Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001845A
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00:01 Thousands of innocent people are shot to death
00:03 in America every year. 00:06 Is the gun to blame? 00:07 And is the solution 00:09 more governmental legislation and interference? 00:11 What is the root cause of hatred 00:13 that drives individuals to commit deeds of violence? 00:16 Is the gun the problem? 00:19 What causes our culture of violence? 00:22 Find out on the Carter Report. 00:27 Today we're talking about "Guns in America." 00:32 Guns in America, 00:34 is the solution to get rid of all of the guns. 00:38 It was Wednesday night very recently 00:42 and I was out walking in Thousand Oaks. 00:46 I guess I've gone walking in Thousand Oaks, 00:49 thousands of times, 00:50 'cause I've lived there for quite a few years. 00:53 Beverley and I've lived there for about 30 years. 00:56 We love Thousand Oaks. 00:58 So I'd come home from work 01:00 and I was sort of feeling a bit stressed out. 01:04 And after eating something I went for a walk. 01:07 I've been on that walk hundreds and hundreds of time. 01:12 So walking down this hill, all by myself I thought, 01:18 strange some of these things that happen to you. 01:22 And as I was walking alone, 01:26 I was overcome by a tremendous impression 01:28 that I was in danger. 01:32 This has never happened before to me in Thousand Oaks. 01:36 It's as so a voice said to me, almost audibly, 01:40 "Turn around and go home." 01:42 But I was going down this hill, I came to a little street, 01:45 I crossed over the street, 01:46 but the impression became stronger. 01:50 Turn around and go home. 01:52 And so with some resistance and feeling a little silly, 01:57 I turned around and got home. 01:59 Beverley said, "You're home early." 02:00 I said, "Well, just came home early." 02:04 Then after a bit I went to bed. 02:07 I emphasize, 02:09 Thousand Oaks 02:10 has been about the safest place in America. 02:15 We don't have really crime in Thousand Oaks, 02:17 we don't have killings. 02:19 It's on the border of Los Angeles 02:21 but in spite of that, it's tremendously safe. 02:25 The next morning Beverley said to me 'cause she got up first, 02:29 she said "There's been a massive shooting. 02:32 Thirteen people are dead." 02:35 A young white man, 02:38 obviously deranged, got his gun, 02:43 went and shot all of these young people. 02:48 I talked to my neighbor, 02:50 just a little while later and he said, 02:52 "We are grieving in our home, these were our friends, 02:56 we graduated together." 03:01 Then the big fires came, 03:05 we were blessed we didn't lose our home, 03:06 we could've lost our home. 03:08 We had the mass killing and then the fire started. 03:13 And on the Saturday afternoon, 03:15 Beverley and I saw the fire at the top of Mount Boney. 03:19 We've seen it there before, many years before we saw it... 03:22 Unless they get the fire out, the fires going to come down, 03:24 it's going to wipe us all out. 03:27 Thanks be to God, 03:29 they sent the big air tankers 03:30 and we were saved by the air tankers. 03:32 These tremendous pilots, 03:34 they must be some of the best in the world. 03:38 But as we were standing up next to the water tower, 03:40 watching the air tankers bomb the fires. 03:44 We were joined by some folks and they said, 03:47 "You see just down there?" 03:49 "Yeah, that's where I was walking." 03:53 "That's where the murderer was loading up his gun." 03:59 This just happened, 04:01 a little while just happened before them, 04:03 the mass murder. 04:09 So it's a strange thing 04:10 when you've lived in one of the safest places 04:13 in the world, 04:16 to wake up and find it's not so safe after all. 04:22 So far in the United States of America 04:25 there have been more than 300 mass killings 04:29 this year. 04:30 A mass killing I'm told is, 04:32 when you have three people or more. 04:37 Violence in America, what has gone wrong? 