A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Celebrating the Life of ORAL ROBERTS A MAN WHO OBEYED GOD here was no way on earth it could be done. There Twere no blueprints…no plans…no human example to follow. You just can’t get from where he started to where he ended his earthly life 91 years later. Not by any road that man could build. But as a young man, Oral Roberts the Lord her child—the black-haired, found the One who makes a way where blue-eyed baby boy she had prayed for. there is no way—Jesus Christ of Naza- The neighbor’s child was healed. reth. As he chose to follow Jesus…one And Mama Roberts returned home, day at a time, one step at a time, tiny knowing her child would someday seeds of faith began to multiply…and preach the Gospel. But preaching impossible dreams turned into miracles. the Gospel was the last thing Oral Roberts wanted to do, growing up in Humble Beginnings Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. Speak- Born in a two-room house to Ellis ing, alone, was a difficult enough task Melvin Roberts—an itinerant preacher for many years of his life. father—and Claudius Priscilla Rob- Oral was a stutterer. His name, mean- erts—a Cherokee Indian mother who ing “spoken word,” seemed in itself prayed for the sick, Granville Oral something of a cruel joke. One day, Roberts came into this world in tiny Mama pulled him on her lap, as she Beebe, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1918. had done many times, and said, “Oral, The fifth child of a family who had someday God will heal your tongue no worldly goods to offer him, Oral and you’ll preach the Gospel for Him.” Roberts was born into a spiritual heritage Papa prophesied many times, that one more precious than gold. Mama and day he would hold huge revivals. Papa Roberts loved God with all of their hearts. Oral has often said that, as a boy, Leaving Home—Teenage Years he thought Jesus lived in his home. Every As Oral grew older, he also devel- morning he heard his parents pouring oped a passion for sports. There were their hearts out to God in prayer. great dreams of athletic fame, univer- Oral was the son of a promise. The sity study, a law degree, and a career in night he was born, his Cherokee politics. Setting his sights on becoming mother, known as Mama Roberts, Governor of Oklahoma, at 15, he was was called on to come to a neigh- recruited by a former teacher to play bor’s home and pray for a sick child. basketball in Atoka, Oklahoma, a town Sensing that the child she was carry- 50 miles away. Finally, the chance for ing was “a special child that would a new life had come! have God’s anointing,” she made a Atoka appeared to be all Oral Rob- promise to God that if He would heal erts had ever dreamed of. Living in a her neighbor’s child, she would give local judge’s home, he studied dili- Oral and his brother, Vaden 3 “Son, I’m going to heal you. And you are to As Brother Moncey prayed, anointing Oral with oil and laying his hands on take My healing power to your generation.” him, he spoke directly to the disease, saying, “You foul tormenting disease, gently at school while holding down when his sister, Jewel, came to him and I command you in the name of Jesus of three jobs to support himself. He spent said, “Oral, God is going to heal Nazareth, come out of this young man. as much time as possible reading law you,” he was ready to receive her, and Loose him and let him go!” books, but Oral often neglected his with new hope he replied, “Is he, Jewel?” Instantly, Oral could breathe…and physical needs for nourishment and rest. Many times through the years, Oral breathe deeply from both lungs! No Gradually he began to weaken, and at would tell the world about the seven coughing; no spitting up blood! A roar 17, while making a driving lay-up to win words that changed his life forever. arose from the crowd, as Oral began the last game of his high school district shouting praises to God. And, miracle basketball tournament, Oral Roberts Oral’s Healing of miracles, the stuttering, stammering collapsed on the basketball court. The Evangelists who prayed for the sick tongue that had so long plagued him coach drove him back home to Ada. were almost non-existent in 1935. But was set free! It was a glorious time of As Oral lay in bed for months— a man named George Moncey had rejoicing for Oral and the Roberts growing weaker and weaker physically, come to Ada to do just that. Elmer, family. But it was only the beginning Oral and Evelyn on their wedding day his lungs hemorrhaging his very life’s Oral’s oldest brother, who was not even of a lifetime of miracles! blood from his body—hope slowly a Christian, borrowed a car, filled it couple, they spent the weekend enjoy- ebbed from his heart. He’d heard the with 35 cents worth of gas, loaded up Following God’s Calling… ing one another’s company. Then Oral diagnosis “final stages of tuberculo- his family, and laid his youngest brother and Finding a Life Partner made his pitch. The young man who sis,” with the prognosis of only 3-4 on a mattress in the back seat. Healings were so rare at that time that once couldn’t even say his own name months to live. For Oral, life appeared It was on the way to be prayed for Oral Roberts was considered a modern- proposed marriage to the woman God over before it had really begun. People that Oral Roberts first heard the voice day miracle, and everyone wanted to had brought him. But not just any mar- prayed and doctors treated. But nothing of Jesus. Too weak to even sit up, hear this young man speak. Requests riage proposal would do for Oral Rob- changed. Surely the God that he had he heard God say, “Son, I’m go- began pouring in for him to tell his heal- erts! With a poetic quality and flair for run away from could not care about ing to heal you. And you are to ing story. As soon as he was able, Oral commanding words, he blurted out the him, he thought to himself. take My healing power to your began preaching the Gospel with Papa following words to his beloved Evelyn: But one day, as Papa knelt at the foot generation.” Pondering what God and telling those around him about a “My huge, happy, hilarious heart is throbbing of his bed and began to pray, something was telling him, again Oral heard healing God. And within 4 or 5 months tumultuously, tremendously, triumphantly felt different. Oral felt a warmth come the voice of God, saying, “You are he embarked on his own ministry. with a lingering, lasting, long-lived love into his body, and looked up into Papa’s to build me a university. Build One summer evening, about a year for you. As I gaze into your bewildering, face. As he watched the tears flow from it on my authority and on the after he was healed, Oral met school- beauteous, bounteous, beaming eyes, I am his father’s eyes, suddenly a bright light Holy Spirit.” teacher Evelyn Lutman at a church literally, lonesomely lost in a dazzling, daring, shone. Papa’s face disappeared and in its The dream of true greatness was plant- campmeeting. Impressed with the delightful dream in which your fair, felicitous, place, Oral saw the face of Jesus. In a ed in Oral Roberts’ heart that day. Not young preacher, Evelyn wrote in her fanciful face is ever present like a colossal, moment’s time, he called on the God he the ambitious dreams of fame or fortune diary after the service, “Tonight I met comprehensive constellation. Will you be my had run from, crying, “Save me, Jesus. that he had once had, but the dream of my future husband.” sweet, smiling, soulful, satisfied spouse?” Save me!” And a new life was born into obeying God and raising up generations It was almost two years later before In her normally pragmatic frame of the Kingdom of God that day. to praise the name of the Lord. Oral would write to see if he could mind—and one that she would come to Although Oral was saved, he was still It was a dream worth fighting for… come visit her in Texas. With Mama be known for in her lifetime—Evelyn dying from tuberculosis. Only now, worth living for. in tow as a chaperone for the young replied, “Listen here, Oral. If you’re 4 5 from 3 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above wanted to bless and prosper His people. all things that thou mayest prosper and He shut himself away with God for be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 30 days—reading and studying His Though he’d read the Bible at least 100 Gospels and Acts—and by the end of times before, this was a revelation from 30 days, Jesus had become so real to God! When he called Evelyn and read Oral that he knew that he knew that he the verse to her, she challenged him knew how to obey God! He saw that with, “That isn’t in the Bible.” “Oh yes, his ministry and the ministry of Jesus it is, Evelyn.