Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW016116A
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00:00 [music]
01:51 [didgeridoo and guitar music] 02:00 This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw. 02:03 Thanks for joining me. 02:05 They call it the 02:06 "Lucky Country": 02:08 Australia. 02:09 It's just slightly smaller than the contiguous 02:12 United States--that's the United States minus Alaska 02:16 and Hawaii--but it has only seven and a half 02:18 percent of the population: 24 million people. 02:22 And that's for pretty good reason. 02:25 Much of the country is virtually uninhabitable. 02:28 The vast majority of Australians, 85 percent, 02:31 in fact, live within 30 miles of the coast. 02:35 And there's a lot of coast. Miles and miles and miles and 02:41 miles of magnificent and very often untouched coastline. 02:47 Now, you've got to be a little careful here. 02:50 Australia is home to sharks, and plenty of them; crocodiles, and 02:54 plenty of them; and snakes, and plenty of them. 03:01 Depending on how you measure, the Inland Taipan is the 03:05 deadliest snake in the world. They've got that here. 03:09 Dubois Sea Snake, second deadliest. 03:13 Yep, they've got that, too. Eastern Brown Snake, 03:17 third deadliest in the world. 03:20 Yeah, that one lives here also. And they'll all kill you. 03:26 Now, for the most part, if you get some antivenom, 03:28 you're going to be okay. But if you don't, well, that's 03:32 a horse of a different color. 03:36 Out there in the water, especially further north in 03:39 Australia, the real menace is jellyfish, Box Jellyfish. 03:45 When they're in season, you'd better stay out of their way. 03:50 They're only small, but they pack a powerful punch, and 03:53 they can kill you, too. 03:56 Morning Morning 04:00 [haunting guitar music] 04:07 Did I tell you they call this the Lucky Country? 04:10 Australia is a new country, relatively speaking. 04:12 And thankfully today, for the most part, 04:14 the locals are friendly. 04:17 You won't find here the kind of history that you get in Europe. 04:20 There are no medieval castles, no ancient cathedrals. 04:23 You won't find Roman ruins. European settlers came here late 04:27 in the 18th century, and within about 80 years 160,000 convicts 04:33 had arrived here from Great Britain. 04:35 However, there is plenty of history here in Australia, and 04:39 some of it's uncomfortable. The indigenous people here are 04:45 the Australian Aboriginals. When white settlers arrived, 04:47 they found somewhere in the region of half a million 04:50 Aboriginals here. So, before white settlement, 04:53 there was plenty of room for the Aboriginals. 04:56 They were great stewards of the land. 04:58 In fact, the saying went, "You don't own the land; 05:02 the land owns you." But Australia has this 05:06 very awkward history, as do many countries-- 05:09 the United States, New Zealand, India, Canada, 05:13 South Africa, Zimbabwe, and on and on--colonization. 05:20 Colonization is fraught with difficulty. 05:22 The European settlers weren't invited here, but they came 05:26 as colonizers do. Unsurprisingly, they didn't 05:30 negotiate good terms with the people they colonized. 05:33 Colonizers were often motivated by greed or opportunity, or 05:38 both, and by loyalty to their country. 05:42 To conquer was their right. It was their duty. 05:46 And what then? 05:48 [ominous music] 05:53 The Europeans who arrived here discovered an 05:55 indigenous people, who embraced a very different 05:58 culture and lived by an altogether different 06:00 set of values. And so, a clash was inevitable. 06:05 The whites treated the Aboriginals, generally speaking, 06:09 with very little respect and without a whole lot of regard 06:12 for their welfare. All too often, they were herded 06:15 onto reservations, stripped of their language, and dispossessed 06:19 of their culture. And then there's the matter 06:22 of what has become known as "The Stolen Generations." 06:26 Writing in his book "Australia, a Biography 06:28 of a Nation," author and university professor 06:31 Philip Knightly said this: "This cannot be 06:34 overemphasized. The Australian government 06:37 literally kidnapped these children from their parents 06:40 as a matter of policy. White welfare officers, 06:43 often supported by police, would descend on 06:45 Aboriginal camps, round up all the children, 06:49 separate the ones with light-colored skin, 06:52 bundle them into trucks, and take them away. 06:56 If the parents protested, they were held at bay by police." 