Dr. Brown Tackles All Your Questions

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Phone lines are open. You've got questions. We've got answers. 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, thanks for joining us on this Friday broadcast. You've got questions. We've got answers. That means phone lines wide open. Any subject under the sun you want to talk to me about, any question we can help you with, by all means give us a call as long as it's appropriate for Christian radio and ties in on some level with things that we've talked about here on the air or things that I've written about. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884 is the number to call. So, without further ado, to the phones we go. We start with Frank in Demopolis. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Hi, Dr. Brown.

This is Frank Boozer again. I called you a while back about the tetragram in chapters 1 and 2 in Genesis, and I didn't get clarity. But I'm just wondering, is the tetragram always used for the parents of Jesus, pre-Christ? No.

No, sir. No, it's the so-called ineffable name of the Lord, so the Hebrew letters yud-hay-vuv-hay, y-h-w-h, which were traditionally pronounced Jehovah in English circles for centuries, and more likely Yahweh. No, that's primarily the name by which the father is identified. So, for example, in Psalm 2, Yahweh says to the king in Jerusalem, you are my son. Or Psalm 110, Yahweh says, or an utterance from Yahweh to my Lord. So, David speaking, Yahweh said this to my Lord, meaning the Messiah. So, there are times, like Genesis 18, where Yahweh appears to Abraham in the form of a man. But otherwise, Yahweh is primarily the way the father is spoken of, God in general, but over 6,000 times used in primarily speaking about the father.

So, yep. Well, the appearances of God, whenever He appears to men, it's as reincarnate, they call it. Yeah, so when you see the Lord appearing to someone in the Old Testament, that's in the person of the son. The son makes the father known.

That's always the principle. John 14, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. Hebrews 1, he's the radiance of the father's glory.

So, the son is the one who makes the father known. So, in Genesis 18, even though it says Yahweh there, it's speaking of the son, because Yahweh is just the name for God, and God is Father, Son, Spirit. So, even though it primarily is speaking of the father, there are times when it can refer to the son appearing as in Genesis 18. But the name itself is just the covenant name for the God of Israel. So, it speaks of God, period, generically. So, God is one, Father, Son, and Spirit. Primarily, though, the one that it's speaking of in the Hebrew Bible is the father, and the father sends his son to redeem the world. So, Yahweh sends his son to redeem the world. Hence, Psalm 2, again, which I quoted, Yahweh says to the king in Jerusalem, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Hey, thank you, sir, for the call. So, just once more, the name itself has nothing to do with incarnation, pre-incarnate visitation.

It's simply the covenant name of the God of Israel. All right, thanks for the question. 866-34-TRUTH. We go to Steven in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, how have you been? Doing very well, thank you. Good. Hey, I just wanted to first say thank you for coming out to Florida a couple weeks ago. I saw you speak, and I met you afterwards. I knew you were very busy to head on out, but I really enjoyed your talk.

I appreciate that, thank you. Yeah. I am in my hermeneutical studies at Southeastern University right now, and the passage I selected to study is Ephesians 4, 25-32, and I kind of wanted to get your scholarly opinion. I think it's kind of funny how it fits in today, you know, how we're living, and how we should be living our lives, and what to do, what not to do.

But something I wanted to touch upon that I found interesting is in the ESV version—let me pull it up here real quick—you have in verse 29, Paul has a little bit of different verbiage in this translation, as in, as fits the occasion, and also that it may give grace to those who hear. Right. All right, we, uh, we'll let the—yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I can—we can actually, you know, in fact, we can all hear that. We can hear the dog barking, so thanks for clarifying that for us, but go ahead. All right, tell you what, I'm not sure—I guess we're trying to sort this out with the dog, but here's the deal. I'm going to answer your question, minus the barking dog.

You're probably trying to mute things and couldn't hear you at all. So Ephesians 4 29 is a very important verse, and it has a couple of different nuances in terms of what does it mean, nothing unwholesome, no unwholesome communication. You will—so let me just grab it in a few different translations. So the King James let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. New King James, what is good for necessary edification. CSB, what is good for building up someone in need. ESV, only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion. NIV, only what is helpful for building those up according to their needs. NET, beneficial for the building up of the one in need.

