"The Universal Church" & "Understanding Helps Our Love" Kathryn Kuhlman

I want to share a letter with you. And then you and I are going to have a good heart -to -heart talk about something that's close to my own heart. The letter begins, Dear Catherine, I'm going to have a heart -to -heart talk with you. And the word you is underlined. I am a Roman Catholic and a born -again Christian. I have attended your services at the shrine since last December. All this time I have wondered what the Catholic Church would say about my attending your services, but I have kept it locked up in my heart as my heart told me it was all right for me to go. Then last Sunday, my prayers were answered. When you had the Catholic priest go on stage, I kept my eye on him. And after the services, I asked him what he thought of you. And he said that you were spirit -filled and that you had never said anything against the Catholic Church. I asked him if it was okay to come and bring Catholics to your services. And he said, yes. The tears flowed for quite a while after that. I was so happy that I just couldn't stop crying. I thank God that he made you, Catherine Cooman. Oh, you'll never know how many hearts are empty, how many hearts are hungry, and how they are filled with the spirit by going to your services. I'm writing this letter because I want you to know the importance of not saying anything against any religion. I think preachers turn many people away when they start ranting and raving about how such and such a religion and the wrong things that this or that religion is doing. People just tune them out, and that's the end of it. any good the preacher could have done. As a last comment, I would like to tell you that I stood about two seats behind the Catholic priest in the Shrine Auditorium, and I saw the wonder in his eyes as teenager after teenager went on stage for the altar call. And then when I talked to him, it seemed like two light bulbs. were lit within his eyeballs. He was absolutely aglow with the love of God. Thank you, Catherine, a million thanks, and we will give all the praise to God. May he bless you and protect you and keep you from all harm. With a heart filled with love, I am, and in the writer of the letter that I have just read, signs her full name, gives her full address, which I shall keep in confidence. I learned my lesson a long time ago, and I had an experience I shall never forget. I think of it over and over again, and it was those last days. When Mama was in the hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, just before she went home to glory, it was the Catholic Hospital in Kansas City, a very fine hospital. The head nurse on the floor where Mama was a patient was a lovely thing. I can see her now in her spotless white dress, robes, uniform, whatever you desire to call it. She was about my age. Her coloring was about the same as mine. And when I would go to the hospital early every morning to see Mama, She was always on duty. And I don't know whether Mama ever knew it or not, but I never went to see Mama. Never in my life. Whether it was at home, in Concordia, Missouri, wherever it was, I always dressed up. I always wore my best clothes. I always wore a hat because I was my mama's daughter and I wanted her to be proud of me. And so when I would go to the hospital, I would always wear a hat. It was summer and I liked big hats with lots of flowers on them. And I knew mama would appreciate it. I wanted her to be proud of me. In those days, I think I spent more time getting dressed up just for Mama than any other time in my life. And when I would come to the hospital, this lovely Catholic sister would say to me, Good morning, and here comes the lady with the beautiful hat. And then she would stand there and smile, look at my hat. She appreciated the beauty of the hat. But it was more than that. I think we both were appreciating each other. She could feel my love for her, and without saying a word, she sensed what... I sensed. And each morning, I could see myself in her uniform. And I would say, if I had been brought up a Catholic, if Mama and Papa were Catholics, I probably would be doing what she was doing. Had I been brought up a Catholic in Concordia, Missouri, Because of my love for souls, my love for humanity, my love for the Lord, wanting to be in service for Him, I probably would be doing exactly what she was doing. Beloved, sometimes we fall. Sometimes I think that man's intolerance of his fellow man, the lack of understanding, is one of the biggest sins in the world today. We forget that a man can be Roman Catholic, a woman can be Roman Catholic, and still be born again. a child of God. It's the same Heavenly Father. And God had only one Son, Jesus Christ. And there is only one Holy Spirit. There are just as many born -again men and women in Catholicism as we have in the Protestant Church. We forget that. So many Protestants think that just because one is a Catholic, they're doomed and damned and on their way to hell. And what is true of Protestants is true of Catholics. You'd be amazed how many Catholics feel and have felt for generations that there is only one church, the Catholic Church, and they stand in judgment regarding a Protestant. Just because one is a Protestant outside of the Catholic