In this encouraging conversation, Mike Triem sits down with longtime Bible teacher and radio host Yankee Arnold to talk about his nationwide ministry, his decades on the air, and the simple, life-changing message of the gospel. Arnold shares why he continues traveling the country in his motorhome well into his 80s, reflecting on God’s faithfulness through 66 years of marriage, years of ministry, and even serious health challenges that have not stopped him from preaching Christ.
Throughout the interview, Arnold passionately explains his core message: salvation is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ, and eternal life is a
It’s Mike Triem with 670 KLTT and we’re pleased to be joined by Yankee Ralph Arnold. Yankee Arnold, what a blessing to have you here. What the heck are you doing here?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, believe it or not, I’m traveling on the road and I left Tampa in January and I’m going to be getting back home around the middle of August. So I’m Finish there in Texas and come up to Colorado. And then I’ll be heading a week and a half from now. I’ll be on my way to Wyoming and then all the way across and go to Minnesota. And then, yes, all the way over to Buffalo, New York and then all states in between and going south again. So my wife and I, we just thank the Lord for giving us a wonderful ministry and fairly good health so we can still do it at our age. So great. You can do it. As you said, you got to do it while you’re young. Got to do it while I’m still young, because if I wait till I get old, I won’t be able to do it. That’s great. And in June, we will be celebrating 66 years of marriage. I think I was there when she was born, but I’m not sure about that. But God’s been good to us. I’m working on 85 and she’s working on 84. So I got a lot to be thankful for.
SPEAKER 01 :
Congratulations. 66 years. Unbelievable. You are on, for our station, so listeners know, KLTT. We have an early morning for the early risers, 4.30 a.m. I don’t even know if you know that, but you’re on 4.30 a.m. And then 8.30 a.m., that’s our primary broadcast, so 8.30 a.m. As you’re driving in, or if you’re already at work, you can put that on, and Yankee’s on, and he will shoot straight with you. We’ll talk about that in a minute, but… He’s the guy that if you have someone who doesn’t know the Lord listening to Yankee Arnold at 830 a.m. Monday through Friday, get it done.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, well, this is why I want to be on the radio, because there’s a lot of people that I’ll never reach if I don’t go on the radio. And I’ve been doing radio since 1975, did television for eight years out of Atlanta, Georgia. So I love talking about the Lord and seeing what God has done. But if you happen to be listening to any of my radio broadcasts, you’ll always notice that I try to explain the gospel and keeping it rightly divided between salvation and service because many people get that mixed up. And I believe the salvation is totally by grace alone so that you can’t know you’re going to heaven until you know you can’t go to hell. And the reason that’s so important is, is that God loves me and he loves you so much that he’d rather die than live without us. So whenever he died on that cross, he paid for our sins. Now, why did he do that? Because he didn’t want us to do it. He didn’t want us to pay for them. So he paid for mine. So he came back from the dead. And the only thing he wanted me to do about what he did. was to believe he did it for me. So when I believe he did it for me, he puts the payment he made to my account, and therefore I know I have eternal life. Because I can’t go to hell because I have no sins to pay for. Remember these words, Christ paid for my sins. That’s what we’re going to be celebrating Easter by. And yet many people don’t understand. They heard Christ paid for all the sins of the world, but they don’t understand it. That means that you don’t have to pay for yours if you’ll believe he did it for you. And that’s why he says in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. Well, that’s us. Gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Now, whosoever that’s an open invitation, all whosoever believe it in him, that means you believe he paid for your sins. He gives you two guarantees in that verse. Shall not perish means you can’t go to hell. But have everlasting life and you can know you’re going to heaven when you die. So that’s the most important thing in all the world is to know where are you going to spend eternity. So it’s worth every cent, every penny we spend in order to get people to trust Christ as their Savior and know that they’re going to heaven whenever they die. And so when you do that, God saves you, gives you eternal life, and you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. So I… Appreciate knowing the gospel, but I also appreciate sharing the gospel. So if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not right now in the quietness of this moment, just between you and the Lord, say, Lord, I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died, paid for my sins. And right now I will trust him as my only hope of going to heaven. And then whenever I get to heaven, I’ll be looking for you. Thanks, Mike.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yankee, it’s so simple. And when people listen to your radio program, they get a sense of, you know, we make the gospel so complicated. Or we say, oh, I can’t really do this. I can’t share with my friend about Jesus. But they can, and they can just keep it simple like that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, a lot of people make it complicated by telling them they have to turn from their sins, which is an impossibility for anybody to do. I’ve never met a person who has. And most preachers that tell you you got to turn from your sins, what that means is stop sinning. which is, I mean, be perfect. And it’s just the opposite of what the Bible says. God says none of us are perfect. We’ve all sinned. So salvation is for everybody equally. Yes, after I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior, yes, I should live as righteously and godly and holy as I possibly can, but not to get to heaven, but because I am going to heaven. And so that’s why if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, trust the Lord. And God says he’ll give you as a free gift everlasting life and never cast you out and never lose you. That’s why it’s so important.
