Dr. Brown Answers Your Best Questions

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Phone lines are wide open. You've got questions. We've got answers. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. You know, when I speak with enthusiasm on the radio and folks always say I can hear your smile, it's not put on.

I love being with you. I love being on the air. And I look forward especially to the Friday show where you can call in with any question of any kind that relates in any way to The Line of Fire. And may I really encourage those of you who watched my two debates from last week, one with Shakir Hussain on whether Muhammad was prophesied in the Bible, and the other with Gorilla Hebrew on who are the legit children of Israel.

I'd love to hear from those who differ with me. I often see you posting comments often challenging, sometimes mocking, etc. But I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to interact with you directly.

If you want to pull the clip out and put it on your own YouTube channel and attack me afterwards, hey, as long as you play it fairly, that's your prerogative. But give me a call. Phone lines are wide open, 866-348-7884. And especially now, we've got some lines open often during the show.

Every line is clogged sometimes from the moment we start. But we've got some lines open now, so this is a perfect time to call. Let's go over to John in San Diego. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. I have a pretty open-ended question for you.

Sure. I want to hear what your thoughts are on the angel view versus the tepid view on Genesis 6, and for whichever side you disagree with, maybe if you could explain the other side of the argument a little bit. Yeah, this is a question we've answered endlessly on the air, naturally, so folks can just, anyone who has our app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, or on our website, askdrbrown.org, so A-S-K-D-R Brown Ministries, or askdrbrown.org, just search for Nephilim, N-E-P-H-I-L-I-M. The most natural reading of the text is that it's speaking of fallen angels, these divine beings who took on human form and were able to actually take wives, that's the idiom, and procreate, that this is reflected in later Jewish traditions as well, and I believe it's the best reading of what's referred to in Jude and 2 Peter, so that is the most natural reading of the text.

No one would really question it if not for the fact that it seemed abnormal or impossible, or how can angelic beings take on human form. 1 Peter 3 mentions the spirits that fell in Noah's day, disobedient in the past, so I believe the Bible does reinforce this view, it's reinforced in other Jewish tradition, which is not binding, but in this case is in harmony with, and it's part of the abomination, part of the horror of what took place on the earth because of which God wiped out the human race, obviously that was one part of a bigger picture. The Sethite argument that the sons of God refers to the godly line and daughters of men refers to the ungodly line, the problem with that is the contrast isn't correct. In other words, daughters of men is not derogatory, daughters of men is not something negative. It doesn't say sons of the righteous versus sons of the wicked, or sons of the righteous and daughters of the wicked. That would be different.

Then you could claim it was the Sethite line intermarrying with ungodly people, but the contrast is between these divine beings and these earthly beings, and therefore to me the most logical, fair, and right reading of the text is that it is referring to fallen angels who took on human form. Great, thank you. Confidence as is usual. All right, yeah, I appreciate that.

You could get into more depth on these things, of course, and there is wide-ranging discussion, but as I said, to me it is the most honest, excuse, not honest, that would mean people are dishonest if they differ, the most natural, obvious, that's what I meant to say, obvious reading of the text, 866-348-7884. Let's go to Corey in Maryland, welcome to the line of fire. Hello, how are you doing, Corey? I'm doing very well, thank you.

First first down caller, delicious for a good while. Thank you, sir, yeah. You're welcome. Apostle, prophet, with regards to the apostolic rifle base, what was your take on that? Yes, sir, and this is something also that we've addressed a lot, it's an important question, so I want to distinguish between three different things, okay? First, I do believe that what we call five-fold ministry, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, has continued throughout church history, that there were many apostolic leaders and prophetic leaders, even if we didn't call them apostles or recognize them as apostles. So I believe that's continued through church history and right until today. My friend in India, Yesupadam, I believe is a true modern-day apostle. He'd never refer to himself as such, but Jesus appeared to him when he was an untouchable atheist, alcoholic, naxalite communist, radically transformed his life.

He's planted many many thousands of churches in India, birth works in other nations, is a servant's servant, and the power of God has worked through him. So I believe people like that, be it the Hudson Tailors or the John Wesleys of the past or others, I believe they're genuine apostolic people. I believe people like Chuck Colson were prophetic voices to the church, Francis Schaeffer, etc. So I believe that these have been with the body throughout to this day, and that the scriptures do give general descriptions of what apostles and prophets are like, and just like evangelists, pastors, teachers, and we can look for those and recognize them. And it's just helpful knowing how God calls someone to function.

