Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR002105S
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00:01 There are a lot of places where you can go
00:03 to get yourself killed. 00:05 John Carter and his team have chosen to go 00:07 to many of those dangerous cities and countries, 00:10 because they heard a voice, 00:12 a soft, but persistent voice urging them on. 00:16 This is the story of their life threatening encounters. 00:21 It is also a story of God's saving grace. 00:24 For God's glory, we present Escape from Death. 00:32 Why do you go to the most dangerous countries? 00:36 What was the reason you went? 00:40 Hi, friend, Welcome today to the Carter Report. 00:43 I'm so glad that you joined us. 00:47 We don't set out 00:48 to go to the most dangerous countries. 00:52 We go to places like Africa and India and Papua New Guinea, 00:57 El Salvador, Colombia, other dangerous places, 01:03 because we have felt the hand of God upon us. 01:07 The Bible tells us to go and preach the gospel, 01:10 and because by the grace of God we have tried to be obedient 01:13 to the command of God. 01:15 We've gone to some of these dangerous places. 01:22 Where was the most dangerous place you went? 01:28 Oh, dear me, that's a tough one. 01:32 We haven't been trying to keep an account 01:34 of this has been dangerous 01:36 and this is the most dangerous and this place is okay. 01:40 There are lots of dangerous prices. 01:43 There are dangerous prices 01:45 in the United States of America. 01:48 You can easily get killed 01:49 by going to some cities in America. 01:51 You can get killed in Australia. 01:54 You can get killed in any place. 01:55 But there are some places 01:57 that are very, very dangerous 02:01 like Iraq. 02:04 Hey, that's a dangerous place. 02:05 I was placed under house arrest there by Saddam Hussein, 02:10 the butcher of Baghdad. 02:12 But there are lots and lots of dangerous places. 02:15 Inter America is a very dangerous place. 02:18 But we went there 02:20 because we believe in the Gospel of Christ. 02:27 You once ran a large city 02:29 wide evangelistic campaign in Zimbabwe. 02:33 You were marched down a jungle road with guns pointed at you, 02:36 and guns in your back. 02:38 Tell us about it? 02:43 Well, that was 02:44 a rather scary situation. 02:49 I still get chills when I think about 02:51 what could have happened to us in the jungles of Africa. 02:57 But before I talk to you about them, 02:58 tell you that story. 03:00 I want to read you a text 03:01 because this text has been the motivation of my life, 03:06 and certainly the motivation of Beverley's life and David 03:09 and the rest of our team. 03:12 The Apostle Paul said this in Romans 1:14 and onwards. 03:17 He said, "I am obligated," 03:19 or as it says in the King James Version, 03:22 I'm a debtor. 03:23 "I'm obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, 03:26 both to the wise and the foolish. 03:29 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel 03:33 also to you who are at Rome." 03:35 Now Rome was a dangerous city. 03:38 Then he goes on to say, 03:39 "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, 03:42 because it is the power of God for the salvation 03:45 of everyone who believes: 03:46 first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." 03:51 So Paul went to some very, very dangerous prices. 03:54 And as I've just been asked this question 03:59 about going to Zimbabwe, 04:03 Harare, Zimbabwe. 04:06 We are running this great campaign 04:08 in the Harare International Conference Center. 04:10 We had thousands and thousands of people coming. 04:14 And then one day, 04:16 I got an interview to go out of the city of Harare, 04:20 used to be called Salisbury, Rhodesia 04:23 and go for an interview on a television station. 04:26 But when I got to the television station, 04:29 I discovered it was a set-up, 04:32 because the person in charge of the television station 04:36 was an ex-terrorist 04:38 who had blood on his hands. 04:42 And after a little bit of an altercation with him 04:45 because he was trying to bully us 04:47 into doing things that we were not prepared to do. 04:51 I found myself as the sun was going down, 04:55 being marched down a jungle road 04:59 with soldiers all around me, 05:02 and I can feel their guns in my back. 05:05 It's not a very comforting experience. 05:08 They have guns sticking in your back 05:11 and gun pointing at you from all directions. 05:15 And the terrorist was in his car 05:17 driving along the road next to us in a Peugeot, 05:21 cursing us and telling me 05:24 that he was going to have me put to death, 05:27 because he hated all people from the Western world. 