Participants: Pastor John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001636A
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00:13 We have a terrific program today,
00:16 just came back from Cuba. 00:19 I saw there the power of God. 00:23 Now here is the message from me 00:27 not here but on location in Cuba. 00:35 We should never say something is impossible 00:38 because Jesus said, 00:40 "With God, all things are possible." 00:43 It seems impossible to think that a group of Americans, 00:48 Australians could come here to Castro's communist Cuba 00:53 and preach the gospel. 00:55 We're here with the permission of the Cuban government. 00:57 We've got special visas so we can preach here. 01:02 I've had the privilege of preaching 01:04 in the most difficult places, Moscow, 01:07 all across Russia, all around Ukraine. 01:10 Dangerous places in Africa, 01:12 but this is one of the biggest miracles of all. 01:15 Here we are, 01:16 a Carter Report team, just a little team. 01:21 But we're here by the grace of God, 01:24 because with God all things are possible. 01:28 But God works through people, He's working glory be to God 01:32 we believe through us, 01:34 but He's also working my friend through you, 01:38 because of your prayers 01:39 and your support and your gifts. 01:43 These people many of them 01:44 are hearing the true gospel of Christ for the first time. 01:49 So my heart is full of thanks to God and to you today. 01:54 Let's get a fire going in this country. 01:59 We have established a beachhead on the shores of Castro's Cuba. 02:05 A gospel beachhead not a military one. 02:09 We are the ambassadors of peace 02:11 and we've come here to preach the gospel of peace. 02:15 Stand with us, and thank you for your support. 02:23 Now what is amazing is this. 02:27 What is amazing is this. 02:29 You can't advertise in Cuba. 02:32 You can't, you know, we wanted to go on television 02:35 as we do in other places, 02:37 wanted to do a thousands of radio spots 02:39 and put it in the newspapers but you can't do that. 02:43 If you try to, you go to prison. 02:46 But I want you to know the Bible says, Jesus said, 02:50 "With God nothing shall be impossible." 02:53 And even though it was a short campaign 02:55 because of circumstances and even though 02:58 we preached under real difficulties, 03:01 to this point of time 03:03 over 900 souls have been baptized with no advertising. 03:09 So I just want you to know that my heart is sort of bursting 03:13 because you imagine if you went to a town here, 03:16 if we went to say to Thousand Oaks 03:18 or some other place 03:19 and we baptized almost it's a, 03:22 may be it's a 1000 souls baptized 03:24 over there now, I don't know, 03:26 but I want you to know it was done 03:28 with no advertising expect people going out 03:32 and say and saying, come and hear 03:34 the preaching of the gospel. 03:37 I want you to take your Bibles 03:38 and come over here to Isaiah 55:10 down to 12. 03:44 You glad to be here today, folks? 03:46 I'm glad to be here today. 03:47 He's a friend of mine who's of my age he said, 03:49 I'm glad to be anywhere. 03:51 Isaiah 55:10 and onwards. 03:57 The Bible says, "For as the rain comes down, 04:00 and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, 04:05 but water the earth, 04:07 and make it bring forth and bud, 04:10 that it may give seed to the sower 04:12 and bread to the eater, 04:13 so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, 04:17 it shall not return to me void or empty, 04:21 but it shall accomplish what I please." 04:25 And I want you to know this that the Word of God is mighty 04:31 and powerful in Russia, around the world, 04:36 and I can say now also in Cuba, yes. 04:42 Yes indeed. 04:44 God's word when preached will always accomplish 04:46 what God pleases. 04:48 And I want to say this to the great audience 04:50 because this program is seen around the world. 04:52 I want to say this to you, never give up. 04:56 Hear this? 04:58 Never give, that's what Winston Churchill said, 05:00 "Never give up, never give up, never give up." 05:04 And we should never, never give up 05:06 because the Word of God is mighty 05:09 and powerful even in Cuba. 05:12 Now Cuba is where the end of the world almost began, 05:15 did you know this? 05:17 Armageddon almost started in the island of Cuba, 05:21 about 100 miles from the good old USA. 05:24 This is how it happened, this is Cuba's story. 05:30 Batista was an evil dictator 05:33 who unfortunately received the reluctant 05:38 support of the United States of America. 