A Teacher
Oral Roberts
Seed-faith: give expectantly and reap a multiplied return
The transmission
Granville Oral Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, in Oklahoma, into poverty. As a teenager he nearly died of tuberculosis and suffered a severe stutter; he attributed his recovery to a 1935 tent-revival healing, which set the course of his ministry.
Ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church, he later resigned his pastorate to found the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and became one of the first preachers to take faith-healing and prosperity teaching to a mass television audience.
Over his career he conducted more than three hundred crusades across six continents. Roberts founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1963, serving as its chancellor.
He is best known for his “seed-faith” doctrine: the teaching that a gift given to the ministry in expectant faith is a “seed” that God multiplies back to the giver in financial and spiritual blessing. This made him a pivotal figure in the prosperity gospel and a direct influence on Word of Faith broadcasters such as Kenneth Copeland.
His later years included widely publicized fundraising controversies. He died of complications from pneumonia on December 15, 2009, at the age of 91. The Atlas presents seed-faith faithfully as a sincere belief structure while keeping its documented critiques in view.
What they gave
Seed-faith: Framed expectant giving as a creative act that sets a multiplied return in motion — belief and expectation as cause (The Inner Creates the Outer, The Inner Creates the Outer).
- Expectancy as method: Made the felt conviction of coming blessing — “expect a miracle” — a central, repeatable practice (The Inner Creates the Outer, The Inner Creates the Outer).
- Healing on broadcast scale: Brought charismatic healing and positive expectation to television, normalizing belief-as-cause for a mass audience.
- Institutional reach: Through Oral Roberts University and his association, gave the prosperity stream a durable platform and trained a generation of its preachers.
A note on the evidence. “Seed-faith” giving is widely critiqued as exploitative fundraising, and the prosperity framing carries the same implied victim-blaming the Atlas flags everywhere — that the unhealed or unprosperous gave or believed too little. Mechanism and fault are kept separate: expectant belief may carry psychological effect; the verdict that suffering is the sufferer’s fault does not follow and is rejected.
In their words
When I had no earthly source or person to turn to, when I was alone with nothing but big problems and challenges facing me, these principles showed me God is my Source.
You may think you’re dealing with man in getting your needs met, but people are only instruments. God can use people as His delivery system, but you must understand that God is your Source.
When you take the faith that God has given to you and use it according to His Word, it becomes a mighty tool to move the mountain of need you face in your life.
So, really, faith is the key to everything!
What do you love? What do you treasure? If you love money and treasure it, you can never give to God with a pure heart. If you really love God, you will happily give of your treasure and be glad you were obedient.
When God is your Source, He can touch someone to be His instrument to help you.
In looking back over my life, now more than ever, I value every seed I’ve sown and every expectation I’ve had for a miracle harvest.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Pentecostal Holiness revivalism and the Faith Cure / healing-revival tradition out of which his ministry grew.
- Influenced: Kenneth Copeland (who names him among his sources), prosperity-gospel televangelism, and the broader Word of Faith movement.
Revelations they taught
Their Practices 3
Essential Works
- The Fourth Man1951
- Miracle of Seed-Faith1970