Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001938S
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00:02 I'm John Carter in Moscow.
00:04 In Havana, Cuba. 00:07 Now in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. 00:10 I'm John Carter in Petra. 00:13 Right here in Communist China. 00:16 Reporting from India. 00:18 Hi, I'm John Carter in the Solomon Islands. 00:21 I'm John Carter in Soweto. 00:24 From El Salvador. 00:26 I'm John Carter in Sydney, Australia. 00:29 John Carter will bring us this unique evangelism special, 00:32 Is It Time to Quit? 00:36 Welcome back. 00:37 This is the second part of the program 00:39 on the Evangelism Special, 00:43 Is it Time for Us to Quit? 00:47 And during the last segment, 00:49 I talked about seeing the power of God revealed. 00:53 I said, I believe that the preaching of the gospel 00:56 was powerfully effective 01:00 when accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit. 01:03 Just want to say to the people who're watching on tele, 01:06 on the television today around the world. 01:09 Wanna ask you this question, 01:11 "Have you actually felt in your own soul, 01:14 and in your own life 01:16 the mighty power of the Holy Spirit?" 01:20 I believe that public evangelism works 01:22 because I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. 01:25 In the last segment we talked about India. 01:27 What we saw in India, the tremendous crowds, 01:30 Hindus, Muslims coming to Christ. 01:33 But that is the last segment. 01:34 Now I'm going to take you to PNG or Papua New Guinea. 01:39 Port Moresby is said to be 01:41 the most dangerous city in the world. 01:43 I don't know if that is so. 01:44 Been to Africa, lots of dangerous cities in Africa, 01:47 but they say Port Moresby 01:48 is possibly the most dangerous city in the world. 01:52 We hired a big football stadium there. 01:56 We started with a small crowd 02:00 of 120,000, 130,000, 02:04 140,000 the next night, 150,000. 02:09 Some people say on the last night 02:10 we had 200,000 people, I don't know. 02:14 And they weren't just in this arena here, 02:17 they went and got into another arena 02:19 down the road 02:20 and people stood on the tops of their cars, 02:23 trying to listen, to hear the message. 02:27 We had gang members who came, hundreds, 02:30 maybe thousands of gang members. 02:35 One night I was preaching 02:36 on the power of the Spirit of God. 02:39 Now, people say to me 02:40 back in Australia, back in America, 02:42 they'd look at me like this, 02:47 "Doesn't work you know? 02:48 Can't be done, 02:50 couldn't spend money on evangelism, 02:52 couldn't hire the Opera House again," 02:53 because it may have worked back then 02:55 when we said it wouldn't work then, 02:56 but it certainly wouldn't work today. 03:02 But when I preached that night on the Spirit of God, 03:04 I put up on the... 03:05 We had these vast screens. 03:07 We put up on the screens 03:09 a picture of the white dove representing the Holy Spirit, 03:14 just before I came out to preach. 03:15 Now this is a decent audience, isn't it? 03:18 Before I came out to... This is an altar call incident. 03:21 That's not the crowd. 03:22 What you're seeing there is the altar call. 03:26 Pastor Willy T was singing. 03:27 Then I heard this tremendous roar 03:30 coming from the audience, 03:31 a roar by the sound of many waters. 03:35 Never heard it before. 03:36 I went out, 03:37 Willy T was pointing up into the heavens 03:40 and the crowd, everybody, 03:43 150,000 or more people standing, 03:45 pointing up and there coming low 03:48 across the audience is God's truth, 03:53 was a great white dove. 03:56 Such as, they've never seen 03:58 in that part of the world before. 04:02 When we had the baptism, 04:04 thousands baptized out in the ocean. 04:07 The white dove came in across this congregation. 04:11 And people said, "We've seen the glory of God." 04:15 When I went back to Australia and America, they said, 04:17 "These things don't happen here." 04:20 You know why they don't happen here? 04:22 Because of our lack of faith, because of our unbelief, 04:26 because of our sins, 04:28 because church people spend more time in politics 04:32 than they do praising God. 04:35 And so we saw there the mighty power of God. 04:41 1991, we were called to go to Moscow, 04:43 Bob Spangler from the General Conference 04:45 called me and he said, 04:46 "We'd like you to be our guinea pig 04:48 and go and see if it'll work in the Soviet Union." 