John Bradshaw

It Is Written

The Hero

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

Batman, Batwoman, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Superman, The Avengers.

Fantasy figures imbued with superhuman, godlike characteristics.

Now, while it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this might not be the best, most spiritually healthy material for our children to watch, or adults for that matter, people are watching.

So many that 1 recent superhero movie grossed almost $3 billion at the global box office on a budget of almost $400 million.

Was in a fast food restaurant near Nashville in 2018 when a mentally unstable man began shooting.

When he noticed a pause in the shooting, he rushed the shooter, pulled the rifle from the man's hand, and then shoved him out of the restaurant.

Without James Shaw's courageous intervention, it's almost certain that many more than the 4 who died would have lost their lives.

At a news conference hours later, Shaw said this, "...I did that completely out of a selfish act.

I was completely doing it just to save myself.

I did save other people, but I don't want people to think that I was the Terminator or Superman or anybody like that.

I figured if I was going to die, he was going to have to work for it.

He said, I haven't had any specific combat training.

I just fight my daughter every night so I can put her to bed.

I didn't really fight that man to save everybody else.

I know that might not be a popular thing, but I'm really honest.

I took the gun so I could get myself out.

A man put his life on the line and saved not only himself, but others as well.

A 69-year-old man who saw a woman being attacked by a polar bear in Manitoba, Canada, grabbed a shovel and fought the bear off before the bear turned on him.

He spent a week in a hospital having an ear reattached and having other wounds taken care of.

Baseballer Ted Williams spent 5 years in the military before going on to become a Hall of Fame baseball player.

Baseball's Jackie Robinson was a pioneer who changed the sporting landscape and impacted society in a huge way.

Athlete Jesse Owens was born in poverty, but went on not only to win a clutch of Olympic gold medals, but to deliver a stunning message to a tyrant.

Terry Fox wasn't a sportsman as such, but a cancer survivor who attempted to run all the way across Canada 4, 300 miles to raise money for cancer research.

Fox's run started with little fanfare, but running on a prosthetic leg, He ran 3, 339 miles, making it all the way from St.

John's, Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

He ran for 143 days on a prosthetic leg, remember, even as cancer was returning to his body.

The Terry Fox Research Institute reports that to date, $800 million has been raised in his name.

Society tosses the word hero around pretty easily, especially when it comes to sports.

A team wins, maybe a championship, and we whip out that word hero.

David Ortiz led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title for the first time in almost 90 years.

Evidently a great guy, an outstanding player.

He brought a lot of joy to a lot of people.

It's a bit like loving your spouse, and loving your dog, and loving ice cream.

It's love every time, but it's not the same love.

Michael Jordan wins a collection of NBA titles.

Serena Williams dominates tennis for more than 20 years.

Usain Bolt wins 8 Olympic track and field gold medals and sets 2 world records.

Michael Phelps and his outrageous 23 Olympic gold medals.

They're all freakishly talented and outstanding in their chosen fields.

But as a general rule, being really good at hitting a ball with a bat or throwing a football or running fast doesn't qualify you as a hero.

And I'm pretty sure each of the sports people I've named would agree with that.

Great achievements, they've redefined their sports, they've made a lot of people happy and done historic things, and we call them heroes because that's the best word we can think of when someone does something really remarkable.

The United States military has a special way of honoring people we would classify as heroes.

The Medal of Honor is the United States' highest award for military valor in action.

Those who receive the Medal of Honor have demonstrated bravery, courage, sacrifice, and integrity.

More than 3, 500 Medals of Honor have been awarded to 3, 511 individuals.

5 sets of brothers have received the award, and 2 father and son pairings, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, and his son, Theodore Jr., and Arthur MacArthur and his son, General Douglas MacArthur.

Once upon a time, the Medal of Honor would be sent through the mail.

But more than 100 years ago, regulations were changed stipulating that the medal must be presented in a formal ceremony.

There are more than 60 Medal of Honor recipients alive today.

The first Medals of Honor awarded were presented to the 6 Union Army volunteers who commandeered a train known as the General in northern Georgia and took it towards Chattanooga in the north, damaging train lines and cutting telegraph wires as they went.

More than 1, 500 medals of honor were awarded for valor during the Civil War, almost 500 for World War II, 261 for Vietnam, 146 for the Korean War, 132 for World War I, 28 for the War on Terror, and 965 for campaigns, conflicts, and for peacetime.

More than 2, 400 have been awarded to U.S.

Army personnel, 746 to those who have served in the Navy, 297 for the Marine Corps, 17 for the U.S.

Air Force, 8 civilian, 5 foreign, and 1 U.S.

More than 90 African Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

That's a comparatively small number, best explained by African Americans' place in society up until the 1970s.

In fact, no African Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor during World War I and World War II.

Those who were eventually honored were honored decades after the fact, in most cases posthumously.

Historian Glenn Knobloch wrote, "...it was not until the Vietnam War that black servicemen not only served on an equal footing with whites, but were also awarded the Medal of Honor in the same proportion.

So who do you think is the greatest hero of them all?

