When Leaders Misuse the Spirit and Abuse the Sheep

From the worst prayer I've ever heard in my life to people who use the Holy Spirit to manipulate others, we've got you covered today. It's time for the Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Well, this is our first day live on the air after New Year, so may I wish you a blessed and happy New Year in real time, and may 2021 be the most blessed year of your life. May you encounter God more deeply, may the favor of God be upon you, may he use you to touch many in 2021.

Michael Brown, welcome to the Line of Fire. I've really been looking forward to today's broadcast. We've got a ton of stuff to cover, so don't miss a moment. But first, I want to ask you a question, and the phone lines are open. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-8-7-8-8-4.

I want to ask you a simple question. Have you ever heard a preacher or spiritual leader quote Psalm 105 15, Touch not my anointed, to my prophets no harm. Have you ever heard them quote that and say that's why you can't question the pastor, that's why you can't question the man of God, that's why you don't dare criticize the prophets.

Have you ever heard it quoted in that way? If so, give me a call. I won't be getting to this immediately, but I will be getting to your calls a little bit later in the show. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-8-7-8-8-4.

A ton of stuff to unpack, uncover, get into today, but let's start here. 117th Congress opened with a prayer, prayed by a House member, himself a United Methodist pastor, and the end of the prayer is now going viral online, rightly so. It is the most absurd prayer I have ever heard in my life. This is how the prayer ends. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and God known by many names, by many different faiths. Amen and a woman.

Yes, you heard that right. Amen and a woman. Okay, first you're addressing prayer to the monotheistic God.

The gentleman had a mask. I don't want to mention his name with the hope that he'll really come to know the Lord and repent of this. Okay, I didn't even mention his name in the context of this shameful, ridiculous prayer, which is bound to offend everybody. But he prays to the monotheistic God. Okay, then mentions Brahma. Initially, I didn't know what he was saying because it's through the mask. Brahma, that's a Hindu deity.

Well, hang on. Hindus are polytheists, so he's praying the name of the monotheistic God, calls him Brahma. Where's Brahma? Call him Allah. Call him just God or Lord. Why bring that in if you're praying to a monotheistic God? So now you're going to offend Muslims and Christians and Jews, right?

And then the many names, faces, whatever. Okay, I'm surprised he didn't say he, she, it, whatever is out there. Then ends with Amen and a woman because he has to be gender inclusive because you can't say men. Surely, he must know that the word Amen has nothing to do with man. That is from the Semitic root, Aleph, Mem, Nun. That in Hebrew, it's Amen. In Arabic, it's Amen. Then it comes into English through Greek and Latin is Amen or in certain circles, we say Amen. He must have known, but he can't say the man word. So this got me thinking about all the changes that we're going to have to make in our vocabulary.

So I tweeted this out. You know, based on this prayer, in light of the ridiculous congressional prayer ending with Amen and a woman, we now need to change words like menu. Do you have a woman menu when you go to the restaurant?

Omen? Oh, that's a real all women. How about rudiment? Rudiment.

You can't have a mentor. If you're a female, you have a womanter, right? That's, he has a mental issue. No, it's womental and men is no more, not a menace, a womanness or lament. Now you have to have lament and the woman. How about cement? We got some cement there.

Now you'd see woman. Can't grant clemency. You have to grant clemency. You can't be vehement. You have to be vehement. Can't even make a recommendation. It's got to be a recommendation. Men are everywhere.

What are ladies going to do with their monthly cycle? The menstrual, it's got to be. How did that stand so long?

Why didn't somebody catch that earlier? It's a womanstral. Gosh.

Even that has to be amended. Oh, sorry. A woman did that. Now you say, are you taking this too far? No, here's the problem.

Here's the problem. As I speak, this is something that has been discussed for days. I was waiting for the right moment to write an article about this other issue with this prayer.

I said, this is the right moment to write this article. So the House Democrats, you want to know how radical and extreme things are getting? House Democrats in their new rules have introduced gender inclusive language. They say that it is future focused. You say, OK, what exactly does that mean?

Let me read to you what it means. All right. So so this is clause 8C3 of Rule 23 in the new House Rules says this. These are future focused rules. Gendered terms that I'm reading from their actual document, from their 45 page document.

The House Democrats. All right. Gendered terms such as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, halfbrother, halfsister, grandson or granddaughter will be removed. Get rid of them in their place.

