Richard Roberts

Richard Roberts has continued on in the tradition of his father ORAL ROBERTS and is heir apparent to the evangelistic and educational empire created by him. Preaching virtually the same doctrine as his father, Richard Roberts is deeply involved in the Charismatic movement and has manifested the laughing phenomenon known as the TORONTO BLESSING in meetings held by Rodney Howard-Browne, which were televised.

DOCTRINAL ISSUES

FALSE DOCTRINE - The Holy Spirit

Richard Roberts, by associating himself with the false teaching of Rodney Howard-Browne ("The Holy Spirit Bartender"), Karl Strader and the Toronto Blessing sensationalism, prompts serious questions, because in doing so he also aligns himself with John Arnott whose views regarding the Holy Spirit and the Toronto Blessing are also heretical.

FALSE DOCTRINE - Commanding God

Richard Roberts has bought into the "Word of Faith Doctrine" which is very similar to the "Seed Faith" doctrine taught by he and his father. The "Word of Faith" teaching essentially claims that a person can command God, by means of using the right words in prayer, to provide virtually any desire that a Christian might have. If the right words are used, then God is obligated by certain laws to act on behalf of what is requested. God then becomes a spiritual genie, acting under the sovereignty of human beings rather than being the sovereign God of the universe under which all human beings are subject.

Richard Roberts associates with and accepts the teaching of many Word of Faith teachers, among them are: Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Marilyn Hickey, R.W. Schambach, Creflo Dollar and Jerry Savelle. Richard Roberts also embraces the ministry and teaching of Benny Hinn whose numerous false prophecies have revealed him to be a false prophet.

By making these types of alliances and giving support to those who share heretical beliefs, Richard Roberts reveals that he is part of the dark world of the hyper-Charismatic movement and is lacking in spiritual discernment. His salvation has not genuinely delivered him from error to truth.

FALSE DOCTRINE - Continuing Revelation

Richard Roberts claims that God speaks and appears to him. Perhaps he has not seen a 900 foot tall Jesus like his father, but he believes and teaches the doctrine of continuing revelation. The doctrine of continuing revelation has led to disaster and embarrassment in the life of his father.

Oral Roberts claimed that God revealed to him the plan for the "City of Faith Medical Center" where God told him that he would find a cure for cancer. It was claimed that God told Oral Roberts to raise 8 million dollars to keep the City of Faith going, or He would kill Oral Roberts. After he raised the money, he claimed that there was 1 million dollars more than was needed. Eight months later, the City of Faith failed and the whole operation closed. Oral Roberts has not found the cure for cancer. God is made to look like a failure because of the false claims of revelation by Oral Roberts.

The doctrine of continuing revelation is a monumental and cruel hoax. Any person can claim to receive a direct revelation from God and no one can deny the claim of the person, no matter how outrageous the message because, by definition, a revelation is that which was not known before. This doctrine allowed Ruth Heflin to claim that she received a word from the Lord and told Benny Hinn that Jesus Christ would appear on the platform in one of his meetings. The claim was outrageously foolish, but Benny Hinn broadcast it to the whole world, claiming that Jesus Christ would appear with him soon. Of course, Jesus Christ has never appeared with Benny Hinn on the platform, because the revelation was false.

The same difficulties, regarding direct revelation, must be faced by Richard Roberts. What credentials does he present when claiming to receive a revelation other than his word? Jesus Christ and the apostles could work miracles: heal, cast out demons and raise the dead. What can Richard Roberts do? He claims he can heal and he claims to bind the devil. His healings are of the invisible and unverifiable type and if he can bind the devil, the devil hasn't revealed that to anyone.

People who claim to bind the devil are legion in number and have been making the claim for years, but the evil in the world continues unabated. The Bible states that the devil goes throughout the earth "like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may destroy." The Scripture is clear, that the devil is not bound, so for a person to claim that they can accomplish the task is ludicrous. By what measure does Richard Roberts claim to use in order to verify that he has, in fact, bound the devil? He has no measure to use and no proof to show, yet the claim is still made and Christians senselessly believe what they are told.

It is not known, but it is extremely doubtful that Richard Roberts claims he can raise the dead, unlike his associate, Benny Hinn, who once said that people would be placing their dead relatives in front of the television sets during one of Benny Hinn's telecasts and they would be raised from the dead.

"I see, I see quite something amazing. I see rows of uhm, of caskets lining up in front of this TV set. And I see them bringing them closer to the TV set. And as people are coming closer, I see ah, a, actually loved ones picking up the hands of the dead and letting them touch the screen, and people are, are getting raised as their hands are touching that screen. The, the glory of God will be so on TBN that there's gonna be divine resurrection happening as people bring their loved ones to the TV set."

