Participants: John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001707A
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00:01 The Carter Report presents "Living Victoriously,"
00:06 Secrets of Success 00:07 from Prime Minister Daniel of Babylon City 00:10 with your host John Carter. 00:25 Welcome today to the Carter Report. 00:28 This is part four of this 00:29 great new series "Living Victoriously". 00:33 And we give you a huge welcome today. 00:36 We're just so glad to see you here in our studio. 00:38 The topic is recovery from humiliation, 00:42 insanity, and financial disaster. 00:47 How to get back on top when the bottom falls out? 00:51 Years ago, when Beverley and I were young people, 00:56 we were sent in Australia to North Queensland. 01:00 In Australia, as you go north it gets hotter, 01:03 and as you go south it gets colder. 01:05 So right down southern Australia, 01:07 you have the Australian Alps, 01:10 where you have a huge amount of snow in winter, 01:12 not much snow on summer. 01:14 But you have a vast amount of snow 01:15 where people go skiing in wintertime, 01:18 but in the north it's a land of water buffalo... 01:21 Ever seen those things? 01:23 Water buffalo weighs about a ton 01:26 and also the biggest crocodiles in the world. 01:31 We were sent to a town by the name of Mackay. 01:36 And we were running, 01:37 what was called in those days a mission. 01:38 A mission is 01:42 when you had a mission to do something great for God. 01:46 I've heard people, when I've come to America 01:48 and they say, they're running an evangelist campaign 01:52 and they say, they're running an effort. 01:55 My goodness. 01:57 "What are you doing?" "I'm running an effort. 02:00 It's such an effort to do..." 02:02 We don't run efforts for God. 02:04 Anything we do for God is a privilege and a pleasure. 02:07 You know, not doing an effort but we were running a mission. 02:12 And this beautiful couple with their children 02:15 came along to the mission in the town of Mackay. 02:19 Remember the town, Beverley. 02:21 Our campaigns in those days 02:23 were like the everlasting gospel, 02:25 they went on and on and on. 02:26 So a campaign that we would run in those days 02:29 or a mission would last six months, 02:33 twice a week. 02:36 And we would visit everybody who came to the campaign, 02:39 at least 25 times. 02:41 We just visited, and visited, and visited. 02:44 And when I visited this home, 02:46 I could see this young woman was having 02:48 real, real mental difficulties. 02:52 The whole family, 02:54 they were terribly concerned about her. 02:56 She was a young mother 02:57 and she had all the symptoms of a mental disorder. 03:01 She was anxious, she was depressed, 03:04 and worse than that, she was confused. 03:09 The husband was just worried to death. 03:13 I saw something happened there as a young minister 03:17 that I had never ever seen before. 03:21 As she started to read the Bible, 03:23 and I teach people read the Bible. 03:26 I have a saying, "Read your Bible every day." 03:29 If you don't read your Bible, you're not going to be strong, 03:31 you're going to be weak, 03:33 it's not enough to go to church. 03:35 Sometimes going to church... 03:36 Listen to this, it can be bad for you. 03:40 If you don't hear the true gospel of Christ 03:42 preached in church, 03:43 and if you only get a lot of legalism, 03:45 something like that, 03:46 it's not going to be good for you. 03:50 And so this young woman, who'd never gone to church, 03:53 she started coming to church, 03:55 and she started to read her Bible 03:58 for the first time in her life. 04:01 And we said this to her, we want you to say this, 04:05 "I am a child of God, I am important, 04:12 God has a plan for my life." 04:17 So we said to her, "Look, don't give up, 04:20 God hasn't given up on you." 04:23 Because when the bottom falls out 04:25 and you're down below the bottom, 04:29 God is about to do something extraordinarily good for you. 04:33 And we've got to read these great fat texts in the Bible, 04:37 like Isaiah 40:26 and onwards. 04:43 And I want you please to turn with me 04:46 in the scriptures to Isaiah 40:26 04:53 and onwards where the Bible says, 04:57 "Lift up your eyes on high, 04:58 and see who has created these things, 05:00 who brings out their host by number, 05:02 talking about the stars, He calls them all by name, 05:06 by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, 05:10 not one is missing. 