So that's where you see the the breakdown is. You know, the unwholesome, foul, corrupt, that part you want to dig into. You want to dig into what the Greek says there and what the lexicons open up for you.

As far as what is good for building up someone in need versus fit for the occasion, the question is, is it someone is with something? That's where the ambiguity would be, and that's where you dig in on your exegetical paper. So number one, you want to talk about that word unwholesome. What does it mean? Corrupt communication, dig in, see what the Greek means. So you want to see what the dictionaries say. Does Paul use it elsewhere? Does the New Testament use it elsewhere? Is it used in ancient Greek literature? What do we understand it means to use in the Septuagint? That's how you do that research.

And then is it fit for an occasion or fit for someone, something or someone? That's where you'll dig in and try to sort that out. And anyway, whatever your dog needs, you can now tend to the dog as well. Thanks for the call. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Jonathan in Clarkston, Washington.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, can you hear me okay? Yeah, I can, thanks.

All right, cool. So I had a question about divorce. So I was talking with my friend, and I mentioned that divorce is a sin.

And he actually was kind of surprised, like he didn't know that. And I say, well you know, Jesus, when talking about the Pharisees, how he says that back in the Old Testament, Moses allowed us to get divorced because of the hardness of our hearts. But now in the New Testament, it's not that way. And Jesus says, what God has joined together, let no man separate. And then so my friend responds with, well that doesn't mean that all divorce is a sin, because he's talking about what God has joined together. It's possible that you could be joined together with someone that God did not join you with. And I didn't really know how to respond to that, because that seems like a silly thing to say.

What do you have to say, Dr. Brown? Yeah, of course it is a silly thing to say, and people have tried to use that argument. I've even heard Christians who go through a hard time in their marriage say, well God didn't join us together. Well, first thing is, God joining together is not some mystical thing that only happens with the right marriages, because otherwise then everyone would have a right to divorce at any time. Whereas Jesus was quite explicit, unless it's for a cause of sexual immorality, you are causing someone to commit adultery. Marriage would have no meaning whatsoever if he said, well God didn't join us together. How do you know?

What's the test? Is it you get along, you don't get along? So it's utter and sheer nonsense. The joining together is actually the man and woman coming together as one. That's how God joins them together. In other words, when you get married in the sight of God and then physically join together, God has joined you together. That's why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 about going to a prostitute.

Shall I take the members of Christ, so part of the body of Christ, and join that with a prostitute, because the two become one through the sexual relationship. So yeah, go back to Genesis 2 24, that's how God joins the two together, is in the bond of marriage, the act of marriage. So once you're married, and in particular physically united, God has now joined you together, and therefore when God joins together, don't let anyone break or separate. That's why adultery is an explicit violation of that, because you are now joining yourself to another person. So yeah, I mean, the only people that ever quote that and try to put that meaning on it are people who don't want to accept God's standard, because otherwise it's completely ridiculous. And again, aside from going back to Genesis, because that's what Jesus was talking about, and the joining together means marriage joins you. That's the very thing. Marriage is God joining you.

That's how he set it up. But then you can also press him and say so that anyone at any point could use that excuse, well, God didn't join us together. You know, you find somebody you like better or prettier or, you know, with more money or whatever, it's like, well, God didn't really join me with my spouse, so I'm supposed to join with that one. It's just, you know, complete rationalization. So, Jonathan, you are absolutely right to feel scornful about that, but that's your answer.

Go back to Genesis 2. Marriage itself is God's act of joining people together. It doesn't have to be a perfect marriage.

You either marry the wrong person, but the moment you marry that person, God has joined you together. That's that reality. All right, thank you for asking 866-3-4 truth. We've just got a few seconds before the break, so now's a good time. Oh, all right, hey, keep trying to get through. Phone lines are always jammed on Friday, but we get to as many calls as possible. Let me thank you so much for your prayer support. We're on the front lines.

We get hit a lot. We get attacked a lot, lied about, spiritual attack, all kinds of things, but we're covered and blessed by God, and I know that your prayers make a difference, so thank you for praying, and thank you, all of our torchbearers, our Patreon supporters, those who stand with us on a regular basis. Thank you so much. You help us do the very things we are doing today, so thank you, and if you're able to stand with us and help, you can make a one-time donation at our website, AskDrBrown.org. You can become a monthly supporter there. Find out about all the benefits that come your way as you join our team, or on Facebook, if you're watching on Facebook, there's a donation button. Just click on that. Any gift of any size is a great help.