Okay, so that's the first thing. I believe that for decades. There is something that Peter Wagner identified as the New Apostolic Reformation, speaking of things happening over the last hundred-plus years in churches around the world that were no longer part of a denominational structure and were growing rapidly and had their own types of networks.

That's how he referred to it. And then the network that he led became known as the New Apostolic Reformation. I never joined that because I had differences with Dr. Wagner on different issues. I felt that with all the good he was doing that he referred to way too many people as way too many people as apostles and different things like that, or appointed apostles over places.

So I had some differences. So I believe, and fivefold ministry for today, that's number one. Number two, Peter Wagner identified a wide range of things happening around the world, charismatic, non-charismatic, around the world, post-denominational, which he named New Apostolic Reformation, and then more narrowly led something that many within it would identify as New Apostolic Reformation. And number three, there is what the critics falsely call NAR, or the New Apostolic Reformation, in which they gather together virtually all of the abuses and extremes in the charismatic movement, lump it all together as if it's this one movement.

It becomes the boogeyman. It's the bad thing. NAR is everywhere.

NAR is taking over the world. And I take strong exception to that characterization. I believe it's misleading and even demonizing of good people in the midst of it. So I believe in apostles and prophets today.

I am not part of what is called NAR or the New Apostolic Reformation, but what the critics call NAR is an exaggeration. It is something beyond what exists. All right, so I gave you a lot.

Tell me what answers your question and what doesn't. Oh, yeah, it makes sense, so it's more like you get the sense to in the office from that perspective. Yeah, yeah. I'm looking at the ministry that people are doing in an organic way. You know, it's like this, Corey, you're hanging around with somebody, a brother in the Lord for years, like, man, you are a real teacher. Every question, you love to dig the Hebrew, the Greek, and just share these things.

You got another sister, it's like, man, you're an evangelist. All your soul, soul, souls, that's what you focus on. That's what you think about.

That's what you eat and breathe. So when you recognize someone's gifting and calling, sir, and then that enables you to receive from them better or to see where they fit better in the body, et cetera. Hey, thank you very much for the call. By the way, I spent four and a half hours with Doug Avent and Holly Pivik filming for the American Gospel 3 documentary, and we had lots of areas of harmony and lots of areas of disagreement, so I believe a good portion of those hours will be released. You know, some was just back and forth discussion that's not going to be of use, you know, just to watch as we're going back and forth on a minor point, but I believe the great majority of that's going to be released by Brandon Kimber, and tomorrow, so Saturday, April 1st, no April Fools, this is real, Dr. Sam Storms, so leading charismatic theologian, solid teacher, scholar of the word, Dr. Sam Storms, and Justin Peters, very, very well-known critic of especially the word of faith movement, but lots of charismatic extremes, and Jim Osmond, who was Justin's pastor.

The four of us are having a dialogue that Brandon will be filming, so really pray. It's not a debate. I'm not going there to score points. I don't think the other brothers are.

It says Christian leaders, men of God, can sit together and discuss these things in an edifying way, so more to come on that, but you can just pray for God to really work and to be glorified through the conversation. All right, we go over to Germany. Ian, welcome to the Line of Fire. Thanks for calling. Good evening, Dr. Brown.

Thanks for receiving me. Yes. I have two questions. I'm a very eager student of the Old Testament, and I like it to study it, but there are two things which are a bit, let's say, strange to me. The first is, I would like to ask, what is the significance of circumcision in a way that I know is a covenant sign, but I know other cultures do it, like my wife is from West Africa. They also do it there, but sometimes I ask myself, God wanted to kill Moses because he didn't, yeah, he wasn't circumcised. Why did God create man with a foreskin, just to order him in a way to remove it? And my second question relates to stoning, even though I'm European, I'm not necessarily against death penalty, but sometimes when I read it, I say, well, this seems to be at least, at least the way I understand it, a kind of very cruel punishment.

I mean, you can also kill somebody, let's say, with less pain, so I'm aware we have a far cultural distance between us and the Old Testament, so sometimes this makes me a bit struggle as a New Testament Christian. Yes, great questions, Ian, thank you for calling. We got the questions in before the break. I'm going to respond to your questions on the other side of the break. Here's a word from our sponsor, Trivita, helping us come your way today. All right, I'll be right back, Ian, on the other side of the break.

