A Man of Fake . . . I Mean Faith . . . or Do I?

I was part of a friend’s Lutheran blog a few years ago. He had invited me to be part but I was a little naïve about it. I didn’t realize that it was an exclusive Lutheran group . . . who seemed to despise all others.

The last straw came around the time the previous pope, John Paul I believe, passed away. Before the man’s body had gotten cold, these Lutherans came on and started posting the cruelest remarks about the Pope and the Catholic Church and even celebrating the Pope’s death. So I left and never went back.

So I am hesitating as I write as I don’t want to do the same . . . a post-mortem character assassination. But I truly think that Oral Roberts was of a different mold and represents a much more relevant principle and a deeper evil.

If you spend any time around Evangelicals, as I have . . . and still do, you will know that they pride themselves in making no compromises. They don’t hire gays or even rent them rooms. They don’t vote for a candidate who is 99% great for the country . . . but has a liberal view of the sanctity of life. Yet, when it comes to TV evangelists, they compromise to the hilt. They put their heads up their butts and pretend that all is well.

I can not imagine an Evangelical pastor saying anything negative about Oral Roberts . . . or in that case Benny Hinn from the pulpit. Yet, in my opinion, this class of people are far worse than the “whores” or “gays” that the Church seems to abhor and rant and rave about.

Can I say something about Oral that should not be over-looked as the country attempts to pay the man some respect? He was a master manipulator who stole millions and millions of dollars from poor widows and others for his ego-centered empire. To tell people that God is going to kill you if they don’t give you the money that they were saving . . . to pay their heating bills . . is unconscionable.

I’ll be honest. If I were Donate I would put the TV Evangelists down on the last concentric circle, deep in the molten lava. I could imagine Donate describing the horrible scene is where the evangelists are starving to death. Now and then a butler comes out with a covered dish. They lift the cover exposing a roasted pig with a caramelized apple in its mouth. Then as the TV evangelists reach for it, WHAM! They are punched in the face with a barbed, iron glove. This happens about a thousand times a day.

This is what the evangelists have done. They promise healings for money. When you are suffering from cancer or arthritis and someone lifts the “cover of the plate” expose complete healing it is so cruel . . . when it is a lie. So the sufferer reaches for it and WHAM! To cover their asses the TV Evangelists then accuse them of lacking faith for not being healed while they fly off in their Lear jets to their vacation homes in Red Necks’ Rivera (Branson or Myrtle Beach).

In this area, I think most Evangelicals, including their pastors, have been cowards. I can remember when it was known that Jim Bakker was not only stealing and lying but also having sex with his subordinates . . . no pastor would confront him. They hide behind their smirks “Whom and I to judge?” Who are you to judge????? You judge people’s behavior for a living. Why do you stop at this point?

This is a serious issue because, like I’ve said, Evangelicals have lost the culture wars. The major reason they have lost is that people like Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson or what-his-face from Colorado Springs who was preaching against the gays on Sunday . . . boinking his male gigolo on Monday. The non-Christians simply gave up on the crap. This is serious business, if we have any desire to represent the living, loving . . . and extremely honest . . . God.

Roberts dualism was extreme. I can remember once I had a great personal friend when I lived for a year in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a psychiatrist. I met him through our church and his quasi-involvement with the Navigators. I will never forget the night that Dave called me and made an unexpected announcement. “Mike . . . God has called me to leave town this week. I’m quitting my practice (and his hundreds of patients who depended heavily on him) and I’m moving to Tulsa. I watched a program by Oral Roberts and he is opening a medical center that is going to practice medicine with God at the center. I’ve been wasting my life away from God working for a secular hospital. I think that God is only at Oral Roberts hospital.”

Presto Dave was gone to the miracle center in Tulsa with the giant praying hands in the front yard. Dave wasted a number of years, until I hear he came back to Kentucky disillusioned, not even considering himself a Christian anymore.

I will rest my case as I’ve said too much. But I just felt the emotions of it when I heard the news on the radio tonight, then a line of “Christian leaders” . . . .that’s evangelical leaders stepping up to the microphone to praise Oral as a great Christian innovator. Give me a break. These are the people that Jesus would throw out of the temple on their ears.