you don’t know who I know, but believers still do heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead too, and those that follow Christ still suffer persecution, not so much in this country, but around the world, and in many places I travel. You err because you may know, but you don’t comprehend the Scriptures. it doesn’t say that all believers, in all places and at all times will do these things. Those things are representative of things that characterize believers. I personally have cast out demons and prayed for and seen the sick healed numerous times over the nearly fifty years of my life. I have someone crippled by scoliosis straighten out under my hand, as several of us prayed. I saw a shriveled arm grow out to normal in a few moments, and a man born stone blind receive his sight. You couldn’t be more wrong, though, or no less what you are talking about when you claim that the work of the church should not also include schools and hospitals. For an enlightened forum this sure attracts its fair share of the ignorant.
I have witnessed many miraculous healings and miracles of various other kinds. God is Who He says He is.”
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Yeah. He went there. But then I called him on it, he evaded. Showed up days later and buried another response… I’ll post it too.
http://unreasonablefaith.com/2009/05/13/should-zach-tell-his-youth-pastor/#comment-40295
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japanther,
Actually the shriveled arm referred to was “shriveled,” which to me means that it was physically under-developed. In fact it was captured on video as it grew to match the man’s other arm. I believe that video is still in the possession of Arthur Blessitt, the well-known traveling preacher who has carried a cross while walking in countries throughout the world. I have walked and witnessed with him, although I was one of thousands and not someone he knows personally…
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one of my friends goes to his university…
I always wondered what kind of parents would call their kid “Oral”. You can’t make that kind of thing up…
The only other Oral I’ve ever heard of is “Moral Oral”, on the late-nite cartoon (18+ only). Great show, in case you’ve never seen it. I suspect it depicts Mr. Roberts’ childhood (only slightly dysfunctional lol). In case you haven’t seen it, here’s a 5 minute clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJmm9HEJZ0&feature=related
What I’ve always wanted to know is, does he have an unacknolwedged twin brother named Anal?
I think there’s also a sister named “Vaginal”.
This looks like an appropriate place to recommend a book, The Faith Healers by James “The Amazing” Randi. Prometheus Books, ISBN-13: 978-0879755355
In the immortal words of Tim Minchin:
“Do you know what we call ‘alternative medicine’ which has been proven to work under testable conditions? MEDICINE.”
Pingback: Pillars of Faith Series | Unreasonable Faith
I honestly want to start a petition that Todd Bentley, a faith healer in a similar boat as far as a death toll is concerned, be investigated and charged.
Bentley has already joined up with Rick Joyner’s ministry and is no doubt ramping for another wave of … ministry. Or whatever you want to call it.
Seriously, I’ll be adding an entry to my blog and my facebook soon. Does anyone know what it takes to get a petition like this going? I could really use the help! I want it to be loop-hole proof as it can be.
About the petition, email me at irelocus@gmail.com if you’d like to help out.
I grew up as a Pentecostal and was encouraged by family friends to attend Oral Roberts University. Thankfully, I did not. That said, I don’t think I can comment much on this, as I will likely respond out of emotion and frustration, because of the flaws of my own upbringing more than anything.
There is one thing I do want to respond to, as others have brought it up:
From the article,
I also vote we start charging these con men with murder, because thousands of hopeful believers turn from treatments that could help them.
From Anthony,
I honestly want to start a petition that Todd Bentley, a faith healer in a similar boat as far as a death toll is concerned, be investigated and charged.
I’m not a lawyer, so I may be wrong… but I do have some thoughts about this.
The movement in which I grew up was an offshoot of several different streams of Pentecostalism, and Oral Roberts was definitely revered as one of the heroes. We did pray for sick people in our church. Some of those sick people recovered. Others of those sick people died.
However, our church never, ever, ever encouraged people to stop consultation with their physicians or to stop taking meds. In fact, we always did the opposite of that publicly. If someone requested prayer in a public worship gathering, we would pray for them — but we were careful to make some sort of public statement about the importance of the physician and the necessity of continuing whatever it is that you were doing. Part of it was covering the church’s backside, no doubt, but it was primarily about the person being prayed for — we wanted that person to get better, either “by faith” or by the hand of a physician.
I never paid much attention to Oral Roberts, even though he was revered, because I developed a skepticism for money-hungry televangelists very early on… they just didn’t seem to jive with the Jesus I read about. As a result, I don’t know what his practice is with respect to physicians. For all I know, perhaps he has discouraged people from going to the Dr. or told ‘healed’ people to stop taking their meds.
