Participants: Pr. John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001223
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00:07 It has stood the test of time.
00:11 God's book. 00:13 The Bible. 00:17 Still relevant in today's complex world. 00:22 It is written sharing hope around the globe. 00:36 It seems hard to deny the fascination that exists in 00:40 today's society with the subject of death. 00:43 Look in the media - books and television programs abound on 00:47 the subject of death and the hereafter. 00:50 And people consume them like they're going out of fashion. 00:53 In 1997, a new program began airing on what was then a new 00:57 television network, drawing as many as six million viewers per 01:01 episode. 01:03 Buffy The Vampire Slayer was the story of a teenage girl who 01:08 battled against demons and vampires. 01:11 Vampires are said to be corpses that periodically come back from 01:15 the dead to disturb or harass the living - and Buffy went 01:19 toe-to-toe against the best of them, as well as against ghosts 01:23 and zombies, other 'things' that are said to be 'back from the 01:28 dead'. 01:30 In recent years, vampires have become big business. 01:33 Huge business, in fact. 01:35 In 2005, the first of the series of four Twilight books was 01:40 released telling the story of a teenage girl from Forks, 01:44 Washington who fell in love with a 104 year old vampire. 01:51 In 5 years more than 120 million copies of the Twilight books 01:55 were sold worldwide and they spent more than 200 weeks on the 01:58 New York Times best-seller lists. 02:01 They were extremely popular with children, even young children, 02:05 in spite of the fact that the books were, in the words of one 02:08 writer, one long, bodice-ripping romance. 02:14 Maybe that's a story or a discussion for another time. 02:16 The author of the Twilight books said that idea for the series of 02:19 books came to her in a dream. 02:24 Now, of course, the Twilight books aren't the first books 02:27 written on the subject of somebody coming back from the 02:30 dead. 02:31 Years ago, Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights had Wuthering 02:34 Heights had Healthcliff communicating with the ghost of 02:38 Catherine. 02:40 Go back even further. 02:41 Shakespeare's writings featured ghosts and spirits 02:44 left and right. 02:46 It's like Shakespeare never met a ghost he didn't like or at 02:49 least didn't want to write about. 02:51 But what we have got today are the mainstreaming of books, and 02:54 movies about the subject that has become cultural phenomena. 03:03 Now someone is going to ask: Is there a problem with that? 03:06 From a Biblical point of view, you bet there is. 03:10 I will tell you what the problem is in just a moment. 03:14 It is written is dedicated to sharing the gospel around the 03:16 world. 03:17 To discover more about It Is Written, I invite you to visit 03:20 our website itiswritten.com and browse the dozens of pages 03:24 that describe what we do and how we do it. 03:27 Let's get to know each other better. 03:29 Visit our website itiswritten.com today. 03:33 There is no doubt an increasing fascination in society today 03:37 with death, and life after death, and the occult. 03:42 Many people are more than happy to part with their hard earned 03:45 money to be entertained by books and television programs and 03:49 movies which deal with subjects which, when you really think 03:53 about it - are pretty bizarre. 03:56 A teenage girl fighting off vampires and werewolves? 04:00 That was the theme of a very successful television program. 04:04 Well what about the idea of a young girl barely out of her 04:06 teens getting... 04:08 intimate with a vampire? 04:12 That idea was behind one of the most successful series of books 04:14 in all of literary history. 04:18 Hollywood has been playing to society's fascination with death 04:21 and the beyond for decades. 04:24 In 1990 the late Patrick Swayze starred in the movie Ghost, 04:29 which promoted the idea of a dead man coming back and 04:33 communicating with his grieving wife. 04:36 Now I am not suggesting that that movie was a documentary or 04:40 was supposed to portray life as it really is, but what it did 04:44 succeed in doing is causing millions of people to 04:50 contemplate the idea of communicating with people who 04:54 have passed away. 04:56 That same year, 1990, another movie was released, this one 04:59 featuring a host of up-and-coming hot, young 05:02 Hollywood stars. 05:03 Now the idea behind this movie, flatliners, was this: a group of 05:08 medical students experimented with experiencing clinical death 05:13 and then they were brought back from clinical death so they 05:16 could talk about what death was like. 05:20 Here is what you are going to find. 05:22 More people than ever before have encouraged, have been 05:27 educated to think about this idea that it is possible to 05:31 communicate with those who are dead and gone on to 05:34 the other side. 05:37 Here is something else that is true. 05:38 I'm pretty sure you know this from experience. 