Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001622A
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00:14 The topic today is,
00:16 "Where is the blessed Virgin Mary." 00:20 My beloved Roman Catholic friends tell me, 00:23 that she's in heaven interceding for us. 00:26 Where are the saints? Where is St Peter? 00:30 The Catholic Church tells me that, 00:32 the great Roman Catholic Church is built upon St Peter. 00:36 That's because I believe he's alive and well. 00:39 Where are the beloved dead? 00:41 That's a topic today. What happens to me? 00:44 What happens to the soul when I die? 00:48 Now firstly today, I want to tell you, 00:52 there is life after death. 00:54 That's an absolute certainty, there is life after death, 00:57 death is not the end. 00:59 And please turn on the Bible to Matthew Chapter 28:1-7, 01:05 dear hearts and gentle people, Matthew 28:1-7. 01:11 I'm glad to see you today. 01:14 Matthew 28:1-7 01:18 says, "Now after the Sabbath, 01:22 as the first day of the week began to dawn..." 01:25 Now that tells me that the first day of the week 01:27 or Sunday is not the Sabbath. 01:29 That's plain, isn't it? 01:31 "Now after the Sabbath, 01:32 as the first day of the week began to dawn, 01:34 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary 01:36 came to see the tomb. 01:37 And behold, there was a great earthquake, 01:40 for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 01:42 and came and rolled back the stone from the door, 01:45 and sat on it. 01:47 His countenance was like lightning, 01:49 and his clothing as white as snow. 01:51 And the guards shook for fear of him, 01:53 became like dead men. 01:56 But the angel answered and said to the women, 01:59 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus 02:03 who was crucified. 02:05 He is not here, for He is a risen, as He said. 02:10 Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 02:13 And go quickly and tell His disciples 02:15 that He is risen from the dead, 02:18 and indeed He is going before you into Galilee, 02:21 there you will see Him. 02:23 Behold, I have told you." 02:28 So the Bible teaches that Christ, 02:31 Son of God rose from the dead. 02:36 Many Christians, mainly Protestants believe 02:39 that this is the tomb of Christ. 02:42 It is called The Garden Tomb. 02:47 I don't think it is, 02:49 even though just about all the Protestants believe 02:52 The Garden Tomb is the right spot. 02:54 It's called General Gordon's tomb. 02:57 Most archaeologists think that the Catholics 03:01 and the Orthodox may have it right. 03:04 And it's more likely that the Church of the Sepulchre 03:09 which is run by the Greek Orthodox 03:12 or the Armenian Orthodox, 03:14 the Roman Catholic Church and some other little groups. 03:16 I think that this most likely 03:20 is the site where Christ was laid. 03:23 It doesn't really matter, my friends. 03:26 Now, this place, this place here, 03:28 I want to say this, 03:29 I say it rather sadly is rather a money making racket. 03:33 Because when you go in there, the priest says to you 03:35 and they've said it to me dozens of times, 03:38 hey, give me some money, give me some money. 03:41 They're not slow, they say give me some money. 03:46 But I want you to know this. 03:48 It doesn't matter if this is the right tomb 03:50 or if The Garden Tomb is the right tomb. 03:52 The truth of the matter is that when they got to the tomb, 03:55 the tomb was empty 03:56 because Jesus was not in the tomb. 03:59 Jesus had been raised from the dead, 04:00 that's the good news. 04:03 Now... 04:06 I believe in the resurrection of Christ 04:10 not because of blind faith. 04:14 On television some time ago, 04:15 I saw a great convention in North America 04:18 with thousands of Protestant ministers. 04:22 And they asked one prominent Protestant minister, 04:26 why did he believe in the resurrection? 04:29 He got up and when he made the statement, 04:31 everybody broke out into loud claim, applause. 04:36 Why do you believe in the resurrection, 04:38 they said him? 04:39 He said, "Because of my faith." 04:43 Everybody applauded. 04:48 I think it is a tragic answer, because on my faith, 04:54 but the Buddhist has faith in Buddha, 04:58 doesn't make it right. 05:01 And the Muslim extremists who blows up a plane 05:06 and murders hundreds of people has faith also in his cause. 05:11 It's a misguided faith. 