The question of prosecution is a difficult one for me. On the one hand, I realize the grave seriousness of the issue. I understand the sincerity of encouraging sick people to stop taking medication.
One the other hand, I intimately know the sincerity of a lot of ‘faith healers.’ I know many who call themselves by that name or a similar name, and I know they are nothing but sincere. Furthermore, I intimately know the sincerity of the people who are seeking healing. I don’t mean to downplay the impact that a preacher can have, but at the end of the day, the sick person decides whether or not to stop taking medication. And it seems to me that people who have died after being prayed for would roll over in their graves at the thought of prosecuting the preacher who had prayed for them. It seems to me that if anyone should be pressing charges, it should be the people who are directly affected by the issue… not a bunch of names on a petition.
Again, I could be wrong about this. I’m inevitably biased by my closeness to the issue, but I suspect that such “closeness” is shared by only a handful of us who read and post here…
The petition apparently is not directed at your church, unless you’re one of Bentley’s and Joyner’s disciples.
Ted Kaczinsky and, I think even Hitler, were sincere. (Point not to obtusely miss: sincerity or intent ≠ outcome, or even desirable outcome.)
Of course you are!
Nothing against those who pray for the sick, of course. But claiming you can heal the sick and raise the dead is delusional, and presenting cases of healing that don’t exist are fraud. Misleading people by telling them they don’t have enough faith leads them to stop taking treatments with real hope to prove their faith. This is much different than praying for sick people. Even to the nonreligious, ‘praying’ or contemplating may bring some serenity or calm to a rough situation.
THinking you can raise the dead is delusional. A great many serial killers, dictators, con artists, etc are sincere. Sincerity has nothing to do with outcome. A sick friend sincerely believed there were cameras implanted to follow him inside my cat’s eyes. I sincerely wish I was a millionaire. It’s fine to be sincere, but not if whatever it is you’re sincere about hurts people and bilks them out of their money.
What do you think of the question of pressing charges. Whose responsibility is it, do you think?
Unfortunately, I think you’re probably correct that charges would need to be brought by those directly impacted–family members of the victims, or the vicitms themselves if they’re still alive but suffered as a result of the evangelist’s “treatment.”
Perhaps people have brought charges against these evil evangelists and we just don’t know it–the issue could have been settled out of court and it was never made public.
I know from a quick Google search that Todd Bentley and Oral Roberts have both faced public scrutiny over various scandals, but I’m not sure if they’ve ever been sued for their mistreatment of those they evangelize/brainwash.
I can’t help but feel like these victims deserve some blame for their gullibility. Religion really is the opiate of the masses. When it comes to drugs, both the seller and the buyer can be charged (of course, if it was up to me, drugs would be legalized or at least decriminalized) by an independent body (e.g., police, FBI). Even though evangelizing for profit is not illegal, sadly, why can’t an independent body (e.g., a group of concerned citizens) bring charges agains the likes of Todd Bentley?
I can’t help but feel like these victims deserve some blame for their gullibility.
I know its quite callus of me…but I’m all for letting people choose to ignore the mountains of progress in medicine and opt instead to be healed by the hand of god via a charismatic preacher.
More stupid people dying, less people burdening the system.
I know that these preachers/healers are nothing but bullshit artists, but capitalism drives this country and I can’t really fault them for preying on idiots to make big bucks…well, on second thought I can fault them, but I wouldn’t call them murderers.
I feel like McDonalds has probably killed more people by duping them into buying 2000 calorie burgers and 1 Liter sodas 4 times a week than any of these guys have. Its not like they go into the cancer ward and tell people; “You don’t need all these tubes and needles, all you need is a little faith, my healing touch and $150″ and then proceed to let the people die. As I understand it most of these people come under their own power.
Didn’t John Travolta and his wife take their son Jett of his epilepsy meds? Why would people take chances like that with people they love. It’s hard for me to understand. Even though I grew up an an ultra-conservative evangelical home, it would have never occured to my parents not to go to a doctor. So to me this is just cross-eyed-mumble-to-yourself-on-the-street crazy.
I think the FDA should get in on it! I mean, if Cheerios has to change the claims on their boxes about cholesterol lowering, then so should other people who make “health” claims.
The Food and Drug Administration should investigate churches?
The FDA should investigate anyone who makes health claims. If the words, “you are healed” are ever uttered, then the speaker of that claim automatically needs to be subjected to the FDA.
Perhaps I simply have an inadequate understanding of the Food and Drug Administration, then.
I’d love to see a warning label on the New Testament similar to the disclaimer you see on those herbal supplement commercials.
