Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001356A
00:12 It has stood the test of time, God's book,
00:18 the Bible. Still relevant in today's 00:23 complex world. It Is Written...sharing hope 00:30 around the g I'm John Bradshaw and this is 00:44 It Is Written. Thanks for joining me today. 00:46 I'm here behind the GAR Hall, the oldest church building in 00:52 the City of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 00:54 It was built in 1822 by Methodists. 00:57 It was the first church in this area to allow Blacks and 01:00 Whites to worship together. The church is still in use 01:03 today. In 1863, during and after the 01:07 Battle of Gettysburg, most public buildings and most 01:09 church buildings were pressed into emergency service. 01:13 Many college buildings, seminary buildings, even 01:16 private homes were converted into hospitals to take care 01:20 of the many wounded and dying. 01:22 Behind the GAR Hall here you find this little cemetery. 01:26 There is no shortage of cemeteries here in Gettysburg 01:30 and that is because so many people died in battle. 01:33 During the course of the American Civil War, more than 01:35 700,000 soldiers died, almost 8,000 alone during this one 01:42 battle here and more following the battle 01:46 If you plan to make a trip to come and visit Gettysburg and 01:49 you do a little bit of research you are probably 01:53 going to discover this interesting fact. 01:56 The number one money making tourism enterprise in 01:59 Gettysburg is ghost tours. In fact, one company that 02:05 operates ghost tours here in Gettysburg has this to say on 02:08 its website: Of all the forlorn countless souls awash 02:13 in time, none reach out to us more than those of the dead 02:17 at Gettysburg. They were young men, mostly, 02:20 with hopes for a bright future and moved by sincere, 02:24 patriotic dreams, caught up and cruelly thrown down again 02:29 in that great hot world of mortal combat. 02:32 Their presence on earth was silenced forever by death, or 02:38 maybe not. What's really going on here? 02:44 Are the ghosts of dead soldiers really wandering 02:47 around Gettysburg? Lost in some sort of 02:50 purgatory? And if they really are, what 02:52 stranded them here? Was it the tragedy of war? 02:55 Or was it as the website says, their intense desire 02:59 for a bright future? Did nobody tell them that the 03:02 battle of Gettysburg ended a century and a half ago? 03:06 When it comes to the subject of what happens to the dead, 03:09 the only place you can go to for reliable answers is the 03:13 Word of God. It is the only thing we can 03:16 really trust. The Ghosts of Gettysburg. 03:20 I'll have more in just a mome 03:24 In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says, " It is written, 03:28 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that 03:32 proceeds from the mouth of God. 03:34 Every Word is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional 03:37 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed 03:40 especially for busy people like you. 03:42 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch it 03:46 on-line everyday on our website, itiswritten.com. 03:50 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 03:52 Watch Every Word. You'll be glad you did. 03:55 Here's a sampl Abraham Lincoln's son, 04:06 Robert, was on a railway platform in Jersey City, 04:09 New Jersey, when he slipped between the platform 04:11 and a moving train. But someone behind him 04:13 grabbed his coat collar and lifted him to safety on 04:16 the platform - saving him from serious injury and possibly 04:18 death. The man who saved young 04:21 Robert Lincoln\ was Edwin Booth, the brother 04:25 of John Wilkes Booth - who later murdered 04:26 President Lincoln. The brother of Lincoln's 04:28 assassin saved Lincoln's son. Coincidence? 04:32 You decide, but when God is at work in our lives, 04:37 THAT'S "providence". Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, 04:40 "As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how 04:43 the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, 04:46 so you do not know the works of God who makes everything." 04:49 Even when you don't discern it, God is at work. 04:51 When some see a coincidence, you can know that God 04:54 was there. Let's live today by every word 05:00 Today, we're talking about the ghosts of Gettysburg. 05:05 The idea of people dying and leaving spirits here on the 05:09 earth to wander to and fro is an old idea. 05:13 As a matter of fact, people have been believing in ghosts 05:17 since before human beings started leaving written 05:19 records. Today, most people fall into 05:23 one or the other of two main camps when it comes to this 05:25 question of what happens when you die. 05:28 Many people believe that when you die, you go straight to 05:30 heaven or straight to hell or perhaps purgatory. 05:33 In other words, you survive bodily death. 05:36 You go on living after you die and then there is a 05:38 school of thought that says that when you die your spirit 05:41 goes back to God like your hopes and dreams and thoughts 05:43 and desires and aspirations all cease to be. 05:48 As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 9:5, the dead 05:52 know not anything. Well, whatever you believe 05:55 about that, there's one thing everybody ought to be able to 05:58 agree on and that's this. That when you die, you don't 06:03 leave a spirit behind that roams the earth. 