Best of Broadcast: The Enemies of Israel

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Does the Torah address the question of abortion? Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to the Line of Fire broadcast. This is Michael Brown. It's Thoroughly Jewish Thursday, which means any Jewish-related calls or questions of any kind, be it Hebrew Bible, Messianic prophecy, modern Israel, Jewish tradition, any Jewish-related calls of any kind, 866-34-TRUTH.

If you are a Jewish listener or viewer and you differ with me and my views about Jesus being the Messiah of Israel, by all means, welcome your calls as well, 866-34-TRUTH. So we started yesterday's broadcast with major, major news from the Supreme Court. Texas had enacted a heartbeat bill basically saying that in most all cases, once a baby's heartbeat can be detected, say about six weeks, that no abortions after that will be allowed. Again, some rare exceptions, but that is the basic law. And it was set up in such a way that it could not be stopped in other state courts as easily as would normally happen because it's basically up to the citizens to enforce this. In other words, if you know of an abortion clinic that is performing abortions for babies after six weeks, then go ahead and report that. So there was an emergency appeal made to the Supreme Court on Tuesday by different pro-abortion groups because they realized the gravity of this. And people scrambling to get appointments into abortion clinics to have abortions because of fear of what would happen. And the Supreme Court had until midnight, Tuesday night central time, so Texas time, until midnight to say, okay, we're going to hear this or we're going to stop this. So let's right now just put this on halt. But they didn't do that.

They didn't do that. So the law went into effect yesterday all over Texas, which means abortion clinics not performing abortions, which means obviously trauma, anger for many women in the state, how could you do this, et cetera. In fact, I have a new article, you can read it at askdartobrown.org or on stream.org where I reach out to all women who say, hey, my body, my choice, you don't have the right to tell me what to do with my body or the baby in my womb or the fetus. So get out of my life and get out of my way.

How dare you, especially as a man, tell me what to do? Well, it's a letter reaching out. It's a letter saying, hey, I am thrilled to see this enacted, but I am burdened by how this hits you and how you are perceiving it.

Would you consider some things? And could you see that I recognize some of your position and here's why I still differ with it. So check out that article, share it with your friends, feminist friends, pro-choice friends, those who'd say, hey, my body, my choice, share the article, I think it'll be helpful and fruitful. Well, the big news today is that the Supreme Court, they had to respond one way or another. In other words, they couldn't just let it sit. So they ultimately responded and said, we're not going to touch it.

The law stays in effect. This is major. And the vote was five to four. Yes, justices Alito and Thomas and the three justices that Donald Trump appointed. This is why so many of us voted for him despite our misgivings about other aspects of his character.

This is massive. Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Coney Barrett all voted with Alito and Thomas and said, we're not going to touch this. Let the law stand. And John Roberts, of course, not surprisingly swung the other way with the three liberal justices. Now, it doesn't mean, in their actual ruling, and Samuel Alito was the one that was responsible for responding, but he did on behalf of the court. In the actual ruling, it doesn't say we're siding with this law or we approve of this or we're making a comment on it, simply we're not touching it. It could be because of the major case they agreed to hear sometime after October when the court gets back in session to begin to address these things, the Dobbs case, which is in Mississippi saying no abortions after 10 weeks, but basically saying review Roe v. Wade, reconsider Roe v. Wade. They've agreed to hear that case, which means that they could either let that stand, which is another blow to Roe v. Wade as today's ruling was, today's non ruling, or they could actually make a stand about Roe v. Wade, which would be even more massive and ultimately things get pushed back to individual states and not stopped at the highest level because Roe v. Wade is on the books. This is major stuff. This is very, very major and it is really the time to pray like never before for the turning of hearts and minds to reach out to people with the reality that that's a baby in the womb, that that's a human being.

The thing that changed American opinion about slavery was the humanizing of the slave to say this is a human being, maybe from a different culture, speaking a different language, different color skin. This is a fellow human being, as human as you are, as created in the image of God as you are. Am I not a human being and you're a brother? We devised a meme. I came up with it in my head and then our graphics people devised this last year.