05:13 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, 05:14 O Israel: 'My way is hidden from the Lord, 05:18 and my just claim is passed over by my God'? 05:21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? 05:25 The everlasting God, the Lord, 05:27 the Creator of the ends of the earth, 05:30 neither faints nor is weary. 05:32 His understanding is unsearchable. 05:34 He gives power to the weak, 05:37 and to those who have no might He increases strength. 05:41 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 05:44 and the young men shall utterly fall, 05:47 but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, 05:52 they shall, this is great, 05:54 they shall mount up with wings like eagles, 05:57 they shall run and not be weary, 05:59 they shall walk and not faint." 06:04 As this young woman started 06:08 to contemplate the greatness of God. 06:12 God loves me, I am a child of God, 06:16 I am important, 06:18 God has a plan and a purpose for my life, 06:22 I am special in the sight of God, 06:25 I am a child of the King. 06:28 You know, what happened to this young woman? 06:31 She is completely healed. 06:33 The healing took some months. 06:36 But by the time the mission had come to a close, 06:40 she was totally healed in her mind, 06:45 because she had been filled with anxiety, 06:48 which had made her distraught. 06:52 But God can heal people 06:55 even when they're suffering from insanity. 06:59 So many mental and emotional problems 07:03 are caused by man's lostness. 07:06 Listen to me please. 07:09 There are some great questions that you've got to ask 07:12 and answer such as, who am I? 07:15 What am I? 07:17 Am I a cosmic accident? 07:19 That what's taught in the universities. 07:21 Where do I come from? 07:24 Do I come from the slime from some primordial sea? 07:31 Am I the victim of blind chance? 07:35 Where do I come from? Why am I here? 07:39 Many people, even people 07:40 who go to church can't answer that question. 07:42 I have no idea, why they're here? 07:44 Why am I here? 07:46 Is this all an accident? 07:48 Or do I have an appointment 07:54 with God's divine destiny? 07:57 Why am I here? And also where am I going? 08:02 Is life the end of existence? 08:07 Is death the penalty for the crime of being born? 08:14 So you can't answer those questions, 08:17 you will go crazy. 08:18 A philosophy in almost every university today, 08:21 in all the secular universities teaches this, 08:23 this is true. 08:25 Not what they teach 08:26 but it's true that they teach it. 08:28 Man is the product of time, plus matter, plus chance. 08:34 Man is a product of time, 08:36 plus matter, plus chance. 08:38 That's why the vast majority 08:41 of evangelical Christian young people 08:44 who go to universities, 08:46 who are not fortified with the truth lose their way. 08:52 You see, so they need not religious propaganda, 08:56 they need to know the truth. 08:59 Man is the product of time, plus matter, plus chance, 09:02 that is Darwinism. 09:04 Albert Camus, a great philosopher said this, 09:08 "Up to now, man derived his coherence 09:12 from his Creator..." 09:15 Our coherence that which held us together, 09:18 it came from our creator. 09:21 "But from the moment 09:23 that he consecrates his rupture with him..." 09:27 He consecrates his rupture, 09:29 we're ruptured from God and he celebrates it. 09:33 "He finds himself delivered over to the fleeting moment, 09:39 to the passing days, and to wasted sensibility." 09:46 You want to understand the big problem 09:48 in the world today, 09:50 it's because man is not only lost his address 09:56 where he came from, where he belongs, 09:59 but he's lost his own personal identity. 10:03 And so he is given over to the moment of passing days 10:09 and to wasted sensibility. 10:16 You wonder what's wrong in America. 10:20 Phillip Adams in the Australian Weekend Review said this. 10:26 "We are as significant 10:27 as the eight billionth grain of sand 10:33 beyond the final palm tree in the most distant oasis 10:37 in the Sahara Desert." 10:41 So what is man worth, if this is true? 10:47 If man is the product of blind chance, 10:50 then man is worth nothing. 