ORAL AND RICHARD ROBERTS
The ROBERTS Family Album of Lies
HIS LIFE OF FRAUDULENT UNHOLINESS
1918-2009 (RIP with the Devil who scams too)
Granville Oral Roberts – (Deceased) Most famous for making a teary-eyed plea to his followers in 1987, warning them that God would “call him home” unless his ministry raised $8 million. His stunt actually pulled in $9.1 million. Nobody really knows why God insisted on that specific amount of money, or what was ultimately done with it. It remains a mystery. But when contacted, GOD replied, “He screwed me” and kept the money.
Evangelist or SCAM ORIGINATOR Granville Oral Roberts, founder of the Oral Roberts
Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University, died at 91, from
complications of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California. Had curses been
real, it should have been a lot sooner. Obviously, God felt this con man
by breathing any longer, was just not acceptable.
Roberts’ son, Richard, and daughter Roberta were at his side,
spokeswoman Melany Ethridge said in a statement.
COMMON SENSE — Richard and Roberta probably making sure the will was properly signed, leaving the money and estate to them.
Roberts was hospitalized Monday following a fall on Saturday, in which he suffered broken bones, Ethridge said earlier, adding he was being treated for pneumonia. Richard Roberts further commented, "Dad lived to 91”.
The
Under Gods Official Spokesperson Mr. Lucifer Mestopheles commented: We welcome
him with open arms, false prophets do well down here.
HIS LIFE — Granville Oral Roberts came to earth January 24, 1918 and abruptly left December 15, 2009 was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. Paperwork available for 29.95 and you too could be ordained. He is considered the godfather of the charismatic movement and one of the most recognized preachers worldwide including pictures in Post Offices. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University. The leading authority on Prosperity Scams in the World.
He was born in a town Bebee, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, the fifth and youngest child of the Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts and Claudia Priscilla Roberts. According to an interview on Larry King Live, Roberts was of Cherokee descent.
Roberts was a card-carrying member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Roberts began life in poverty and nearly died of tuberculosis at age 17. After finishing high school, Roberts studied for two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. In 1938, he married a preacher's daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock.
Roberts became a traveling faith healer after ending his college studies without a degree. According to a TIME Magazine profile of 1972, Roberts originally made a name for himself with a large mobile tent “ That sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs".
As one of the most well-known and controversial American religious leaders of the 20th century, his preaching emphasized seed-faith. The Pay for Play of Religious Phonies and Charlatans which was adapted by the other crooks and thieves of religion.
His ministries reached millions of followers worldwide spanning a period of over six decades. His healing ministry and bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream had the most impact, but he also pioneered televangelism and laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel and abundant life teachings.The breadth and style of his ministry, including his widely publicized funding appeals, made him a consistent subject of contention among critics and supporters. ( Like the IRS, the Mafia, the SEC, and so forth)
CNN REPORTED THE FOLLOWING — "Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry," the Rev. Billy Graham said in a statement Tuesday. "I loved him as a brother. (Cain and Abel were brothers)
We had many quiet conversations over the years." (Thats because the FBI might have been listening.) Billy Graham was wrong once again, and here is the connection — Graham started Prosperity Gospel and it was soon adopted by the TV clowns and the race to rob the flock was on. Graham was as much of the Pay for Pray as Roberts.
His Christian ministry began with what he described as his own miracle healing of tuberculosis at age 17. I guess the shots given by the doctors meant nothing. But it sounded good. Roberts pastored churches in Oklahoma and Georgia and preached at revivals around the country while studying at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University in Oklahoma, according to the biography.
In 1947, he founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in Tulsa, "and began conducting crusades across America and around the world, attracting crowds of thousands -- many who were sick and dying and in search of healing,” the biography said.
"Through the years, he conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents" and "laid hands" on an estimated 2 million people, according to association officials. According to others, he laid hands on a few wallets too. Many did not survive the “hand job” and did not go to doctors and became quite dead.
In 1954, he brought television cameras into services, providing what he liked to call a "front-row seat to miracles" to viewers, the biography said. He later began a television program, initially called "Oral Roberts Presents." The ministry's daily program, now called "The Place for Miracles," can be seen on more than 100 television stations, multiple cable and satellite networks and the Internet, ad boredom, Ethridge said.
A WEIRD SHOWMAN — Roberts, was an Okie with a bit of Cherokee blood and a lot of
bullshit. ( Specifically Bison shit, it’s bigger) His brand of
Evangelicalism, known as Pentecostalism, featured “
Glossolalia” (speaking in tongues, more bullshit), ecstatic worship and divine healing.
Yes, Roberts eventually toned down some of his tent-revival antics for television, because the camera tells all and the audience might not be so endorphin aroused. Besides the press had recorders and other devices hidden in the believers.