I happened to spot it. I was reminded of it because I was reading a secular website last night and they had the meme and it said, courtesy of Dr. Michael Brown, they had the meme. You've got the meme that Wilberforce and others use with the slave in chains, am I not a human being and your brother? And then we've got one, the baby in the womb, am I not a human being and your sister? So maybe the Lord will use that to circulate even more.

But today being Thirdly Jewish Thursday, it's important that I updated you on that. And then we go over to the Torah to see if the Torah actually addresses the question of whether the baby in the womb is a human being and is entitled to the rights of a human being or has some type of sub status. Now, in traditional Judaism, as laws developed, the baby in the womb, you might say, is more of a potential human life because it's not yet born. And obviously, if we actually saw people taking children and shooting them in the head and throwing them in a trash can, we would jump on those people.

We'd call the police. In other words, that is fully recognized as murder, whereas we recognize the sin of abortion, but we don't treat it in the same way as murder. So you could say that there's some similarities in our thinking, but ultimately conservative Christians have had an even stronger pro-life view than traditional Jews. Question is, what does the Torah say? So there's one passage that is germane, but it's controversial. So I want to first read it from the NIV and then you'll see a possible other rendering that the NIV gives. Then I want to read it to you from the new JPS version from the 1980s, the leading Jewish translation, and then from the net Bible with explanations.

Let's go first to the NIV. This is Exodus chapter 21, beginning in verse 22. If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you're to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. So what this is saying then based on this translation is she gives birth prematurely.

So that's the problem, but nothing else happens. In other words, the baby is not blinded, the woman does not lose a limb, et cetera. So it's a premature birth, but there's no serious injury.

Then there's just a fine, whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there's serious injury to the baby, to the mother, then eye for eye, tooth for tooth. When you click on the note, the footnote here, so it's footnote E on Bible Gateway, this is what you see, or she has a miscarriage. So if people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she has a miscarriage, but there's no serious injury, that would be saying then that the baby in the womb is not on that same level. The one translation and the one understanding says if the baby's born prematurely, and that's the only loss, there's no other serious loss, then it's just a fine. But if there is serious injury or the baby dies, then eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. The other translation says, no, no, it's just a miscarriage.

That's all. So if it's just a miscarriage and nothing happens to the woman, so she loses the baby, but that's all, pays a fine. So that would diminish the status of the baby, right?

So that's the debate. That's the right translation. The first one would be an argument for pro-life. The second one would be not necessarily an argument for abortion, but it would say the baby in the womb has a different status.

Okay, let's look at the new JPS translation, and this you can find on sepharia.org, and it's got the Hebrew text as well. When men fight and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, v'at suhiladeha, literally, and her children come out. So it's plural. So that's how it's being described. But no other damage ensues. The woman responsible shall be fined according as the woman's husband may exact from him the payment to be based on reckoning. And then it goes on, if other damage ensues, et cetera, the Hebrew word for damage, ason.

So v'hi anatsu anashim v'nakfu ishahav v'at suhiladeha. What does that mean? When men fight, one of them strikes a pregnant woman.

Does it say as a miscarriage results or that she gives birth prematurely? So let's take a look at the Net Bible. You can find this online as well.

All these resources are free online. Bible Gateway that we've been reading from with multiple translations, Sepharia, which gives the Hebrew as well as the English and then multiple other rabbinic sources, many of them only in Hebrew or Aramaic, but many also in translation. And then the Net Bible, New English translation, the NET, also available free online. Let's first look at the net translation. And then after the break, we will look at the net note.

All right. So they understand it. If men fight and hit a pregnant woman, and definitely it should be rendered hit rather than push. If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, then it goes on from there. So the Net Bible is telling you that they understand this to mean premature birth.

And that is different than miscarriage, right? One is baby's life is saved, the other the baby's life is lost. The former translation premature birth is telling you this is a pro-life verse because if anything happens to the baby, then it's eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. The other translation saying miscarriage is only a fine applicable. We come back, I want to look at the note in the net, the translation note. That's the great beauty of this translation that it gives you detailed notes over 60,000 notes explaining the translations.

