Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001837A
|
00:01 Atheists must think that God is important
00:03 because they seem to talk about Him 00:04 so much of the time. 00:06 They're right, of course. 00:07 God even matters a great deal or He doesn't matter at all? 00:12 Science now shows God's existence 00:14 is highly probable. 00:16 If He really does exist, 00:18 then an intelligent understanding 00:19 of the original prime mover is immensely important. 00:23 Who is God? 00:25 Is He a person 00:26 or just a blind impersonal force? 00:29 Was Jesus God? 00:31 Find out today on the Carter Report. 00:38 Welcome today. 00:40 The topic is. 00:42 "God, what's He like?" 00:48 In that classic movie, The Ten Commandments, 00:52 God appears as the Almighty God who is so amazing, 00:58 so transcendent that 01:00 He comes in a flame of fire in the burning bush. 01:05 My son David gave me another movie 01:08 on The Ten Commandments called The Exodus. 01:12 I was somewhat amazed 01:14 because God in the movie The Exodus 01:17 appears as a little boy. 01:22 To me that 01:24 just didn't seem to be right because in The Ten Commandments 01:28 God appears and He says, "Moses," remember? 01:33 Moses. 01:35 Who are you? 01:38 And He says, "I'm the Almighty." 01:43 But in the movie, The Exodus, 01:46 He doesn't appear as the great God 01:48 of Charlton Heston, 01:52 but He appears as a little boy. 01:56 And when I thought about it, I thought, 01:57 "Well, maybe there's a point there." 02:01 The topic is, "God, what's He like?" 02:06 The most important statement 02:08 that has ever been made 02:10 in the history of the affairs of men is Genesis 1:1. 02:15 Look at it in the Bible. 02:18 Book of Genesis, 02:19 it means the Book of Beginnings, 02:22 Genesis 1:1, 02:25 easily the most important words. 02:28 "In the beginning 02:30 God created the heavens and the earth." 02:35 So in the beginning whenever that was, 02:41 God was there. 02:43 The most important statement ever made. 02:45 Now I want to start with four stories, 02:47 and I'm going to share these with you. 02:50 The first is about the great Professor Hubble. 02:54 Now we live in Southern California, 02:56 this great place. 02:58 And there's this tremendous picture 03:00 that we've got here, 03:02 and we've put it up on the screen, 03:03 and it shows the great Professor Einstein. 03:07 And here, the man 03:08 with the pipe is Professor Hubble. 03:12 You know the story. 03:14 One of the greatest of all stories. 03:16 You're not going to hear this in church too often. 03:21 But Einstein did not believe in the beginning. 03:24 He said, "There's never been a beginning. 03:28 The universe has always been there." 03:31 Greatest mind, Einstein. 03:33 But Hubble talking to the telescope 03:36 and he showed him some pictures, 03:39 and in the pictures you have a phenomenon 03:41 that is called the red shift. 03:45 Now scientists know what I'm talking about. 03:48 It means that the universe is exploding out, 03:52 it's moving out. 03:53 The galaxies are moving apart from each other, 03:57 some of them almost at the speed of light. 03:59 This proves without a shadow of a doubt 04:04 that the universe had a beginning. 04:11 And if the universe 04:13 had a beginning, listen to this, 04:16 a beginning implies what? 04:19 A beginner. 04:23 A beginning implies a beginner. 04:27 And Einstein came to believe in God, 04:31 in Almighty God 04:33 who was the great beginner. 04:36 Story number one. Story number two. 04:38 Before Einstein became very, very famous 04:44 here in the United States of America, 04:46 he used to travel around from university to university 04:49 and he would explain the theory of relativity. 04:53 And, of course, you all understand. 04:55 E equals MC square. 04:58 He had a car driver, 05:00 now nobody knew Professor Einstein 05:02 in those days. 05:03 They didn't know what he looked like, 05:05 so he'd go to Harvard University, 05:06 he'd give this tremendous lecture, 05:09 and the car driver used to sit down in the back. 05:14 But he gave the lectures so many, many, times 05:19 that the car driver memorized it. 05:22 He got to know it off by heart. 05:26 One night when they got to Princeton somewhere, 05:29 Einstein wasn't feeling too good. 05:31 So he said to the car driver, "Now look, 05:33 I'm not feeling so good tonight, he said, 05:37 you know my lecture off by heart, don't you? 05:38 He said, "Yeah, sure I know it all by heart." 