How Oral Roberts touched Charisma’s publisher

Growing up in the 1950s, I knew there were two Christian leaders who stood head and shoulders above the rest—Oral Roberts and Billy Graham. I never dreamed I would get to know Oral personally, publish one of his books, serve on one of his boards and even visit him “to say goodbye.”

Once Oral told some leaders that if they were ever asked to speak and were unprepared, they should tell their testimony. Now I feel inadequate to pay tribute to a man who did more than probably anyone in the 20th century to bring God’s healing power to the church. So I’ll just tell my testimony of knowing him.

I met Oral through my mentor Jamie Buckingham. I was barely 30 when I was invited to a meeting of about 100 leaders in the newly built City of Faith, on the Oral Roberts University (ORU) campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During the meeting Oral walked around the room and prayed for each person. When he came to me he said: “Never doubt the gift that’s within you.”

I had only recently started Charisma. Oral must have sensed I was unsure about God’s call on my life. Yet he saw God’s hand on this fledgling magazine. He told me later he read every issue. And once he recorded a short endorsement that I’m so proud of I put it on the special online tribute we posted (charismamag.com/index.php/oral-roberts-tribute).

Once Oral asked me to serve on ORU’s board of regents. I felt as a journalist I needed to keep my objectivity, so I declined. Now, 25 years later, my son Cameron (who graduated from ORU) is the youngest member of ORU’s new board of trustees. Instead, I served for many years on the International Charismatic Bible Ministries board. It brought me to Tulsa for many years and I enjoyed rubbing shoulders with this great man.

I have met heads of state and titans of industry. But never had I met a man who could humbly walk into a room with such a commanding presence. But Oral wasn’t perfect, and he spoke candidly of his shortcomings.

And while he lived in utmost moral integrity, he sometimes did things he must have regretted. When he was desperate to keep ORU’s medical school afloat in the mid-1980s, he threatened that “God would take him home” if he didn’t raise the money.

I wrote an essay in our local newspaper explaining that many Christians believe after they accomplish all they can, God will call them home. That comment is often made at funerals to provide comfort when someone’s life is cut short. Apparently Oral felt that if he failed to save his medical school he would have nothing more to accomplish and he’d go to heaven.

The money did come in, but it wasn’t enough to save the medical school. ORU suffered a great setback and it left ORU heavily in debt. Yet the university and his vision survived and lives on.

The day of Oral’s funeral on December 21 I looked out my hotel window to the beautiful campus that had once been a farm on the edge of Tulsa. I’d heard Oral tell how he had walked that vacant property, prayed in tongues and then interpreted back to himself direction from the Holy Spirit. I have used that prayer technique many times.

After Oral retired to Southern California, I arranged to visit him “to say goodbye.” I took my friend R.T. Kendall, who wanted to meet him. Oral admired several of Kendall’s books, so he wanted to meet him and I went along to help conduct an interview we published in Ministry Today.

I saw him only one more time—at Mark Rutland’s inauguration as the third president of ORU. After the ceremony others on the platform exited amid great academic pageantry. As Oral was helped off the stage by his caregivers he gave a great wave as if to say goodbye.

Later Mark spent some private time with ORU’s founder. After their conversation, Oral put his feeble arm around Rutland’s shoulder and said, “Now I’m ready to go home.” Rutland assumed he was ready to go back to Southern California. Later he realized Oral meant he was ready to go to heaven.

Oral Roberts inspired millions, including this former newspaper reporter. I’m thankful he saw a gift in me. His legacy of faith makes me want to use that gift to its maximum impact.

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Steve Strang conducted several interviews with Oral Roberts, including this one in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the early 1980s.

12:43PM EST 2/2/2010

One of the easiest ways to fuel a “love revolution” is to decide to make others feel valuable. Mother Teresa said: “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody: I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

I have discovered that most people we meet or come into contact with in our everyday lives don’t have a sense of their infinite value as children of God. I think the devil works very hard to make people feel devalued and worthless, but we can neutralize the effect of his lies and insinuations by building up, encouraging and edifying people.

