It saddened me to hear a great preacher spoken of as he was here yesterday.  (I write this early Wed. morning.)  My earliest memory of Oral Roberts is watching my mother watch Oral Roberts on a black and white TV.  My family did not attend church.  My mother didn't trust most Christians.  However, she would watch Oral Roberts as he preached the gospel and prayed for the sick.  She trusted him.  She became a Christian later in life.
 
Later on, Oral Robert's little book about Seed Faith was one of the first I read as a young Christian.  I live in Indiana where we daily see the process of sowing and planting throughout the year.  His book was scriptural.  Unfortunately those that came later from his and other ministeries got on a prosperity tangent but the root of seed faith is in the Word.  I do not normally watch Copeland's daily show.   I am watching it this week to see what Oral was shown.
 
We think of the great men of the Bible as heros.  However, those who lived at the same time period as these men saw their flaws. Moses committed murder.  David set up a man to die and committed adultery.  Peter was a rather feisty soul who had some personality flaws.  Then there was Saul/Paul.  I think we all know his flaws.  We read in the Word how the early Christians took a lot of time to believe he had changed.
 
I am certainly glad I am not a worldwide public figure or my errors would be open to such criticism.  I've made some whoppers when I was SURE I'd heard from God.  Oral Roberts has not been perfect.  In his imperfection, he has led many to the Lord. He started a Christian college which is highly regarded.  The hospital didn't work out as he thought it would.  However, if my memory doesn't fail me (and at my age it does at times) that hospital became one of the Cancer Treatment of America hospitals.  It doesn't hold his name.  Perhaps that is what God intended all along?  Who are we to decide when a man has been a failure or success?
 
Brenda N