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Biography:
Granville Oral Roberts (1918- ) is one of the most famous Pentecostal ministers in the United
States today. His family was already a part of the Holiness religious culture of Oklahoma
and later, as a minister himself, he made extensive use of radio to preach his message.
By 1955 he was be carried on 250 different radio stations and was starting to use television. In 1965 he opened Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which became the first accredited Pentecostal university in the nation. In 1978 ORU added a medical school which was designed to combine scientific medical treatments with faith healing.
Roberts claims to have healing powers derived directly from God. During services he tells people that he can feel God's power surging through his right arm - the one he uses to heal people. Indirectly, his presence in Tulsa has not only fueled support for Pentecostal groups but also more rationalistic religious groups in the area, groups which exist in part as opposition to Roberts.
Roberts achieved widespread notoriety in 1987 when, during extreme financial difficulties, he proclaimed that God would "call him home" if he did not raise the $8 million necessary to keep his operations open. Fortunately for Roberts, just three hours before the announced deadline the goal was reached through the donation of $1.3 from a dog track owner. Despite this, his City of Faith Medical Center had to be closed just two years later.
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