Participants: John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001709A
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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 This is a continuation of our series 00:28 "Living Victoriously" 00:30 and this is part 5, 00:32 in fact, it's chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel. 00:36 I guess everybody has read TIME Magazine. 00:39 I want you to have a look at the cover 00:41 of the latest TIME Magazine. 00:44 Some years ago TIME asked the pertinent question, 00:48 "Is God dead?" 00:50 Is God dead? 00:52 But this week TIME asked this question 00:55 thinking what's going on in America. 00:57 TIME asked the question, "Is truth dead?" 01:02 I wonder why? 01:04 In over hear that fake news 01:06 and it seems that so many people today 01:08 have no concept of right or wrong. 01:12 I want you to think about this. 01:13 Somebody said that God died in the 19th century 01:18 because of the German philosophers, 01:21 God died in the 19th century, 01:23 man died in the 20th century. 01:26 And when man died 01:28 and when God died also, truth died also. 01:34 It's very important for a person 01:36 to have a source of truth. 01:38 Jesus said, "Your word is truth." 01:41 But let me tell you this, 01:42 we need to be intelligently informed 01:46 and we need to read reliable magazines 01:50 that endeavor to tell the truth 01:53 that have a fact checking department. 01:56 Some magazines do. 01:58 When you read 01:59 you're never going to agree with everything you read, 02:03 and that's why you need to read 02:04 critically and widely from magazines 02:07 that have a solid reputation. 02:11 I was talking to a very lovely lady this week 02:15 who is a television producer in Hollywood 02:20 in a contrary to popular opinion 02:23 there are lots and lots of good people in Hollywood. 02:26 I've met lots of really good, fine people in Hollywood. 02:30 But she told me, 02:32 "The vast maturity of people 02:34 who make the movies, and sitcoms, and all the stuff, 02:37 they have no valid understanding of truth. 02:41 They have no moral compass." 02:46 It's no longer a case of saying, 02:47 "This is right, this is wrong." 02:49 Truth is whatever you want it to be. 02:54 I want you to think about this 02:55 because what I'm going to tell you 02:57 will help you to understand 02:58 what's going on in America today. 03:01 With the death of God, 03:04 you must have as a consequence the death of truth, 03:09 because God stands 03:11 for that which is absolute and certain. 03:14 We have a law and it comes from God, 03:17 we have a moral law. 03:19 America was based on the moral law of God 03:22 and a belief in God. 03:25 Now we meet people today in Hollywood around the world 03:28 and they say America has got nothing to do with God 03:32 because the founding fathers of the United States of America 03:35 did not believe in God. 03:38 That my friend is one of the biggest lies ever, ever told. 03:43 But if you have a belief in God, 03:47 you'll have a belief in reality and in truth. 03:52 And so TIME Magazine started together, 03:55 "Is God dead? 03:58 Is truth dead?" 04:00 And to many people the answer is, "Yes, it is." 04:04 Truth is whatever you want it to be. 04:09 The topic today is 04:10 when your enemy gives you the top job. 04:17 I want to tell you a personal story. 04:20 It illustrates how God can turn a negative into a positive. 04:24 I'm going to camouflage the story. 04:28 In 1991, we went to Russia. 04:30 We were the first people from outside Russia 04:33 to run a big evangelistic campaign, 04:35 a big public evangelistic campaign 04:38 in the city of Moscow. 04:39 I haven't got time to tell you what happened. 04:41 It was a series of amazing events. 04:45 The Moscow networks coming to the programs 04:48 because they were searching the truth. 04:50 And after we ran those meetings in the palace of culture, 04:53 just down the road from the Kremlin. 04:55 In 1991, we went over here and we booked the Kremlin. 05:02 The whole of congresses 05:04 and we paid the deposit 05:07 and we thought this is going to be 05:09 the best thing besides going to heaven 05:12 to run a series of evangelistic meetings 05:15 right in the very heart of atheism. 05:19 And I can't tell you how it happened, 05:22 but the meetings were stolen from us. 05:25 Some other folks moved in, kept our deposit, 05:29 and took over the whole of congresses. 