And I believe their reasoning is correct. I believe we can rightly use this as a pro-life verse. However, any Jewish related question you have or questions on this 866-348-7884. 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. Welcome, welcome to the line of fire on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

I'm going to get to the phone shortly. Also want to look at a passage in Numbers 5 that critics claim is God being pro-abortion. It's quite a bizarre objection, but it's one I've encountered more in recent years than before. Remember to call with your Jewish related questions and comments 866-348-7884. So let's go back to the net Bible here on Exodus chapter 21 beginning in verse 22. It translates, if men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely. And then you see little footnote 51.

You go over there and it says, this line has occasioned a good deal of discussion. It may indicate that the child was killed, as in a miscarriage, or it may mean that there was a premature birth. The latter view is taken here because of the way the whole section is written. One, her children come out reflects a birth and not the loss of children. Two, there is no serious damage.

And three, payment is to be set for any remuneration. The word asson is translated serious damage. The word was taken in Machilte, which is early rabbinic literature, to mean death. Umberto Cassuto, who was the leading Italian Orthodox Jewish rabbi last century, says the point of the phrase is that neither the woman or the children that are born die. But we see among the literature on this, also, excuse me, see among the literature on this, Meredith G. Klein, Lex Talionis, and the human fetus, so Lex Tanaeolus is eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and W. House, miscarriage or premature birth.

Additional thoughts on Exodus 21 verses 22 to 25, and then Shmuela Levenshtam, Israeli scholar, writing on this as well. These are very scholarly comments on this, so I agree with NET that the best way to understand this is not that it's speaking of a miscarriage, but literally, her children. So whatever's in her womb, boy, girl, come out, but there's no serious damage beyond it.

So she gives birth prematurely after getting struck by a man or men in a fight. So I believe we can use this verse to support the pro-life position. We just can't be super dogmatic because of the debate about how to translate it. We can say this is the best understanding, and you can study it to the point that you hold to it dogmatically yourself. When you present it, just realize there's an argument claiming it just means miscarriage, and be prepared to respond to that argument as best you can. Got it? So yes, it is a pro-life verse.

Yes, it speaks of the personhood of the baby in the womb, but no, it cannot simply be used without having good ammunition behind it because objections and questions will be raised. All right, we're going to look at Numbers 5 a little later in the broadcast. Right now, let's go over to Charles in Jacksonville, Florida.

Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, great to be on. Can you hear me okay? Yes, I can.

Perfect. Yes, so I just wanted to talk to you briefly about what I think is one of the most overlooked or unseen prophecies that's in the Old Testament. Go ahead.

And specifically speaking, this is related to the 70 weeks of Daniel 9. Okay. So the first question is, today, as we wait for the Messiah to return, what is, in your opinion, the single most important wall that is for people of Islam faith, Christians, and Jews? Go ahead.

You can answer your question, so I'm not going to try to speculate on where you're going, so you can answer. Go ahead. No problem.

No problem. That's the wall that contains the Eastern Gate. The Eastern Gate, we all believe, is where the Messiah will return.

So that's an intersection of all of these. Well, hang on. Just to back up, why do we all believe that?

Well, you know, that's a great question. I know why I believe it. In the New Testament, it specifically says that Jesus will come down on the Mount of Olives. There will be an earthquake, and it will come in that way, which is through the Golden Gate. All right, so hang on, just because I want to make sure we're staying on solid scriptural ground with each point. So you combine a couple of verses, New Testament and then Book of Zechariah. So New Testament says he's coming back where? The Mount of Olives.

As he left, he's coming back. That's Acts 1, right? Acts 1 doesn't mention the earthquake or anything else like that. So you're thinking to Zechariah 14, correct?

That's part of the gift. Okay, because you referenced the New Testament says. So let's read from Zechariah 14 and see what's written there, okay?

Because remember, he's coming in the clouds, right? That's where it starts, and then to Mount of Olives. So a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided. It goes on with the judgment.

