Are You Suffering from Prophetic Burnout?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire.

This is Michael Brown, and phone lines are wide open, like we do on Friday. Any question of any kind, any subject under the sun that you want to talk with me about, give me a call, 866-34-TRUTH. If you've read something, heard something of mine that you take issue with, by all means, give us a call, 866-348-7884. I want to bring you some words of spiritual encouragement today, some words of grounding, some words that will be practical on the subject of prophetic burnout.

But before I do that, let me just grab this on my phone here. I got this testimony from a Christian leader who watched my show from, let's see, from Monday, talking about the coming great awakening and talking about pockets of spiritual hunger and outpouring around America and where there's hunger, thirst, openness to the Spirit, Jesus being exalted, people will come, people will come flocking. So, this Christian leader sent me this testimony.

My spirit witnessed greatly with the Lord releasing an awakening and revival worldwide. Some of our team have been out ministering in remote areas. Gives us a name of one couple just returned from revival meetings in Illinois, a town with only 500 population.

Doesn't even have a gas station. Over 120 came out to meetings. Some had traveled for hours. The hunger was at fever pitch. Many were drawn to the heart of God. On the second night, the worship lasted over three hours, and for 45 minutes, all in the meeting kept singing, holy, holy, holy, without instruments. They couldn't stop. They were on their faces crying out to God, it was glorious.

She closed with, Lord, we are desperate for you, only you. God is moving. Things are happening.

Keep pressing in. If you're hungry, if you're thirsty, if you're desperate, if you feel like you hit a wall, let that be the further incentive to press in after God. So prophetic burnout, what do I mean by it? Well, if you're not charismatic or if you don't believe that the gifts of the Spirit are for today, you think, well, some of these people are sincere, some are just loonies, some are charlatans, all these prophecies, it's going to happen, that's going to happen, it's just, it's not real. But many believe based on scripture that the gift of prophecy and prophetic ministry are for today. Based on scripture, they believe that God still speaks and leads in many, many different ways. Nothing is added to the Bible. The Bible alone is uniquely God's Word, period. Nothing is in the same realm as the Bible, the Word of God by which everything is tested. But just as God spoke through history outside of the Bible, he continues to speak today outside of the Bible, if you're praying about relocating to another city to take a job and someone that doesn't know anything about you has a prophetic word and says, I just, as I pray over you, I see the words relocation, major relocation, new job, does that mean anything to you? It's like, yeah, I've been praying about that very thing and feel the Lord wanted me to do that. We'll take this as further confirmation. That's not adding to the Bible, right? We understand that. But for those of us who based on scripture are convinced that God continues to speak today and even based on our own experiences can verify, yes, we've received supernatural leading, supernatural words, given supernatural words.

There's no doubt about that. How are you feeling now? So I was away this past weekend just seeking the Lord in prayer, getting alone in this little place just to go after God for two days and a night. And two days, three nights, I should say. That's the vacation story, right?

You had three nights, two days. So I just got away to pray and seek the face of God. And as I was sensing the Lord leading me and answering some of my questions, the thought hit me kind of out of the blue. Yeah, all this prophetic stuff.

Who knows if it's real. Now, bear in mind, I did not have a false prophecy about Trump or about COVID ending at a certain point. And I never knew if those words were true or not because God never spoke them to me. So I was not in a situation where I had to apologize for failed words, in this case, or say, boy, I blew it and I'm really seeking the Lord about it. And I'm not speaking any prophetic words until I can get to the root of my errors.

That hadn't happened, right? But when you're part of the charismatic church, when you're part of the American church, and there's been so much error in such a public way, there have been so many prominent voices who've gotten things wrong. It kind of soils things for everybody. It makes everything feel wrong. You know, when someone gets up and ministers prophetically, hmm, I wonder, really?

Oh, yeah. There's more skepticism, cynicism. I don't mean for everybody, but for many.

Or you just like, I'm going to step back from that stuff for a while. Whereas Paul says to earnestly seek the gift of prophecy, whereas he says it edifies the body and it speaks to non-believers, whereas Jesus gives the ministry of the prophet to the church, just like the ministry of the evangelist and the pastor, et cetera, whereas all of that is true, we should pursue these things. And Paul writes explicitly in 1 Thessalonians 5, don't put out the spirits far, don't quench the spirit, don't despise prophecies, rather test everything whole fast to the good.

