WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.819 a representative from one of the most influential, 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:10.320 one of the finest evangelical Christian magazines, 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:18.420 wrote to me and submitted 42 questions that they 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:22.640 wanted answered, more or less as an interview. 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:27.539 And after reading the 42 questions, I thought, 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:34.990 I'm going to do something. I'm going to answer 00:00:34.990 --> 00:00:42.549 these questions publicly with the radio. If they 00:00:42.549 --> 00:00:48.689 are interesting questions to those who read this 00:00:48.689 --> 00:00:52.490 very marvelous evangelical magazine, then I'm 00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:55.149 sure they would be interesting to those who do 00:00:55.149 --> 00:00:59.979 not subscribe to the magazine. You know, it's 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:03.479 just like that. As I've often told you, I just 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:09.500 love it when I'm invited to be a guest on a talk 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:15.260 show and something like Phil Donahue, you know, 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:20.340 when he asks questions and the questions are 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:25.329 open to a live audience because... These are 00:01:25.329 --> 00:01:27.409 many questions that perhaps I never think of 00:01:27.409 --> 00:01:33.810 answering. And so, we have answered the first 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:38.370 three questions. If you missed them, I'm sorry. 00:01:39.209 --> 00:01:41.709 Because today we're going to begin with the fourth 00:01:41.709 --> 00:01:47.810 question. And this is the question that was asked. 00:01:49.010 --> 00:01:54.829 And remember, I... am reading the question just 00:01:54.829 --> 00:01:58.829 as it has been submitted to me. Here it comes. 00:01:59.049 --> 00:02:03.129 The fourth question. You're the greatest woman 00:02:03.129 --> 00:02:06.829 preacher since Amy Semple McPherson. Was she 00:02:06.829 --> 00:02:13.550 any kind of model or inspiration to you? Sometimes 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:21.349 I think that folk forget how long Mrs. McPherson, 00:02:22.569 --> 00:02:31.270 has been gone. And she was not any model to me 00:02:31.270 --> 00:02:39.770 because I never met Amy Semple McPherson. Sometimes 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:45.150 I think just because she was a woman preacher 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:53.259 and because I too preach the gospel. that perhaps 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:58.960 there was some connection. But I do want to relate 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:11.580 an incident to you. Years ago, an Amy Semper 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:20.539 McPherson had been dead several years, driving 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:27.500 through forest, lawn cemetery. And we saw this 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:34.580 beautiful monument erected to her memory. And 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:45.379 we walked up the little incline. Two people were 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:52.050 there before us. A woman, a young man, perhaps 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:56.990 no older than 17 years of age. I took for granted 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:01.710 the woman was his mother, and she was standing 00:04:01.710 --> 00:04:10.830 there weeping. I came near enough to her that 00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:15.569 I could hear what she was saying to the young 00:04:15.569 --> 00:04:33.819 man. I found Christ through her life. Oh, it 00:04:33.819 --> 00:04:44.240 was so wonderful. It was so wonderful. When she 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:51.949 preached, she made Jesus so real. And I'm a Christian 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:59.170 today because I found Jesus when she preached. 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:10.730 I found that tears were in my eyes. And I turned 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:13.410 away after standing there in silence several 00:05:13.410 --> 00:05:20.560 minutes as I walked back to the car. This is 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:30.339 what I said inwardly. If after I will have lived, 00:05:30.540 --> 00:05:35.800 if after I will have preached my last sermon, 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:44.819 if after I have done my last day's work, my old 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:50.089 heart has taken its last beat. If just one person 00:05:50.089 --> 00:05:56.810 can stand by my graveside and say, I found Christ 00:05:56.810 --> 00:06:02.610 because she preached the gospel, then, my friend, 00:06:02.850 --> 00:06:10.509 I will not have lived in vain. The fifth question. 