10:55 You better listen to this because one day your children 11:00 may have to face some things 11:02 and if you don't have the answers, 11:03 they never will, so listen up. 11:09 The death of God always leads to the death of man. 11:13 It has been said that God died in the 19th century 11:17 and man died in the 20th. 11:21 Now today we have the new insanity, 11:24 it's based on these ideas, nothing produced everything. 11:31 That's what Richard Dawkins, 11:34 the great evolutionist, 11:36 biologist from Oxford University teaches 11:39 with a straight face, nothing, and millions, 11:43 millions in America 11:45 follow Richard Dawkins. 11:49 You know, the biggest, fastest, 11:50 growing religious moment in North America, 11:53 beside the Muslims, atheism. 11:57 And most churches do not have the answer. 12:00 They're talking about little sweet nothings. 12:04 Nothing produced everything. 12:06 Non-life produced life. 12:08 Randomness produced fine-tuning. 12:13 Non-reason produced reason. 12:15 Chaos produced order. 12:18 That is the doctrine of neo-Darwinism. 12:23 Now I could talk to you about this at length. 12:26 Let me give you a tiny bit, 12:28 the philosopher 12:29 who most influences Americans 12:35 in their universities is Nietzsche, 12:39 Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote the book, 12:43 "The Antichrist". 12:45 I won't talk to you about it, 12:46 but it's all based upon this and it produces this. 12:55 Marks, who was a German Jew, 13:00 embraced the teachings of Darwinism. 13:03 He said thank, not thank God, but thank goodness. 13:07 Now we've got a scientific reason 13:09 for communism. 13:11 Hitler embraced the teachings of Nietzsche 13:15 and step with a copy of their Antichrist 13:18 under his pillow, you know that. 13:21 This led to the greatest extinction of human beings 13:26 in the history of the human race, 13:28 a 100 million. 13:31 I've been to places in Russia... 13:33 I don't have time to talk to you about it, 13:35 where tens of millions have been tortured to death, 13:42 because of this evil teaching, 13:47 the new atheism produces the new insanity. 13:53 That doesn't mean every atheist is crazy, 13:56 but the teachings bring about craziness. 14:00 It teaches the doctrine of meaninglessness. 14:03 The greatest sickness of our times 14:05 is not heart disease, it is not cancer. 14:09 Those things can largely be prevented 14:11 if we were smart enough to eat right. 14:17 The greatest sickness of our times is meaningless, 14:23 which explains, of course, 14:24 why there are so many suicides in Hollywood. 14:31 Now today, we're going to consider 14:34 the story of a very powerful and wealthy man, 14:40 he went crazy, went insane. 14:44 He lived out in the wilderness by himself for seven years, 14:48 who acted like an animal, 14:52 and he came back and got it all back plus some. 14:57 He was the original comeback kid. 15:00 The most amazing story in the Bible is found 15:04 in Daniel 4, 15:07 and I want you to turn to the text 15:09 Daniel, please turn to the text in the studio. 15:13 Daniel overcomes spiritual sloth. 15:17 Look up the text. 15:18 Daniel 4:1 and onwards, "Nebuchadnezzar the king, 15:22 to all peoples, nations, and languages 15:25 that dwell in all the earth: 15:26 Peace be multiplied to you. 15:28 I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders 15:31 that the Most High God has worked for me. 15:34 How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! 15:37 His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 15:40 and His dominion is from generation to generation. 15:44 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, 15:49 and flourishing in my palace." 15:57 This story, of course, is historically correct. 16:03 I've had a fair bit to do with biblical archaeology. 16:09 I don't believe in the nonsense 16:11 that's propounded by very ignorant people 16:14 that you can't believe the stories of the Bible. 16:18 I believe the stories of the Bible, 16:20 especially the stories of Daniel. 16:24 We know that Belshazzar was as real as any person today. 16:28 We know that Nebuchadnezzar was. 16:30 I've seen the cuneiform and inscriptions 16:33 with his name written on them. 16:36 So we're not dealing here with just a made-up story. 16:42 This is a chapter out of the book called 16:47 "The Rich and the Famous", you see it on television. 16:51 Nebuchadnezzar was a billionaire, 16:53 one of the world's greatest egotists. 