05:31 He hated Australians. He hated Americans. 05:34 He was the quintessential racist and terrorist. 05:40 And so after we traveled a few miles into the jungle, 05:44 he said, "I'm going to leave you with these men." 05:47 So he turned around his car 05:48 and he drove away. 05:52 And then as soon as he was out of sight, 05:56 the soldiers put down their guns, 06:00 and they started to hug me. 06:02 They said, Pastor Carter, 06:03 we come to your meetings in the Harare 06:05 International Conference Center. 06:08 I had a prayer with them. 06:10 We had a little praise meeting there in the jungle of Africa. 06:14 They called for a car, they got to a police station, 06:16 the police sent a car and they rushed me off 06:19 to the great conference center, 06:21 where thousands and thousands of people 06:24 were waiting to hear the Gospel of Christ. 06:29 That was an escape from death. 06:32 But in this experience, 06:33 I felt the presence of Almighty God, 06:37 and I praise God 06:39 for His protective keeping power. 06:45 Can you tell us 06:46 how your wife Beverley faced a deadly situation in Siberia? 06:51 Did a man with a loaded gun come up to her 06:53 as she spoke to the crowd at the evangelistic campaign? 07:01 Hey, Beverley is a real soldier. 07:05 I'm not supposed to tell you this today. 07:07 Now this is coming from our home. 07:11 And Beverley is in the house today. 07:13 But she didn't want to come on camera. 07:15 Can I tell you folks something? 07:17 It's her birthday. 07:22 I'm not gonna say that she's 39 and holding, 07:25 but I'm sort of tempted to say it. 07:27 But Beverley is a tremendous soldier. 07:30 She's got the heart of a lion and she's got courage. 07:34 Well, we were in the Far East of Russia 07:37 right over there in Eastern Siberia. 07:40 And we were holding meetings on the shores of Lake Baikal, 07:45 the greatest freshwater lake in the world. 07:48 You know, it's amazing. 07:49 Most of us have never heard of Lake Baikal. 07:52 But there right next to this lake, 07:54 there is a pretty big city of about half a million people. 07:57 It's called Irkutsk. 08:00 We were holding these great meetings, 08:01 we had tens of thousands of people coming to hear 08:04 the everlasting Gospel of Christ. 08:09 And as Beverley before I got up to preach, 08:12 she was talking to the people of Siberia, in Irkutsk. 08:17 Then all of a sudden, a man started to get on stage. 08:20 He climbed up on stage, and he charged the desk. 08:25 Oh, Beverley, she's a trooper. 08:27 She just kept on talking. 08:31 We have security guards there. 08:33 They were strong Russian guys. 08:35 And they brought this man down. 08:36 But they had to tussle with this guy. 08:39 He was strong as a lion. 08:42 And it took a few minutes to subdue him. 08:45 And when they subdued him, 08:48 they found he was carrying. 08:51 Listen to this, he was carrying a loaded revolver, 08:56 he had a pistol. 09:00 This was a close encounter with death. 09:03 But the Lord was with us. 09:05 And the Lord preserved Beverley's life. 09:07 Hallelujah, praise God. 09:12 What were his intentions? 09:14 And what was the outcome? 09:20 We discovered later he that, 09:22 he was a Russian nationalist, 09:25 and he belonged there, 09:26 elite group in their security. 09:30 He was a tough, very clever guy. 09:33 And he'd come down 09:35 because he didn't like foreigners 09:36 to be in his part of Russia, 09:38 and he was going to run us out of town. 09:42 The next day, the Russian security forces 09:45 came to our hotel, and they talk to us 09:48 and they said, 09:50 "We are covered with embarrassment," 09:52 because this man was coming down there. 09:54 He had ill intent. 09:56 They said, 09:57 "We're going to put him in a prison in Siberia 09:59 and he's going to stay in that prison 10:02 for the rest of his life. 10:05 So this was an opportunity 10:07 to talk to those tough Russians 10:09 about the Gospel of Christ, 10:11 and why we're not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, 10:14 because it's the power of God. 10:16 And it talks about the love of God. 10:19 We explained to them the love of God. 10:22 And then I said to them, 10:24 "We want you to forgive this man." 10:26 They said, "We're not gonna forgive him, 10:27 we're gonna lock him up and throw away the key." 10:30 I said, 10:31 "We want you to forgive him, 10:33 because we have forgiven him." 10:35 And they said, "We can't understand this." 10:37 So this was an opportunity to talk to them 10:39 about the abounding grace of God, 10:41 how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 10:46 And so they released this man, he came back to the meetings, 10:51 he became my personal bodyguard. 