12:42PM EST 2/2/2010

Oral Roberts was not a sophisticated guy. Men of faith rarely are. He was born in poverty, and his early years in ministry were not glamorous. One Pentecostal Holiness preacher who was alive in the 1930s says he remembers when Oral and Evelyn Roberts tied everything they owned to the back of their car and moved from Georgia to Oklahoma. They modeled the kind of pioneering faith that requires sacrifice and humility.

It’s intriguing that Oral Roberts died just as we were about to enter a new decade. His death on December 15 represents the passing of an era. The pioneers of the charismatic movement are leaving us. And it causes me to wonder, with some concern, whether we are equipped with the kind of faith we need in this hour.

Roberts was the quintessential faith preacher. But during his lifetime, “faith preacher” took on a negative connotation because of various scandals and excesses in the faith movement. I loved much of the early faith teaching, but I was turned off when some of the flashier pulpiteers began to focus so much on financial prosperity that they became materialistic and manipulative when taking offerings.

Also, I didn’t buy the so-called “name it and claim it” philosophy because I don’t believe I should reduce my relationship with God to a formula. And I was also grieved when proponents of the faith message started suggesting that we can’t admit when we’re sick. That is not faith; that’s denial.

Like Kenneth Hagin Sr., Roberts was a faith preacher who also was troubled by the way the faith movement morphed into something else during the 1980s and 1990s. I’m sure he longed for the days when faith was more about conversions and healings and less about private jets and Rolex watches.

Today’s generation is weary of hype. We crave genuine faith. Paul told Timothy: “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5, NASB, emphasis added). That word “sincere” is translated “unfeigned” in the King James Version. It means real, pure and undisguised. It’s not pretend. And it’s not mixed with carnality.

Some of what we called faith in the past was mixed with greed and selfishness. One slick prosperity preacher encourages his followers to wear a T-shirt that says: “I WANT MY STUFF.” That immature attitude is a sick substitute for biblical faith. Real faith is focused on the kingdom of God, not ourselves. It grows steadily inside us as we hear the promises of God’s Word and then build our lives on spiritual reality—while embracing godly character.

I want to be a man of faith, yet too often doubts and anxieties plague me. So when 2010 began I started studying the life of Abraham. I’ve been reading and re-reading passages in Genesis, Romans, Hebrews and Galatians that describe the journey of the man we call “the father of our faith.” Abraham proved that if we want to please God we must believe Him—even when the promises seem impossible.

Oral Roberts used to tell his listeners: “Expect a miracle!” I believe that’s still sound advice for us today. I know Roberts was not perfect, and he had some regrets about his ministry. Yet he pioneered Christian broadcasting in the 1950s, built a successful university and challenged the church to believe in divine healing. That inspires me to pray big prayers and reach for big goals.

I encourage you to write down every promise God has given you from Scripture. Whatever challenge you face, grab hold of His specific word to you. Meditate on it and declare it. Let your faith grow stronger as you spend intimate time in prayer and worship.

Perhaps you need a better job, an open door for ministry or a spiritual turnaround in your church. Or you may be asking God to restore a broken relationship or bring a prodigal child back to Him. Don’t let the ravenous birds of doubt and discouragement steal your promise. 

You can expect a miracle. Let a holy anticipation arise in your heart. We are crossing over into a significant new era of spiritual renewal. A land of promise awaits us—and we can claim it if we will simply believe.

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Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can find him on Twitter at leegrady

 

12:35PM EST 2/2/2010

Our life on Earth is a life of seasons, a life of changes. Just as some seasons are eagerly awaited and others are less happily anticipated because they are not as pleasant, so some changes life brings are welcome and others are dreaded because they are difficult, harsh and painful.




The thing that keeps us pressing on in the midst of changes, both good and bad, is the belief that God is in full control of His world and that "He [makes] everything beautiful in its time" (Eccl. 3:11, NKJV). No matter what may come our way, we have a promise of beauty!




But only God in His eternal wisdom knows how the transformation will unfold and when it will take place. He does His work as we learn to live in obedience and contentment, trusting Him, believing that He will bring us through every season of sorrow and pain into a beautiful reward.