16:58 He was like Saddam Hussein. 17:01 I've been to Iraq on a few occasions 17:04 and I know a bit about this guy, 17:07 who considered himself to be the new Nebuchadnezzar. 17:13 So when I went there, they were these vast billboards 17:17 and on one side it showed Nebuchadnezzar, 17:21 on the other side it showed Saddam. 17:25 He was a great, great egotist was Saddam 17:30 like Nebuchadnezzar. 17:33 But remember the old saying my mother taught me, 17:36 "Pride goes before a fall." 17:38 And she also taught me about Humpty Dumpty 17:42 who sat on a wall. 17:44 And Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. 17:48 All the king's horses and all the king's men 17:53 couldn't put Humpty together again. 17:56 But I've got news for you today, 18:01 God, yes, God can put... 18:07 God can put Humpty together again. 18:14 So if you feel like a Humpty, 18:18 there is hope for you. 18:22 Many years ago, people were talking about 18:24 the doctrine of the second chance. 18:27 Is God going to give sinners a second chance? 18:30 But I've got news, 18:32 I believe in the doctrine of the second chance, 18:35 I believe in the God of the second chance, 18:38 and the third chance, and the fourth chance. 18:43 It is simply called grace. 18:46 Would you come over here to Roman 5:20? 18:50 The God of the second, the third, and the fourth, 18:56 and the fifth chance, 19:00 but don't die before it happens. 19:03 Romans 5, 19:05 "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. 19:11 But where sin abounded, 19:14 grace abounded much more." 19:21 This is a great truth, 19:24 the great God of the Bible is the God of grace. 19:27 The Bible says, "Where sin did abound..." 19:32 In the King James Version, 19:34 which gives it a little bit better, 19:36 it says, "Grace did much more abound." 19:43 That's good news for us 19:44 because none of us deserve to get to heaven. 19:48 None of us. 19:50 We've all been like Humpty, 19:54 but God is a gracious God. 19:59 Much more abound. 20:01 The God we serve is the God of much more. 20:04 This is good, isn't it? 20:06 God is much more, He's much more love, 20:09 much more grace, much more mercy, 20:13 much more forgiveness, much more power. 20:21 It has been said that there are two great truths 20:25 that we need to learn. 20:27 Number one, 20:31 man is much worse 20:34 that he ever feared to think. 20:40 Number two, 20:42 God is much better 20:44 than He ever dared to hope. 20:48 You see. 20:49 So even though we are a part of a sinful humanity, 20:55 we believe in the God of much more, 20:59 much more, much more grace. 21:02 And look at Daniel 4:4. 21:05 Daniel 4:4. 21:09 I got to move along a bit because you, folks, 21:10 getting me sidetracked. 21:12 Daniel 4:4, 21:16 "I, Nebuchadnezzar, 21:18 was at rest in my house, 21:20 and flourishing in my palace." 21:23 Like the song that I used to sing 21:25 when I was a young guy 21:27 sitting on top of the world looking over. 21:30 He said, "I'm rich, 21:34 I'm great, I'm powerful, 21:40 I've got all this money." 21:43 He was a great egotist. 21:46 He did not realize 21:48 that he was simply without the grace of God, 21:52 animated mud on the way to dust. 21:56 It's all of us. 21:59 And should animated mud be proud, 22:04 sitting on top of the world. 22:07 Look at verses 5-8, 22:09 "I saw a dream, which made me afraid, 22:12 and the thoughts on my bed 22:14 and the visions of my head troubled me. 22:17 Therefore I issued a decree 22:20 to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, 22:23 that they might make known to me 22:25 the interpretation of the dream. 22:27 Then the magicians, the astrologers, 22:29 the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, 22:32 and I told them the dream, 22:34 but they did not make known to me its interpretation. 22:37 But at last Daniel came before me 22:39 his name is Belteshazzar, 22:41 according to the name of my God, 22:44 in him is the Spirit of the Holy God, 22:46 and I told the dream before him..." 22:50 And we will pick that up in a moment. 22:53 He had a dream. 22:58 He had a dream that told 23:01 the history of his own petty, 23:06 wealthy, little life. 23:09 Now pick it up now with me verses 9-18. 23:16 "Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, 23:17 because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, 23:22 and no secret troubles you, 23:24 explain to me the visions of my dream 23:26 that I have seen, and its interpretation. 