But Pentecostalism was undeniably a tougher sell than Billy Graham's smooth, corporate-style evangelicalism. But it worked on the weak minded. Basically his seed faith was the birth of a new form of religion..."Crookism". Instead of you planting seeds, just send it to him and he'll do a better job for you. Save the postage, and if you burnt your money, you'll be 44 cents ahead.
Roberts migrated to television in 1955, just as Pentecostalism (AKA Wacko-Do's) itself was about to burst onto public consciousness. Roberts himself had been influenced by Kathryn Kuhlman, a healing evangelist; Roberts in turn influenced such "Seed Faith" preachers as Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, who promised riches if they sent money to whichever televangelist was making the appeal. It's true, all the televangelists made money, lots of money. And they have no conscience, basically they are all crooks.
THE OTHER SIDE (SLIGHTLY DARKER) — In addition to claiming that God spoke directly to him every day, a feat shared by co-conspirators, friends, peyote smokers, and fellow scammers like Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson and Mike Murdock, this multimillionaire also performed the faith healing for thousands of folks who handed over their meager life savings for God’s grace. Instead they got a great endorphins rush and were just as sick the next day. His healings were just as successful as recovering from a sneezing attack.
In 1987 he told a worldwide television audience that unless they sent him $8 Million dollars immediately, God would "call him home." The money arrived shortly. Many said too bad. Unfortunately and too late thousands finally found out what to do with their life savings they were storing for years and what they should of sent was monopoly money.
A TROUBLED FAMILY (Far back as 1982) — Ronald D. Roberts, elder son of Oral and Evelyn Roberts, was found dead Wednesday, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Roberts, 37, died from a single .25-caliber gunshot wound to the heart, Osage County Sheriff George Wayman said.
A passer-by found the Tulsa evangelist’s son slumped in his car, parked on an Osage County road about 15 miles northwest of Tulsa. Wayman said the bullet wound that killed Roberts appeared to be self-inflicted. He said no note or letter was discovered with the body, but “tow or three" notes were found in Roberts' apartment.
Wayman said the victim's identity was confirmed by fingerprints Wednesday morning, but confirmation of Roberts' death was withheld for several hours because investigators couldn't reach his parents.
A spokesman at Oral Roberts University said Oral and Evelyn Roberts were in the Tulsa area Wednesday, but were out of reach of a telephone most of the day.
Ronald Roberts was arrested in September after police accused him of obtaining a controlled drug with forged prescriptions. Three felony charges filed against him accused him of obtaining 500 tablets of Tussionex, a cough suppressant, over a three-week period with forged prescriptions.
He later pleaded guilty to one charge and received a one-year deferred sentence on the condition he undergo counseling at a Tulsa drug treatment center, and submit to medical tests to prove he no longer was taking Tussionex. Roberts, who largely divorced himself from his father's evangelical work, was best-known in Tulsa as an antique dealer. He specialized in Chinese porcelain.
RATS AND
LIARS BREED MORE RATS AND LIARS — Enter the son, a chip
off the old log, a nut that falls close to the tree, a superbly trained con
man. And he kept the donations coming, tens of millions per year.
Later that same year Robert and his wife a fellow BS’er and I don’t mean Bachelor of Science claimed that he'd seen his father raise a child from the dead. Fortunately he couldn’t raise himself, out of lying and debauchery --
One lies another swears… millions arrived shortly. Must be some new form of Pentecostal CPR. In 1998 a whistleblower was forced off Oral Roberts University’s board of regents after he revealed that its founder led a lavish Beverly Hills lifestyle, including owning a $17M mansion there.
PATTI ROBERT’S, RICHARD’S FIRST WIFE — EXPOSES FAMILY HERESY — Before Richard married Lindsey,he was married to Patti. He and Patti had two daughters. After Richard divorced Patti,with Oral’s approval,Patti wrote a book, ”Ashes to Gold.” In this book,Patti Roberts compares the “seed faith”tactic of former father-in-law Oral Roberts to Johann Tetzel’s practice of selling indulgences. She points out that she had a “very difficult time distinguishing between the selling of indulgences and the concept of seed-faith inflated to the degree to which we had inflated it.
One distinction Patti did observe was that Oral was more subtle than Tetzel. Rather than offering salvation in exchange for money, Oral appealed to such basic instincts as fear and greed.
Hank Hanegraaff in his book,”Christianity in Crisis”exposes the manipulative techniques of Richard Roberts. When Oral told the world that unless he raised millions of dollars God was going to call him home, Richard took pen in hand to warn of his father’s impending doom.
THE CON NOTE BY RICHARD — Without “the additional $4,500,000,”explains Richard,”God will not extend Dad’s
life.”He then pleads,”Partner,we cannot let this man of
God die.There is no reason for him to die.”And this is no idle
threat,Richard claims. As he puts it,”When he (Oral) says God speaks
to him,he’s not bluffing.
