Many revolutionaries
have changed nations
00:00:04.07\00:00:06.57
with guns, tanks,
bombs, and execution squads,
00:00:06.60\00:00:12.44
but amazingly there
was a gentle revolutionary
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who changed the world
with words of peace and love.
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While the bloody
revolutionaries are dead
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and for the most part forgotten,
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this man lives on and
His revolution continues.
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There's a better way
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than guns and bombs.
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We're going to
talk about that today.
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We're going to talk
about the gentle revolutionary.
00:00:40.57\00:00:46.34
Now, as you
know, most revolutions,
00:00:46.37\00:00:50.18
most revolutionaries
00:00:50.21\00:00:52.01
are not very, very gentle.
00:00:52.05\00:00:56.52
Most
revolutionaries and revolutions
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are very, very
violent and bloody.
00:00:59.99\00:01:04.43
But today, we're
going to talk about a person
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who was completely different.
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We call Him the
gentle revolutionary,
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because He was a revolutionary.
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Would you take your Bible today
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and come with
me to Matthew 5:44,
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dear hearts and gentle people?
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Matthew 5:44.
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Jesus said, "But I say to you,
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love your enemies,
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bless those who curse you,
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do good to those who hate you,
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and pray for those
who spitefully use you
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and persecute you."
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Some folks would say,
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"That's a craziest
statement that was ever made."
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Absolutely
preposterous, just doesn't work.
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Jesus said, "Love your enemies.
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Do good to those
people who are bad to you."
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An amazing statement
from the gentle revolutionary.
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We should not just distain
it though or caste it aside
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because God said it,
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and who we're say
it's not going to work
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and it's impossible.
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You see, God said it.
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I want you to
notice for a start today
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some of the
bloody revolutionaries.
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I know a little bit about
this first one personally,
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Lenin
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who led the Great
Russian Revolution.
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He was a great revolutionary.
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And the communist revolution
took place, my friends,
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because listen to this,
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"A corrupt church and
a corrupt government."
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Revolutions don't
just happen by themselves,
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but the Russian Church had
ground the Russian presence
00:03:03.14\00:03:08.38
into the frozen mud.
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Lenin was inspired by
Karl Marx who was a German Jew,
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and he set up
the communist state.
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You know, it sounds tremendous,
socialism, communism,
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everybody is going to be equal.
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Do you remember the book,
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Nineteen
Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
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There are some
of these statements
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that still come into our minds.
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Big Brother is watching you.
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No freedom, Communist Russia.
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Big Brother is watching you.
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Then there was doublespeak
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where the president or
the chairman of the board,
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whenever he spoke,
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even though he was telling lies,
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hey, that's fine,
because what he said
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it was the truth
because he said it.
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Orwell also wrote
the book Animal Farm.
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There's a great quote.
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"All animals are equal,
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but some
animals are more equal."
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That's how it
was under communism.
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All animals are equal,
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but some animals are more equal.
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And, I think he also said,
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"And the pigs
are the most equal."
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So if you went
to Russia as I did
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during the days of the
Soviets, all animals were equal.
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The Soviet Union was atheistic.
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Imagine if, if we
had it here in America,
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God forbid,
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it caused the brutal
deaths of millions of people,
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I said millions, yeah,
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tens of millions
torturing them to death.
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I've spoken in Kiev in
a great, great auditorium,
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and they took me
into the basement
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of that great auditorium
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where the blood oozed
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out of the stones and the rocks,
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murdered thousands
of people in those rooms
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under that auditorium.
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It was communism and atheism.
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I've been there.
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I've been to the
cemeteries in Siberia.
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Then there's Magadan
that you ought to go online
00:05:11.34\00:05:14.21
and look up Magadan,
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an atheistic city
run by the communists.
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The roads of the
city, look at me,
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were paved with human bones.
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Human bones, that's
how they made the roads.
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All animals are equal.
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Alexander
Solzhenitsyn was a great martyr,
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and a great
Christian, great patriot.
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And he was being
tortured by a communist
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because of his faith.