Church, that they're doomed and damned and couldn't possibly go to heaven, couldn't possibly be an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. Remember something. It's that new birth experience, whether you're Catholic or Protestant, whether you're Jew or Gentile, it is still that new birth experience that makes you a Christian. Any man, any woman who will meet the condition that the Word of God has laid down. If we confess our sins, he is able and just to forgive us our sins. If we come boldly before the throne of God and in the wonderful name of Jesus, we confess our need of Jesus. When we confess that we needed the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin, all unrighteousness. regardless of who that man, that woman might be. In that moment, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will cleanse that one from all sin. In that moment, when that glorious spiritual transaction takes place, we call it the new birth experience. In that very second, the mighty Creator becomes that one's Heavenly Father. Jesus becomes that one's great high priest. Whether you are Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, through that wonderful transaction, Jesus becomes our great mediator, our advocate, our great high priest. To him we confess our sins. Know that. No man can forgive sins but the great high priest. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We can talk our troubles over with each other, but there's only one. who has the power to forgive. And that one is Jesus Christ. In that moment, that one is born into the body of Christ. Born into his church. And when we have the great catching up, And when we say the church and the Lord Jesus Christ will be caught up, we're not just talking about Protestants. We're not just talking about Gentiles. We are talking about men and women who've been born again. Members of his body. There'll be Roman Catholics in that great catching up. There will be Jews in that great catching up. Protestants in that great catching up. God knows no such thing as nationality. There'll be Russians in that great catching up. There'll be Germans, Italians. Why? God knows no such thing as nationality. He knows no such thing as a great church system that has nothing to do with one's born -again experience. Do you know that today in Russia there are literally thousands and thousands of wonderful born -again Christians? saints of God and yet how often we are guilty of referring to Russia as the great communistic nation and we take for granted because of our intolerance that everybody in Russia is communistic and deny the deity and divinity even the very existence of God Almighty. There are literally thousands of saints of God in Russia today and in communistic nations throughout the world. Yes, beloved, man's intolerance of his fellow men has down through the ages caused more hatred, and war than anything I know anything about today. And today it threatens to wipe mankind off the face of the earth, our ignorance of others' aims or virtues, failure to discover them, our refusal to tolerate them. Misunderstood long enough, people and nations become demons in our eyes. and we in theirs. And the ugly thing looms larger and larger, and it has gotten way out of proportion today. We need to do something about it. When you get to know a fellow, know his joys and know his cares, when you've come to understand him, and the burden that he bears, and when you've learned the fight he's making and the troubles in his way, then you find that he is different than you thought him yesterday. You find his faults are trivial, and there's not so much to blame in the fellow that you jeered at knew his name. You're quick to see the blemish in the distant neighbor's style. You can point to all his errors, and you may sneer at him the while, and your prejudices fatten, and your hates more violent grow as you talk about the failures of the man you really do not know. But when drawn a little closer and your hands and shoulders touch, you'll find that the traits you hated really don't amount to much. When you get to know a fella, You know his every mood and whim. You begin to find the texture of the splendid side of him. You begin to understand him, and you cease to scoff and sneer. For with understanding, always prejudices disappear. And you begin to find his virtues, his faults you cease to tell. For you seldom hate. a fella when you get to know him very well. When next you start in sneering and phrases turned to blame, no more of him you censor than his business and his name. For it's likely that acquaintance would your prejudice dispel, and you'd really come to like him. him if you knew him very well. When you get to know a fellow and you understand his ways, then his failures won't really matter. For you'll find an awful lot to praise. And when it comes to this thing of religion, Remember the scripture. Follow after love. We know the Ten Commandments, but Jesus gave the Eleventh. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. that ye may also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one another. Love is still the greatest force in the world today, and the greatest need in the universe this hour. is a love. His love. For it is his love that gives understanding.