04:43 I'm not suggesting today 04:44 that I've got all the answers to all these problems, 04:48 but I'm going to go literally to the heart of the problem. 04:53 And I'm not going to please everybody 04:55 who is watching the telecast. 04:58 This is a polarizing subject, 05:00 but I think basically the answer is plain and simple, 05:06 if we only had the courage and the wisdom 05:12 to face the facts. 05:15 I'm going to turn to the old Bible, 05:17 I'm going to turn to Galatians 6:7, 05:21 the Book of Galatians 6:7, 05:26 and this is a very, very significant passage 05:32 because it teaches a tremendous truth. 05:36 Galatians Chapter 6, 05:39 I believe it is, and verse 7, 05:44 the Bible says, "Do not be deceived, 05:50 God is not mocked..." 05:51 You can't fool God, 05:53 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, 05:55 for whatever man sows, 05:58 that he will also reap." 06:03 We reap what we sow. 06:05 If we sow barley, we get barley. 06:09 If we sow oats, we get oats. 06:12 If we sow wheat, we get wheat. 06:16 If we sow love, we get love. 06:19 And if we sow hate, we get hate. 06:25 And sadly today, 06:28 there's a lot of hate in America. 06:33 There's a lot of hate speech. 06:38 I seem to think and many would agree with me, 06:40 I think you'd agree with me. 06:43 There's nothing really much worse 06:46 than a torrent of hate speech, 06:48 because hate speech just may push 06:52 an unbalanced person over the line. 06:59 When are we going to get smart 07:02 and realize that words matter? 07:07 Today in America we have a rise of anti-Semitism, how amazing. 07:13 How can a person claim to follow Christ 07:16 and be against the people of Christ? 07:20 I gave the talk once on the fact 07:21 that Jesus is a Jew. 07:23 I got a flood of hate mail, Jesus is not a Jew, 07:27 He's an Anglo like us, I'm telling you. 07:35 And so some person broke into a synagogue 07:38 while these Jewish people 07:40 are worshipping God and murdered them. 07:44 Now, my appeal today to you, my friends and my audience, 07:50 is this, it's for a kinder, gentler America. 07:56 No more hate speech, I can't change you, 07:58 you can't change me, but God can change me. 08:03 And that we stop the name calling. 08:05 We hear it all over Washington, 08:08 politicians calling their enemies 08:11 by awful names. 08:13 Why don't they realize 08:15 that usually we give up name calling 08:18 when we get out of school for little children? 08:22 Little kids call each other names, 08:26 but as you know some people grow older, 08:30 and some people grow up, 08:32 but some people just grow older and they never grow up. 08:37 Name calling is for babies. 08:41 Remember Louis Armstrong, Satchmo. 08:46 The great song he used to sing, "What a wonderful world." 08:52 It could be a wonderful world. 08:55 We mourn the passing 08:56 of the great President George Bush, 09:00 whom I have always admired. 09:03 He spoke about lighting a thousand points of light. 09:07 People laughed, wow, how silly. 09:10 Why not? 09:11 Thousand points of light. 09:13 Dr. Robert Schuller, 09:14 the Crystal Cathedral spoke about going out 09:19 and committing random acts, 09:22 not of violence but random acts of kindness. 09:27 Just do it. 09:29 That's somebody in on the freeway, be kind. 09:36 The question is, this is the questions, 09:39 it's a difficult one, but it's easy to answer. 09:40 Is this nation that we believe was raised up 09:43 in the providence of God 09:45 the great United States of America? 09:47 Is it actually more dangerous than other places? 09:52 And if so, why? 09:53 I want you to look at these places 09:55 that are we're going to put up now 09:57 on the television wall. 09:59 Gun related deaths per 100,000 per year 10:03 in affluent countries, Australia is1.04. 10:07 When we say America is the wealthiest country, 10:10 we're not talking about per capita. 