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A woman was torturing him,
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and he cried out
and he finally said,
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"Don't you know
I'm a human soul."
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And she said
the words of Stalin,
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"You can't help breaking eggs
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when you're making an omelet."
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So human beings don't
count when there is no God,
00:06:02.86\00:06:06.46
because the death of God
00:06:06.49\00:06:08.86
always leads to
the death of man.
00:06:08.90\00:06:11.60
Most people don't
realize that, it is true.
00:06:11.63\00:06:14.30
But look at the
gentle revolution
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and the gentle revolutionary.
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Come with me to
Matthew 5:38 and 39.
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Matthew 5:38 and 39.
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You've heard that it was said,
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"An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth."
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Some people still say the same.
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But I tell you not to
resist an evil person,
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but whoever slaps
you on the right cheek,
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turn the other to him also.
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Now you say, "It doesn't work,
it's absolutely impossible."
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What would happen
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if we Americans were to
follow these rules in America?
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Well, it just might
be a far better place
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because many people think today,
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there's lots of hate and
poison circulating in America,
00:07:02.88\00:07:08.32
and the politicians
have shown us the way.
00:07:08.36\00:07:11.63
I want you to look at some
of these people on the screen.
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There is Gandhi.
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He was not a Christian.
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He led a bloodless revolution.
00:07:18.67\00:07:23.57
And he did it on the basis
of the teachings of Christ.
00:07:23.61\00:07:26.98
He said, "I believe in
the teachings of Christ
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as far as how you
treat people," Gandhi.
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One of my heroes,
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Archbishop Desmond
Tutu from South Africa,
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Nelson Mandela,
all of these people,
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Martin Luther King
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named after the
great Martin Luther,
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all Christians.
00:07:46.49\00:07:49.06
And they believed that
grace was greater than guns.
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What a heresy.
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Grace is greater than guns.
00:07:56.17\00:07:57.97
Who said that?
Well, Jesus said it.
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Let me mention some
other bloody revolutionaries.
00:08:03.65\00:08:07.85
Maximilien Robespierre,
the French Revolution, why?
00:08:07.88\00:08:13.56
Because of a corrupt church
00:08:13.59\00:08:16.26
and a corrupt government.
00:08:16.29\00:08:19.69
Whenever you
have a corrupt church
00:08:19.73\00:08:22.53
and a corrupt government,
00:08:22.56\00:08:24.00
you're going to
have a revolution.
00:08:24.03\00:08:27.90
And so they had
the French Revolution
00:08:27.94\00:08:29.54
which became atheistic.
00:08:29.57\00:08:33.48
And during the reign of
terror they used, of course,
00:08:33.51\00:08:37.41
the guillotine.
00:08:37.45\00:08:38.78
You remember the
stories of the knitting ladies.
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The ladies who
would sit and knit
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as they watched their
heads being chopped off.
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Atheism.
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Then not very far
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from the United
States of America,
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Cuba, was Fidel Castro.
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You know why you had
the Cuban Revolution.
00:08:58.83\00:09:01.30
You know why this?
00:09:01.34\00:09:02.67
You'll say, "Oh,
it was just something
00:09:02.70\00:09:04.17
that happened out of the blue."
00:09:04.21\00:09:05.54
No, because of a
corrupt government,
00:09:05.57\00:09:09.48
the Batista regime.
00:09:09.51\00:09:12.98
Bad, bad, bad.
00:09:13.01\00:09:17.05
And so, he
overthrew them in 1959.
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In 1962 we had
the missile crisis
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when the world came
this close to oblivion.
00:09:26.83\00:09:32.17
Remember it? I do.
00:09:32.20\00:09:35.70
But after he got into power,
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he took away the
freedoms from the Cuban people,
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that's why they
had a mass exodus.
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He was an
abuser of human rights.
00:09:47.32\00:09:51.25
One dictator took the
place of another dictator
00:09:51.29\00:09:56.26
like Mao Zedong.
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He overthrew a
corrupt government.
00:09:59.86\00:10:01.96
He was a communist, an atheist.