It's going to happen. Verse 3, then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mount shall move northward and the other half southward, and you shall flee to the valley of my mountains. The valley of the mountains. It goes on, right?

Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him, and that day there'll be no light, cold, or frost. So I'm still trying to understand where it says that he's going to enter through an eastern gate or that there's even going to be a wall standing after an earthquake. That's what I think I'm missing.

Okay. So this kind of takes me to the next point, which would be are you familiar with Sultan Suleiman and what happened in the year 1540? I believe so. So just to recap, he was the one who actually rebuilt Jerusalem, including the wall that's standing today. So the eastern gate today is sitting inside of the wall that was sealed up in the year 1540. So that's historical, that's the record, and you can check it out. So my point is, you have Daniel 70 weeks, which you would agree is 490 years, correct? And then you have the wall that contains the eastern gate was sealed up in the year 1540. So what I've found that nobody actually puts together is the year 1540 AD plus 490 years puts us at... All right.

Now this is kind of funny. As he was making his point, he got cut off. I didn't do it, team. We didn't do it. We didn't do it.

So somehow he just got cut off. Okay. So with all respect to Charles not being here, number one, the statement that we all know the Messiah is coming through the eastern gate, I dispute that. I dispute that we all know that, and I dispute that we all know that based on scripture. Now you could go over a passage in Ezekiel and try to argue from there, but even that I would question, because that's Charles trying to reconnect. The bigger issue is that the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem takes place in roughly the fifth century BC.

That has nothing to do with something in 1540. It's what the Messiah will do. All right. Looks like we got Charles back on here. So yeah, we'll just put him on. There we go.

All right. You're getting to your punchline, but I was about to challenge your punchline because that's a prophecy as to what the Messiah did in his first coming, dating back to the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. That's when you start the 490 years until Messiah's death on the cross to atone for our sins, after which the second temple is destroyed.

So why in the world would I want to add 490 to 1540? I would tell you because of the phrase regarding everlasting righteousness and also anointing the most holy. But hang on, let's just back up from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, right? That's when it starts. That's when the 490 years starts. So Daniel 9 25 specifically, that's what I'm referring to where it says, the street shall be built again. And right. But hang on, Charles, we got to be honest with scripture, yes? Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, okay. Let me take 490 years, add it to my birthday and come up with whatever in the world anyone wants to. From the command to restore and build Jerusalem, that's when it starts. That's when the 490 years starts.

That's what's explicit in verse 24, okay? Until anointed one and then it gives a period of seven weeks and then a period of 62 weeks and then a final week. So when is the, what is the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem have to do with something that takes place 1500 years after the Messiah comes in 2000 years after that command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem came forward. So Sultan Suleiman commanded the same thing in 1538. He commanded to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple was built then. That's when the temple was built.

Well, this, this verse, if you're being honest, specifically talks about the street and the wall, correct? Yeah, and, and it, it, the whole verse 24 to 27 speaks of the rebuilding of the second temple which is then destroyed and the work of, of Messiah. Yeah, Charles, just, I appreciate your sincerity, but you can't do this with the Bible and this is a reason that no one is, is putting a date from here, 1540 and then add 490 to that so that gets us what to 2030. Forget about it. With all respect, I appreciate your sincerity, but this has nothing to do with the passage. It's a messianic prophecy about what the Messiah did 2000 years ago on the cross, not something that's going to happen with someone in the 1500s talking about the, some command about streets and walls and no temple rebuilt and no Messiah dying for our sins during that time. There's a reason, with all respect, Charles, I don't like to do this, but with all respect, it's, it's not what the scriptures are saying. That's why no one looks in that direction. Sorry to burst the bubble.

Please take what I'm saying seriously and give it further thought, thanks. 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 friends to the line of fire. It is thoroughly Jewish Thursday and I am joined by a dear friend and coworker of many, many years, Mitch Glaser, who leads Chosen People Ministries based in Brooklyn, but with works around the world. We've had the joy of doing debates together.