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We really are. Lives are being touched. 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. Thanks so much for standing with us, just glancing over at Facebook. Hey, thanks for your donations. We appreciate it. Every bit helps. It makes a great difference. As I said right before the break, together we're making a difference. Yeah, we get the hate mail, the attacks, the death wishes, all the ugly, crazy stuff. You'd be amazed.

I mean, you'd be grieved if you saw some of it, but it's part of our calling. As a lightning rod, we're going to attract a lot of that, but you'd be so blessed to hear testimonies. You'd be so encouraged, and all of you that we've been able to help and bless, you know that it's team effort. Together, we're helping many lives, so thank you again for standing with us. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

Let's go to Cheryl in Kansas City, Missouri. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. It's an honor to talk to you.

Thanks. I have a question. I am a Gentile. I go to the Methianic Jewish congregation, and for years I've been fascinated with the meaning of the Hebrew names in the Bible. I was wanting to know if you could let me know of some books or resources where I could find out the meanings of people's names in the Bible.

Got it, yeah. So most of the stuff that I've done over the years, the books I have, are very academic. You know, they're technical and difficult, and you have to know your way around them. And I'm trying to think of a book that is sound, and a lot of the popular stuff, like the stuff that's very readable, you know, is often not accurate. I want to just check one thing here and see, yeah, you might want to check all the names in the Bible. A book called All the Names in the Bible, published by Thomas Nelson. I don't even know if it has an author's name.

All the Names in the Bible. That, I haven't used it myself, but I think that would be something helpful for you. And with, you know, the publisher would be known for putting out, you know, basic sound material. In fact, I'm just going to do something quickly here, because like I said, the books, no, okay, this looks, as I'm just looking at it here, yeah, I'm just looking at the definitions that are being given.

Yeah, just do this, just do this. Don't make every line Gospel truth. It's exactly what you're asking. It just goes through every name, both Hebrew and Greek, and then tells you what it understands the words, the name to mean, and a brief description, and scripture references, etc. So, All the Names in the Bible, a part of the A to Z series published by Thomas Nelson. But as I'm looking through some of the definitions, a lot of it is debatable in Hebrew. In other words, we don't, we don't know what we don't, like my name Mika'el, Michael, so we know what that means, who is like God, Mika'el, who is like God, we understand, or Rafa'el, God heals, or God healed, so we know what many of the names mean.

And then others are more controversial, because they're short, or it's debatable in terms of how a certain word should be taken. So look at this as reliable, but if you're going to make like a major life, you know, teaching on something, then do more study, just to be sure. But this would be, this would be very helpful, and definitely very usable. So just looking at it, it's, it's absolutely what you're looking for. All right? Okay, that sounds wonderful, and I also wanted to just thank you for the series you did about transgender in his image, it was wonderful.

Oh great, I'm so glad you were helped by that. What a critically important issue to deal with human beings loved by God. If you haven't watched the movie, it's free, it is stunningly well done, powerful, scriptural, moving, inhisimage.movie.

Just type in your email and you can watch it for free, hundreds of thousands have already put out by the American Family Association, I had the privilege of hosting it, inhisimage.movie. Thank you for the call. Yeah, I mean the books, I've, I've got in my library a substantial number of books on personal names, because part of my doctoral dissertation, I was researching names with the Rafah root in them in the Semitic languages.

So I've, it's called Onomastica, you know, list of names, and, and, and then Theophoric Onomastica, those are names that have a divine element in it like El or Yah for Yahweh and stuff, and so I've got all these books in German and English and Hebrew and stuff, but they're all, they're all very technical. So I'm glad that this other book exists that we just looked at a moment ago. All right, let's go to Alex in Richmond, Kentucky. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello Dr. Brown, I am so glad to be here.

Thank you. So I am a, a young minister, and I'm kind of starting off and kind of growing and realizing how much I don't know and all that good stuff, and I know that you have been a minister for a very long time, and in the body of Christ, doing ministry, and I am wondering if you could share a little bit about your daily disciplines. Like, do you, like, like, what is your time with Jesus look like every day? And if you have free time, like, what do you do for free time?