23:30 These were the visions of my head while on my bed: 23:35 I was looking, and behold, 23:37 a tree in the midst of the earth, 23:41 and its height was great. 23:43 The tree grew and became strong, 23:46 its height reached to the heavens, 23:48 and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. 23:52 Its leaves were lovely, 23:56 its fruit abundant, 23:59 and in it was food for all. 24:03 The beasts of the field found shade under it, 24:07 the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, 24:11 and all flesh was fed from it. 24:14 I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, 24:18 and there was a watcher, a holy one, 24:24 coming down from heaven. 24:25 He cried aloud and said, "Chop down the tree 24:29 and cut off its branches, 24:30 strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. 24:34 Let the beasts get out from under it, 24:37 and the birds from its branches. 24:39 Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth, 24:44 bound with a band of iron and bronze, 24:48 in the tender grass of the field. 24:51 Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, 24:54 and let him graze with the beasts 24:57 on the grass of the earth. 24:58 Let his heart be changed from that of a man, 25:03 let him be given the heart of a beast, 25:06 and let seven times pass over him. 25:08 This decision is by the decree of the watchers, 25:12 and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, 25:14 in order that the living may know 25:15 that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, 25:19 gives it to whomever He will, 25:21 and sets over it the lowest of men." 25:23 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, 25:26 have I've seen it. 25:28 But you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, 25:32 since all the wise men of my kingdom 25:34 are not able to make known to me 25:36 the interpretation, but you are able, 25:39 for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you." 25:44 What on earth does it mean? 25:46 Here is great tree 25:50 planted by the river. 25:53 And the birds fly through the branches, 25:57 and the monkey swing on the limbs, 26:01 and the animals graze on the grass down below, 26:06 what does it mean? 26:09 We will tell you, 26:11 after we have this little break, 26:14 we'll be back. 26:26 Hello, friend. I'm John Carter. 26:29 By the grace of God, I'm going back to Russia. 26:32 I've been to the lands of the old Soviet Union 26:34 47 times, 26:37 that's in the last 25-26 years. 26:40 We are planning to go to the city of Nizhny Novgorod 26:45 or the old Russian city of Gorky made famous 26:48 by the poet, Gorky. 26:51 We are going there because 25 years ago 26:54 we ran a great campaign in Nizhny Novgorod 26:58 and we saw 2,530 souls, 27:03 2,530 Russians, communists, atheists, 27:07 all sorts of unbelief baptized into Christ in the Volga River. 27:13 We're going back because the need is enormous 27:17 and because the Russians are saying, 27:18 "Please come and help us." 27:21 Freedom is disappearing in Putin's Russia. 27:26 It's almost impossible now to hire an auditorium, 27:29 almost impossible to preach the gospel. 27:32 And so, by the grace of God, 27:34 we are applying for special missionary visas. 27:37 Are we going to get them? 27:39 We think so, by the grace of God. 27:41 And we're going to advertise by the grace of God 27:44 on television and on radio. 27:46 Please write to me. 27:47 I've got to raise $250,000 now. 27:53 Please write to me, John Carter, 27:55 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:00 In Australia, write to the address 28:02 now appearing on the screen. 28:05 This could be Russia's last opportunity. 28:08 Please write to me. 28:10 I ask you in the name of God write to me today 28:14 and pray for Russia. 28:16 Thank you and God bless you. 28:27 For a copy of today's program, 28:29 please contact us at PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, 28:34 California 91358, 28:37 or in Australia, contact us at PO Box 861, 28:42 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:47 This program is made possible 28:48 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:51 We thank you for your continued support. 28:54 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-05-22