So we're not to despise this, we're not to put out the spirits far, we're to cultivate an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can speak and move freely. And in our own lives, Jesus tells us in John 10 that we as a sheep hear his voice. This is ongoing, not just in salvation that we hear his voice calling us to salvation, but this is ongoing.

It's active ongoing in the Greek. As his sheep, we hear his voice. He leads us and he guides us by his spirit. 2 Corinthians 13, 14 tells us we have fellowship with the spirit. Fellowship is relational. Fellowship is two ways.

Fellowship is communicating and communing. So God was reminding me of that, and then took me back to something, and I felt the spirit ask me a simple question. Were the words that I spoke to in the past accurate? I'm talking about major things in my life, some of the most significant major things in my life. I'm not talking about hundreds and hundreds of things. I'm talking about three or four or five major things that were pivotal in my life, that were major promises that shaped who I am in God today. So not the many smaller leadings and things we sense the Lord saying and insights and things like that.

I'm talking about big things. And I felt the spirit ask me, were those accurate? Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes, amazingly yes, overwhelmingly yes, incredibly yes, God glorifyingly yes, absolutely. God reminded me, well then add faith to the words that I've spoken that haven't come to pass yet. First Timothy 1 18, Paul urges Timothy to fight the good fight, just the fight of faith based on the prophecies that were spoken over him when hands were laid on him. So when Timothy was set apart for ministry, hands were laid on him, something was imparted to him. Part of it was an anointing, a gift that he received with that. And obviously there were prophetic words spoken over him.

This is the overall thing that Paul's referring to as he references this a couple of different times in First Timothy. So based on those words, which over the years have proven to be true words and they bear witness with your heart and they keep coming back when you go to the Lord again and again and again. Even when you're ready to walk away from it, forget it, it's never going to happen, and you pray and it gets stirred again. God wants us to get past the burnout, past the skepticism, past the cynicism, and out of that then produce something in faith that says, God, I take hold of your promise. I take hold of your promise.

Just hope deferred, Proverbs 13, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but the desire when it comes is a tree of life. Yes, you kept your word. You did what you said you would. You kept your promise. Praise God for that he is faithful. What does Paul write in First Thessalonians 5 a little further on? Faithful is he who spoke it. He will do it. Do what?

Whatever he has promised, whatever he has spoken, whatever is in line with his character. Often the best things take the longest. Good things take time. I've often pointed out the gestation period of a mouse from conception to delivery is what, maybe three weeks? And what's birth? Tiny, tiny little creature. It's got to run for its life, its whole life, and how long is it going to live? Maybe two years, maybe, right? The gestation period of an elephant is what, 22 months.

And when that elephant is born, it lands on its feet, it weighs hundreds of pounds, and it lives 70, 80 years and basically has no natural animal predators. So do you want Mighty Mouse Ministries, birthed in a second, here today, gone tomorrow? Or do you want something enduring?

Do you want something that will last? Look, God gives Abraham the promise, first when he's Abraham, then again reiterates when he's Abraham, and it's through his seed, his seed, his seed, his seed, his seed, his seed. That blessing will come to the whole world. And where's the constant challenge?

Seed, seed, seed, seed. It's 25 years from when God speaks it to him, it's 75 to 100 when it's realized. And at that point, it's too late for him and Sarah. She's 90. She can't have children.

It's too late. And how likely is it that a hundred-year-old man's gonna produce children? And yet that's when the answer comes, when there was no natural hope. When that grain of wheat Jesus speaks of in John 12, 24, and 25, the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, that's when it bears much fruit. If it doesn't die, it remains alone. Isaac and Rebecca get married.

Where's the attack again? The seed, the seed. He prays, he gets pregnant. Wonderful. Boom, snap your fingers it happened.

No, no. They get married. He's 40. They have their twins, Jacob and Esau, when he's 60, 20 years, 20 years.

Good things take time. God gives these glorious promises to Joseph at the age of 17. He's immature. He speaks things out he doesn't.

He shouldn't have said, doesn't have the wisdom to hold his tongue. He ends up prisoner in Egypt. He ends up in the dungeon 13 years. His whole adult life, slave, prisoner. And then from there overnight becomes Pharaoh's right-hand man.

