Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001703A
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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 Topic today is "Living Victoriously, Part II." 00:31 Your fabulous future. 00:34 I want to tell you two stories. 00:37 The first one is about an old Australian farmer, 00:42 used to look after sheep and also used to milk cows. 00:46 His name was Cliff Young. 00:49 And this happened in 1983, quite a long time ago. 00:54 Cliff was 61 years of age. 00:57 Now in Australia, they have a marathon, 00:59 it is a super, super marathon. 01:02 They run from Melbourne to Sydney 01:05 and that's a distance of about 540 miles, 01:10 that's a long way to run a marathon. 01:14 And the people who go into this marathon are young guys, 01:18 they're fit, they're some of the world's best athletes. 01:21 And just before the marathon started, 01:23 Cliff turned up, 01:26 in his, in his rubber boots. 01:28 And they said, "You've come to just watch the status." 01:32 "No, no," he said, "I've come to run." 01:35 They had lots of television cameras there, and they said, 01:38 "Go home, old man." 01:40 He said, "No, I'm going to do it." 01:42 They said, "You're not going to get a mile off the road." 01:47 Let me tell you what happened. 01:48 He started out, 01:50 it became famous as his shuffle, 01:53 he used to get along like this, shuffling along. 01:57 And what the great athletes would do, 02:00 they would run for 18 hours, can you believe this? 02:04 And then they would rest for six hours. 02:07 Then they would start again, nobody told Cliff. 02:11 So he ran 18 hours and he ran through the night. 02:14 Then he ran the next day, 02:16 and he ran through the next night, 02:18 and he ran the next day, getting along like this, 02:22 the famous, the famous shuffle 02:24 which became the way 02:26 they eventually decided to do this race. 02:31 By the fifth night, he caught up with the team. 02:34 In fact, they were having a sleep. 02:37 He won by a mile. 02:40 Yeah, he absolutely won the race. 02:46 It was amazing. 02:48 He went faster and further, not further, 02:50 but he went faster than anybody else, 02:53 61 years of age. 02:56 So what can you learn from this? 02:59 Don't count the old guy out yet. 03:03 It's my birthday today. 03:05 Number two, number two, 03:08 keep your eye on the goal, 03:10 don't give up, don't look back, don't look down, 03:14 look straight ahead, and keep on going. 03:17 And if you do this, 03:19 you're going to get to the New Jerusalem, 03:21 the great city. 03:23 Now here, here is, here comes the second story. 03:29 I was out in Australia a few months ago, 03:31 summer time is quite hot. 03:34 It's about 90 degrees. 03:36 And I was staying at a place overlooking the ocean 03:38 in North New South Wales, 03:40 at a beautiful little place called Terranora, 03:43 and late in the day, 03:44 I went out and I stood on the verandah, my verandah, 03:49 and looked out over the ocean 03:51 and there was a tremendous storm. 03:54 The house was actually shaking with the thunder, 03:56 the lightning was flashing, about ten miles to the north, 04:00 there's an airport called Coolangatta. 04:04 And a jet plane had just taken off and I thought, 04:07 "What on earth is he doing? 04:09 He's taking off in this storm." 04:11 And so I stood there somewhat transfixed 04:14 at the sight of this jet plane 04:16 flying right into this tremendous storm 04:20 and then I saw it, 04:22 a little chink in the clouds, like a man's hand. 04:27 And the jet plane went 04:28 right through the little window of opportunity 04:31 and I could see through the chink in the clouds. 04:34 I could see through the window and I could see the blue sky 04:37 where the sun was shining. 04:41 I want you to know this, 04:44 there's a tremendous storm coming. 04:47 There's a tremendous storm coming around the world. 04:51 There's a tremendous storm coming to America. 04:58 Yeah, there's a tremendous storm 05:01 that's going to shake the world, 05:03 but I want you to know there's a window 05:06 and we can see beyond the storm and we can see glory ahead. 05:10 Amen. 05:11 I want you to know this, that if you believe this, 05:15 you will have a peace and a joy 05:19 that transcends human understanding. 05:24 I have seen the window. 05:26 Now the title, 05:28 the specific title for today's meeting is this, 05:31 "Your Wonderful Future in a New World." 05:37 I hear people say 05:38 that they're going to make America great again, 05:42 that they're going to make the world great again. 