Terms such as parent, child, sibling, parent, sibling, first cousin, siblings, child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, step parent, stepchild, step sibling, half sibling or grandchild will be used instead. Here, how about this? This is in their books.

The Office of the Whistleblower Ombudsman, for instance, is renamed in the rules to the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds. I'm not making this up, friends. I am not making this up. The best response was House Minority Leader, Republican Kevin McCarthy, who tweeted, this is stupid, signed a father, son and brother. Yeah, he got that right. Now, you say, OK, but you're taking this too far. It's just the House rules and who even knows about this, friends.

This reflects a mindset. This reflects legal logic. It was 2003 in Canada that when same sex marriage was was being accepted and things like that. Well, what do you do with all of the laws that mention things that make gender distinctions and presuppose husband, wife, mother, father, those kind of things? Like in Spain, when they redefined marriage instead of having father, mother on birth certificates, because it'd be two men, two women now with with with the child.

So it was now progenitor A and progenitor B because can't be mother, father. Right. This is the kind of stuff we've been dealing with. And then this works its way down into society. So it was 2003 in Canada that these things were being removed by law books. I documented it in A Queer Thing Happened to America in 2011.

But then you have 2016. A bill is passed which basically says you must use the the gender pronouns that a transgender individual requires. And this is now a law across the nation. So if I want to be known an individual, I want you to refer to me as they and them. Right. Not he said.

Right. That's gender. But I don't necessarily want to identify as she.

I want to identify as they or as Z or as something else. And you'd have to refer to me like that. You would be compelled to say that. And when that was pushed on the university campus where Professor Jordan Peterson, a psychologist, psychology professor there taught, he said, I'm going to do it. This is what launched him into international prominence as a conservative public intellectual. But when he was asked specifically, would he comply, he said, no, we're going to play a clip in a moment. But you have to understand that Jordan Peterson had as as a youth, as a teenager, got really into socialism and communism and bought into the whole thing and totalitarian regimes and then saw where the whole thing failed dramatically.

And so for decades had seen how these regimes operate and forced speech and forced thought. So this is how he responded when he was asked directly if he would go along with these guidelines. And are you prepared to suffer the consequences that society may deem you need to suffer because of your views? I'm yes, I'm prepared to do that. Well, so what am I willing to do? Well, I think that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal is probably obligated by their own tangled web to to bring me in front of it. If they find me, I won't pay it. If they put me in jail, I'll go on a hunger strike. I'm not doing this.

That's that. I'm not using the words that other people require me to use, especially if they're made up by radical left wing ideologues. Now, if our society comes to some sort of consensus over the next while about how we'll solve the pronoun problem, let's call it, and that becomes part of popular parlance and it seems to solve the problem properly without sacrificing the distinction between singular and plural and without requiring me to memorize an impossible list of an indefinite number of pronouns, then I would be willing to reconsider my position. But I'm also partly opposed to this because it's been made mandatory and has the whole weight of the law behind. It's like this is a very bad idea. I believe this is a very bad idea. And I believe that the reason this has caused so much noise, tremendous amount of noise, tremendous amount of attention on YouTube, is because there are things that are at stake in this discussion, despite its surface nature, that strike at the very heart of our civilization.

That's what I believe. Exactly. There are bigger issues from the forced speech to changing reality. Look, I give you an example of a school teacher fired because when Johnny was now going to be Jane and he was required to call Johnny Jane in front of the classmates and say, we now want you to know that Johnny is now Jane and he is now she, they couldn't do in good conscience. Fired. Look in Norway, we go to jail for a hate speech that would be in this very category.

New York City, we could be fined two hundred fifty thousand dollars for doing this in the workplace. Friends, we will not cooperate from this madness. It's not just a crazy, idiotic prayer by someone that needs to know the Lord closing with a man and a woman. This is something that comes pushing our way and can affect your very family. Wake up. Oh, it's been wake up time for a long time, friends, to be candid. All right, we come back.

I'm going to share a Facebook post with you and the reaction that it got. And then from there, get over to some abusive ministry practices today that are very dangerous. Don't go anywhere. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome. Welcome to the line of fire. Eight six six three for truth.

Have you ever been in a service environment? I don't want you to mention names and ministries or things like that. But have you been in environments where you're told you can't question the pastor? Don't touch the anointed. Well, what you were saying, I'm afraid in harmony with scripture.