He's coordinated them, debates with Rabbi Shmueli, standing room only events in New York City, debates in London and Oxford. We've been together a whole lot of interesting situations and Mitch always has that smile on his face, always confident what God is doing and is about to be leading a major event we want to tell you about. So Mitch, welcome to the broadcast. Thanks for joining us. Well, it's good to be on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday, Mike.

Oh yeah, this was the day for the interview. So Mitch, just a little background before we talk about what's coming next that we want to alert our viewers and listeners to. You are not some hyped up charismatic evangelist jumping up and down on the stage with all kinds of inflated, exaggerated numbers. You're a realist. You've been at this for a long time.

You know, sometimes the best results come little by little by little. But having been involved in Jewish outreach for decades now, really spent almost all your life involved in this, are you encouraged by what you're currently seeing? I'm encouraged on a number of fronts and let me tell you, I may not be that hyper charismatic jumping up and down person, but I really admire those people. Sometimes I wish I was, I wish I was. All right, a little confession there.

Okay. I'm such a New Yorker, you know, Mike, like you. And anyway, I'm encouraged on a number of fronts. Number one, I do see a growing second generation and third generation of Messianic Jewish young people that have their own experience with Yeshua and are on fire for the Lord and they're serving the Lord, not just in full time ministry, but as lawyers and doctors and accountants and bricklayers and you name it. And I get really excited about that. I think that's some of the fruit of the modern Messianic movement that a lot of people in the Messianic movement do not really value or pay attention to, because they're so, so eager to see Jewish people who are older make first time decisions for Yeshua and sometimes they miss the blessing of what's going on with their own children and grandchildren. And I'm in a great position at CPM because we have camps and counselors, which is like a discipleship program for us, and I just, I'm thrilled to see what God's doing there.

Don't miss it. It's really wonderful. And I'm really excited about some of what's going on in Israel. We are definitely, I mean, it's not spectacular, it's not like 5,000 Hasidic Jews in Meir Shearim coming to faith that I know of, besides they're secret believers, if I knew it, that would blow their secret.

But there are some, but I really do see a whole generation. And Mike, I have you to thank for something and I really mean this with all my heart, with all the things that we've done, this was something you did and I wasn't there, but I planned it, paid for it, and wish I was there. And that is, we were trying to train more seasoned Israeli leaders and bring them good Bible teaching and apologetics and so on, so we were going to bring you in, but they're just, the last two things we did with Walt Kaiser and others, the attendance wasn't good. So somebody said, why don't you try the next level down, get the young people in there and the younger leaders. So we went, sent you to the, I think to the Dead Sea, didn't we? And you came and did that retreat with them and there was a whole bunch of them and that turned the corner. Now when it's not COVID, we do a retreat at a hotel and we have maybe 50 people, young leaders. So I have gotten to know these young leaders and once again, we were pioneers without even knowing it. And I've seen these, I've seen these young leaders grow in their faith and they're wonderful.

The third thing, hang on, I just want to jump in before you get to the third. You know, One for Israel is doing an amazing job and our friend Eitan Barr and others, and they've had in terms of their videos that have been viewed, it's over 34 million have been viewed in Israel and Hebrew and Arabic. So it's more than 34 million views. So it's really extraordinary. And Eitan has at the beginning of his apologetics book, a tribute saying that without me knowing it that I was an inspiration to him to get involved in outreach and apologetics. So who knows how many people there are out there that saw your example or got something from CPM or, you know, without even having the direct mentoring contact that provided inspiration. So it's, it is, it's tremendously encouraging.

You know, we're sleeping at night and others are out there on the front lines bringing the message. So very, very encouraging for sure. And that's a very encouraging word to me too, Mike.

You know, you, you just keep your, keep your nose to the grindstone and keep, keep going forward, you know, and not always looking for fruit, but hoping for fruit, not knowing that all around you, the fruit are growing and being harvested and it's exciting. Now the third thing that you've had something to do with, but I can't say much because of the nature of the ministry. But we have seen, and you and I have seen it together, a growing interest of Kharadim ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish people in the Gospel. It's, it's not all the numbers that people would like them to be, including me, but we've seen such great quality.