His Word assures us, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). We can count on this. But what are we to do while the night season remains?



The answer is, ENDURE. "For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise" (Heb. 10:36). "Endurance" is the ability to keep pressing on without growing weary. It is stamina, forbearance, courage, fortitude, durability and ability to stand.



But Biblical endurance is more than just being the last man to stand. Derived from the Greek word "hupomone," which means cheerful endurance or hopeful waiting, biblical endurance speaks to the attitude with which we wait as much as it does to the act of waiting itself. It is more than just making it across the finish line; it is the outlook we maintain while we run the race.



Cheerful endurance is a powerful attitude that says, "God not only CAN change my circumstances; He WILL!" It is a mind-set that is filled with compelling confidence, trust, expectation, optimism and assurance in Christ. Hopeful waiting and cheerful endurance will not allow us to give up our dreams or turn loose of our hope; instead they call us to a deeper level of faith.



So how do we gain such endurance? The answer is not easy to accept. The Bible clearly says that the trying and testing of our faith produces endurance (see James 1:3).



Testing is the weight of choice that God uses to develop our spiritual muscles and internal stamina. When we face a trial that threatens our faith; when we find ourselves in circumstances that are incompatible with what we believe, we are in God's gym. It is then that we have the opportunity to build our endurance.



The resistance we feel can serve us in that moment. If we begin to lift the weight up off ourselves with prayer, singing, meditation and obedient responses, we will bench-press our way into cheerful endurance. The joy that comes from passing a test, knowing that we have honored God in our lives, is incomparable.



But what if we do not respond properly to God's "no pain, no gain" training program? What happens to our endurance if these weights remain upon us? The result of that condition is obvious. Trying to run a race while encumbered with weights would leave us exhausted, depressed and drained. Yet many of us do exactly that and then are perplexed at why our progress is so slow.



Instead, we must rise up in faith, as the apostle Paul admonishes us to do: "Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us" (Rom.12:1).



The scripture says that WE are to throw off the weights. We must lay them down; we must rid ourselves of them because they are counterproductive to our endurance.

We are not supposed to tolerate the weight of fear, failure, bitterness or unforgiveness, or the heaviness of Satan's lies. We must press against these weights, lift them off and grow in cheerful endurance!



Is God calling you to joyful endurance? Is He calling you to a new level of faith? Do you need a fresh, dynamic, flourishing and hopeful expectation in God? Have you lost your hope that anything beautiful can come out of your life, your circumstances, your relationships, or your dreams?



Then get to God's gym. Start working out your salvation. There IS hope for a better tomorrow because you have a promise of beauty! Throw off the old weights and start running with endurance. You'll be amazed at the results!

 

2:22PM EST 2/1/2010

We've faked the power of Pentecost long enough. Let's set aside the imitations and reclaim the real deal.

Shortly after Elijah was carried to heaven in his fiery chariot, a group of young prophets asked Elisha to go with them to build new living quarters near the Jordan River. While one of the young men was cutting down a tree, the blade of his axe fell in the water and sank into the murky depths of the riverbed (see 2 Kings 6:1-7).

The construction project came to an abrupt stop. This was before the days of flashlights and sonar devices. These guys were in trouble. 5:10PM EST 1/26/2010

"What a mess!" my husband and I both kept saying again and again as we threw our hands in the air. We spent the entire day going through old boxes of things we had collected over the years. We had set aside several days to clean out closets and storage spaces. We found countless things we forgot we owned. Do you have some boxes like that—the ones where you sort of know what is in them, but then again, not really? Most of us have scores of them.

In those boxes we found old magazines, yearbooks, old cassette tapes, pictures and keepsakes. Many had developed a musty smell that comes from years of storage. Then we came to the boxes of things we had saved from our early years together of marriage and ministry. After hours of sorting, I found it. It was a piece of paper from a time in our lives when it seemed that our dreams for the future were crumbling one by one.

It was a prayer list we had made, much of which seemed so far-fetched. Some of the items on the list were immediate needs that existed at the time, while others were larger dreams and things we were asking God to do in the years to come, much of which would take an absolute miracle to accomplish.