07:02 Now, keep in mind, the land on which the Aboriginals roamed 07:06 was, and is, mineral rich. Were the newcomers going to 07:11 share the mineral wealth with the people who'd been here 07:13 for thousands of years? No, they were not. 07:18 If this was the Lucky Country, then Aboriginals were the 07:21 unlucky ones. As recently as the 1930s, 07:26 complaints from white parents were enough to have Aboriginal 07:30 children forcibly removed from schools, put on trucks, 07:35 and transported to camps or reserves hundreds of 07:39 miles away. Less than a hundred years ago. 07:45 Mate! 07:53 [sounds of crashing waves] We've come to Red Rock, 07:57 just north of the city of Coff's Harbor on the coast 08:00 of New South Wales. This place, Red Rock, 08:02 is referred to by some as "Blood Rock," 08:06 and there's a good reason why. 08:08 In the 1880s, a group of white European settlers pursued the 08:13 local Gumbaynggirr Aboriginals right around this place. 08:18 The women hid in rushes by the riverbank; the men swam 08:21 for their lives. The men were shot. 08:25 It is said the river ran red with their innocent blood. 08:31 An unprovoked attack. How many died isn't really 08:35 known. Was anybody brought to justice? 08:37 No. Absolutely not. 08:42 You will find hardly any mention anywhere of the Red Rock 08:45 Massacre. It was one of many that took 08:48 place here over the years. It was business as usual. 08:54 So what then happens when it's God doing the killing? 08:58 And this is a question that many people have struggled with for 09:02 years and years and years. We read in the Bible about God 09:05 wiping out entire people groups, whole cities. 09:08 In fact, come to the time of the Flood, and God killed everybody 09:12 on planet Earth with the exception of only eight 09:17 people. People killing people; 09:19 that's terrible. God commanded the eradication of 09:23 men and women and the aged and children? 09:27 How do we reconcile that? Let's take a look further 09:31 in just a moment. [music] 09:38 What is God like? The answer offered in John 3:16 09:43 and throughout the Bible is that God is love. 09:46 We also know that God is just. But then, there's the concept of 09:50 sinners being burned on and on at the hand of an angry God. 09:54 How are we supposed to reconcile that? 09:57 Let me send you our free booklet, 09:59 "Hellfire: Would God Really Do That?" 10:02 Just call (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of 10:06 "Hellfire: Would God Really Do That?" 10:10 Or write to It Is Written, PO Box 6, Chattanooga, 10:13 Tennessee, 37401. We'll mail a free copy to your 10:17 address in North America. Again, our toll-free number is 10:20 (800) 253-3000. 10:25 [music] Thanks for joining me today 10:35 on It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw, 10:38 on the north coast of New South Wales, 10:40 in Australia. This is the home of long, 10:44 golden beaches, warm weather, and attractions like the 10:49 Big Banana, which boasts a really big banana, and 10:54 the Big Bunch of Bananas. It's also the site of some 10:57 tragic history. Colonization saw European 11:01 settlers dispossess the Aboriginal people and 11:04 commit atrocities like the Red Rock Massacre. 11:08 Just a small massacre, really, in the grand scheme of things. 11:11 And perhaps that's what gets through to me about it. 11:14 Imagine, a massacre happening. Real people losing their lives, 11:19 real families being devastated, and communities being forever 11:23 altered. And not really anyone ever 11:26 having heard about it. Years ago, here at Red Rock, 11:31 many Gumbaynggirr Aboriginals were massacred by white 11:34 settlers. Even today, many Gumbaynggirr 11:37 won't come anywhere near this place. 11:40 It was a terrible atrocity; but is there a great obelisk 11:43 or a monument erected in honor of the fallen? 11:47 No. Are there commemorations held on 11:49 a certain date every year about this terrible thing? 11:52 No. As a matter of fact, 11:54 read the history books and you won't find much 11:56 written about the Red Rock or the "Blood Rock" Massacre, 11:58 because it's just one of many atrocities perpetrated against 12:02 the indigenous people of this country. 12:05 And, as a matter of fact-- and I say this with respect 12:08 to the dead and their families and their people-- 12:12 if you compare it to other massacres around the world, 12:15 what took place here just about pales into insignificance. 12:19 We think of Adolph Hitler, and the gassing of the Jews, 12:23 and the Holocaust during World War II. 12:25 But then think of Joseph Stalin, who killed many more millions 12:28 of people than did Hitler. We could think of Pol Pot and 12:32 the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Idi Amin and Uganda, 12:35 the genocide in Rwanda, or even terrible events 12:38 like the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and all kinds 12:42 of killings perpetrated in the name of religion. 12:45 Those were colossal, and we think about those and we say, 12:50 "How in the world?" But that's what people do. 12:52 When people lose their way and want what they want, 12:55 they're prepared to kill people. 