Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR002036S
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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 My Heroes and What They Taught Me, 00:33 a personal message from John Carter. 00:39 Hi, friend. I'm John Carter. 00:40 Welcome to the Carter Report. 00:42 This is part two of this tremendous program 00:45 on Heroes and What They Taught Me. 00:49 I was telling you folks a few months ago 00:51 about the Soviet Union 00:52 and the terrible things that happened to believers 00:55 in the days of the Soviet Union. 00:58 I've been to Russia 49 times. 01:00 In the Soviet Union, this is true, 01:02 tens of millions of believers and dissidents 01:06 died in the Soviet Union. 01:08 You can read about this in the Gulag Archipelago 01:11 by that other great hero, 01:13 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 01:16 a great Christian, great hero, like Paul the prisoner. 01:21 In the first segment, 01:23 I told you about Paul the prisoner 01:24 who did some translation work for me. 01:26 He was thrown into one of these hellholes. 01:29 His teeth fell out, 01:32 they put him in this refrigerator cell, 01:35 they'd freeze him, then they'd warm him up, 01:37 beat him. 01:38 You know why? 01:40 They did it for one reason, my friend, 01:41 because this man would not inform 01:44 like others did on the church members. 01:47 He was a man of courage and a man of great integrity. 01:52 I'm just overwhelmed when I think 01:54 of some of these great friends of mine. 01:57 Then there was the pastor from Chernobyl. 02:02 God bless his soul. 02:05 Chernobyl, it was an awful meltdown 02:08 caused by great criminality and great ineptitude, 02:13 but it also showed great courage. 02:16 We saw children who were the product 02:18 of the meltdown at Chernobyl. 02:21 Beverly visited the orphanages where she saw 02:25 not just healthy little children 02:27 but she saw lots of poor little deformed babies, 02:30 the product of the meltdown 02:31 that occurred on April 26, 1986. 02:36 There were many heroes that day. 02:39 The firemen. Thank God for the firemen. 02:41 They went in there and they fought the flames, 02:43 no protective clothing. 02:45 They had to clean up huge concrete blocks 02:48 of radioactive material, 02:49 the pilots who flew the helicopters 02:52 that dropped the concrete on the reactor. 02:55 And all of this, of course, 02:56 was covered up by the communists. 02:59 And sometime later, 03:00 we started up the meetings in Kiev. 03:03 There we saw the glory of God. 03:05 I have never seen anything quite like it. 03:08 We had this tremendous auditorium. 03:11 We had tens of thousands coming to the meetings. 03:14 At one stage we had a crowd of 100,000 people 03:19 standing outside 03:22 because they were so, so hungry for God. 03:27 And one night there came a busload of people 03:29 from the area of Chernobyl from this hellhole. 03:34 I met there a gaunt young pastor. 03:38 He was so skinny. 03:40 He looked so unwell. 03:42 And he was bringing his people every night 03:45 because the people, unlike us, were hungry for God. 03:50 I said to him, "Why are you staying there? 03:51 This is going to kill you, young man. 03:53 Don't you know this is going to kill you?" 03:55 He said, listen to these words. 03:57 He said, "I cannot leave my people." 04:00 He said, "I cannot leave my people. 04:02 I'm their pastor." 04:04 I don't know his name, but he's an unsung hero. 04:07 God knows his name. 04:10 If the Bible were written today, 04:12 he would be in Hebrews Chapter 11. 04:15 Hebrews 11 talks about so great a cloud of witnesses. 04:21 You know, I've seen and I've met 04:23 some of the greatest people on the face of this earth. 04:27 And they've touched my life. 04:29 Then there was the police captain 04:32 in the city of Kiev. 04:34 The meetings were so successful 04:37 that the Minister of religion for the government order 04:39 that the meetings be closed down. 04:41 I was brought to town hall 04:43 and threatened and interrogated. 04:45 They said to me, 04:46 "You're ordered to close down the meetings." 