05:40 There are many, many, many people who would be very 05:44 uncomfortable in a situation like this - they'd be 05:47 uncomfortable in a cemetery. 05:50 Why? 05:52 Because they have watched programs, read books, seen 05:55 movies about people that come back from the dead or about 05:58 ghosts or gouls or goblins or vampires, the werewolves and 06:01 this sort of thing. 06:04 Are the people here in this cemetery really going to hurt 06:06 anybody? 06:08 I think we both know that the answer to that question is "No!" 06:11 I've told people many times before, "it's not the dead you 06:14 need to worry about, it's the living. 06:17 But there has been an education process that has gone on, 06:21 causing people to become very comfortable with the idea that 06:25 people really do come back from the dead. 06:28 Now let's consider this from a Biblical perspective. 06:33 Does the Bible comment on it? 06:34 Oh yes, the Bible does. 06:36 We read now from Job 7:9 & 10. 06:41 "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth 06:46 down to the grave shall come up no more. 06:49 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place 06:52 know him any more." 06:55 So if we're going to take what the Bible says on this subject 06:58 as the guide for what we believe, we would have to 07:02 conclude that the dead do not come back to visit the living 07:04 and they certainly don't come back to suck blood out of the 07:09 necks of unsuspecting victims. 07:12 Yet society is fascinated with this idea of the dead coming 07:16 back to visit the living. 07:17 Where did this allure of death come from? 07:22 There are some societies who embrace this idea very, very 07:25 enthusiastically. 07:27 Every year November the 2nd is in Mexico known as "Dia de los 07:32 Muertos", or, the Day of the Dead. 07:37 It's treated somewhat like a National Holiday. 07:39 It's held very close, or it's related to All Saints' Day and 07:42 All Souls' Day. 07:44 Altars are erected where offerings are left for the 07:48 spirits of dead people. 07:50 Candied skulls are made and left and eaten. 07:55 Various food and drink items are presented as offerings for those 07:59 who have departed and passed over to the other side. 08:03 The roots of the Dia de los Muertos go back hundreds or even 08:07 thousands of years, to the traditions practiced by 08:10 indigenous cultures. 08:13 Today, people will visit cemeteries. 08:15 They will go down there in the hope that their prayers and 08:18 conversations will be heard by the spirits of the departed who 08:23 would then come back and tarry and visit with the living. 08:28 For a dead child, a gift of a toy may be purchased and given, 08:33 maybe alcohol will be bought as a gift or an offering for a dead 08:36 adult. 08:38 This homage to the dead penetrates Mexican culture so 08:43 far that even government-run schools and government buildings 08:48 have small altars erected in honor of Dia de los muertos. 08:53 Skulls and skeletons are commonly seen. 08:57 It is believed that these symbols can be used to honor and 09:01 pay respect to those who have passed on. 09:05 But what was it Job said? 09:08 Job said: "The dead...do not return no more to 09:13 their houses anymore." 09:16 So the Bible comes at this subject from an altogether 09:21 different angle. 09:23 Now North of the border, in the United States, there is a 09:28 different annual homage to the dead. 09:31 So what is it with Halloween? 09:34 We'll talk about that in just a moment. 09:39 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says "It is written 'Man shall 09:44 not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of 09:47 the mouth of God'." 09:49 Every Word is a one minute Bible-based daily devotional 09:52 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially 09:55 for busy people like you. 09:58 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch it on-line 10:01 everyday on our website itiswritten.com. 10:06 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 10:07 Watch Every Word. 10:08 You'll be glad you did. 10:13 Death is a pretty serious business. 10:16 It's also pretty ugly business. 10:20 Death causes people to experience intensely painful 10:23 emotions. 10:25 Anguish. 10:26 Grief. 10:26 Death brings a whole lot of difficulty. 10:30 And there is a reason for that. 10:32 When God created Adam and Eve back in the beginning, he 10:36 created them with the idea that they would live forever. 10:40 Death was not a part of God's original plan. 10:44 Adam and Eve were created to experience joy and peace and 10:48 gladness and happiness and contentment. 10:52 Death came into the picture as an intruder, and brought 10:57 emotions that were foreign to the human family. 11:00 Emotions that today, we still wrestle with some real 11:04 difficulty. 11:06 You see, God told Adam and Eve that everything would work out 11:08 if they simply followed his perfect prescription for a happy 11:12 life. 11:13 He said in the Garden of Eden they could do anything they 11:16 wanted, pretty much, and eat absolutely anything they liked, 11:18 except for the fruit that grew on the tree of the knowledge of 11:21 good and evil. 11:23 God said "if you eat that, then you will die." 11:27 Death will come. 11:28 Today, we are still bearing the consequences of what Adam and 11:31 Eve did long ago in the Garden of Eden. 11:37 What they did proved Paul's words to be true. 11:39 Paul said" The wages of sin is death." 