”And just in case
someone should doubt or suspect his motives,Richard offers this stirring
assurance:”I feel totally called by God to do this….I’m writing to you as an anointed servant of
God-doing what God has called me to do.” After several pages Richard
finally gets to the seed-faith solution.
Take the enclosed birthday card,slip in a seed-faith gift “check,”and
then RUSH IT TO ME TODAY.” Before I get arrested for fraud!
NOTE: ARE PEOPLE THAT FRICKIN STUPID?
THE PRODIGAL SON -
TULSA WORLD NEWSPAPER - President Richard Roberts and his wife Vice President Lindsay
Roberts took over. ORU's President Richard Roberts had been caught up in
some financial and political issues while Vice President Lindsay Roberts his
wife was believed to be having late night misadventures with young teenage
males. With these events, the Oral Roberts Scandal had emerged.
PART ONE — Smaller problems arose as they peeled back the layers of coverage.
The accusations involving ORU President Richard Roberts have something to do
with some local political campaigns as well as lavish spending of donor
expenses and on various remodeling projects. In another case,
the accusation towards him is the usage of the university jet for a
personal trip to Bahamas by his daughter as well as the usage of the Lexus SUV
and red Mercedes convertible by Lindsay Roberts, his wife. Thats probably
where part of the 8 Million dollars went.
PART TWO — Meanwhile, the accusations involving ORU Vice President Lindsay Roberts have something to do as well with laving spending of thousands of dollars on expensive clothes and other personal things.
She was also accused of
granting non-academic scholarships towards friends and children of her friends.
Another accusation towards her is the sending of scores through text messages
on issued cell phones by the ORU to some young teenage males.
PART THREE — The lawsuit against the Richard and Lindsay Roberts was filed by three professors of the ORU who have been dismissed after finding out some copies of incriminating documents from a laptop computer owned by Stephanie Cantese, a sister-in-law of Richard Roberts. These documents were recovered by an ORU student who had repaired a laptop prior to the incriminating document submission to the ORU board.
PART FOUR — WIFE BUSY TENDING ( OR WAS IT FLOCKING) THE FLOCK —
TULSA _ Lindsay Roberts, wife of former Oral
Roberts University president Richard Roberts, lost her bid Monday to be
dismissed from a wrongful termination lawsuit accusing her and her husband of
misspending school funds and other moral and ethical lapses.
Attorneys for Roberts attempted to convince Tulsa County District Court Judge Rebecca Nightingale there was no allegation of any unlawful act made against her in the suit. They also argued Roberts should have immunity under the federal Volunteer Protection Act because she once served as a spiritual regent on the school's board and was not compensated for her work.
The plaintiffs in the suit, former professors Tim and Paulita Brooker, allege they were forced out at the evangelical school after handing over to officials a report detailing alleged moral and ethical problems of the Roberts family. They recently asked the school for $2.5 million to settle.
Nightingale ruled against the motion to dismiss based on the assumption the claim made by the Brookers that Roberts threatened them over that report was true. The internal report, titled "Scandal Vulnerability Assessment," was prepared by Stephanie Cantees, Richard Roberts' sister-in-law.
It detailed allegations of the Roberts spending school money on shopping sprees, home improvements, a stable of horses for their daughters and sending one daughter and her friends on a Bahamas vacation aboard a university jet.
It also alleges Lindsay Roberts spent the night in a school guest house with an underage male nine times.
Cantees' report was allegedly obtained by an ORU student repairing her laptop. The student later provided a copy to Tim Brooker. Richard Roberts, son of school founder Oral Roberts, stepped down as president in November amid the accusations. He and his wife have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
SOLD THE FARM - THE ROBERT’S ARE OUT — Oral Roberts University sold the 9-acre presidential compound that holds the palatial homes where Oral Roberts and Richard Roberts once lived. Investors Roger and Brian Broach bought the compound and its six houses adjacent to the campus for $1.55 million.
Brian Broach said Thursday that he and his brother plan to lease the homes until the Tulsa housing market turns around. “This is not a good time to sell,” he said. The sale came on the anniversary of Mark Rutland’s first year as ORU president.
“The sale of this property is yet another milestone in the new ORU,” Rutland said. “I am excited about the future of the university and believe the best is yet to come.” Rutland is the first ORU president outside of the Roberts family. Oral Roberts founded and university in 1963 and served as its president until his son Richard Roberts took the position in 1993. Richard Roberts resigned in late 2007. Guess why.....
Huge sign, signs are biblical in nature, and the preachers are always telling us when signs occur... there was one posted near the security gates, it read GOOD RIDDANCE.
