Participants: John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001715A
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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 I just want to welcome the audience 00:27 around the world today. 00:28 And especially, our new audience 00:31 in Washington D.C. 00:33 We're so glad that you joined us. 00:35 Thank you for joining us. 00:37 This is a continuation of the series 00:40 Living Victoriously. 00:42 And this is part eight. 00:44 And you're just going to enjoy this today. 00:48 I've got here a remarkable book. 00:51 I'm not going to quote from it today 00:53 because I just don't have time. 00:56 But this book was written by none other 01:00 than the great professor Isaac Newton. 01:04 Many people have said, "He was the greatest scientist 01:07 in the history of the human race." 01:10 All science that has come in recent times 01:13 has been based upon the observations 01:16 of Isaac Newton. 01:19 This book I've got here today 01:21 is a copy of Isaac Newton's book 01:25 on the prophecies of Daniel, 01:29 amazing, astounding. 01:31 And this is a copy of Isaac Newton's book 01:35 that was in the library of Thomas Jefferson. 01:40 Can you believe this? 01:42 You know about Jefferson, don't you? 01:44 He was the father of the American constitution, 01:47 one of the great founding fathers 01:49 of the United States of America. 01:53 As I was reading this, this morning, 01:54 and I've read this on previous occasions, 01:57 it brought home to my mind 02:01 that the conclusions we are drawing 02:04 in these meetings are not novel. 02:06 They are not new. 02:09 What we're teaching in these meetings 02:11 is basically the same as was taught by Isaac Newton 02:16 and believed by Thomas Jefferson. 02:20 And all the great founding fathers 02:23 of the United States of America 02:25 which explains why America became the greatest champion 02:30 of freedom in the world. 02:32 So ideas to belief. 02:36 Number of years ago, 02:37 we had a tremendous fire in Thousand Oaks. 02:39 I live in Thousand Oaks with my wife. 02:43 At 2 o'clock in the morning, Beverly woke me up 02:45 and she said, "Listen, we're in trouble." 02:49 It is like a tremendous big machine was pounding away. 02:54 I went to the window and the whole sky was on fire. 02:59 The mountain was on fire. 03:02 Our house in those days had a roof 03:04 made out of wooden shakes. 03:05 You know what I'm talking about. 03:07 Who'd ever put wooden shakes on a house in Thousand Oaks. 03:11 But I had a friend from Germany and he was up on the roof 03:14 with a garden hose hosing down our house. 03:17 It was Ervin Leebelt against the great fire. 03:21 But there were literally hundreds of fire engines, 03:24 literally thousands of brave firefighters, 03:27 not a house was lost in Thousand Oaks. 03:30 At 3 o'clock in the morning, I went for a walk. 03:35 All the mountains were pulsating red. 03:39 The fire had passed and gone down to Malibu, 03:41 just 15 minutes. 03:45 When I got up the next morning, I walked around the mountains, 03:48 it was so devastating. 03:52 Everything had been reduced to rubble desolation. 03:58 I visited the same spot a little while later. 04:01 And more recently, 04:02 and I took some pictures of the place 04:06 where I go to walk in Thousand Oaks. 04:11 God is in the business 04:12 of turning devastation into glory. 04:17 And that's what we're going to talk about today. 04:20 The topic is "Beauty for Ashes". 04:24 I want you to take your Bibles and come with me to Isaiah 61, 04:29 if you don't mind. 04:30 Book of Isaiah, this is a start. 04:33 Isaiah 61:1-4. 04:39 This is a tremendous passage. 04:41 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, 04:44 because the Lord has anointed me 04:45 to preach good tidings to the poor. 04:48 He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 04:52 to proclaim liberty to the captives, 04:56 and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, 04:59 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 05:03 and the day of vengeance of God, 05:06 to comfort all who mourn, 05:08 to console those who mourn in Zion, 05:11 to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 05:17 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, 05:22 that they may be called trees of righteousness. 