06:06 The dead don't come back to visit their families or haunt 06:09 houses. In the Bible, the only spirit 06:13 beings that roam the earth, at least in the Old 06:16 Testament, were angels. Interestingly, even in the 06:20 Bible there were people who believed in ghosts. 06:25 Let's consider a New Testament Story. 06:27 We get it from Matthew, Chapter 14:25, 26. 06:33 Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them 06:36 walking on the sea, and when the disciples saw him walking 06:39 on the sea, they were troubled, saying 'It is a ghost', 06:43 and they cried out for fear." Did I read that right? 06:48 Did the disciples actually believe in ghosts? 06:52 The ones who spent many of their waking days, in fact, 06:55 every day for several years with Jesus, the divine Son 06:59 of God, did these guys believe in ghosts? 07:02 Evidently so. And it wasn't just the disciples 07:07 who believed this either. There is a very curious story 07:11 found in the Old Testament concerning a man named Saul, 07:14 that is, King Saul, the King of Israel. 07:18 King Saul believed that he had an encounter with a ghost 07:21 as well. You find the story in 07:24 1 Samuel 28 and the fact is, it's the only real ghost 07:28 story that you find in the Bible. 07:31 Understanding this story gives us some real insight 07:34 into the supernatural. Let's pick it up in 07:37 1 Samuel 28:8. So Saul disguised himself and 07:40 put on other clothes and he went and two men with him. 07:47 And they came to the woman by night and he said, "please 07:50 conduct a séance for me and bring up for me the one I 07:54 shall name for you. Then the woman said to him, 07:57 'look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the 08:01 mediums and the spiritists from the land. 08:03 Why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to 08:07 die? And Saul swore to her by the 08:09 Lord saying, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall 08:13 come upon you for this thing. Then, the woman said, whom 08:16 shall I bring up for you? And he said, bring up Samuel 08:20 for me. When the woman saw Samuel, 08:23 she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to 08:27 Saul, saying, 'why have you deceived me? 08:30 For you are Saul!' And the King said to her, 'do not be 08:34 afraid. What do you see?' And the 08:36 woman said to Saul, 'I saw a spirit ascending out of the 08:40 earth.' So he said to her, 'what is his form?' and she 08:44 said 'an old man is coming up and he is covered with a 08:47 mantle,' and Saul perceived that it was Samuel and he 08:51 stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. 08:55 Now, Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by 08:58 bringing me up?" Interesting, isn't it? 09:03 Now, the question we want to ask ourselves is this. 09:06 Was that actually the ghost of Samuel? 09:11 Evidently looked like Samuel, apparently talked like 09:14 Samuel. This Samuel figure evidently 09:17 recognized Saul and Samuel wasn't too happy about having 09:22 been brought back from the dead. 09:23 So how do we understand this? First thing you want to do is 09:26 consider the context in which this took place. 09:29 King Saul was talking to a medium and this was something 09:33 that God had expressly forbidden his people from 09:35 doing. Leviticus 19:31, "Give no 09:39 regard to mediums and familiar spirits. 09:42 Do not seek after them to be defiled by them. 09:45 I am the Lord your God." Then we read this in Deuteronomy 09:48 18:9-13, "when you come into the land which the Lord your 09:52 God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the 09:57 abominations of those nations. 10:00 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes 10:02 his son or his daughter pass through the fire or one who 10:05 practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who 10:08 interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures 10:11 spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls 10:15 up the dead, for all who do these things are an 10:20 abomination to the Lord and because of these 10:23 abominations, the Lord your God drives them out from 10:25 before you. You shall be blameless before 10:29 the Lord your God. And then Leviticus 20:6, 10:34 "And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits 10:36 to prostitute himself with them, I will set my face against 10:39 that person and cut him off from his people." 10:43 Spiritualism is one of Satan's most overwhelming 10:47 and most effective deceptions and it was cooked up in the 10:51 theological seminaries of hell itself. 10:53 There is no question something was going on and 10:57 what was going on was this: Saul the King was speaking to 11:01 the medium and the medium was communicating with the devil. 11:05 It's important that we know this, especially in this 11:09 world where psychics are big business and mediums have 11:14 their own television programs. 