From the archives of Oral Roberts – Second of five parts
Many years ago, I was in a crusade in Richmond, Virginia, in the big tent. We were unable to find a proper location on a major thoroughfare. The location we had was large enough, but it was in an area of the city not easily accessible to those who would be driving in from other cities.
Three young couples drove in from Portsmouth, Virginia, for the crusade. The husbands were not believers, even though their wives were Christians and members of the church. They allowed their wives to go to church, gave them money to give, but they were not interested; that is, until they heard that an Oral Roberts Crusade was in Richmond and God was healing the sick and performing miracles.
The men became very curious and decided that the three couples would get into one car and drive to Richmond, where the men could see for themselves if God was really performing miracles.
When they arrived in the city, they could not locate the tent. One of the men rolled down the car window, put his head out, and asked a man standing on a corner, “Mister, could you tell us where the Oral Roberts tent meeting is?”
The man said, “Certainly,” and began giving instructions. When he finished, the driver turned to thank him and found that the man had disappeared!
He got out of the car and looked all around, but no one was present. Such a feeling of awe came over those three young men that when they arrived at the tent, they didn’t even hear my sermon. They sat transfixed, waiting for the invitation, and were among the first of the hundreds that came forward to accept Christ.
After they went back home, two of the men were called to preach and became ministers and pastors of churches, the third became a lay member.
To this day, they do not know who that stranger was.