05:25 The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 05:29 And they shall rebuild the old ruins. 05:33 They shall raise up the former desolations, 05:36 and they shall repair the ruined cities, 05:40 the desolations of many generations." 05:44 The Bible teaches 05:46 that God is in the work of restoration. 05:49 God is in the business of new beginnings, 05:54 creating new people, and new situations 06:00 of restoring all the good things 06:03 that were lost. 06:06 Today, you are going to hear a chapter 06:10 that is seldom ever taught 06:12 in the United States of America. 06:16 I say this to you 06:17 and to the audience in Washington D.C., 06:20 there's come in America 06:23 a terrible dumping down of all things, 06:27 including religion 06:31 and the understanding of the prophecies of the Bible. 06:34 But this great prophecy that I dealt with last week 06:38 and this is a new one this week, 06:39 but it is almost a parallel prophecy. 06:43 These prophecies were well-known 06:46 to the founding fathers of America. 06:49 And that is why America became, under God, 06:52 the greatest nation in the world 06:55 because liberty comes from God. 06:59 And liberty comes from the Bible. 07:01 Now I want you to come now to the theme, 07:04 to the Book of Daniel, Daniel 8:1. 07:08 And I want every person to know today 07:10 that the greatest truth in the Bible 07:13 is not the truth about the antichrist. 07:15 The greatest truth in the Bible is the truth 07:19 that God loves you. 07:21 It is the truth about Christ that you are important to God. 07:26 And God has got a magnificent future for you. 07:29 And He wants you to be ten times better. 07:32 Daniel 8:1, 07:36 "In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, 07:39 a vision appeared to me," to me Daniel, 07:42 "After the one that appeared to me 07:45 the first time." 07:47 This prophecy is very, very old. 07:51 It goes back about 2,500 years. 07:55 It was given to a Jewish prophet by the name of Daniel 07:59 in the reign of the King Belshazzar. 08:02 And it spoke about 2,500 years 08:07 of world history in advance. 08:10 It talks about the work of the antichrist 08:16 and how God gives beauty for ashes 08:19 as He does a great work of restoration. 08:22 Today, we're going to talk about devastation 08:26 but restoration. 08:29 And if you happen to be an honest, 08:34 a sincere seeker of the truth, 08:39 this meeting is for you today. 08:42 Would you please notice Daniel 8:2-3? 08:47 Daniel 8:2-3, "I saw in the vision 08:50 and it so happened while I was looking, 08:54 that I was at Shushan, the citadel, 08:56 which is in the province of Elam, 08:59 and I saw in the vision that I was by River Ulai. 09:04 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, 09:06 standing before the river was a ram, had two horns. 09:12 The two horns were high 09:15 but one was higher than the other, 09:18 the high one came up last." 09:20 So in his vision, he sees this tremendous ram. 09:27 If you notice verse 20 of the same chapter. 09:31 Daniel 8:20, it says, 09:36 "The ram which you saw, having two horns, 09:39 they are the kings of Media and Persia." 09:45 Now, look at me 09:46 because those of you who are not familiar 09:51 with the prophecies of the Bible, 09:53 this is important. 09:55 In Bible prophecy which is symbolic, 09:59 a beast is symbolic of a kingdom. 10:04 And in Daniel 8, 10:06 the great prophecy starts with the ram 10:09 which was symbolic of the kingdom 10:12 of Medo-Persia. 10:16 Now, last week we studied Daniel 7. 10:21 It started there with a lion but then it went to the bear. 10:26 And Daniel 7, and Daniel 8, you got to stay with me. 10:30 They are parallel prophecies. 10:32 And in Daniel 7, the bear is Medo-Persia. 10:37 But in Daniel 8, it is the ram which is Medo-Persia. 10:42 So we are going over the same ground. 10:46 Daniel 8:4 says, 10:51 "I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward 10:56 so that no animal could withstand him, 10:59 nor was there any 11:00 that could deliver from his hand. 11:02 He did according to his will and he became great." 11:08 So this is a picture of the conquest 11:11 of the armies of Medo-Persia under Cyrus the Great. 