04:48 I said one word that I knew very well yet. 04:51 Nyet, no. We're not going to do it. 04:53 I said, "You got to do it." 04:54 I said, "No, " 04:56 that was one word they hadn't heard before. 04:57 They hadn't had a pastor say to them 05:00 in their faces, "No, no, no. 05:02 What don't you understand about that?" 05:05 But we could not hold meetings without a police presence. 05:08 That was the law. 05:09 So the minister of religion ordered the police 05:11 to stop protecting us and to withdraw. 05:14 So they did. 05:15 Therefore, 05:17 we were going to be forced out of the city, 05:19 out of Ukraine. 05:20 Then Pastor Murga, 05:22 watch the first part of this program, 05:25 Pastor Murga and his team took to the streets, 05:27 they found a police captain from outside the city. 05:31 He said, "I've heard about these meetings, 05:33 I will bring my officers 05:36 and we will patrol the meetings." 05:39 I don't know his name, but he was a hero. 05:41 He put his life on the line for us. 05:44 Under God, he helped to save the meetings 05:46 that resulted in thousands of souls 05:49 being baptized. 05:51 I wish I could tell you his name, 05:52 but I can't 05:54 because he's one of God's great heroes, 05:56 along with Pastor Murga and Mrs. Murga. 05:59 We received messages from overseas, 06:02 telling us to get home and to close down the meetings. 06:05 We said to them, "Nyet, nyet, no. 06:08 What don't you understand about no? 06:10 We will not forsake Christ." 06:14 Now these people over there in Russia and Ukraine, 06:17 they stood up against the authorities 06:19 were the real heroes. 06:20 Their names are recorded in history, 06:24 along with the director of the Kyiv, Palace of Sport. 06:31 He was given an ultimatum by the government, 06:34 "Close down Carter's meetings." 06:37 He said, "No." 06:39 He said, "I'd like listening to him. 06:42 He's blessing my soul. 06:45 The meetings will continue at the risk of life and limb." 06:49 He said no, he had courage. 06:52 I wish I knew his name. 06:55 I don't. 06:57 But I want to tell you something, God knows it. 07:00 He's one of God's unsung heroes. 07:02 God has got a big family, my friend. 07:06 Another one of my heroes, Dr. Julia Outkina. 07:11 Sister of Dr. Barth Nemstov, who was murdered not long ago, 07:15 I met her, my friend, in the Governor's Palace. 07:19 The governor had invited me to the Kremlin. 07:22 And I was talking to the governor 07:24 and explaining to him the truths of the Bible. 07:27 And Danny Shelton was there standing with me to support me. 07:32 Thank God, I had some supporters. 07:36 And then I had this big bunch of letters, 07:39 showing them to the governor. 07:41 And we took the letter off the top 07:43 and we started to read it. 07:46 And the governor said, he went white, he said, 07:49 "That's my sister, that's Julia." 07:52 And just then 07:53 there was a knocking on the door in the palace. 07:55 And in came Julia. 08:00 God is great. 08:02 And Julia told how she had found Christ 08:05 at the meetings 08:06 and how she had become baptized. 08:09 Now she is the director of 3ABN in Russia. 08:15 Under God, Danny Shelton, 08:17 built the largest Protestant evangelistic meeting, 08:22 the largest Protestant building in all of Russia. 08:25 It was built not by the church organization 08:28 but by a bunch of laypeople who had caught the vision. 08:34 Three Angels' Broadcasting Network 08:36 Cultural Center, 08:38 and Julia is the director. 08:41 And there she's putting out great television programs. 08:43 They're being broadcast, we can't do it anymore. 08:46 But it's being broadcast across Russia. 08:49 It is having a powerful impact for Christ. 08:56 Barth Nemstov's sister, a defender of freedom, 09:01 a lady with courage. 09:06 Recently she's been in hospital. 09:09 But her faith and courage remained steadfast and true. 09:13 She's one of God's heroes. 09:15 She is one of God's unsung heroes. 09:17 We are proud of her. 09:20 Look at Hebrews 11:29, 30, 32. 09:24 Look at this text. Gonna read it to you. 09:26 "By faith they passed through the Red Sea 09:28 as by dry land, 09:30 whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, 09:33 were drowned. 