00:06:11.730 --> 00:06:15.709 How do you conceive your calling? How and when 00:06:15.709 --> 00:06:24.300 did you get it? Oh, I could preach for hours 00:06:24.300 --> 00:06:27.379 and hours. I could talk to you for hours and 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:30.860 hours on that. It was so simple. First of all, 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:33.160 we go back to my wonderful conversion, that little 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:37.019 Methodist church in Concordia, Missouri. I went 00:06:37.019 --> 00:06:39.259 back to that little Methodist church when I was 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:43.800 in Kansas City. I took members of my staff along 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.040 with me, and we drove to Concordia, Missouri. 00:06:46.379 --> 00:06:51.000 And I said, oh, you must see where I first accepted 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Jesus as my Savior. You must go with me. And 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.360 so we drove to Concordia, and I tell you the 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:05.100 truth, I was so shocked when I found out how 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:08.560 small that little Methodist church had gotten 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:12.250 through the years. There was a time when it looked 00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:18.490 so big to me. It looked almost like a cathedral 00:07:18.490 --> 00:07:24.649 to me, you know. And then I realized that perhaps 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:28.810 it doesn't seat any more than 75 or 100 people. 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:34.529 I walked into the little vestibule, and there 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:42.110 was the same rope. that rang the bell, the first 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:48.649 bell, the second bell, you know, announcing the 00:07:48.649 --> 00:07:51.670 time of the services. Or when somebody died in 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:56.350 Concordia, Missouri, they always tolled the bell 00:07:56.350 --> 00:08:00.750 of the Methodist church. One meant a child died. 00:08:01.250 --> 00:08:07.029 Two meant a middle -aged person. Three meant 00:08:07.029 --> 00:08:11.009 an elderly person. Then everyone would rush to 00:08:11.009 --> 00:08:13.769 the telephone and say to the operator, who died? 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:20.269 That's Concordia, Missouri. I walked in, the 00:08:20.269 --> 00:08:27.810 same pews were still there. The same railing 00:08:27.810 --> 00:08:32.450 was still, the same pulpit was still there. Nothing 00:08:32.450 --> 00:08:37.029 had really changed about the little church. But 00:08:37.029 --> 00:08:44.490 oh, how I had changed. That Sunday morning, standing 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:48.110 there, holding the Methodist hymnal in my hand, 00:08:48.169 --> 00:08:52.370 I was standing next to Mama because Mama and 00:08:52.370 --> 00:08:56.610 everybody in Mama's family were Methodists. Grandpa 00:08:56.610 --> 00:09:00.649 Walkenhurst always attended that church, sat 00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:04.710 in the same pew until the last day when he died. 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:12.350 having lived and died, believing sincerely that 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:17.190 only Methodists would make it to heaven. Since 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:20.389 that time, I've often thought what a shock Grandpa 00:09:20.389 --> 00:09:24.710 Walkenhorst got if he made it and found out that 00:09:24.710 --> 00:09:27.889 there were Baptists and Presbyterians and Lutherans 00:09:27.889 --> 00:09:32.350 and Catholics in heaven. I was not quite sure 00:09:32.350 --> 00:09:34.409 whether he could adjust to all of that or not. 00:09:35.450 --> 00:09:41.139 Anyway... That Sunday morning, my first connection 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:45.700 with the Holy Spirit, my first introduction to 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:47.700 the Holy Spirit, and yet I knew nothing about 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:50.240 the third person, the Trinity, but he came with 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:54.679 great conviction upon me. And standing, holding 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:58.779 that Methodist hymnal in my hand, I began to 00:09:58.779 --> 00:10:02.440 shake with great conviction. I did the only thing 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:04.919 that I knew what to do. I was only 14 years of 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:08.779 age. I slipped off from where I was standing 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:12.179 and went to the front pew, sat down in the corner, 00:10:12.259 --> 00:10:17.779 and wept, not out of sorrow, but because of a 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:23.419 great feeling that came upon me. Something happened 00:10:23.419 --> 00:10:27.679 to me. These spiritual experiences one cannot 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:30.919 describe because they are spiritual, and there 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:34.100 are no words in the human vocabulary to describe 00:10:34.100 --> 00:10:38.809 them. But it was in that moment when I was born 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:46.330 again. And I have never doubted my new birth 00:10:46.330 --> 00:10:50.429 experience from that moment until this very hour. 