11:18 As Medo-Persia conquered the then known world, 11:22 look at me, we are not talking philosophy. 11:29 We are not talking theology. 11:32 We are not speculating. 11:35 We are simply dealing with the facts of history. 11:41 And remember Jesus said, "You will know the truth 11:45 and the truth will make you free." 11:48 And so today, 11:49 we are talking about the truths. 11:53 Now verses 5 to 7. 11:57 Daniel 8:5-7. 12:02 "And as I was considering, 12:04 suddenly a male goat came from the west, 12:06 across the surface of the whole earth, 12:08 without touching the ground, 12:11 and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 12:15 Then he came to the ram, that's Medo-Persia, 12:18 that had two horns which I had seen 12:20 standing beside the river 12:22 and ran at him with furious power. 12:27 And I saw him confronting the ram, 12:29 he was moved with rage against him, 12:31 attacked the ram, Medo-Persia, and broke his two horns. 12:36 There was no power in the ram to withstand him 12:39 but he cast him down to the ground 12:42 and trampled him, 12:44 and there was no one who could deliver the ram 12:47 from his hand." 12:49 Now, any school boy or school girl will tell you, 12:52 it was Babylon followed by Medo-Persia. 12:56 It was followed by Greece under Alexander the Great. 12:59 And so back in Daniel 7, Greece is liken to the leopard, 13:04 very fast creature. 13:06 The four heads, the break up of the Grecian Empire. 13:09 But in Daniel 8, 13:12 Greece is likened to this thundering ram. 13:15 And he has this tremendous horn between his eyes. 13:19 And the Bible says, 13:20 "This is the first king of Greece." 13:24 And every school child knows that the great King of Greece 13:28 was none other than Alexander the Great. 13:32 Now what the skeptic needs to hear today is this, 13:38 and may I say there is a tremendous dumping down 13:41 as far as truth is concerned? 13:44 We hear a tremendous amount about fake news. 13:48 Most of it seems to come out of Washington. 13:53 But this is not fake news. 13:57 Alexander was described in Bible prophecy 14:01 hundreds of years before he was born. 14:06 So how could this be 14:08 if the Bible were not inspired by God, 14:13 I ask you. 14:15 Now if you look at verse 8 of the same chapter, 14:19 it describes Alexander. 14:22 "Therefore the male goat, Greece, grew very great, 14:28 and when he was strong, a large horn was broken, 14:33 and in its place, in the place of it, 14:35 four notable ones came up 14:36 toward the four winds of heaven." 14:45 You see, I don't believe in God because of blind faith. 14:52 I don't believe in blind faith. 14:54 I believe that is complete foolishness. 14:59 But I believe that an intelligent faith 15:02 must rest upon rational evidence 15:07 and if it's hocus-pocus, I don't want to believe it. 15:10 I don't believe it because my church teaches it 15:13 because churches are continually wrong. 15:16 Not many amens from this Christian audience 15:19 but it is true. 15:21 Most churches have been wrong in history. 15:28 But here is a man, 15:30 one of the greatest men in the history of the world, 15:32 Alexander the Great 15:33 who died standing at the very top of the mountain. 15:37 And it says, "When the horn was broke, 15:41 went down, when it was broken 15:43 his kingdom was divided to the four winds of heaven." 15:47 And after a number of years 15:50 the kingdom of Alexander the Great 15:52 was divided among his four warring generals 15:56 Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy. 16:00 That is not theology. 16:02 That is not speculation. 16:04 That is simply history. 16:06 And even if you are an atheist, you have to say amen to this. 16:09 You see it is true. 16:13 Now let us move on a little further, 16:15 shall we, please. 16:17 Now verse 9, now it starts to get not controversial 16:21 but it starts to make some people 16:24 a little nervous. 16:26 Daniel 8:9, "And out of one of them..." 16:31 Out of one of the break ups of the Grecian Empire. 16:35 "Out of one of them came a little horn..." 16:37 In Bible prophecy I proved you last week, 16:40 a horn is symbolic of a king or a kingdom. 