09:34 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down 09:37 after they were encircled for seven days. 09:39 What more shall I say? 09:41 The time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak 09:45 and Samson and Jephthah, 09:47 also of David and Samuel and the prophets." 09:50 Listen to me. 09:51 With God, you can do the impossible. 09:55 Where's your faith? 09:57 People say, "That can't happen anymore." 10:00 My friend, where's your faith? 10:01 Without faith, it is impossible to please God. 10:06 And this lady, this Russian lady Julia, 10:09 she's got faith, steadfast, courageous and true, 10:14 like the old pastor in St. Petersburg. 10:17 This is one of the great stories. 10:19 We ran a great city-wide campaign 10:21 in St. Petersburg, 10:22 in this great auditorium, biggest hall in town. 10:26 That's why we hired it. 10:28 It had been called Leningrad. 10:29 Dr. Julia has a PhD from Leningrad University. 10:33 I visited Leningrad around December, 1994, 10:36 the urgent request of the Christians there. 10:39 One evening, I sat with a group of pastors, 10:43 and I was eating food with them, 10:45 breaking bread 10:46 with the Russian brothers and sisters, 10:48 they gave me pancakes also, 10:49 the best pancakes you ever tasted, 10:52 anywhere in the world with real cream, 10:55 but we won't talk about that now 10:56 because those pancakes are not real good for you, 10:58 but they taste great. 11:00 I was sitting beside an old pastor. 11:03 He told me the story, it went back to about 1938 11:06 when communism had the nation by the throat, 11:12 and Christians especially. 11:15 He told how his father was taken away 11:17 by the KGB. 11:19 Never saw him again, 11:20 even though every day they would take gifts 11:23 and they take food 11:25 so they could keep these people alive. 11:28 But that night, 11:29 the communists seized 30,000 dissidents, 11:33 pastors, intellectuals, 11:35 doctors, philosophers, scientists, 11:37 and they dug a great big pit 11:40 and they threw into that pit still alive, 11:43 30,000 dissidents, 11:45 Have you ever been a dissident, my friend? 11:47 Have you ever thought of yourself? 11:49 Have you ever stood up 11:51 against the tyranny of the crowd? 11:53 Have you ever stood up against unjust authority? 11:57 In America, we believe in freedom of speech 11:59 and freedom of religion, 12:01 and freedom to think differently. 12:03 We are not caller 12:05 to simply go along with the crowd. 12:08 Did you know this 12:09 that conformity produces mediocrity? 12:13 And so these people were thrown into the pit, 12:16 and then they were shot to death. 12:19 And then the son took the father's place. 12:22 It was a son to whom I was speaking, 12:25 he told me of this story. 12:27 He said, "Please come and preach the Word of God." 12:32 He is one of God's unsung heroes, 12:34 so is his wife. 12:37 The Bible says 12:38 the World was not worthy of them, 12:40 says that in Hebrews 11. 12:42 No one knows about them. 12:43 You're not going to read about these people on 12:46 in the newspapers or anything else. 12:48 You're not going to see them on television. 12:50 But their names are written down and glory. 12:54 They're forgotten and recognized 12:56 and acknowledged. 12:57 But let me tell you something. 12:59 When Jesus comes, 13:00 they're going to shine like the stars 13:04 for forever and ever. 13:06 They are the people who count 13:10 because of their integrity, honesty, courage. 13:14 That's what I learned from these people. 13:15 What about you? 13:17 Are you just going along with the crowd 13:19 or are you standing up for the truth? 13:22 Then it was the pastor in Siberia. 13:26 And this is a great story. 13:28 We hide a whole carriage 13:30 or whole car on the Trans-Siberian Express. 13:34 They painted it in the colors of Russia for us. 13:38 And we had this whole carriage or car to ourselves. 13:41 And we took a team right across Russia, 13:44 in the middle of winter, 13:46 from Moscow to Vladivostok in places -40. 13:49 And every time we came to a town or city 13:52 or a hamlet, 13:54 when the train stopped, 13:55 we got out and set up a big PA system. 