Benny Hinn, TBN, Praise The Lord, October 23, 1999

Richard Roberts' desire to sustain his ministry connections and religious alliances in order to maintain his ministry position and high profile exceeds his desire to please God, and in fact, replaces his responsibility to teach correct doctrine.

SPINNING THE ISSUES

"The story of Jesus feeding 5,000 tired, hungry people with two loaves of bread and two fish in John 6:1-14 is a much bigger scene than meets the eye. It's a story about you and me when we're hurting-when we're down to our last few dollars and the bills are piling up. This miracle tells us that when we come to the end of ourselves, we're in position to cross over to the miraculous. If Jesus could stretch the little boy's seed-lunch into miracle proportions to feed a crowd of 5,000, He can multiply our seeds of faith into a miracle supply."

Richard Roberts, e-mail newsletter, Daily Guide to Miracles from Oral Roberts Ministries, Sunday, October 24th, 2004

Richard Roberts attempts to twist the meaning of the feeding of the 5,000 into a demonstration of the benefits of seed faith. It does not matter to him that the crowd was gathered because they came to see Jesus perform signs and heal, and they were not believers in Him or would not be considered Christians. None of the crowd expressed faith for the miracle of food provided for them. But, those minor difficulties do not deter Richard Roberts from his goal of claiming that the incident is a demonstration of "seed-faith" in action.

He claims that the two dried fish and five cakes of bread that were brought by the young child were a "seed-lunch" given as a seed-offering, and that the miracle was performed in response to that offering. The difficulty for Richard Roberts to overcome, is that the lunch was brought by the child for himself and not as an offering, and the child had no concept or understanding of "seed-faith," a teaching invented by Oral Roberts over 1,900 years later. Richard Roberts attempts to justify the seed-faith doctrine, which is the financial foundation that powers the Oral Roberts Ministries empire. Many people have adopted the "seed-faith" concept and it has been incorporated into Word of Faith theology as the "Giving and Receiving" doctrine.

The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 has nothing to do with faith in order to obtain a miracle, and there is no teaching in the narrative indicating that miracle-working faith is the issue. Jesus knew what He was going to do prior to the lunch being presented to him. Verse 6 says,

This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what he was intending to do."

Jesus did not need the two fishes and 5 loaves of bread in order to perform the miracle which he had already determined to do prior to being informed of the existence of the lunch..

No one expressed any "seed-faith" during the incident: the disciples did not know where the food could be obtained, the crowd didn't think or know that Jesus would feed them and the narrative presents no indication that the child presented the food as a "seed-lunch," a concept about which he would have known absolutely nothing.

Jesus clears the issue on that subject, when he told the same crowd the next day,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled," John 6:26.

The narrative continues and the reality of what the crowd wanted is revealed,

"So they said to Him, 'What do You do for a sign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, "'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'"' Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.' Then they said to Him, 'Lord, always give us this bread.' Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe,"

-John 6:30-36.

The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 was not a demonstration of the concept of "seed-faith" but it was a demonstration of their lack of faith and unbelief, both in the disciples and the crowd, which is just the opposite of the "seed-faith" concept that Richard Roberts claims the incident shows.

The disciples did not know where the food would be found, and the crowd did not believe in Jesus even after the miracle, vs. 36. The feeding of the 5,000 is a much bigger scene that meets the eye, as Richard Roberts states, but it is not about the scene that he describes. It is not about "you and me when we're hurting-when we're down to our last few dollars and the bills are piling up." It is not about a miracles that "tells us that when we come to the end of ourselves, we're in position to cross over to the miraculous."

It is about an unbelieving people who tried to trick Jesus Christ into providing more free food for their temporal wants, by demanding that He prove himself by means of a sign, when they had already seen Him heal the sick and miraculously provide food for them the day before, vs. 30. It is about unbelieving people who put God and Jesus to the test in order to satisfy their own carnal desires, and then reject their true spiritual needs and the only person who can satisfy those needs.

HEALING ISSUES

Richard Roberts claims to be a conduit of healing power from God, but that is suspect, because, like his father and all the other current group of healing evangelists, he can only heal the invisible. Missing arms and legs don't miraculously reappear. Missing eyes are not restored and disfigurements are not corrected. Congenital physical defects are not erased and the mentally impaired are not made whole.

He claims to heal that which even he cannot see, through the medium of his television broadcast. Night after night, he calls out healings for various diseases, never specifying the name of the person, or persons, being healed, but tells them to call him when they believe they have been healed. God tells Richard Roberts what kind of disease is being healed at the moment, but neglects to inform him of just who is being healed. The healing portions of the broadcast become so routine, that he falls into a trap of repetition, many times saying that God has told him there will be "...at least 16 people healed tonight..." Apparently God is specific up to the number 16, but after that he is not too sure.