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This is how we rise up. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you for joining. Oh, that was quick. Thank you for joining us on the Line of Fire.

My delight to be with you. Reminder again to our friends listening on KPXQ, our new station in Phoenix. By all means, get your questions in to us. You can email them in, and one day I'm going to answer a bunch of Phoenix questions. So go to our website, askdr.brown.org.

Askdrbrown.org. Sign up for our emails. Everybody, if you don't get our emails, essential ways we can communicate. If I'm ever coming to your area, you'll be notified about it. We've got all kinds of great resources free that we send out to you every single week.

Special announcements, our Israel trips, those kinds of things. So be sure to be connected with us. And if you have a question you'd like me to ask on the air and you're unable to call in during the show, shoot that question in. Tell us where you're listening from, and we'll do our best to answer some of them on the air.

You do this just by clicking contact after you sign up for our emails. Okay, so Ian, back to you in Germany. I can't explain exactly why God created human beings with foreskins only to have a select number of people remove them. I can only say that the removing of the foreskin seems to have two functions. On the one hand, this was something that was done as well in the land of Canaan, and it was almost a way of God joining Abraham's descendants with the land. This was something that was customary there, it seems, with other nations, and it was a way of God joining them with the land. The other thing which would be more obvious is it is, in terms of the reproductive organ of the male, a way of now consecrating this and consecrating your line to God. So it is separation, it is consecration. That's why it can even be used analogously in terms like, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, like in Deuteronomy 10 or Deuteronomy 30.

So that's one thing. With God seeking to kill Moses, this was now a crucially important covenantal rite. God had said in Genesis 17 that if you don't circumcise your son on the eighth day, that you'll be cut off from the people.

So circumcision was tremendously important. Moses is now sent on a mission to tell Pharaoh, let my son go, that he can worship me. So this is a life and death mission for the nation, and Moses himself was in violation of the most fundamental aspect of the covenant.

So obviously God was not actually going to kill him because he knew Moses and what Moses would do, but it was a tremendous wake-up call, and recognizing the urgency of this, you don't play with this. As for the stoning penalty, it all depends on exactly what would be meant by stoning. Now bear in mind, death penalty was important for a number of reasons, especially in ancient Israel. Some would argue it's still important to this day, but it's not like you had lethal injection, you know, or someone could just go to sleep. Any method of death was going to be serious, and as Jewish tradition developed over the centuries, the stoning was done in the way that would create the least pain, in other words, the person laying down, and then a large stone being thrown on them to basically instantly concuss them, and then other stones to kill them. So it's not that everybody just picked up a little pebble and threw it at you until hours later you were dead.

It would be something that would be fairly quick if enough people were involved in doing it, but it was meant to be dreadful, you know, it was meant to be a wake-up call, and bear in mind, if Israel mingled with the nations and committed sin with the nations and worshipped idols even more than it did, ultimately there would be no salvation, because God would have had to wipe out Israel, and without a chosen nation through whom the chosen Messiah could come, there would be no salvation for the whole world. So the stakes are just very, very high, and therefore there were these punishments, you know, burning someone to death, that was a punishment as well, that's dreadful, but that was another severe punishment to say, don't go near this. You know, it's almost like really, I remember growing up only getting spanked two times, I was disciplined in many ways, but spanked with a belt two times, one time was when I was maybe five, six years old, walking in our neighborhood, I went into a house under construction, which I was forbidden to do, and I got spanked for that, why?

Because my dad knew I could get myself killed in there, you could start walking around climbing up on something, next thing you're dead. So it was severe for a purpose, but perhaps not as inhumane as we might think in terms of the carrying out. Okay, yes, thanks a lot, that helps also, helps a lot, thanks Dr. Brown. You are very welcome, and thank you for listening from Germany, I appreciate it. Yes, God bless you. Alright, 86634truth, and let me just see here, okay, Rose from Ohio, if you just sent me a note on Twitter, and that's the same person, I'm happy to respond to your Twitter question if you'd rather not talk much on the air, so just let me know.

Are you there? Okay, you are, okay, tell you what, I'm gonna respond since I see the request to not come out of the air, let me answer the questions I see posted on Twitter. Do I believe Psalm 110 one, taken as it is, requires for the king to be assumed into heaven by the right hand of God, or could that be explained by hyperbole? So the utterance of the Lord to my Lord, so the utterance of Yahweh to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. It's possible it could be hyperbole, except when you read the rest of the Psalm, it seems to really speak of a literal sitting at the right hand of God while the Psalmist's enemies are destroyed. Moreover, as it is understood ultimately as David talking about his Lord, the Messiah, then the question is, how could the Messiah simply be David's son if he is greater than David, and David refers to him as Adonai.

