Surprise Surprise - ORU In Trouble Again

From AP: TULSA, Okla. - More than $1 billion a year was inappropriately funneled through Oral Roberts University, a lawsuit by a former senior accountant at the scandal-plagued school alleges.

Say it isn't so. ORU is in trouble again! Seems these greedy scam artists/evangelists never learn. ORU has been allegedly "cooking the books" according to a former employee. By funneling funds to support lavish lifestyles, the School officials at ORU are living large. Normally I wouldn't give a shit about this kind of story but my late Mother was constantly deluged via snail-mail for donations from crooks like these.

I can recall one incident with someone named "Brother Jimmy" who began sending her mail requesting cash. Being an old lady with a fixed income she could not afford to help buy these assholes nice houses and Cadilacs. I recall one time walking into her apartment and she showed me a letter with a key. The key was made out of some type of cheap metal but it had a lovely shine to it. Kind of like "Brother Jimmy." Anyway, the mail made the ridiculous statement that the key was her personal "Key To Heaven" and all she had to do was make a donation (I have forgotten the amount) to activate the key. Well, I made a lot of noise about what a scam it was and advised her to trash the damn key along with the mail. I'll never know for sure whether she did or not but I was seriously pissed. This type of scam preys on the most vulnerable of our society - the elderly and those with the blindest of faith. Don't think for one minute these later-day Elmer Gantry's don't know who they're getting most of their cash from. They are well aware it's the elderly and in some cases those with senile demntia.

Can anyone remember the ridiculous claim Oral Roberts himself made in 1987? He asked for eight million dollars in donations claiming he would be "called home" by God if he didn't raise the money. He did eventually raise nine million dollars. I wonder how many poor people went without new coats and shoes so he could live like a king.

So, if these charges are true, I surely want to see these crooks to go to jail. They've fleeced enough of the faithful and sheared enough of their flocks. Time to pay the band. Oral and Richard Roberts, are you listening?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_re_us/oral_roberts_scandal_2