05:41 He said, "Well, I'm going to sit down in the back 05:43 and I'll pretend to be the car driver, 05:45 you go up the front and give the lecture, 05:46 so he went up 05:48 in front of all the scientists at Princeton someway, 05:50 he gave this magnificent lecture by rote, 05:54 just off by heart about the theory of relativity, 05:58 and everything was great until he got to the end. 06:01 When he got to the end, 06:02 another famous scientist got up and he said, 06:06 "I'd like to ask 06:07 the great Professor Einstein a question. 06:12 Then he asked the car driver, 06:17 he asked him this question about the theory of relativity. 06:22 Well, Einstein was sweating down in the back, 06:24 he thought what on earth is he going to do. 06:25 How is he gonna get out of this one. 06:28 And the car driver's up the front 06:30 and he said without missing a beat. 06:33 Oh, he said, Doctor, he said, 06:37 "Your question is a very good one 06:39 but it's so very easy that anybody could answer." 06:43 And I'm going to ask my car driver 06:45 who is sitting down the back 06:47 if he'd come up the front 06:48 and if he'd answer your question. 06:52 But Einstein, this person 06:54 who once did not believe in a beginning, 06:57 who believed in the steady state theory, 07:00 because of what Professor Hubble showed him 07:02 came to believe 07:05 in the beginning of the universe 07:06 and a beginning implies a beginner. 07:10 A great friend of mine is Dr. Hugh Ross 07:12 from Reasons to Believe. 07:14 He is a great scientist, astrophysicist, 07:16 one of the best in the world. 07:19 For years he taught at Celtic. 07:23 Celtic, we're proud to say 07:25 is here in Southern California 07:28 and it is probably the greatest institution, 07:32 the greatest university 07:34 as far as physics and astronomy are concerned. 07:39 Dr. Hugh Ross was on the faculty of Celtic. 07:43 While he was there he discovered quasars. 07:47 I interviewed him just a few weeks ago. 07:49 He's a great friend and a great scientist, 07:51 he told me this. 07:53 He said, "I'll tell you there are no scientists 07:54 who believe in God. 07:56 You got to be a fool to believe in God." 07:57 He says, "It's not so." 07:59 He said, "I was amazed when I went 08:01 to the greatest university in the world 08:04 as far as physics and astronomy are concerned 08:07 that I met there 08:09 some of the most devout followers of Jesus Christ. 08:11 He said, "Scientists after scientists 08:14 because of science itself 08:19 had been forced to believe in the beginning." 08:23 And a beginning implies a beginner. 08:29 Now most of you have heard of Dr. Richard Dawkins. 08:35 Probably the most famous atheist 08:38 in the world today, 08:40 great brain, he's an Englishman, 08:43 he's had a number of debates 08:44 with the great Dr. John Lennox of Oxford University. 08:49 Dawkins and Lennox, 08:51 you want to go online 08:52 and you ought to see these amazing debates. 08:57 In one of the debates, 08:59 Dawkins was ridiculing the great Professor Lennox, 09:03 who's a mathematician from Oxford University 09:06 because of his faith. 09:07 He said, "It's stupid. 09:09 You have a blind faith." 09:11 It's stupid, words to that effect. 09:14 Dr. Lennox said, "Richard, may I ask you a question." 09:19 He said, "Yes, yes." 09:21 He said, "Do you have faith in your wife?" 09:25 You'll see this online. 09:27 Do you have faith in your wife? 09:29 And almost with a little indignation, 09:32 he said, "Yes, of course, I have faith in my wife." 09:35 He said, "Why do you have faith in your wife?" 09:37 He said, "Because of the way she looks at me, 09:39 the things she does." 09:41 Dr. Lennox said, he said, "Because of evidence, 09:43 he said, yes, because of the evidence 09:46 that you should." 09:48 He said, "So your faith rests upon evidence." 09:50 "Yes." 09:51 He said, "That's exactly the same as my faith. 09:54 I have faith in God. 09:56 It is not a blind faith, 09:57 but I have faith in God 09:59 because of the overwhelming evidence." 10:02 And so, my friends, I ask you to believe today 10:05 and I asked the television audience 10:06 to believe today 10:08 not because of blind faith which I do not believe in, 10:11 but I believe in an intelligent faith 10:15 that is based on evidence. 10:18 Listen to this. 10:20 I've discovered this. 10:22 The real reason many scientists reject God 10:24 is because of the awful things professing Christians have done 10:29 not because of the scientific facts. 