And God uses him for the saving of many lives and for the preservation of his own family and people, Israel. So go back to the word, reinforce your confidence. God's word says that these things are for today. Go back to previous words that did come to pass and renew your faith. And then take hold of those promises that you just can't shake. The more time you spend with God, the more they rise up in your spirit. Add your faith to them. Fight the good fight of faith, believing God against all odds because he is faithful. Right back with your calls.

866-344-TRUTH. All subjects warmly welcome today. 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.

Thanks friends for joining us. I do have an article that, maybe let's see, is it out yet? If not, it'll be out next day or two about prophetic burnout. Yeah, so on my website, AskDrBrown.org, there's an article I wrote last night, Are You Suffering From Prophetic Burnout?

So it goes through some of the biblical principles we talked about here, lays out practical steps to overcome that. So it's on my website, AskDrBrown, AskDrBrown.org. And if you don't get my emails, please while you're at the website, sign up.

It'll take you probably 30 seconds, name, email address, and immediately we'll share more of my own background and testimony from LSD to PhD, talk about the three R's of our ministry and all the resources we have to be of support to you. So that will be at AskDrBrown.org. I also just wrote an article, wrote it earlier today, just felt stirred to write it. It's already up on the stream, stream.org, and it is really addressing Demi Lovato in love and it's addressing the nation as she now identifies as non-binary and wants to be referred to as they. So articles are being written immediately about they this and they that.

So I explain why I'm not going to refer to her as they and why my heart goes out to her because she's confused. And it's a cry. It's a call to please as a nation, wake up, wake up.

We are going the way of cultural insanity and cultural madness where perception becomes reality and the sky is the limit. There is actually something that I reference in the article. Again, you can read it now on stream.org, but I referenced it in the article and I found this definition on the urban dictionary. Transvaxite.

It's not a joke. A person who identifies as having been vaccinated, even though they haven't actually been vaccinated, identifies as a transvaxite. Now, maybe someone started as a joke, but it's on urban dictionary.

Here's an example of actual usage. Although I was not born fully vaccinated, I identify as vaccinated. Or in other words, I'm a transvaxite.

So even if someone just started out as a joke, it's like, well, but why not? In other words, a biological male who identifies as a female that everyone refers to as she and then calls Jack by the name of Jane, that's just as unrealistic because biological sex is what it is. If someone is intersex, they have a biological chromosomal abnormality and part of them develops as male, part of them develops as female.

That's a disability just like someone that's blind in one eye or deaf in one ear or someone that's crippled or whatever. They deserve compassion. We have to really pray and work with them and professionals try to help them find out who they really are, find their identity.

But that's not the case with someone who's a biological male or female clearly, definitely, which is all over 99% of the population and now decides to identify as the opposite of their biological sex or as non-binary or whatever. Don't collude with madness. These people need help.

Talking about cultural madness. These people need help. These people need compassion. I identified Demi Lovato as confused and needing God's grace. She opened up about past mental health struggles. Who knows what she went through in the Disney years and what happened to the kids there and some of them suffered all kinds of abuse. Who knows? But in any case, here's a hurting person.

I don't scorn her. I wanted to find the Lord and really experience wholeness and freedom and Jesus. You can read that latest article as well. Okay, with that, with that, to the phones and we go all the way to Anchorage, Alaska. Eugene, welcome to the line of fire. Good afternoon, Dr. Brown. How are you? Doing well. You sound just like Eugene who's normally in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, if my memory serves me right. Yes, sir. That is actually me.

I am on leave visiting a close friend who's stationed here in Alaska. There you go. Hey, memory's still sharp. Go ahead. Yes, sir.

We both appreciate your show, by the way. And so my question, it has a lot to do with man's depravity. I listen to much of the reformers, especially people like Washer, and they do talk a lot about the sin nature of man. And I agree that's something that needs to be discussed often.

If anything, it's not discussed enough, in my opinion. But the way that they seem to speak about depravity seems to be different in how other teachers would speak about man's sin and man's depravity, or original sin, if I'm using that term correctly. And I'm just wondering, what is your view or understanding of man's depravity, and how may your view differ from the typical Christian Reformed view of man's depravity? I'm just trying to kind of sort this out.

Yeah, sure, sure. Of course, I appreciate Paul Washer and his uncompromised, unapologetic stance for the gospel. I do differ with Reformed teaching on total depravity. I agree in saying that human beings cannot save themselves.