05:46 I want you to know something. 05:48 You can't make anything great 05:50 unless God is in the very midst of it. 05:54 Do you know what I am saying? 05:55 But the day is coming when God is going to make this world 06:00 great again for the people of God. 06:04 And so the best is yet to be. 06:06 I want you to come now to Daniel 2:1 06:09 and we're turning to the prophet Daniel, 06:11 he wrote this from the, from the city of Babylon. 06:14 And he wrote this about 2,500 years ago. 06:18 Daniel 2:1, 06:22 so glad that you folks are with us today. 06:26 "Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, 06:29 Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, 06:32 and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him." 06:37 Nebuchadnezzar was a young man. 06:41 The most powerful man in the world 06:45 was Nebuchadnezzar. 06:47 But can I tell you something? 06:49 He couldn't sleep, 06:53 because power is not enough 06:57 to give you a good night's sleep. 07:02 America today is finding it 07:06 very difficult to sleep, 07:09 because peace is not tied up 07:14 with money, and banks, 07:16 and personal financial prosperity. 07:20 This young guy had more money than we could bring. 07:27 And so we're gonna talk today also 07:30 about the way to peace 07:32 because there is a way to peace. 07:34 I want you to notice Daniel 2:2-6. 07:38 Daniel 2:2-6, 07:41 "Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, 07:44 the astrologers, the sorcerers, 07:46 and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams." 07:49 So he has this dream. 07:51 "So they came and stood before the king. 07:54 And the king said to them, 07:55 'I have had a dream, 07:57 and my spirit is anxious, troubled, to know the dream.' 08:00 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, 08:03 'O king, live forever! 08:04 Tell your servants the dream, 08:06 and we will give the interpretation.' 08:08 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, 08:11 'My decision is firm, 08:13 if you do not make known the dream to me, 08:16 and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, 08:20 and your houses shall be made an ash heap. 08:22 However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, 08:26 you shall receive from me 08:27 gifts, rewards, and great honor. 08:32 Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.'" 08:39 This is a great meeting that we're having here today 08:43 for a skeptic and an atheist. 08:48 Because 2,500 years ago, this young man, 08:51 probably about in his early 20s had a dream. 08:57 We're going to see today this dream, 09:01 you don't have to believe this at this stage, 09:03 this dream foretold the history of civilization 09:08 and it tells us about the day 09:11 when America is going to be great again. 09:14 And the world is going to be great again, 09:16 your wonderful future. 09:19 He was terribly intolerant, 09:21 of course, because he was a pagan. 09:24 In Babylon, there was no democracy 09:27 and there was no freedom. 09:29 Of course, you are aware of the statement 09:32 of the great Winston Churchill who said that, "Democracy," 09:37 he said, "is the very worst form of government," 09:40 he said, "in all the world, 09:42 except to all the other systems." 09:46 Do you want to know why we have democracy? 09:49 Do you want to know why we have democracy? 09:51 Democracy is the fruitage of the teachings of Christ. 09:56 A lot of people don't know that, 09:58 but Jesus said, "You will know the truth. 10:01 And the truth will make you free." 10:04 The Bible teaches freedom. 10:05 People say, 10:07 "But you don't have freedom to be wrong." 10:10 Yes, you do. 10:12 You have freedom to make the wrong choice, 10:15 that's what freedom is. 10:17 You've got freedom to choose. 10:20 But in old Babylon, there was no democracy 10:23 because they did not have the man who said, 10:26 "You shall know the truth, 10:28 and the truth shall make you free." 10:32 Look at Daniel 2:7-13, dear hearts. 10:36 Daniel 2:7-13, "The king answered... 10:41 They answered again and said, 10:43 'Let the king tell his servants the dream, 10:46 and we will give its interpretation.' 10:48 The king answered and said, 10:50 'I know for certain that you would gain time, 10:52 because you see that my decision is firm. 10:55 If you do not make known the dream to me, 10:57 there is only one decree for you! 10:59 For you have agreed to speak lying 11:01 and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. 