05:33 I could have got really mad, 05:36 in fact, I'd gotten really mad, 05:41 but you know what you got to do 05:42 when things like that happen to you? 05:45 You got to forgive people. 05:47 And when you forgive people, it can turn a negative, 05:52 a big negative into a big positive. 05:56 You can't walk around carrying a burden of hate 05:59 and revenge on your shoulders. 06:03 And so we were sent to the place 06:05 where they sent Sakharov 06:07 and the rest of the Russian dissidents. 06:09 We were sent to the city of Nizhny Novgorod. 06:12 When I went there, 06:14 the city had been locked up for many, many, many years. 06:17 Foreigners weren't allowed to go to the city. 06:19 Since the days of Stalin, it was a forbidden city. 06:24 And some other people 06:25 took over the meetings in the Kremlin 06:28 and we were in this place, the place of the dissidents, 06:32 and God promoted us to glory. 06:35 We saw the greatest crowds 06:37 up to that time attending evangelistic meetings. 06:42 In the history of the Soviet Union 06:44 with the foreigner doing the preaching 06:46 and a Russian translator, 06:48 we saw thousands of people baptized 06:51 in the Volga River. 06:53 Who helped us? 06:55 The Russian Army. 06:56 The Russian Army supplied their soldiers. 06:59 The KGB sent their young men and they acted as our ushers. 07:03 You say, "Can't believe it." 07:05 It's true. 07:07 We saw the tremendous power of God. 07:11 3ABN came with us 07:14 and when they got involved in the campaign 07:16 and helped to make the campaign a possibility, 07:20 they built this wonderful evangelistic center. 07:24 This wonderful evangelistic center, 07:27 I'm told the biggest Protestant building in Russia. 07:31 It could have been in Moscow, 07:33 but it ended up in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. 07:37 God took something that was a big negative 07:40 and something that could have, 07:41 if we had let it, it could have destroyed us. 07:44 But God turned it around and we were promoted to glory. 07:51 I want you to know this. 07:52 God is in the business 07:54 of turning negatives into positives. 07:58 Now almost all dramas have two man characters, 08:01 the goody and the baddy 08:03 or as it said in one movie 08:05 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. 08:07 But today it's the good person and the bad person. 08:10 I want to give you some clues about the bad person. 08:14 He's a young king. 08:16 He threw a big party. 08:18 Invited thousands of guests, 08:20 he supplied huge quantities of alcohol. 08:24 He committed a fateful blunder. 08:27 He had a supernatural encounter. 08:30 His knees shook. 08:33 He met the prophet of God. 08:34 He gave the old man a big promotion. 08:39 He promoted the old man to glory. 08:43 But he was murdered 08:45 or some would say he was executed. 08:49 Of whom am I speaking? 08:52 Belshazzar 08:54 who is described in Daniel 5:1 and 2. 08:59 So please turn in the Bible 09:02 to Daniel 5:1 and 2. 09:07 And the text says this, 09:11 "Belshazzar the king made a great feast 09:13 for a thousand of his lords, 09:16 and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. 09:19 While he tasted the wine, 09:23 Belshazzar gave the command 09:25 to bring the gold and silver vessels 09:28 which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple 09:31 which had been in Jerusalem, 09:34 that the king and his lords, his wives, 09:37 and his concubines might drink from them." 09:43 In my work I've met so many people 09:45 in Russia, Ukraine, 09:48 South Africa, Australia, 09:51 and also here in the United States 09:53 who say the Bible is an exploded book, 09:56 it is simply a book of myths 10:00 and for many years skeptic said that Belshazzar was a myth, 10:06 because in the chronicles 10:08 the last recorded king of Babylon 10:12 was not Belshazzar but Nabonidus. 10:16 And so they said, 10:17 "Here we've got it, a mistake in 10:19 so called Holy Scripture," 10:21 but then this inscription was found 10:24 which is called 10:25 the Nabonidus Inscription in cuneiform. 10:28 And in the inscription 10:31 Nabonidus ends with the prayer 10:33 to God for himself and for his son Belshazzar. 10:40 Now what had happened with this that Nabonidus retired 10:43 and he put his own son Belshazzar 10:47 on the throne of Babylon exactly 10:49 as it is written in the scriptures. 