Adulterer!

 I spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend once again reading about the life of Kathryn Kuhlman.

I first heard about her from Joyce Meyer, when Meyer would talk about how much the popular Kuhlman influenced her own successful ministry.

I guess I’d been warned about Kuhlman’s fancy gowns and flare for the dramatic, but not until I watched some of her videos, especially the old ones, did I realize how theater-like she really was.

From Slut to Saint...

Yeah, if you Google "Kathryn Kuhlman," you'll find just as much dirt about her as you will testimonies of the many healings that God allowed to flash forth in her ministry.

As for the dirt, that happened when she met a handsome man named Burroughs Waltrip, who was married with two boys at the time. He may have told Kathryn that his wife left him -- that's reportedly what he told other people -- so he ended up divorced and married to Kathryn.

However, she never had peace about the union with the man, and she ended up getting away from him and repenting to God over it. 

I wish I could find that video where she said that following God can sometimes cost everything, but it's worth the price. I remember watching it on Google Videos, and it was powerful.

Accusations...

So I thought about Kuhlman again when I watched the below video of Pastor Joseph Prince speaking about her dalliances with that man. 

It was part of his sermon about repenting, but not receiving the condemnation that the enemy can try to heap on us over things we've done (or thought of) and then turned away from.

Pastor Prince said that years after she left that guy, some woman asked Kuhlman if she was that adulterer from such and such a place.

"It never happened..." Kuhlman reportedly replied. "That is not the Kathryn I know."

Okay, whether or not she was saying that out of denial, or out of a full realization that God does really forgive our sins and remembers them no more, remains to be seen.

But I found the whole mention of Kuhlman's situation interesting, and since someone was clicking on the book called Warning To Ministers, Their Wives: Avoid the Road to Destruction in my Amazon account recently, it reminded me of that book (that I haven't yet read) but sent me searching through as much as I could read about it online.

When leaders fall...

My Christian friend was over my house all night, with us chatting like a girlfriend's sleepover, and that's when I told her my dismay over the Benny Hinn/Paula White situation.

Somehow that had escaped me as a Christian writer who is online a lot and usually knows what's going on in the Christian world and beyond...

Anyway, Kuhlman greatly influenced Benny Hinn's ministry as well.

I loved the way he wrote in Good Morning, Holy Spirit about being so full of the Holy Spirit after spending hours upon hours in his room talking with God that he would come out of the room and his brother would be knocked back into the wall just from the sheer presence of the Lord on him afterward.

And seeing as though she's my namesake, I always loved Paula White and her hip style and testimony. But it's just sad to see how the evil one can try to throw these darts at those positively affecting the Kingdom of God.

Getting free on Christmas Day...

Yes, my nose turns red when I cry and am cold...

Pastor Prince spoke in another video about going through an "evil day" (he said thankfully those don't last long) himself where stuff was going wrong, he was short with this wife, etc.

When he spoke with several of his leaders, Pastor Prince learned that they had been under some kind of attack as well.

It was good for them to share what they were going through -- and he said it can be a relief for Christian leaders to know what the others are going through so that they know they are not alone.

Pastor Prince talked about not letting the enemy get you alone and off and isolated and buying into extremes. Good advice.

Anyway, they all ended up getting free from the condemnation and attack on Christmas Day -- and I thought that was wonderful.

What is my point? Let's see..

Oh yes, like I was reminded in church today, even King David fell in certain ways -- and Ruth was unable to conceive until after she met and married Boaz (a type of Christ) and the Lord enabled her, in His time and way. Both her and that prostitute Rahab ended up in the lineage of Christ.

So I guess my point still is that as Christians, we are still human beings that make mistakes. There is not one righteous, no, not one.

We should try our best to make the choice to do the right thing, but when we fall, we should really be sorry for it -- and then rely on God to help us turn away.

But falling doesn't mean we're not really believers, or that God can't use us anymore. Lots of people talk about the Kuhlman controversy. That's up to our Maker to sort out what was real and what wasn't -- I truly believe miracles happened.

And even though, like Da. T.R.U.T.H. rhymed, "my sin was botching the Lord's name up" -- that doesn't mean that we can't come back with some even more powerful testimonies in the wake of the situation, like he did.

So those are my main thoughts about the rabbit trail I took this weekend after watching Pastor Prince speak about Kuhlman: