Roberts, Oral (1918–)

EVANGELIST ORAL ROBERTS is considered by millions of Americans to be a prophet straight from God. Scores of other Americans, however, believe that Roberts is a silver-tongued crook who has bilked millions of dollars from an unsuspecting American public in the name of religion. Regardless of their perceptions of him, few would fail to[Page 695] agree that Roberts has a knack for reading people and for using them to further his goal of becoming an internationally known evangelist. Roberts is the founder of Oral Roberts University chartered in 1963 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which represents itself as a “Christian university with a liberal arts focus” and which is a major name in college basketball.

Roberts began his ministry in 1947. Over the course of the next several ...