00:10:02.00\00:10:04.90
The atheist need to
answer to these crimes
00:10:04.93\00:10:07.87
because I've
heard the atheist say,
00:10:07.90\00:10:09.90
"If we were in charge
00:10:09.94\00:10:11.37
and we got rid
of the Christians,
00:10:11.41\00:10:13.64
we would have a better world.
00:10:13.68\00:10:15.21
We would have hell on earth.
00:10:15.24\00:10:19.75
Look where the
atheists have been in charge.
00:10:19.78\00:10:23.59
They've been as bad as
the corrupt Christians.
00:10:23.62\00:10:28.82
And those who
claim the name of Christ
00:10:28.86\00:10:31.03
are not necessarily
Christians, remember this.
00:10:31.06\00:10:34.10
More sins have been
perpetrated in the name of Jesus
00:10:34.13\00:10:38.73
than perhaps any
other individual.
00:10:38.77\00:10:42.17
But Mao Zedong,
the great atheist,
00:10:42.20\00:10:46.14
he caused the deaths
of 45 million Chinese.
00:10:46.17\00:10:50.85
Is anybody listening to this?
00:10:50.88\00:10:53.68
More than the
whole state of California
00:10:53.72\00:10:55.75
even with the illegals,
00:10:55.78\00:10:58.35
45 million Chinese
between 1958 and '62.
00:10:58.39\00:11:03.22
He caused the
deadliest famine in history.
00:11:07.23\00:11:09.50
The communist Chinese
government is built on blood.
00:11:13.13\00:11:18.07
He said this,
00:11:18.11\00:11:19.44
"Revolution is
not a dinner party,
00:11:19.47\00:11:21.74
not an essay, not a painting,
00:11:21.78\00:11:24.98
nor a piece of embroidery,
00:11:25.01\00:11:26.78
it cannot be so refined,
so leisurely and gentle,
00:11:26.82\00:11:29.82
so temperate, kind, courteous,
restrained and magnanimous.
00:11:29.85\00:11:35.39
A revolution is an insurrection,
00:11:35.42\00:11:37.03
an act of violence
00:11:37.06\00:11:38.39
by which one class
overthrows another."
00:11:38.43\00:11:41.93
Violence comes
from the pit of hell.
00:11:41.96\00:11:45.73
I have met with
some of the victims
00:11:48.34\00:11:50.54
of the Cultural
Revolution one-on-one.
00:11:50.57\00:11:54.38
They told me
00:11:54.41\00:11:55.74
because they were Christians,
00:11:55.78\00:11:57.91
they were beaten,
starved, imprisoned.
00:11:57.95\00:12:01.08
The communists'
revolutions around the world
00:12:01.12\00:12:03.65
have been bloody and dreadful.
00:12:03.69\00:12:07.76
Look at some of the states
even today, in Latin America,
00:12:07.79\00:12:12.53
corrupt
government, corrupt church.
00:12:12.56\00:12:14.56
Revolutions are
generally not gentle,
00:12:18.73\00:12:21.40
but today we're talking about
00:12:21.44\00:12:23.94
the greatest
revolutionary of them all,
00:12:23.97\00:12:26.68
the gentle revolutionary.
00:12:26.71\00:12:28.34
Listen to this statement,
00:12:28.38\00:12:29.88
my atheistic
friend, if you dare.
00:12:29.91\00:12:35.65
Jesus' life and teachings
have overthrown evil empires,
00:12:35.68\00:12:41.19
without guns.
00:12:41.22\00:12:43.09
Freed millions of slaves,
00:12:43.12\00:12:45.93
uplifted oppressed women,
00:12:45.96\00:12:50.10
and positively
changed millions of lives,
00:12:50.13\00:12:54.00
without a single
shot being fired.
00:12:54.04\00:12:57.41
No violence, no armies,
00:12:57.44\00:13:00.24
no guns.
00:13:00.28\00:13:03.38
Now listen to this.
00:13:03.41\00:13:04.88
Don't confuse
Jesus with many people
00:13:04.91\00:13:10.62
who profess His name.