And who are some of the remarkable people who have received the Medal of Honor?

To find out, we're going to go together to the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Desmond Doss went into battle armed with the Bible and prayer.

An Academy Award winning movie told the story of his exploits on Hacksaw Ridge.

Our free offer today is The Faith of Desmond Doss.

To receive this free book, call 800-253-3000 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.

Find out how you can have the same kind of faith Desmond Doss had, 800-253-3000 or visit iiwoffer.com.

The National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee is a remarkable place.

It is here that Medal of Honor recipients have been recognized for their heroism, their bravery, for what's often referred to as deeds of conspicuous gallantry or intrepidity.

But Behind it all is the reminder that Medals of Honor were awarded amidst the turbulence, the turmoil and the tragedy of war.

The Medal of Honor has been awarded by the United States government more than 3, 500 times.

Some remarkable acts of heroism have been recognized.

Talking Points 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven and Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Kameron DeVasher

Mark Howard

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

06 Confidence Only in Christ

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Eric Flickinger

Clinton Wahlen

Roger Seheult

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

To Be Righteous or Not to Be Righteous, that is the Question

You know, I always look forward to speaking at Advent Hope.

It's a wonderful experience to come here and to be able...

But the problem that I have is I have so many things that I want to discuss with you that I don't know which 1 I have to actually discuss.

Like, I really wanted to talk to you about light today.

But we're not going to talk about light today.

There's actually some really interesting advancements in that.

We're actually talking to some scientists in England, and they're having a better understanding about what actually infrared light is doing.

We actually know now that it passes all the way through the body and comes out the other side from the sun.

And we're actually talking to a Nobel Prize winner about how the physics of that actually work.

It has to do with electron transport and all sorts of things.

I would love to give you an update, but there's something even more important than that.

There's something even more important than the sun, and that's what?

And that's what I really want to talk to you about today.

This will come in later, a little bit later.

That should give you a hint, the reason why I said North America.

You know, how many of you are students here at Loma Linda?

You know, the thing about going to school is they tell you up front exactly what it is that you need to do to get your degree.

They tell you what it is that you have to do.

Did God do the same thing for us in terms of what we need to be saved?

You know, I teach at another medical school.

I actually teach at UCR just down the street where I went for undergraduate.

I actually went to a state school for undergraduate university where I got my chemistry and biology degree.

And here, at least at Loma Linda, you have chapel Every Wednesday, right?

Because the thing that is amazing at UCR that I would tell nobody about because I thought they would take it away, is every single hour, the central bell tower would play, Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past.

And no matter what I was going through, no matter what trials and tribulations I was going through, there was that constant reminder every hour that God was with me as he had through all the ages.

And the greatest fear that Ellen White says that we have is to forget how God has provided for us in the past.

And to this day, I go back and I teach the medical students at UCR and I always go by the bell tower, although you can hear it all throughout the campus, it still plays those same bells as it has for years since that bell tower was put up.

But 1 of the things I noticed 1 day, when I come and teach the medical students there at UCR, I do it every year in November and December, and they park me way out in Lock 13, which is the way at the very end.

If you guys don't know where that is, it's by the Botanical Garden.

They have a multi-level parking structure, and what they've done since I graduated from there is they made a huge chemistry building, which now sits on the front part of Lot 13.

And I have to walk for 5 minutes to try to get to the medical school where I can give my lecture.

I have to actually time that in to my arrival.

And I noticed that as I was passing By the chemistry building, the school has gotten more prestigious since I was there.

There are now 2 spots, 2 parking spots right by the building that says reserved Nobel Prize.

So apparently they have 2 laureates in their chemistry department that are Nobel Prize winners.

And so again, if I want to park close, they're kind of telling me what I need to do, right?

They're telling me what I need to do to get a closer parking spot, so I better get to work.

You know, God, it's very clear in the Bible, isn't it?

Today we're gonna talk about 2 verses that are a little problematic.

The 1 that we love to read is Paul in Romans, Romans 3, 28.

But before we get started, let's ask the Holy Spirit to be with us, because this is going to be a tough 1 today, okay?

Dear Heavenly Father, Please send your spirit to be with us as we open your word.

Not that we try to understand it in our terms, in our understanding, because that's worthless.

We need to understand the Bible in terms of the truth, and the truth only comes by the Spirit.

Let my words be your words in Jesus's name.

For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Martin Luther wrote in the margin, by faith alone.

And we have this, we understand righteousness by faith.

Hebrews 11, I think, where they go through all of the righteousness of everybody that had existed that had faith.

Kind of 1 of those brothers that maybe chided Jesus early on and then after Jesus' death realized who he was the brother to.

And actually became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

You see then that a man is justified by what?

You see then that a man is justified by works and not only and not by faith only.

These are 2 very interesting texts, are they not?

How are we going to, does the Bible contradict itself?

Does not, So there has to be a way of putting these 2 texts together.

Paul's target is the idea that we are counted righteous by performing works.

GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

Why am I a Seventh-Day Adventist

David Wright

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

05 What’s Wrong with Being a Cultural Adventist?

Ellen White? Why Should I Care?