If we had a billion tries at it, we could never save ourselves. I agree that human beings in and of themselves will not pursue God. I agree that human beings cannot improve themselves to the point of becoming righteous and holy in God's sight, outside of God's grace and the cross.

So I agree on all of those points. But first, I would say that because we are all created in God's image, and God's life does enliven all of us, and He has written His law on human hearts on some level, in other words, there's conscience in every human being, that sometimes it would feel to me as if Calvinists overemphasize depravity, not recognizing that human beings make good moral choices all the time. I don't believe that's all by miraculous grace. In other words, a guy that breaks into a house and then sees a little child crying and runs out of the house rather than doing something further, he realizes, okay, I can't do this, I can't do this, I shouldn't do this.

Or the guy that in a passion tackles some lady and is about to rape her and she screams and he's like, what am I doing, what am I doing? So he's sinful, but even in the midst of sinning only goes so far that human beings do that all the time. Sometimes you get the impression that every fiber of our being is hopelessly set on evil only, whereas that's not the case in the human race. We are only going in one ultimate direction outside of God's grace, but we do make moral choices every day. And there's some people that make better moral choices than others, and Paul talks about it in Romans 2, that the law written on their hearts, by nature, some people do the right thing.

Not enough to save them from their sins but do the right thing. So I feel that gets underemphasized sometimes by my Calvinist friends. The other thing is, as followers of Jesus, we want to put our great emphasis by recognizing who we are as new creations. Yes, we still have to do battle with the sin nature and consider ourselves dead to it. And on a certain level, when we encounter God in the brightness of His holiness as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, we're undone. We're completely devastated and undone by our wretchedness, and yet the fact is, God's goodness is at work in us.

We're not who we used to be. We are new creations in the Messiah, and therefore in the New Testament, we are called saints. That's the primary way that we're addressed in the letters, saints. So that's holy ones. 1 Corinthians 1 to the holy ones in Corinth called to be holy. So I feel that can be underemphasized as well, and therefore we—yeah, I know Paul writes, in me and my flesh, there is no good thing, but I am not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Paul says that's the goal, to be in the Spirit and then to live lies that are well pleasing to God in the Spirit. So I would say, as believers, we really want to emphasize our new life in the Messiah, being redeemed in Him. We want to renew our minds to those truths, recognize that God's grace is working in us in an ongoing way to empower us to holiness.

And of course Calvinists teach holiness very strongly and believe that God empowers us to holiness, but sometimes, in literature I read in past years, even for believers it seemed to be more of a mourning of how wretched I am rather than more of a rejoicing in the new creation that we are and growing into that. So that would be my take on your question, sir. Thank you for your time, Dr. Brown. I appreciate it.

You are very welcome, and blessings to you and your friend there in Alaska. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to William in Wilmington, Delaware. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, good afternoon. I called before asking for advice. I was attending John MacArthur's church planted here in Delaware. I remember the call.

I remember the call. Yes, sir. Well, I bought the book, I read it, and I'm calling back to recommend it. It's an awesome book.

I do recommend to get a piece of paper, a notebook and a pencil, and take many notes. Hang on, you're talking about authentic fire, my response to John MacArthur's strange fire. Okay, great, great. Oh, yeah, go ahead.

Sorry. Yes, so yeah, just get a notebook and a pencil and take a lot of notes. It's full of, you know, footnotes and full of information, and you are very fair. You are very transparent, very loving. And after reading the book, I love John MacArthur.

He's the man of God, but I just don't have to agree with everything he says. And I'm just calling back to recommend the book. It's awesome.

Thank you so much. Well, William, that's very kind of you to do that. I appreciate that. And look, as you read the book, you know, I honor Pastor MacArthur and appreciate the good that he's done and then strongly differ with his attack on things of the Spirit or various charismatic leaders.

And God is doing so many beautiful and wonderful things around the world by his Spirit. And it's my appeal to Pastor MacArthur. Man, so many charismatic preachers could really learn from you about expository preaching and the importance of the Word and deal with some of the flakiness that's in our midst. It would be so great if you could contribute in a way that would be meaningful.

So hopefully that day will still come. But thanks. Thanks for the recommendation. And may the Lord plant you in a fellowship where you're thriving in the Word and the Spirit. And if you haven't read the book, really think it'll minister to you. Authentic fire is my response to Pastor John MacArthur's Strange Fire. Again, William, 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, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. I have opened the phone lines wide today, 866-34-TRUTH. Tomorrow we'll focus, of course, on Israel, what's happening in the Jewish world.