12:57 And sometimes, they're prepared to kill a lot of people. 13:02 But now, let's think for a moment about the God of the 13:04 Bible, who killed not a city or a nation, but at the time of 13:08 the global flood in Noah's day, an entire planet filled with 13:12 people, with the exception of eight souls. 13:16 And people say, "How could God do that? 13:19 "How could God kill defenseless women and children and elderly 13:24 people? How?" 13:25 One television host referred to God as a tyrant, and said that 13:30 God was nothing more than a psychopathic mass murderer. 13:34 [music] But that's a fair question. 13:37 Why would God do that? Here at Blood Rock maybe dozens 13:42 were killed; but God has killed thousands and thousands 13:47 of thousands of people, wiped off the face of 13:50 the Earth. How is that fair? 13:54 Well, the Bible says that God is love. 13:57 So can a God of love do that? And when you get to the end 14:01 of the story, the Bible has God wiping out a planet full 14:06 of people in the lake of fire. Why did God order the killing of 14:11 so many people in the Bible? Why was God able to destroy the 14:16 Earth with a global flood in Noah's day? 14:19 And how do we get our minds around God destroying the world, 14:23 virtually everyone in it, in Earth's last days, 14:27 in the lake of fire? Not understanding this has 14:30 caused a lot of people to lose their faith in the Bible, 14:33 or to fail to accept the Bible as any kind of meaningful part 14:37 of their life. So let's look into this a 14:39 little more deeply. We'll go to First Samuel, 14:41 chapter 15. The prophet Samuel is talking 14:44 to King Saul. We'll start in verse 3. 14:47 He says, "Now go and smite Amalek, 14:51 and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not. 14:55 But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and 15:00 sheep, camel and ass." Verses 8 and 9 say, 15:06 "And he [that's Saul] took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, 15:11 alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge 15:15 of the sword. But Saul and the people spared 15:18 Agag and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the 15:23 fattlings, and the lands, and all that was good, and would not 15:28 utterly destroy them. But everything that was vile and 15:32 refuse, that they utterly destroyed." 15:36 And Samuel was not amused. Verse 18: "The Lord sent you on 15:41 a journey and said,'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, 15:46 the Amalekites, and fight against them until they 15:49 be consumed.' Wherefore then didst thou not 15:53 obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil 15:56 and didst evil in the sight of the Lord." 16:00 He then compared Saul's stubbornness to witchcraft, 16:04 and told him, in verse 23, "Because thou hast rejected 16:08 the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee 16:12 from being king." Now, if you want to make an 16:16 honest attempt to understand this, you have to consider 16:18 the big picture. And I think I need to say this: 16:21 Even as you consider the big picture, this is still serious 16:24 stuff. We're still talking about the 16:26 loss of life here, and the loss of life on a massive scale. 16:30 God created a perfect Earth. It was Adam and Eve who 16:36 willingly chose to sin and plunged the earth into sin, 16:41 and everything that sin brought along. 16:43 But it was God who said, here's what I will do. 16:46 I will bear the brunt of your freefall into catastrophe, 16:51 and I'll allow Jesus to come and die for your sins, 16:56 so there would be a way back for you from sin to life. 17:01 Now, if you're keeping score, that's God 1, humanity 0. 17:07 And so then God called to the human family. 17:10 The Bible says, when you read in Genesis 6 and verse 5, 17:13 that by the time the flood came, every thought of the human heart 17:18 was -- and I'm quoting now -- "only evil continually." 17:23 So is this God's fault? No, it is not. 17:26 Human beings chose to sin. God called to the human family, 17:28 come to Me, there's a way out. Come to Me, there's life. 17:33 But we didn't, did we? At least, our forebears didn't 17:36 come to God to receive life at that time. 17:39 And before very long, there were a lot of profoundly wicked 17:44 people populating planet Earth. I'll be right back. 17:50 [soft piano music] [sound of waves crashing] 18:05 "Every Word" is a one-minute, Bible-based daily devotional, 18:09 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially 18:12 for busy people like you. Look for "Every Word" 18:15 on selected networks, or watch it online 18:17 every day on our website, ItIsWritten.com. 18:22 [music] 18:27 They called him the most hated man in America. 