So the most natural reading, because it's not found elsewhere, is that there is a literal sitting at the right hand of God by the Messiah while his enemies are put under his feet, and that's why not surprisingly Psalm 110 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. Likewise, does verse 4 require an immortal king given the apparent perpetual priesthood? You are a priest forever after the door of Melchizedek. First it does point to the Messiah being a priestly king, David slash the Messiah being a priestly king.

That is tremendously important, because all the suffering prophecies tie in with the priestly ministry of the Messiah. And what clearly speaks of the Messiah being a priestly king, that he must live forever, that's not required for that. A priest forever could mean as long as you're alive you will function as a priest. However, because each priest was a priest as long as they lived, right, each priest was a priest as long as they lived, then saying a priest forever could have a deeper meaning. So on the surface of it, it does not necessarily point to or require, let's say it does not require immortality, but it certainly points to immortality.

In light of its fulfillment, we see that it clearly does speak of that. Hey, thank you for the call. By the way, a curiosity, a curiosity during my debate with Guerrilla Hebrew last week was when I asked him about being a high priest, of course there's zero evidence that he's a priestly descent, but when he said, no, no, he doesn't refer to himself as high priest, but chief priest, I said, well, those are the same, and he claimed they're different. He actually had the wrong Hebrew for chief priest, maybe that was a slip of the tongue, but he had the wrong Hebrew for chief priest. But in the Bible, chief priest and high priest are used synonymously.

So that's a bit of a conundrum, that's a bit of a surprise that someone, of course with no legitimacy, claiming to be, quote, chief priest, not even knowing the Hebrew for chief priest, or at least saying it wrongly in the debate, but then not knowing that chief priest and high priest were the same thing in the Bible used interchangeably, again, that's one of those things that strikes at credibility. But of course, there's no credibility behind the claims that are being made, this further undermines it. So for those who are thinking, listening, reasoning, let that sit in there for you. All right, we'll be right back.

Hey friends, Michael Brown here. You know, it seems the whole country now is talking about revival. Could it be that a fresh wave of revival is here?

Friends, I've said for decades, without a fresh wave of revival in the church and awakening in society, it's over for America as we know it. And that's where I wrote the book, Revival or We Die, a great awakening is our only hope. Friends, when you read this book, it won't just give you a vision of what revival can do in society, in the church, but in your own heart, in your own life, in a light of fresh fire and it ignites something in you, a hunger, a desire, a vision of what God can do through a yielded life, revival or we die. Even have a whole chapter where I share intimate, open prayers I've prayed to God, even in recent years to ignite a fresh, a first love in me, I believe as you read it, something will be ignited within you as well. But you know, whenever revival comes, there's controversy. And that's why I wrote the Revival Answer book. I wrote it in the midst of the Brownsboro Revival, answering the many honest questions. Is there too much emotion? What about shaky?

What about falling? What about unusual things that happen in revival? And can we really expect revival in the last days or will things only get worse? When you order this hardcover edition of Revival or We Die, I want to give you this book, the Revival Answer book, 300 page book, I want to give it to you absolutely free. So here's the number to call, 1-800-538-5275. That's 1-800-538-5275.

Or go to AskDrBrown.org, just click on shop. And when you do, you'll see the special offer, the hardcover edition of Revival or We Die, A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope, along with the Revival Answer book is our free gift to you when you order. One more time, the number to call, 1-800-538-5275. The time for revival is now.

This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-344-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire, 866-348-7884. Let us go over to Brian in Texas. Brian, you are, Brian, you are on the line of fire. Hey Brian, are you there? Yes, sir. Can you hear me? All right, you're on the air.

Go ahead. Oh yeah, I was just, I saw where Uganda's passing some pretty harsh LGBT laws and the United States is going to impose some sanctions if they do that. But you know, they're saying they're protecting their kids from the LGBT, so why aren't we getting involved in there? Just a question for clarification. When did you read about this, Brian?

Yesterday. Okay. Just give me one second to check something, because I haven't seen anything about Uganda and LGBT.