So much to talk about. Friday again, God willing, open the phone lines wide. But we've done it today, and I'm going straight to the phones, starting with Albert in Val Vosta, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. How you doing, Dr. Brown? I'm Albert. How you doing today? Doing well, thanks.

Hey, first of all, I want to tell you I greatly appreciate you and your dedication and your show and how informative it is, and I'm just thankful for you and pray you continue to do such great work. I have a question about something I saw in Luke chapter 1, verses 5 and verse 36. I know that Jesus is a descendant of David, but it appears he could possibly also be a descendant of Aaron based on verse 5 and verse 36.

I just want to see what your thoughts are about that. Yeah, so we know that Elizabeth and Miriam, Mary, the mother of Jesus, were cousins, right? And we know that she is married to a priest, Zechariah, but in no way does that intersect with the genealogy of Jesus directly. You find that in Luke 3, you find that in Matthew 1, that he's clearly a descendant of David. My understanding is it's best to read Matthew 1 as the genealogy of Jesus through his foster father, Joseph, and Luke 3 as the genealogy through his physical mother Miriam, but they're both through the line of David.

So for many reasons, you could easily be cousins and be two different tribes. That could easily happen, and intratribal marriage was possible, but to suggest that Jesus descends from Aaron would actually be in violation of what's written in Hebrews 7, which says that he came from a different tribe and therefore there had to be a change in the law regarding priesthood. So he certainly functions as a priest, as a priestly king, but I don't believe you can make a case for Aaronic genealogy.

I understand your logic, but I don't think you can make a case for it. Well, I'm not saying he's from the Aaronic line. If you look at verse 5, it clearly says that Elizabeth is a daughter of Aaron.

Now, that's highly more specific than just being a leader. Yeah, priestly, right, agreed. Yeah, she was actually a daughter of Aaron, which is highly, highly specific and highly unusual for the Bible to mention that a woman or mother of a child was that specific.

It's highly unusual. Her name's even mentioned, much less this specific. And then in verse 36, it clearly says that Elizabeth and Mary are related. Now, the King James does say cousin, but most all other...

Right, right, more likely just relative, right. Relative, so we know that she's a daughter of Aaron, and that Mary is related to her. So it just seems to me that it's very possible, if maybe not probable, that that connection is through Aaron. And maybe that's why we're given that much specific information about Elizabeth. But really, yeah, again, I appreciate the logic, but that really explains the ministry of John the Immerser. John the Immerser comes with priestly descent, and he functions in a priestly and prophetic manner in preparing the way for the coming of the Lord, whereas Jesus is exclusively and constantly spoken of as descended from David, descended from David, and then associated with Judah. So that's why I say that it's interesting, but there are many ways that you could be related to someone who is a descendant in the priestly cast, right? In other words, Elizabeth could have brothers, or there could be another sister who marries someone that's not from the line of Aaron, and then that one marries someone else, and so you could easily be related. So you would just need positive proof for that.

And again, this is not only about the genealogy of Jesus, it's also about the genealogy of John, or the background of John. So when you factor that in, that would explain why it would mention that. So I appreciate it. I don't think you make a strong argument for it, but I appreciate you thinking it through, and you may differ with me, but that's my response, okay? Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for the question. I appreciate it. And by the way, I love when people dig like that and ask those kinds of questions.

And I may agree with the thought, I may have to do further research, or I may disagree, but I love those kinds of questions and digging deep and saying, why is this in Scripture? All right, 866-34-TRUTH, let us go to Steven in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, thank you for taking my call.

Sure thing. Hey, I wanted to first, before I say this, is I do believe prophecy is for today. So my question is, or what I'm about to say is, you know, prophetic burnout from your own church leaders about yourself. You know, I'm sure many people have gone through maybe a season or church hurt in the past where your leaders have prophetically said stuff to you to keep being faithful, and something will come out of it at that organization or at that church. And that's kind of what happened with me, where I continued to pray and to believe and trust my leaders in my church about myself and what they were saying about me. And as I was finishing up my internship at the church for the past four years, I knew I was about to propose to my fiancé, and I'm praying to God heavily about finances and wanted to be a good steward of that. And a couple months later, as I'm praying, I meet with an old pastor who was actually from that same church. And he goes, you know, it's funny that you reached out to me because, you know, you've been on my heart recently.

