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"MAKE IT
AS SECURE AS YOU CAN" #4
NO LAUGHING IN THE KREMLIN NOW
It's a phenomenon you really have to see to believe.
When you hear the word "propaganda," you probably think of Hitler's
PR specialist, Josef Goebbels, who helped mastermind political tactics
like "Kristallnacht," the November 9, 1938 night of horror during
the Nazi reign of terror. But during their own 70 years of a Cold War
deep freeze, nobody controlled information like the former U.S.S.R.
Here at the Voice of Prophecy, we'd be rather interested in how they did
it, because one of the Kremlin's favorite weapons was the one you're using
right now: RADIO. Moscow was big into radio. And of course, as propaganda
experts, they had two objectives: keeping out bad signals, and blanketing
the nation with "(quote) good" ones."
So they did three things. First, they constructed HUGE radio towers throughout
the entire empire, especially along the borders. These were mammoth edifices,
capable of saturating the entire Communist world for thousands of miles
in all directions. Secondly, they perfected the art of blocking Western
signals: "jamming," as we all came to know the tactic. Voice
of America and other sounds of freedom were meticulously stopped right
at the hems of the Iron Curtain.
But here's the third thing Moscow did. In order for all of its citizens
to receive the happy news about successes in the Worker's Paradise, the
Communist system systematically placed radios in virtually every home
throughout the U.S.S.R. I don't know if they were free, or if they were
subsidized down to five kopeks, but this was the biggest media giveaway
in history. EVERYBODY had a radio. AND . . . the station presets were
already locked in place. You couldn't turn the dial and get Kasey Kasem's
American Top 40. You got the news, weather, and sports that Leonid Brezhnev
wanted you to get.
In fact, not only were radios handed out to every Boris and Natasha in
the empire, but the city streets were hard-wired with radio speakers.
Parks and recreation areas literally had speakers in all of the trees.
The controlled "good news" came in on buses and streetcars.
In fact, some of our staff members were over in downtown Moscow for a
religious crusade with our sister broadcast, the It Is Written TV program,
and saw evidences of this system still in place even in 1993. There was
more freedom now, with Gorbachev and Yeltsin relaxing the old rules, but
the speakers in the trees were still there. One of our team actually heard
them playing excerpts from the decadent Western album, Abbey Road, by
the Beatles. So freedom truly HAD arrived!
Well, here's the interesting thing. The U.S.S.R. was also hugely concerned,
naturally, about keeping out religion. They had to protect their atheistic
system. But do you know what has happened? Once the Communist barriers
came down about a decade ago, and the Berlin Wall cracked and tumbled,
and all the rest, here's what resulted. All of those huge, towering radio
transmitters were suddenly available for non-propaganda purposes. They
were out there on the open market. Entrepreneurs began printing rate cards
and selling airtime. And do you know what's beaming on those galactic
systems today? That's right. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The very weapons
the enemies of truth constructed to keep out truth are now being used
to blanket the former Soviet Union with the REAL good news about a risen
Savior named Jesus.
In fact, this very radio ministry, The Voice of Prophecy, has a sister
broadcast over there in Moscow called the Voice of Hope. In recent years,
it's been the number-one Christian media broadcast in the entire empire.
And I heard a few years ago that the speaker at that time, a wonderful
young believer named Peter Kulakov, had one of the most recognized voices
in all of Russia. Every time they did a survey in Red Square, people would
nod. "Oh, sure. Da. I've heard HIM."
What really helps the Christian cause along is the fact that every home,
apartment, and dacha in the whole country already has a radio! Which is
now guaranteed to be tuned in to programs like Voice of Hope and other
great Christian broadcasts.
I guess the point is this . . . and you almost have to smile when you
think about it. The enemy of this world, Lucifer, constructs his careful
systems, his elaborate defenses. We've talked for three days about how
the enemies of Jesus went to Pontius Pilate and begged him. "Please
put a guard around that tomb. We don't want any nasty rumors starting
up about a resurrection." And he gave them that immortal line: "Go
ahead. Make it as secure as you can." Which they did. And of course,
on Sunday morning Jesus came out of that tomb and broke through that defensive
system as though it were nothing.