13:58 And we had thousands of Bibles, 14:00 tens of thousands of audio tapes, 14:03 medicines, 14:04 and the people had been told beforehand, 14:07 "The Carter team is coming." 14:09 And so they were there to meet us 14:10 and I'd be preaching at 2:00 in the morning, 14:13 4"00 in the morning, 6:00 in the morning, - 40. 14:17 And meeting some of the best people 14:19 on the face of the earth, Heroes for God. 14:23 You see, hardship makes heroes, hardship makes heroes. 14:28 A soft lifestyle makes soft people. 14:32 But then we got to one big town. 14:34 There's no one there, not a soul. 14:37 So we looked around, no one there. 14:39 Hey, they couldn't have got the message. 14:41 Then we saw a lonely figure standing by himself. 14:45 My team, one of the Russians, ran up to him said... 14:49 talked in Russian. 14:51 Yeah, I'm the pastor. Where's the church? 14:54 He said we got the time mixed up apparently. 14:56 I've been standing here for 24 hours 14:58 and the church members, when nighttime came, 15:01 they went home. 15:04 I don't know his name, but he was a hero. 15:06 He stood there on the railway track 15:09 for 24 hours, 15:10 we gave him Bibles, we hugged him, 15:12 we gave him medicines, we gave him the tapes. 15:16 We hugged him 15:17 and blessed him in the name of God, 15:19 we prayed with him. 15:20 I don't know his name. 15:23 But what a pastor, 15:26 what a soldier, what a hero. 15:32 His name is written down in glory, 15:34 the Bible says, 15:35 of whom the world was not worthy. 15:38 Hear what I'm telling you folks, 15:40 the Bible says, 15:41 of whom the world was not worthy, 15:43 the world was not worthy of these people. 15:47 The world was not worthy of a Paul the prisoner. 15:51 The world was not worthy of Pastor Mrs. Murga. 15:54 And Pastor Kulikov. 15:57 These people who were beaten up and threatened 16:00 and persecuted for their faith. 16:04 And then other people, 16:05 you know, I've met so many of them. 16:08 These people of courage and integrity, 16:12 who were thrown into prison, you think, Paul the prisoner, 16:16 put in this refrigerator cell, frozen up and then warmed up, 16:20 frozen up, warmed up. 16:21 You know why? 16:22 Because he wouldn't inform 16:24 on his brothers and his sisters. 16:26 That's why, because he had courage. 16:31 Of whom the world was not worthy. 16:33 What am I learned from these heroes? 16:35 I've learned, my friend, 16:39 I've learned this that the darker the night, 16:44 the brighter the stars, 16:47 and that God is sufficient 16:49 for all of our trials and tribulations. 16:53 And Paul the prisoner now is working for prisoners, 16:57 lots of prisoners still in the Russian system. 16:59 He's there working for the prisoners, 17:01 you've got all sorts of diseases 17:03 in those places. 17:05 He goes, there he goes, because he's a man. 17:11 I'm going to tell you now about the old Chinese pastor. 17:15 This is quite an amazing story. 17:19 Little while back, 17:21 I had the privilege of speaking to the pastors 17:23 from the inland of China, 17:25 I was invited to go to Hong Kong. 17:28 These were the people 17:29 that I had the privilege of meeting. 17:31 Some of the Carter Report team came with me. 17:35 Well, you know, folks, 17:39 we're sort of living in a bubble here. 17:42 When you tell people 17:44 in this part of the world and in Australia, 17:46 about these heroes, 17:47 they look at you dumbfounded 17:49 that you know that like, just not taking in, 17:52 I can understand it. 17:55 You see, these people know what, it is 17:58 to suffer for Christ. 18:01 I met these young women there 18:05 who are looking after big churches, 18:07 tens of thousands of people. 18:11 An old pastor that told me the story, 18:14 I'm going to share it a bit with you. 18:19 The old pastor told me about the communist... 18:21 When I say the old pastor, he's about my age, I guess. 18:25 The old pastor told me about the communist revolution 18:28 under Mao Tse-tung. 18:31 You know, what's one big problem 18:32 we have in America 18:34 and other places like Australia today? 