10:51 I believe that the Bible is a book of truth. 10:54 Now if you can believe what I'm going to tell you now 10:57 it's going to help you lots, 10:58 if you don't believe in anything, 11:01 you're going to be a lost soul. 11:03 But the Bible tells us, "Who I am?" 11:05 It tells me, "Where I came from, 11:07 why I am here and where I am going?" 11:12 And because we believe it is more than a book, 11:15 we believe it is an inspired book, 11:18 it is the very bases for western culture. 11:21 It made America what America is 11:25 or what America was. 11:29 This Chapter 5 11:31 describes the last night of the Babylonian Empire, 11:34 the last night of Belshazzar. 11:38 The king was there with his, in a circle with his cabinet, 11:42 with his women, his wives, his lords 11:46 and his concubines and they were drunk. 11:51 Belshazzar made a very, very foolish decision 11:54 under the influence of alcohol. 11:58 The Bible says that when he was drunk, 12:02 he commanded to bring the golden vessels 12:06 from the temple 12:08 which Nebuchadnezzar had gotten, 12:10 out of the temple in Jerusalem. 12:12 Nebuchadnezzar had overthrown Jerusalem 12:15 and he had taken from the temple in Jerusalem 12:17 these golden vessels 12:19 from the sanctuary dedicated to almighty God. 12:22 Nebuchadnezzar... 12:23 Belshazzar, when he is drunk, 12:26 commands to bring in these vessels. 12:28 That was a stupid thing to do. 12:32 Let me give you some facts about the modern use of alcohol 12:36 because it's pertinent. 12:38 In the United States 12:40 more than 15 million adults 12:43 are engaged in the heavy use of alcohol. 12:47 They are the people we know. 12:49 They're the people who are passing you 12:50 in the streets on the freeways, 15 million of them. 12:54 Around 90,000 people die from alcoholic abuse 13:00 every year in the USA, 90,000 13:03 that's equivalent to 270 jumbo jets 13:09 crashing every year in the United States, 13:12 270 jumbo jets killing every soul on board, 13:16 that's 5 jumbo jets a week, 13:18 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 13:21 everyday through the working week, 13:23 a jumbo jet crashes every person is killed 13:27 because of alcohol. 13:31 It is an insane industry. 13:36 If we were to lose one jumbo jet in LAX, 13:41 it would be a national disaster, 13:47 the 270 every year. 13:49 Why? 13:51 It's tolerated because alcohol is an addictive drug 13:55 that brings in billions of dollars 13:58 and makes a lot of people wealthy. 14:01 700,000 students between 18 and 24 14:05 were assaulted by another student 14:07 under the influence. 14:09 97,000 students reported sexual abuse or date rape 14:14 at the hands of a person who had been drinking. 14:18 Alcohol impairs the thinking processes, 14:25 and that's why so many people find 14:27 it so difficult to think 14:30 that may be one of the problems in congress. 14:35 It could be. 14:37 The results of alcohol, 14:38 broken homes, abused wives, terrorized children. 14:44 Many years ago, 14:45 when I was a boy going to college, 14:48 a man came and gave us speech. 14:50 He was from the United States. 14:52 I think if my memory is working today 14:56 this is going back a few years. 14:58 It was Dr. Scharfenberg and he told 15:01 how he visited a young man on death row 15:05 about to be put to death. 15:06 You know why? 15:08 He stabbed his mother to death with a kitchen knife. 15:15 And he said, "Son, I want you to tell me, 15:20 how did it happen, how did it happen?" 15:23 He said, "I came home late one night." 15:26 He said, "I had been drinking, I was blind drunk. 15:31 My mother was waiting up for me, 15:32 it made me crazy 15:34 and when she wanted to know where I had been, 15:38 I got so mad I said shut up and she wouldn't shut up, 15:42 so I went to the drawer in the kitchen 15:45 and I got out a knife and I stabbed her to death." 15:51 Now he said, "I am going to die in the electric chair 15:56 because I killed my mother." 16:00 But he said, "I didn't wanted to do it, 16:01 I did it when I was drunk." 16:06 And Dr. Scharfenberg said, 16:08 "Son, just for the record. 16:12 Who gave you your first drink?" 16:17 He said, "My mother gave me my first drink." 16:25 Today in America and around the world 16:27 there are lots and lots of preachers and ministers 16:31 who defend the use of alcohol. 