Got it. So my, my life is a little different than many others. I was just talking to a pastor who's asking me questions about how I ordered my life, just, just driving in to the studio today on the phone. My life has been very different for many years because I was on the road so much, and my schedule changed from day to day so much. It's not like I had a fixed daily schedule.

It's, it's become more regular, especially with COVID and things, and less travel, it's become more regular. But let me first say this, I recommend as a lifestyle things a little different than what's been my own habit. In other words, if I was just teaching someone, I would tell them that it's really important to fix times of the day that you get with God, and that that is fixed and locked in, and unless it's an emergency, nothing's going to take you from that.

Phone calls, texts, emails, other things won't take you from that. And you kind of lock that in and build it in for life, and that becomes your sacred time. There may be a room in the house where it's sacred to you, or by the side of a bed, or, you know, out in the woods, whatever. But if that can be locked in, and that's, that's sacred and, and untouchable, that's really important.

The children of Israel got the manna early in the morning before it melted. So to the extent that can be a life principle, that's an important thing built in. God gets the first fruits of the day in that regard. And then there are other times during the day that to meet with him and, and, and go from there.

You know, there's always more time that can be spent in his presence. But the more you're in ministry, the more successful you are in ministry, the busier you'll get, the more in demand that you'll be. In Luke five, we see that the crowds were coming to hear Jesus and to be healed of their diseases. So he knows if I stay one more day here, that that blind person will be healed and that demonized person will be set free.

And, and these people will hear about the kingdom of God. And yet it says in five 16 that he, he went away to isolated place, places and prayed. And he understood he could only do what he saw the father doing. And that John 15 principle, without me, you can do nothing.

He lived in relationship with his father. So we can run on adrenaline in ministry. We can just be so busy and caught up in that and think, wow, look at all we're doing.

But in fact, we're, we're running on empty. So being with God first, in my own life, I've been a late night person almost my entire life. Last night, I went to sleep past four in the morning and it, it's just the way I functioned. So even though I'll start the day, I'll put things in God's hands or, or maybe have some time of just setting apart in prayer. Otherwise the beginning of the day for me is normally catching up on busy work. All the texts need to be responded to emails, different things we need to discuss before the radio show, whatever. And then later in the day is when I really, from like mid evening on, you know, where the hours are just mine, you know, that kids in the house, Nancy and I spent time together and now there's the hours of Monica could be five, six, seven hours, whatever.

So that's what I'm really gonna get a lot of writing done. And that's what I'm going to have extended prayer. There's nothing to interrupt me.

There's, there's no clock that's going to get off where I have to be somewhere. And in terms of my own prayer time, if I'm burdened about a particular thing, then I may start right there and just pouring out my heart to the Lord about that. Otherwise I'm normally just going to set my heart before him. I'm charismatic as you know, I'll pray in the spirit sometimes for an extended period of time. And then out of that, begin to pray and go in different directions. You know, there can be times where I've done it, you know, year or two, you know, without fail, just always pray in the spirit at least an hour straight every day, just renewing my heart and mind. And then out of, so my mind is meditating on the Lord and things. And then out of that, I'm praying specific requests. Then it can move to deeper intercession that we can, but otherwise I can just be praying in the spirit, going back and forth with that praying request in English. And then sometimes when I'm gripped, you know, if travail hits, you know, and I'm just overwhelmed and literally laying on my face, pounding the ground and wailing, those are very sacred times. And then I'm going to pray in the very sacred times, you know, so there's that. And then my times in the word are twofold.

There's just reading, reading through the Bible regularly, you know, so reading portions of scripture in English, just going through that, listening to the Bible in the car as I'm driving, if I'm not talking to someone else, that's what I'll be doing. And then intensive study. So, you know, just going through, so the worm's eye and the bird's eye, right? The worm's eye, you're really digging, like my Isaiah commentary I'm working on now, just digging, digging, digging.

Bird's eye, just getting in front of you, getting in front of you. So the amount of time can vary from day to day. And then free time. I mean, I love doing what I'm doing. I love to write.