11:16 It wasn't that long ago that a cable TV channel came here 11:19 to Gettysburg and they filmed the show on paranormal 11:22 activity in Gettysburg. They brought high tech 11:26 electronic equipment that they hoped was going to help 11:29 him capture communication with spirits from the other 11:32 side. How successful were they in 11:35 doing so? Well you and I both know. 11:38 People say Gettysburg is haunted. 11:40 People refer to hearing strange things and seeing odd 11:43 things from time to time. Activity they can't really 11:47 adequately explain. But you know, that's true for 11:49 just about anywhere in the United States. 11:52 You hear something, you see something, if you hadn't been 11:56 told that there are spirits roaming around, you'd never 11:59 have even thought it was a spirit. 12:01 You would have thought that noise in your attic was a 12:04 racoon, you would not have been worried about some 12:06 departed Gettysburg soldier. It is said that Gettysburg is 12:10 the most haunted place in the United States. 12:14 True or False? Well, it's true that it's 12:16 said that, but I think we both know why it is said. 12:20 You know why? Because it's good for 12:24 business, that's why. Now, God does have a means of 12:30 assisting those of us living on the earth, even sometimes 12:34 communicating with us here on earth. 12:37 How does God doe that, supernaturally? 12:39 1) Through the Holy Spirit; 2) Through the Word of God; 12:43 and 3) Through angels. One thing that is consistent 12:51 in the Bible about angels is that when angels interact 12:55 with human beings, they have this tremendous capacity to 12:58 be able to fill human beings with awe. 13:01 They are awe-inspiring. I will share with you a 13:03 couple of verses from the Bible that make that point 13:06 very, very clear. Matthew 28:5, the angel 13:12 answered and said unto the women, "fear not for I know 13:15 that you seek Jesus, which was crucified." These are the 13:21 women who came down to Jesus' tomb. 13:23 The angel appeared and they were awestruck. 13:26 Now, the word used is "fear" and I've got to be honest 13:29 with you and tell you that I'm not sure how much terror 13:31 filled these people as much as wonder and awe ... a 13:35 heavenly being. We are in the presence of 13:37 somebody who has come from God. 13:40 They didn't have to be terrified of God, but I tell 13:42 you, the word is not inappropriate any how, they 13:45 were afraid, they were awestruck. 13:48 I'll give you another verse that makes the same point and 13:50 we'll discuss a couple of others again. 13:52 Luke 1:12, when Zacharias, that's the father of John the 13:58 Baptist, saw him, the Angel, he was troubled and fear fell 14:05 upon him. So the angels of heaven have 14:08 this ability to instill fear or inspire awe in those 14:13 people who encounter the angels of heaven. 14:15 You read in Daniel 8, Daniel said "when the angel appeared 14:19 to him, he was afraid and he fell on his face." So point 14:24 #1, angels inspire, let's say fear or awe. 14:28 You choose which word works best for you. 14:32 Point #2 angels are powerful. I want to share a little 14:36 story with you from Isaiah 37, how powerful are the 14:40 angels? Well, let's look at this. 14:44 At Gettysburg in 1863, the Battle at Gettysburg ended 14:48 with 8000 or thereabouts deaths. 14:51 Many more casualties when you take into account the wounded 14:54 and the missing and so on, and then about another 8000 14:57 people died shortly after the battle of Gettysburg and it 14:59 is interesting to just say that as though it is of no 15:02 consequence but it was of colossal consequence. 15:05 Then you had the battle of Antedum, the bloodiest single 15:07 day in the history of the American civil war. 15:11 But look at this. How powerful is an angel of 15:14 heaven? I'll read in Isaiah 37 15:16 starting in verse 33. Listen to this. 15:19 God says, therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the 15:22 King of Assyria. He shall not come into this 15:24 city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with 15:28 shields nor cast a bank against it. 15:30 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return and 15:33 shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. 15:35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, 15:39 and for my servant David's sake. 15:42 And then what did God do? God commissioned an angel who 15:47 went forth and ... well, let's read. 15:51 Let's read and see what happens in verse 36: Then the 15:54 angel of the Lord went forth and smoke the camp of the 15:57 Assyrians 185,000 and when they arose early in the 16:06 morning, behold they were all dead corpses. 