ORAL ROBERTS makes first public appearance since injury

<br>TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Evangelist Oral Roberts delivered a humor-laced, 90-minute overview of the Bible in his first public appearance in Tulsa since breaking his pelvis earlier this year. <br><br>Roberts,

Thursday, June 21st 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Evangelist Oral Roberts delivered a humor-laced, 90-minute overview of the Bible in his first public appearance in Tulsa since breaking his pelvis earlier this year.

Roberts, founder of the university that bears his name, spoke to the annual meeting of the International Charismatic Bible Ministries convention at ORU's Mabee Center.

``Something good is going to happen to you today,'' said Roberts, 83, employing his trademark saying.

Roberts, who now lives in southern California, has struggled with illness in the past few years. In 1999, he had a heart attack and underwent a coronary angioplasty. He had undergone surgeries to widen his arteries and install a pacemaker in the 1990s.

It was a childhood bout with tuberculosis that drew Roberts to preaching and the healing movement in the 1950s. Television _ still a young medium then _ broadcast images of Roberts sitting in a chair on a stage under a huge tent, praying for long lines of people.

``When I began the healing ministry, I asked God to tell me what faith is, and he said, `Faith is when the Holy Spirit supernaturally empties your heart of doubt and fills you with a knowing so that you know that you know that you know.' And in that moment I cannot doubt'' that the person will be healed, Roberts said.

The Rev. Billy Joe Daugherty, pastor of Victory Christian Center, called Roberts one of the most important figures in the modern charismatic movement.

He said International Charismatic Bible Ministries was formed in 1986 when Roberts called together 27 people in Dallas to create an organization to encourage charismatic ministers. Daugherty was one of them and continues to serve as a trustee.

``We had three things in mind,'' he said. ``We're Bible-believing; we're charismatic; and we're involved in ministry, thus the name, International Charismatic Bible Ministries.''

About 5,000 people from across the United States and 20 countries attended the convention, which began Tuesday and ends with a healing service Thursday morning.

Other speakers included Richard Roberts, Eastman Curtis, Marilyn Hickey, Lindsay Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle and Creflo Dollar.