05:14 Jesus didn't say, you will know faith 05:17 and faith will set you free. 05:20 Jesus said, ''You will know the truths, 05:23 truth will set you free." 05:24 What we need my friend 05:27 is to have faith in the truths of God. 05:31 I believe in the resurrection not because of blind faith, 05:35 but because I believe it is the truth. 05:38 I believe it is based on evidence. 05:40 Think of some of the evidence, eyewitnesses. 05:43 He was seen by Mary Magdalene. 05:47 At the start she thought he was who? 05:49 The gardener. 05:51 He was seen by the disciples. 05:55 The disciples who did not believe 05:57 in the resurrection. 05:59 He was seen by two men on the road to Emmaus. 06:04 Now you say so what? 06:06 Well, this is how the court system operates. 06:10 In America we believe 06:12 in the viability of reliable witnesses, 06:16 never forget it. 06:18 And we've got the witnesses, 06:19 we've got Mary Magdalene, disciples, 06:23 the two men on the road to Emmaus. 06:25 He was seen by a person 06:26 who said unless I can actually feel him, 06:30 Thomas. 06:31 Seen by Thomas, he was seen by Peter. 06:37 Peter who denied the Lord, Peter said, I saw him, 06:40 he was seen on one occasion 06:42 by a crowd of more than 500 people, 06:46 and later on he was seen by the Apostle Paul 06:51 on the road to Damascus. 06:53 And so if you ask the people who gave their lives 06:59 for their faith in the resurrection. 07:01 If you ask them, 07:02 "Do you believe? Do you believe?" 07:04 They say, "Yes, we believe that He was raised 07:07 from the dead because we saw Him. 07:10 We saw Him when He was put on the cross 07:12 and we saw Him when He was taken down, 07:14 and we saw Him when he rose from the dead." 07:21 You've heard of Richard Dawkins, 07:23 haven't you? 07:24 I've talked to you about 07:26 the greatest atheist in the world today, 07:27 the most famous atheist. 07:29 Richard Dawkins, the great professor 07:31 from Oxford University. 07:35 Richard says, "I can't believe, he says, that there is a God." 07:39 He says, "It's a remote possibility 07:41 but I cannot believe there is a God." 07:45 He was debating with another Oxford professor 07:48 who is a humble Christian Professor John Lennox 07:52 who is no dummy. 07:55 He's professor of mathematics at Oxford University, 07:59 goodness me. 08:00 I can't even imagine. 08:05 Dawkins said to him, "Professor Lennox," 08:10 he said, "You're an intelligent 08:13 and a reasonable man. 08:15 I cannot see how you can just build your life upon faith. 08:23 Said Professor Lennox, "But we have evidence." 08:30 Dawkins gave the classical reply of an unbeliever 08:33 who doesn't understand, he said, 08:34 "No, Christianity, it's all about 08:37 just believing, just faith." 08:40 John Lennox said, this is marvelous, he said, 08:46 "Doctor Dawkins, 08:47 do you have faith in your wife?" 08:50 No, he did, he did, he did, 08:51 he said, "Do you have faith in your wife?" 08:53 And Dr Dawkins took the bait. 08:57 He said, "Yes, of course, I have faith in my wife." 09:00 He said, "I believe in her." 09:02 And the old mathematician said, "Why do you believe?" 09:05 He said, "Because of what I see because of the... 09:10 He said, I have evidence to believe 09:12 that my wife is faithful." 09:16 He said, "Thank you." 09:20 Everybody got the point he said, 09:23 "We Christians do not have a blind faith. 09:27 We have faith, 09:29 because we have evidence to believe." 09:32 And therefore we believe in the resurrection 09:35 not because it makes us feel good. 09:38 We believe in the resurrection because of the witnesses. 09:43 Now there is another question 09:45 that we should ask the unbeliever. 09:47 And that is this, here it is. 09:50 After that Sunday there was nobody, 09:54 nobody in the tomb. 09:56 The question is what happened to the body? 10:01 This is a penetrating question 10:03 that deserves a penetrating analysis. 10:06 What happened to the body? 10:08 Now these are the alternatives, the disciples stole the body. 10:14 This is hard to believe that a group of dispirited 10:17 broken men would storm the tomb, 10:21 cast aside the Roman soldiers and steal the body. 10:27 This would be incredible. 10:29 In other words, it has no credence. 