11:44 So what, about the subject of Halloween, which glorifies death 11:49 and makes death almost something to be laughed at, enjoyed, 11:54 something of sport and fun? 11:57 You see the houses in the United States, and perhaps in some 12:00 other parts of the world, towards the end of every 12:03 October. 12:03 Now, you've got the run of the mill Halloween decorations: the 12:07 jack-o-lanterns - they're the carved out pumpkins - and then 12:12 maybe some fake cobwebs on the sides of houses or on doors, 12:14 something like that. 12:15 But then you've got the homes that really. 12:17 And on the front yard there are fake caskets and there are 12:22 tombstones on the lawn and there might even be life-size witches 12:25 hanging from trees or fixed to the sides of homes. 12:29 I have seen them up on roofs. 12:32 Halloween celebrates that idea that there is life after death 12:35 in another dimension on the other side. 12:37 Halloween celebrates the idea of the dead coming back and not 12:43 only communicating with but bothering those that are living. 12:49 Is that really something that you think God smiles upon and 12:52 blesses? 12:53 Is that something that Bible-believing Christians could 12:56 really, conscientiously participate in, knowing that 12:58 they have got the blessing of God? 13:01 I'd like you to consider this. 13:01 Halloween really muddies the Biblical waters. 13:10 I'll tell you why. 13:11 Halloween celebrates the idea that people live on after death, 13:17 but what does the Bible say? 13:20 Consider these allusions in Bible verses from the Old 13:23 Testament. 13:23 You will read about King "so and so". 13:26 He lived and died and then what does the Bible say? 13:28 He slept with his fathers. 13:30 This other king lived, died, was buried and he slept with his 13:33 fathers. 13:35 The Bible uses that phrase in relation to the kings 13:38 many times. 13:40 Now remember the story of Stephen, the martyr of the book 13:44 of Acts, right around the end of Acts Chapter 7, beginning of 13:47 Acts Chapter 8. 13:49 Stephen was stoned with stones. 13:51 The Bible says " after he had spoken with God, he fel 13:55 asleep." 13:56 Now, what did that mean? 13:58 You know that he didn't fall asleep, that "I'll see you in 14:00 the morning sleep". 14:02 This was a sleep that you would call a sleep of death, where 14:07 Stephen would sleep in his grave until Jesus comes and wakes him 14:13 up in the resurrection. 14:15 You know, the Bible says things like this: "I would not have you 14:19 to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them 14:23 which are asleep." 14:25 What does the Bible mean when it says that? 14:28 It certainly doesn't mean a person lived and died and went 14:32 to heaven. 14:33 How can you be sleeping when you are in heaven? 14:36 Ah, and somebody is going to say - the body is sleeping but the 14:38 spirit is in ...... 14:40 Do you know what the Word of God teaches? 14:42 The Word of God teaches that a person is a combination of body 14:45 plus breath. 14:48 You go back to Genesis 2. 14:50 God made the body Adam and then he breathed the breath of life 14:55 into his nostrils and the Bible says Adam became a living soul. 15:02 The Word of God does not say God gave Adam a soul, which then 15:06 would depart his body when he died. 15:08 Instead, the Bible says Adam, like everybody else from Adam 15:12 down to here, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, who were 15:16 taken straight to heaven ... 15:17 everybody else lives and dies and sleeps. 15:21 A dreamless sleep. 15:23 Sleeping in the grave or wherever the final resting place 15:26 might be, waiting for the resurrection. 15:30 Have you ever wondered why there would even be a resurrection if 15:35 people, when they die, go to heaven or hell or purgatory or 15:41 some other place? 15:42 I remember as a child, wrestling with that. 15:45 Standing at the graveside while someone is being buried and the 15:49 officiant saying, "Well, now we commit this person's body to 15:53 grave where it waits for the resurrection. 15:54 But back in the church, that same person celebrating the 15:58 funeral service had said "now we can all be glad because Mr. or 16:03 Mrs. So and So, Brother or Sister So and So is in heaven." 16:07 How can they be in heaven and in the grave at exactly the same 16:10 time? 16:11 No. 16:12 The Bible says that a person lives, dies and sleeps. 16:15 A dreamless, peaceful sleep waiting for the resurrection. 16:24 That's the only interpretation of what happens in death that 16:27 can possibly make sense. 16:28 If people go to heaven or go to hell when they die or that makes 16:33 communication with the dead possible, that breathes life 16:37 into Halloween celebration and one says, well, maybe that's 16:41 kind of what happens. 16:42 But no. 16:43 God has got a better plan. 16:44 His people live. 16:46 They die in faith in Christ. 