16:45 "Which grew exceedingly great towards the south, 16:47 towards the east, 16:49 and towards the Pleasant Land." 16:53 So here is a king or a power that arises 16:57 on the ruins of the kingdom of Alexander. 17:02 Now in Daniel 7, I'm teaching you this today. 17:07 In Daniel 7, you have the lion which is Babylon. 17:12 Then you have the bear which is Medo-Persia. 17:15 Then you have the leopard which is Greece, 17:18 and the dragon which is Rome. 17:21 If you doubt me, go and read Isaac Newton, 17:26 read Isaac Newton. 17:29 People say, "We've never heard these things before." 17:32 I say, "Shame, shame, shame." 17:37 If the devil wants to do a number on you, 17:39 it is by keeping the people in ignorance 17:43 and keeping them glued to fake news 17:46 and all the latest reports 17:48 that don't matter to hoots. 17:54 But truth is important. 17:56 Christ said, "You'll know the truth 17:57 and the truth will make you free. 17:59 And if you don't know the truth, 18:01 you will be a slave." 18:03 Now when you come to Daniel 8, 18:07 you have a parallel passage. 18:11 Babylon is already going down. 18:12 Then you come to the ram which is Medo-Persia, 18:17 and the goat is Greece, 18:19 and the power that comes after it 18:21 is the same as the dragon, it is Rome 18:27 said Isaac Newton 18:31 and every other great scholar. 18:33 I've been to Rome on many occasions. 18:36 The Roman Emperor was considered to be a divinity 18:40 and he had a special title 18:42 and his title was Pontifex Maximus. 18:47 Don't forget it. 18:49 This is the title of Caesar, 18:54 Caesar Augustus. 18:57 He's a divinity. 18:59 They worshipped him 19:00 and his title was Pontifex Maximus. 19:04 He was the leader of Rome, Pontifex Maximus. 19:11 Ever heard this before? 19:12 You should have. 19:15 Pontifex Maximus means the greatest bridge builder 19:20 who had the right to demand a toll. 19:25 So if you wanted to get into heaven, 19:28 you would have to pay a toll, 19:30 a certain sum of money to Pontifex Maximus 19:35 who threw the Christians to the lions 19:40 not in the Coliseum, 19:42 that is completely false. 19:44 Christians were not thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. 19:47 They were thrown to the lions at the Circus Maximus 19:51 that had seating for more than a hundred thousand. 19:57 So here we are talking about a power 19:59 that is led by Pontifex Maximus. 20:07 Now look at Daniel 8:9-10. 20:12 "And out of one of them came a little horn, another king, 20:15 which grew exceedingly great, 20:16 this is Rome, towards the south, 20:19 towards the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 20:23 And it grew up to the host of heaven, 20:26 that's the angels. 20:29 And cast down some of the host, God's people, 20:31 some of the stars to the ground, 20:33 and trampled on them." 20:35 So here comes a power that now enters into, 20:41 wait for it, the realm of religion, 20:47 because this is a power now that is more than a civil power 20:52 and every, every historian will tell you 20:58 that pagan Rome was replaced by Christian Rome. 21:08 And Christian Rome had a leader 21:13 and his title was and is... 21:17 You say, "I find this embarrassing." 21:19 I do not tell you this to embarrass you. 21:22 Are we interested in truth 21:23 or do we want to stay in darkness. 21:27 Do we want to know the truth? 21:29 Do we want to be saved? 21:30 Or do we want to be gullible people 21:33 who follow earthly systems? 21:36 No. 21:38 Pontifex Maximus, Gregory, 21:42 the pontiff, 21:44 Pontifex Maximus, 21:49 Sixtus Pontifex Maximus. 21:57 It is history. 21:59 Don't you know the devil is doing a number 22:04 on Americans and Australians? 22:06 Don't you know it? 22:08 Dumping down everything and saying, 22:12 "No this is off limits, you can't talk about this." 22:18 And so Rome has got two phases 22:21 and every historian agrees with me. 22:26 Pagan Rome and papal Rome. 22:29 The pagan Roman Empire 22:31 was replaced by the Christian Roman Empire. 22:35 And the world got a new Pontifex Maximus, 22:39 the greatest bridge builder who also demanded a price. 22:50 When the Roman Empire fell, 22:53 the church moved into the vacuum left by the Caesars. 22:56 You say, "Who else teaches this?" 23:01 Every educated person, 23:04 every historian, every... 