No, no. You don't touch the anointed of God. I've got an issue with the way the church is spending money. We're saying one thing publicly, but then I understand the funds being used. No, no, you don't touch the anointed. Have you ever been in that environment? Or you're not allowed to judge prophecy or question, you know, you do the prophets no harm.

Give me a call if that's been the case. Eight six six three for truth. My goal, as I've said repeatedly, is to have the favor of God, not the favor of people. And since my base is largely Christian, conservative, pro-Trump. And since I myself am charismatic, if I was trying to win the favor of my base, I would be at the forefront of stop the steel move. I would be repeating all the pro-Trump prophecies.

My goal is not to win the favor of people, but to win the favor of God. And when I do that, one side is going to attack, the other side is going to attack. That's inevitable. That's inevitable. So what happens is I'll post things to raise different issues of discussion. I'll try to give insights.

Here's why some feel this, some feel that. And people that we're just trying to play both ends is the middle or or you're just taking a compromise position or you're changing your views. I've been quite consistent in what I felt about Trump, about the elections before the elections. My views of Trump for years have been consistent. Once once I voted for him and supported him, appreciation for the good grief over the bad. It's been consistent.

Easily demonstrate that in article after article, broadcast after broadcast. And then since the elections, my position has been the same. But since people were asking questions based on a suggestion I had for the Biden team, which was, hey, look, if you want to bring unity, you're sure you won the election fair and square. You're president elect Joe Biden and you're sure you won the election fair and square and that there was no massive fraud.

There was no steal since tens of millions of Trump supporters don't believe that. Why not? Why not agree with what Ted Cruz knows being called the dirty dozen now in Congress is saying, let's let's have an emergency audit for 10 days of the of the key swing states and let's look at that. Why not say, yeah, let's do it. Why not say that?

I mean, that's what I would want to do. It was if I'm sure I'm good, I'm clean. Investigate.

Go ahead. Check. No, not any drugs in my house.

No, I've done drugs in almost 50 years. Check everywhere in the house. Check every. Go ahead. Check. Look, when you know you're clean. Right.

Just look good. So you're not going to win all the Trump voters to believe that the elections were fair. But but if Trump himself said, hey, I sign on to this and I'm going to accept the outcome of this, at least you got a better chance. Well, now you're siding with this siding. I was just giving counsel for general public good for unity. I think, well, everyone should want to be sure.

Right. And if you're high percent sure there was no fraud, then let there be a fair investigation so that this you can put the thing to rest. So I posted this on Facebook over the weekend. I want you to see some of the responses. But for those who aren't clear, where do you stand and where? OK, I want to go through this. So let me let me read this to you.

All right. To clarify what my position has been on the elections results for those who care to know, it remains the same as it's been for weeks. One, I remain agnostic on whether there was widespread fraud being unable to examine the contrasting claims firsthand. This is not my area of expertise. And I've read compelling arguments for and against fraud. I've got people telling me I'm a complete idiot and jerk that I don't see fraud. I have others telling me I'm a complete idiot and jerk for saying there might be fraud.

My position remains the same. I don't know. Well, you don't know, Jesus, if you don't know this fraud. I beg to differ in the strongest terms. I know the Lord very well. I don't know if there was fraud. Period. Show me in the Bible where I have to accept the reports about election fraud to have a relationship with God.

Just being plain here. Number two, I do not believe that all our courts, including the Supreme Court, have caved into fear and political correctness in their rulings. And I trust in the ultimate outcome through our legal system, especially with so much prayer for fraud to be exposed. I remain confident that if it's really there, it'll come to light.

That's been my position consistently. Doesn't make me right. But that's been my position that I do not believe all the courts have now gone corrupt. Even Trump appointed justices. They've all gone corrupt. They've all caved into fear. They're all concerned with death threats.

They're all concerned with certain legacy and right up to the Supreme Court, including Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. I personally don't believe that you may differ. I'm just telling you my belief that I've held to this steadfastly, especially with so much prayer.

All right. Number three. That being said, I believe Joe Biden is nothing to lose by calling for an emergency audit of the swing states. As explained in my most recent article, if unity is his goal and he's sure he was elected fairly, go the extra mile, but only on the condition that Trump agrees to accept the outcome.

