Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001208
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00:08 From Arcadia, California the Carter Report Presents,
00:11 "The Living Word" around the world. 00:18 Hello, I'm Dave Deno. Welcome to the Carter Report. 00:21 Today, we're going to turn the tables 00:24 on Pastor John Carter. 00:26 You may be used to seeing him being the interviewer. 00:31 Well, today we're going to make him the interviewee. 00:34 We're going to talk with him 00:35 about 50 years of uninterrupted ministry. 00:40 Fifty years of evangelizing of preaching the gospel. 00:45 We're going to learn more about Pastor Carter. 00:47 We're going to learn more about his family. 00:50 We're going to learn more 00:51 about the highlights of his ministry 00:53 and yes some of the struggles as well. 00:56 Stay tuned. 00:59 Jesus said, "Go into all the world 01:02 and make disciples of all nations, 01:04 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 01:06 Son, and Holy Spirit." 01:08 The Carter Report team has therefore accepted 01:11 the challenge of Worldwide Evangelism. 01:14 Million in Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Africa, 01:17 India, Australia, the United States, 01:21 and the Isles of the Sea have heard 01:23 the good news of Christ. 01:25 As John Carter has proclaimed God's Living Word. 01:28 You are invited to be a part of the Carter team by praying 01:33 and by giving and when God calls by going. 01:36 Write a note now to Pastor John Carter. 01:39 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 01:45 Or to PO Box 861, Terrigal, NSW 2260, Australia. 01:53 Jesus said, "With God all things are possible." 02:01 Welcome back to the Carter Report. 02:02 I'm Dave Deno. 02:03 Today, we're talking with Pastor John Carter 02:05 and we're talking about 50 years of uninterrupted ministry, 02:10 50 years of evangelism. 02:13 And we're gonna find out more about Pastor Carter 02:16 about what drives him, 02:18 about what he sees in the future. 02:21 We're gonna talk with him also 02:22 about his faith in a very personal way. 02:25 Pastor Carter, this is I think 02:27 a rare privilege not just for me, 02:29 but for those who are watching as well. 02:31 It's a privilege to have you with you today, Dave. 02:34 Thank you for coming. 02:35 I'd like to begin by asking you 02:37 perhaps a description of the most amazing 02:42 spiritual experience that has ever happened to you? 02:45 Uh, goodness. 02:48 I would say that the most amazing 02:52 spiritual experience happened to me 02:54 when I was 17 years of age. 02:58 I was a boy going to Avondale College in Australia. 03:02 And an Englishmen came and he preached on the topic, 03:05 "God filled blank." 03:08 He said, "Inside every person there is a blank, 03:11 there is an emptiness, only God can fill it." 03:14 When he said this, I thought to myself 03:17 he's talking about me 03:18 because I felt empty and lonely inside. 03:23 And then he gave a series of meetings 03:25 all on the gospel of Christ that God loved people 03:28 and Jesus, the son of God came to this earth 03:31 and died for our sins on the cross. 03:34 And I was overwhelmed, I was dazed and amazed 03:38 by the revelation of the love of God. 03:40 I gave my life to Christ. 03:42 I was overwhelmed back there by the love of God. 03:48 I'm overwhelmed today. 03:50 You know I've heard many, many people talk about the fact 03:53 that there is a place in their life 03:56 that seems unfilled. Yeah. 03:58 And we hear that from people in all walks of life. 04:01 People who have achieved, 04:03 what to our way of thinking is everything. 04:06 And people who are struggling just to get by 04:09 and yet there is that same feeling 04:11 that something is missing. Why do you think that is? 04:15 Well, the great theologian, Santa Gustin said, 04:19 "Our souls were made for God, 04:21 and they cannot rest until they rest in him." 04:25 Without God, we are completely incomplete. 04:30 I was a teenager growing up in Australia. 04:33 I was in a home that was full of religion, 04:37 but I hadn't found God. 04:38 There is a big difference state between finding God 04:42 and being stuck in religion. 04:44 Most people seem to be stuck in religion. 04:48 But I believe that God revealed Himself to me. 04:51 It wasn't a case of my finding, 04:52 God was the case, I felt that God found me. 04:57 There is a great poem where God is described 05:00 as the "hound of heaven." That He pursues us. Yeah. 05:05 Isn't it great to know- 05:06 Down the labyrinthine ways of their own mind. 05:12 We talk about this need in every human being. Yeah. 05:18 And yet there are those who discounted. 05:22 There are those who are actually evangelists for atheism. 05:27 They want to not only discount God, 05:31 but they really want others as well 05:34 is to have in their mind, 05:37 the realization that there is no God. 05:39 Let me give you an example. 05:41 There is a gentleman by the name of Dr. Richard Dawkins, 05:43 he is a- an evolutionary biologist. 05:46 He is an avowed atheist. 05:48 He has written several books attacking Christianity. 