As the son of healing evangelist Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts, also an evangelist and prophetic minister, has become accustomed to public recognition. He has even jokingly used the words of John 14:9b when people confused him for his famous father: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
But Richard is more than “Oral Roberts Jr.” In fact, Oral once laid his hands on his son and spoke a prophetic word that Richard says has increasing significance in his life, saying Richard would have a double portion of his father’s anointing. I invited Richard as a guest for a recent episode of The Strang Report, where we discussed that anointing, what it means in his life and why our nation stands in deep need of anointing today.
“That’s the prayer that Elisha prayed, believing God for a double portion of anointing that would come to him from his mentor, Elijah,” Richard said of his father’s word. “And that anointing came upon me, that double portion came on me when my father went home to be with the Lord back in 2009. But it has continued to strengthen. And prophetically, a number of words have been given over me in the past year or two, so that I have not yet seen anything like the anointing that is coming to me. And now, words of knowledge are coming stronger and stronger every time I minister. And it’s absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
Like his father, Richard sees the ministry of healing as his primary gifting. “That’s the call that God gave me when I was 19 years of age. It was fulfilled when I was 31. And it’s been going strong, and still is 40 years later at 71. So I praise God for that anointing,” he said.
We charismatics tend to use words like “anointing” without realizing that not everyone understands their significance, so I asked Richard to dig deeper into this biblical concept. “I would say the anointing is that Holy Ghost presence that comes into a person’s life and fills them up to the brim, so much that when they speak, it’s like God speaking,” he said. “And when they act, it’s like God acting.
“I know when the anointing is on me, and I know when it’s not,” Richard said. “And I thank God for the anointing. The anointing breaks the yoke, it destroys the yoke of bondage, and you can feel something.”
But Richard, like many other believers, has a deep concern for our nation—and he said America needs what God has given him. “We’ve got to have the anointing of the Holy Spirit on our land,” he told me. “And we got to hold back the darkness. We’ve got to be watchmen on the wall to hold back the darkness. God has a good plan for America. The devil has a bad plan for America. But Jeremiah says God’s plan for us is good; it’s not evil.”
To hear more from Richard Roberts about the power of the Holy Spirit’s anointing and how it can turn our nation around, listen to the entire podcast here. And be sure to like and share this article and podcast with your friends and family who will recognize the Roberts name and want to know how God is moving in Richard’s life today along with what He can do for our nation if we turn our hearts back toward Him. {eoa}