00:13:10.65\00:13:12.59
Atheists will say to me,
00:13:12.62\00:13:13.96
"What about the great crusades?"
00:13:13.99\00:13:17.66
Hey, they had
nothing to do with Jesus.
00:13:17.69\00:13:21.23
That was a show that was
put on by a corrupt church.
00:13:21.26\00:13:24.27
But Jesus was a
gentle revolutionary.
00:13:27.34\00:13:32.67
I want you to notice his quite
gentle revolutionary teachings.
00:13:32.71\00:13:38.48
Most professing
Christians like us
00:13:38.51\00:13:41.68
have never read them.
00:13:41.72\00:13:45.22
A few years ago
during a presidential debate,
00:13:45.25\00:13:49.62
one of the
presidential contenders
00:13:49.66\00:13:52.39
who is a good man and a doctor.
00:13:52.43\00:13:56.93
When he made his
speech and they were talking,
00:13:56.97\00:13:59.33
"How are we going to
deal with this problem here?
00:13:59.37\00:14:01.20
How are we going to
deal with this problem?"
00:14:01.24\00:14:02.70
He said,
00:14:02.74\00:14:04.14
"I wonder if we should
show our enemies love."
00:14:04.17\00:14:08.51
You know what happened?
00:14:11.28\00:14:13.75
And the people
sitting in the audience
00:14:13.78\00:14:15.38
were all probably,
all professing Christians.
00:14:15.42\00:14:20.49
They laughed, and they laughed,
and then they booed him.
00:14:20.52\00:14:23.63
So I tell you,
most folks know nothing
00:14:28.83\00:14:32.30
about what He taught, do you?
00:14:32.33\00:14:36.74
I want you to notice
00:14:36.77\00:14:38.57
the greatest
revolutionary of them all.
00:14:38.61\00:14:40.84
Matthew 5:1.
00:14:40.88\00:14:43.81
Matthew 5:1,
00:14:43.85\00:14:45.98
"Seeing the multitudes,
He went up on a mountain,"
00:14:46.01\00:14:49.28
which represents the kingdom,
00:14:49.32\00:14:51.69
"when He was seated
His disciples came to Him."
00:14:51.72\00:14:56.36
The teachings of
His gentle kingdom
00:14:56.39\00:14:59.69
are established on
the rules of heaven,
00:14:59.73\00:15:03.77
not the rules of earth,
00:15:03.80\00:15:06.47
and are quite contrary to
what happens in Washington,
00:15:06.50\00:15:11.41
or Moscow, or
Canberra, or London.
00:15:11.44\00:15:16.38
I want you to
notice the greatest sermon
00:15:16.41\00:15:19.28
ever preached
and the least known.
00:15:19.31\00:15:22.92
The greatest
and the least known.
00:15:22.95\00:15:26.29
Matthew 5:2 and 3,
00:15:26.32\00:15:28.46
"Then he opened His mouth
00:15:28.49\00:15:31.83
and taught them saying,
00:15:31.86\00:15:35.36
'Blessed are the poor in spirit,
00:15:35.40\00:15:40.97
for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven."
00:15:41.00\00:15:45.81
This word blessed
00:15:45.84\00:15:49.01
is aptly translated happy.
00:15:49.04\00:15:53.38
If you want to be happy,
00:15:53.42\00:15:56.05
this is the way
to true happiness.
00:15:56.08\00:15:58.99
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
00:15:59.02\00:16:02.19
What on earth does it mean?
00:16:02.22\00:16:06.16
It means happiness
through spiritual poverty.
00:16:06.19\00:16:09.90
What does it mean?
00:16:09.93\00:16:11.57
It is not condemning riches.
00:16:11.60\00:16:14.70
In of themselves
riches are a blessing
00:16:14.74\00:16:19.04
if those riches are
used for the glory of God
00:16:19.07\00:16:23.01
and the
up-building of the human race.
00:16:23.04\00:16:26.72
If you use riches
just for your own soul,
00:16:26.75\00:16:29.48
they will get inside your
soul and your soul will rot.
