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Essay on Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts has been one of the most influential religious leaders in the world in the twentieth century. Roberts has influenced the course of modern Christianity as profoundly as any American religious leader.
Oral was born in an isolated log house near Bebee on Grandpa Pleasant Roberts's farm. It was a good year in Pontotoc County; the economy was booming, and the population was growing, although a flu epidemic wasted the county in the fall, causing the closing of all schools, theaters, and churches.
Thus, Roberts is widely known by the public; his name is only slightly less recognized than that of Billy Graham. Roberts and his wife have written bestselling books about themselves, but those accounts are, of course, uncritical stories read mostly by supporters. Several exposes have been written about Roberts by former employees. They vary in quality and accuracy, but none attempts to deal comprehensively with his life and influence. Countless journalists have written about him, occasionally accurately and perceptively, but usually with reprehensible carelessness and bias. In all, there is an astonishing void.
Oral Roberts is charismatic in the broadest sense of that word; it would be easy to be captured by him. Those close to Oral repeatedly told me of his unpracticed power in private conversation to encompass and surround one, to rivet his attention on his interviewer and take him captive. Furthermore, it would be difficult to follow Oral's dogged upward climb and not admire his tenacity, his skills as a communicator, and the raw courage behind some of his decisions. That admiration, frankly admitted, surely shows through in the pages that follow.
Oral Roberts urged his television audience to remember the "God of a Second Chance." He offered a book he had written on the subject to anyone who would call a toll-free number listed on the TV screen....