04:51 And so, and just we went 04:53 and just down the road from the Kremlin, 04:55 we hired the Palace of Culture. 05:01 Never seen anything like it. 05:02 I started preaching there at 10 o'clock in the morning, 05:06 and I would finish it half past 10 at night, 05:09 with breaks only for bread and water. 05:12 When I had altar calls, 05:14 I had hundreds of Soviet soldiers, 05:17 officers march down the front to come to Christ. 05:20 Couldn't happen here, could it? No. 05:22 If it doesn't happen here, it's because of our sins! 05:25 That's why it doesn't happen here. 05:27 I was preaching hard one night 05:29 and this was the crowd in the palace. 05:32 This was the first great evangelistic campaign 05:36 by a foreigner in the Soviet Union. 05:40 Glory be to God. 05:46 As I was preaching one night, preaching hard, 05:50 all of a sudden I discovered 05:51 that my translator had stopped speaking. 05:55 And I turned to look at him, he couldn't talk. 05:57 He was crying. 05:59 Then I looked at the audience through the lights 06:01 and whole audience, thousands of people all crying. 06:04 They said, "We've never seen anything like this. 06:07 We've seen the glory and the power of God." 06:10 I was taken and interviewed on Good Evening Moscow, 06:16 on Soviet television. 06:17 This is Andrew, he asked me 06:20 before an audience 06:22 of 200 million people. 06:27 He said, "Tell me is there a God 06:31 and how can we get to know God?" 06:33 This was on Soviet television. 06:36 Then I stood with the television crew 06:38 on Soviet television 06:40 and taught them to pray and put my arms around them 06:44 as they prayed and gave their lives to Jesus. 06:49 The problem that's happened to the church 06:51 in the western world, my friend, 06:54 is that we have lost our faith in the God 06:58 of the impossible situation. 07:02 This is the problem. 07:04 We've taken the mighty angels 07:06 that should be flying in the midst of heaven 07:08 and we pulled them down to our level, 07:11 and we've kept them down in the dust. 07:13 It is our unbelief that the work of God 07:16 does not go forward with leaps and bounds 07:19 because God has the power. 07:22 Even I'm telling you today, 07:24 lot of people are not going to like this, 07:26 but the problem is, it is the truth. 07:29 And I have truth on my side. 07:32 In 1995, I've been to Russia. 07:35 Some of you folks know 49 times. 07:39 Russia and Ukraine 49 times, 07:41 half the time in winter, half the time in summer. 07:44 I've spent probably a year 07:47 in the winters of Siberia and other places. 07:51 Went to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. 07:54 People came to me and they said, 07:56 "Well, you know, it may have happened 07:57 in Nizhni Novgorod, 07:59 it may have happened in some other places, 08:01 but it's not gonna happen here." 08:04 When we got to the opening meeting, 08:06 look at this, here is a crowd. 08:09 They're estimated at a 100,000 people 08:12 who couldn't get in. 08:16 Ukrainian government declared a state of emergency 08:21 and closed down the railway system, 08:23 to stop the crowds from coming. 08:26 We had tremendous opposition. 08:30 Whenever you are doing something for God, 08:31 you're gonna have opposition. 08:33 If you're not getting opposition, 08:35 it's because what you're doing is ineffective 08:37 and you're not worth opposing. 08:42 So go and think about that one. 08:46 Now we got, these are the crowds inside 08:48 at the Palace of Sport. 08:51 People were... 08:53 They're endangered, 08:54 people being crushed to death by the crowds. 08:57 The government then tried to close us down. 09:00 They threatened me that I could be killed 09:02 if I did not close the meetings down. 09:05 I said, "Go ahead, do your best." 09:09 The meetings finished in glory. 