00:16:29.52\00:16:34.52
But blessed, Jesus said,
00:16:34.56\00:16:36.62
are the poor in spirit.
00:16:36.66\00:16:41.06
The world, of course, is
full of very proud people.
00:16:41.10\00:16:45.33
The words that most people
00:16:45.37\00:16:46.70
use more than any
other words are I, me, mine.
00:16:46.74\00:16:52.57
Jesus told the
story of two worshipers.
00:16:52.61\00:16:55.71
One of them was a Pharisee
00:16:55.74\00:16:57.71
and the other
one was a publican,
00:16:57.75\00:17:00.12
not to be
confused with a Republican.
00:17:00.15\00:17:03.55
There was a Pharisee, he
was a really churchy guy.
00:17:06.55\00:17:10.73
He was a super,
super churchy guy.
00:17:10.76\00:17:13.53
He knew the Old
Testament out by heart.
00:17:13.56\00:17:16.33
He was great on paying tithes,
00:17:16.36\00:17:17.83
and keeping all
of the commandments,
00:17:17.87\00:17:19.43
and lots of other stuff as well.
00:17:19.47\00:17:22.37
Now, the publican
was pretty bad guy.
00:17:22.40\00:17:27.34
He was a sinner.
00:17:27.38\00:17:30.05
Most of us would not invite
00:17:30.08\00:17:31.98
a publican to
come into our homes.
00:17:32.01\00:17:34.42
And so, both of these
guys go off to the temple,
00:17:34.45\00:17:37.65
and the Pharisee,
00:17:37.69\00:17:39.02
the Bible says, prays like this,
00:17:39.05\00:17:40.89
"Lord, I thank you, but
I'm not as other men are,
00:17:40.92\00:17:46.06
or even like this publican.
00:17:46.09\00:17:49.30
I fast so many times a week.
00:17:49.33\00:17:51.70
I give tithes of all I've got.
00:17:51.73\00:17:53.87
I keep the commandments."
00:17:53.90\00:17:56.71
And then you got this other guy,
00:17:56.74\00:17:58.67
he comes in,
00:17:58.71\00:18:01.98
publican.
00:18:02.01\00:18:04.71
He doesn't even
lift up his eyes to God.
00:18:04.75\00:18:06.58
He puts his head
down, and he says,
00:18:06.61\00:18:08.45
"Lord, be merciful.
00:18:08.48\00:18:11.09
Be merciful to me, a sinner."
00:18:11.12\00:18:13.36
He hit a home run.
00:18:17.03\00:18:19.43
You know why?
00:18:19.46\00:18:21.50
He had a sense of
his spiritual poverty.
00:18:21.53\00:18:25.93
He saw himself
00:18:25.97\00:18:27.50
as a sinner.
00:18:27.54\00:18:32.37
Now Jesus said, "If
you want to be saved,
00:18:32.41\00:18:35.81
you've got to
realize your spiritual need."
00:18:35.84\00:18:39.91
It's not easy to understand
00:18:39.95\00:18:42.88
that you and I are sinners.
00:18:42.92\00:18:45.95
And we're standing
in need of the mercy
00:18:48.49\00:18:51.53
and the grace of God.
00:18:51.56\00:18:53.16
So Jesus said,
00:18:56.16\00:18:57.50
"Happiness doesn't
come through money.
00:18:57.53\00:19:00.27
It comes through
spiritual poverty.
00:19:00.30\00:19:03.74
Verse 4.
00:19:03.77\00:19:05.11
Look at verse 4, "Blessed..."
00:19:05.14\00:19:07.28
And look at the text.
00:19:07.31\00:19:09.71
"Blessed are those who mourn,
00:19:09.74\00:19:13.28
for they shall be comforted."
00:19:13.31\00:19:15.75
He's not talking
here about crybabies.
00:19:15.78\00:19:19.52
We say happy are the
wealthy, the partygoers,
00:19:19.55\00:19:23.96
the world connected,
00:19:23.99\00:19:25.49
the rich, the
famous and the powerful.