05:43 The Batista era was a time of poverty, 05:47 corruption, persecution, torture, 05:52 and every other terrible awful thing. 05:56 It became the breeding ground of communism. 06:00 I want to read to you from President John Kennedy. 06:05 October 24, in 1963 President Kennedy said, 06:11 "I believe that there is no country 06:13 in the world including any and all the countries 06:15 under colonial dominion, 06:17 where economic colonization, humiliation 06:20 and exploitation were worse than in Cuba... 06:26 in part owing to my country's policies..." 06:30 How quickly we forget. 06:33 How quickly we forget. 06:34 "In part according to my country's policies 06:37 during the Batista regime... 06:39 To some extent it is as though, 06:43 look at this, Batista 06:45 was the incarnation of a number of sins 06:49 on the part of the United States. 06:53 Now we shall have to pay for those sins." 06:57 Whenever you have a corrupt church 07:00 and a corrupt government, 07:02 you have the fertile soil 07:06 for oppression and communism. 07:09 That's what happened in Russia 07:11 and that's what happened also in Cuba. 07:16 The Castro Revolution went from 1953 to 1959, 07:23 and then Castro formed an alliance 07:25 with the wicked old Soviet Union, 07:29 you know these things, don't you? 07:31 The crisis occurred 07:33 October 16 to 1928, 1962. 07:39 I was a boy preacher in a little town 07:41 by the name of Broken Hill. 07:45 I remember when the news came to us 07:48 about the blockade, 07:50 I believed that the end of the world was coming. 07:54 We came this close to nuclear annihilation. 08:01 The USA had deployed missiles in Italy and Turkey. 08:07 Did you know that? 08:09 And so the Soviets deployed missiles 08:12 in response in Cuba. 08:16 July 1962, there was a secret meeting 08:19 between Khrushchev and Fidel. 08:24 An agreement to put Soviet missiles in Cuba. 08:28 This was after 08:29 the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. 08:37 And the air force with the U-2 plane 08:41 produced clear pictures of Soviet missiles 08:44 pointing towards the United States of America. 08:47 You just think of it. 08:49 So close to home 08:51 there was Soviet missiles 08:54 pointing towards the United States of America. 08:57 It could have been the end of the world. 09:02 Now John Kennedy 09:05 and the military imposed the famous blockade. 09:08 They said you will come this far 09:12 and no further. 09:13 This was the day the world almost ended. 09:17 Here is a message on occasion from Havana, Cuba. 09:28 I was just a boy preacher in Australia, 09:31 just out of college when I heard the amazing news. 09:35 The Russians have placed nuclear missiles 09:38 right here in Cuba. 09:41 Of course the Americans could not tolerate this, 09:43 because America is just 80 or 90 miles 09:47 over in that direction, just off the coast. 09:52 It seemed as though the end of the world 09:54 was going to come. 09:56 I was in the outback in Australia in a little town 09:59 called Broken Hill. 10:01 The world collectively with the people in Broken Hill 10:06 held its breath. 10:09 We wondered, would we see the next day. 10:13 But the grace 10:14 and the providence of God prevailed 10:17 and peace was declared, 10:19 but this place remained locked fast in communism. 10:25 It's still very restrictive here. 10:27 In our meetings we cannot advertise, 10:29 we can't use television, we can't use radio, 10:32 we can't use newspapers, we can't hand out handbills, 10:36 and so it is difficult. 10:39 But I want you to know something, 10:41 with God nothing is impossible. 10:44 Wonderful crowds of people are coming to the meetings. 10:47 They're mainly young people, and they're hungry, 10:50 and they're thirsty for God. 10:53 It's amazing to see them come forward night by night 10:56 and accept Jesus Christ. 10:58 Last night I was sort of overcome 11:01 when I saw all these young people, 11:03 this fast wonderful group of people 11:05 coming forward to accept Jesus Christ. 11:08 Some of them weeping, coming forward to accept Christ 11:11 and asking for baptism. 11:14 I want you to know today this, 11:16 don't forget it, 11:18 with God nothing shall be impossible, 11:24 glory be to the Father and to the Son 11:28 and to the Holy Spirit. 11:32 I'm John Carter reporting from the place 11:35 where the end of the world almost began. 