10:32 Number two, 10:34 if the disciples did not have the body, 10:37 then the Jews got the body. 10:40 They went to Pilate and they got the body, 10:44 that if this is so, 10:47 why did not the Jews who hated Christ 10:51 and the truth of the resurrection 10:52 produce the dead body. 10:56 This would be the end of Christianity, 10:58 the greatest destructive force 11:02 that you could bring against the Christian church 11:04 would be the dead body of Christ. 11:09 Now the third alternative 11:10 is that the Romans got the body, 11:14 but if the Romans had stolen the body, 11:18 they too hated this schism, 11:21 this sect of people who call themselves Christians. 11:26 The best way they could have destroyed 11:29 the Christian church 11:30 would have been like the Jews to say, 11:32 "Here is the body." 11:34 So if you can find the body of Christ, 11:36 you finish with Christianity. 11:40 So the disciples, the Jews, the Romans 11:43 and there's a fourth alternative 11:45 which is the only viable alternative. 11:47 There was nobody in the tomb, 11:49 because the body had been, resurrected. 11:53 And therefore, if you look at the evidence, 11:58 the evidence is overwhelming that Christ rose from the dead. 12:05 There was a great cynic and a great skeptic, 12:08 he was an American, he lived many years ago 12:12 now in the 1800 around the 1850s. 12:15 His name was Ingersoll. Have you heard of him. 12:19 Ingersoll, one of the greatest skeptics 12:22 in the history of America. 12:23 He became a skeptic because of what he saw 12:26 my Christian friends in the Christian church. 12:31 He said, if this, if this is what God is like, 12:35 I don't want to have anything to do with God. 12:38 And particularly the doctrine of eternal torment 12:43 that God will burn sinners for all eternity 12:47 in a mountain flame while they scream their 12:50 burning hearts out caused him to say, 12:55 If that is God, then God is the devil 12:58 and I hate him. 13:01 And this is understandable. 13:04 So Ingersoll became a skeptic and an unbeliever 13:08 because of the monstrous teaching 13:10 that God was the chief terrorist 13:13 and the torturer in chief. 13:18 He was asked to speak, 13:20 give the eulogy at his brother's grave 13:23 at his funeral. 13:25 Some of you will know the eulogy 13:26 starts with these words. 13:28 The loved and loving brother, husband, 13:30 father, friend, died, 13:32 where manhood's morning almost touches noon, 13:35 and while the shadows 13:37 still were falling toward the west. 13:39 So goes on with his beautiful poetry and artistry. 13:44 But at the very end 13:46 after he talks about his despair, 13:50 Ingersoll says these words, 13:53 "In the night of deaths, hope sees a star. 14:01 And listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." 14:09 Even in the heart of the skeptic 14:11 there is an innate belief 14:14 that we were not made for annihilation. 14:19 "In the night of death, hope sees a star 14:23 and listening love can hear the rustle of the wing. 14:27 Therefore, I believe in the bright shining star 14:33 and I believe in the rustle of the wing." 14:37 And I believe in these things 14:39 because, I believe in the evidence 14:43 that Christ rose from the dead and that Jesus Christ is alive. 14:49 Therefore, I believe in life after death. 14:52 Now today, we're going to ask some questions 14:56 of the Holy Scriptures not the Holy Church, 15:01 but the Holy Scriptures, 15:04 and the first question is this one. 15:06 Here it is. 15:08 Do people have immortal souls? 15:15 It is believed by vast numbers of people, 15:18 our Roman Catholic friends, 15:22 almost all of the Protestants, the Muslims, 15:28 virtually every religion believes 15:30 in the immortality of the soul. 15:32 Would you come over here to 1 Timothy 6. 15:35 1 Timothy 6:14-16... 15:43 In a Holy Scripture. 15:45 1 Timothy 6:14-16. 15:54 And here we have a text that talks about immortality, 15:58 1 Timothy 6:14 and onwards. 16:01 It says, "That you keep this commandment 16:04 without spot blameless 16:06 until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, 16:09 which he will manifest in His own time, 16:11 He who is the blessed and only Potentate, 16:13 the King of kings and Lord of lords." 16:16 What does it say? 16:18 Who only... What does it say? 16:19 Who only has immortality, 16:23 dwelling in unapproachable light, 16:25 whom no man has seen or can see 16:27 to whom be honor and everlasting power. 16:29 Amen. 16:31 The Bible says, 16:32 it says it's plain as anything that God alone is immortality. 