00:19:25.53\00:19:27.70
There's a prominent politician,
00:19:30.47\00:19:32.13
well-known in the
United States of America.
00:19:32.17\00:19:34.67
He's famous for this statement.
00:19:34.70\00:19:38.24
He said, "I never
confessed my sins."
00:19:38.27\00:19:40.48
I guess he believes,
he doesn't have any sins.
00:19:43.21\00:19:46.05
How far can you get from God?
00:19:46.08\00:19:48.48
Blessed are those who mourn.
00:19:51.05\00:19:53.39
He's talking about
mourning for your sins
00:19:53.42\00:19:56.66
and knowing that you're standing
00:19:56.69\00:19:58.86
in need of the grace of God.
00:19:58.89\00:20:01.70
Verse 5 says.
00:20:01.73\00:20:04.50
Verse 5, look at it.
00:20:04.53\00:20:07.64
"Blessed are the meek,
00:20:07.67\00:20:10.21
for they shall
inherit the earth."
00:20:10.24\00:20:12.74
Jesus didn't say,
"Blessed are the weak."
00:20:12.77\00:20:17.91
He said, "Blessed are the meek."
00:20:17.95\00:20:23.39
Now Jesus was not a namby-pamby.
00:20:23.42\00:20:26.59
Jesus could get mad.
00:20:30.06\00:20:34.93
Jesus could get
angry, not like our anger.
00:20:34.96\00:20:39.13
Jesus, because He was
God, had righteous indignation.
00:20:42.04\00:20:45.94
You and I haven't had it
for one second in our lives.
00:20:45.97\00:20:49.74
But He went into the
temple and He saw people there
00:20:49.78\00:20:54.38
doing things in the temple,
00:20:54.42\00:20:56.15
prostituting the temple worship.
00:20:56.18\00:20:59.95
And Jesus was a sun
tanned strong young man.
00:20:59.99\00:21:03.73
He wasn't an old
man with white hair.
00:21:03.76\00:21:06.86
And Jesus got a whip,
and He took out the whip,
00:21:06.90\00:21:09.53
and He drove them
out of the temple.
00:21:09.56\00:21:12.90
So you need to realize this.
00:21:15.80\00:21:18.81
Meekness
00:21:18.84\00:21:20.78
is not weakness.
00:21:20.81\00:21:25.68
We are not
called to be crybabies.
00:21:25.71\00:21:30.15
We're not called
to be namby-pambies.
00:21:30.19\00:21:32.85
One young man said to me,
00:21:36.36\00:21:37.83
"Well, I was
brought up in a home
00:21:37.86\00:21:39.23
with my mother just...
00:21:39.26\00:21:41.86
She just didn't let me
have any problems at all.
00:21:41.90\00:21:44.63
I was sort of covered
all the time in cotton wool."
00:21:44.67\00:21:49.47
I said to him, "It's about
time you grew up young fellow"
00:21:49.50\00:21:52.94
because he used to be...
00:21:52.97\00:21:54.31
He cries so easily.
00:21:54.34\00:21:55.71
Anything that
happened, huh-uh, he's crying.
00:21:55.74\00:22:00.12
Soldiers don't go into battle
00:22:00.15\00:22:02.58
and win battles by crying.
00:22:02.62\00:22:06.19
Where do we get that from?
00:22:09.99\00:22:11.33
Jesus said,
"Blessed are the meek."
00:22:13.46\00:22:15.63
Moses was the
meekest man on earth,
00:22:15.66\00:22:18.73
but he was no pushover.
00:22:18.77\00:22:20.57
Moses was a humble person.
00:22:20.60\00:22:22.77
He'd seen the greatness of God
00:22:22.80\00:22:24.97
and the passing
glory of the Pharaohs.
00:22:25.01\00:22:27.18
He had a sense of
his own inadequacy.
00:22:27.21\00:22:30.98
You and I have
got to have a sense
00:22:31.01\00:22:33.48
of our own inadequacies.
00:22:33.52\00:22:35.72
I'm not good enough.
00:22:35.75\00:22:37.09
I'm not strong enough.