09:13 We had people who came to us from Chernobyl, 09:16 they hired a bus to bring people 09:19 from the villages around Chernobyl 09:22 with their pastor who is a saint of God. 09:25 He had courage. 09:27 Makes most of us in the west look like wimps. 09:32 No, I'm telling you. 09:34 I received after we started an official welcome 09:37 from the patriarch. 09:39 That's like the pope of Ukraine, 09:41 because his predecessor had drop dead after he said, 09:47 "That John Carter would preach in Ukraine 09:50 only over his dead body." 09:53 This is the man who followed him. 09:54 This is my friend Pastor Norman Matiko 09:57 who introduced us. 10:00 We had a great baptism in the Dnieper River. 10:04 And we saw there, 10:05 thousands and thousands and thousands people baptized. 10:11 Some say it is the greatest baptism 10:13 in the history of Ukraine 10:15 since Vladimir a thousand years, years ago 10:19 baptized Ukraine into the Orthodox faith. 10:24 So I believe, my friend, in the power of God. 10:27 In 1992, we went to Nizhni Novgorod. 10:31 That's the old city of Gorky. 10:34 It was a closed city since the days of Stalin. 10:38 It's where Sakharov went, one of my heroes. 10:42 Not only was he the father of the Soviet bomb. 10:45 No hero for that. 10:48 But he was a great patriot and he stood for democracy. 10:53 And so he was exiled to Nizhni Novgorod, 10:58 once called Gorky. 11:01 When we started there in 1992... 11:06 This gentleman here, 11:07 I just want you to have a look at this. 11:09 This is the chief of the KGB with some of his staff. 11:14 General Vladimir, he came to the meetings 11:16 and he said, "Please, Pastor Carter, 11:19 don't forget us, even we have souls." 11:23 You know what St. Augustine said, Augustine? 11:25 "Our souls were made for God, 11:27 and they cannot rest until they rest in Him." 11:31 We have a great work, weapon working on our sides. 11:34 It is the hunger in the souls of men and women. 11:39 If you don't have that hunger, 11:42 it's because you're very, very sick spiritually. 11:46 Ravi Zacharias said the other night 11:48 when I was watching him. 11:50 He said, "Show me a man who has no shame. 11:55 And I will show you a man or women 11:59 on his way to becoming a monster." 12:03 Ravi Zacharias said, "The greatest need in America," 12:06 you know what it is? 12:08 Not this hyped up religion where we say, 12:10 "Oh, we're so good." 12:12 And we live these rotten lives. 12:16 Said the greatest need in America, 12:17 I would say in Australia is for a sense of shame. 12:22 Because you don't come to God until you have shame. 12:28 So the KGB came to the meetings. 12:30 The KGB young men there acted as my deacons. 12:35 We had a baptism down by the river, 12:37 here's Danny Shelton and Igor Pespekin. 12:40 You see some tens here 12:41 that were set up by the Russian army. 12:44 The Russian army acted as my deacons 12:46 down at the Volga River. 12:48 When we saw thousands and thousands 12:51 baptized into Christ. 12:53 So please don't come and tell me, it doesn't work. 12:56 One of the main reasons it doesn't work 12:58 is because you don't work. 13:01 Did you get that one? 13:03 Am I being too subtle? 13:06 One of the main reasons evangelism doesn't work 13:09 is because we don't work. 13:15 So if you don't read the Bible story, 13:18 read about the apostles. 13:19 They weren't arm chair theologian 13:21 sitting around talking about assertoric, 13:24 theological subjects. 13:27 They were out preaching the gospel 13:30 sweating and bleeding. 13:33 That's real Christianity. 13:37 Then in 1990 we ran a campaign in Los Angeles. 13:39 It won't work in Los Angeles, 13:41 I can tell you, it's impossible. 13:42 People are too bad, too dumb, too wicked. 13:46 So we hired downtown The Shrine Auditorium. 13:51 It's one of the biggest auditoriums 13:53 in North America, seats 6,600. 13:55 People said to me, "No one's going to come, 13:57 it's impossible, won't work." 13:59 Oh, after a while you get tired of this people. 14:03 Pardon my saying 'cause you get tired of them. 14:06 How does God feel about them? 14:09 When people who profess to believe in God, 14:12 they're professional wet blankets. 14:16 Nah, can't happen, won't work here. 14:19 Happens on the world scene. 