18:30 He was the CEO of a drug company that raised the price of a drug 18:33 from $13 to $700 a dose, close enough to a 18:37 5,000-percent increase. He said that there was no way 18:41 they'd reduce the price. And then, a day later, he 18:43 changed his mind and said the price would come down, 18:45 and more happened after that. 18:48 Of course, the company said they were raising the price for 18:50 the noblest of reasons: money for research. 18:52 The drug had been underpriced. And people said it was 18:55 just greed. Proverbs 15:27 says, 18:58 "He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house." 19:03 There's a fine line between having enough and doing well, 19:06 and then there's a line between doing well and greed. 19:10 Greed isn't good for society; it isn't good for individuals. 19:13 Sometimes winners can be losers. I'm John Bradshaw for 19:18 It Is Written. Let's live today by every word. 19:22 [sound of loud waves] [music] 19:43 This is It Is Written. Thanks for joining me. 19:46 How do we reconcile the idea of a God of love, 19:50 with the God who destroyed the Earth with a flood, 19:54 wiped out entire people groups, and is one day soon going to 19:59 destroy the Earth again in a lake of fire? 20:03 Let's understand this about God: God calls people to repent. 20:08 He saved from Sodom and Gomorrah everyone He could save. 20:12 The rest were given over to sin, and there was no coming back 20:16 for them. God sent Jonah to Nineveh, 20:19 an amazingly sinful place, because He knew there were 20:23 people there who would respond. 20:25 God preserved the life of King Manasseh, 20:28 unfathomably wicked, and Manasseh repented and 20:31 was saved. And think about Nebuchadnezzar 20:34 in Babylon: cruel, a killer, an idol worshiper. 20:40 But God reached out to him and saved him. 20:47 God never destroyed anybody who would have repented. 20:51 In fact, it was out of mercy to that person, and out of mercy 20:55 to the world, that God destroyed the wicked. 20:59 If God had not destroyed the wicked, the Earth would have 21:03 been entirely overrun with sin. In removing the wicked at the 21:08 time of the flood, what God was doing was given you and me 21:12 the opportunity to be saved. You see, now God could bring 21:17 Jesus into the world. Without destroying the wicked, 21:21 there more than likely would have been no Mary to find, 21:25 to give birth to the Son of God. There wouldn't have been a 21:28 Joseph anywhere, who could have raised God's Son here 21:31 on the Earth. So God destroyed the unrepentant 21:37 before the world was completely devoured by sin and sinfulness. 21:47 Now, back to the Amalekites. God told King Saul that Israel 21:51 must wipe out the Amalekites. And why did He do that? 21:55 Because if they didn't, the Amalekites would have wiped 21:59 out Israel. This was a protective measure. 22:02 The Amalekites, by the way, were not the Girl Scouts. 22:06 These people were champions of sin. 22:10 They were full of wickedness. So, if Israel didn't wipe out 22:14 the Amalekites, the Amalekites would have eradicated Israel. 22:19 This was survival. Now, fast forward to the story 22:23 you read in the book of Esther. You read about a man named 22:26 Haman. Haman convinced the king to sign 22:30 a law ordering the extermination of the Jews. 22:33 Every Jew in the kingdom was facing eradication. 22:38 Death. Because of who? 22:41 Because of Haman. And who was Haman? 22:44 The Bible says Haman was the son of Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy. 22:50 He was the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. 22:54 Now, if God's people had wiped out their enemies, 22:58 there wouldn't have been a Haman. 23:01 If God's people had wiped out their enemies, Israel would 23:05 have avoided this crisis of their existence. 23:08 You see, there were good reasons for doing what God wanted done. 23:15 [music] Now, don't get me wrong. 23:24 I'm not rubbing my hands together with glee, 23:27 cheering on the God who wipes out cities and 23:31 kills old ladies and little children. 23:33 I'm not trying to defend God for wiping out nations and people 23:38 groups and so forth. I don't mean that, but looking 23:41 at this dispassionately, and looking at this analytically, 23:47 what we find is that God is not cruel and that God is not 23:52 a tyrant. In order to protect His people, 23:56 He saw to it that other people were stopped, in order to 24:00 preserve a place where Messiah could come. 24:03 He saw to it that there was an environment in which that 24:06 could happen. In order to make sure that 24:08 Jesus could come at all -- imagine if all Israel had 24:12 been wiped out -- God did what He had to do. 24:15 Why? Simply because He was jealous 24:17 for His people? No! 24:18 Maybe some of that, but more so because He was jealous for you. 24:23 God wanted to save you. And if thousands of years ago 24:28 His people were overrun and sin engulfed and swallowed up the 24:32 world, that would never happen. Was it serious? 