Yeah, they're making a punishable prison to go to prison to identify as LGBT. Right, right. Got it. Okay, got it. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I missed this.

I'm normally on top of this. So I was aware, Brian, when, oh, let's see, over a decade ago, Uganda was going to pass the law and there was going to be a death penalty for certain homosexual acts, but they also had a death penalty for the same heterosexual acts. In fact, you know, raping a child or things like that. And they did pull back on a few things under some international pressure.

But the real question is, Brian, exactly what you said. What gives us the right to tell them how to run their government? Look, they even had, you know, they've got laws about pornography, they have laws about public immodesty. For example, let's just say that ladies in Uganda were walking around in bikinis on the street. It'd be legal in America, but they'd be in jail instantly for doing it there.

You know, Uganda still has polygamy. That's one of their practices. So we have, we can protest if we feel that something is inhumane, right? We have the right to do this as a powerful world nation. But look, Saudi Arabia beheads people on a regular basis, chops people's hands off for repeated thievery on a regular basis.

Certain things like that would have been similar to Old Testament law or a little bit beyond it. That's one thing. Chinese mistreatment of the Uyghurs and concentration camps, killing and all that.

That's another thing. So it depends where we decide to weigh in, but the truth, Brian, is that we have pushed aggressively a pro-LGBTQ agenda on the world. I have spoken with colleagues who know national leaders who were on the phone with National Leaders for America, say under President Obama's administration, and they were told, you will lose American support unless you back down on this and this and this. There are some of the biggest companies in the world, tech companies, and they have told other countries. And I've talked to people in the middle of this. Unless you bring in X number of gay people or unless you bring in X number of gay professors, we will not support you.

We will pull out. And thankfully, many of these countries have said, you don't get to tell us how to live. You don't get to tell us what's right and wrong. Look, in America, in centuries past, we had laws against adultery, and that was our culture at that time to actually have a law against adultery. We had laws in centuries past about church attendance. So each nation can come up with the laws that it comes up with, and then it's the people to decide if they're in harmony with these things, to bring in other governments or whatever.

So I have to look at this law specifically for the details. But the broad thing is, we have no right pushing our progressive and ultimately destructive agenda on the world. It's one thing to call for humane treatment of everyone, but we've also seen the destruction that's come with gay activism now with trans activism. We've seen what's happened. We've seen the genital mutilation and chemical castration of children.

We've watched these things happen. We've watched Christians even go to jail simply for being Christians and holding to their convictions against gay activism. So while I pray for the wellbeing of all those who identify as LGBTQ, and I say again, you're not my enemies, Jesus died for you the same as he died for me, I see the destructive effects of the agenda, and it's to our shame that we are pushing it on the nations of the world. So thank you for bringing that to my attention, Brian, and that is my comment, sir. All right, well, God bless, and thanks, and I'll look during our next break, I will look at some of the specifics of this law that Uganda is looking to pass. 866, three-four truth. By the way, when God called me almost 20 years ago to begin addressing LGBTQ issues in America, the T was not as prominent then, I saw immediately, just as I began to read, study, look at things, that this was already the principal threat to freedom of religion, speech, and conscience in America.

That's why we've been shouting this out for almost 20 years. At the same time, I knew before I could address this, I needed God's heart for people. I needed God's love for people. I needed to have a broken heart for those who identify as LGBTQ, because many would say, hey, I'm just being who I am. The church hates me, society rejects me, I've had to live my life in disguise and underground, and you have no idea the struggle, so I wanted to have compassion for the people, and God really broke my heart for people. You may call me a transphobe or a homophobe, that's your prerogative. My latest article, if you haven't read it, Trans-Identified People Really Need Our Help, it's on our website, askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org, it's on the app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, so check it out, and please share it, I think it's a very, very important article. The word God spoke to me, late 2004, but with clarity, early 2005, reach out and resist. Reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage.

My issue is an activist agenda that I believe is destructive, as for people, I care about them and will fight for their well-being in the midst of our differences. Let us go over to CJ in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks for calling the line of fire. Hello, Dr. Brown.

Hey. I just had a question about Bible study. I know, just watching some of your recent debates, it's kind of helped reinforce the importance of biblical literacy and studying Scripture. But I guess I just wondered if there were any biblical examples of how Scripture was studied, and whether it was done in community, or was it like a monologue or dialogue kind of thing? So I just wanted to get your insights.