I love to study. But otherwise, if it's not Nancy and I hanging out, you know, maybe I'll, of course, I'm working out, trying to do very intensive physical workouts several times a week. And then maybe just, you know, catching up, just reading some stuff online or watching sports a little bit.

Most of the time it's not during the week. Maybe one day on the weekend, I'll watch some sports just to chill and unwind. But, you know, I had to discipline myself to chill because I'm always kind of so driven. So those are just some things in my own life.

Find your own rhythm, but then make sure be in with God. Put that first. Must put that first.

Truth. Let us go back to the phones. Where do we start? Here we go.

Let's go to Mark in Lewisville, North Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. I appreciate you taking my call, and I appreciate your ministry.

Thank you. I want to talk to you about the Millennial, and I do want to mention for your callers and for yourself, it's very, very important to understand certain subjects. One of those subjects is the kingdom of God. The other one is reigning. When does Christ reign? When do we reign?

And the other one is the day of the Lord. If your listeners will study those subjects, and I'll give them some real quick scriptures here, they will understand exactly the end times. And I know that's a big subject for people nowadays. Yeah, well tell you what, if you could dive in with your question just in fairness to our callers.

Yeah, go ahead with your question. Okay, for people to understand that, okay, because I know that you don't believe in a pre-trib rapture correctly. Did you always believe in that, or did you learn it from studying? So I was taught pre-trib rapture in the church where I got saved, and I kind of heard that even before I heard the gospel, you know, from my friends as they were coming to the Lord. So that was foundational to me. That to me was as sure as the gospel as anything else.

I didn't even know that it was questioned. And then when I found out that there were other views a few years later, and then I began to study scripture for myself, that's when I became convinced that there was no pre-trib rapture according to the Bible. So I was taught it in the church where I was saved.

It's all I knew initially. Then I read books to reinforce that even more deeply, and then when I began to question it and studied scripture again, I realized I was taught this by people. I didn't get this straight from the Word for myself. And then the more I studied the Word, the more I discarded the view.

Well, you're 100% exactly right, and I'm the same way, and that's how most people are. And I want to challenge you through brotherly love, because I believe you're a Christian and I'm a Christian, and we're going to be in the body of Christ. I want to challenge you on the kingdom of God, if you will allow me. Matthew 12 28, Jesus casting out devils. He says, if I cast out devils by the finger of God, the kingdom of God is coming to you, the kingdom of God. Daniel 2 44, Jeremiah 23 5, that is the kingdom of God coming to the earth. Romans 5 12, Revelation 5 10 tells when we reign, humans reign, Christians. 1 Corinthians 15 25 through 26, Hebrews 2 verse 8, that is when Christ reigns.

Then go to Revelation 20 verse 6, and that tells you when we reign with Christ. So where is Satan right now? Satan is bound spiritually.

Well, no, hang on. Is Satan deceiving nations? Is Satan deceiving people now? He is deceiving, but at the same time he has no control over Christians. But hang on, Revelation 20 says that he's bound so he can deceive the nations no longer, and yet they're under heavy deception, and he's active. 1 Peter 5 says he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 was concerned that Satan would be deceiving the believers. He was concerned he'd be deceiving the believers.

And Revelation 20 doesn't say the church, it says the world, the nations. So the whole thing that you're arguing for in all of breaks down completely with the fact that Satan is not in a bottomless pit right now. He is not bound. He is not stopped from deceiving the nations.

He is actively doing it. And yes, Jesus is ruling and reigning in his kingdom, and we are part of that kingdom now, and we have authority in Jesus over sin and the works of darkness. But at the same time, sir, it's very clear that we're praying for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done. Has he come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on his adversaries?

2 Thessalonians 1. No. Has he come, king of kings, lord of lords, and destroyed the wicked on the earth? Revelation 19. No. Has he come and destroyed those who are physically attacking Jerusalem in the final battle? Zechariah 12, Zechariah 14. No. And with 1 Corinthians 15, when you read it, you stop short because we haven't gotten to that point yet where the son, where death itself is finally abolished.

Isaiah 25, right? And the physical kingdom is established. So that's why I'm not an amillennialist, but I'm sure we'll talk again. I did want to let you get your point out in fairness to others. So we agree, although there are many fine Christians who are pre-trib. You and I agree there's not a pre-trib rapture, but you are amillennial.