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:58.570 I knew that something had happened to me. I knew 00:10:58.570 --> 00:11:06.210 that my sins had been forgiven. my sins were 00:11:06.210 --> 00:11:10.250 covered with the blood. And in that moment, Jesus 00:11:10.250 --> 00:11:18.330 Christ became very real to my heart. My call 00:11:18.330 --> 00:11:21.269 to the ministry was as definite as my conversion. 00:11:23.090 --> 00:11:26.610 That's the reason, you know, you can say anything 00:11:26.610 --> 00:11:30.730 that you want to about the fact that as a woman, 00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:33.429 I have no right to stand in the pulpit and preach 00:11:33.429 --> 00:11:38.559 the gospel. If everybody in the world would tell 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:42.620 me that, it would have no effect on me whatsoever 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:48.220 because my call to the ministry was as definite 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:57.059 as my conversion. And it's just like that. I 00:11:57.059 --> 00:12:02.960 preached my very first sermon in Idaho. Oh, the 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:10.039 state of Idaho. has a very precious place in 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:15.940 my heart. I preached to those farmers. Name any 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:21.679 little town in Idaho. I evangelized it. Every 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:24.779 little country church that was closed because 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:29.179 they couldn't afford a preacher. I would go to 00:12:29.179 --> 00:12:33.340 the members if they had a board. I remember going 00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:36.379 to... the head of the board of the Baptist Church, 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.919 and I said, well, your church is closed anyway. 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:46.200 You haven't anything to lose. And maybe a little 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:53.840 to gain. Oh, sure. Twin Falls, Idaho. Emmett, 00:12:53.940 --> 00:13:02.299 Idaho. Filer, Idaho. Pet. Boise. Those were the 00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:07.210 days when I got my Early spiritual training. 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:12.629 All that I knew how to preach was just salvation, 00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:16.330 the new birth experience. For no one can give 00:13:16.330 --> 00:13:18.610 to anyone else any more than that one had experienced 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:22.269 himself. And all that I knew was what I had experienced 00:13:22.269 --> 00:13:27.009 in that little Methodist church. And the very 00:13:27.009 --> 00:13:29.149 first sermon I ever preached was Zacchaeus up 00:13:29.149 --> 00:13:32.090 a tree. And God knows if anybody was up a tree, 00:13:32.149 --> 00:13:35.899 I certainly was. when I preached that sermon. 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.740 And I remember well that after the sixth sermon, 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:50.799 I honestly felt I had exhausted the Bible. I'm 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:53.980 telling you the truth. I felt there was nothing 00:13:53.980 --> 00:14:01.200 more to preach about. Six sermons. I had preached 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.480 on Zacchaeus. I preached on heaven. I preached 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:11.059 on hell. I preached on the love of God. You know, 00:14:11.100 --> 00:14:14.580 it's just like that. And what more was there 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:18.919 to preach about? But years have come and years 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:25.659 have gone. And I have found out you cannot exhaust 00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:34.799 the deep truths in God's word. Now the sixth 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:40.019 question. In what church and denomination were 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:47.860 you ordained? I am a Baptist. I still belong 00:14:47.860 --> 00:14:55.039 to Baptist Church. And I was ordained with the 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.019 Evangelical Church Alliance in Joliet, Illinois 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:03.940 years and years ago when I went to Joliet for 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:10.159 a meeting in Joliet, Illinois. They were the 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.580 first to ordain me, and I continued to hold papers 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:21.879 with them all of these years. I also had the 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:27.500 honor of having had the Oral Roberts University 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:39.129 confer the degree of Humane letters. They gave 00:15:39.129 --> 00:15:42.830 me the honorary degree at the same time that 00:15:42.830 --> 00:15:47.789 they gave House Speaker Carl Alberts a degree. 