But now notice this wonderfully ironic result. Through
Satan's working, there was a contingent there at the grave site of one
hundred Roman soldiers. They were armed. They were ready to defend. They
had instructions, on pain of death, to NOT fall asleep at the post. And
you can read in Matthew chapter 28 how, when the resurrection earthquake
hit, and the mighty angel of God came down, they were NOT asleep. They
were wide awake, all right, but terrified out of their wits. They fell
over, the Bible says, like dead men.
So what happens? These one hundred Roman soldiers,
instead of protecting against a stealing-the-body-in-the-night scandal,
or even against a Resurrection, turn into eyewitnesses. All one hundred
Roman guards heard the trumpet blast. They all felt the earthquake. Every
single one of them saw Jesus emerge in triumph from the grave.
What did this lead to? The Jewish authorities had to bribe the one hundred
guards, and get them to claim that every single one of them went to sleep
on the post. Which, since that was a lapse punishable by death, meant
they had to bribe the Roman authorities as well. That was an expensive
Sunday morning for sure.
And now, what are the mathematical odds that one hundred trained, hand-picked
guards, who have been assigned to a post with the specific instructions
of staying awake to prevent disciples from stealing the body, will ALL
fall asleep, every single, solitary one of them, while the disciples walk
in and do exactly that — steal the body? Friend, what are the odds?
We shared a wonderful quote the other day from the well-known classic
book, The Desire of Ages, which explores the minute details surrounding
the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And the author, E. G. White,
picked up immediately on the irony of this moment. Notice:
"So weak men counseled and planned," she writes. "Little
did these murderers realize the uselessness of their efforts. But by their
action GOD was glorified. The very efforts made to prevent Christ's resurrection
are the most convincing arguments in its proof. The greater the number
of soldiers placed around the tomb, the stronger would be the testimony
that He had risen."
And you know, the Bible is just filled with these marvelous
U-turns, where Satan steps on his own land mines. Remember the story of
Joseph? Lucifer works things out so that this devout kid is sold as a
slave. Then he's accused of rape and tossed into prison. Then when he
has a chance to get out, Lucifer spins the dials again and keeps him in
there for two more years. It's a perfect, diabolical, cruel plan. Except
what happens as a result? Joseph gets out at the perfect moment and becomes
prime minister of the entire Egyptian empire.
Right here at this ministry we've had many, many letters come in from
people who have been incarcerated for serious crimes. And friend, Satan
loves it when a hurting, confused man or woman is thrown in jail. He loves
it when a person is locked up in the penitentiary, where there is anger
and violence and an anti-God rage simmering all of the time. And yet .
. . do you know what happens so often? These people FIND God there! I've
seen it happen over and over. I've met some of these very people. We did
a live TV downlink just a few months ago, where a newly converted Christian
prisoner shared his story with our audience. These inmates hear our radio
broadcast, or others like it. They sign up for our Discover Bible Course
. . . and of course, in jail they've got "time on their hands,"
as the old saying goes. They can take the lessons three times as fast
as anybody else on our mailing list. And Satan has this great trap, designed
to defeat some poor soul, but he ends up getting his own tail caught in
it instead.
You know, I think about those enormous radio transmitters in Russia, now
beaming the message of John 3:16 to a newly liberated empire, and I almost
want to laugh. Is it all right to laugh just a little bit? The Bible tells
us that even God laughs as He sees Lucifer's sorry little schemes.
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing?"
This is from Psalms chapter two, and maybe you music
aficionados have also heard it in Handel's Messiah.
"The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His
anointed."
They're so clever, these world leaders and Kremlin
bosses and Sanhedrin rulers; they have these brilliant propaganda plans.
They have their guards and their bit of red Roman wax with an invincible
seal to guard the tomb of Jesus. But notice the last line:
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
the Lord shall have them in derision."
And of course, you know what they say about the One
who laughs last.
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