I'm premillennial. Hey, we read Acts 3 because Peter says that everything the prophets prophesied will happen and Jesus must remain in heaven until it's time for the restoration of all things like prophets said in Isaiah 2, Isaiah 11. That has not happened yet. That's why we pray the Lord's Prayer. Your kingdom come. You will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom is still come, to come.

It is here, it is advancing, and it will come in full manifestation when Jesus returns. Hey, God bless, man. Thanks for the friendly, brotherly call. 866-348-7884. Let us go to Rena in Greenville, South Carolina. Thanks for calling the line of fire.

Dr. Brown. Hey. Hey. Got a quick question.

I've been doing a lot of research and I've had a hard time coming up with something that is not copyrighted. All throughout Scripture, in the original Hebrew, we find all of these covenant promises of God that follows on this path of righteousness that David talked about. This word, righteousness, says dakah. I'm not pronouncing Hebrew right.

I know. I have read in some places that it's a legal term where God's righteousness replaces ours when we conform to his rights over our lives and his way of salvation. But I also saw the other night, in the Hebrew alphabet, there is a certain letter that is the dak, or it's very close to that word, righteousness, and it's actually a dot with a trail behind it, which means a path that leads to that place, which very much lines up with the Hebrew word for wave, which is derek, or where we get our word direction, the directional word. I have been digging and digging, and I was in route somewhere today.

I said, Dr. Brown, let me get through this for me. Yeah, so forget your last theory there. The Hebrew word tzedek is not related to the word for way. It doesn't refer to a path specifically. So the root tzedek is different variations of it. Tzedek or tzedakah, which can speak about righteousness. Tzedek would be a righteous person.

It is a little bit different than the Greek word dikasune, which can be used more in a forensic way, in a legal way. So when there's an emphasis in the New Testament about being justified by faith, that has the full forensic legal concept, and we receive the righteousness of Christ, and we are declared not guilty, righteous by what he did on the cross and by our faith, and by our faith in him. That is, that goes beyond the basic concept of righteousness in Hebrew scripture, which would speak about right living, and which can even have aspects of vindication and divine backing.

Sometimes tzedakah could potentially cover that. In Genesis 15, where 15, 6, and Abram believed in the Lord, and he counted to him for righteousness. Jewish translations normally say counted it for his merit. In other words, it was credited to his account for his trust. So it is not, like I said, primarily forensic in the technical legal sense, but more connected with rightness and righteousness in terms of right conduct, right living, and yet— Right, as in, make straight a highway for our God, and he will make the perfect place.

I understand how all that plays into it. It's actually our deeds towards one another that help prepare the way. But I was wondering about that letter in the Hebrew alphabet specifically that is very related to the Hebrew word tzedakah for righteousness. Well, there's not a specific letter. In other words, the Hebrew letter does not have specific meaning. It's a Hebrew word that would have specific meaning. So do you know what word you were looking at?

Because it's not a specific letter. Well, you know, when I was looking through the Hebrew alphabet the other night to understand what Yad, whatever the tetragram, I was looking at what specifically, because I have found the original Hebrew name of God that he told Moses what I am is in Hebrew. So I was looking at all of that to determine the character in the name of God in that. And when I was looking through that, I found one of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet that was the dot, or it was very close to it, it was a dot with a kind of a trail behind it, which signified a path that led to that.

Right, right. Okay, a Hebrew letter does not does not signify anything. A Hebrew letter is just a letter. There are people that try to read meanings into Hebrew letters.

That's a myth. The letters came from words and concepts originally. For example, the Hebrew letter aleph was originally a picture of an ox head, and then so the ox head then was a drawing, then it got written as a letter, but the letter aleph itself is just a letter, just like our letter a. Right, right, so letters themselves have no specific meaning.

So don't get letter, there are websites that try to read and tell you the original meaning of letters. Don't even think twice about it. This stuff is wrong. But there's nothing specifically related to the roots of doc having to do with a way or making a way, so don't go on that rabbit trail, otherwise you're heading in a good direction. All right, let us go to Bruce in Belgrade, Montana. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you for taking my call, Dr. Brown. Sure thing. I just had a really quick question if you had any recommendations about a good self-study Hebrew text that I could use at home to learn basic and intermediate Hebrew. I am familiar with the alphabet and small vocabulary, but I want to pursue it further. Yeah, you know, Bruce, there are a number of really useful books and tools, and some of them come with CDs or DVDs or tests that can be taken. I haven't taught introductory Hebrew in years, but they're a bunch.