I AGREE. Why hasn’t this been investigated before? or has it?
I grew up pentecostal as well and don’t remember anyone ever suggesting sick people give up their meds. The group mind set within the movement is that miracles are supposed to happen regularly. So, when a preacher talks about someone being raised from the dead, there is virtually no skepticism since this is expected from the way the New Testament is interpreted literally. So, if there is no pressure to remove medications and the victims are co-instigators then how does one prosecute fraud or murder? There are also issues of religious freedom involved. Yes, these guys are making a lot of money but the money is donated.
The answer imo is to keep hammering away at the faulty reasoning and the lack of intellectual integrity.
Because people going to these so called healers use up all their money on these quaks and they have no more money left for normal treatment.
Also these healers pray on the weak and sick and make them believe that they can heal them while all the doctors on the world cannot help them. They just give up all those expensive medicines and treatment and give that money to that healer that is a fraud.
If a healer does tell these sick people from time to time to see a normal doctor too, then people will not do that. What is the use to see a regular doctor and waste money on medicine while you have a god out there that can do it instantly? This is the mindset you create in those sick people. And this KILLS people!
I generally agree with you and would only clarify that the ones dying are complicit and in the rare cases where they are not or where the healer charges money or appeals significantly to fraudulent documents, etc. then there are adequate laws on the books to prosecute.
I think it’s going to be really tough to prove that they are charging money for healing. There are some cases in which that is exactly the case ($100 for a prayer, $200 for a prophecy, etc.), but in most cases, the preacher asks for a donation to his ministry, which is different, at least in theory, from charging for a service.
Also these healers pray on the weak
That’s a pretty awesome Freudian slip, actually. You intended to say that they prey, but you said that they pray.
Obviously they pray, but do they prey?
Is there any difference if there’s money involved?
Depends on how the money is solicited and for what it is solicited. See my comment above.
I don’t see that asking for donations is any different then charging in these situations. I would bet that those that donate are the ones that seem to get most of the attention while those that don’t get little or no attention. They only say they want donations because of fear of being charged with fraud. You see con artist using words in this way all the time. If the healing really works then the world should be free of all illness and disease. I know a few people with diabetes and know they would do most anything to be rid of it.
I fear that prosecution would be very difficult if there’s no evidence for such a healer to press people to stay away from professional medical help. Your money argument may be convincing from a moral point of view, but even in the US I think there’s no law in place that forbids people to spend their money as they please if they’re ill.
I would say that the church you attended saw that praying for sick people was an emotional aid and nothing more. If you and the members really believed your pray would heal why would they need a disclaimer. We pray that god will heal you but make sure you continue all medical treatment. I know some claim the medical treatment is how god heals but why pray then if you know that?
Why not pray? If it is an effective emotional aid and coping mechanism, as you suggested, then why stop praying?
Or parcticing medicine without a license, or fraud and intent to defraud.
Ahhhh, a bit of honesty about his own intentions at last! And the intentions of many others who won’t admit it, I am sure.
Clergy and ministers and “healers” are in positions of authority, and are therefore legally culpable for misleading people into dangerous or fatal situations. This is my legal groundwork for this case. Faith has nothing to do with it.
Faith has everything to do with it!
It is the Faith that some higher power has cured her that they stop normal treathment. So they die. If there was no Faith involved then she would have gone to the docter just in case to have a second opinion and to confirm that they are indeed healded.
It is the Faith that is the killing factor in this sitution.
Hey, no one wants to argue with this creator of the universe, so they don’t want to know for real by going to a doctor.
Faith cannot be the killing factor because faith is a meaningless term.
I trust doctor’s to treat me medically, I don’t have faith in them. Christians define faith as “the evidence of things unseen” which basically means zilch. If you can’t see it, you just have faith. Well, I have cancer, but I see positive results from my medical treatment, so I trust that the medicine works. See the difference?
I’m sure by now this is a semantic argument, but in reality, you couldn’t prosecute someone like this because of their faith or you’d run into the freedom to practice religion stuff. You’d have to approach it based on their position of authority over others, which, although linked to faith, is an entirely different matter.
There is a limit to freedom of religion in any reasonable democracy. A Muslim man cannot beat his wife. Or sell his daughter. Or practice female circumcision. These things are obviously wrong to “normal” people. So is witholding life-giving medication. The courts have to deal with these kinds of issues all the time.
You have a good point about the having authority over their victims. I figure they would use the same defense that all the talk show host use to allow themselves to keep spreading hate. They would claim they never meant that they should stop their meds and figure most of the sermons on faith healing avoid talking about meds.