00:22:37.12\00:22:39.25
I can't do this
in my own strength.
00:22:39.29\00:22:42.32
I'm not worthy to go to heaven.
00:22:42.36\00:22:44.43
So Jesus said,
"Blessed are the meek."
00:22:47.10\00:22:51.47
A proud person cannot
be saved or go to heaven
00:22:51.50\00:22:55.44
because there are no
proud people in heaven.
00:22:55.47\00:22:57.64
God is not proud.
00:22:57.67\00:23:00.44
Jesus was the strongest of men,
00:23:00.48\00:23:02.91
but Jesus was also
the meekest of men.
00:23:02.94\00:23:07.08
Look at verse 6, the
revolutionary teachings.
00:23:07.12\00:23:12.69
"Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
00:23:12.72\00:23:16.39
for they will be filled."
00:23:16.42\00:23:17.76
Happy are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness.
00:23:17.79\00:23:19.96
Have you ever been thirsty?
00:23:23.43\00:23:26.23
Have you really been hungry?
00:23:26.27\00:23:28.34
Bit hard here in
this great country
00:23:28.37\00:23:29.90
where we live.
00:23:29.94\00:23:31.57
Now I'm told,
00:23:31.61\00:23:32.94
there's lots of
people in America
00:23:32.97\00:23:34.34
or other places who are hungry.
00:23:34.38\00:23:35.88
But I spent two
days in the desert
00:23:38.15\00:23:40.98
in the south of Iraq.
00:23:41.02\00:23:42.62
I've never felt so lonely
00:23:47.72\00:23:50.53
because I ran out of
water and I ran out of food.
00:23:50.56\00:23:54.36
I was just drying up.
00:23:54.40\00:23:55.83
When I finally got
to Basra, south of Iraq,
00:23:58.63\00:24:01.57
it's a terrible
place to go today.
00:24:01.60\00:24:03.64
I went there when
there was no fighting.
00:24:03.67\00:24:05.67
I just crossed over from Iran,
00:24:05.71\00:24:08.31
crossed over
the River Euphrates,
00:24:08.34\00:24:10.21
and I was travelling
for two days in the desert.
00:24:10.25\00:24:13.78
I saw the caravans of camels
going through in the desert.
00:24:13.82\00:24:18.55
When I got to that place, Basra,
00:24:18.59\00:24:21.26
I was hungry and I was thirsty.
00:24:21.29\00:24:23.29
My mouth was dry.
00:24:23.32\00:24:24.89
Jesus said,
00:24:24.93\00:24:26.39
"When you get that
hungry and thirsty for God,
00:24:26.43\00:24:29.96
then you're going to be happy.
00:24:30.00\00:24:32.73
Blessed are those who
are hungry and thirsty
00:24:32.77\00:24:36.94
to be better, and to do better,
00:24:36.97\00:24:42.21
and to have the
righteousness of God.
00:24:42.24\00:24:45.18
That means, the
thing about this,
00:24:45.21\00:24:49.18
this is why these
teachings are so different.
00:24:49.22\00:24:52.35
No lying.
00:24:52.39\00:24:55.29
No cheating.
00:24:55.32\00:24:57.66
No slandering.
00:24:57.69\00:25:00.30
No boasting.
00:25:00.33\00:25:02.66
This is the very, very opposite
00:25:02.70\00:25:05.83
of our Washington politics,
00:25:05.87\00:25:12.24
Hollywood.
00:25:12.27\00:25:16.85
Not blessed are
the well connected.
00:25:16.88\00:25:20.35
Not blessed are the
people with political power.
00:25:20.38\00:25:23.89
Not blessed are the people
who are sitting on thrones
00:25:23.92\00:25:28.72
and lording it over
the American people.
00:25:28.76\00:25:30.93
The blessed are those
00:25:33.03\00:25:34.76
who are hungry and
thirsty for righteousness.
00:25:34.80\00:25:40.94
You say, "Hey, oh,
just a lot of talk.
00:25:40.97\00:25:45.07
Just a lot of talk."
