Scandal growing at Oral Roberts University

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I'd love to see Pat Robertson or the Heritage Foundation audited.

Talk about wolves in sheep's clothing....
 
Richard Roberts is going to be on Larry King Live tonight.

Local news reported that The National Council for Community Empowerment delivered a letter to Roberts today on behalf of some students requesting his resignation.

I think it's a bit early for that since they haven't even proved if the allegations or true or not. Not so sure he would even if it is proven that he misspent the money.

Will be interesting to see how he reacts and responds on CNN tonight.
 
Bleh. I'm not sure what to think now. I'm not overly impressed by any of the people involved. Some of the answers the Robert's gave tonight did seem fairly logical but they were still rather fishy. And now after briefly hearing the professors invovled, they seem daft and not so innocent either. Perhaps they all deserve each other.
 
I lost respect for the guy when he pulled the "if you don't give me 13 million dollars the Lord will call me home" and sat up in the tower waiting for people to call in and give him money. Anything after that is just gravy. He's bonkers and so is anyone who believes him IMO.
 
NEW YORK -- Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts and his wife, Lindsay Roberts, denied on Tuesday that they had misused university money, allegations made against them in a lawsuit a week ago. The couple gave their first interview since the lawsuit was filed as they rode Tuesday in ORU's leased 1979 Hawker 700 plane en route to New York City for an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live."

A Tulsa World reporter and photographer and an AP reporter accompanied the Robertses to New York. The World made arrangements to pay for the cost of transporting its personnel.

On the show, King asked the couple to address the claims in the lawsuit point-by-point, beginning with the allegation that Richard Roberts, president of ORU, required professor Tim Brooker to make his students help with a Tulsa mayoral campaign in 2006.

"I didn't ask or coerce anybody to do that. That's not true," Richard Roberts responded.

Brooker is among three former Oral Roberts University professors who on Oct. 2 filed suit against the school and four administrators, including Roberts, alleging wrongful termination and wrongful causing of one professor's resignation.

The professors said they lost their jobs because they turned over to administrators a report that alleged that the Richard Roberts family extensively spent university money for personal uses.

Richard Roberts confirmed on CNN that one of the professors was terminated, another's contract was not renewed and the third resigned.

A week after two of the plaintiffs and their attorney held a press conference to announce the filing of the lawsuit, the Robertses said in an interview with the Tulsa World and The Associated Press that they still had not been served with the lawsuit and were instead being tried "in the court of public opinion and media."

Here's the rest of the article. They go into each allegation with Richard Robert's response. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071010_1_A1_hTheO16827
 
AngelofHarlem01 said:
Yeah I thought it was him..it worked I guess lol.
Oral stepped down a long time ago as president though so he's not directly involved except for with the reputation of his school.

I think the professors were probably fired for legit reasons, I mean have you guys heard them talk on tv? They don't sound too with it lol.

As for the Robert's I have no idea. Not suprising if some of the allegations are true, but who knows.

Doubt anyone invovled is entirely innocent.
 
Embattled Oral Roberts president resigns
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, Associated Press Writer

TULSA, Okla. - The president of Oral Roberts University who is facing accusations he misspent university funds to support a lavish lifestyle resigned from his position, officials said Friday.

Richard Roberts' resignation is effective immediately, according to a statement e-mailed from George Pearsons, chairman of the school's Board of Regents.

Roberts and the university have come under fire since a lawsuit was filed by three former professors.

The lawsuit includes allegations of a $39,000 shopping tab at one store for Richard Roberts' wife, Lindsay, a $29,411 Bahamas senior trip on the university jet for one of Roberts' daughters, and a stable of horses for the Roberts children.

Roberts, son of school founder and televangelist Oral Roberts, had been on temporary leave from the evangelical university, fighting the accusations against him. In a recent interview, the couple denied wrongdoing.