We don't have something explicit that says this was the method. We do have the fact that fathers are to instruct their children, so that the most fundamental instruction came in the home, and Proverbs exhorting a child to listen to both father and mother. We know in Deuteronomy 6 that the parents were to impress these things on their children. We know from the Hebrew word hagah, to meditate, that that speaks of repeating, muttering, so you're saying it over and over. And we have passages like Joshua 1, 8, and Psalm 1, 3, and Proverbs 4, 20-22, or John 15, 7, or Colossians 3, 16, all of which speak of having the word in our heart and on our lips, so there's the repetition of it.

And we know that much of what was done in Jewish life was done communally, hence even when Jesus tells you to pray alone, you're still saying, our Father, because so much was done with a communal mindset. And then as the centuries went on, you do have education in the synagogue, you do have schools where the biblical literature is studied, so that would be communally, that would be by repetition, that would be most likely a lot of it out loud. But beyond that, you know, what exegetical method was used, or things like that, or what tools did they have? It's not like they had dictionaries or grammars, these things were learned orally and instructed in that way, so a lot of it was more organic than we might be used to. You know, Paul has a school that's referenced, for example, in Acts 14 or Acts 19, especially Acts 19, I should say, with the school of Tyrannus. So there was, you know, lecture, teaching as well, you have, you know, lots of reference in the early church, you know, the pastoral epistles to reading the word, etc., so things were read, and that's for many people, that's where you hear the scriptures, they were being read in public gatherings. But beyond that, we don't have a lot of information for Bible times themselves, especially Old Testament times.

Ah, gotcha. Okay, yeah, that's helpful. Any resources that you would recommend?

Mmm, boy, there's a book from years ago, Education in Ancient Israel, let me just check to see if that title is still available, I don't think I'm making it up, in ancient Israel, yeah, let me just see, Education in Ancient Israel, Across the Dead, Needed Silence, yeah that, I mean, that would, 1998, but it, you know, top scholarship involved in that, so you might want to check that out, Education in Ancient Israel. Hey CJ, thank you for the call, I do appreciate it, 866-344-TRUTH, let's go over to Joseph in Miami, Florida, welcome to the line of fire, you are on the air. Yes, good afternoon Dr. Brown. Hey. I have a question, I don't know if you're familiar with the book, Physics of Heaven, I hear there's so much controversy in this book, and I'm not saying that Bill Johnson is endorsing this book, it's his contribution from various people, but I wanted to see if you knew anything about this, because there's people, not podcasters that I necessarily follow that are saying this book is a bridge to new age and spiritual fakery, and I just have my doubts, I don't plan to buy the book, but I hear so much controversy with this book.

Yes sir, thank you for asking. Number one, the book is not new, it's maybe eight or ten years old, that's the first thing. Second thing, it is basically endorsed, or even with chapters from Chris Valliton, executive pastor at Bethel, and Bill Johnson, that's number one.

Number two, I downloaded it on Kindle a few years ago, glanced at some of it, it seemed wacky, but I never went through it. Pastor Mike Winger recently did a real deep dive into the book and put out a very, very damning video about the book and the dangers of the book. I didn't watch the video, so I don't agree with everything with Mike, but Mike is careful, loves the Lord, loves the Word of God, so I would take his reviews seriously in many ways. I reached out to Chris Valliton, who's a friend at Bethel, and asked him about the book, and I said, do you know? And he said, listen, it came out, I know the woman, she's got a good heart for the Lord, she was trying to come at things from a different angle, and it's been misunderstood, but it would have been better if it wasn't published, I said, well it's still in your bookstore. So as soon as he heard it was, he got it pulled the same day from the Bethel bookstore, and he assured me it was never ever used in a single course taught in the ministry school there.

As far as I know, it's a wacky book, I wish Chris and Bill weren't associated with it, and I'm glad they pulled it from their bookstore as well as online, be right back. Chronic inflammation is the greatest health threat to humanity. Infections, injuries, toxins, poor diet, and chronic stress can attack your immune system and lead to chronic inflammation. But now there's a solution you can fight this dangerous silent killer with, Nopalea, made from the super fruit of the Nepal cactus, containing a unique group of bioflavonoids clinically shown to reduce chronic inflammation. In a random double-blind placebo-controlled study, it showed a reduction of elevated at-risk C-reactive protein levels, resulting in an improvement in range of motion in the back, neck, and joints, and an overall improvement in the quality of life. Nopalea has helped thousands of people by lowering levels of chronic inflammation. So call now 800-811-9628 or go to TriVita.com, use the promo code BROWN25 for 25% off your first order, and TriVita will give a substantial portion of your order to help support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.