10:55 And that night, he gave his life to Christ. 10:58 And later on, he was baptized. 11:01 And by the grace of God, 11:02 we hope that we're going to see him in the kingdom of God. 11:08 Back at your hotel, there were men with guns 11:11 that burst into your son, David's room. 11:13 Who were they, and what did they want? 11:19 Well, we had a very exciting time 11:21 in the city of Irkutsk. 11:24 Well, the militia had decided to take down 11:27 the mafia outside our hotel. 11:30 And my son, David, 11:33 having the heart of a soldier 11:38 decided that he was going to videotape all of this. 11:42 And so he poked the camera out the window. 11:45 Now, I wanted him to do this. 11:47 I hadn't told him to do this. 11:48 But he took the initiative, 11:50 he was doing the right thing. 11:52 And so we've got this great big television camera 11:56 poked out the window of this hotel in Siberia, 12:00 in Irkutsk, 12:03 videotaping the mafia and the militia. 12:09 Well, the next thing we knew 12:11 was that the militia had invaded the hotel. 12:14 And I had decided to run around to see David 12:17 and go and see how he was doing. 12:19 So I was jogging along the hallway. 12:22 And I was followed by the militia. 12:25 I got into David's room, talking to David. 12:29 All of a sudden, the militia came by, 12:31 they didn't knock on the door, 12:32 they came bursting in with, 12:34 with machine guns pointing these guns at our heads. 12:39 It was quite exciting. 12:41 We told the translator, 12:43 "Hey, tell these guys, 12:44 we're just here preaching the gospel." 12:49 They thought that we were members of the mafia 12:53 until the translator said, 12:54 "Hey, these people are from America and Australia. 12:58 And they're here to preach the Gospel of Christ." 13:01 And so things calm down. 13:05 Once again, 13:07 we saw the power of God 13:10 revealed because God came in by His Spirit, 13:14 and everything became peaceful, 13:17 and the militia became our friends. 13:23 I heard that the mafia came after you in Odessa, Ukraine. 13:29 What actually happened? 13:33 Well, Odessa can be a pretty rough city. 13:36 It's a beautiful city. 13:38 But the mafia sort of runs that part of Ukraine. 13:44 We were holding these meetings for this wonderful city 13:47 of Odessa on the Black Sea, in this great auditorium. 13:51 It was packed every night. 13:54 Now don't tell me evangelism doesn't work, 13:57 because I've seen the power of God. 13:59 Paul said, 14:00 "The gospel is the power of God for the salvation 14:04 of every person who believes." 14:06 So one night they decided did the Ukrainian mafia 14:11 to run us out of town. 14:15 What an experience. 14:16 I was preaching away 14:18 and then I heard this loud noise, 14:19 bang, bang, 14:21 thump, thump. 14:24 Went on for a long time, 14:26 but I thought I can't do anything about it. 14:27 So I continued to preach the Word of God 14:29 to this vast crowd, 14:31 in this Palace of Sport in Odessa, Ukraine. 14:37 And then everything at the back of the stage went quiet. 14:42 Later on, I discovered that 14:43 some mafia members had decided that 14:46 they were going to throw me away 14:49 from this place that 14:50 we're going to throw me off the stage 14:52 and they were going to run us out of town. 14:55 What they had not counted on 14:57 because God moves in a mysterious way 15:00 His wonders to perform. 15:04 We had some tremendous bodyguards. 15:07 And these men were prepared to give their lives for us. 15:10 And when the mafia came charging up the stairs 15:13 and on to the stage, 15:15 they were met by these Russian bodyguards, 15:20 who had a tremendous fight with them, 15:22 and ended up throwing them off the stage. 15:26 While that was almost in the end of that, 15:28 because when I came to the auditorium the next day, 15:34 as I came in, the mafia were standing there, 15:38 waiting for me. 15:39 But this time, they saluted. 15:43 And they wished me the blessing of God, 15:46 and we went on preaching the Word. 15:48 We don't need to be afraid 15:50 when we have the support of holy angels. 15:56 Why was the Ukrainian mafia opposed to your work? 16:02 Because they were running the whole place, 16:05 they were running Odessa. 16:07 The place was full of crime, 16:09 particularly sexual crime, AIDS was, 16:13 you know, huge number of people had AIDS when we went there. 16:18 The place was dangerous. 16:21 And the mafia saw the preaching of the Gospel of Christ 16:25 as a threat to their business. 16:28 Because when you preach the gospel, 16:30 you're going to close down sin. 16:34 And by the grace of God, 16:37 this campaign was so successful 16:40 that thousands of people who had been steeped in sin 16:44 came to a knowledge of Christ, 16:46 and the mafia was defeated. 