Called and Ordained by God Kathryn Kuhlman 42 Questions Part 2

a representative from one of the most influential, one of the finest evangelical Christian magazines, wrote to me and submitted 42 questions that they wanted answered, more or less as an interview. And after reading the 42 questions, I thought, I'm going to do something. I'm going to answer these questions publicly with the radio. If they are interesting questions to those who read this very marvelous evangelical magazine, then I'm sure they would be interesting to those who do not subscribe to the magazine. You know, it's just like that. As I've often told you, I just love it when I'm invited to be a guest on a talk show and something like Phil Donahue, you know, when he asks questions and the questions are open to a live audience because... These are many questions that perhaps I never think of answering. And so, we have answered the first three questions. If you missed them, I'm sorry. Because today we're going to begin with the fourth question. And this is the question that was asked. And remember, I... am reading the question just as it has been submitted to me. Here it comes. The fourth question. You're the greatest woman preacher since Amy Semple McPherson. Was she any kind of model or inspiration to you? Sometimes I think that folk forget how long Mrs. McPherson, has been gone. And she was not any model to me because I never met Amy Semple McPherson. Sometimes I think just because she was a woman preacher and because I too preach the gospel. that perhaps there was some connection. But I do want to relate an incident to you. Years ago, an Amy Semper McPherson had been dead several years, driving through forest, lawn cemetery. And we saw this beautiful monument erected to her memory. And we walked up the little incline. Two people were there before us. A woman, a young man, perhaps no older than 17 years of age. I took for granted the woman was his mother, and she was standing there weeping. I came near enough to her that I could hear what she was saying to the young man. I found Christ through her life. Oh, it was so wonderful. It was so wonderful. When she preached, she made Jesus so real. And I'm a Christian today because I found Jesus when she preached. I found that tears were in my eyes. And I turned away after standing there in silence several minutes as I walked back to the car. This is what I said inwardly. If after I will have lived, if after I will have preached my last sermon, if after I have done my last day's work, my old heart has taken its last beat. If just one person can stand by my graveside and say, I found Christ because she preached the gospel, then, my friend, I will not have lived in vain. The fifth question. How do you conceive your calling? How and when did you get it? Oh, I could preach for hours and hours. I could talk to you for hours and hours on that. It was so simple. First of all, we go back to my wonderful conversion, that little Methodist church in Concordia, Missouri. I went back to that little Methodist church when I was in Kansas City. I took members of my staff along with me, and we drove to Concordia, Missouri. And I said, oh, you must see where I first accepted Jesus as my Savior. You must go with me. And so we drove to Concordia, and I tell you the truth, I was so shocked when I found out how small that little Methodist church had gotten through the years. There was a time when it looked so big to me. It looked almost like a cathedral to me, you know. And then I realized that perhaps it doesn't seat any more than 75 or 100 people. I walked into the little vestibule, and there was the same rope. that rang the bell, the first bell, the second bell, you know, announcing the time of the services. Or when somebody died in Concordia, Missouri, they always tolled the bell of the Methodist church. One meant a child died. Two meant a middle -aged person. Three meant an elderly person. Then everyone would rush to the telephone and say to the operator, who died? That's Concordia, Missouri. I walked in, the same pews were still there. The same railing was still, the same pulpit was still there. Nothing had really changed about the little church. But oh, how I had changed. That Sunday morning, standing there, holding the Methodist hymnal in my hand, I was standing next to Mama because Mama and everybody in Mama's family were Methodists. Grandpa Walkenhurst always attended that church, sat in the same pew until the last day when he died. having lived and died, believing sincerely that only Methodists would make it to heaven. Since that time, I've often thought what a shock Grandpa Walkenhorst got if he made it and found out that there were Baptists and Presbyterians and Lutherans and Catholics in heaven. I was not quite sure whether he could adjust to all of that or not. Anyway... That Sunday morning, my first connection with the Holy Spirit, my first introduction to the Holy Spirit, and yet I knew nothing about the third person, the Trinity, but he came with great conviction upon me. And standing, holding that Methodist hymnal in my hand, I began to shake with great conviction. I did the only thing that I knew what to do. I was only 14 years of age. I slipped off from where I was standing and went to the front pew, sat down in the corner, and wept, not out of sorrow, but because of a great feeling that came upon me. Something happened to me. These spiritual experiences one cannot describe because they are spiritual, and there are no words in the human vocabulary