A Little Leaven Leavens the Whole Lump…Oral Roberts University and Another Scandal
Oral Roberts University hit with another scandal?
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts’ university, or else he would be ”called home.”
Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.
I like this quote:
”We have asked and asked and asked to see the finances of our school and what they’re doing with our money, and we’ve been told no,” said, Cross who is majoring in government. ”Now we know why. As a student, I’m not going to stand for it any longer.”
If they are not spending the money poorly, what would they need to hide? I dare anyone who goes to the City Church to ask for details of where the money goes. A good question to ask is how much money the pastors make. Remember, the wives are all pastors too…so see what they make.
Here are a list of the charges filed against ORU:
– A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an underage male friend of Mrs. Roberts could have his position.
– Mrs. Roberts — who is a member of the board of regents and is referred to as ORU’s ”first lady” on the university’s Web site — frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to ”underage males who had been provided phones at university expense.”
– The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was billed to the ministry as an ”evangelistic function of the president.”
– Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico’s clothing store alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and California. She also repeatedly said, ”As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off.” The document cites inconsistencies in clothing purchases and actual usage on TV.
– Mrs. Roberts was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes convertible by ministry donors.
– University and ministry employees are regularly summoned to the Roberts’ home to do the daughters’ homework.
– The university and ministry maintain a stable of horses for exclusive use by the Roberts’ children.
– The Roberts’ home has been remodeled 11 times in the past 14 years.
I think this scripture describes what we see in these people:
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 2 Peter 2:2-3
For those who think lots of people going to your church means good fruit…Peter told us many would follow destructive ways (not a few). So be careful how you define fruit. The world defines Christ by these high profile speakers, who use covetousness to extract money (exploit people) and get rich. They take from the poor to live lavish lifestyles. It is a sad state of Christianity we currently live in, where the health and wealth doctrines are largely going unchallenged as they slander the name of Christ time and time again.
My prayer is that they would repent and follow Christ for His riches, and not seeking the things below.
Read the whole article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Oral-Roberts-Scandal.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
<—- UPDATE 10/17/2007 —>
Richard Roberts said he will step aside temporarily as president of Oral Roberts University as the school fights a wrongful termination lawsuit by three former professors who accuse Roberts and his wife of misconduct.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/17/oru.leave/index.html
Tags: Oral Roberts, ORU, Prosperity Gospel
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