11:04 Therefore tell me the dream, 11:06 and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation,'" 11:09 which is completely illogical. 11:11 "The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, 11:14 'There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter, 11:16 therefore no king, lord, or ruler 11:19 has ever asked such things of any magician, 11:21 astrologer, or Chaldean. 11:23 It is a difficult thing that the king requests, 11:26 and there is no other 11:27 who can tell it to the king except the gods, 11:31 whose dwelling is not with flesh.' 11:34 For this..." 11:36 That's the teaching of paganism, 11:38 "For this reason the king was angry and very furious, 11:42 and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 11:45 So the decree went out, 11:47 and they began killing the wise men, 11:49 and they sought Daniel and his companions, 11:53 to kill them." 11:56 This passage teaches 12:00 the futility of pagan religions. 12:06 Not all gods are of equal worth. 12:11 Political correctness tells us in America 12:16 that all religions are of equal worth. 12:21 Now we believe in freedom of all religions. 12:25 We believe in the right of Muslims to worship 12:28 as they are guided by the dictates 12:31 of their conscience. 12:32 We believe the Catholics have the right 12:34 and the Buddhists, and the Protestants, 12:37 and the atheists, have the right not to worship. 12:40 That's freedom. 12:43 But not all religions are of equal worth. 12:48 And here, the pagan soothsayers 12:55 and magicians are unmasked 12:58 because they cannot tell the king his dream. 13:02 Because who knows what a man dreams. 13:06 Now please notice, Daniel 2:14-19, 13:10 Daniel 2:14-19, 13:12 "Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, 13:16 the captain of the king's guard, 13:18 who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon, 13:20 he answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, 13:23 'Why is the decree from the king so urgent?' 13:25 Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel. 13:28 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, 13:33 that he might tell the king the interpretation. 13:36 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision 13:39 known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 13:43 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven 13:46 concerning this secret, 13:48 so that Daniel and his companions 13:50 might not perish 13:51 with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." 13:54 And verse 19 says, 13:56 "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. 14:00 So Daniel blessed the God of heaven." 14:04 I'd like to remind every person sitting here tonight 14:06 in our studio in southern California, 14:08 you come here to study the word of God. 14:12 All of these people here are young people. 14:17 Usually, if you go to church councils, 14:20 you see lots of white hair. 14:24 But this was a church council 14:27 with a young man Nebuchadnezzar. 14:29 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 14:33 were probably teenagers, at the most, 20 years of age. 14:39 Now the wonderful thing is this. 14:41 Young people believe that the impossible is possible. 14:48 Thank God for young people. 14:50 They're not old enough to be cynical to learn that 14:53 it can't be done. 14:57 God has often used young men and women 14:59 to do extraordinary deeds. 15:02 Esther, who became the wife of Xerxes in Persia. 15:07 Joseph, just a boy, 15:09 who became the Prime Minister of Egypt. 15:13 David, a shepherd boy, became the king. 15:16 Jesus, about 30 years of age when He started His preaching. 15:22 John the Baptist, just a young man like Jesus. 15:25 The disciples, 15:27 with the possible exception of Peter, young men. 15:31 Mary Magdalene, a young woman. 15:34 Paul, the Bible calls him, a young man. 15:39 John Wesley of Oxford University, 15:42 just a young man. 15:43 George Whitefield, when he came to America, 15:47 the greatest preacher 15:48 that America had ever seen up to that time, 15:51 they lifted him up, stood him on a table, 15:54 and when people came down to see George Whitefield 15:58 who could preach to the thousands and the thousands 16:01 with a voice like a silver bell. 16:05 They said, "How young he is!" 16:09 So you don't have to be an old fogy. 16:13 Before you're going to start doing something for God. 16:15 Charles Spurgeon, some say the greatest preacher 16:19 since the apostle Paul, 16:22 preached twice on Sundays in his congregation, 16:25 in his church, that seated 6,000, 16:30 started that when he was about 18 or 19. 