Oral Roberts: A fond farewell

     Evangelist Oral Roberts, founder of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University, passed away at 91 this past Tuesday, due to complications of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California.

     I have many memories of times spent watching Roberts' television ministry: first as a child, and later as an adult. There were even times when I had fallen away from the Christian walk that I found a familiar comfort in watching Roberts, and hearing those oft used words, "Something good is going to happen to you."

     Perhaps that is why I took offense at nearly every news report and article that I've seen discussing Roberts death (with the exception of the few Christian-based outlets, like CBN.com). Instead of focusing primarily on all the wonderful accomplishments Roberts achieved in his many years of ministry, the secular media felt compelled to dredge up the few mishaps in an otherwise spotless career.

     Oral Roberts career spanned seven decades, with over 300 crusades, and accumulated hundreds upon hundreds of successes ripe for the telling; but the secular media chose once more to dig deep into their hog wallow and come up with less than a handful of trivial tidbits in a last ditch effort to smudge the reputation of a good man. And yet, they could find nothing that has the ability to tarnish Roberts character to any open-minded viewer or reader.

     Each of the so-called controversial events only prove that Roberts was human, and all humans make mistakes. But unlike many of his secular counterparts, the mistakes attributed to Roberts were honest mistakes, without greed or malice intent. How many secular leaders could honestly claim the same? Or for that matter, how many of the journalists trying to dig up the dirt can survive the same level of scrutiny?

     Oral Roberts was one of the rare human beings who actually left his part of the world a better place because he had lived. And as the heavens rejoice at his coming home party, the rest of us can't help but feel the sudden void that will be hard for any other human to fill.