THE FALL OF THE FIRST FAMILY OF TELEVANGELISM CAME SWIFTLY — Two Oral Roberts Ministries employees crouched on a desk on their hands and knees, their heads sticking through a hole in the wall. The voices of the Oral Roberts University Board of Regents on the speakerphone conference call one floor below carried up through the thin ceiling panels. Patriarch Oral Roberts was urging Richard, his successor, not to go on Larry King Live that evening.
“I think I should,” they heard Richard tell his father. Oral thought Larry King would eat Richard alive.
A week earlier, a lawsuit hit the front pages of the Tulsa World, alleging that Richard and Lindsay Roberts, ORU’s president and first lady since 1993, treated the university as a personal ATM. The university’s finances were inadvertently cracked open by three professors who claimed they’d been fired for questioning Richard’s efforts to involve ORU in campaigning for Senator Jim Inhofe’s chosen candidate in Tulsa’s mayoral election.
What’s more, the suit claimed Lindsay sent hundreds of text messages to “underage males” between the hours of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on cell phones expensed to the university.
ORU’s Board of Regents agreed: Larry King was a terrible idea. John Hagee, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar—ORU’s board was a who’s who of televangelists. Oral was the original pioneer of television ministry. He trained up a whole generation of jet-setting mega-church pastors who preached the prosperity gospel: Plant a seed—meaning, send a check—and God will reward you with health, wealth, and happiness.
The eavesdroppers could tell Richard saw the writing on the wall. “There was no exonerating himself at that point,” one remembers. “He just thought it would be cool to go on Larry King.”
Richard had been like a moth to the limelight since childhood, when he began singing in his father’s tent crusades. In the 1970s, at the height of Richard’s celebrity as a Christian singer, he was starring in prime-time television specials with the likes of Johnny Cash and Robert Goulet, reaching tens of millions of viewers. With his signature streak of white hair and big, telegenic smile, Richard was most in his element when the cameras were rolling. If anyone ever asked if Richard was ready to perform, he’d fire back, “I was born ready.”
And so Richard and Lindsay boarded the ORU jet and flew from Tulsa to New York. In the October 9, 2007, broadcast, Larry King listed just a few of the many allegations against the Robertses: remodeling their ORU-owned home 11 times in 14 years at university expense; forcing employees to do their daughters’ homework; bestowing over a dozen ORU scholarships upon the children of their wealthy friends; the $39,000 Lindsay expensed in clothing at Chico’s in a single year; the stable of horses ORU maintained for the Roberts daughters’ exclusive use.
“Does it concern you that your excesses are so obvious that most people don’t appear to be shocked to hear of them?” Larry King read aloud from an ORU alum’s email. “I have not done anything wrong, Larry,” Richard answered.
Originally
published in This
Land Press, September 2014 —
SCUMBAG REPORT
- Copeland was one to talk. Earlier that
month, at the behest of Senator Charles Grassley, the Senate Finance Committee
launched an investigation into the extravagant lifestyles of six prominent
televangelists. Private jets, fancy cars, mansions—all paid for by their
respective tax-exempt ministries.
(Nonprofits are effectively taxpayer subsidized, and so personal enrichment through them is illegal.)
Three of the six televangelists under investigation were ORU regents: Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Creflo Dollar—the very people who’d been rubber stamping Richard’s spending. - In the years leading up to the
patriarch’s death, Carlton Pearson, Oral’s “black son,” fell from grace in the
Pentecostal world after he stopped believing in hell. Carlton and Oral
eventually reconciled—albeit on a personal level, not theologically. Pearson’s
biopic Come Sunday is in the works, and Robert Redford is in
talks to play Oral in the film.
- Much was made of Lindsay’s alleged
relationships with unnamed “underage males” when the lawsuits hit ORU in 2007.
In the years since, Matt Schwoegler, the one-time boyfriend of the youngest
Roberts daughter, acknowledged that most of the allegations probably referred
to him: the hundreds of late night text messages Lindsay sent teen boys; the
nine nights Lindsay and a boy spent in the compound’s guest house; the times
Lindsay installed a teen boy in her home, leading the Roberts daughters to put
deadbolts on their bedroom doors.
- Schwoegler has since
racked up several criminal convictions, including credit card fraud, forgery,
evading arrest, and possession of burglary tools. Lindsay maintained she
“never, ever engaged in any sexual behavior with any man outside of my marriage
as the accusations imply.” Through the Roberts’ attorney, Schwoegler released
statements attesting Lindsay had served as a “second mother” and “best friend”
to the teen.
- “Do I think she slept with him? No, I don’t,” says a relative. “Do I think he replaced Richard Oral? In many wrong ways for her, yeah.” Lindsay couldn’t save her own son, long-ago deceased in infancy, but perhaps she found another lost cause and wanted a second chance.