16:38 When all the Catholics watching the telecast, 16:40 just listen to this. 16:43 If I had an immortal soul, 16:44 how could this text be in the Bible, you see. 16:48 God alone has immortality. 16:50 Now it is believed that we've got a person today 16:53 can have this immortal soul but the Bible says, 16:56 "That God alone has immortality." 16:59 And whatever the soul is the Bible teaches, 17:02 that the soul has the capacity to die 17:06 because we're looking now at Ezekiel 18:4. 17:11 Ezekiel 18:4, is the text that we're looking at, 17:18 Ezekiel 18:4, 17:21 the Bible says, "Behold, all souls are Mine. 17:25 The soul of the father 17:27 as well as the soul of the Son is Mine, 17:29 The soul who sins..." 17:30 What does it say? Die. 17:33 "Soul die." 17:34 So whatever the soul is, 17:37 the Bible says that the soul can die. 17:42 Therefore, if the soul can die, listen to this. 17:48 If the soul can die 17:51 and if God alone has immortality, 17:56 then the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 18:01 is not taught in the Bible. 18:03 Therefore, I believe in the resurrection, 18:06 but I do not believe in the immortality of the soul. 18:11 Are you listing to me God alone, 18:14 the Bible says, is immortal. 18:18 I've discovered this, listen to this. 18:21 Every, every religion in the world 18:27 teaches the immortality of the soul, 18:31 every religion in the world 18:34 teaches the immortality of the soul with one exception, 18:41 their religion of the Bible. 18:45 The Egyptians believed in the immortality. 18:48 So that's why they built the pyramids. 18:53 That's why they filled the tombs, 18:56 the mummies and embalmed them 18:59 because they believed that there was a thing 19:02 that lived inside the body, the soul. 19:07 You think it's a Christian idea. 19:09 My friend, it goes back 19:11 thousands of years before the Christian church. 19:15 People believed in the immortality of the soul. 19:19 Every religion in the world 19:21 believes in the immortality of the soul. 19:23 I tell you with one exception, one big exception 19:26 and that is the religion of the Bible. 19:31 Are you listening to me? Yeah. 19:34 So the Bible does not teach the doctrine 19:37 of the immortality of the soul. 19:40 Now we ask another very important question, 19:43 here it comes. 19:45 Where does the doctrine 19:46 of the immortality of the soul come from? 19:50 Now, I don't want to offend my Catholic friends, 19:52 but they believe in the immortality of the soul. 19:54 That's why they believe in eternal torment. 19:57 I don't wish to offend my most of my Protestant friends, 20:02 because they believe the same 20:03 as the Catholic church does on this, 20:05 that man has an immortal soul and because it cannot die, 20:11 the soul will be burned 20:13 and burned for billions and trillions of years. 20:17 That's a doctrine that made Ingersoll hate God. 20:22 So we asked the question, 20:24 where does the doctrine 20:26 of the immortality of the soul come from. 20:30 It comes from the Garden of Eden. 20:32 Would you believe it? Come with me to Genesis 3:1-5. 20:37 This will surprise you I think, 20:40 Genesis 3:1-5 dear hearts and gentle people, 20:46 Genesis 3:1-5. 20:51 "Now the serpent, now who is the serpent? 20:54 The serpent is Satan, that's the devil. 20:57 Now the serpent 20:59 was more cunning than any beast of the field 21:02 which the Lord God had made, Yahweh Elohim, Lord God. 21:05 He said to the woman, has God indeed said, 21:08 "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" 21:11 The woman said to the serpent, 21:12 "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, 21:16 we can do that, we can do that Mr. Serpent. 21:19 Verse 3, "But of the fruit of the tree 21:21 which is in the midst of the garden. 21:22 God has said, 'You shall not eat it, 21:26 nor shall you touch it lest you die." 21:29 God said, "If you break my law, 21:31 if you take the fruit, you're going to die." 21:35 Okay, because you've got an immortal soul. 21:39 Now read on little bit further. 21:41 This is what, this is what it says. 21:42 Let's read this again. 