One recurring healing is for those people who have cysts, and it is claimed that they fall from the faces of those who have received their miracle. There seem to be many people who have cysts on their faces, but those people never appear on the television program with their doctors and the documentation to prove their disease and healing.

Another unusual claim was that God was healing painful belly-buttons. Now to the person with a painful belly-button, it is no small matter. But are there medical procedures that are sufficient to handle those types of problems that do not require a miracle? The claim of belly-button healings is a symptom of the problem inherent in Richard Roberts' claims. He eventually trivializes what he claims to be a miracle. Instead of miracles being those events which have no explanation or cannot occur by any other means, they become the relief of lower back pain, claims of cysts falling from faces and healings of painful belly-buttons, none of which are verified.

This is trivial nonsense presented as a deep, spiritual movement by the sovereign creator God of the universe. When the real healings are attempted, such as the child who is soon to die of cancer, the reality of what is claimed does become apparent, as the failure to heal for real is seen by the whole world. In that case, there is no invisibility, and failure is always the case. But to the faithful adherents, it makes no difference.

Many times, while he is speaking, Richard Roberts will suddenly interrupt himself and say, "Yes Lord, I'll do that." The implication being that God has given him a revelation at that very moment, and how convenient that it would happen just when everyone can see it. God waits for the television show to broadcast and then begins to reveal many things through Richard Roberts. Richard Roberts' claim to a belief in continuing revelation from God is expressed almost nightly by his claims to receive knowledge about healings through the direct revelation of God.

The healing gift is not limited to Richard Roberts. One night while he was interviewing one of the professors of Oral Roberts University, not to be outdone by President Roberts, the professor began to call out healings also. Everyone can be a miracle healer when there is an audience and one must take advantage of the moment that is given.

In order to support his claims about healing, which are not found in the Scripture, Richard Robert's resorts to twisted interpretations of the Scripture, which he attempts to use in order to give legitimacy to what he teaches. Most people are not careful about what they believe in relation to what he says about the Scripture, so if they do not actually read the Scriptures which he uses, they will be deceived by what he claims is found in them. One of these distortions is found in the August 23, 2004 e-mail newsletter, "Daily Guide to Miracles from Oral Roberts Ministries," in which he states the following:

Healing Is Not a Luxury

Richard Roberts

"When Jesus told the woman from Canaan that healing was the children's bread (Matthew 15:26), He gave us a powerful truth. Bread is basic to human existence. Throughout the world. most people eat some type of bread. So if healing is bread for God's children, that means it's not a luxury. It's a necessity. It's a basic provision God has given to all believers to sustain us in this life. In other words, healing is not a sideline of the Gospel. It's the mainline! It's God's supernatural provision for all of His Children."

When the verse is read, it becomes readily apparent that the bread referred to is not healing. If that were the case, then the reference also applies to animals as well, because the children's bread was also fed to the dogs, vs. 26. It is a very tough claim to prove that healing is in the atonement for family pets as well as all Christians.

The sheep in the passage are the people of Israel, to whom Jesus Christ came as the Messiah, and the children are representative of them also. The dogs are those who are not of Israel, who the Canaanite woman represented and the bread is the representation of all the blessings of the kingdom that was promised to Israel. But the Canaanite woman hoped to only eat of the crumbs of those blessings, those things that were left over.

If the passage is teaching anything at all about healing, it is teaching that it is a minor part of the main loaf of bread, not that it is the major portion. In other words, healing is only the leftover crumbs; far from being the "mainline" message of the gospel. But, even that is not what is being represented in the verses. Richard Robert's claim that healing is given to all believers and is the "mainline" of the gospel is not taught there, but is simply a convenient claim by him. Jesus Himself denies what the bread of the children is in Richard Robert's theology, when He says the following:

"And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.'"

-John 6:35

"'I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this brad, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.' The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, 'How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?' Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. he who eats my flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of Me. This is the brad which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.'"

-John 6:48-58

The "mainline" message of the gospel is not that bread is representative of physical healing, but that Jesus Christ is the bread of life that gives eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

The above article is just one of those strange paradoxes that one encounters throughout life. The obvious question is, why would Oral Roberts University try to develop a wheelchair when its president, Richard Roberts, and former president and founder, Oral Roberts, claim they have the ability to heal? Perhaps the article serves to place in true perspective, the false claims by Richard Roberts that he can heal. The person who makes a claim to heal, but knows that he can't, engages in unconscionable conduct.

"Article by Gary A. Hand, copyright 2003, ON Doctrine and www.ondoctrine.com"

Official Website - www.orm.cc

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