11:43 Now those of you who still remember 11:45 those dark days, 11:48 there came this final agreement, 11:51 the Soviets would dismantle the rockets 11:53 after the blockade 11:55 and America secretly would remove her missiles 11:58 from Italy and Turkey. 12:04 Cuba became 12:06 a satellite state of the Soviet Union, 12:10 and went down into a time of oppression and darkness. 12:15 Castro who has just passed away as we all know, 12:18 almost brought the world to a fiery end 12:22 and people are not going to forgive this 12:25 or forget this very quickly. 12:27 Since the 1960s Cuba has been in, 12:30 as you know my friend in time war. 12:35 I would say this however, 12:37 and what I'm saying now some folks 12:39 will find hard to understand but it's a fact. 12:43 Life under Castro even though it's been bad, 12:47 you've had religious oppression and you've had persecution 12:52 and an unjust imprisonment, and you've had torture 12:57 but it's been better than it was under Batista. 13:02 Because at least the people have got freedom 13:05 they go to church. 13:06 I was amazed when I went there, 13:08 the place was filled with spies. 13:10 They say one in ten people in the audience 13:12 there was spies, 13:14 but nevertheless they would not arrest, 13:16 we had complete freedom. 13:18 You can see the place is in a time mode, 13:21 everything stopped back in 1960. 13:25 One party state today still persecution, 13:30 very little freedom of speech, but I was allowed to preach. 13:34 I say glory be to God. 13:37 People say well, is there any religion left? 13:40 Yes, because you can't get rid of it. 13:43 You can do what you like, the Soviets did 13:45 all they could to get rid of religion 13:47 but you can't kill, 13:48 you can't kill the gospel of Christ. 13:50 You can't kill the desire in the hearts of the people 13:53 to worship God. 13:55 But the Adventist church is 13:56 one of the strongest churches in the land of Cuba today. 14:01 It's an amazing thing. 14:02 Many of the churches have just been obliterated 14:05 because of atheism, 14:06 but the Adventist church is going strong. 14:10 There are two people who've had a in this, 14:12 this is not propaganda. 14:14 This is just a fact. 14:15 The Adventist church is going strong, 14:18 and we ran campaigns all over Cuba. 14:22 We had campaigns all over Cuba. 14:25 And these two people who had a tremendous influence 14:28 upon Cuba I think for good. 14:31 President Obama and Pope Francis. 14:36 May be if they had not done what they did, 14:39 I would not have been allowed to go 14:41 and preach openly in Cuba 14:45 so I thank God. 14:46 What about religion? 14:48 It says, still plenty of religion. 14:49 Atheism is the main religion of course, 14:52 but many people still worship the secret Occult Palace. 14:59 The religion, some of you folks know what I'm talking about, 15:02 you know the religion of the Caribbean? 15:04 Voodoo, you have Satanism, all of those things, 15:09 and so 15:11 this place is just waiting for the doors to open 15:15 and we are going to see an evangelistic explosion, 15:20 glory be to God. 15:23 And this Carter Reporter has sought to establish 15:25 and we have done so successfully. 15:28 We've sought to establish a beachhead in Cuba, 15:31 a gospel beachhead. 15:32 Come over here to Acts 4:12, 15:36 I want to read you this great text. 15:38 Acts 4:12, Acts 4:12, 15:44 the Bible says, 15:46 "Nor is there salvation in any other, 15:48 for there is no other name under heaven given among men 15:50 by which we must be saved." 15:54 Folks, what the world needs is not more religion, 15:58 it needs more of Christ. 16:01 And what Cuba needs, what America needs, 16:03 what Australia needs, what the world needs 16:05 is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, 16:09 and that's the power of God unto salvation. 16:12 Now what happens when people get rid of Jesus? 16:16 Let me talk to you a bit about this. 16:17 I've been to Russia, I got to think hard now, 16:21 been to Russia and Ukraine 16:25 47 times. 16:28 I went there during 16:30 the collapse of the Soviet Union. 16:32 What did I see? 16:33 As communism, as atheism collapsed, 16:36 I saw tremendous poverty, 16:40 tremendous alcoholism. 16:43 I saw thousands and thousands of orphans. 16:46 I saw people literally starving. 16:53 That's life without God, 16:55 life without Christ. 16:57 The Soviets kicked God out. 17:00 Read what Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, 17:03 "We have forgotten God 17:05 and all these things have come upon us." 17:09 So I want to say to the television audience, 17:11 I want to say to the young people, 17:12 the happiest people, 17:14 the most blessed people on the face of the earth 17:17 are not the unbelievers 17:18 but the people who believe in Christ, 17:20 and who believe in the Bible. 