I mean, among the Kharadim, you have a number of incredible disciples who are sacrificial and knowledgeable and godly. And Mike, you've been ministering to some of these dear, dear precious people, and I have too, and I'm, I'm thrilled to see what God is doing. And I think that as we get closer and closer to the second coming, I think that we're going to see more and more of it.

Yeah, I am, Mitch, to the core of my being, as surely as I'm sitting here talking with you, a hundred percent sure that's going to happen. I know it to the core of my being, and one gentleman that you've gotten to know very, very well in recent years and considers you a dear, dear friend, that was 25 years of prayer before he fully came around. And it was 25 years ago when he was kidnapped for the first time that God spoke to me while ministering in Korea that he was going to make it. And we carry that all these years, and then to see the fruit of it is really remarkable.

So there's good reason for encouragement, friends. And in a moment, I want to get back to a fascinating outreach you did years ago, but specifically we could talk for hours about what we're talking about. We asked you to come on the air specifically to talk about something very important that's coming up very soon.

So the floor is yours. Tell our listeners and viewers about this. Thank you, Mike. On September 10th and 11th, the evening of the 10th, beginning at 7 p.m. and all day on the 11th, we're going to observe and honor the 20th anniversary of 9-11. It is one of the few absolutely transformative events of most of our lifetimes. And I'll tell you exactly why and why we're doing it. First of all, you can go to 911theconference.com and register, and you can attend the conference either online or in person.

In person, you've got to come to New York City online, wherever you are. And so it's a true hybrid event, 911theconference.com. We've got Michael Radelnik, we've got Darryl Bach, Anne Graham Lotz, and Joel Rosenberg taking. And we have participants who were on the ground during 9-11, like me, who were ministering. And we've got FBI agents who are extraordinary believers who are in the pit digging out evidence. And you're going to hear stories, and it's going to be marvelous. And our good friend, Marty Goetz, and his daughter, Misha, will be with us leading the worship. Tom Doyle and his wife, Joanne, who have incredible ministry among Arabs and other Middle Eastern folks.

So they will be there as well. Now why are we doing this? Very simple. The 9-11 hit, and I mean hit, when it exploded into New York City, in that moment, Americans and evangelicals, born-again believers, for the first time, experienced the terrorism that Israel was experiencing day in and day out. If you remember, Mike, this was just at the time of the second Intifada. And so that was when pizza places in Jerusalem, down on Ben Yehuda Street, restaurants were being blown up, discotheques were being blown up, and Americans finally realized that the type of Islamic terrorism that Israel experienced is now something that Americans have experienced.

It changed the playing field. And so we began praying more effectively for Israel and for others in the Middle East. It took a long time for American evangelicals, including me, to get over our anger over what happened. But we started learning that there really is a difference in the Middle East between people, and not everybody's a terrorist, obviously, and actually there are more Arabs and more Muslims who are victims of this kind of terrorism than we would ever imagine. And now we have a different situation because of Afghanistan, and so we'll be speaking to that. We're going to have someone, a U.S. soldier who's a wonderful believer, who served in Afghanistan for many years, he's going to be talking to us about how he feels about what happened. But it's going to be a real time of healing and a real time to honor those who served so faithfully and to honor the survivors of those who perished in this terrible event.

Yeah, and you being right there in New York, obviously directly impacted. We were directly impacted when we got the news that Nancy's brother, my wife's brother, who happened to be at a trade event that day, used to work in the World Trade Center but hadn't for some time, just happened to be there that day. He lost his life that day, leaving behind a wife and two children. You know, Mike, I didn't know that, I'm so sorry to hear that, I didn't know that.

Yeah, and it's just one of those things that didn't even dawn on us. Nancy's sister called and said, I wonder if he was there that day, and we thought, well, does he work there? Yeah, so, you know, the craziness of it, the scarred lives, the scar is still here 20 years later. So, Mitch, just stay on one more moment, want to come back on the other side of the break. We are going to be putting up links on our Facebook page, Ask Dr. Brown, live feed links when this is actually happening, so you can tune in and follow from there as well. But I want Mitch to come back one more time, just give you directions as to how to sign up to be there, and then one last outreach he did I want to talk about.