24:35 Oh, it was serious. Stopping lives, ending lives, 24:39 wiping out civilizations, flooding the earth-- 24:42 that was serious. But if God had not, wickedness 24:45 would have run such a course, we just wouldn't be able to 24:48 imagine it. These were really wicked people. 24:51 God talked about these people who were idol worshipers; 24:53 they were flagrantly immoral. They were sacrificing their own 24:58 children and doing other things that we don't even need to talk 25:02 about. And God stopped that before sin 25:05 just ran away even further than it did. 25:08 You've heard the question asked, would it have been better to 25:10 stop Hitler before he developed into the tyrant and mass 25:15 murderer that he developed into? Or, would it be better to just 25:18 let history run its course? Most people wouldn't think too 25:22 long before saying, if we could have stopped Hitler, that would 25:25 have been the right thing to do. And God stopped a lot of evil 25:28 and a lot of wickedness before it just got way out of hand. 25:32 Unfair? No. 25:33 Tyrannical? No. 25:35 Serious? Sure. 25:37 Just absolutely, justice was served. 25:39 But there's no way we can charge God with acting reprehensibly. 25:44 There's no way we can say that God was out of control. 25:46 There's no way we can say he was a, a tyrant. 25:48 Everything God does, He does out of love-- 25:52 even ending the lives of the unrepentant wicked. 25:57 God is love, and everything we read about in the Bible, 26:00 as serious as it seems, is a manifestation of God's 26:03 love for the human family and God's love for you. 26:08 Come on, now, let's not lose sight of what's really 26:10 important in this. And that is, God offers the gift 26:12 of salvation to the world. Today, God's asking you if you 26:16 would accept this gift of salvation. 26:18 If you've not done so, you can do so now. 26:20 If you've not been sure how to relate to this God of heaven, 26:23 you can understand now that God is a good God. 26:26 Everything He's done is good, gracious, loving, merciful. 26:30 And you want to be the child of a merciful God who will shine on 26:33 you, and smile on you, and shower His grace upon you. 26:38 Can you respond to that God today? 26:40 The God who has done everything He could to give you the 26:43 opportunity to be present in this moment and hear 26:48 His voice. Would you respond to that God 26:51 today and open up your heart to Him, and invite Jesus to 26:54 be the Lord of your life? Let's pray together. 26:58 Our Father in heaven, we look at the Bible and we have to come 27:02 away saying God is love. There are some passages that 27:04 challenge us. You knew they would, and You 27:08 allowed them to be written, believing that if we have 27:12 an encounter with You, if we will look for the 27:16 true God, we will see a picture of a God who 27:19 loved the world. Friend, would you respond to 27:23 Jesus and invite Him into your heart? 27:25 Even now, just pray, Lord, come into my life. 27:27 Would you do that? Jesus, come into my life. 27:30 God of heaven, be my God. Heavenly Father, I offer 27:34 you my heart. Lord, we do that together, 27:36 we do so gladly, and we pray confidently today 27:40 in Jesus' name. Amen. 27:46 [music] 27:59 What is God like? The answer offered in John 3:16 28:03 and throughout the Bible is that God is love. 28:06 We also know that God is just. But then, there's the concept of 28:10 sinners being burned on and on at the hand of an angry God. 28:14 How are we supposed to reconcile that? 28:17 And most everybody's wondered about being in heaven while 28:20 their loved ones burned on and on in hell. 28:23 This topic is so very important. Let me send you our free 28:26 booklet, "Hellfire: Would God Really Do That?" 28:30 Just call (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of "Hellfire: 28:35 Would God Really Do That?" If the line's busy, please do 28:39 try again, or write to It Is Written, PO Box 6, 28:43 Chattanooga, TN 37401. We'll mail a free copy to your 28:47 address in North America. It Is Written is a faith-based 28:51 ministry, and your support makes it possible for us to 28:54 share God's good news with the world. 28:57 Your tax-deductible gift can be sent to the address on your 28:59 screen, or through our website at ItIsWritten.com. 29:03 Thank you for your continued prayerful support. 29:06 Again, our toll-free number is (800) 253-3000, and our web 29:11 address is ItIsWritten.com. 29:16 [music] Thanks for joining me today. 29:18 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 29:20 Until then remember, it is written: man shall not 29:24 live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds 29:29 from the mouth of God. 29:31 [music] |
Revised 2018-08-16