to describe them. But it was in that moment when I was born again. And I have never doubted my new birth experience from that moment until this very hour. I knew that something had happened to me. I knew that my sins had been forgiven. my sins were covered with the blood. And in that moment, Jesus Christ became very real to my heart. My call to the ministry was as definite as my conversion. That's the reason, you know, you can say anything that you want to about the fact that as a woman, I have no right to stand in the pulpit and preach the gospel. If everybody in the world would tell me that, it would have no effect on me whatsoever because my call to the ministry was as definite as my conversion. And it's just like that. I preached my very first sermon in Idaho. Oh, the state of Idaho. has a very precious place in my heart. I preached to those farmers. Name any little town in Idaho. I evangelized it. Every little country church that was closed because they couldn't afford a preacher. I would go to the members if they had a board. I remember going to... the head of the board of the Baptist Church, and I said, well, your church is closed anyway. You haven't anything to lose. And maybe a little to gain. Oh, sure. Twin Falls, Idaho. Emmett, Idaho. Filer, Idaho. Pet. Boise. Those were the days when I got my Early spiritual training. All that I knew how to preach was just salvation, the new birth experience. For no one can give to anyone else any more than that one had experienced himself. And all that I knew was what I had experienced in that little Methodist church. And the very first sermon I ever preached was Zacchaeus up a tree. And God knows if anybody was up a tree, I certainly was. when I preached that sermon. And I remember well that after the sixth sermon, I honestly felt I had exhausted the Bible. I'm telling you the truth. I felt there was nothing more to preach about. Six sermons. I had preached on Zacchaeus. I preached on heaven. I preached on hell. I preached on the love of God. You know, it's just like that. And what more was there to preach about? But years have come and years have gone. And I have found out you cannot exhaust the deep truths in God's word. Now the sixth question. In what church and denomination were you ordained? I am a Baptist. I still belong to Baptist Church. And I was ordained with the Evangelical Church Alliance in Joliet, Illinois years and years ago when I went to Joliet for a meeting in Joliet, Illinois. They were the first to ordain me, and I continued to hold papers with them all of these years. I also had the honor of having had the Oral Roberts University confer the degree of Humane letters. They gave me the honorary degree at the same time that they gave House Speaker Carl Alberts a degree. I'm very grateful to them for having thus honored me. But no matter what, degrees man has conferred upon me. Regardless of my ordination and where I hold papers, the greatest thing that has ever happened to me was the fact that I had been called of God to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know so well what the Apostle Paul meant when he declared that he was called of God to preach. Why he called me, I do not know. I haven't the slightest idea why I was chosen to preach the gospel. There are millions. Who could do a better job, I'm sure. Millions better equipped than I. The only reason I can give you is the fact that I knew I had nothing, and I never forget from whence I've come. And so, when you have nothing, and you admit you have nothing, Then it's so easy to look up and say, Wonderful Jesus, if you can take nothing and use it. Take my hands. Take my voice. Take my mind. Take my body. Take my love. It's all that I have. If you can use it, I give it to you. And he has taken nothing. and is using it. It isn't golden vessels that he asks for. It isn't silver vessels. It's yielded vessels. And the secret is yieldedness unto the Lord. The seventh question. Are your books audited and your financial statements available? My friend, they better be. Why, of course. Bless you. We have perhaps the greatest, the finest auditors in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Snodgrass and company. And it's just like that. And perhaps you'll not find a better... kept financial reports than you'll find in the Katherine Kuhlman Foundation. Question number eight. What is the purpose of your foundation? I read directly from our charter. Its purposes generally shall be to foster... promote and sponsor radio television programs, and broadcasts of a religious nature which will tend to further the Christian religion, foster Christian fellowship among people, and help interpret Christianity to the world, and to engage in such other religious, charitable, or educational activities as the Board of Trustees shall determine. And by the grace of God, we're trying to do a good job. And one day, when I will have preached my last sermon, I will have prayed my last prayer, and I stand in his glorious presence. Oh, I thought of this many, many times, for I've often wondered what would be my first words to him. For you see, this ministry has not been one of just a year or five years or ten. We have celebrated our 25th anniversary here in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, alone. And when I stand in his glorious presence, the first words I shall say when I look into his wonderful face Dear Jesus, I tried. I didn't do a perfect job because I was human. I made mistakes. There were failures. I'm sorry. But I tried.