The day we wrote it out years before, we had hung that long list of seemingly impossible requests on our refrigerator. Every day we walked by it, and we would place our hands on it and pray. We spoke aloud each time, reminding the Lord we were expecting miracles. We quoted the Scripture verses we were trusting in regard to it. We declared that each item would come to pass and we would see the hand of God move. We spoke over the list believing for God's intervention, even when it felt like we weren't seeing it.

Shortly thereafter, we moved to a different house and, along with the rest of our household items, packed up that list of prayer requests. Well, you know how it goes. You don't always unpack all those boxes. Actually, a few moves later and nearly two decades of marriage later, the number of unpacked boxes in the garage and basement grew.

Then finally on a clean-out day, I read that list again written almost 20 years ago. My eyes filled with tears as I read it. I suddenly realized that God has not only answered the seemingly small things, but over the years He had also answered every item on the list, way beyond even what we wrote down. He even answered the things that seemed impossible. Again, in a flash, I was reminded of all the miracles that we had seen during the last several years. We had seen the power of God revealed from heaven again and again. The things we had seen God do were nothing short of miraculous and it was mostly all related to what was on the list!

At that moment, we were not only reminded of God's enduring faithfulness (and we apologized to the Lord for not acknowledging His answers to these prayers sooner), but we also realized something else. It was that every time we were putting our hand on the list taped to the fridge we were releasing the power of God to work on our behalf. The supernatural God inside us was releasing miracles; a river was flowing and bringing the answer, and it didn't stop flowing until every request was answered, even though we didn't realize it was happening at the time.

I have learned from this experience not only that God lives in us, but also that the supernatural God lives in us. He wants His supernatural power to flow through us to accomplish the miraculous and do the impossible in our circumstances.

I was talking with a woman who was struggling through a series of trials in her life. Her take on her situation was that she was powerless to do anything but wait and see what God would do. I knew she was committed to trust God, even if the outcome was not what she hoped; however, let's face it, she wanted the same outcome we all want—the same outcome we wanted when we made our prayer list. She wanted her trial to result in a miracle. She wanted a supernatural intervention of God to turn her situation around.

If we are honest with ourselves, that is really what we all want when we come to God, isn't it? We want the power of God to rescue us from the pain today so we can rise up and be a new person tomorrow. Maybe what we have yet to realize is that the power of God is already there. It's in you in the person of the Holy Spirit ready to work and ready to flow (see Acts 1:8). When the fullness of God's Spirit is in you, there is power, and it's the same power that performed the miracle of raising Jesus Christ from the dead (see Rom. 8:11). Tap into that power and watch Him do the miraculous for and through you.

Adapted from The Supernatural You by Brenda Kunneman, copyright 2009, published by Charisma House. This book will show you how to tap into the river of the Holy Spirit within you to experience the supernatural power of God working in and through you. To order a copy click on this link:

8:56AM EST 1/25/2010

When the earthquake struck last week, a brave American woman found supernatural strength to praise the Lord—and to help deliver two babies.

My friend Linda Graham believes in miracles, but her faith was stretched beyond her wildest imagination last week when she arrived in Haiti with three other women from Durham, N. C. They were on a routine mission to deliver blankets, clothing and medical supplies to an orphanage in the town of Carrefour.

They had no idea they were walking right into one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.

3:07PM EST 1/19/2010

In my years of service as a pastor, many people have come to me with questions concerning knowing the will of God for their lives. You may have questions about this as well.

You may ask, "Well, pastor, how do I really know whether this is my will or God's will?" What I always tell people is that the will of God is following the desires of your heart.

You may respond to that by saying: "Well, pastor, how do I know whether it is my desire or God's desire? How can I tell the difference between the desires I have and those that God gives me?" My answer to that is, "If your heart is pure and you really desire to do the will of God, you don't have to worry about your desires being wrong."

Titus 1:15 says, "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (KJV).

The only time you have to be concerned about your desires being wrong is when you are in rebellion, disobedience, lust, or some other type of sin. Then you have to be careful that you don't confuse your desires with God's desires. People in a sinful spiritual state will twist or pervert God's desires. But as long as you are pure, sincere and open before God, you can trust your desires because your heart is open to receive the desires of God rather than your own.