17:22 I'm telling you, come over here to Deuteronomy 28:2 down to 6, 17:26 Deuteronomy 28:2 down to 6, 17:29 Deuteronomy 28:2 down to 6 17:34 and the Bible says, 17:36 "And all these blessings shall come upon you 17:39 and overtake you, 17:40 because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: 17:43 'Blessed shall you be in the city, 17:45 and blessed shall you be in the country. 17:48 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, 17:50 the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, 17:55 the increase of your cattle 17:57 and the offspring of your flocks. 17:59 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18:03 Blessed shall you be when you come in, 18:05 and blessed shall be you, you be when you go out.' 18:09 " Listen, 18:11 the best countries in the world 18:15 are not the atheistic countries. 18:17 Listening to me, 18:18 the best countries in the world 18:19 are not the atheistic countries. 18:22 They're not the communistic countries, 18:24 they're not the pagan countries. 18:26 They're the countries where the people believe in God, 18:29 and they believe in Jesus Christ. 18:33 But when the Soviets got rid of God, 18:36 it brought hell. 18:38 So what did we do in Cuba, we ran campaigns. 18:41 A sponsored campaigns around the island, 18:43 I ran in the city of Havana. 18:46 We ran campaigns in Guantanamo Bay. 18:50 You know about this? 18:51 Guantanamo Bay, 18:53 we had a tremendous campaign in Guantanamo Bay. 18:55 No advertising allowed 18:57 but the people came by the thousands. 19:00 I was asked to preach with my little team in Havana, 19:04 in a part of Havana that is called, this is true, 19:08 the Viper, 19:10 the Viper. 19:11 We went to this place that is actually called 19:15 the Viper. 19:16 The church there is called the church of the Viper. 19:22 Hard to believe it, isn't it? 19:23 Because it is a place 19:25 that has been given over to spiritism and demonism. 19:29 And every night people stood outside on the streets, 19:33 people who came from the religion 19:35 of the Viper praying to their gods 19:39 that we would be destroyed. 19:43 So we preached under difficulties, 19:46 but I want you to know 19:48 we had the power of God with us 19:50 and the power of the Holy Spirit. 19:54 Now I have some testimonies 19:58 from some of the people who came to the meetings. 20:03 We saw all of these young people, 20:05 all of these beautiful people, 20:06 now I have these testimonies 20:09 which are hot from the hearts of these people. 20:12 I want you to listen to them. 21:48 Glory be to God, beautiful people. 21:51 Now we have with us today Alan De Leon. 21:54 He was member of our team. 21:56 Alan, I want you to come 21:57 and tell the people from your heart and your soul. 22:01 What impression you got from Castro's Cuba? 22:05 Glad to have you here. Thank you so much. 22:07 Tell us about it? 22:08 What impressed me the most specifically was 22:10 just the warmth and the greeting 22:12 that we received from the people there. 22:13 Every night they would come packed 22:15 into these really uncomfortable wooden pews, 22:19 really squeezed together, 22:21 sometimes they'll be sitting on each other's laps, 22:23 just to hear your preaching. 22:24 During the actual programs 22:26 there would be this hush over the crowd, 22:29 where the only thing you could hear is the buzzing 22:31 from the electricity 22:32 and the humming from the fans. 22:34 But the people stayed, 22:35 nobody wanted to get up and leave early. 22:37 It was just such a overwhelming positive response. 22:39 Hallelujah. Yes. 22:41 We saw the power of God and you were a blessing heart. 22:43 Thank you. 22:44 We also ran a school of evangelism. 22:50 We brought in the pastors right across this great island, 22:54 140 pastors. 22:57 This was a wonderful experience. 22:59 I just want to tell you, folks, something 23:01 the salt has not lost its savor. 23:05 And I'm going to show you now a report 23:08 and here we got some of the pastors 23:10 and Beverley standing with me down in front these folks. 23:13 Here is the pastor from Guantanamo Bay. 23:17 Now 23:19 here is the message on location about the school of evangelism. 23:27 Hi, there I'm John Carter in Havana, Cuba, 23:30 this communist fortress. 