Scandal Brews at Oral Roberts University

[kari21]

Scandal Brews at Oral Roberts University

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 6) - 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.

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."

At a chapel service this week on the 5,300-student campus known for its 60-foot-tall bronze sculpture of praying hands, Roberts said God told him: "We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of regents, said the university's executive board "is conducting a full and thorough investigation."

Colleagues fear for the reputation of the university and the future of the Roberts' ministry, which grew from Southern tent revivals to one of the most successful evangelical empires in the country, hauling in tens of millions of dollars in contributions a year. The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according to the IRS.

Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California. He holds the title of chancellor, but the university describes him as semi-retired, and his son presides over day-to-day operations on the campus, which had a modern, space-age design when it was built in the early 1960s but now looks dated, like Disney's Tomorrowland.

Cornell Cross II, a senior from Burlington, Vt., said he is looking to transfer to another school because the scandal has "severely devalued and hurt the reputation of my degree."

"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."

The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by three former professors. They sued ORU and Roberts, alleging they were wrongfully dismissed after reporting the school's involvement in a local political race.

Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign.

The professors also said their dismissals came after they turned over to the board of regents a copy of a report documenting moral and ethical lapses on the part of Roberts and his family. The internal document was prepared by Stephanie Cantese, Richard Roberts' sister-in-law, according to the lawsuit.

An ORU student repairing Cantese's laptop discovered the document and later provided a copy to one of the professors.

It details dozens of alleged instances of misconduct. Among them:

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.

Tim Brooker, one of the professors who sued, said he fears for the university's survival if certain changes aren't made.

"All over that campus, there are signs up that say, `And God said, build me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy Spirit,"' Brooker said. "Unfortunately, ownership has shifted."

LINK: http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/scandal-br...S00010000000001

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Sigh...

The love of money is the root of all evil.

[DavidLee]

Well, I think you should be very careful posting things like this. Especially before the truth is unveiled. Things like this are one of the BIG reasons ppl stop going to church, and lose there faith. ORU might not even be at fault here. It could be ornery or jealousy among the staff, kicking dirt on Oral Robert's good name. The point is no one knows for sure yet. So maybe you should rethink this post...

Edited October 7, 2007 by DavidLee

[kari21]

Well, I think you should be very careful posting things like this. Especially before the truth is unveiled. Things like this are one of the BIG reasons ppl stop going to church, and lose there faith. ORU might not even be at fault here. It could be ornery or jealousy among the staff, kicking dirt on Oral Robert's good name. The point is no one knows for sure yet. So maybe you should rethink this post...

I lost respect for Oral when he turned God into a blackmailing killer for cash...

[Eliyahuw]

Well, I think you should be very careful posting things like this. Especially before the truth is unveiled. Things like this are one of the BIG reasons ppl stop going to church, and lose there faith. ORU might not even be at fault here. It could be ornery or jealousy among the staff, kicking dirt on Oral Robert's good name. The point is no one knows for sure yet. So maybe you should rethink this post...

ROTFLMAO. ORal Roberts never had a good name! He's nothing but a snake oil salesman selling prayer cloths and other various sundries to old folks who gave him their trust with the claim that it would soothe their ills and fix their problems.

He's as bad as that pasty faced lying Earnst Angley.

[KeilanS]

Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico's clothing store alone in less than a year

I personally think that any Christian who spends $39,000 on clothes in a year needs to get their priorities straightened out. And it's even worse when it's on donated money. Personally, I'm hoping to make it my whole life with less than $39,000 in clothing expenses.

[Akabu]

2 quotes come to my mind right about now:

1) He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. (John 8:7)

and

2) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matt 7:3)

[shepherdsgrace]

My heart is broken for the sake of the church. To find sin in the church is a thing of grief. May God's redemption flow. If it is true I am sorry to the core of my person that materialism was traded for the reality of God.

[shepherdsgrace]

Well, I think you should be very careful posting things like this. Especially before the truth is unveiled. Things like this are one of the BIG reasons ppl stop going to church, and lose there faith. ORU might not even be at fault here. It could be ornery or jealousy among the staff, kicking dirt on Oral Robert's good name. The point is no one knows for sure yet. So maybe you should rethink this post...

ROTFLMAO. ORal Roberts never had a good name! He's nothing but a snake oil salesman selling prayer cloths and other various sundries to old folks who gave him their trust with the claim that it would soothe their ills and fix their problems.

He's as bad as that pasty faced lying Earnst Angley.

IF Earnst Ansgley is "pasty faced" he certainly cannot help the color of his skin. And there is the possibility that God will be the judge concerning rather Oral Roberts is a snake oil salesman. Does the church do well to display such rage and anger through name calling and judgment?

[Eliyahuw]

Well, I think you should be very careful posting things like this. Especially before the truth is unveiled. Things like this are one of the BIG reasons ppl stop going to church, and lose there faith. ORU might not even be at fault here. It could be ornery or jealousy among the staff, kicking dirt on Oral Robert's good name. The point is no one knows for sure yet. So maybe you should rethink this post...

ROTFLMAO. ORal Roberts never had a good name! He's nothing but a snake oil salesman selling prayer cloths and other various sundries to old folks who gave him their trust with the claim that it would soothe their ills and fix their problems.

He's as bad as that pasty faced lying Earnst Angley.

IF Earnst Ansgley is "pasty faced" he certainly cannot help the color of his skin. And there is the possibility that God will be the judge concerning rather Oral Roberts is a snake oil salesman. Does the church do well to display such rage and anger through name calling and judgment?

yes it is supposed to expose the fraudulent that take advantage of people in the name of God. Earnst angley is a fraud. He is a master at hypnotic suggestion and can manipulate people with the usage of singsong type phrases and intensity of repeating a phrase over and over. If you listen to him without watching him you will see how he manages to cause people to fall out on stage during his phoney healing service.

Oral Roberts is the same way. he's a fraud. Always has been a fraud.

Why would anyone support a fraud??

[kari21]

2 quotes come to my mind right about now:

1) He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. (John 8:7)

and

2) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matt 7:3)

All true. But we are also commanded to confront sin.

As Edmund Burke said: "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing."

It sure wasn't a "good" thing when Oral made God out to be a blackmailing killer for cash.