16:35 Plenty here in Southern California. 16:37 I've got a word for them, 16:39 they ought to resign passing their credentials 16:44 and go and get a job may be at a brewery 16:49 because of the curse of alcohol. 16:53 Broken homes, abused wives, terrorized children, 16:57 people psychologically damage for lives. 17:01 A terrible, did you know a terrible increase of disease 17:05 including cancer. 17:08 If you drink alcohol, 17:09 you got a bigger chance of getting cancer. 17:13 To say nothing of the hurtful decisions 17:15 that are made by politicians and other leaders 17:20 because of the demon in the bottle, 17:23 the demon in the bottle. 17:25 Look at Deuteronomy 32:32 and 33 in the Bible. 17:31 Deuteronomy 32:33. 17:36 It says, "For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, 17:42 and of the fields of Gomorrah, 17:44 their grapes are grapes of gall, 17:47 their clusters are bitter. 17:50 Their wine is the poison of serpents, 17:56 and the cruel venom of cobras." 18:02 Now that night Belshazzar, 18:05 his ladies, his wives, his concubines, 18:09 and his lords were drunk. 18:14 They would never have done 18:15 what they did had they been sober, 18:18 but they were drunk. 18:21 And if you notice in Daniel 5:2 to 4, 18:24 Daniel 5:2 to 4, 18:29 "While he tasted the wine, 18:31 Belshazzar gave the command 18:33 to bring in the gold and silver vessels 18:35 which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple 18:39 which had been in Jerusalem, 18:43 that the king and his lords, his wives, 18:47 and his concubines might drink from them. 18:51 Then they brought the gold vessels 18:53 that had been taken 18:54 from the temple of the house of God 18:57 which had been in Jerusalem, 19:00 and the king and his lords, his wives, 19:03 and his concubines drank from them. 19:05 They drank wine, 19:07 and praised the gods of gold and silver, 19:10 bronze and iron, wood and stone." 19:16 Do you think for one moment 19:18 he would have done that had he been sober, 19:22 I don't think so. 19:24 He acted as a complete fool. 19:26 When under the influence the golden vessels 19:29 from the temple in Jerusalem, 19:30 the temple of the great God Yahweh Elohim were brought. 19:35 This was an act of daring blasphemy, 19:40 dare I say, stupidity. 19:43 I handed rebellion against God. 19:47 And when he did this, 19:49 Belshazzar crossed the line in this act. 19:54 Did you know this 19:56 that there is a line in the sand, 20:00 and if you and I step over that line, 20:03 then we've gone too far. 20:08 It was like I can just carry on and do whatever I want to do. 20:11 No, it's not so. 20:13 There's a line that is crossed by rejecting the Lord, 20:19 where the call of the spirit is lost. 20:22 As you travel along with the pleasure-mad throng 20:26 have you counted, have you counted the cost? 20:32 And he crossed over the line. 20:35 I want you to notice Daniel 5:5 and 6, 20:40 Daniel 5:5 and 6, 20:46 "In the same hour 20:49 the fingers of a man's hand appeared 20:52 and wrote opposite the lampstand 20:54 on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace." 20:59 This could have been the candlestick 21:01 out of the temple. 21:03 "And the king saw 21:04 the part of the hand that wrote. 21:08 Then the king's countenance changed, 21:12 and his thoughts troubled him, 21:13 so that the joints of his hips were loosened," 21:19 must have hurt, 21:21 "and his knees knocked against each other." 21:30 So this was judgment day. 21:32 This is the most unpopular truth in the Bible 21:37 that every person one day is going to have a judgment day 21:43 because we came from the hand of God. 21:47 And because God is alive and because God is not dead, 21:52 every one of us 21:53 is going to have a judgment day. 22:00 But we're told that God is very, very patient. 22:03 Would you look at 2 Peter 3:9, 22:07 2 Peter in the New Testament 3:9, 22:13 Peter says, 22:14 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 22:17 as some count slackness, 22:18 but is longsuffering toward us, 22:22 not willing that any should perish 22:24 but that all should come to repentance." 22:26 So God is a God of love, God is a God of mercy, 22:32 God is a God of patience. 22:36 The skeptic went down to Hyde Park, 22:39 took off his watch, held it up and he said, 22:43 "I'm going to prove there's no God." 22:45 Held up his watch and he said, "If there is a God, 22:51 I defy you to strike me dead in the next 60 seconds." 