In January 1987, one of the most famous religious figures in the world looked into the camera and told his national audience that if they did not send him eight million dollars by March, God would call him home. That was Oral Roberts, delivering one of the most astonishing ultimatums in television history.

This deep dive traces how a boy born into extreme poverty, who nearly died of tuberculosis at 17, built a half-billion-dollar religious and educational empire and helped invent modern televangelism through his controversial prosperity gospel.

• The 1947 seed faith concept that reframed donations as investments guaranteed to multiply
• His move from canvas tents to television, reaching 80 percent of the US by 1957
• The 1968 switch to the Methodist church that sanitized his image for the middle class
• His claime ...