10:32 Many of the great atheists in the world today 10:35 have become atheists 10:36 because they were abused in the church by pedophiles. 10:42 Now I'm not going to mention some of them by name, 10:44 but some of the most outspoken critiques of God 10:48 were abused 10:52 in the church by a priest. 10:57 So they're atheists not because of science, 11:00 but because of the abuse of so-called Christians. 11:04 I would say this today. 11:08 Try to lay aside your hurts 11:11 and the terrible sins of so-called Christians 11:14 that we see everywhere and look at the evidence. 11:21 The great text is this, the greatest statement. 11:24 In the beginning, 11:26 God created the heavens and the earth, 11:29 and a beginning demands a beginner. 11:35 This is why many atheists for so many years 11:39 have fought the discovery of the so-called Big Bang. 11:43 It was called the Big Bang 11:44 as a term of derision for the act of creation 11:48 because scientists did not want to believe in it. 11:52 But now today we have overwhelming evidence 11:55 that the universe was made, 11:57 we're not talking about this earth, 12:00 but the universe was made 13.78 billion years ago. 12:07 People say, "No, no. 12:08 You can't believe this, that's against." 12:10 No, no, it's not against the Bible, goodness. 12:13 We're not talking about the age of the earth, 12:15 we're talking about the age of the cosmos. 12:19 How old is God? 12:21 Last weekend, Beverley and I went to San Francisco. 12:27 Ostensibly to see our daughters, 12:29 but really to see our grandchildren. 12:32 My little granddaughter Amalie said to me, "Grandpa." 12:37 Yes. "Grandpa." 12:38 Yes, come on. 12:39 "Grandpa." 12:41 Yes, yes, Amalie. 12:42 "Grandpa, how old are you?" 12:45 She said, "Are you millions and millions?" 12:52 No, not really, Amalie, 12:54 maybe I'm starting to look millions and millions, 12:57 but no, not millions and millions 13:01 but God is. 13:03 Universe as we know it 13:05 came into being in a flash of light and fury 13:08 13.8 billion years ago. 13:11 You say, "I don't believe it." 13:13 Well, do some study. 13:16 We know the universe 13:18 is bursting out like a big giant firecracker, 13:22 and we know how fast it's bursting out. 13:24 Can be measured with telescopes. 13:26 You can see it. No, no, you can't. 13:28 No, well maybe, 13:30 you haven't seen it but others have seen it. 13:32 And they've measured the speed 13:34 and they can find out when it started. 13:39 The universe started 13.78 13:43 or let's say 13.8 billion years ago, 13:46 and God was there. 13:49 He was there before Genesis 1:1. 13:52 You ever thought of this? 13:54 Oh, no, God lives up on a planet somewhere. 13:56 No, no, no. 13:59 He was there before... 14:01 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 14:05 He was there before time was created. 14:09 Look at Titus 1:2. 14:12 Now this is a text that is quite extraordinary 14:16 in hope of eternal life 14:18 which God who cannot lie promised, 14:20 what does it say? 14:22 Please look at them, what does it say. 14:25 Tell me, come on. 14:27 Before time began. 14:30 People say, "No, no, no, there's always been." 14:33 No, no, it hasn't always been time. 14:36 It is now, look at me, 14:39 it is now a scientific fact 14:44 that time came into being at the point of creation. 14:49 Who believes this? 14:50 Only Christians. No, no, no. 14:53 Richard Dawkins believes it, all the scientists believe it. 14:58 Time did not exist 15:00 before the creation of the planet. 15:03 This is a confirmed scientific truths. 15:09 So God existed before the beginning of time. 15:11 Now listen to this one. 15:14 Because He existed before time, 15:16 there was never a time when God did not exist. 15:19 Did you get that? 15:21 So it does away with the question, 15:23 where did God come from? 15:26 Where did God come from? 15:27 No, that's a silly question now, 15:29 because God is not in time, time is in God. 15:34 And time came into being 13.78 billion years ago. 15:40 He was there before Genesis 1:1. 15:43 So God is older than 13.8 billion years. 15:50 Look at Psalm 90:2. 15:53 Psalm 90:2, 15:55 "Before the mountains were brought forth, 15:58 or ever You would form the earth and the world. 16:02 Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." 16:07 So from everlasting to everlasting. 16:10 No beginning and no ending. 16:13 Do I understand it? No, I don't. 16:15 Look at Exodus 3:14. 