And so at the end of our kind of catch-up meeting, he offered me a job. And so I just wanted to kind of share that testimony, but also kind of the hurt where I had faith and trust from my previous church that I left about four months ago. But not saying prophecy isn't for today, but it just shows, you know, God, he obviously knows a lot more than I did at that time. But looking back, I can see God's hand over me.

Yeah. And Stephen, just just two key points. One, we have to be careful not to put our interpretation on prophecy, that certain things, many in the Bible, but certain things spoken become clearer as they get closer, become clearer once we're in the middle of it. And often we can put our interpretation, oh, it means this, it means this, and we get in the mess. The second thing is I have never been influenced by a prophetic word spoken to me or about me that did not either confirm what was already in my heart or subsequently, as I prayed about it, bear witness with what was in my heart or was so undeniably accurate, I couldn't deny it. I could not imagine making a single life decision just based on someone giving me a word without that being real on the inside of me. When I was reviewing pages of past words that had been delivered to me over the last forty nine years and in that period of time, it's not a lot of personal prophecies that I took the time to write down and felt were that important.

But as I was going through the many pages that have accumulated over forty nine years, there are some things that just kept coming up. People speaking the same word over me, the same word over me, the same word over me. And it's something that burned in my heart, too. I'm going to say, OK, there's something to that. I can't just let that go. So we have to process that rightly. Hey, thank you for calling in. By the way, Bob, just looking at what you commented on Facebook, saying it's not just burnout. You're skeptical.

And in your words, there's not only erroneous dogs around. My younger colleague, Jeremiah Johnson, wrote a book, Cleansing the Prophetic, and I wrote a foreword for his book. And he was talking about all the problems that needed to be addressed in the prophetic movement. And in my book Playing with Holy Fire, I have two whole chapters dealing with unaccountable prophecy and manipulative prophecy and prophesying for money and things like that.

So many of us and there are other voices who have been addressing things for years and years and years. But most prophetic ministry does not take place on TV. And most prophetic ministry is not about the president and the few prominent voices. There were many, but most of them were already in a particular political camp. Many of them came from a certain spiritual background, and it's very easy to see how they fell into a partisan political spirit and prophesied falsely. But the vast majority of prophetic ministry is taking place is just grassroots in a house group, praying together.

Someone with a word to share the gospel, someone in a restaurant, someone while preaching, just saying, hey, I just feel directed by the Lord to speak this. And that's beautiful and wonderful. So I totally understand why you feel the way you do totally, especially with so much of what's been public and prominent. Yeah, I I've said it's the worst deception that I've seen in my forty nine years in the Lord, said that publicly quoted in The New York Times as saying that.

So, yeah, I want to say that to the whole world, secular as well as Christian at the same time, as always, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Don't despise prophecies. Hold fast to that, which is good.

Test everything. Hold fast to that, which is good. So I encourage you to say, Lord, just bring me around the pure and the real. Encourage me with that, Lord. And it's totally understandable where you're coming from.

Totally. But let's let's get encouragement from the Lord. As for the critics, I feel bad for them missing out on the things of the spirit and feeling so confirmed. See how right they are and how loony this whole movement is. I feel bad for them because they're missing out on so much. God has for them. You say, how do you feel when they attack you personally? I feel bad for them because I know God's with me. I know these things I hold to a scriptural and right. And I know that I've I've stood for what's right over the years and called out error. So I get mad at them for attacking me when someone says, here's the latest link or video.

I don't stop and watch the video of the attack. I feel bad for them. And then when I'm praying, I pray for God's best for them. I don't pray, God, show them that I'm right. I say, God, fill them, fill them to the full with your spirit.

Reveal yourself even more powerfully. Lord, make your words so real in their lives. No as prayers I could pray for myself. That's why I pray.

But I do feel bad for them. And and no, not for a split second. When we call for prophetic integrity, we put out our prophetic standard statement. If you haven't read it yet, go to prophetic standards dot com.

In fact, let me just see out of curiosity. After the initial eighty five signers, we have another six hundred seventy one since then. And it's now posted in English, Spanish and Portuguese soon to be posted. In any case, when we put out the prophetic standard statement with a wide affirmation from many different parts of the world and many different parts of the body. The last thing in my mind was that critics would say, oh, wonderful, I'm so glad you're doing another going to mock the whole thing all the more.