16:47 They sleep the sleep of death and wake up in the resurrection 16:54 when Jesus comes back to take them home. 16:55 In recent years, the idea of communicating with the dead has 16:58 gotten a big boost through the resurgents of spiritist mediums. 17:06 We'll talk about them in just a moment. 17:10 Perhaps something in today's program has sparked your 17:12 interest in greater Bible study. 17:13 We invite you to visit our website itiswritten.com where 17:19 you will find a host of inspirational resources 17:21 including free Bible study guides, there's also a complete 17:24 archive of past television programs and special video 17:28 seminars that you can view on-line or download. 17:31 Discover more at itiswritten.com The subject of death and life 17:37 after death really seems to have gone mainstream in the last few 17:40 years. 17:41 The media, and I am referring to books, movies and television 17:47 have really strongly promoted the idea that spirits from the 17:48 other side can come back and communicate with the living. 17:53 And something else that has gone strongly mainstream in the last 17:56 few years is the popularity of spiritist Mediums. 18:02 People who claim to be able to put the living in touch with 18:06 the dead. 18:07 What a comforting thought. 18:10 A grieving, lonely spouse might be able to receive a visit from 18:13 a departed spouse. 18:15 Maybe surviving children can receive communications from 18:18 their departed parents or living parents might be able to receive 18:21 visits from their dead children. 18:24 It's easy to see how that thought might be comforting 18:26 to some. 18:28 I was watching a popular television program a few years 18:30 ago in which a well-known spiritist medium offered to put 18:35 somebody in contact with her departed sister. 18:38 This somebody was Denise Brown and her departed sister was 18:43 Nicole Brown Simpson who had been the wife of O J Simpson and 18:48 who had been tragically murdered a few years before. 18:52 The crowd watched on with real interest as the medium started 18:56 to, in just a short amount of time bring messages purportedly 19:01 from Denise's dead sister. 19:05 Denise was very impressed. 19:07 She said that the medium was bringing back messages that 19:11 could only have come from Nicole. 19:13 Some of the details were very personal, known only to Nicole 19:16 and the surviving Denise. 19:20 But how could that be when the Bible says that the dead do not 19:24 communicate with the living. 19:26 As a matter of fact, the prophet Isaiah stated strongly that God 19:31 is against people communicating with the dead. 19:35 He said that God was against people going to those that have 19:38 familiar spirits. 19:40 That would be going to people who are spiritist mediums. 19:45 Again and again, Denise said: Well, what I'm hearing could 19:49 only come from Nicole. 19:51 She is the only one who could have known that. 19:54 The crowd looked as though they wanted to know more and more. 19:59 And I am referring to the studio audience. 20:00 Were they ever impressed. 20:03 That must be Nicole, Denise said. 20:05 Only she knows that. 20:07 Well, what I couldn't figure is that if she was really Nicole, 20:10 how come Nicole couldn't tell Denise whether O.J was the real 20:14 killer or not? 20:20 So, let's ask the question: If communicating with the dead is 20:25 something that God does not sanction, can this communication 20:29 really have come from God? 20:32 If God has outlawed human beings speaking to the dead via the 20:37 instrument of a spirit medium, could this really have been 20:41 something that came with God's blessing? 20:44 You know, I've read where one spirit medium said, "My work is 20:47 very powerful. 20:49 It is God's work." 20:51 Now, if you're not familiar with what the Bible says about this 20:54 subject, you might think it is God's work. 20:58 But if you are familiar with what the Bible says, you might 21:02 have to come to a different conclusion. 21:05 And what conclusion might that be? 21:08 I think we need to admit that the Devil is more than capable 21:13 of communicating with the minds of people and of pressing them 21:17 with certain thoughts and certain ideas. 21:20 You know, one of the movies I mentioned earlier in today's 21:23 program had a promotional line which said, Some lines shouldn't 21:27 be crossed. 21:30 And that's very good advice. 21:31 Some lines shouldn't be crossed. 21:34 While vampires, werewolves and zombies aren't true, aren't real 21:40 and are simply the product overactive imaginations, do you 21:45 think it's safe or right that we should treat them like harmless 21:49 playthings? 21:51 If people don't really come back from the dead, if people don't 21:55 really communicate with the other side, if that's not good, 21:59 if that's not right, if that doesn't have God's blessing, is 22:04 that the sort of thing that we want to make our entertainment? 22:07 Is it really appropriate that people ought to be reading 22:11 books, watching movies and television programs that deal 22:14 with those themes and treat those untrue, unbiblical ideas 22:17 as though they are accurate and right? 