16:17 Exodus Chapter 3 16:20 in the Holy Scriptures written we believe by Moses. 16:26 "God said to Moses, 16:29 'I AM WHO I AM.' 16:31 And He said, 16:32 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 16:35 'I AM has sent me to you." 16:39 I AM. 16:41 Now this term, 16:43 I AM refers to this being 16:48 whose name is flashing up on the television war. 16:53 This is a word that is so sacred and so holy 16:58 that the Jewish rabbis will not take this name upon their lips. 17:03 I could tell you stories about this. 17:06 I was in Jerusalem with a rabbi, 17:09 was translating the scriptures. 17:11 And when he came to the name Yahweh, 17:16 he got, washed his hands, took a new pen. 17:20 And I said, there is the name Yahweh. 17:23 He blanched it, looked at me. 17:26 So I were a heathen man. 17:29 And you hear people continually down the street on television, 17:32 people in church say, "Oh, my God." 17:36 Do they not realize whom they are dealing with? 17:40 They're not dealing with the president 17:41 of the United States. 17:43 They're dealing with a God of fire. 17:49 The Almighty God, people think He's just like us. 17:54 No, He's not. 17:56 Almighty God. 17:59 The capital of Australia 18:00 is a city by the name of Canberra. 18:03 I think it's very beautiful city. 18:05 I went to the Australian War Memorial Museum. 18:10 This is the memorial museum. 18:13 We used to live in Canberra. 18:14 This is the new house of parliament, 18:16 and this is the avenue 18:18 that runs down to the houses of parliament. 18:22 It's very moving because it tells you of all the wars 18:27 that the Australians have been in. 18:29 The only country that has fought 18:31 with the American side by side for the last 100 years 18:36 have been the Australians. 18:38 You say, "Oh, the British, the French." 18:39 No, no, no. 18:42 The Australians. 18:44 That's why John McCain loved Australia. 18:46 But if you go in there, 18:48 high up over this memorial in other words. 18:53 Deuteronomy 33:27. 18:58 Look at them in the Bible. 18:59 Deuteronomy 33:27. 19:04 In the Australian War Memorial, 19:06 "the eternal God is your refuge, 19:09 the eternal God, 19:11 and underneath are the everlasting arms, 19:14 He will thrust out the enemy from before you 19:17 and will say, 'Destroy.'" 19:20 Eternal God. 19:22 Let me tell you, folk, something. 19:25 When you go into battle 19:27 and there's blood, 19:30 you want the eternal God. 19:32 There are no atheists on the front lines. 19:40 When we are confronted by death and loss, 19:44 the cry of the human heart 19:45 is for the warm embrace of the eternal God. 19:49 He was our refuge. 19:51 Just recently, 19:53 the former governor general of Australia, 19:58 the honorable Bill Hayden, 20:01 who was a confirmed outspoken atheist, 20:07 came in out of the cold and confessed. 20:10 All of my arguments were weak, 20:16 and has become a believer in Christ. 20:20 We all hunger for the embrace of the eternal God. 20:26 So what is God like? 20:27 Let us see 20:29 if we can paint a picture today of this eternal God. 20:35 Firstly the Bible says, "God is a Spirit." 20:40 Not like us. 20:43 Jesus referred to His Father in John 4:23 and 24. 20:50 And I would like you to turn to this text 20:54 in John 4:23 20:59 and 24. 21:03 "But the hour is coming, Jesus said, 21:07 and now it is when the true worshipers 21:10 will worship the Father in spirit and truth, 21:14 for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." 21:17 What does it say? 21:18 God is Spirit 21:21 and those who worship Him 21:23 must worship in Spirit 21:26 and in truth now. 21:30 A Spirit does not have flesh and blood and bones 21:34 as you see that I have. 21:38 What is the Spirit? We have no idea really. 21:42 We do know that the vast mass of the universe, 21:46 99% of the universe, 21:48 this is pretty new, 21:51 this material, 21:52 99% percent of the universe is composed of stuff 21:56 that is called Dark Matter and Dark Energy. 22:01 Out in the universe you have 2 trillion galaxies. 22:07 You can see them, 22:08 but you can't see dark matter. 22:11 99.7 percent not of the observable universe, 22:17 but of the universe that we know exists 22:21 is composed of dark matter, you can't see it. 22:26 Nobody knows what it is. 22:28 We couldn't exist without it. 22:30 It's a newly discovered phenomenon. 22:36 And God's a bit like that. 22:39 You can't see Him, 22:43 but everything is dependent on Him. 22:46 So He's not an impersonal Spirit. 