Number four. God never spoke to me that Trump would be elected in 2016 or reelected in 2020, although I voted from both times. Nor did the spirit ever affirm to me personally what many prophets are saying. Therefore, I am not personally holding to a prophetic word that he will be reelected. If others feel sure God spoke this, then I encourage them to hang on and believe. But I have no such assurance or witness personally, and I'm simply praying for Almighty God to carry out his plan. That's it. God didn't speak to me.

Trump would be reelected. God didn't speak to me that he spoke to the prophets and I'm his child and he speaks to me and you're his child and he speaks to you. And if he wants us to know that, he'll share it with us. I'm not going to believe it because others are saying it. It's unbiblical even to ask someone to. We're all priests to God, each of us with a relationship with God through the word and by the spirit.

Number five, and I'm going to get to this more a little later in the show. It is very wrong to put others under pressure to believe what, quote, the prophets are saying. As I explained in this article about Believe the Prophets, it's even more wrong. Really, it's downright manipulative and ugly to threaten those who do not believe Trump will be reelected.

I'll explain that shortly. Number six, because I've never in my lifetime seen so much prayer for an election, both before and after the vote, I believe God's plan will prevail, be it in blessing or judgment or a combination of both. And I will acknowledge the person inaugurated as president when that day comes. Number seven, as to how to address, assess the prophecies, obviously we'll have much more to say once our next president is inaugurated. But this article lays it out where I say either the prophets are right or they're wrong. There's no middle ground. It's neither. They got it right.

They got it wrong. Number eight, no matter what the outcome of this election or any election is, Jesus is Lord. All authority in heaven and earth is given to him and the gates of hell cannot prevail against his people. In him, clothed with his spirit and with his word, in our hearts and our lips, we cannot be stopped.

His kingdom will continue to advance until he returns. In Jesus, we overcome. Are you ready for some of the responses I got? I haven't looked at all of them.

We got many, many thousands of comments and different things we posted over the weekend on Facebook. But here's some that I did see. This is in response to what I just read you. The eight points of clarification.

How about this from Ann? I have no idea how someone in your position can lack discernment to this extent. I'm extremely disappointed that you would actually post this standing on the fence is taking no stand. I'm not standing on the fence. I don't have discernment. I've got enough discernment to say this is where I categorically stand.

Yeah. OK, Thomas, hopeless. Try to unify and not decide. Help each other. Stop hating what you don't know. Be Christian. Quit talking. I don't even know what that one means.

How about this one, Trent? You're blind and can't see if you don't think there is not voter fraud. Well, actually, I have other friends that say I'm blind if I think there might be voter fraud.

So I guess I'm blind either way. I mean, this is this, friends. This is the environment when it's toxic, it's dangerous, it's divisive, it's destructive. Let me say again, I could care less about I couldn't care less about attacks on me. This is mild.

I mean, I get cursed by satanic junk and death. This is this is mild. I'm concerned that this is the state of the body, that we have this level of division over things that are not even scripture issues. Do we all stand for justice? Yes. Yes.

All right. How about this from Judy? Dr. Brown has been compromised. He is deceived and is in error.

Satan is using him to create confusion. He is deceived. You know, Judy, I I can't wait to see what happens when you have your own awakening. I can't wait to see what happens when you realize how utterly, utterly wrong you were in the flesh and deceived yourself to post. Of course, I forgive you. Of course, I forgive you for for posting those words. But I can't wait for you to have your wake.

I'll be there to cheer you on when you do. Casey, you're caving into fear and P.C. culture. Honestly, it's leadership like you that are responsible for where you are.

You're a failure and a joke. You know, again, what happened to these people? Getting into fear and P.C. culture by speaking what I believe is true, even when it turns lots of people against me. That's caving into fear and P.C. culture, pursuing truth regardless of where it leads. It's caving into fear and P.C. culture. What's gotten into people? What's gotten into people?

I'm concerned for them. Karen, unsubscribing. You are blind to miss what is at stake and God's ability to deliver us. Or how about this one from Sherry? You didn't pay attention to the facts of fraud through sworn out for David.

She must not take into account the crimes by Biden and his son. Oh, let's see. Another quack.

It goes on. You get the feel. I feel so bad for these people. I feel so bad for them to be so passionate that they're going to judge someone else's walk with God based on how they view something about voter fraud or the corruption in the courts.