SPEAKER 01 :
It is something that YouTube listeners, it’s one of the things that you and I marvel about, what God has done with your YouTube channel, because of that simplicity of the gospel and that straightforward message.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ve had several people ask me, how in the world do you get so many people to listen to your YouTube messages? I said, one is I believe God is blessing it. Because he will honor the man that honors the gospel. And because I keep it clear and simple and pure, free, that it’s eternal security. See, the gospel, good news, is that it is eternal security. You have security. The guarantee of going to heaven by trusting Christ and him alone. And so my YouTube ministry, I’ve only got about 800 and something messages on my YouTube channel. But it is a joy whenever I look at the figures and see how many people have listened to it. And I just did that last night because I knew I was coming up here today to worship. do an interview, and I want it to be accurate, and it has over 500,000 views in the last 28 days. That is incredible. And my little four-minute gospel video that I put up there has had over 1.2 million views. And so I want you to make it one more. Go to yankeearnold.com, and you’ll have a little sign that says click here. You click it, you’ll see my face. And I will give you the four minute message on how to know you have eternal life. And if you have anybody that’s not sure of going to heaven, get them to watch that little four minute video and they will really enjoy it.
SPEAKER 01 :
I love that. I think for our listeners to know that you’re traveling the country. You could be golfing. I don’t know if you’re a golfer. You could be doing other things. You could be out fishing. There’s so many things that you could do. God’s given you this extra time. Maybe I shouldn’t say extra time, but this time. You’re in the motorhome. I got a motorhome.
SPEAKER 02 :
I call it a dispensation of grace. Yeah, I’m living longer than I thought I would. But I believe it’s for a reason. In the last year, my wife had a heart attack in Kansas City and then she had a stroke last year down in Texas. And so she was in the hospital for five, five weeks. But we didn’t stop. It hinders us, but it doesn’t cause us to quit. And the last year I had two heart attacks. Two times I was in the hospital with double pneumonia, spotted my lungs, but nothing serious. And it amazed the doctors whenever I tell them it may be all true. I says, but in a couple of days, I got to get out of here because I got another church to get to on the other side of this country. But it always worked out that I can go. And so I’m not dead yet. So I’ve enjoyed being able to keep going. And I realize this. It is in my life. It’s always been urgent. I don’t want to slow down. I have two main fears, one of doing too much and two of doing too little. So I’d rather run the risk of doing too much than too little. And so I’m not yet ready to just sit on the beach and sip my lemonade. That day may be coming very soon. But until then, I want to give it all I’ve got. And so I thank the Lord for all the years he has given to me and for the opportunity that we’ve had to tell so many people about Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think there’s a message in there for people listening, too, because you told me a couple months ago, I know God has given me this extra time. I know what I’m supposed to do with it. That’s why I’m out on the road. I’m doing it.
SPEAKER 02 :
And because of that, my wife and I, we don’t live in it, but we are in it most of the year because, like, I left in November. In January, and we’ll be in about seven, eight months, we’ll be in the motorhome. And even though we’ve got issues, everybody has. Everybody’s got a problem. Like the Apostle Paul has made a statement. He said, I would have come to you time and again, but Satan hindered us. So Satan hinders us in a lot of different ways, but God delivers us. And so it’s not bad to be hindered. It’s just bad whenever you let what hinders you stop you. And so I believe that God has blessed me with the health that I have and the safety of traveling on the road because, yes, I get tired, I get weary, I get worn. But you ought to read Second Corinthians in Chapter 11, where the apostle Paul and what he went through, that was just the price he was willing to pay to reach souls. So my wife and I have given up a lot of things, but you ought to see our retirement plan. When we get to heaven, I don’t know what I’m going to have. Maybe just a cabin in the corner of glory land, but that’ll be good enough for me. I just want there to be a lot of people in heaven because they heard the gospel through my lips. And so I’ve seen people that have trusted Christ as Savior and how they’ve gone on to serve the Lord. And I’m thankful. And I mentioned his name. Greg Steer came from my youth ministry in Arvada. He graduated from the Arvada Christian School and started Dare to Share Ministries. And he’s doing a super job all over the world. And then there’s Rick Long, who has Grace Church right up here on Sheridan Boulevard. And I led his wife to the Lord and Shelly. But Rick has started, I think, 50 something churches down in Peru doing a super job, great ministry. And I thank the Lord for him. And so God has got a lot of these. I call them my adopted sons because a lot of them I’ve adopted as my kids and they always adopted me as their daddy. So I’ve trained them and I try to watch over them, you know, like a mother hen. But it’s good to know that whenever I pass off of the scene, there’s a lot of people that around this country that have been influenced by the simplicity of the gospel. They fell in love with the message just like I did. And they want people to know it. And they’re willing to give their life for the sake of the gospel. And I thank the Lord for it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yankee, you’ve been such a blessing to us. I’ve known you here since, I don’t know, aren’t we close to 15, 20 years? Close to 15 years, I know.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amazing.
SPEAKER 01 :
KLTT 830 a.m. Monday through Friday. You’ve been in that morning drive time time for for all of this. We do the 430 a.m. because we want the early risers to have it. And then also on our sister station, we do a 230 p.m. That’s KLDC 230 p.m. and 6 p.m. So any of those that if you’re listening and 830 a.m., you can’t listen for some reason. You have 2.30, 6 p.m. and yankeearnold.com. So plenty of ways to get connected.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you’re listening to this interview, understand this. If it hadn’t been for some of you people that have heard my broadcast and have helped me to stay on for all these years, we couldn’t have been able to do that. So I just wanted, this is a great opportunity for me to be able to have, say thank you. Because, you know, water might be free, but it might cost to pipe it in. And the gospel is free. Salvation is the gift of God. But there’s a cost that is involved in giving our time and labor to be on the air. They can’t do it for free. There’s always expenses. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you who like what I’m doing, love the gospel that I preach, and want to have a part in the ministry. So thank you very much. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you. Well said. We love you. YankeeArnold.com. Any questions, call us here at the station. Blessings.