For those that knows Jomanda, a Dutch female that has magical powers.
At this moment she is standing trial because Sylvia Millecam died of cance since Jomanda convinced her that she got a mesage from the heavens that the cancer got healed. Aparently salt, magnetic fields and a prayer of two would cure her.
Needeless to say, Sylvia did not follow normal treatment and died. Like so many followers before her.
I’d quite like to see the FDA or similar agency empowered to investigate claims of healing. After all, they’re required to evaluate stuff presented as therapy for any condition.
I wonder if Oral would like to come and cure the dementia sufferer who I’ve spent the last 15 hours nursing? I’m sure her distraught husband would be eternaly grateful. How do I contact him to ask?
Oral Roberts may have been the granddaddy of the preaching Christian con-artists. However AA Allen, was a close second. When I was a kid, I had the good fortune of seeing both of these assholes in person. But the one, who’s still stuck in my mind, over 40 years now, AA Allen. I wrote a short story about my experience:
http://poson26-thedyslecticatheist.blogspot.com/2009/02/evangelist-a-allen.html
Incredibly interesting.
You should have posted some if it here…
My mom decided to accept his invitation. So that next week, she headed for Arizona, my siblings and I in tow. We arrived on a Monday, besides the fact it was hot as hell, the place wasn’t all that bad. Well the food was OK at least. There were Church services going on, almost the whole time we were there. But the fourth one that I attended: I saw something that I had seen before in the tent. The corpse which he was raising that day, was the same one from back in the spring. Me being a little kid and all, I first thought: boy, this guy must sure die a lot. But then as I started looking at the others that he was healing; I realized that they were the same ones from the tent service last spring. I pointed this out to my mom, but she didn’t seem too concerned. She said he was just doing god’s work.
It’s interesting to hear your perspective, as one who’s not only left the Pentecostal fold but the religious fold as well. I grew up Pentecostal, as I mentioned, and although I’ve parted ways with much of that, I’ve not left Christianity. Hearing your perspective is interesting, thanks.
I reluctantly attended a black Pentecostal Church until I was about age eleven, and at which time I simply couldn’t take the nonsense anymore. Church services were always held on Fridays’ and usually started around 7 pm and lasted into the wee hours of the next morning. They did most of the usual Pentecostal things (like casting out demons, healing the sick, and talking in tongues etc.) however, after several hours of loud nonstop hypnotic music, being played on an organ and drums; something strange would overcome these folk’s. They would start seeing demons; and then would begin running around the Church screaming and hollering, falling out on the floor, and acting just plain crazy. Then they would start playing something like “demon tag” (some of them believed that, the demon’s which were cast out of the others; had now somehow moved into them). And this silly high-spirited contest usually lasted until 3 or 4 the next morning.
I had resisted being baptized, accepting Jesus or being “born again”. But the one thing I could never figure out about these ignorant folks was; if going to Church was the sole cause of their insanity, or if most were just bat-shit crazy from the start? I just didn’t want to take any chances with myself!
Maybe they all had ergot poisoning. That’s what made people all crazy in the 1600′s and let to the Salem witch trials. Ergot causes hallucinations and strange behaviour, like a bad acid trip. Hope you didn’t eat any of the food! Or, maybe the love of jay-zus makes some people batty.
Always thought of him as “Anal”
ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH!
(Ten free Internets to anyone who gets that reference.)
I didn’t get the reference, but I’m pretty sure there are only 7 or 8 Internets. Maybe we should ask George W, just to be sure.
I read this and then I watched the hour of miracles. Not once did the Roberts tell people NOT to go to the doctors. In fact they told people that they should go to doctors. They also never take credit for healing anyone. The give all of the credit to the Lord God. People should not judge other people until they get all the facts. I am wondering why the author of this article never did this
as a reporter it is all about facts and being able to back them up with proof. At least that is what responsible journalism is.
“All that said, Oral is distinguishable from most other televangelists. He was, as far as I can tell, never caught with his pants down.”
It’s responsible journalism at least.
@ ninety-one , he doesn’t have much time left. Will Richard resurrect him? Surely, Yahweh willl want him to last another century!
Please verify that he claims hundreds of resturrections as I read elsewher Richard claims the fool just resurrected one person.
How many people died or just had bad times, because of his faith- healing when they didn’t take medical treatment? Too bad we can’t send him and his kind to prison!
Remember the Amazing Randi exposes?
Lorette, you’re probably right.