So, again, I feel bad for them. But don't worry about the critics and don't worry about the charlatans or those in serious error in terms of don't let that affect your own walk with God. Don't put out the Spirit's fire, don't despise prophecies, test everything, hold fast to the good.

So those have been burned. May the Lord bring you around the field. Beautiful expression of the gift that will greatly bless you.

Be right back. 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 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, we go straight to the phones. Jonathan in Albany, New York, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Thank you for your ministry.

I appreciate you taking my call. My question is about Matthew 23. I think that's right on top of my head. About the terrible of the fig tree and how Jesus said when he speaks, so we've blossomed, you know, that summer is near and likewise this generation must pass away until these things have been fulfilled. And I've seen some claim that that means the generation that saw Israel's birth as a nation in 1948 must pass away until before Jesus received the interpretation of that scripture was fulfilled.

Yeah, so a few things. So Matthew 24 and then you can compare it to Mark 13 and Luke 21, the so-called Olivet Discourse. So Jesus teaching on the Mount of Olives. So let's just look at it in the way that it's often taken that the fig tree represents Israel and that it's speaking about the end of the age and the Lord's return. Now, certainly some of Matthew 24 applies to the destruction of the temple and what that first generation lived to see. But let's just let's just say that this portion is referring to the end of the age and the fig tree represents Israel. Okay, so problem number one with that is based on that people said, well, Jesus is definitely coming by 1988 because the generation is 40 years and 48 to 88.

Well, then no, it's actually Jerusalem being back in Jewish hands. That's 67. So 40 years from 67. Then others have tried to say, well, no, actually a generation of 70 years.

So the thing keeps stretching. Actually, I don't I don't believe that's what it's saying at all. Primarily in Scripture, Israel is not represented by the fig tree a few times here and there, but it's represented by the olive tree like in Romans the 11th chapter or commonly represented as a vine like in Isaiah 5. But fig tree here and there, but it's not a primary representation. All I understand Jesus saying there is just like when you see the fig tree, which is very, very prominent when it's when it's beginning to blossom and then the the the fruit is going to be there, that just like you see that happen and you know, oh, okay, summer is near the same way when you see these things happen X, Y, Z, you know that the end is there. So I don't believe that Jesus is saying the fig tree is Israel. And when you see Israel reestablished, then that means this and that.

Now I would come to that conclusion from other places. For example, Luke 21 24. Jesus speaks of the Jewish people being scattered to the nations from Jerusalem, scattered to the nations until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. So we have seen now the regathering of the Jewish people back to the land Jerusalem now under Jewish control. That's an indication to me that we're getting closer to the end. So I come to the same general idea that Israel being back in the land is of major significance prophetically. I do not believe specifically that Jesus is saying the fig tree is Israel or that you can put a generational stamp on it from this moment until then. It must happen rather when all of the other things spoken of in Matthew 24 are unfolding. The generation that sees all those things, then you know, okay, the end is near.

It's going to happen in our lifetimes. So close but different. Right. Well, yes, sir, that's pretty consistent. Another person I've found helpful in my walk is David Guzik and his commentary.

And I heard him reference the parallel passage in Luke and it says, look at the fig tree and all the trees. Exactly. The take away is basically when you see these, that's the same lines. As always, sir, I appreciate your technology. Thank you, Jonathan.

I appreciate it. And obviously the last thing we're going to do is divide over how we understand this. I'd say two things. It is interesting in Luke 21, look at the fig tree and all the other trees. Now, some will say, well, that means Israel and all the nations. I would say, no, he's just saying, look, fig tree, all these when you see this happen, you know, hey, this is when summer is near.

So, you know, these are the signs. The other thing is Israel is important, very, very important in terms of our understanding of scripture as a whole. Derek Prince said that Israel is like the top button on a shirt.

And if you button it wrong, all the other buttons will be off. So it is important in that regard as well as Jewish people loved by God with promises from the patriarchs. And therefore, as we pray for the world, we pray for the Jewish people as well in their salvation. All right, let us go to our friend fail in Greensboro, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Yes. Hi, Dr. Brown.

Thank you for receiving my call. I'm taking the course in discipleship training. And one of the qualifications for a disciple is that he has to be born again. So I had a question in class and it was when did the disciples become born again? And I looked at Luke 18 verses 31 through 34. And this was the third time that Jesus explained it to the disciples, the 12, that he will keep predictions dealt and his resurrection. But verse 34 says, but they understood none of these things.