14:21 It happens at the local church, 14:24 where you have people running the show too often, 14:27 who have no faith at all, 14:30 except faith that they want to stay 14:33 in some position in the church. 14:36 And they fight like Kilkenny cats 14:39 to get elected back into some church office. 14:43 And then they say, but now that won't work. 14:46 Well at the Shrine Auditorium, 14:48 at some of the biggest crowds in the history of the shrine, 14:50 had 24,000 people come to the opening. 14:55 In spite of horrendous LA traffic, 14:58 I have driven 500,000 miles in LA traffic. 15:03 God have mercy on my soul. 15:07 But they came downtown Los Angeles. 15:10 You know what I think, folks? 15:12 I think too often the church 15:14 has lost the reason for its existence. 15:19 They think the church exists 15:21 to perpetuate safe, comfortable jobs. 15:25 The church exists to preach the Gospel of Christ. 15:36 And it's amazing how God gave us money 15:38 for all of these campaigns. 15:40 Campaign in India that I showed you, 15:42 last segment, cost a million bucks. 15:45 Where does a pastor 15:46 like John Carter get a million bucks? 15:52 A million bucks. 15:54 We went ahead in faith, and at the end of the campaign, 15:56 we'd spent a million bucks, 15:58 and we'd raised another million bucks, 16:02 which we put into evangelism. 16:04 We couldn't buy a church, we couldn't buy a building, 16:06 because we kept putting money into what is important. 16:11 Now my concept of Christianity 16:13 is very different to some of yours. 16:15 Some people say, 16:17 "I want a church which is a nice, comfortable club." 16:19 Well, don't come and work for me, 16:21 because it won't be quiet and it won't be comfortable. 16:25 The shrine meetings were closed down 16:30 by a bunch of liberals, 16:34 thinking they just finished the work of God, 16:35 but from that defeat came 16:37 the Community Adventist Fellowship Church, 16:40 that helped to win 20,000 souls in Russia. 16:44 They couldn't win them, 16:45 weren't allowed to win them in Los Angeles. 16:47 God said, "Go somewhere else." 16:49 They won 20,000 in Russia. 16:52 That's why it says in Romans 8:28, 16:54 "We know that in all things, 16:56 God works for the good of those who love Him, 16:58 who have been called according to His purpose." 17:00 God has got a purpose, my friend. 17:04 You and I better get out of our rut 17:08 and get into the purpose of God. 17:11 Some of us have no idea 17:12 I'm afraid what Christianity is all about. 17:14 Pardon my saying this? 17:16 In 1984, when I was senior pastor 17:18 of the Great Wahroonga Church, which I love dearly, in Sydney. 17:23 It was the church at the division 17:25 where the Sydney Adventist Hospital is, 17:28 which I personally think is the best hospital in the world. 17:32 Just telling you some of those things, 17:33 you may not agree with, it's okay. 17:35 Everybody's got the right to be wrong. 17:37 Now, in 1984, because the church needed it, 17:42 and the church was fighting, 17:44 and they were divided with perfectionism 17:46 and every other stupidity, 17:48 we took this bunch of young people to Manila. 17:53 And over there you see 17:54 Graham Bradford, my great friend, 17:56 who passed away not very long ago. 17:58 And they were more members who came, 18:00 but the people who came with, played in the orchestra, 18:03 they were not there. 18:05 And you can see the crowds waiting in Manila to get 18:10 into the Filipino International Convention Center. 18:17 Vast crowds inside, vast crowds outside. 18:21 They would say when I'd finished preaching, 18:23 please preach again. 18:25 We've got to let more people in. 18:28 People are blocking the streets. 18:30 People said, "Oh, no, it can't happen." 18:34 How long is the Lord going to put up with us, 18:36 before He replaces us with people 18:38 who've got some faith? 18:41 Hear what I'm saying? 18:44 And then it was El Salvador. 18:47 I was mighty blessed to go to El Salvador. 18:49 We hired this great outdoor arena, 18:52 the biggest football stadium in Central America. 18:57 And some of them said, "Oh, it can't happen here. 18:59 It's impossible, you know." 19:02 Hear this stuff, 19:03 and it makes you feel like throwing up. 19:05 The greatest crowds in the history of that arena 19:08 came to hear the Word of God preached. 