16:49 Glory be to God. 16:54 Can you tell us about the time the religious mafia 16:57 bombed your meetings in Russia? 17:00 Can you describe what happened? 17:05 Yes, I can. 17:07 My team, we've had a lot to do with the mafia in Russia. 17:12 In fact, some years back 17:13 we baptized the leader of the mafia, 17:17 for I can't tell you the area, but a vast area in Russia. 17:23 The man in charge of it, he had a, 17:25 an army of 400 mafia members 17:28 armed to the teeth with machine guns. 17:34 I saw this man come to Christ. 17:35 I saw his associates come to Christ. 17:38 They came to Christ because they had watched on television 17:43 Carter Report television programs. 17:47 So please don't, nobody even think 17:49 of coming to me and telling me 17:51 that evangelism doesn't work. 17:53 I'm inclined to say to you, 17:55 I think the problem may be is that you don't work. 17:58 But if you believe 17:59 in the working of the Holy Spirit, 18:01 you will believe in public evangelism. 18:05 And I've had some great partners. 18:06 My wife has been a great partner, 18:08 my son David has been a great partner. 18:10 We've had a great team of Americans and Australians. 18:14 Members of the church, 18:15 who have faith and who have vision 18:17 and who believe 18:18 in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 18:21 Okay, 18:23 we were invited to go to the city 18:25 of Nizhny Novgorod 18:28 and thank God, 18:30 Danny Shelton from 3ABN and his group came with us, 18:34 because Danny is a person who believes in evangelism. 18:38 Danny believes in the Bible. 18:40 Danny has got vision, and Danny has got faith. 18:44 But you know, a lot of people have come 18:45 to Danny over the years. 18:47 And they say to him, 18:48 "Oh, Brother Shelton, 18:50 don't you know, it doesn't work anymore." 18:53 When he was starting 3ABN more than 30 years ago, 18:57 a bunch of people in the church came and they said to him, 19:00 "Oh, Brother Shelton, 19:01 don't you know it doesn't work." 19:03 No, he said, "I don't believe that." 19:05 And when we went to Nizhny Novgorod 19:08 or the old city of Gorky. 19:09 Danny said, 19:10 "I'm going to come with you. 19:12 And more than this, 19:13 I'm going to help you raise the budget." 19:15 I said, 19:16 "Glad to have you coming, 19:17 Danny, thank God. 19:19 And especially glad 19:20 you're gonna help me pay the bills." 19:23 So we open up there in Nizhny Novgorod. 19:28 The crowd was so great 19:31 that the Russian military 19:32 had to take us to the auditorium. 19:36 There were tens of thousands of people 19:38 standing around the auditorium. 19:40 Hey, somebody says evangelism doesn't work anymore. 19:44 I say, you're living under a rock, my friend. 19:48 You got to start to believe. 19:51 And so the Russian military got us into the hole. 19:55 You know what was happening? 19:56 People were breaking down the doors. 19:59 We saw the power of God. 20:01 People were breaking the windows. 20:03 People say, "They did it." Yes, we got it on. 20:06 We got pictures of this. 20:09 All the doors getting busted. 20:13 Every night the authorities would come to us and say, 20:16 "Hey, you got to pay for 20 windows and 20 doors." 20:18 We said, 20:20 "Praise God, we wish we were paying for 100." 20:25 Well, we just started up there. 20:27 I was preaching 20:29 and the Russian mafia controlled 20:31 by the great state church, 20:33 get it, the great state church. 20:36 They came down to the auditorium, 20:38 tried to take it over, 20:40 and they threw smoke bombs up on the stage. 20:44 Smoke bombs. 20:47 I kept on preaching 20:49 and the audience in Russian started shouting out to me 20:52 saying John Carter, 20:54 and my translator was telling me 20:55 what they were saying. 20:57 "John Carter, don't be afraid, Keep on preaching." 20:59 So there's smoke bombs, fire bombs coming. 21:03 The Russians calling out. 21:05 Be of good courage, keep on preaching. 21:07 And these people were atheists. 21:10 You see, sometimes the atheists seem to have more faith in God 21:12 than the so-called people who go along to church. 21:17 But our Russian pastors had the courage of lions, 21:21 and they got up on the stage. 21:23 They're all around me pouring water with buckets, 21:26 putting out the fire bombs. 21:30 Yeah, that was quite an experience. 21:32 I could tell you more. 21:33 And maybe if you ask me nicely, 21:36 I'll tell you some more stories. 21:42 There was a famous governor in Russia 21:44 on his way to becoming President 21:46 when he was assassinated. 