The Second Coming of Oral
The PR disaster at Oral Roberts University has gotten so bad that they had to conjure up “The Second Coming of Oral” to deal with the scandal that threatens to destroy the Oral Roberts empire, or as some might call it the “Roberts Family Cash Cow”.
Reportedly it has been three long years since the “Old Man” set foot on the campus of his namesake university and he returned today to pronounce his son Richard Roberts and daughter-in-law Lindsay Roberts innocent of any wrongdoing and to proclaim to the world that, “the devil is not going to steal ORU.”
And to battle the devil, Oral Roberts has moved back to Tulsa.
Wasn’t it just yesterday that the Oral Roberts Board of Regents ran a full-page “Open Letter” in the Tulsa World announcing that it was “in the process of hiring an outside legal and accounting firm to conduct an independent review and audit of these allegations”?
As a matter of fact it was, but that was then.
This is now and with Oral’s pronouncement that all allegations made in a lawsuit and an attached report are false what room is left for any independent review and audit? Oral sez’ “nothin’s wrong” and by God – nothing is wrong.
Unfortunately for Oral Roberts there’s a lot wrong in what was “his house” and it is going to take a lot more than pronouncements from the “Old Man” to put an end to the current scandal.
Oral Roberts trying to ride to the rescue and jumping into the fray will do nothing more than inflame already inflamed passions and insure the media circus at ORU remains on the front page and at the top of the news breaks of the local media for a long time to come.
It was not that long ago that Oral Roberts himself was having to do a lot of explaining regarding a walk and a talk with a 900 foot tall Jesus Christ on the ORU campus, with a unGodly threat from no less than God himself to kill Oral Roberts unless his followers raised $8 million dollars for the university.
Now Oral has ridden into town like the calvary coming to the rescue to pronounce his heir and heiress innocent before the Board of Regents can even get its “independent review and audit” off the ground.
That the Oral Roberts empire, or if you prefer “cash cow”, is in crisis is without question.
That the “Old Man” is back in town merely indicates the severity of that crisis. It does nothing what-so-ever to remedy that crisis.
If anything, it may make it worse.
A lot worse as Oral Roberts said he is serving as co-interim president with Victory Christian Center pastor and ORU alumnus Billy Joe Daugherty.
This of course supports the view that a Roberts family member must remain in control of ORU, otherwise long hidden skeletons might be found in the “Prayer Tower”…
The title of this story really turned me on
I am not surprised at the allegations regarding ORU. I have doubted the validity of ORU for some time. Ever since my deceased father who passed in 1984, told me this story. He was employed as a Pharmacist at a local small chain drug store in north Tulsa for about 4 years. He met and became friends with several good Christian customers. One family related a story about how they tried to enroll thier only daughter in ORU, to have thier faith shaken due to the fact that ORU admissions said, their daughter was too fat. Due to her overweight condition, in spite of her excellent grade point average, their was no place for her in the university. What happened to the Bible and scriptures that Jesus preached about outward appearances dont matter. Not to mention numerous other passages that spoke about criteria for being a good Christian and gaining passage into Heaven. I am sure this wasnt the first or the last time ORU would ignore the Bible and good Christian principles. Their selectivity and prejudices have finally become an Achilles heel.