16:11 One angel, so powerful, that 185,000 soldiers were killed 16:20 in one fell swoop. How powerful are the angels 16:25 of God? They are tremendously 16:28 powerful. Now there is another point I 16:30 want you to look at concerning the angels of 16:33 heaven. God's messengers sent to this 16:35 earth, and that's this. 2 Kings 6:13, He, the king, 16:40 said, go and spy where he is that I may send and fetch 16:45 him. And it was told him saying 16:46 behold he is in Dothan, therefore he sent there 16:48 horses and chariots and a great host and they came by 16:52 night and encompassed the city about and when the 16:55 servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth 16:58 behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and 17:02 chariots. And his servants said unto 17:04 him, Alas my master, how shall we do? 17:07 And he answered Fear not for they that be with us are more 17:11 than they that be with them and Elisha prayed and said 17:16 Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see and the 17:22 Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and 17:27 behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of 17:32 fire round about Elisha. In 2 Kings 6 the angels 17:36 appeared as brilliant beings. What a display to see the 17:41 mountain full of horses and chariots of fire sent from 17:47 God and angels. The word of God said a great 17:50 host was there. How impressive that must have 17:54 been to the view of Elisha's servant, to walk out there 17:57 and look out and see what God had sent, all sent by God to 18:02 assist and aid and help God's people and bring 18:05 encouragement and assure God's people that he was with 18:08 him. God was there with his people 18:10 and the angels appeared as messengers of God to bring 18:14 strength and hope. Now, about the way angels 18:20 appear. The word of God makes clear 18:23 that angels are able to assume other forms. 18:27 Now, here is what I mean by that. 18:29 I will give you a couple of very Biblical examples. 18:31 In the NT, the Word of God says that Satan is able to 18:34 appear as an angel of light. Now, he is an angel of 18:37 darkness. He is the Devil. 18:39 Nevertheless, he can disguise himself in such a way as he 18:44 can appear to be an angel of goodness, an angel of light. 18:49 Let's get an even more graphic example than that. 18:51 We go back to Genesis. The creation story just after 18:55 the creation story in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3:1, the Bible 19:00 says "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of 19:05 the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the 19:09 woman, Yay, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree 19:13 of the garden? And the woman said unto the 19:15 serpent, "we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 19:19 garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the 19:22 midst of the Garden, God has said ..." and so on. 19:25 The devil appeared as a snake. 19:30 Must have been a very beautiful creature, because 19:33 Eve was enticed. She was beguiled. 19:36 She was drawn. She was attracted to what was 19:38 taking place. And maybe there is something 19:40 about a talking snake. A little hard for me to 19:44 relate to because I was raised in one of the very few 19:47 countries in the world where there are no snakes. 19:49 There are only three of them and I was raised in one of 19:51 those three countries ....no snakes at all. 19:54 I wasn't raised with any affinity for snakes in any 19:58 way, shape or form. Now I've developed a working 20:02 toleration with them. I can't imagine what I would 20:06 ever have done if I would have heard a talking snake. 20:08 I'd like to think that I would not have hung around. 20:12 Eve heard the voice, looked and saw the snake, the 20:16 serpent, it must have been a beautiful creature and she 20:21 entered into a discussion with it and where did that 20:24 discussion lead? It led to where we are today. 20:26 Plunged into misery and sin, and depths of despair as a 20:30 planet hoping for a better day and we know that better 20:33 day is the return of Jesus. Lucifer, now Satan, changed 20:39 his form and he did that to draw Eve and Adam and this 20:45 whole planet into the depths of the misery of sin. 20:50 Now, there is another point I want to make about angels, 20:54 and that's this. You know God created us in 20:57 such a way that we can be inhabited. 21:00 The Bible says that we are the temple of the Holy 21:02 Spirit. We were created to be filled 21:04 with the presence of God. In Revelation 3, Jesus says 21:09 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. 21:12 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come 21:15 into him and dine with him and that person will dine 21:18 with me. Jesus wants to come into us 21:21 and live his life in us. We read that again and again 21:25 and again in the word of God. We were made to be inhabited. 21:31 However, you have also read in the Word of God that there 21:34 are people who have been inhabited by the wrong spirit 21:39 and there are probably several places we could go in 21:41 the Bible to illustrate that, but I want to go to Luke 11 21:45 and there is an interesting passage in Luke 11 that 21:49 demonstrates this. Luke 11, I'm going to read in 21:54 verse 24 and on. When the unclean spirit is 22:00 gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking 22:04 rest and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my 22:09 house whence I came out and when he cometh, he findeth it 22:12 swept and garnished. Then he goes and he takes to 22:16 him seven other spirits, more wicked than hiself and they 22:21 enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is 22:26 worse than his first. Isn't that something? 