10:12 Because there are lots of other countries, 10:14 where people per capita have got more money, 10:17 but we're talking about the gross domestic product, 10:19 GDP. 10:21 So America is number one. 10:23 Violent deaths with guns, one Austria 2.9, Canada 2.05, 10:28 Denmark 1.28, France 2.83, Germany 1, 10:33 Iceland 0.07, Ireland 0.80, 10:39 Iceland wasn't it 0.07, Ireland 0.8, 10:45 then if you look over here Italy 1.31, 10:50 Netherlands less than 1, 10:52 New Zealand just over 1 about the same as Australia, 10:55 Singapore look at this 0.025, Spain 0.62, 11:01 Sweden 1.47, United Kingdom 0.23, 11:05 people have come to me and they've said 11:07 "We're thinking of going to England, 11:09 is it safe to go to England? 11:13 They say, you know, 11:14 is it safe for us Americans to go to England. 11:16 The UK 0.23, 11:19 the United States of America 11.96. 11:24 This means that your chance of being killed 11:28 in the United States of America 11:30 with a gun is 50 times higher 11:33 than if you were living in England. 11:41 So the reason is, why, why? 11:46 Why? Why? 11:47 The violence. 11:49 Now look at developing countries, 11:51 Argentina 6.93. 11:54 Let me, let me point some of these things out. 11:57 Gun related deaths per 100,000 per year 12:00 in developing countries. 12:01 Argentina about 7, 12:02 Brazil very dangerous 21.9, Chile 2.4, pretty safe, 12:09 Colombia 18.65, very dangerous, Cuba 0.5, 12:14 one of the safest places on the face of the earth. 12:16 El Salvador can you believe it, 45.6, tremendously dangerous. 12:22 We've just, we've run a huge campaign there, 12:26 dangerous. 12:28 Guatemala 34, Jamaica 30, very dangerous, 12:31 Mexico 7.64, 12:36 and we talk about these Mexicans 12:38 being dangerous people, 12:42 Venezuela almost 60, and so some of these countries 12:47 are tremendously dangerous with the use of guns 12:52 and other ways of killing people. 12:56 But I would point out to you this fact, 12:59 that most dangerous countries 13:02 usually have a long history 13:07 of a corrupt church. 13:09 Bad religion pulls down the morals 13:13 and destroys the moral fiber. 13:17 That's what you've got in Latin America, 13:21 a corrupt church and corrupt governments, 13:25 like in Venezuela. 13:29 What you believe apparently does matter, 13:32 but here is the question. 13:35 Why should the wealthiest country compared 13:37 to other wealthy country be such a violent place? 13:45 Now I'm not suggesting to you 13:48 naively that there are simple answers 13:53 to this most profound of questions. 13:56 But why is America such a dangerous place. 14:02 Look at the text again, Galatians 6:7, 14:06 think of the text, read it, "Do not be deceived," 14:10 don't be taken in, the Bible says, 14:14 "God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows 14:20 that he will also reap." 14:25 It is true, 14:26 it's unpalatable but it is true. 14:31 If you sow to the wind, you will certainly reap what? 14:37 The whirlwind. 14:39 If you say sow hate, you're gonna get hate. 14:43 If you sow violence, you're gonna get violence. 14:47 If you sow racism, you're gonna get racism. 14:50 If you sow anti-Semitism, you're going to get it. 14:55 If you sow white supremacy, 15:00 you're going to get it. 15:03 Whatever you sow, you're going to get it. 15:05 If you sow love, you're going to get it. 15:11 Now as I pondered this question, 15:13 and this is a profound and difficult question, 15:17 and I've spent many hours trying to, 15:21 in my own mind work out this mystery. 15:25 I love America, 15:27 been here now for 33 years this month. 15:33 Love America, 15:38 but why is it no longer safe at nighttime 15:42 to walk around Thousand Oaks. 15:46 Why the violence? 15:48 I want you to come now to John 12:35. 15:51 Open your Bible, turn to the text. 15:54 We supply Bibles in these meetings. 15:56 John 12:35. 16:02 John 12:35, now Jesus is talking here, 16:08 "Jesus said to them, 16:11 'A little while longer the light is with you. 16:15 Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you, 16:22 he who walks in darkness 16:23 does not know where he is going.'" 16:26 What I'm going to tell you now is rather scary. 