In Case

you've lived in a cave, here is a brief bio of scandal-plagued Richard and Lindsay Roberts.

Years ago a person connected with the Oral Roberts ministry wrote a book, Give Me That Prime Time Religion, detailing that organization's history and dealings. It was published some years before Oral talked about his vision of a "900-foot Jesus" and God's threat to "call him home" if he didn't receive the money for his university, thus subjecting himself to widespread ridicule. What was interesting about the book, published in 1979, is the author, one Jerry Scholes, was so accurate in saying the Roberts' City of Faith hospital would never make it, for there had already been too many empty hospital beds in the Tulsa area. Now it is an office space complex called City Towers.

One of things Scholes noted was that while Oral was grooming Richard to ultimately take over the ministry, the author believed he simply didn't have what it took to run it. At the time, Richard was divorced from his first wife, Patti, and this was considered a handicap. As I remember the book (which I have somewhere in this apartment but God knows exactly where), Scholes said to the effect it would be hard to find another Evelyn. As we know, it wasn't too long afterward Richard remarried, and I believe Lindsay was a student at the ORU law school at the time they met.

In the final analysis, Scholes was proven to be right about the ministry. He did, however, have some good things to say about Evelyn Roberts, Richard's ex-wife Patti, and Richard's late sister and brother-in-law, Rebecca Roberts Nash and Marshall Nash, who died in a 1977 plane crash.

For those who don't know about the rest of Oral and Evelyn's kids, Ronald Roberts, Richard's brother, committed suicide in 1982. Richard's other sister, Roberta Roberts Potts, is an attorney.

Stay tuned for the next installment.