It scares me for the state of the body. My calling is to be a lightning rod, so it draws all this junk up. But I'm on my knees praying, God, what has happened to your church? This is your flock. These are your people. This is burdensome.

Some have become far more passionate over political issues than they are over Jesus. Something's wrong there, friends. Terribly wrong. We'll be right back. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Here's a good little principle for you. Are you ready? If you really want to know if you're ready to debate a subject or argue your point in a debate type of setting, prove your point in a social media dialogue, what you want to be able to do is argue your opponent's point well. In other words, you need to know all of the reasons that your ideological or theological opponent has, why they feel the way they feel, and you need to be able to present that argument strongly. That way you understand it, you've digested it, you can see through their eyes, and now you're saying, here's why I differ with you. All right?

It's a great exercise to try. So for all of those on either side of the electoral fraud debate, you should be able to present the other side. In other words, if you really know your side well and the arguments to support it, that means you know the other arguments. So if you are sure there's electoral fraud, then what you need to be able to do is to get up and say, okay, here are all of the answers to my arguments. I believe there's electoral fraud for the following ten reasons. Now, here's a response to each of them. Let me give you the other side.

Here are the ten reasons why people don't believe it, and here's why I believe those reasons are wrong. And the reverse, those on the other side that say there is no fraud, you should be able to say, okay, here are the ten strongest arguments for electoral fraud, here's where I differ with it. See, if you can't do either side, then don't talk to me about being dogmatic. Don't talk to me about being so sure the evidence is so sure, because you've got to examine the evidence against your position.

Then once you've done that sufficiently, then you can say, I've looked at it and I feel all the more strong, or I looked at it and now I'm reconsidering. Just a good principle for you. Michael Brown, welcome to the broadcast 866-34-TRUTH.

I will go to the phones shortly. In my book Playing with Holy Fire, I have one whole chapter on abusive leadership. Then I have another chapter on unaccountable prophecy.

Then I have another chapter on mercenary profits. Now, it is true that in any leadership setting, there can be abuse. It can be a boss at work. It could be a political leader with people under them. It could be a coach on a team.

Right. It could be a parent in a home. And it could certainly be a priest or rabbi or a pastor with a congregation. But in the charismatic church, there is room for even more spiritual abuse by leaders, because we can claim to be anointed by God in a unique way. And the Holy Spirit is speaking through me.

And who are you to challenge me? There can be even more potential for abuse in our charismatic circles. And that's why I address it so strongly in my book. And a verse that is used often in charismatic circles is Psalm 105, verse 15. I'm sure it's been used by other church leaders. But Psalm 105, verse 15.

And this is what it says. Psalm 105, 15. I'll read it in Hebrew. Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not harm my prophets.

All right. So touch not my anointed ones and do not harm my prophets. So if you have a difference with the way your church does something, you're touching the anointed. If you question what your pastor has taught you, don't touch the anointed. If prophecies are delivered that don't bear witness with your spirit or you think are contrary to it, no, no, no, do no harm to the prophets. It's a dangerous verse to use.

Now, first, it's used completely out of context. The context is Old Testament, as Abraham, who's called a prophet by God in Genesis the 20th chapter. As Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants are wandering in different places, God warned the nations, don't touch them. Don't touch my anointed ones. Don't do my prophets any harm. That was the specific context. It is not to say in a New Testament context when leaders are servant leaders, where the more authority you have, the more you serve.

All right. I don't mean you're just a doormat for people. You have divine authority, but it's authority by which you serve others and appeal to them. To apply this to a New Testament context where you can't question a pastor or church leader is a complete abuse of the word, because it's not what Scripture's saying, nor is this an always principle.

Oh, no, don't dare question the leader. That's how you get into cult-like stuff. As leaders, we're not just accountable to God, but we're accountable to other leaders and ultimately accountable on a certain level for those to whom we minister. And those of us that want to be completely unaccountable, either there's something wrong already in our lives that we're trying to cover up, or we want to be able to do wrong things, because accountability, godly accountability, not oppressive accountability, godly accountability is a blessing and a godsend. So here's where people misuse the Holy Spirit for their own benefit. In what's called the Didache, the teaching of the Twelve, which does not necessarily go back to the apostles themselves, but is one of the earliest church documents outside of the New Testament, they have rules for traveling apostles and traveling prophets, because this was widespread in the early church. And one of the rules for a itinerant prophet is anyone, so this would apply to any prophet, saying, by the Spirit, give me money, is a false prophet. If I say the Holy Spirit told me you were supposed to write a check to my ministry, the Holy Spirit told me you were supposed to do this and give to our ministry, that person would be called the false prophet in the early church.