21:49 Do you know anything about him? 21:54 Yes, it was my privilege on a number of occasions 21:56 to meet Dr. Boris Nemtsov. 22:00 Now there was a man with courage, 22:02 he was a hero. 22:04 Later on, we had the privilege of baptizing 22:06 his beautiful sister, Dr. Julia Outkina, 22:11 who became the president of 3ABN in Russia. 22:15 Now when the mafia was attacking us 22:17 and trying to drive us out of the city of Gorky, 22:21 later called Nizhny Novgorod. 22:24 Boris Nemtsov, the governor heard about it, 22:27 and he sent down his militia. 22:31 Hallelujah. 22:33 And they took on the mafia. 22:36 And they dragged them out of the auditorium. 22:38 And they made it possible for us 22:41 to preach the Gospel of Christ. 22:45 Later on, the governor sent, 22:48 sent an invitation to the Carter Report team, 22:52 including Danny Shelton and his team and said, 22:56 "We want you to come. 22:57 The governor and his staff want you to come 22:59 to the governor's palace, and we want to talk to you." 23:04 And we have the privilege of going and meeting 23:06 the governor and also the bishop 23:09 of the city and all of his staff. 23:12 And I had the privilege of explaining to Governor Boris 23:15 Nemtsov the great message of the Gospel of Christ 23:20 and the great truths of the Bible, 23:22 including the truth on the separation 23:25 of church and state. 23:27 He became our friend. 23:30 He was our protector. 23:33 And by the grace of God, the work of God went ahead. 23:37 I believe, my friend, 23:39 in the providential care of God. 23:43 And God bless you and thank you for supporting this great work. 23:50 So you believe in public evangelism? 23:53 Most in the church today say it doesn't work? 23:59 Well, many people in the world today say 24:01 marriage doesn't work. 24:05 I can tell you, it does work. 24:06 Beverley and I have been married for a... 24:08 Once she told me not to tell the folks, 24:11 but it's well over 50 years. 24:14 We believe that marriage works because the Bible teaches that. 24:19 What's wrong with us? 24:22 The Bible teaches evangelism, 24:25 and Jesus was the master evangelist. 24:29 I believe in evangelism 24:31 because the Bible is full of evangelism. 24:35 You go read the Book of Acts. 24:37 The Christian church started when a man stood up 24:40 and did public evangelism. 24:43 Let me tell you something. 24:45 The greatest killer of evangelism 24:48 is lack of vision and lack of faith. 24:51 I've had people come to me 24:53 by the thousands over the years. 24:55 And they say to me, 24:57 "John Carter, where you've been? 24:59 Have you been living under a rock? 25:01 Don't you know evangelism doesn't work anymore?" 25:05 I said to them, 25:06 "It may not work for you 25:08 because you don't have faith, and you don't have vision." 25:11 But I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, 25:13 I believe in Jesus. 25:16 And I have seen, these eyes have seen 25:20 the glory of the coming of the Lord. 25:24 I believe it works because I believe that God is alive. 25:46 Jesus said, 25:47 "All authority has been given to Me 25:49 in heaven and on earth. 25:51 Go therefore, 25:53 and make disciples of all the nations, 25:56 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 25:58 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." 26:03 John Carter Reports, 26:05 we have seen God's power as the Gospel of Christ 26:08 has been proclaimed in Africa, 26:12 India, 26:15 Russia, 26:17 Ukraine, 26:20 Cuba, 26:23 El Salvador, 26:25 and many other places. 26:27 We invite you to partner with us 26:30 in proclaiming Jesus Christ. 26:36 To God be the glory. 26:39 Great things He has done. 26:43 Write today to the Carter Report. 26:46 PO Box 1900, 26:49 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 26:54 That's the Carter Report. 26:56 PO Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, 26:59 California 91358. 27:03 In Australia, write to the Carter Report, 27:07 PO Box 861, Terrigal, 27:10 New South Wales 2260. 27:13 That's the Carter Report, PO Box 861, 27:18 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 27:23 Thank you for your generous support. 27:25 We look forward to hearing from you soon. 27:28 May God richly bless you. 27:47 For a copy of today's program, 27:49 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 27:52 Thousand Oaks, California 91358 27:57 or in Australia, 27:58 contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:02 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:06 This program is made possible 28:08 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:11 We thank you for your continued support. 28:14 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2021-07-19