19:11 The greatest crowds, bigger than their grand finals, 19:14 in their football matches. 19:17 So unbeliever, 19:18 what are you going to say about that? 19:19 And this happened also 19:21 because we had down there a union president 19:23 whose name was Pastor Abel Pacheco. 19:25 He said, "It can be done, 19:27 it shall be done, it will be done, 19:29 God help us." 19:31 And it happened. 19:32 In one day there, in this place, 19:35 we baptized in one day more than 5000 souls. 19:39 Time will fail me to tell of Melbourne. 19:44 We're going to run a little video as I talk here. 19:47 Sydney, St. Petersburg, 19:53 Kazan, Volgograd. 19:57 This is India on the screen now. 19:59 These are crowds in India. 20:00 Look at this, folks, for crying out loud. 20:03 People say, "It can't happen." 20:04 Even some of the Indians told us, 20:06 "No, it can't happen in India, 20:08 happened in Russia, can't happen in India." 20:12 Vast crowds of people 20:15 as far as the eye could see in India, 20:20 Hindus and Muslims praising. 20:23 No, it can't. 20:24 Hey, it's a wonder the Lord 20:26 hasn't spewed us out of His mouth. 20:30 That's the talk of rebellion. 20:32 That's the talk of Laodicea, that's the talk... 20:37 of weaklings. 20:39 Look at the people coming here to have their babies blessed. 20:44 Thousands of mothers coming here, 20:47 holding up their babies, 20:49 bless my babies, bless my children. 20:52 Bless them, been amazing. 20:54 Of course, we can't bless anything, 20:56 but we can bless them in the name of God. 20:59 And I think we got some more video. 21:02 I don't know, maybe that's it. 21:03 Maybe we saw it all. 21:05 Here we go. Oh, here we go. 21:07 This is now in. This is in Petersburg. 21:09 We hired the biggest auditorium just about in Russia. 21:12 These are the crowds that came. 21:13 Have a look at this. 21:15 These are the people coming for baptism. 21:17 Sometimes have a 100 pastors in. 21:20 This is in Kazan, Russia. 21:22 Hey couldn't happen in Russia. 21:24 I want to tell you today, 21:25 that gospel is the power of God unto salvation, 21:28 if you got some faith. 21:30 These are people being baptized in. 21:32 This is in front of a Muslim mosque. 21:36 No, when I showed these pictures, 21:38 they said, "That's dangerous." 21:41 Do you want to come with us? "No." 21:43 Do you have faith in God? "Yes." 21:45 No, come on, go home, get some faith. 21:50 These are Russians. 21:52 This is in Irkutsk, that's in Siberia. 21:56 I've been there where all you can see was ice. 22:00 This is preaching out of doors, in Siberia. 22:05 When we baptize the people there, 22:08 the water was so cold. 22:11 These are people coming, I think to Dnepropetrovsk, 22:14 I'm not sure, but somewhere. 22:16 I think this could be in Ukraine. 22:18 Look, the people are standing everywhere. 22:20 The problem we faced was that people 22:23 would go hack off in Ukraine. 22:25 The problem was that people could get crushed to death. 22:30 Now I'd be doing a lot more, but I don't have the money. 22:34 People say, "You're a professional evangelist." 22:36 No, I'm not. 22:37 I'm a pastor, the same as any other pastor. 22:40 But I believe the Bible. 22:43 This is Odessa, down in the Black Sea. 22:46 And the biggest crowds, 22:47 I think in the history of Odessa. 22:49 And here people are coming to get baptized. 22:52 Goodness me. 22:55 Thousands and thousands, Zaporozhye. 22:57 That's the headquarters of The Cossacks. 23:02 Oh, dear. 23:03 They tried to run us out of town there, 23:05 literally run us out of town. 23:08 It was dangerous. 23:10 When you laugh, you want to come and find out. 23:12 See where your faith is. 23:14 Johannesburg, said, "No, it couldn't happen." 23:17 Yes, this is South Africa. 23:19 Thousands and thousands, 23:21 and I preached the whole message of God, 23:23 the three angels' messages. 23:24 Some people say, 23:26 "You know you shouldn't preach that, 23:27 you may offend somebody." 23:28 I say it, because I expect to offend the devil. 23:31 And if you happen to get offended too, 23:33 it's because you're on the side of the devil. 