But what if you have a unique gift? What if the Holy Spirit is using you? What if by the Spirit you know the secrets of people's lives? What if by the Spirit the Holy Spirit reveals information to you?

You can use that for good or for bad. You can use that to minister life and health and strength and freedom and bless people, or you could use it to put them in fear. And look, how can I differ with you when the Holy Spirit told you the dream I had last night? How can I differ with you, the man of God, when you accurately prophesied what was going to happen in the newspaper headlines tomorrow? How can I differ with you when the Lord tells you about struggles in my own life and you call to say, hey, the Lord showed me you were struggling?

How can I differ with you? Friend, if you're a child of God, you have your own walk with God. Just because someone has a gift from God or an anointing from God or the power of God goes through them when they touch people does not mean that they get to lord it over you.

You have your own relationship with God. The goal of the shepherd is to have healthy flock and healthy sheep. That's the goal of the shepherd. And ultimately, every earthly shepherd is an under shepherd because these are the Lord's people.

These are the Lord's people. Now here's what I've seen more recently. There is the misuse of the Believe the Prophets verse in 2 Chronicles 20-20 that if a number of prophets say you must believe them and then you'll succeed, it's completely taking the verse out of context and it's also misapplying it in the New Testament context. But I've seen this now with my own eyes. I've seen people prophesying and saying that they are speaking for God and God is now warning you, you better listen to the prophets.

I've even seen threats. I've seen threats that those that don't listen to the prophets now and prophesying that Trump has actually won and will be inaugurated on January 20th or shortly thereafter, whatever the dates keep shifting it seems, that if you don't believe them, you're going to come under judgment. My friends, that is not God. That is not the Holy Spirit. That is not the way God deals with us in the New Testament. That is absolutely manipulative and destructive and a dangerous misuse of prophecy and a dangerous misuse of the Holy Spirit. I say that 100%. Am I guaranteeing that Trump will not by some miracle get in? Am I guaranteeing that God did not speak to those prophets? That's not even the issue.

That's not the issue whatsoever. It's the threat that you have to believe. And if you don't believe, you're going to come under some kind of judgment. Or God's making a list now.

We're not even talking about the media mocking, although if these voices are wrong, we've opened ourselves up to terrible mockery. And there's going to be terrible fallout. And I'm already praying. There are certain things I'm quite sure are going to happen. And I'm praying now and preparing to be there to help people when that does happen.

And when things they're expecting to happen don't happen, I want to be there to help them regain faith in God because their people are going to lose their entire faith in God if these prophecies don't come to pass. But I'm not talking about the media mocking. I'm not talking about the world mocking, although we've set ourselves up for mockery. If this does not come to pass, we've set ourselves up for mockery. I'm talking about leaders within the body giving threatening prophecies to believers who simply don't believe that God spoke through the prophets or don't believe that we have to believe every word prophets speak unless it bears witness with our own heart. Let me say this again. These type of prophecies warning you of consequence for not believing the prophets and claiming to be from God himself, they are manipulative, they are dangerous, they are not from above.

They are fleshly at best and demonic at worst. Flee from that. Flee from that.

If you're under people who are putting you under that kind of bondage, run from it. I'm not telling you that if you believe God spoke something to you, don't hold that to it. I'm not telling you that. I'm not telling you that if you believe God spoke through the prophets that you shouldn't agree if that's what you believe.

I'm not telling you that. I am telling you when someone's threatening you with consequences for not believing, when they're threatening you with Psalm 105 15, you run from that. I want to say that as loudly and clearly as I can as an elder in the body and a father in the faith, you run from that and protect your own soul and spirit. You never let anyone put you in bondage through a prophetic word. If it's really a word from God, it'll be liberating. If it's really a word from God and you love the Lord, it'll bear witness with your spirit. It's one thing if you're a rebel and hard-hearted and someone comes with a rebuke, you say, oh, I don't bear witness with that.