00:15:48.750 --> 00:15:53.809 I'm very grateful to them for having thus honored 00:15:53.809 --> 00:16:00.480 me. But no matter what, degrees man has conferred 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:06.059 upon me. Regardless of my ordination and where 00:16:06.059 --> 00:16:13.320 I hold papers, the greatest thing that has ever 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:17.899 happened to me was the fact that I had been called 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:23.919 of God to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:28.639 Christ. I know so well what the Apostle Paul 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:35.799 meant when he declared that he was called of 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:41.840 God to preach. Why he called me, I do not know. 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:47.620 I haven't the slightest idea why I was chosen 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:55.950 to preach the gospel. There are millions. Who 00:16:55.950 --> 00:17:01.389 could do a better job, I'm sure. Millions better 00:17:01.389 --> 00:17:09.650 equipped than I. The only reason I can give you 00:17:09.650 --> 00:17:15.930 is the fact that I knew I had nothing, and I 00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:20.730 never forget from whence I've come. And so, when 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:24.109 you have nothing, and you admit you have nothing, 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:29.619 Then it's so easy to look up and say, Wonderful 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:34.640 Jesus, if you can take nothing and use it. Take 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:39.140 my hands. Take my voice. Take my mind. Take my 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:45.519 body. Take my love. It's all that I have. If 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:53.220 you can use it, I give it to you. And he has 00:17:53.220 --> 00:18:00.190 taken nothing. and is using it. It isn't golden 00:18:00.190 --> 00:18:04.269 vessels that he asks for. It isn't silver vessels. 00:18:05.170 --> 00:18:13.690 It's yielded vessels. And the secret is yieldedness 00:18:13.690 --> 00:18:20.970 unto the Lord. The seventh question. Are your 00:18:20.970 --> 00:18:24.549 books audited and your financial statements available? 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:33.599 My friend, they better be. Why, of course. Bless 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:38.440 you. We have perhaps the greatest, the finest 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:41.960 auditors in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:50.119 Snodgrass and company. And it's just like that. 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:56.650 And perhaps you'll not find a better... kept 00:18:56.650 --> 00:19:04.190 financial reports than you'll find in the Katherine 00:19:04.190 --> 00:19:11.069 Kuhlman Foundation. Question number eight. What 00:19:11.069 --> 00:19:15.230 is the purpose of your foundation? I read directly 00:19:15.230 --> 00:19:21.569 from our charter. Its purposes generally shall 00:19:21.569 --> 00:19:25.440 be to foster... promote and sponsor radio television 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.920 programs, and broadcasts of a religious nature 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.880 which will tend to further the Christian religion, 00:19:32.220 --> 00:19:36.079 foster Christian fellowship among people, and 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:39.920 help interpret Christianity to the world, and 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:43.420 to engage in such other religious, charitable, 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:47.839 or educational activities as the Board of Trustees 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:56.819 shall determine. And by the grace of God, we're 00:19:56.819 --> 00:20:02.180 trying to do a good job. And one day, when I 00:20:02.180 --> 00:20:05.240 will have preached my last sermon, I will have 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:10.519 prayed my last prayer, and I stand in his glorious 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:14.420 presence. Oh, I thought of this many, many times, 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:19.460 for I've often wondered what would be my first 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:24.630 words to him. For you see, this ministry has 00:20:24.630 --> 00:20:30.250 not been one of just a year or five years or 00:20:30.250 --> 00:20:35.690 ten. We have celebrated our 25th anniversary 00:20:35.690 --> 00:20:38.490 here in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 00:20:38.849 --> 00:20:43.230 alone. And when I stand in his glorious presence, 00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:48.230 the first words I shall say when I look into 00:20:48.230 --> 00:21:00.230 his wonderful face Dear Jesus, I tried. I didn't 00:21:00.230 --> 00:21:04.630 do a perfect job because I was human. I made 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:09.910 mistakes. There were failures. I'm sorry. But 00:21:09.910 --> 00:21:11.490 I tried.