Stambaugh Auditorium, Youngstown, Ohio
Sunday, September 16, 1962
Kathryn Kuhlman
I am going to answer two questions before I go on to something else.
Here is a very fine question and this comes from one of our precious gospel partners who lives in New York. This is the question: “If we will know our loved ones when we get to heaven, will we be aware of the absence of any of them who may not be there?”
That is true. The Bible clearly teaches that we shall know even as we are known. I want you to watch something very closely.
The Bible teaches: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Therefore, a physical birth is separate and apart from a spiritual birth. Your spiritual birth is something that is separate and apart from your physical birth. When we come to the things pertaining to the spiritual, then remember, any part of you that is physical has nothing to do with the spiritual. It is like this. I can explain it best in giving this illustration.
I find that I have greater love in my heart – it is a peculiar love; it is a deeper love; it is something that I can’t understand; it is a bond. There is a love that I have, a peculiar love, for my brethren and my sisters in the Spirit than I have ever felt toward my family in the flesh. There is an understanding. There is a oneness. It is a different kind of love. It is entirely different. There is something about our love for the brethren. There is something about the hand clasp and the “God bless you.” There is something about the things of the Spirit. It isn’t that I don’t love my two sisters in the flesh. I do. It isn’t that I didn’t love my brother in the flesh. I did. But there is something about our love, one for the other, those of us who are born again and who are members of His Body.
Now, remember, as I have been talking about the trinity of man, we saw that the spirit and the soul are eternal. The spirit and the soul are from God. God is the Creator of the body, of course. That is the reason I always say to you, we are the combination of the temporal and the eternal. The flesh is temporal. The body goes back to the dust of the earth from whence it came. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” And because it is flesh, it goes back to the dust of the earth from whence it came. That is only temporal. But the spirit and the soul are eternal. It goes back to Him; it can never be destroyed. When the bodies are resurrected, they are no longer just temporal. They will be spiritual bodies. When I say spiritual, I do not mean in the sense of a spirit, for we will always have – after that first glorious resurrection – a body. The spirit and the soul will again inhabit a body. But after the first resurrection, it will not be a temporal body. It will be a spiritual body in the sense that it will be eternal.
Therefore, anything that has to do with the flesh or anything that has to do with the natural man will be left when the heart takes its last beat. If you have a brother who is not converted – you may have a brother in the flesh – I am talking about 7 members of a family where there are 6 girls and one brother and that brother of yours was never converted but all six of the sisters were converted – when you get home to Glory you will have no recollection of that brother whatsoever because that brother was in the natural. That pertains to the natural; that is only logical. He was of the flesh and you will only have association then with those things that have been born of the Spirit.
Now here comes another question that for some is not so all important and yet, under the circumstances, I see where it is most important. A little lady asks: “Am I right or wrong to pray for souls who are gone before us? I have been praying for years for God, our Heavenly Father, to be merciful to them, and to forgive their sins, and to give them eternal peace. It seems to me the souls would like our prayers after they are gone. Please explain this to me.”
You see, those of us who have been brought up as Protestants can smile, but watch something. How often I have thought of it. Do you realize that if your parents and your grandparents had been Roman Catholic, you would be Roman Catholic, too? You are only Protestant – nine times out of ten – because you were brought up Protestant. Therefore, don’t point an accusing finger at someone who was not brought up in the Protestant faith.
I never thought of it until Mama was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. On Mama’s floor was a lovely Catholic nurse. She was about my age. She was in charge of that floor. She wore a beautiful white garb. I can never tell you. That was my lesson. She was most gracious to me. There was something between the two of us. We never spoke of it. She felt it and I felt it. She didn’t have the slightest idea who I was. She knew I was Protestant. Each morning, there she was – her long white gown on and her hood. I could tell she had red hair, too. How often when I would come in she would greet me by saying: “Here comes the lady with the beautiful hats.” Don’t tell me you are completely eradicated. She loved hats just as much as I did. It wasn’t the hats really that she saw. I would look at her and yet, if I had been brought up Catholic, I probably would be wearing one of those habits. We are quick to criticize. How often I would pass her. Beloved, it is still a matter of what you have got in your heart.
Precious one, not only this one woman, but there may be others in this auditorium, I say this kindly, begin reading the Bible. The Word of God does not teach that we are to pray for the dead, after they are gone. You can find no Scripture in God’s Word. That is man’s idea. Remember that. It is one of the most commercial things that we have in the name of religion today. I say this kindly. This is what the Bible teaches, this is what the Word of God says – and always remember, if the Bible says one thing and you have been taught another, the BIBLE IS ALWAYS RIGHT. If I stand up here and say one thing and the Bible says another, I am wrong. And because I think a certain way, it doesn’t change the Word of God. Things are EXACTLY the way the Bible says they are.
God says and Jesus says that man seals his own doom right here on earth before his old heart stops beating. The eternal destiny of your soul is sealed, for when that heart has taken its last beat, after the last breath has left your body, a million people can pray their heads off, it is NOT going to change the destiny of your soul, one iota. IF YOU WERE NOT CONVERTED BEFORE YOUR HEART STOPPED BEATING, IF YOU HAVE NOT ACCEPTED JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR BEFORE BREATH LEFT YOUR BODY, THERE IS NO PLACE TO ACCEPT HIM AFTERWARDS. You do it NOW OR NEVER. That is the reason these opportunities are so important.
I don’t care how much money you have, you can be the wealthiest person in the whole world, you can never – you can have influence before you die, you can influence men before you die with a little cash, but all the money in the world will never influence God after you are dead. If you have neglected the salvation of your soul, if you were unsaved when life left your body, I don’t care if someone walked into the church and laid down a cool million dollars and said I want you to pray them out, that money won’t pray them one-quarter of an inch out of wherever they may be.
You don’t bribe God and you don’t influence God. Know that! The whole thing has got to be taken care of and sealed right down here on this earth. That’s it. It is just like that.
And that is the Word of God!
***
The rest of the message was the first in the series of messages on the Book of the Revelation for the benefit of the people in Youngstown who are unable to get into the Tuesday evening services.