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Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I've got a special announcement about the Monday broadcast that ties in with the ad you just had, but I'll come back to that in a moment. So Joseph, just real quickly, the key thing that Chris Valatin wanted me to understand was that he knew the woman, Judy Franklin, who wrote or edited the book, knows her just as a solid believer, and said she was trying to come at things from a different angle to bring spiritual understanding and that the book has been misunderstood. That being the case, he said it was never used in any course at Bethel and obviously is not mainstream teaching coming from the pulpit, so his endorsing it or contributing to it was his way of trying to encourage someone that he knows and coming at things from a different angle. Again, what I read was wacky and unnecessary, and Mike Winger's review is really, really strong against it. So I'm not a defender of Bethel or a spokesman for Bethel, I can just tell you as a friend of Chris, I reached out and he was not happy to know it was still in the bookstore online and had it pulled immediately.

So that's all the info I can give you on it, and I would say it's not worth your time to pick it up and read it. All right, good. Did my best to be helpful there and honest, right? Just being honest. And here, we can have differences. We can have differences within the body, right? The subject of deliverance is really big. We can have differences.

Calvinism, Arminianism, various things about aspects of eternal security or different aspects of end times. It's fine, you can differ with me. And then the other things we say, hey, this is dangerous or this is bad, stay away from it. So Mike Winger in his review would really say this is dangerous, stay away from it.

I didn't read enough, I didn't watch the review, but what I read, it's like, why would I want to read this? And if there's real bad area in it, let it be exposed by all means. Okay, so Monday is going to be a super educational day as we're going to take about one day a month really to focus on physical health because it is our burden to see people thriving. I've got my physical exam scheduled for Monday, got my recent comprehensive blood tests in and my doctor from afar, Dr. Mark Stangler said that I'm in the top 0.05% of health stats for someone my age, 68 years old, he was thrilled, I was thrilled, thank God. So we understand it starts in the kitchen, we understand there's no substitute for nutrition. There are healthy supplements that can really be a blessing as well.

But we'll talk about a lot of immune system issues, inflammation issues, skeletal issues. I think you'll find a really interesting broadcast on Monday, Dr. Paul Burnett, you're hearing some of the ads and then you can stand with the line of fire, help us reach more people, get on more stations and enjoy the same supplements that I use daily as well to supplement my healthy lifestyle. So you can know that 100% of your first order goes to support the line of fire. So if you're listening right now, it's with the help of TriVita and stations across America and more than a tithe of all of your future orders would go to support the line of fire.

So together we're making a difference in many different ways. Just remember to call 800-811-9628, 800-811-9628, tell them Dr. Brown sent you, all right? And the call center loves our line of fire callers, as I said, they're most enthusiastic they've ever received, seriously.

Or you can go to trivita.com, but be sure to use the code BROWN25. You say, well, I want you to get all the funds, no, use the code BROWN25, you get a discount and 100% of that first order goes to reach more people through the line of fire. All right, let us go to Solomon in Sioux City, Iowa. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Michael Brown, actually this question is something that I'm not sure if you have the issue with it. I mean, you are a Christian, you didn't come to Jesus through denomination, so you might not have the problem to join the movement where you are saved. For me, it's a big problem because I was going through a lot of, almost 20 years of my life. I spent, I wasn't living a godly life, but still I was trying to understand what was the thing, did I have the Holy Spirit when I was a kid, but because of the way I live, did the baptism... Oh, so you were baptized as a child, right? Yeah, that's what I want to know. Historically, because the Bible doesn't say either way, because it says at some point which suggests the whole family were baptized.

Yeah, so let me comment on that, let me do my best to help out. The only time it mentions a family being baptized as a whole household is Acts 16, where Paul preaches to the jailer and his household, but Paul's preaching to the whole household. He preaches to them and says, believe in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved, you and your household, preaches to the whole household, and the whole household is baptized.

It doesn't mention infants. Was Paul preaching to an infant and the infant was nodding that they agreed it? So every time baptism's mentioned in the New Testament, it's always mentioned in response, right? Believe and be baptized, repent and be baptized, always.