18:36 People don't know anything about history. 18:40 They're completely dumb on history. 18:44 When you talk about Mao Tse-tung 18:47 and the great leap forward and the great revolution 18:50 that happened in China, 18:52 they'd look at you as though you're crazy 18:55 because they just don't know any. 18:56 Don't they teach these things in the schools anymore? 18:59 When you talk about, 19:00 when I tell people about Stalin and Lenin, 19:05 and the terrible things 19:06 that the atheists and the communists did. 19:10 People today, how can they support communism? 19:13 How can they support atheism? 19:16 When we know what atheism did? 19:17 It killed tens of millions. No, no, no. 19:22 When I was in Russia 19:23 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, 19:27 some scholars, they told me the communists in Russia 19:29 had killed at least 70 million people. 19:34 You see, the death of God 19:35 always leads to the death of man. 19:37 In America today, God is dying in some places, 19:40 and you can see what's happening. 19:43 You can see what's happening. 19:45 The crime, the terrible things that are happening. 19:51 And in China, well, those people, 19:55 they're like Mao Tse-tung. 19:57 They followed Stalin. 20:00 Yeah. 20:02 Mao, as he's called, 20:03 and the communists hordes murdered 45 million people 20:10 within a few years. 20:11 Hey, 45 million, 20:13 that's more than everybody in California being killed, 20:16 it's like, 20:17 two Australias being killed in a few years. 20:23 Thousands, tens of thousands every day, 20:26 just murdering them. 20:28 That's what atheism does. 20:29 When you get away from God, it's hell and hell and hell. 20:35 In those days, 20:37 when people were starving to death, 20:40 because of the policies of this rotten evil government, 20:45 if a child, a little child stole a potato, 20:51 the penalty was 20:52 that the parents had to tie him up 20:53 and throw him into a pond and watch him drown. 20:57 The little kid starving to death. 21:00 Other parents were forced to bury their children alive. 21:04 Listen, let's be plain about this. 21:06 Let's not be foolish about this. 21:08 Let's get the facts about this. 21:10 The death of God 21:12 always leads to the death of man. 21:14 Somebody said, God died in the 19th century. 21:19 And man died in the 20th century 21:21 with the deaths of millions, 21:23 thanks to Darwinism and the teachings of Nietzsche. 21:28 But that's another subject. 21:29 You need to read up on these things. 21:31 Listen. 21:33 So this pastor I'm talking about 21:36 was arrested for preaching. 21:39 Wasn't getting paid, but he still kept preaching. 21:41 A preacher will keep on preaching 21:43 whether he's paid or not. 21:46 That's how you can tell the difference. 21:50 He was thrown in prison for 10 years. 21:51 He told me the story, the starvation, the beatings. 21:55 Where would he sleep? 21:57 On concrete, sometimes out in the rain. 22:00 The floggings, the beatings, why? 22:02 Because he followed Christ. 22:04 In his mind, he had the texts of the Bible, 22:07 what about you? 22:08 And so when they were trying to interrogate him 22:10 and brainwash him, 22:11 he was recalling the texts of the Bible. 22:15 With God, we can do all things. 22:19 Then he was released after 10 years 22:20 into an indoctrination prison for another 10 years. 22:24 He said it was worse because the beatings got worse. 22:28 More readings 22:30 from The Little Red Book of Mao Tse-tung. 22:34 But he kept praying and recalling 22:35 the texts of the Bible. 22:37 After 20 years he was released. 22:39 He's a hero. 22:40 Look at Hebrews 11:32-34. 22:43 Hebrews 11:32-34. 22:46 "What more shall I say? 22:47 For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak 22:51 and Samson and Jephthah, 22:53 also of David and Samuel and the prophets, 22:56 who through faith subdued kingdoms, 22:59 worked righteousness, obtained promises, 23:01 stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, 23:05 escaped the edge of the sword, 23:08 out of weakness were made strong, 23:10 became valiant in battle, 23:12 turned to flight the armies of the aliens." 