We'll 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. Thanks for joining us, friends, on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

Michael Brown here. Hey, less than a half hour from now, so 4.15 Eastern time, we're going to be back on our YouTube channel, Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R Brown, on YouTube. We're going to be back over there with our weekly exclusive YouTube Q&A chat, so join me right on our YouTube channel, 4.15 Eastern time. Okay, I want to get back to my dear friend, Mitch Glaser. Okay, Mitch, just once more, tell folks how they can participate in this important event online. Sure, thanks, Mike. So the name of the conference is 9-11 and the New Middle East, because the Middle East has changed, and it's changed again. And so Joel Rosenberg, who just wrote Enemies and Allies, which is a great book, I'm almost done with it, and he'll talk about the Middle East, and Graham Lotz is going to be speaking about God's love for the Jewish people, and Mike Rudelnick from Moody Bible Institute, Harold Bach, Marty and Misha Getz, Tom and Joanne Doyle, myself, and a number of others. We finally didn't invite Mike to something.

We figured he had enough to do right now. Yeah, I felt a little left out, but that's okay. You got the right lineup there.

You got the right lineup. Well, you know, actually, now that I know about your brother-in-law, you know. Anyway, so you can go to 911theconference.com, 911, numbers, 911theconference.com, or just go to the Chosen People website, chosenpeople.com, and you'll see it right on the front page. It's free, we had a registration price, but with all the COVID craziness and everything going on, we said forget it, and so just come and join us, and we'd love to have you with us.

If you're in the New York area, by all means, get over if you can, but everyone else participate online. And by the way, you know, just reading some of Joe Rosenberg's fiction works, they're just extraordinary. I've been telling them how blown away I've been just listening to them, so I just got his Enemies and Allies books, a book, boy, I mean, the right guy for this, and then the Doyles with their work in the Middle East, and Mike and Daryl with their Inside of Scripture, and these others, and the worship, yeah, it's going to be a great time. So Mitch, real quick, I know also, having worked with you for many years, that you only invest money where you feel it's a good investment, you'll give, you'll help with outreach in generous ways, but you want to make sure that there's a bang for the buck, and yet you once took out a full-paid ad in the New York Times, which cannot be cheap, especially years ago, worked with the text of Isaiah 53 for people to read, and then you got ads going in and out of the Lincoln Tunnel, which has what several million people a day go through, whatever the numbers are, and it was just a little excerpt from Isaiah 53, or who is this that died for our sins, just to get that out. Why did you do it? Why was it so important to spend that much money, and of course, I'm sure you got good deals, but to spend that much money just to get out a text of Scripture? Well, number one, we did get good deals, because we have a great guy that we work with, just let me know if you need somebody.

Everybody's got a guy, you know? But the wonderful thing is, number one, it's the Word of God. Number two, it's, Mike and I can tell you that you're going to spend more time trying to refuse this text than just trying to, than just accepting it, you know? And the third thing is, in my anecdotal survey of Messianic Jews, I found out two things, and it's just anecdotal. The passage that led most Jewish people to the Lord was not Isaiah 53, but probably the Sermon on the Mount led more Jewish people to the Lord than Isaiah 53, but what kept them in the faith was Isaiah 53. I thought it would be a good idea, and that's because I figured people didn't know about it, you know?

It's kind of buried in Isaiah. And so I said, you know, what would happen if they found out about it ahead of time? You know? Would more people come to believe? And you know, I haven't necessarily counted, but it's been extraordinary. The other thing I can also tell you, as we're coming up on the holidays, is that I actually have found that if you asked what day did people come to faith, there's been a lot of Jewish people that actually have come to the Lord on Yom Kippur, on the Day of Atonement.