Roberts has said the lawsuit amounted to "intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

On Friday, he said in the statement that he loved the university. He became president in 1993. "I love ORU with all my heart," Roberts said in the statement. "I love the students, faculty, staff and administration and I want to see God's best for all of them."

The professors also alleged in their lawsuit that Richard Roberts required students in a government class to work on 2006 mayoral candidate Randi Miller's campaign.

Roberts publicly endorsed Miller, but said then that he was doing so as a private citizen and not as an ORU representative. He has denied the lawsuit's claims that he ordered students to work on Miller's campaign.

Professor Tim Brooker, one of the lawsuit plaintiffs, accused the school of forcing him to quit after he warned Roberts that requiring students to work on Miller's campaign jeopardized ORU's tax-exempt status.

In the weeks since that lawsuit was filed, others have cropped up, including one from a former senior accountant who alleged that the Robertses ordered him to help them hide improper and illegal financial wrongdoing from the authorities and the public.

Besides the legal issues, the school's provost, Mark Lewandowski, offered to quit, telling the regents he could not "in good conscience serve under (Roberts') leadership." Roberts received a vote of "no confidence" recently from the school's tenured faculty.

The school's regents will meet Monday and Tuesday to determine action in the search process for a new president, Pearsons said in the statement.

Executive Regent Billy Joe Daugherty will assume the president's administrative responsibilities, working with Oral Roberts until the regents' meeting, the statement said.

The political campaign emails etc. were published in the paper this week.. they were pretty eye opening.

ORU Emails

Probably find links to the others on the newspapers main page.
 
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I can't help but be disappointed that my own brothers and sisters in Christ would piss away their own reputations like this (and, as a result, the reputation of the one to which they profess as well), but I'm also not surprised. The "gospel of prosperity", as it's being called, rubs me the wrong way. :shrug:
 
the iron horse said:




A good thought.

"Test everything." ~a quote from the Bible


*didn't take time to look up the reference :)

1 John 4:1 -- "Test the spirits and hold to that which is good."
 
I wonder if God told his wife to spend that 39 grand in one store

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University Wednesday that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but he did so because God insisted.

Roberts told students in the university's chapel that God told him on Thanksgiving that he should resign the next day.

Roberts said he resisted the idea, and that "every ounce of my flesh said 'no,'" but he prayed over the decision with his wife, Lindsay Roberts, and his father, Oral Roberts, and decided to step down.

A lawsuit accuses Roberts of lavish spending at a time when the university faced more than $50 million in debt. On Tuesday, the founder of a Christian office and education supply store chain pledged $70 million to help the university.

Roberts has previously said that God told him to deny the allegations. The week the lawsuit was filed, Richard Roberts said that God told: "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."
 
A good link, which I believe, states why Oral Roberts and his son's teachings are false.

It's really sad that Christians must continually deal with these people who so misrepresent and distort the message of Jesus.

And sadder still is how these false teachers hinder so many from even considering the Christian faith.

http://www.ondoctrine.com/10robero.htm
 
I wonder if God's message was, "Psst...you're making me look bad. Step down NOW!"

I kid, I kid. Seriously, though, I just have to roll my eyes at people like Roberts-yeah, if you screw people over that badly, you SHOULD quit, whether you were "told" to or not. I fully agree, it sucks that we have people like this guy out there claiming to represent the Christian faith. It's not fair to the many people who prove why Christianity is worthwhile. It'd be nice if the decent Christians got more of the publicity, they deserve it (and yes, I realize that by discussing this I'm only giving Roberts and people like him more publicity. I'm not helping, either, I know that. But venting feels good).

Angela
 
Forgetting about the Robert's for a minute, it's pretty cool that the founder of the Hobby Lobby chain has pledged 70 million dollars to help the university get out of debt. I thought this was really funny in the paper this morning :lol:

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I don't trust the majority of overly vocal "Christians".

Why trust anything?

Why do we question God telling him to step down?


Do you question God telling someone to kill their own child?


If God asked you to?

Would you?
 
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