16:32 Ellen White, who was a girl in her teens. 16:36 Pastor Pacheco, my friend from El Salvador, 16:40 who's been preaching since he was 8, 9, or 10. 16:45 And the greatest days are ahead for young people. 16:48 God is going to raise them up. 16:50 God is looking for young men and young women 16:53 to preach the gospel. 16:56 Now God called me when I was 15 years of age 16:59 and since I have been, at 17 or 18, 17:03 I have been preaching the gospel. 17:06 Beverly told me last night, that together, 17:09 since we've been married, we have 110 years together, 17:16 preaching the gospel, hallelujah, hallelujah. 17:23 And, Beverly, you're doing good. 17:29 This is an appeal to young people. 17:32 Yeah, yeah, don't sell yourself short. 17:36 Don't be put down by old people who say, "Can't be done." 17:41 Just because they can't do it, 17:42 it doesn't mean it can't be done. 17:45 It can be done, it will be done, 17:47 and it must be done for the glory of God, 17:49 hallelujah. 17:51 Yeah, Daniel 2:19-23 now, 17:55 and you'll tune 19 to 23, 17:58 "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. 18:02 So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 18:04 Daniel answered and said, 18:06 'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, 18:10 for wisdom and might are His. 18:12 He changes the times and the seasons, 18:15 He removes kings and raises up kings.'" 18:19 He does that too with presidents, 18:22 all sorts of people, 18:26 and ministers too. 18:28 "'He removes kings and raises up kings, 18:30 He gives wisdom to the wise 18:32 and knowledge to those who have understanding. 18:35 He reveals deep and secret things, 18:37 He knows what is in the darkness. 18:39 And light dwells with Him. 18:42 I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers, 18:45 You have given me wisdom and might, 18:47 and have made known to me what we asked of You, 18:50 for You have made known to us the king's demand.'" 18:57 So the king had a dream. 18:59 These young boys 19:01 went and asked mercies of the God of heaven. 19:06 And they told them what the king had dreamed. 19:10 I want you to know this. 19:13 The Bible says, "He sets up kings. 19:16 Puts down kings. 19:18 God is the sovereign Lord God. 19:22 He's in charge." 19:24 Many years ago at Avondale college, 19:26 I had a great friend who became a great minister of the gospel, 19:30 Ian Johnson. 19:31 And once we were out walking on a Sabbath afternoon, 19:35 Ian had, he was a married student, 19:37 had his little boy, 19:39 and his little boy was throwing stones 19:41 and knocking over the bottle or the can. 19:46 And he said, he thinks he's doing it, 19:49 but Ian was throwing the stones behind him. 19:55 I want you to know that we need to take a good look 19:59 at the person behind us who was throwing the stones, 20:06 who was scoring the shots. 20:09 You know who it is? 20:12 Someone standing in the shadows. 20:16 And read on Daniel 2:25-28, 20:20 "Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, 20:22 and said thus to him, 20:24 'I have found a man of the captives of Judah, 20:28 who will make known to the king the interpretation.' 20:33 The king answered and said to Daniel, 20:35 whose name was Belteshazzar, 20:37 'Are you able to make known to me 20:38 the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?' 20:43 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, 20:46 'The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, 20:50 the astrologers, the magicians, 20:52 and the soothsayers 20:55 cannot declare to the king." 20:57 Verse 28, 20:58 "But there is a God in heaven 21:04 who reveals secrets, 21:06 and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar 21:10 what will be in the latter days. 21:13 Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, 21:19 were these..." 21:20 Now listen to me. 21:24 What the world's smartest people can't do, 21:30 God can use His humble servants to do 21:34 because there is a God 21:39 in heaven. 21:42 Let me talk to you for a moment 21:44 about the new insanity. 21:50 People say, the world's gone crazy. 21:55 The new insanity, 21:56 you know what is taught in every secular university 22:01 in America and in the world. 22:04 Listen, nothing produced everything. 22:09 Non-life produced life. 22:11 Randomness produced fine-tuning. 22:17 Chaos produced information. 