23:15 With God's help, you can do the impossible, 23:19 and you can be a hero for God. 23:22 Will you believe it? 23:23 I ask you. 23:26 And so that's the story of that pastor, 23:28 the Chinese pastor. 23:30 Goodness me. 23:32 God and His heroes today. 23:33 We may not know them, they may be unrecognized, 23:37 but their reward will be great. 23:41 I was tremendously moved when I met these people, 23:43 the pastors, the men, the ladies, 23:47 caring for tens of thousands of souls, 23:51 all God's heroes, 23:52 of whom the world is not worthy today. 23:57 May be unrecognized and unrewarded, 24:00 but I want you to know something about it. 24:02 God knows about it. 24:03 That's what counts, you know? 24:05 You might say, "You know, 24:06 I'm not recognized by the church." 24:07 Well, who cares? 24:09 As long as God recognizes you. 24:11 I'm not recognized by the government, 24:13 who cares? 24:14 As long as Christ knows about you. 24:18 And nothing is lost, and nothing is forgotten. 24:24 So what are some lessons I can learn from my heroes? 24:28 Well, there's grace for every trial. 24:32 Grace, Grace, great grace. 24:37 Amazing Grace. 24:39 Out of great tribulation comes great strength. 24:43 When the fire is hot, 24:47 the steel is refined. 24:51 One of the reasons we've got so much weakness today 24:53 among men and women and all of us 24:55 is because we don't know what tribulation is. 24:58 We become weak people. 25:00 God has His secret heroes, both men and women, 25:06 and the darker the night, the brighter they shine. 25:12 God's greatest heroes I guess 25:14 or some of them are still to come. 25:18 A time of test does not make us weak or strong, remember that. 25:22 It doesn't make us brave or cowardly, good or bad. 25:26 It just reveals what we are, 25:29 and I want you to know, a great, listen to me, 25:34 a great time of test is coming to America 25:36 and to the world. 25:38 We are living in the age of the Apocalypse. 25:42 You better believe it, my friend. 25:46 But God will have his heroes. 25:49 What do we need? 25:50 Well, we need 25:52 a genuine experience with Christ. 25:55 We need to read our Bibles every day. 25:56 You say, "I find it hard." 25:58 Well, just try a bit harder. 26:02 Read the Word, it is written, 26:04 "Man shall not live by bread alone," 26:06 read the Word. 26:09 We need to escape manmade religion 26:11 with all its palaver, all this talk. 26:15 And I want you to know this. 26:16 Listen to this, with Christ, we become invincible. 26:21 He is all we need, my friend. 26:25 I need nothing else. 26:26 As Martin Luther said, "All men need is Jesus Christ." 26:33 And when I'm by myself 26:34 and I'm forsaken by friends and everybody else, 26:39 and this happens to all of us on occasions, 26:41 I want you to know this, 26:43 all man needs is Jesus Christ 26:49 and His Word. 26:50 It is written, 26:52 "Man shall not live by bread alone." 26:56 And by God's grace, 26:58 you my brother and you my sister, 27:03 you can be a hero for God. 27:08 And the most important thing is this. 27:12 God will know, Amen. 27:21 God created His people in different cultures, 27:24 countries, and in cities around the world. 27:29 He made the human race, 27:31 he made us one people under God. 27:39 At first, when you see someone 27:40 that looks and acts differently than you, 27:44 you may turn away. 27:46 But take your time. 27:48 Look closer. 27:51 You will see that we share the same dreams, 27:56 the same troubles, 28:00 the same world. 28:05 Open your minds and hearts to one another. 28:08 Love each other as He loves us. 28:11 Do this for God, honor His creation, 28:14 and let His love shine through each one of us. 28:24 For a copy of today's program, 28:26 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:29 Thousand Oaks, California, 28:34 or in Australia, 28:35 contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:39 Terrigal, New South Wales, 2260. 28:43 This program is made possible 28:45 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:48 We thank you for your continued support. 28:51 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2020-11-09