23:35 Look at the people getting baptized here. 23:38 This is down in... 23:40 This is El Salvador. 23:42 Look at the crowd in El Salvador. 23:46 Now those people are crazy for football, 23:49 but the people who came out here 23:51 to hear the Word of God preach. 23:52 They were the biggest crowd, 23:53 bigger than their football crowds. 23:56 People say, "No." Yes. Look at it. 23:58 This is in the Solomon Islands. 24:00 Here we are baptizing in a crocodile infested river. 24:06 The baptism went fast. 24:11 This is in Cuba. 24:14 This is in Cuba, 24:16 where we were not allowed to advertise. 24:18 But the people went out, 24:20 and the people did the advertising. 24:23 We had the largest baptism there in the history of Cuba. 24:29 So, my friends, 24:32 the preaching of Christ's gospel 24:33 is powerfully effective 24:35 when accompanied by the Holy Spirit. 24:37 The problem is, most of us don't have the Holy Spirit. 24:41 Most of us are in a Laodicean condition, 24:43 and we're very comfortable, very easy, very lazy, 24:47 very complacent and very selfish. 24:52 Why do evangelism? 24:53 Because it contains the solution 24:54 to all the ills of humanity, 24:57 as we're told in John 3:16, 24:59 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, 25:03 so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, 25:05 but have everlasting life." 25:06 The gospel forgives sin. 25:10 Let me say this, before I run out of time, 25:12 how wonderful it would be in America, 25:15 if Christians spent the same energy on evangelism 25:20 that they do on politics. 25:25 Yeah, they're really much into politics. 25:29 And the politics won't save anything, 25:32 makes it worse. 25:34 The gospel forgives sin, 25:35 it breaks the controlling power of sin in the life. 25:37 It heals the broken heart. 25:39 It restores broken relationships. 25:41 It gives hope for the future. 25:43 It lifts up the cast down. 25:45 It brings justice and liberty. 25:47 It takes away pessimism and gives joy. 25:50 It overthrows racism. 25:52 It makes old people into new people, 25:55 and it gives them eternal life. 25:57 Glory be to God, 26:02 in the name of the Father, 26:04 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 26:09 Amen and amen. 26:21 Hello, friend. I'm John Carter. 26:23 Behind me is the great city of Manila, 26:27 the capital of the Philippines. 26:30 Did you know, this is quite amazing. 26:32 There are more people living in this area 26:34 than in New York City. 26:36 And Christ died for these people. 26:39 We came here, oh, long time ago back in 1984. 26:45 What's that, 34, 35 years ago, 26:48 and we came here with a team of young people 26:50 and we came to the PICC. 26:53 It is our intent to come here, 26:56 hire the biggest hall that's available, 26:58 the greatest outdoor stadium, whatever it takes. 27:02 You've got more than 20 million souls out here. 27:07 And I say it again. 27:08 These are people for whom Christ died. 27:11 I'm asking you to pray 27:12 for the people of the Philippines. 27:15 Please pray for the people here in Metro Manila. 27:19 And please write to me, John Carter, P.O. Box 1900, 27:23 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:26 In Australia, write to me at Terrigal, 27:29 at the address that is now showing on the screen. 27:35 We're back in Manila, 27:37 and we're back with a message from God, 27:39 that message is, Christ died for you. 27:45 And Christ is coming again soon. 27:50 Please support us. 27:51 Write to me today, P.O. Box 1900, 27:54 Thousand Oaks, California. 27:56 And also write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 28:00 Thank you for your support. 28:03 And God bless you. 28:19 For a copy of today's program, 28:21 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:24 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:29 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:34 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:38 This program is made possible 28:40 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:43 We thank you for your continued support. 28:46 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2020-01-16