05 Why I Believe In Ellen White

Father in heaven, I want to thank you this morning for a new day of life.

I thank you for each 1 here Thank you for GYC.

We have of knowing you and your son Jesus Christ whom you have sent Lord I ask now this morning that the Spirit of God would especially be with us, would impress our hearts and our minds.

Lord, you've given this gift to us as a people, and you've given it for a great reason, and I pray that that would come clear to each 1 of us this morning in this presentation.

So, I told you earlier in the week, and I'm going to elaborate this morning, that when I was in my, well, my family, my mom and my dad actually were first generation Adventists.

They received Bible studies from some dear saints that are sleeping in the Lord now and I think just before I was born they joined the Adventist Church But my mom and dad were divorced when I was about 7 years old and my mom remarried and and during that time We moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio anybody familiar with Mount Vernon, Ohio and it Good old Adventist ghetto in Mount Vernon.

I went to the church school there through eighth grade.

And 1981 was the year when everything hit the fan in the Adventist church with Desmond Ford.

Desmond Ford was an Australian theologian who began picking at the sanctuary doctrine and obviously by connection Ellen White because he said the only reason we have the sanctuary doctrine the way we do is because of the teachings of Ellen White and Uriah Smith etc.

In fact he said Ellen White got it from Uriah Smith, but that's why we hold to it.

The Ford crisis I mentioned yesterday to those who were in here, this was nationwide at least.

And it hit the main Newsweek magazine, Time magazine, news outlets and what have you about what was happening in the Adventist church.

And of course, all the Christian world was abuzz with it.

Christianity today, the Adventists are finally coming around, you know.

And so multitudes of ministers left the denomination.

Entire churches, congregations switched over to Sunday keeping churches.

And even to this day, time does not permit me to say how much that impact has rippled through in 1 of those areas is Ellen White a Man by the name of Walter Ray and Adventist minister.

He was a Verbal inspirationist We've talked about inspiration.

So when he discovered that Ellen White had actually used other people's writings, he said, well, this, you know, how can you can't do that if you're inspired?

He wrote a book called The White Lie, exposing Ellen White.

They interviewed him in news outlets and what have you.

So this is what was going on when I was in eighth grade.

And at the same time, there are a lot of people in the church, boy, time doesn't permit me, because we have this, we'll always have this.

I wish we wouldn't use the word legalism.

I think we should use the word formalism, because that's what happens.

When we think legalism, we think of somebody who's real strict in their diet or something, but legalism takes a lot of forms.

You know, I can go to the soup kitchen, I can say it's not important to keep the commandments, I don't have to keep the Sabbath, I don't have to do anything, I just go and help the soup kitchen every week.

If I do that because it's going to get me into heaven, which people do, it's like, I'll tell you, I've gone because I'm also in personal ministry.

You knock on doors, you interview people, you ask them about what they think about God.

Do you feel if you died tonight, you'd be saved?

I've heard pastors say, it's like, everybody feels lost.

What gives you that confidence to say, because I'm a good person.

Listen, if you think you're being saved because you're a good person, that's legalism.

I don't care if you're not keeping the Sabbath and if you're not eating cheese, you're eating cheese and doing all these things, you're still a legalist.

And I would say formalism is when you keep going through the motions of religion, but you have no real connection with the Lord.

And that has been a problem in the church, and it will always be a problem in the church.

And that was at probably 1 of its periods of its height in 1981, and I think that's where Ford found access, because Ford came and encouraged people with getting away from the rules and what have you, and there are different takes on that.

But during that time period, I was living with my mom and my stepdad and they left the Adventist church.

My mom, my stepdad actually went on disability for a sickness he contracted.

He was doing construction work so he couldn't do that.

And my mom, my aunt, she actually, she and her husband, my uncle, it was her second husband, he was a highway bridge contractor and had lots of money.

So he invited my mom to move from, we were in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Columbia, Missouri.

And he was going to put her up in her own beauty salon.

Well, anybody know what the busiest day of a beauty salon is?

Now, my mom, I don't think my mom, she thinks she's the owner, the manager, whatever else, And so she'll go, she doesn't have to go in on Saturday.

It's interesting to me to this day where people would say, and I still hear it.

I was in Australia and I had somebody pushing back because I was telling my story.

And like, You need to tell people how many people were blessed by dr.

Ford We lived through it and it's the people say I'm I'm free in Jesus now because I accept it Let me tell you something about my family.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The Hero

28m

06 Confidence Only in Christ

30m

06 Confidence Only in Christ

28m

To Be Righteous or Not to Be Righteous, that is the Question

56m

05 What’s Wrong with Being a Cultural Adventist?

1h

05 Why I Believe In Ellen White

45m

One Mind

55m

04 What Makes the Devil Angry?

57m

04 Was Ellen White a Plagiarist?

54m

History Records the Moment The Sabbath Changed

30m

03 What Makes You So Special?

50m

03 How to Avoid Misreading Ellen White

43m

Sound Doctrine