22:56 He did like this and he looked at his watch holding his watch. 23:03 When 60 seconds had ticked by, he said, "Ladies and gentleman, 23:07 I have amply demonstrated 23:10 that the existence of God is a myth, 23:13 there is no God." 23:16 And one old man down the front stood up and said, 23:20 "The poor fool, 23:21 he thinks he can exhaust the patience of God 23:25 in 60 seconds. 23:27 He's got a lot to learn, hasn't he?" 23:30 So, my friend, Belshazzar 23:33 did not exhaust the patience of God 23:36 in 60 seconds and you and I won't either. 23:40 An atheist wrote to a Christian newspaper 23:43 in North America. 23:44 He said, "Dear Editor, 23:46 please ask your Christian readers 23:49 to explain this. 23:51 I play out on the Sabbath, I planted on the Sabbath, 23:56 I worked on the Sabbath, I harvested on the holy day, 24:01 and I got the best crop of potatoes in May. 24:05 Please explain." 24:09 Somebody wrote this letter to the editor, 24:13 "Dear Editor, 24:15 please tell your potato man, 24:20 God doesn't settle all his accounts in May." 24:27 God does not settle all his accounts in May. 24:30 I want you to know this, 24:32 but the truth is he does settle all his accounts. 24:38 Now, would you please notice Daniel 5:5 and 6, 24:44 Daniel 5:5 and 6, again, 24:48 "In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared 24:51 and wrote opposite the lampstand 24:52 on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, 24:56 and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 24:58 Then the king's countenance changed, 25:00 and his thoughts troubled him, 25:02 so that the joints of his hips were loosened 25:07 and his knees knocked against each other." 25:16 This indicates that God is watching us. 25:21 And the king who is so boastful and proud 25:27 and blasphemous 25:29 suddenly became very, 25:32 very sober. 25:37 Here's a quote from Jefferson, 25:38 "I love the founding fathers 25:40 of the United States of America. 25:41 What would they say today 25:45 as they consider America, he said this, 25:49 "This is the Jefferson memorial, 25:51 indeed I tremble for my country 25:54 when I reflect that God is just 25:58 that His justice 25:59 cannot sleep forever." 26:04 What happened to the king? 26:07 We'll be back in a moment with more amazing facts. 26:24 Hello, friend, I'm John Carter. 26:26 By the grace of God, I'm going back to Russia. 26:29 I've been to the lands of the old Soviet Union 47 times, 26:35 that's in the last 25-26 years. 26:38 We are planning to go to the city of Nizhny Novgorod 26:42 or the old Russian city of Gorky 26:45 made famous by the poet, Gorky. 26:49 We are going there because 25 years ago 26:52 we ran a great campaign in Nizhny Novgorod 26:56 and we saw 2,530 souls, 27:00 2,530 Russians, communists, atheists, 27:05 all sorts of unbelief baptized into Christ 27:08 in the Volga River. 27:10 We're going back because the need is enormous 27:14 and because the Russians are saying, 27:16 "Please come and help us." 27:18 Freedom is disappearing in Putin's Russia. 27:23 It's almost impossible now to hire an auditorium, 27:26 almost impossible to preach the gospel. 27:29 And so, by the grace of God, 27:31 we are applying for special missionary visas. 27:35 Are we going to get them? 27:36 We think so, by the grace of God. 27:38 And we're going to advertise 27:40 by the grace of God on television and on radio. 27:43 Please write to me. 27:45 I've got to raise $250,000 now. 27:51 Please write to me, John Carter, 27:52 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. In Australia, 27:59 write to the address now appearing on the screen. 28:02 This could be Russia's last opportunity. 28:06 Please write to me. 28:07 I ask you in the name of God 28:10 write to me today and pray for Russia. 28:13 Thank you and God bless you. 28:25 For a copy of today's program, 28:27 please contact us at PO Box 1900, 28:31 Thousand Oaks, California 91358, 28:35 or in Australia, 28:37 contact us at PO Box 861, 28:40 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:44 This program is made possible 28:46 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:49 We thank you for your continued support. 28:52 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2017-05-22