So it's people who can respond, and it was a well-known ritual immersion practice in Judaism for people that were going through cleansing, repentance, and things like that. So infant baptism comes in later. There are fine Christians who hold to it, there are born-again Christians who hold to it, there are Jesus-loving Christians I expect to be in heaven with forever who hold to infant baptism and they say it's the spiritual equivalent of circumcision, etc. I do not see that as scriptural myself. I would not practice infant baptism. I believe it's important for people to be baptized as believers, and therefore if you've come to truly know the Lord Solomon, you've been truly born-again and now know Jesus as Lord and are serving him, then I would encourage you to be baptized. I'm not saying you're going to hell if you're not, but I would encourage you to do it. It says in Romans 6 that we die to sin through it and now we live to God, whereas infants, little children, Deuteronomy 139 says they don't know the difference between right and wrong. So I would encourage you to really look at the overall tenor of scripture.

Just go through Acts, right? Just go through Acts and just note every time baptism is mentioned in the context of it. Then also note the Great Commission in Matthew 28, we are to go into the world preaching the gospel, teaching all nations, and baptizing. So you baptize as you teach.

People come into the faith and are then baptized. Say thank you, sir, for the question. I appreciate it.

Let us go to Roy in Helena, Montana. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Brother Mike, thanks for taking my call.

Sure. Yeah, I've got to compliment you on your Giants of Faith series, that is so good. Every believer should listen to that.

Thank you. Yeah, you know, I love the part where you were talking about Hyde and a colleague said, oh, are you a little down? Well, I'm preparing to teach on Hyde, so I'm a little devastated, so it even reaches you, you know?

I thought it was great. Well, here's what happened. I taught on the Giants of the Faith in the late 80s and into the 90s. So each week I taught on someone different. So one week I'm teaching about George Whitefield in 1714 to 1770 and the extraordinary life that he lived and the sacrifice of his life. And then the next week I'm teaching on Charles Finney. So Finney is, let's see, 1792 to 1875 and Finney the evangelist and how God used him. And then, you know, Smith Wigglesworth, let's see, 1859, 1947, I'm teaching on Wigglesworth and here this incredible man of faith.

So each week, it's like they are so far beyond me, it's unachievable. And then I'd wake up the next morning after teaching on them thinking, well, if God used them, God could use me. So John Hyde, it was, oh, so overwhelming to teach about his prayer life and the dedication and the sharing of his heart with God. And I'm thinking, I don't even know how to pray compared to that. And then I'd wake up the next morning and it's like, if God used Hyde, God could use me. Because it was a different person every week. Yeah, but yes, I appreciate the comment and the Lord continues to stir my heart by the example of these other men and women of God.

However, time is short, so let's dive into your question. Yeah, my question is, I've been taught all my life that the judgment of the believers and the judgment of the unsaved are two separate judgments. And I always get quoted on Revelation 20, the white throne judgment, but Jesus said, the Father judges nobody, all judgments given to the Son, and it says, and if their names were not found in the Lamb's Book of Life, they were cast into the lake of fire or whatever, it doesn't say, and all those who were at the lake, or all those at that judgment were cast. So I'm just confused.

Could you please help me? Yeah, to the best of my understanding, there are two separate judgment seats. There's Romans 14, 12, that each of us will give a count. There's 2 Corinthians 5, 10, that we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Then you have in Revelation 20, there's the first resurrection, and then the thousand-year millennial reign, and then the second resurrection. And the second resurrection is the resurrection of the wicked to eternal punishment. And so I understand the potential loophole of, well, all those whose names were not written in the Book of Life were cast in the lake of fire.

What about the others? So does that mean that we all stand at the same time, and a lot of people all around us get destroyed, and we make it? I don't read it like that because it seems that rewards are given at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. We rule and reign with Jesus. And because this is not a judgment regarding salvation, but rather a judgment of accountability. First Timothy 3, you know, our works tested by fire as well, that my best understanding is that at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, as Jesus sets up his kingdom in Jerusalem, that one of the things that will happen, there's the marriage feast that takes place, but it would seem, again, the Bible's not explicit, but to me the most natural reading of things is that there will then be the judgment of believers, and we will be rewarded accordingly in terms of the extra grace or blessing given to us, or authority, et cetera, but we're equally saved, and then we go on eternally with the Lord. That's my best understanding, sir. God bless. Sorry I couldn't get to everybody's calls, but phone lines will be open next week as well. Another program powered by the Truth Network.