22:22 Is that the sort of things we want to bring into our minds? 22:26 It's hard to imagine that that would be appropriate or healthy. 22:29 It's hard to imagine that it would be harmless. 22:34 And it's pretty easy to imagine that it might be harmful. 22:40 It's pretty hard to imagine that vampires are God's gift to the 22:43 literary world, not so hard to imagine that they might have 22:48 sprung from some other place. 22:51 Now look - I'm not suggesting that if somebody were to read 22:54 one of the Twilight books they are automatically going straight 22:57 away turn into the devil. 22:58 That's not what I am suggesting at all. 23:01 I know that people want to be entertained and I know that 23:04 people want to have fun, but what the Bible is suggesting is 23:07 that it is not harmless for us to entertain ideas that are 23:11 directly opposed to the truths of God's word. 23:14 It isn't safe for us to get away from the platform, the strong 23:19 foundation of the Bible and then go and live our lives 23:23 entertaining ideas and feeding our minds with ideas that don't 23:28 come from God but instead come from the enemy. 23:33 You see, there's One who conquered death, and His name is 23:38 Jesus. 23:39 If we are going to be celebrating anybody at all 23:42 coming up out of the grave, we ought to be rejoicing today that 23:45 Jesus has triumphed over the grave, that he has come out of 23:49 the grave and that today he is not dead but he is alive. 23:53 Anything else that you might be celebrating regarding somebody 23:57 coming back from the dead, that's a deception and that's a 24:01 counterfeit. 24:02 The Bible teaches that death and the grave will one day be cast 24:08 into the lake of fire. 24:10 Revelation 21:4 says this: "God shall wipe away 24:15 all tears from their eyes. 24:17 And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 24:23 nor crying." (Rev 21:4.) When Jesus died on a 24:26 cross 2000 years ago, he died to pay the penalty for your sins 24:31 and mine. 24:32 Jesus died after having lived a perfect life. 24:36 And he died and then says to us: If you will accept me you're 24:41 your life, if you will trust me then my death will stand in the 24:46 place of your death and I will give you as a gift the 24:51 everlasting life, not that you deserved, but that I deserved, I 24:56 will give it to you as a gift so that you can live with me 25:00 forever. 25:02 That's a gift God wants you to accept. 25:06 You can have it today. 25:09 The demons, the zombies, the vampires, the ghosts, the 25:13 goblins-- Distractions. 25:19 Designed very purposefully to lead us away from the wonderful 25:23 truths of the Bible. 25:26 Yes, somebody came out of the grave. 25:28 Jesus. 25:29 He went to heaven where he was at the right hand of the Father, 25:34 interceding for people like you and me. 25:36 And one day he is coming back. 25:38 He is coming back for you. 25:40 He wants to take you with him to be with him forever. 25:46 By choosing Jesus today, you're saying "Count me in. 25:49 I'd like to trust in you. 25:51 I thank you Jesus, that you are the resurrection and the life. 25:56 Let's pray together. 25:58 Father in heaven, we thank you today for the truth that Jesus 26:02 has triumphed over death, that Jesus has conquered the grave 26:08 and that one day there will be no more death and we will be 26:12 able to live in a place where there is life, where there is 26:16 life and only life forever. 26:19 Lord, by your grace thank you that we can be part of that and 26:23 we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 26:28 Perhaps our program today has touched your heart and impressed 26:31 you with a personal need for deeper Bible study. 26:34 If you desire to listen to God and follow where he leads, we've 26:37 got a wonderful resource that can help you do that in a 26:40 systemic way, the Discover Bible Guides. 26:43 These study guides will take you through the essential truths 26:46 taught in Scripture. 26:49 They give you the big picture showing how it all fits 26:52 together. 26:53 The Discover Bible Guides are a wonderful way for you to become 26:55 grounded in the Word of God and to see how Jesus Christ relates 26:58 to all the areas of our lives. 27:00 Please call or write us and the Discover Bible Guides will be on 27:04 their way to you. 27:06 If you live in North America, we'll mail these Bible guides 27:08 free of charge. 27:10 Or for easier and immediate access from anywhere around the 27:12 world, you can get these Bible lessons on our website, 27:16 itiswritten.com. 27:19 Request the Discover Bible Guides by calling our number 27:23 1 800 253 3000. 27:26 Call right now and tell us the name of today's free offer, the 27:30 Discover Bible Guides. 27:32 You can also request today's offer by writing to It Is 27:35 Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 27:40 Thank you for your letters and continued support. 27:46 Thanks for joining me today. 27:47 I hope you'll join me again next time. 27:50 And until then, please Iremember: It is written, Man 27:54 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds 27:57 from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2015-02-06