My Take on Happenings at ORU

I'm surfing along and what do I see on Yahoo! News, but the headline "Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U." Now, living in Tulsa and knowing that a lawsuit has been filed by 3 former professors, seemingly stemming from Richard Roberts need to have RPM (Randi Miller) as Mayor, I was curious. I about blew up when I got to this section:

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.
She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."


As a former Charismatic and onetime member of Victory Christian Center (pastored by ORU graduates the Daughertys), I feel that I need to translate these items for the less initiated. I'll take them accusation by accusation:

A) Illegal involvement in local politics: "I've had a word/revelation/new thought from above - get involved, because the way to get the people saved and onto our team is through the leaders."

B) Numerous home remodeling projects: "I want our mansion on earth to look just like our mansion in Heaven; we're worth it, because we're children of the King."

C) Using the university jet: "It will get us where we need to go quicker so that we can witness to more people." Side note - the plus being they won't be treated like Joel Osteen's wife was after she went ballistic on a public airplane.

D) Luxury automobiles for Lindsay Roberts: "I'm a princess of the King; God would want me to have them so I can show others what they can attain when they get saved."

E) Spending sprees on clothes: "I'm a princess and I need to look like one."

F) Scholarships to children's friends: "We are called to help the less fortunate. The Bible said the poor you would always have with you, but that doesn't mean you have to be one of them."

G) Texting of underage males: "I wanted to let them know that I was with them when they most face temptation (1-3 a.m.)." I'm sure she was just sending them Scriptures.

For those of you who think I'm just a bitter ex-Charismatic who's mad because she's not living in a mansion and driving a fancy car, let me set some things straight. I never completely bought into the "name it and claim it" theology. I couldn't tell you why at the time, but I knew that something about it sounded fake. I so wanted to believe in it, especially the Scriptures regarding healing. I had some health issues that I knew (well, was told) that God would heal if I just had enough faith. I struggled with that the entire time I was in the movement. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, but eventually just settled it in my mind that it was my cross to bear. Yet, I was always analyzing and searching to see what sin I had in my life that I needed to get rid of so God would heal me. I look back at this now and think how self-centered that view is, rather than being God-centered, which is really how He wants us to live. I thank God that I was not in the movement when my mother in law was diagnosed with cancer and six months later went home to be with the Lord, at which time she received her ultimate healing. I'm sure they would have told her that she didn't have enough faith or there was some sin in her life she needed to deal with that was not allowing her to release her faith and enabling her to live in victory. My MIL was probably the Godliest woman I've ever known. She left a legacy of love that lives on through her family. She accepted and adopted me into her family before I was even married to her oldest son. If that's not a picture of Jesus adopting us and grafting us into His family, I don't know what is. There are times that I regret the time I spent in the Word Faith camp, but then I realize that it is a part of who I am today. Going through that and realizing that life is not always hunky dory and doesn't always work out the way that we THINK it should but the way He KNOWS it needs to be. We are here to glorify Him, He is not here to glorify us. I pray that these leaders will see the errors of their teachings and are one day able to strip away all of the trappings and get to know the real God, the real Jesus, the real Holy Spirit. How will they do that? By reading the real Bible thoroughly, not just the parts they want to see that will tickle their fancy.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those Christians who believe that by living in abject poverty, we somehow glorify the Lord. God has not said that life would be easy and that we would just sail through until we get to Glory. He has said, however, that He would be with us every step of the way. Another benefit of having come out of the Word Faith movement is that it has given me a deeper longing for His Word and a desire to get back to the basics. I have found several books on that topic:

Major Bible Themes by Lewis Sperry Chafer and John Walvoord
Jensen's Survey of the Old Testament by Irving Jensen
Encountering the New Testament by Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough
A Popular Survey of the Old Testament by Norman L. Geisler

If you need more recommendations, feel free to contact me and I'll look through our books at home and see what I can come up with for you.

I've also discovered Bible teachers such as John MacArthur, Charles Stanley, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, and John Barnett. You can find most of them on http://www.oneplace.com/.