False Prophet and Teacher, Oral Roberts, Dies At 91

Act 8:18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

News:

TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts a pioneer in televangelism who founded a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university that bears his name, died Tuesday. He was 91. Roberts died of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif., according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross. The evangelist was hospitalized after a fall on Saturday. He had survived two heart attacks in the 1990s and a broken hip in 2006.

Roberts was a pioneer who broadcast his spirit-filled revivals on television, a new frontier for religion when he started in the 1950s. He was also a forerunner of the controversial "prosperity gospel" that has come to dominate televangelism. The evangelist's "Seed-Faith" theology held that those who give to God will get things in return.

"If God had not, in His sovereign will, raised up the ministry of Oral Roberts, the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred," said Jack Hayford, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, in a statement.

His ministry hit upon rocky times in the 1980s. There was controversy over his City of Faith medical center, a $250 million investment that eventually folded, and Roberts' widely ridiculed proclamation that God would "call me home" if he failed to meet a fundraising goal of $8 million. A law school he founded also was shuttered.

Semiretired in recent years and living in California, he returned to Tulsa, Okla., in October 2007 as scandal roiled Oral Roberts University. His son, Richard Roberts, who succeeded him as ORU president, faced allegations of spending university money on shopping sprees and other luxuries at a time the institution was more than $50 million in debt.

Richard Roberts resigned as president in November 2007, marking the first time since Oral Roberts University was chartered in 1963 that a member of the Roberts family would not be at its helm. The rocky period for the evangelical school was eased when billionaire Oklahoma City businessman Mart Green donated $70 million and helped run the school in the interim, pledging to restore the public's trust. By the fall of 2009, things were looking up, with officials saying tens of millions of dollars worth of debt had been paid off and enrollment was up slightly.

End quote.

Richard Roberts' scandal here. Oral Robert's interview this year (summertime I think).

Jer 23:32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.

Jud 1:10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion... 18 They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

Oral Roberts was one of the most notorious Word of Faith teachers America has ever seen. By his own circle's admission, without him, the Charismatic movement (which morphed into the Word of Faith movement) would not have gotten to where it is without him. Pat Robertson in the video I've linked to below, says Oral's ministry of healing was a "fountainhead". His miracles weren't miracles. He attached a price to them: seed money. True miracles we see in Scripture. For instance, the healing of a parlyzed man, whom the entire village knew to be so. Jesus first forgave him of his and then healed him completely (Mark 2). In fact, Jesus always healed immediately, completely, and wholely. No need for crutches or physical therapy, Jesus the Creator, gave him fully restored, fully functioning muscles and bones, instantaneously. But MORE important was the man's soul and salvation was his greatest need. Jesus demonstrated His deity before everyone there by forgiving him and healing him completely and immediately.

God was dishonored by Oral Roberts who slapped the name of Jesus Christ onto his false prophecies("If we don't raise $8 million in 12 months, God will strike me dead"; City of Faith medical facility--odd considering he was supposed to be able to heal tens of thousands), visions (900 foot tall Jesus);teachings (God wants you rich and healed; you can buy a miracle), superstitions (New Age points of contact for a healing), and threats (of his death if money didn't roll in). He knew not Christ, for he did not preach Christ. He preached money (apparently that money he always demanded when straight to his family: according to a former employee, he owned several homes, lived a lavish lifestyle with the newst cars, flashy jewelry and suits, and country club memberships) selfish gain, offering to sell the power of "the Spirit" for money, dangling hope in front of his followers for a miracle if only they would "sow a seed" which was ALWAYS money. Scripture condemns such filthy practice for this is not God, its of Satan. Its works, not grace. Its Self, not Christ.

But here's the REAL test of this "prophet" for all Word of Faith/Charismatics/Pentecostals to consider: of all the people who should have had enough faith to be healed, why did Oral Roberts die? Surely the "fountainhead" of the healing ministry, as Pat Robertson calls him in the video I've linked to below, had enough faith? We can go back decades to the tragedies in his life and the loss of several family members including a baby. This should've woken up his followers that even Oral Roberts' didn't have the power of faith that he claimed he had. So this "fountainhead" of a miracle ministry died of sickness after a fall.

Could it be that his doctrine and practice were false and without power? The answer is clearly, yes.

Now the question that remains: will they place Oral Roberts' body in front of Benny Hinn to be raised to life, as Hinn claimed on Oct. 19, 1999?