Yeah, I'm just trying to think of the ones that are best. A really good one is Basics of Biblical Hebrew. Basics of Biblical Hebrew, you can check that out, or Biblical Hebrew and Inter introductory grammar. Then you have other levels, you know, beginning biblical Hebrew, intermediate biblical Hebrew. If you just check on amazon or christianbook.com and type in Biblical Hebrew, look for the books that are the most popular because there are a bunch that are very helpful.

But Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Gary Practical, Miles Van Pelt, Biblical Hebrew, Paige Kelly, those are good places to start. 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.

We've got just a few minutes left. Check out my latest article. Jesus said by this, the world would know that we are his disciples.

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Why is our love one for another the way the world would know that we belong to him? I think you'll find it really eye-opening. All right, 866-304-TRUTH.

Let us go to Chris in Yucaipa, California. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. Thanks for taking my call, as always.

You're welcome. I had a question. I was listening to a debate, and the guy wrote up an interesting question. So the question is around 1 Samuel 15, verses 10 through 11, and in the same chapter, verses 28 and 29. So 1 Samuel 15, 10 through 11, says that God regrets making Saul king. And then, of course, in verses 28 and 29, it says that God doesn't regret.

So it's kind of a two-part question. Number one, part question was, number one, if God regrets, does that mean that he's not all-knowing? And then number two, could you say that's a contradiction in that it says he regrets something, and then later on the same chapter says he doesn't regret?

Right, so the fact that it's in the same chapter tells you that obviously there's not a contradiction, that the author is writing in the same chapter, and that all the subsequent editors are now recopying, and there it is, and either nobody noticed it or fixed it, right? So just let me just get over to the Hebrew text. Right, so the Hebrew text uses the root nacham, the hinachem, or the nacham, you know, various variations of it.

So nichamti, I'm grieved, I'm grieved that I made him king. And then it can also have the meaning, because the same root is used later on, it can also have the meaning of to regret in terms of changing one's mind. And hang on, let me just have the wrong verse there, there we go. Yeah, so he, it's using the same root, but with different variations on the root, so there are different Hebrew verbal forms, okay? But it's the same root with different Hebrew verbal forms, so it's a very, very strong play on words, not play on words, demonstration of two different aspects of the divine heart and mind. So on the one hand, saying, I'm grieved, I regret it, and then using the same root to say, I don't change my mind. So the same root is used, but there are different verbal forms, and each verbal form can have a different nuance. So you have different nuances of the same root, but because there are different verbal forms, they have different meanings. So regret, regret would be a little misleading in English.

That being said, it is the same root, so it leads to the obvious questions. And the answer is no, God is not ignorant of the future, but number one, he does not predestine everything that happens, and therefore many things happen that grieve him, they are contrary to what he desired, but he gives us choice, and there is potential. In other words, Saul did not have to go the way he went. Things could have been different for Saul, just like God has grieved that he makes man. Did God not know, did he not get it, that Adam was going to sin, Adam and Eve, and the flood would happen and all that? Did he not get that? Of course, he knew it. If Jesus was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world, then the Lord foresaw everything that was going to happen.

You say, but why the grief? God interacts with us in real time, just as Jesus fully incarnated as a human being and was with us in real time and slept and ate and did all of that, that I believe that the God who inhabits eternity, Isaiah 57 50, and he inhabits eternity, that that God also interacts with us in real time and therefore experiences joy and experiences disappointment. And here's the analogy I would give. If you've ever watched a movie, maybe some classic tear-jerk movie, you've seen it before. You know exactly what's going to happen. It's like, I can't watch.

Let's do it. Well, you know exactly what's going to happen, and yet you feel the reality of the moment, or like some sports finish. You've seen it before.