21:44 Look at verse 2, "The woman said to the serpent, 21:47 "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, 21:49 but of the fruit of the tree 21:50 which is in the midst of the garden, 21:52 God has said, 'You shall not eat it 21:54 nor shall you touch it, lest you die." 21:58 That's the truth, 21:59 "Then the serpent said to the woman, 22:01 "You will not surely die." 22:03 You see. 22:05 "For God knows that in the day 22:06 you eat of it your eyes will be opened, 22:09 and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 22:14 Let's get this very plain. 22:18 God said, "If you eat of this fruit, 22:24 you are going to die." 22:28 The soul that sins it will die. 22:32 God alone has immortality. 22:35 But the serpent who is the great deceiver, 22:40 Lucifer the arch rebel, the great antichrist. 22:45 He said, "Go ahead and eat it, you won't die." 22:50 You see you've got an immortal soul 22:53 and you will become like God. 22:57 You cannot die." 23:00 Therefore, listen carefully, 23:03 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 23:08 is not the doctrine of God. 23:12 It is the doctrine of the serpent. 23:16 Where did it come from? 23:18 It is the devil's lie. 23:23 So I believe in the resurrection. 23:27 But I do not believe for one moment 23:30 in the devil's lie. 23:33 Now have you heard of Socrates? 23:38 Yes. 23:40 Socrates was dying, 23:42 he had to drink this fatal hemlock, 23:46 Socrates said, "I don't care. 23:49 See this doesn't worry me to die. 23:51 His disciples were upset, he said, "I don't worry." 23:55 He said, "The body is a shell, 23:59 inside the shell is an immortal soul 24:03 and the soul cannot die." 24:08 You know where the Greeks got it from. 24:10 They got it from the Egyptians. 24:14 Egyptians passed down to the Babylonians 24:17 down to the Greeks, and the Greeks to the Romans, 24:20 and the Romans passed it down to the Roman Catholic Church, 24:26 and the Catholic Church gave it to the Protestant world. 24:32 So I believe that Christ rose from the dead. 24:38 My hope is in Christ. 24:41 My hope is in the resurrection. 24:43 My hope is not in the devil's lie. 24:49 Now, in our next program 24:52 which is coming up straight after. 24:55 We're going to talk about this. 24:57 Where do we go at death? 25:01 What happens at death? 25:04 Where do I go when I die? 25:11 My Catholic friends say, hell, purgatory, limbo. 25:16 Some say heaven, whatever. 25:20 What does the Bible teach? 25:22 Where are the beloved dead? 25:26 That's the next program. 25:42 Hi, I'm John Carter. 25:45 I guess the toughest place 25:47 that I've ever been to as far 25:48 as the preaching of the gospel is concerned is India. 25:53 Home to more than on a billion souls, 25:57 and I guess hundreds of millions of different Gods. 26:01 It almost overwhelms the senses. 26:05 What can we do? Well, we've been to India. 26:07 We've run outdoor meetings, 26:09 we've had thousands and thousands 26:12 of people Hindus and Muslims at our meetings 26:15 coming forward in altar calls. 26:17 But we're going to try to do something else as well. 26:20 We're going to start small. 26:22 We're starting with a program called, 26:25 "Touching The Untouchables." 26:28 And we're going to start with a little untouchable girls. 26:32 We're doing this now. 26:34 We're getting them food, because they're so hungry, 26:36 hard to come to Jesus when you're hungry. 26:40 And so we're getting them food 26:42 and we'll be sending them to school. 26:45 We're trying to feed their souls 26:47 and fill their bellies. 26:49 In India, home to more than a billion souls 26:55 and hundreds of millions of Gods 26:58 controlled by evil spirits, please help us in this work. 27:02 Please help us, write to me John Carter, 27:05 P.O. Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358, 27:11 or write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 27:13 We have an Australian office as we have an Indian office 27:18 with somebody there working full time 27:21 trying to touch the with untouchables 27:24 with a love of Jesus. 27:27 Please write to me today, and Jesus said, 27:31 "I have come to seek 27:32 and to save that which was lost." 27:45 For a copy of today's program, 27:47 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 27:51 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:55 Or in Australia contact us 27:58 at P.O. Box 861, Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:04 This program is made possible 28:06 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:09 We thank you for your continued support. 28:12 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2016-08-04