This fan was hidden from them. And they did not know the things which were spoken. So I said, Okay, but to go to John 20 22. In that us know that after Jesus resurrection, he went to the 12. Of course, they were hiding from the Jews. And he told them to have peace. But in verse 22, he says, and when he said this, have peace, he breathed on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. So I'm asking you, so when did the disciples truly become born again?

Yeah, it's a wonderful debate, actually. So first question, was anyone born again the way we are before the time of Jesus' death and resurrection? Right. So if so, if that's the case, then if that would be what you believe, then the disciples were just like David or Moses, they could follow God, they could love God, but they were not born again in the same way we were, which is why Jesus says that among those born of women. So in Matthew 11, Luke seven, among those born of women, there's none greater than than John the Immerser, John the Baptist, but he who's least of the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. So is that because we are born again in this way? Hebrews 11, those in the Old Testament period could not be made perfect without us.

There's something where we're joined together. So if no one was born again before the death and resurrection of Jesus, then that would have applied to the apostles. And then either when he breathes on them, John 20, 22 received the Spirit, because earlier he said the Holy Spirit dwells with you, but he'll be in you. Right.

Right. So it was at that moment then that the Holy Spirit comes in them and they receive that new nature. That would be a logical understanding. And then they receive the empowering at Pentecost. Others would argue that Abraham was justified by faith and that's when he was born again and that that that was a common experience in the Old Testament.

We just receive it in greater fullness of the Spirit. But if you believe and here's here's the debate, you know, if you believe, as you said you do, that people were not born again before the death and resurrection of Jesus the same way we were, then obviously that was the case with the disciples. And the logical turning point is what you pointed to in John 20. So it's hard to be dogmatic on it, because remember, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about being born again. Right. Yeah. And so was there some spiritual concept?

He said you should be getting this already, man. You should be understanding this. So that's the argument that says, yes, people were born again in Old Testament times, but they did not have the fullness of the Spirit and full revelation of forgiveness of sins that we have. Certainly, at the very least, we can say this dogmatically fail, is that the disciples before and after the death and resurrection of Jesus were different people.

That whatever they had before, they entered into something new that they had never had after, and that's what we universally call the born again experience. I would say we could make that argument. Hey, thank you, as always, for the call. Keep up your studies and keep asking the good questions. Do I have time for one more call? Yeah, let's go to James in Rogers, Arkansas.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, big fan. Thanks for taking my call.

Just a quick question. What's your thought on Rob Dreher's book a few years ago, The Benedict Option? I believe he's Eastern Orthodox and I read it a few years ago, and I thought, even though I know he's big, saying I'm not advocating isolationism, but as kooky as it's been since 2017 when he first wrote the book, it seems like he might have at least had some point, and I just kind of want to get your take if you'd recommend it, or if you think he goes a little bit too far.

Yeah, I think he goes too far. I love his cultural commentaries. He's one of the sharpest cultural commentators out there from a Christian perspective. I think he's often really exposing the madness of what's happening in the society around us. And in his book, I think he does a powerful job of painting a picture of how we have corporately lost our mind and lost our way here in America.

On the other hand, there is the feeling of retreat, and look, we just have to kind of pull away and regroup, and to me, that's the counsel of despair and the strategy for a certain defeat, that to retreat is to be defeated in that regard. And that if you'll search on my website, just askdreherbrown.org, and type in Dreher, D-R-E-H-E-R, as you know, for everyone else, you'll see a couple of articles that I wrote in response to that, with actual quotes from the book. Now, what's interesting is that he's done anything but retreat, and his newest book about not living by lies is another prophetic wake-up call. So overall, I agree with so much of what he puts out. In fact, a couple months ago, for the first time ever, I interacted with him briefly on email. I don't know if you knew I existed, but we interacted briefly because I find so much in harmony.

But that book, I definitely did not agree with the overall counsel. And to me, more than ever, go out. Go out into the world. Go out and engage. And again, he's not saying don't engage, but go out, make a difference. Have a holy fortress in your home where you pour into your family and your church community. Go out from there. Infiltrate every area of society with the good news of Jesus, boldly, unapologetically, and let the light shine in the darkness. Another program powered by the Truth Network.