22:20 Unconsciousness produced consciousness. 22:26 Non-reason produced reason. 22:32 This doctrine 22:35 that was born in the heart of a man in England, 22:41 a good man, and a great man, 22:45 a man who wanted to become a minister, 22:48 a member of the established church, 22:51 that church of England, 22:53 who is married to a devout Christian, 22:55 Charles Darwin, 23:00 who wrote the book 23:01 "On the Origin of the Species," 23:04 and why certain races are favored above other races, 23:09 that's never quoted today, 23:11 why certain races are favored above other races, 23:16 and who gave to the world the idea, 23:18 the survival of the fittest, 23:22 whose teachings were worked over by Friedrich Nietzsche, 23:29 who talked about the coming of the superman, 23:33 that might is right. 23:38 And then later on, the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler 23:43 slept at night with the copy of "The Antichrist," 23:47 by Nietzsche under his pillow. 23:53 And he followed the teachings of Darwinism, 23:59 that the weak go to the wall and the master race survives. 24:09 This is the new insanity. 24:11 Do you wonder why, my American friends, 24:17 why we have fake news, fake ideas, 24:23 why we hear it from the politicians? 24:27 Why we hear it in the media? 24:29 Why we hear it across the street? 24:32 Like people no longer, 24:34 so many people no longer 24:37 have a sense of the right and wrong. 24:41 That might is right and the weak go to the wall. 24:46 And if I can push you off the freeway with my truck, 24:48 so be it. 24:51 People say, the world has become insane. 24:55 Atheism and the new... 24:58 Now there are many very good atheists 25:01 who don't think through 25:02 the logical conclusions of their beliefs, 25:08 "But if there is no God, there is no good," 25:14 said Nietzsche and he was right. 25:19 But the great message that comes ringing down 25:21 the corridors of time, 25:25 from the dust-heaps of Babylon is this. 25:30 There is a God in heaven. 25:35 Yeah, you cannot eliminate 25:39 the God of heaven, 25:41 you can pontificate. 25:43 You can get up and say, there is no God. 25:46 You can say, my mind came from no mind. 25:50 You can say, reason came from no reason. 25:54 That consciousness came from unconsciousness. 25:58 You can say this 25:59 and the fruitage 26:02 of that teaching is lunacy. 26:06 Now we'll be back in a moment 26:09 as we talk about your fabulous future. 26:24 We should never say something is impossible, 26:27 because Jesus said, 26:29 "With God, all things are possible." 26:32 It seems impossible to think that a group of Americans, 26:37 Australians, could come here to Castro's Communist Cuba 26:42 and preach the gospel. 26:45 We're here with the permission of the Cuban government, 26:47 we've got special visas, so we can preach here. 26:52 I've had the privilege of preaching 26:53 in the most difficult places, Moscow, all across Russia, 26:57 all around Ukraine. 26:59 Dangerous places in Africa 27:02 but this is one of the biggest miracles of all. 27:05 Here we are, The Carter Report team, 27:07 just a little team, 27:11 but we're here by the grace of God, 27:13 because with God, all things are possible. 27:17 But God works through people, He's working, glory be to God, 27:22 we believe through us, but He's also working, 27:25 my friend, through you, because of your prayers, 27:29 and your support, your gifts. 27:32 These people, many of them, 27:34 are hearing the true gospel of Christ for the first time. 27:38 So my heart is full of thanks to God, 27:41 and to you, today. 27:44 Would you please drop me a line, 27:45 John Carter, 27:47 post office box 1900, Thousand Oaks, 27:49 California, 91358. 27:52 And, of course, you can write to me 27:54 at Terrigal in Australia. 27:57 Let's get a fire going in this country. 28:02 We have established a beachhead on the shores 28:06 of Castro's Cuba, a gospel beachhead, 28:10 not a military one. 28:12 We are the ambassadors of peace 28:14 and we've come here to preach the gospel of Peace. 28:18 Stand with us, and thank you for your support. 28:26 For a copy of today's program, 28:28 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:31 Thousand Oaks, California, 91358. 28:35 Or in Australia, contact us at PO Box 861, 28:41 Terrigal, New South Wales, 2260. 28:45 This program is made possible 28:47 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:50 We thank you for your continued support. 28:53 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-04-13