23:32 We're here to preach the gospel of Christ to the public, 23:35 but more than this 23:37 we are running a school of evangelism 23:40 and biblical studies for the Cuban pastors. 23:43 One hundred and forty pastors 23:45 coming right across this wonderful island, 23:50 and they're coming to join with us to study 23:52 how best we can meet the needs of the Cuban people. 23:57 The Cuban people are just the most wonderful people, 24:00 they're warm, friendly, 24:02 and I'm amazed that in the meetings every night 24:05 that we're taking, 24:06 that I think most of the people there 24:09 are young people. 24:11 Now, of course when I say young people 24:12 I mean people up to say, 35 years of age, 24:16 they are young to me. 24:18 But they're so warm, and they're so receptive. 24:22 And when they come forward night by night to accept Jesus, 24:25 they come with tremendous sincerity. 24:28 So what a privilege it is to be here in the land of Cuba. 24:32 But remember to pray for the pastors, 24:36 140 pastors are coming from Guantanamo Bay 24:41 and other places, 24:42 right across this island nation. 24:44 They're coming to join forces with us. 24:46 Think of this, 24:48 they're coming from Guantanamo Bay and everywhere. 24:52 We're going to meet with them, study with them, 24:54 pray with them 24:55 to device the best means 24:57 of reaching this nation for the Lord Jesus Christ. 25:02 And thank you for being my special partner. 25:09 Folks, 25:11 we're not finished with Cuba. 25:14 This is just a start. 25:16 We want to flood that island with thousands, 25:19 hundreds of thousands of gospel filled DVDs. 25:23 We can do it. 25:24 We can get permission to do it. 25:26 Not one Cuban pastor has got a motor car. 25:29 All got bicycles. 25:32 Lot of those bicycles broken down. 25:35 We want to give the pastors new bicycles. 25:39 We want to put into their hands the tools 25:42 to reach this country for Christ. 25:46 So we're just back from communist Cuba. 25:50 What can we say? 25:51 We've seen more than 900 souls baptized 25:55 and we say, glory be to the Father 25:58 and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, 26:01 amen and amen. 26:16 Hi, I'm John Carter. 26:18 My wife Beverley and I were watching television 26:20 the other night watching the news, American news. 26:24 They told us that the church in North America 26:26 is actually shrinking. 26:28 They said that atheism 26:29 is the fastest growing religious movement today 26:32 in North America. 26:33 And people are saying, 26:35 what on earth can we do to save the church? 26:37 Well, of course Christ died for the church, 26:39 he saves the church. 26:40 But what they mean is 26:42 how can we keep the church as a vibrant force 26:44 in the world today, in Australia, 26:46 in America and in Europe and in the rest of the world? 26:49 Let me tell you a little story. 26:51 John Wesley was one of the greatest preachers 26:53 that the English speaking world has ever heard. 26:56 John Wesley came up on the scene of the church 26:59 in England a few hundred years ago 27:01 when the church was dying. 27:03 Like the church today, it was a shrinking church, 27:07 but the people in the church were in a state of denial. 27:09 They refused to accept the reality 27:12 that the church was dying. 27:13 John Wesley did something that 27:15 other people said couldn't be done. 27:17 He revived the church through public evangelism, 27:21 did you hear that? 27:22 He started to preach Christ, he preached the Bible 27:25 and he preached out of doors and indoors 27:28 and the church was saved. 27:30 Not only did he save a lot of souls, 27:33 the souls of sinners, 27:34 he saved the souls of the saints. 27:38 Please join me my friend in evangelism. 27:44 It's what Jesus did. 27:46 Write to me John Carter, 27:47 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California. 27:51 In Australia write to me at the address 27:54 on the screen at Terrigal in New South Wales. 27:58 Join me my friend in preaching Christ. 28:02 Join me in public evangelism around the world. 28:07 Thank you in Jesus name. 28:18 For a copy of today's program, 28:21 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:24 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:28 Or in Australia contact us at PO Box 861, Terrigal, 28:34 New South Wales 2260. 28:38 This program is made possible 28:40 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:42 We thank you for your continued support. 28:45 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-01-05