Economy-Size Miracles

Roberts is inventive, if nothing else. In October 1980, in response to a summons to the Tulsa command post, the eager media dutifully reported that Roberts had seen a 900-foot-tall figure of Jesus at exactly 7 p.m. on May 25 of that year near the City of Faith, in Tulsa. To quote Roberts:I felt an overwhelming holy presence all around me. When I opened my eyes, there He stood, some 900 feet tall, looking at me. His eyes ... Oh! His eyes! He stood a full 300 feet taller than the 600-foot-tall City of Faith. There I was, face-to-face with Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. I’ve only seen Jesus once before, but here I was face-to-face with the King of Kings. He stared at me without saying a word. Oh! I will never forget those eyes! And then He reached down, put his hand under the City of Faith, lifted it, and said to me, “See how easy it is for me to lift it.”

Some were more than slightly skeptical about the claim. The media failed to embrace this Roberts whopper, and he was the butt of jokes for several weeks following the press release. Personally, I found it difficult to picture how Roberts could have stood “face-to-face” with a figure that tall, and it seemed strange that he had waited four months before telling the world of the appearance of this holy colossus. Commented one observer, “It takes a real man to keep a secret like that!” In a six-page letter sent out to prayer partners that October, Roberts appealed emotionally for money to keep the hospital afloat, and he brought in the Super Jesus tale to press home the need. Though it may appear incredible to non-evangelist-watchers, it worked. Five million dollars poured in following his preposterous ploy. Heartened by the result, he followed up with a tale of another divine visit, this time by a somewhat smaller Jesus who appeared at the foot of his bed and assured him that the City of Faith would be a success. Said this Jesus in his familiar manner:Oral, I’m going to put my blood back into the City of Faith. And I’m going to heal people like never before.

One wonders how and why His blood was ever withdrawn from the hospital, and why He had been slacking in His healing efforts.

The Midas Touch

It seems that wonders just follow Reverend Roberts around, waiting to happen, and heavenly apparitions hover over him at all times. Following this visit by the regulation-size Jesus, he reported that a large-size angel was left behind in his room. Not one to lose the golden opportunity that suggested itself at this time, Oral immediately commemorated the miracle by offering his flock a 7-inch replica of that very angel and the simultaneous chance to donate some money. Roberts seems to provide us with the very definition of hucksterism. Sometimes, offers like these that Roberts makes during his campaigns sound like supernatural mail-order catalog blurbs. Examples: For a donation of $20, you can get four “Expect a Miracle” coffee mugs. For a mere $120 (later slashed to $50), you will receive an Oral Roberts commentary Bible, with not only Roberts’s name on the “genuine leather cover” in gold lettering, but your own as well. A jigsaw puzzle of Oral astride his favorite horse, Sonny, and an irresistible recording of Richard Roberts in full song can be yours for just $10 each. One mailing enclosed a tiny sack of cornmeal. The recipient was told to pray over it and return it with some cash, whereupon Oral would instruct his wife what to do with the cornmeal:I am going to have Evelyn mix the cornmeal and bake for me God’s representative [sic] of the body of Christ.

Can anyone imagine Evelyn Roberts actually emptying out tens of thousands of itty-bitty bags of cornmeal into a huge bowl and baking up a Host from it? On the other hand, maybe that 900-foot-tall Jesus was coming to lunch.