One of the primary ways God will lead you is by the desires of your heart. For example. If you are supposed to have a teaching ministry, God will give you the desire to teach. You will have a burning desire to teach. Jeremiah had a prophetic ministry. He was called to give the word of the Lord, and when he tried to suppress it, the desire to prophesy became like fire shut up in his bones.

You need to judge your own heart. If it is found to be pure and you are sincere, then follow the desires of your heart because God will lead you by dropping things into your spirit (that is, your heart). I believe it is the same for getting a rhema word from God.

As long as your heart is right and your motives are pure, you don't need to fear deception. God will always answer those who are pure in heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). God will give you revelation, and He will show you things to come.

Ask God to keep you pure of heart and able to discern a false prophet. You will often know them by their fruits (see Matt. 7:16,20; Luke 6:44). Do not let the existence of counterfeit prophecy deter you from receiving the real thing. That would be like deciding not to pay for purchases with dollar bills because you have heard that people manufacture counterfeit ones.

There have been many times when I went to a meeting confused about the specifics concerning the will of God for my life. I just did not know how to accomplish what I felt He was telling me to do. I needed to hear God speak to my situation. But because the sermon was "general" in nature, an all-purpose good message, I would leave in the same state in which I came, and I would not have an opportunity to receive prophetic ministry, which is what I needed most.

It wasn't until I started seeking a rhema word from God that I got the direction I needed for my life. You will also get the direction you need for your life if you open up your heart to the word of the Lord through personal prophecy and go to local assemblies where the believers flow accurately in the prophetic gift. Thank God for the gift of prophecy.

Adapted from God Still Speaks by John Eckhardt, copyright 2009, published by Charisma House. Building from a biblical foundation, Eckhardt incorporates his own experiences and those from people in his church to help you understand how to hear and receive the prophetic word of the Lord for you, your family, church and community. To order a copy click on this link:

2:38PM EST 1/18/2010

Transforming America’s racial and cultural dynamics is a lot like running a marathon. The only major differences are time and course. The grueling 26.2 miles of a marathon is run in just over two hours by world-class athletes, while the race toward King’s dream has already been over 50 years in the making. Although we have some sense of the finish line, the end of our course is not in sight.  Further, it is hard to judge our progress. We are not sure whether we should count certain “firsts” as significant. Others believe that the depth of professional penetration by blacks, Hispanics or other groups into various professional arenas is a more appropriate measure of entering a post-racial era.

11:56AM EST 1/18/2010

There's too much awkward silence when it comes to old and young. It's time to start a conversation.

One of my core passions is training younger Christians. Whether I'm doing an online Bible study with a friend overseas or taking a couple of guys with me on a mission trip, relational discipleship has become a priority now that I'm older. Young leaders need more than stuffy talking heads who just preach at them from acrylic pulpits; they want approachable mothers and fathers who will share a meal, listen, ask questions and invite co-equal participation.

Shyju Matthew is a young leader I met last year in India. Based in Bangalore, he serves on the staff at Bethel Assembly of God Church. He's only 24, but Shyju conducts evangelistic events around the globe. He has exceptional maturity and spiritual anointing. Yet he recognizes his need for input from the older generation. In fact, he seeks it out.

12:39PM EST 1/12/2010

The late Oral Roberts used to say, "Expect a miracle." That's good advice as we enter this new season.

When Pentecostal healing evangelist Oral Roberts died a few weeks ago I was shocked that some Christians pounced on his legacy so quickly. They didn't even wait a few days for friends and family members to mourn. While Billy Graham—a true Christian gentleman—was offering kind remarks about Roberts, the heresy hunters were denouncing him as a charlatan.

Besides being incredibly rude, these harsh judgments were unfair. While I am sure Roberts made plenty of mistakes in his six decades of ministry, I'm grateful that he dared to believe God for the impossible. He pioneered the use of television to reach millions for Christ in the 1960s. He built a successful Christian university. And, in spite of the naysayers, he challenged a doubting church to believe in divine healing.

2:00PM EST 1/6/2010