16:30 Jesus said, 16:32 "If you've got light, walk in it. 16:37 Because if you don't walk in the light, 16:39 you know, what's gonna happen? 16:41 You gonna get darkness. 16:44 Don't forget this, 16:45 there is no darkness 16:49 so black as light 16:53 resisted and rejected. 16:58 So the more light that you have, 17:02 the greater the spiritual dynamic, 17:06 so Jesus said, "I'm giving you light." 17:10 So Jesus said, "Walk in the light, 17:15 lest darkness come upon you." 17:20 Now here's something I'm going to say 17:23 that'll make some people mad, so be it. 17:25 But I'm telling you what I believe, 17:28 and I still believe in freedom of speech. 17:33 Listen to this. 17:35 The problem is really not the gun at all, 17:41 because if you get rid of the guns, 17:44 people are gonna do it with something else. 17:50 And when I was a little boy growing up in Australia 17:52 that was and still is, 17:54 relatively speaking a very safe place. 17:59 There were still drunk drivers 18:01 and some people would say back in those days, 18:05 you know, we ought to get the cars 18:07 off the road, it's better when we had horses. 18:11 I'm not that old, folks. 18:15 You know, what my mother said? 18:17 My mother was right, had a lot of wisdom. 18:21 She said, "It's not the car, it's the nut behind the wheel." 18:28 Mm-hmm. 18:30 It's the nut behind the wheel, it is not the car. 18:36 Now this is totally politically incorrect 18:39 and you may hate me forever. 18:42 It's not the gun, 18:45 it's the nut behind the wheel. 18:48 Here's a little aside. 18:51 I realized that guns 18:53 should not be sold to criminals, 18:54 I know that. 18:55 That's crazy to sell guns to criminals, it's insanity. 19:01 All crazy people 19:02 who have a record of mental illness. 19:06 That seems to be a lot of people today. 19:10 But this is not the main problem. 19:11 Here it is. 19:13 This is gonna get so many people mad with me. 19:15 Here it is. 19:17 The problem is that the liberal media 19:23 and other parts of the media and others have developed 19:29 sometimes with the help of the government 19:32 a culture of violence. 19:37 We live in a culture of violence. 19:42 It's not the gun, 19:44 it's the person holding the gun. 19:47 The person who thinks problems can be solved with violence. 19:52 Now, I'm gonna take it further, 19:54 this will alienate the rest of you. 20:00 We have cultivated our culture 20:04 where we glorify killing and war. 20:10 Eisenhower, one of America's greatest president said this, 20:18 "If the joint military complex, 20:23 the industrial military complex gets in control of America, 20:29 there will never be a day when America is not sending 20:34 her sons and their daughters off 20:36 to be shot down on the battlefield." 20:40 So when you turn on television, we glorify war, 20:49 and children are brought up in a culture 20:52 where we glorify war, 20:54 and we think that problems can be solved with violence. 21:01 That's the problem, it's not the gun. 21:04 We've created a monster. 21:06 Now I was brought up with guns. 21:09 When I was a kid growing up in Australia, 21:14 some of my relatives owned farms. 21:16 My uncle Reggie had a great farm. 21:21 My sister's husband, her folks, they had farms, they had guns. 21:27 I was brought up around guns. 21:31 I learned to shoot with a gun, 21:35 but none of us were tempted to go and shoot somebody. 21:39 We were never tempted to go and get a gun 21:42 and to walk into a place in Thousand Oaks 21:46 and kill a bunch of people, 21:51 because I thought that the way to solve my problems 21:55 was with violence. 21:58 It's the nut behind the wheel. 22:01 Now I want you to come to John 3:3-7, 22:05 and I'm going to suggest to you, 22:07 my friends, today, I think this is the solution. 22:13 Some will say, "It won't work." 22:18 It will work, if we let it work. 22:22 John 3: 3-7, 22:28 "Jesus answered and said to him, 22:30 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, 22:34 he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" 22:36 You got to be born again. 