22:31 You wee, we were made to be inhabitated, inhabited by a 22:34 spirit. God is a spirit and that is 22:36 who we want to fill us up. Jesus wants to live his life 22:39 in us and he would do that today through the Holy 22:42 Spirit. But if we are not filled with 22:45 the Holy Spirit, we are going to be filled with something. 22:49 Notice, the demon was cast out or went out of a man, he 22:53 came back to that person and found the man empty ... empty 22:58 and because he was empty, there was room inside that 23:02 person's mind or heart or life for that demon and many 23:05 of his associates. We were made to be filled up. 23:09 We were made to be filled with the Spirit of God. 23:12 However, if we are not, we can be filled with the Spirit 23:17 of Satan. We can be filled with demons. 23:19 People can be possessed. You know, that's one of the 23:22 reasons why it's so very, very important not to go to 23:26 mediums, not to consult mediums, not to consult with 23:28 psychics, to stay away from psychic phenomena, to stay 23:32 away from that dangerous, unbiblical paranormal 23:35 activity. Why? 23:37 Because it is not of God. And if you will give the 23:39 enemy of Saul a toehold, he will take it. 23:42 If you give him an inch, he will take a mile. 23:44 If you give him access to your life at all, before you 23:46 know it, he has taken over our life completely. 23:50 The only safe thing to do is to stay away from that dark 23:53 side, to stay away from the mediums and the psychics, to 23:57 stay away from the ghosts and the ghost stories and run to 24:01 Jesus and hang on to Jesus and just don't let g 24:08 You can't always explain things that go bump in the 24:11 night, except you can know this. 24:13 The Devil is a liar. Jesus called him the father 24:16 of lies and to get a world full of people to believe 24:20 that the spirits of the dead come back to the earth and 24:22 roam the streets and haunt houses, really ... that's quite 24:26 an achievement, especially when the Bible says plainly 24:28 and simply in the Book of Job 7 that the dead return no 24:33 more to their house. So, are there demons roaming 24:38 the streets of Gettysburg? I wouldn't doubt it for a 24:41 moment, not for a moment. But are they the spirits of 24:46 dead soldiers wandering around, troubling people and 24:48 bothering lives? It absolutely cannot be that 24:52 way, at least, not if you want to believe the Bible. 24:56 I will never forget the experience I had visiting a 24:58 lady in her home a number of years ago and she told me 25:01 this story: She said that her uncle lived with her family 25:06 in the last years of his life and that he died right there 25:09 in her home. It was not but a couple of 25:11 days after the funeral and she went back into uncle 25:14 Larry's bedroom to straighten something up or return 25:17 something or retrieve something and as she stepped 25:20 into that room, music started playing. 25:24 She looked around. She didn't know how to 25:27 explain that. She stepped out of the room 25:30 and the music stopped. So she stepped in and it 25:32 started and she stepped out and it stopped, and she had a 25:35 little fun with this for a while and she wondered what 25:37 was going on and she wondered if she was hearing things and 25:39 then she realized that's the kind of music Uncle Larry 25:43 used to live. That's what is going on here. 25:46 Uncle Larry is back and he is telling us everything is 25:49 okay. Well, you can believe that if 25:53 you want to but it's not what the Word of God says. 25:56 The Bible does not tell us that the dead come back to 26:00 the earth, haunt houses, scare people and roam the 26:05 streets of cities like Gettysburg. 26:07 In fact, that's far from the truth. 26:10 It just doesn't happen and we have that on the authority of 26:15 the Word of Go The Mystery of Death is a 26:32 book that will help you discover the truth of the 26:34 after-life, death whenever it happens is a tragedy and 26:38 people wonder what happens next. 26:41 In this week's free book, the mystery of death, pastor 26:44 Bradshaw explores this often misunderstood subject 26:47 and provides answers directly from the Bible. 26:52 Just call 1.800.253.3000 and ask for the book 26:57 The Mystery of Death. You can call anytime, 26:59 day or night. If the line is busy, please 27:01 keep trying. You can also request 27:04 this free book by writing to It Is Written, Box O, 27:06 Thousand Oaks, California, 91359 and we will mail a copy 27:10 to your address in North America. 27:13 Please note this free book is limited to the supply on 27:16 hand. For immediate access, you can 27:18 download a free electronic version of the book, The Mystery 27:21 of Death, from our website itiswritten.com. 27:26 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry made possible 27:28 by viewers like you. Thank you for your letters 27:31 and your continued support. Our toll free number 27:34 is 800 253 3000 and our web address 27:38 itiswritten. Thanks for joining me today. 27:46 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 27:49 Until then, remember, it is written, man shall not live 27:53 by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the |
Revised 2015-07-08