You don't bear witness with that because you're not right with God. But if you love the Lord, if you care about him, don't. Friends, I've had people come to me in tears and say, what about my walk with God?

What am I to do? Because I don't agree with what's being said and I'm told I'm not spiritual. I'm told I don't know God and I'm told there's something wrong with me. When the deepest conviction in my own life, I differ with the way these people are going, the direction they're going. What about my walk with God?

I feel like it's getting trashed. Careful. Careful. You are a child of God as much as any other person on the planet. If you know Jesus, if you've been born from above, you are a child of God as much as any other person on the planet. Don't let anybody trash your own relationship with God. I'm the man of God. You don't question the woman of God. Question everybody based on scripture. Question me based on scripture.

And have your own solid relationship with God. Yeah, I've been grieved over this. I've been in tears over it. Sheep are getting destroyed and hurt and threatened. I'm not God. Run from it. It's the Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the Line of Fire now by calling 866-342.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I knew that I'd been burdened about this in prayer for God's people and feeling some of his grief when his own servants hurt his sheep. Didn't quite know things would come out with the strength that they just did. But I stand behind not just the words, but the force with which they were spoken.

Welcome back to the broadcast, 866-348-7884. And I posted this on Twitter. I asked the question, oh, where is it here? Hang on. Hang on.

OK, just got to find the tweet. I asked the question about here we go. Have you ever heard a preacher or pastor warn people not to disagree with him? Because the Bible says touch not my anointed. Alan said many times. Then it's echoed by the sheep or parrots.

In this case, in this situation, I see instead of an embrace, a short circuit between love and truth. Ivan. Yes, all the time in all the charismatic churches I used to attend. Pat. Yes. Then I ran out of the church. Harold. Yes, sir. It was used continually during my word of faith years.

Thank the Lord for his deliverance from out of context, poorly exegeted foolishness. The conveyor cast. This was very common in the MFI circles I grew up in. Chris.

Not sure what MFI is. Christie. Yes. And it's one of the most highly taken out of context verses in scripture. Gloria Lynn. No. If a pastor said that, I would not be under his or her leadership. Carol. Yes.

I was told that when I attended a shepherding church and on and on. Unfortunately, yes. So, unfortunately, this is out there. And if you've had that kind of bad experience, I'd like to hear from you. So let's go to the phones. Vincent, thank you so much for holding.

Vincent McDermott, North Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire. What's your own experience been? Can you hear me? Yes, I can, sir.

Okay. I have experienced it. They say it's not that annoying, but they're looking at it out of context because they're talking about people who persecute actual anointed of God. But everyone that speaks of God is not anointed of God. He said, my sheep hear my voice and they know who I am. So if you study and you pray and you walk in the spirit, you should be able to recognize them.

But in the case of reality, there's a lot of people that are children in the spirit and they don't recognize them. But he said in Matthew 18, six, if anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me to stumble, it will be better for them to have a large millstone around their neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble. Such things must come. But woe to the person to whom they come.

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. And that's the simplest solution there is. I mean, they're here. Many false prophets have come into the world. Many antichrists are here as well. He's letting us see these things to warn us because we have to get ready and we have to shout the alarm as you do for people to be ready and alert so that they won't stumble. But there are still people around and I'm not going to name names, but we all know who a lot of them are.

They profess to be godly and they appear to be, but underneath they're like dead men. You know, he said it himself. We have to alarm each other people, the children who do not know any better, who do not walk fully in the face, who do not have all faith, even of a must see.

It is our job to talk to them and let them know. I went to church back in, I would say it was 95. And one of the most world renowned ministers right now out in the world, I'm not going to say his name, but he quoted, and I'm going to quote what he said. He said that if you don't pray, then we won't. If you don't pay, then we won't pray.

Basically, he was trying to coerce people into paying tithes by the guys that they're not going to pray for him if they don't. Me and my wife, we got up and walked out. Yeah, it's the right thing to do. It's stable because, like you said, if you're right out of family, cut it, just pluck it out. I mean, you really have the option and the choice to walk away, but you also have an obligation to tell others about it so that they won't be deceived. Yeah, and Vincent, just to jump in, the thing that you hit on that's so important is that a lot of believers are not secure in their own relationship with God. They're not grounded in the Word, they're not grounded in fellowship with God, and because of that, it's easier for someone to abuse them.