05:53 He derides those who believe in God. 05:59 First of all, why do you believe in God? 06:02 I believe in God for a number of reasons. 06:05 Firstly, God met me there back in the 1950s, 06:09 goodness me. 06:11 Fifty Five, fifty six years ago, 06:13 God met me. 06:16 I believe in God because of personal experience. 06:19 Number two, I believe in God 06:21 because of the overwhelming evidence 06:24 that I get out of this book, this book this called the Bible. 06:28 I believe in the evidence of Bible prophesy, 06:31 I've studied the Bible prophesies Dave, 06:33 for many, many years. I'm forced to believe 06:37 that these prophesies must have been inspired 06:40 by someone bigger than you and I. 06:43 And the next reason I believe in God 06:46 as I think through this question. 06:49 It'll be the person of Christ. 06:53 He is completely distinct and unique. 06:56 He meets the needs of the human heart. 07:00 He is so marvelous and so wonderful 07:03 and so ugly extraordinary 07:06 that He could not be the figment of human imagination. 07:10 He could not have been just created by people. 07:15 He meets the need of the human heart, 07:18 that He is the strongest reason I have Christ Himself. 07:22 But there would be another reason, 07:24 that is the reason today of astronomy, 07:28 I was talking just a few months ago 07:30 to Dr. Hugh Ross, who was a famous astronomer, 07:33 a friend of yours and a friend of mine. 07:35 When he tells me that a millisecond 07:38 after the point of creation, 07:40 that scientist called the big bang, 07:42 you can call it what you like, a big noise or whatever. 07:46 But a millisecond after that he said, 07:48 there were four forces that held the universe together. 07:54 Gravity, strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, 08:00 and electromagnetism, I hope. 08:04 But he pointed out if those forces, 08:07 Dave, had been out of sync by one quadrillionth, 08:12 of one quadrillionth, of one quadrillionth, 08:15 of one quadrillionth, of one quadrillionth, 08:18 of one percent, there could be no life on the planet. 08:23 I'm forced to believe 08:24 that there must be a great designer 08:29 to the whole universe. 08:31 And when I think of this is the, 08:34 the greatness of this great designer, 08:36 this great creator. 08:37 And then I read the Bible story 08:40 that He came down in the person of Christ. 08:45 I must believe in Him. 08:47 I'm forced by the way of evidence to believe in Him. 08:50 And Richard Dawkins, I don't doubt his sincerity 08:53 or anything like this. He is a complete atheist. 08:57 But Dawkins, one of his main arguments is this he says, 09:01 "I can't believe in God 09:02 because of the way Christians have acted. 09:06 It's not a very good argument. 09:07 Because some Christians have acted abominably. 09:10 But that's not reason not to believe in the Christ. 09:13 I could say to him Dr. Dawkins, 09:15 look how the atheists acted 09:16 who believe what you believe in the Soviet Union. 09:19 They've murdered 70 million people. 09:22 And so I don't think his arguments are valid. 09:28 But I believe in God because God believes in me. 09:35 You're watching the Carter Report. 09:36 We're talking with Dr. John Carter. 09:39 A question that I've always had 09:41 when I come up against a person who is an avowed atheist, 09:46 who is really as I describe before 09:48 almost evangelistic about it. Militant. 09:51 Why? What drives a person like that? 09:56 Dave, it's very difficult for me to answer that, 10:00 because I don't know what drives Dr. Dawkins possibly 10:04 he had some very bad experiences with religious people. 10:09 And he possibly, he's owed an apology 10:14 perhaps for something that has happened to him. 10:17 But I think in the human heart 10:20 I think in the human heart there is in with many people 10:25 or some people there is a desire to get away 10:29 from the responsibility that comes 10:32 when you believe in God. 10:34 You see if there is no God, 10:36 there is no law, and there is no sin. 10:38 And there is really no morality 10:40 and there's no purpose and there is no meaning. 10:42 And some people would rather be cast out 10:44 on the sea of unbelief than submit 10:48 to the Lordship of Christ. 10:51 It's a very bad choice I believe. 10:53 It is difficult to talk about 10:55 what's in the heart of other people. 10:57 Let's get back to talking about what's in your heart, 10:59 50 years of uninterrupted ministry and evangelism. 11:04 Where did it all begin? 11:05 I guess it began. 11:06 Now you're making me really think, 11:08 it began when I was a tiny little baby. 11:12 My mother told me the story. 11:13 She was not going to a church. 11:15 She believed in God. 11:17 Officially I think she belong to the Church of England 11:20 and Australia, the Anglican Church, 11:22 or the Episcopal Churches. 11:24 It's called here the United States. 11:27 And after I was born my mother had a conviction 11:32 that I was called to be a minister 11:34 and the preacher of the gospel. 11:37 And she got down on her knee, 11:39 she told me this |
Revised 2014-12-17