00:25:45.11\00:25:46.44
So what? Let me tell you.
00:25:46.47\00:25:49.91
When earthly kingdoms pass way,
00:25:49.94\00:25:53.62
the kingdom of God
00:25:53.65\00:25:54.98
that is based on
these gentle teachings
00:25:55.02\00:25:58.29
will endure for ever.
00:25:58.32\00:26:01.49
And we'll be back in a moment
with the gentle revolutionary.
00:26:01.52\00:26:08.03
Stay with us.
00:26:08.06\00:26:09.60
There's only one thing
00:26:23.45\00:26:24.78
that really
counts in this lifetime,
00:26:24.81\00:26:27.45
your relationship to Christ.
00:26:27.48\00:26:30.22
And then if you have a
right relationship with Christ,
00:26:30.25\00:26:33.86
you want to tell
people about Christ.
00:26:33.89\00:26:36.73
That's why Jesus said,
00:26:36.76\00:26:38.09
"Go into all the world
00:26:38.13\00:26:39.46
and preach the
gospel to every creature."
00:26:39.49\00:26:43.16
By the grace of God,
we're going to do that,
00:26:43.20\00:26:45.97
we are doing that.
00:26:46.00\00:26:47.94
That is why we're
going back to Cuba
00:26:47.97\00:26:50.51
to this communist
land to preach Christ.
00:26:50.54\00:26:54.98
We're accepting an
invitation to go to the vast,
00:26:55.01\00:26:59.08
huge city of Manila, the
capital of the Philippines,
00:26:59.11\00:27:03.25
been there before,
00:27:03.28\00:27:04.82
but by the grace of
God, we're going back.
00:27:04.85\00:27:08.26
Please support us.
00:27:08.29\00:27:09.96
And please stand with us
00:27:09.99\00:27:12.59
in the preaching of
the everlasting gospel.
00:27:12.63\00:27:15.23
You say, "How do you do it?
00:27:15.26\00:27:16.70
Who pays the bills?"
00:27:16.73\00:27:18.50
We do.
00:27:18.53\00:27:19.87
"Do you get any help,
00:27:19.90\00:27:21.24
financial help from the church?"
00:27:21.27\00:27:22.74
No, my friend, we don't.
00:27:22.77\00:27:24.57
But we get a lot of help
from God and from His children.
00:27:24.61\00:27:29.01
Please support us
00:27:29.04\00:27:30.75
in the preaching of
the everlasting gospel.
00:27:30.78\00:27:33.82
It's the most
important work in all the world.
00:27:33.85\00:27:36.85
Everything else
is almost trivia.
00:27:36.89\00:27:39.99
So would you please write to me?
00:27:40.02\00:27:43.63
John Carter, P.O. Box
00:27:43.66\00:27:46.09
1900, Thousand
Oaks, California 91358.
00:27:46.13\00:27:51.90
Do your best for Jesus.
00:27:51.93\00:27:53.87
Do your best for the gospel.
00:27:53.90\00:27:56.37
And in Australia,
write to me at Terrigal.
00:27:56.40\00:28:00.14
And we promise you this,
00:28:00.18\00:28:03.01
every dime, every dollar
00:28:03.04\00:28:05.38
is going to be used to win souls
00:28:05.41\00:28:07.78
to our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:28:07.82\00:28:10.29
Please write to me today.
00:28:10.32\00:28:14.76
Thank you and God bless you.
00:28:14.79\00:28:16.32
For a copy of today's
program, please contact us
00:28:25.73\00:28:29.04
at P.O. Box 1900,
Thousand Oaks, California 91358.
00:28:29.07\00:28:35.54
Or in Australia,
contact us at P.O. Box 861,
00:28:35.58\00:28:40.58
Terrigal, New South Wales 2260.
00:28:40.62\00:28:44.82
This program is made possible
00:28:44.85\00:28:46.62
through the generous
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00:28:46.65\00:28:49.69
We thank you for
your continued support.
00:28:49.72\00:28:52.73
May God richly bless you.
00:28:52.76\00:28:54.86