23:07 No, no, no, only Protestant... 23:09 No, no, no, everybody. 23:13 The church moved into the place of the Caesars, 23:18 the Caesars went down 23:20 but the world got a new Caesar 23:26 in Rome, 23:28 Pontifex Maximus. 23:32 Now, look at verse 11, Daniel 8:11. 23:35 I can't give an exegesis of these texts 23:38 because I don't have time, 23:39 but I'm going to touch on it. 23:41 "He even exalted himself 23:42 as high as the Prince of the host, 23:44 that's Christ, 23:46 and by him the daily sacrifices," 23:48 the sacrifices represented Christ's death, 23:52 "Were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary, 23:56 where the law of God was kept, was cast down." 24:00 So here you have the devastation. 24:05 Here you have the forest fire that burns and burns and burns. 24:10 I'm going to read you before we have a little pause, 24:14 a statement from the historian J.C. Woodhouse 24:18 then I'm going to pick it up. 24:20 J.C. Woodhouse. 24:22 "As the stream of Christianity 24:24 flowed farther from its fountain, 24:27 it became more and more corrupt, 24:31 and as the centuries advanced, 24:33 superstition advanced with them..." 24:37 And don't think these people were any worse than us. 24:40 We probably would have done the same thing. 24:44 "And tales of purgatory, and pious frauds, 24:49 and the worship of saints, relics, and images, 24:51 took the place of pure and simple Christianity, 24:55 till at length, 24:57 the Book of God being laid aside 25:00 for legendary tales and the traditions of men, 25:06 all these corruptions were collected 25:08 into a regular system of superstition 25:12 and oppression." 25:18 So what happened? 25:21 Christ founded a church. 25:25 It was a church that was based upon the Bible. 25:30 But how many people read the Bible today? 25:34 You know why... 25:36 some churches don't want you to read the Bible 25:40 and don't teach people to read the Bible? 25:43 Because the Bible unmasks 25:49 their deceptions. 25:51 And so the church started very well. 25:56 But what happened was this, 25:58 after the death of the apostles, 26:01 there arose a power 26:05 who would deceive the whole wide world. 26:10 And we'll tell you more after this break. 26:23 Hello, friend. I'm John Carter. 26:26 By the grace of God, I'm going back to Russia. 26:29 I've been to the lands of the old Soviet Union 47 times. 26:34 That's in the last 25, 26 years. 26:37 We're planning to go to the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 26:42 or the old Russian city of Gorky, 26:45 made famous by the poet Gorky. 26:48 We're going there because 25 years ago, 26:51 we ran a great campaign in Nizhny Novgorod 26:55 and we saw 2,530 souls, 27:00 2,530 Russians, 27:03 communists, atheists, 27:04 all sorts of unbelief baptized into Christ 27:08 in the Volga River. 27:10 We're going back because the need is enormous. 27:14 And because the Russians are saying, 27:15 "Please come and help us." 27:18 Freedom is disappearing in Putin's Russia. 27:23 It's almost impossible now to hire an auditorium, 27:26 almost impossible to preach the gospel. 27:29 And so by the grace of God, 27:31 we are applying for special missionary visas. 27:35 Are we going to get them? 27:36 We think so by the grace of God. 27:38 And we're going to advertise, by the grace of God, 27:41 on television and on radio. 27:43 Please write to me. 27:44 I've got to raise $250,000 now. 27:50 Please write to me, John Carter, PO Box 1900, 27:54 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:57 In Australia, write to the address 28:00 now appearing on the screen. 28:02 This could be Russia's last opportunity. 28:05 Please write to me. 28:07 I ask you in the name of God, 28:09 write to me today and pray for Russia. 28:13 Thank you, and God bless you. 28:25 For a copy of today's program, 28:27 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:31 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:35 Or in Australia, contact us at PO Box 861, 28:40 Terrigal, New South Wales, 2260. 28:44 This program is made possible 28:46 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:49 We thank you for your continued support. 28:52 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-07-24