And one would think that would be true, but what you think is true is not always true, but this seems to be anecdotally something that is pretty powerful. And so imagine my combining an outreach using Isaiah 53 all over social media, all over the web, and then doing that, you know, in and around Yom Kippur, because a lot of Jewish people obviously won't open their computers on Yom Kippur, but you could do it leading up to Yom Kippur and afterwards. Yeah. And as we're about to come into the Feast of Trumpets, the sounding of the trumpets, first day of the seventh month on the biblical calendar, but the Jewish New Year in the traditional calendar. So that's what starts Monday night, Tuesday, and then 10 days after that, Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement. This is a ripe time to be thinking about these things. And you know, Mitch, I used to live in Maryland about 15 minutes from an Orthodox Jewish bookstore, became very friendly with the owner and his son. And when you would lead up to these weeks now, for about two months before this, there would be a special table just with books on repentance in Hebrew and in English, because so many Jews would come in, they wanted to especially study the laws of repentance to make sure they were repenting properly, to go before the Lord, to receive forgiveness at this time of the year.

And then, of course, secular Jews will show up in synagogue and think about this, so absolutely the right time. Hey, Mitch, thanks for all you do, and I'm sure we'll be coordinating together on something exciting in the days ahead. God bless, man. Appreciate you.

Oh, you can count on it. And an early shanah tovah to you, Mike. All right, yes, early shanah tovah. Thank you. That is New Year, the shanah tovah.

All right, thanks again to Mitch. So friends, very briefly, just going to switch subjects now and go back to Numbers chapter 5. Numbers chapter 5 allegedly, allegedly is a text in which God somehow sanctions abortion.

It's utterly bizarre, but I want to come back to this because we started the show talking about abortion. Numbers 5, 11, then the Lord said to Moses, speak to the Israelites and say to them if a man's wife goes astray in this unfaithful attempt so another man has sexual relations with her. This is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected since there's no witness against her and she's not been caught in the act and the feelings of jealousy come over the husband.

He suspects his wife and she's impure. If he's jealous and suspects her, even though she's not impure, then he takes his wife to the priest and goes through a whole procedure. Verse 16, the priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord.

Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grand offering for jealousy while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. So we don't know if she's guilty or not, but the husband has these jealous feelings. We don't know if she's guilty. Does it say anything about her being pregnant?

No, not a word. Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, if no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband, here the priest is to put the woman under this curse. May the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your womb so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries, then the woman is to say, amen, so be it. Now the first thing is, even if this does talk about the womb miscarrying, it's a judgment.

It's not a blessing. It's a judgment. It's a curse on a baby conceived in adultery. It's not God sanctioning abortion. It is God bringing this woman and the illegitimately conceived baby in her womb under judgment.

So the child suffers as a result of the parent's sin, just as the child that was born to David and Bathsheba died. But let's just look at this. Let's grab, I'll just do this on my computer here so we won't have this on the screen for you, those that are watching.

Let's just see here, Numbers 5 in the NET. So she drinks the bread of water. The priest puts the woman under the oath, says to her, if no other man has had sexual intercourse with you, then let nothing happen. May you be free from this, but otherwise the Lord makes you an attested curse. The Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell. That's the better translation of the Hebrew. The Hebrew doesn't mention specifically womb miscarrying.

Better to translate your thigh swell. So it's not even talking about in the best understanding of the Hebrew. It's not even talking about the woman miscarrying. Even if it was, it's a divine judgment. It's not a positive thing. It's a negative thing. It's a judgment for adultery.

However, if I was just reading the Hebrew on my own, I wouldn't be thinking about womb miscarrying. I'd be thinking about the thigh swelling, that something physical is going to happen to her, and it's, oh my, look at this. Look at her. Look at what happened to her body.

It's getting distorted or swollen. She did commit adultery. It is a curse. That's what it's talking about. The fact that people used to say, well, God's pro-abortion, like, what in the world are they coming from? So let's be faithful to the word and not read our ideas into it. But let's get on our knees and on our faces and say, Lord, we honor and respect your word and revere you, the author of this word. Hey, friends, join me in 15 minutes on YouTube. Our YouTube channel is AskDrBrown, A-S-K-D-R Brown, and I'll spend 45 minutes to an hour just answering your YouTube questions. Back with you shortly. A-S-K-D-R.