It's easier for someone to take advantage of them. Scripture can be misquoted and held over them. Who are you to challenge the man of God? And for me, the big thing is this, if I know my attitude is right, in other words, I love the Lord, I'm not haughty, I'm not trying to hurt someone, I'm not trying to hurt the pastor, I don't go around challenging. I love authority, I submit to authority, but I have genuine questions.

If I know my attitude is good, then that's sufficient. When the person comes back and says, don't you dare touch the anointed, then I know they're reactive, something's wrong there. It'd be one thing if I come in and you fool, you idiot man, I'm going to bring your ministry down, I'm going to hurt you, I'm going to spread lies to the community, you might tell that person, you better be careful, it's not a good thing to do to lie about men of God. But it's totally different when someone comes with honest questions, honest concerns based on scripture. Pastor, I honor and respect you, but it seems what you're teaching here is contrary to the Lord, you don't touch the anointed, then something is very seriously wrong. Either they're just out to be manipulative or they're terribly insecure themselves, but that is totally contrary to New Testament leadership. Yeah, but I mean, if that were the case, you know, a lot of people take the scripture, judge not to give you, not judge, and leave it at that, and they take that out of context.

He didn't say, don't judge, he said judge not to give you, not judge, but if you're judging fairly, it's okay. You know, and no man is infallible. So everyone, I mean, if that were the case, then we would have to kick Paul out of the Bible as well, because he rebuked Peter, because he was just expounding upon that him and Peter had two different ministries. Yeah, and that Peter at one point fell into fear of man. Right, Peter fell into fear of man, and Paul had to correct them. But yeah, so Vincent, let me ask this, we're almost out of time.

Have you seen this in a kind of widespread nature over the years in your church circles, this type of abusive leadership, or is it just here and there, some bad apples? Yeah, it's no, it's getting worse. But you know, that's just probably been filled as well, because he said, in the last days, there will be a great falling away. And here we are. And a lot of people will be deceived. And but, but thank be to God, his elect will still stand, and they'll be turned around and they'll be thrown back. But those who are, I would say, convinced that they want to live with the mindset, I would say, of lot white, they love the world more than they love God, they're going to have it.

Regardless of what they do or sell, they're going to believe anything anyway, because they're going to believe what they want to believe, and not what is true. Yeah. Hey, Vincent, thank you for weighing in. I appreciate it. Thanks so much for holding as long as you did, and for weighing in with a lot of sober scripture there. Much appreciate it. So friends, as we wind down here, let me encourage you again to really know the Lord. I would love it if anytime I ever did a teaching on something, you said, well, that's good, but I want to study it more for myself. Wonderful. Wonderful.

Keep digging. Yes, God does put teachers in the body, does put leaders in the body. And yes, here, if I have an area, I haven't studied as much in scripture, and I have a colleague that's an expert there, I rely a lot on what they have to say, but I test it.

In other words, I put a lot of weight in it. Fine, put a lot of weight in what your pastors and leaders saying, or those you look to as teachers, put weight in it. Those who have earned your trust, you've watched their lives, you've seen them live, you've seen a basic soundness, put weight in it. But ultimately, if you can't agree, and look, nobody, no one person has it all. Otherwise, we wouldn't have different denominations and different groups and so on, and someone may be stronger here and someone else stronger there. So look, for me, I'm going to be super dogmatic on a few points, a few basic points, super dogmatic.

Those are hills I'll die on. Then I have some others I feel strongly about, others not so strong, the others not really sure. And that's why he asked me questions, you know, what about this verse in the book of Revelation? Well, I'm not sure. There are these different views.

I'm not sure where I land on it. Okay, how do you feel about this issue having to do with the lordship of Jesus or, oh, absolutely dogmatic, black and white, and because of certain things I'm sure on and I'm dogmatic on and it should be the same with you and other areas. We may have differences, but bottom line, don't let anyone manipulate you, especially my charismatic brothers and sisters, just because a person has a gift doesn't mean that they are holy. Just because a person has a gift doesn't mean their interpretation of scripture is correct. I've seen people prophesy accurately with an amazing gift from God and then butcher the Bible, seen it with my own eyes. I mean, operate in a powerful gift to the spirit and then butcher the Bible. So friends, know the Lord, know the word, honor authority, but don't let it abuse you. You have your own relationship with God. Back with you, friends, on the Line of Fire broadcast.