It's like, this is just too exhausting to watch. And so if we have the ability to do that, how much more does God have the ability to do that? So that's how I understand it, that he genuinely feels regret and pain, even though he knew it would happen. At that moment, he still feels regret and pain, yet he doesn't change his mind. He's not double-minded. So if Saul had lived differently, things would have lived differently, gone differently.

Now that he hasn't, God is going to go in a different direction, and his mind is not going to be changed. That's great. Yeah, that makes sense. I appreciate your answer.

Yeah, and the fact that it's the same Hebrew root that's used makes it all the more exquisite in Hebrew. Thank you for the questions. I appreciate it. 866-344-TRUTH.

We go to Joel in Canton, Michigan. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. I appreciate chatting with you. I wanted to call on a quick, towards the end of your show, I just got your book last night, Authentic Fire.

I'm looking really forward to reading it. My background, I'm a charismatic. Came out of the charismatic renewal in the 70s in Ann Arbor, and had a lot of dealings with the Vineyard and Wimber, great experiences.

Got it. One of the things that has really troubled me, I'm sure has troubled you, as I've seen some of your videos, is this continuing fight between reform, charismatics, and that sort of thing. And I know you've talked a lot recently about, you used the term new reset for evangelicals. My question is, is there a lot going on right now with trying to bridge the two groups together so we can be a lot more effective? Because I think one thing this last four years with Trump, and like you, I voted for Trump for essentially all the reasons you did, but it's really exposed a lot of things, I think, in the Christian body. And unfortunately now, with so many people having a webcam, and they give their views on everything, there's such attacks, reform attacking, charismatic, charismatic attacking, Calvinist, everything goes together to the point where there's just a lot of disharmony. So I really love the way that you handle things in love, and bringing people to repentance, and not everything obviously is a salvation issue. So my question is, I'm kind of long-winded, is there a lot of things going on as leaders that are starting to bridge the gap?

Yeah, let me try to answer that on three levels. On the one hand, worldwide, charismatic Pentecostal movement continues to grow and expand almost all of the largest, rapidly growing movements around the world, or a charismatic Pentecostal. In other words, the Holy Spirit's moving powerfully, and even though you may not be as aware of it in America as you would be, say, in the continent of Africa, or in Asia, the continent of Asia, or South America, Central America, where the growth is so extraordinary, the fact is the non-charismatic, non-Pentecostal position continues to be smaller and smaller, and held to by less and less people. So in that regard, the movement of the Holy Spirit is undeniable and continues to grow, and with it, a lot of junk, and a lot of bad fruit, and a lot of messes that need to be cleaned up. So that's the one thing that's just happening in general. The second thing is that the hostility of the world, the hostility of those who really oppose the gospel in general, who really oppose the Bible, who have very different views about what's best for society than we do, that has galvanized believers coming together. For example, the leaders that stood together to counsel Donald Trump, the evangelical counselors that came together, they were from a wide background, and some of them probably wouldn't have sat in the same room together, but if they had the opportunity to pour into the president and speak into his life, and to stand together for what they thought was best for America, they were going to do it. So in that regard, sir, the hostility of the world towards us has brought a lot of believers together. That's positive. But beyond that, the third thing is I don't see a lot of coming together in other circles. In other words, it seems that the critics are getting more critical, and the flakes are getting flakier, you know, and you've got kind of the bad happening in both ways.

So in that regard, we need to get on our faces more and try to learn from each other and not attack and destroy each other the way that we are. Hey, thanks for calling. Let's see if I can do this very quickly. Hey, David in Anchorage, I am not going to have a chance to get to your question about Ravi Zacharias. I responded last Friday as well, but I have a lengthy article over 4,000 words on our website. In fact, Rachel will give you the link to it. But if you want to get my thoughts after much prayer, and Nancy and I are really talking together, go to AskDr.Brown.org and just type in Ravi, and you'll get to the article immediately, or just check for latest articles, and you'll see it there.

So please check that out. I think you'll find it very sobering, very helpful. And it's a tragic thing, you know, Ravi's publisher is pulling his books, different branches of the ministry closing. You have all the lives of victims who've been terribly hurt. You have the reproach that's come to the name of the Lord, people struggling in their faith. God gives us a lot, lots required of us. So may God somehow turn this for good in a redemptive way and bring light out of a lot of darkness and bring healing to the world. Let every man be a liar. Let God be true.