22:48 The Bible says, "He is a person." 22:51 Genesis 1:26 and 27. 22:55 Look in the Bible, 22:56 come back to Genesis 1:26 23:02 and 27. 23:04 Genesis 1:26 and 27, 23:08 "And God said, 'Let us, that's interesting us, 23:13 make man in Our image according to our likeness, 23:18 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 23:20 over the birds of the air, 23:21 and over the cattle of all the earth 23:23 and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' 23:26 So God created man in His own image, 23:32 in the image of God He created him, 23:35 male and female He created them.'" 23:41 So even God doesn't have a body 23:43 as you see that I have a flesh and bones. 23:49 God is a person. 23:51 He has emotions, 23:53 He has feelings, 23:55 He can be stirred, 23:58 He can bind everything that is good in everyone. 24:03 Let us make man in our image 24:05 and He made men and women, you see. 24:10 And we are a dim reflection of Yahweh, Elohim, 24:16 He is all loving. 24:19 He's full of love, 24:21 He's the source of love, 24:22 His main characteristic is love. 24:25 1 John 4:8 are the words. 24:30 1 John, "He who does not love does not know God..." 24:34 If you don't love, 24:35 if you don't have love in your heart, 24:37 then you don't know God. 24:39 "For God is love." 24:41 It doesn't say that love is God, 24:45 but it says that God is love. 24:49 And He filled the world with beauty, 24:52 because He loves us and wants us to be happy. 24:57 I'm just amazed as you go around 25:00 and you see the beauty even in my own yard 25:03 in Thousand Oaks, 25:05 and the roses, and the flowers, and the petals. 25:09 And when you go to your cemetery, 25:11 you see it all. 25:13 It's very hard to be an atheist 25:14 and say there is no God when you see all this, 25:18 and there is more good than evil in the world. 25:21 Did you hear what I said? 25:23 Sometimes we see the terrible things 25:25 that are happening in the world. 25:27 We see the chaos of Washington. 25:30 We see some bad things in the church 25:33 and we say, "Where is God?" 25:37 But there is more good than evil in the world, 25:43 but evil is a problem. 25:45 If God is almighty, 25:48 why does He put up with it? 25:51 Now, in the next segment, 25:55 I'm going to answer the question, 25:57 why does a God of love permits suffering, 26:02 but the Bible says, 26:04 "God is love." 26:06 We'll be back in a moment. 26:22 The Word began in a village. 26:25 Churches and schools sprang up and multiplied 26:30 reaching into the city. 26:33 Great truths revealed 26:35 to the people of Papua New Guinea, 26:38 changing thousands of lives. 26:41 Our eyes are going to be opened 26:44 to the discovery of amazing truths. 26:48 The greatest truths in the Bible, 26:50 it is the truth that God loves you. 26:53 It has completed changed my life, 26:55 and I'm going to be baptized this Sabbath. 26:58 Pastor Carter has put something in my heart 27:00 that I will never forget. 27:02 Thank you, Pastor Carter, for your program, 27:04 it has changed my life completely. 27:06 John Carter's Great Truths Revealed 27:08 was recorded live from Papua New Guinea. 27:10 Experience the miracles 27:12 in this 21-DVD series for a gift of a $150 US 27:16 or $210 Australian. 27:18 To order, visit our website or call. 27:24 1.3 billion people live in India. 27:34 Two hundred million of these are Dalits. 27:38 Dalits formerly called untouchables 27:42 are the lowest members of the caste system. 27:45 One hundred percent of your gift 27:47 will go to fund projects for Dalit girls 27:51 as an alternative to slavery and prostitution. 27:55 Your gift of $600 will educate, clothe, 27:58 and feed one Dalit girl between 5 and 15 years of age 28:03 for one year. 28:07 Go to Cartereport.org or to the address on the screen 28:11 to send your gift of $600 28:14 and change the life of one Indian Dalit girl 28:18 for one full year. 28:26 For a copy of today's program, 28:28 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900 28:31 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:35 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:40 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:45 This program is made possible 28:47 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:49 We thank you for your continued support. 28:53 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2018-12-30