22:38 "Nicodemus said to Him, 22:39 'How can a man be born when he is old? 22:41 Can he enter a second time 22:42 into his mother's womb and be born?'" 22:45 He's a theology professor, knew nothing. 22:49 "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, 22:51 unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 22:56 he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 22:58 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 23:00 that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 23:03 Do not marvel that I said to you, 23:05 'You must be born again.'" 23:10 What on earth is Jesus talking about 23:12 and why don't preachers preach about these things anymore. 23:18 Not everybody talking about heaven 23:20 is going to heaven. 23:22 Jesus said, "You've got to be born again." 23:30 The Spirit of God has got to get down inside you, 23:35 and he's got to take the poison out of your heart. 23:42 One of the greatest preachers in the history 23:44 of the United States of America 23:46 was Dwight Moody. 23:48 He preached great deal in the city of Chicago. 23:52 He came from Chicago. 23:54 Moody told a tremendous story. 23:58 He told about a farmer who had a well, 24:02 and they discovered that the well had got poisoned. 24:05 We've done this graphic here, so you can see the well, 24:10 but down at the bottom is full of poison. 24:16 Poison in the well. 24:17 Moody tells about the farmer, he's got poison in the well. 24:22 You know what he did? 24:26 He went and white washed the pump. 24:30 He got a poison well and so what he does? 24:34 He white washes the pump. 24:38 That's what we're doing. 24:40 We've got poison in the well 24:43 and we're whitewashing the pump, I'm telling you. 24:47 Moody said, "It's no good to whitewash the pump, 24:51 you've got to get down in the well, 24:53 and it's got to be cleansed out. 24:57 You see, all these programs are here on television 25:01 from the politician, I sort of get tired, 25:04 I get sick to death of listening 25:06 to some of these politicians 25:08 because all they're telling me and telling America 25:11 is whitewash the pump. 25:15 You know, what we need to do? 25:17 Need to clean out the well. 25:21 Need to take the poison out, that's the solution. 25:28 What's the solution to a violent culture? 25:31 What's the solution to hate, and envy, 25:35 and resentment 25:37 and all of these negative emotions? 25:40 It's not another government program. 25:45 Jesus said, "You got to be born again." 25:48 When the Spirit of God comes inside a man, 25:52 God doesn't whitewash the pump, God changes the heart. 25:59 Today, we're talking about God and guns in America. 26:04 Why is this the most violent society? 26:07 We'll be back in a moment, please stay with us. 26:25 The antichrist is in the temple of God. 26:31 I read you the actual words 26:33 of the great Roman Catholic Church. 26:38 More than a billion people pray to the dead. 26:43 But the Bible talks very plainly 26:45 about good angels and bad angels. 26:51 Why on earth were you and I born? 26:59 This DVD series from John Carter will be yours 27:02 with a gift of $50 US or $70 Australian, 27:06 write to us at the address on the screen. 27:08 This is Cartereport.org, 27:10 your home for inspirational teaching. 27:25 1.3 billion people live in India. 27:36 Two hundred million of these are Dalits. 27:40 Dalits formerly called untouchables 27:43 are the lowest members of the caste system. 27:47 One hundred percent of your gift 27:49 will go to fund projects for Dalit girls 27:52 as an alternative to slavery and prostitution. 27:56 Your gift of $600 will educate, clothe, 28:00 and feed one Dalit girl between 5 and 15 years of age 28:05 for one year. 28:09 Go to Cartereport.org or to the address on the screen 28:13 to send your gift of $600 28:16 and change the life of one Indian Dalit girl 28:19 for one full year. 28:27 For a copy of today's program, 28:29 please contact us at P.O. 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Revised 2019-02-04