Dr. Brown Tackles Your Internet Questions

The following is a pre-recorded program. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Let's do it. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Friends, Michael Brown here. Thrilled to have this time to answer your questions. Today, I'm going to be answering questions from Instagram and Twitter. So our Instagram account, if you don't follow us there and you're on Instagram, it's drmichaelbrown. There's no middle initial there. drmichaelbrown.

So like Dr. drmichaelbrown. That's on Instagram. On Twitter, add the middle initial L. So with both at drmichaellbrown, drmichaellbrown on Twitter. Okay.

So let's start here on Instagram. S. Chad, do you still recommend the TLV Bible and do you recommend Hebrew, Greek, English, Interlinear Bibles to folks? Yes, to both. The TLV is the Tree of Life version. It's the first Messianic Jewish translation done by a group of scholars and Messianic Jewish leaders and hence was a team effort and really sought to convey the Jewishness of the gospels and the overall Hebraic feel of the biblical text but without making it kind of inaccessible. There's one translation into English that was done for ultra-Orthodox Jews and it's a mix of like Hebrew and English and things like that. So that was not the goal for this.

The goal was that this could be used in preaching and teaching. So I absolutely recommend it. That being said, like any translation, especially a first edition, well, can improve over the years. That's why you see multiple editions. There are multiple editions of King James over the centuries, right? With English changes and things like that. Multiple editions of the NIV or the NASB and things like that.

So perhaps in the future, there'll be another edition that will be even better. But yeah, when someone signs up and becomes a torchbearer, one of our monthly supporters, one of the things we send them is a beautiful TLV Bible. As for interlinear, yeah, they're really helpful because you can see, all right, here's how this Hebrew word is translated. Here's how this Greek word is translated.

It gives you an idea of things. Now remember, any translation from a foreign language into English or English into a foreign language is not going to be word for word exact equivalent because you have ways of saying things that are different. I remember learning Arabic and to get closer to, you would literally say get closer from, right? And it was like, why did you say it like that? If I say to you in Hebrew, I'm on the radio and I use that.

That would mean I'm sitting or standing on top of a radio. The way you'd say it in Hebrew is I am on the radio. But it's literally in when you say it in Hebrew.

So you're never going to find the exact word for word because you're going from one language to another. But those are very helpful. Also, almost all good Bible software that you have, you can have an English version and hover over the English and it'll tell you this is what the Hebrew is, this is what the Greek is.

But that's very, very helpful certainly for those purposes. All right, let's see here. Yeah, John, the text that I posted on Instagram was Psalm 91. Unfortunately, I wrote under it and read, do you have a Bible question and posted that picture, but it cut off some of the text here. So it just says, do you have a Bible quest?

All right, Nathan, why did David say Selah in the Psalms? Scholars are not sure. We're not exactly sure. The most common ideas are either it's a pause or it's a musical notation. But we don't know for sure.

When people make whole doctrines out of it and preach whole messages out of it, et cetera, they are standing on a very, very narrow foundation or very, very unsteady foundation to make whole messages out of it or whole truths out of it. But we don't know for sure. You can check the most up-to-date scholarly lexicons that have looked into every possible option and background and all of this. We're not sure.

Could be pause, could be musical notation. Beyond that, we don't know. Albert, what did Jesus mean when he said it is finished and how can we know?

We can know very easily by looking at the context. In John the 19th chapter, it says that, in fact, let me read it to you. John chapter 19. So it is finished, his words on the cross.

What did it actually mean? And I've heard, well, if you go back to, he said it in Hebrew, it meant paid in full. If you go back to Aramaic, it meant this or that. Well, it says, John 19, 30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now, there's only one other time in the entire Greek New Testament that those exact words are used or that exact form of the Greek, it is finished, is used, okay? So the Greek form that's used there is used just two verses earlier. John 19, 28. After this, Jesus knowing that all was now finished, the exact same form in the Greek, the same verbal form, okay? Here it is used again, now just a few verses later.

So what's the point? He finished everything that had to be done. He accomplished everything that had to be accomplished. He knew it was done, now he declares it on the cross, it is finished. I have done everything you gave me to do for the redemption of mankind. I have fulfilled everything you have given me to do, it is finished. To me, there's no debate as to what it actually means because it says in two verses earlier in the exact same form of the Greek to Telestoy that it is he finished everything that had to be done, now he says it is finished as he dies on the cross. There's often controversy over it.

I don't think there should be any because we have that exact same form two verses earlier and only there in the New Testament. Tony, how does a Christian deal with the death of a family member who they believe died unsaved? How do we accept and be at peace with this?

Okay, number one, it is a weighty, weighty thing and I don't wanna minimize this, I don't wanna give you a cheap answer. As a Jewish believer in Jesus, this is something I've had to deal with with loved ones passing away as far as I know did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. They heard the gospel and they did not believe and then what about previous generations of my people? So this is something many of us have to deal with.

Oh, it's wonderful when someone dies and you know they've gone to be with the Lord, you're rejoicing, they're with the Lord, praise God. But in many, many other cases, we don't know and in some cases, according to everything we know, they died rejecting Yeshua. So what do we do with that? First thing is, if you don't know for sure, don't draw conclusions. In other words, don't say to yourself, well, they're definitely lost etc. If you don't know, if you weren't around them the last months or years of their life or if they'd heard the gospel and maybe they had an opportunity to receive the Lord's mercy, we don't know for sure. But what if it is the worst case scenario?

What if they are lost? What if that means forever separated from God? How do you live with that?

How do you deal with that? When my father passed away suddenly, October 1st, 1977 at the age of 63, he was reading the New Testament. He would go to church and hear me preach. I remember him saying, Michael, just what am I going to feel something and I read in the New Testament.

I thought, okay, great, God's at work. And then suddenly he was gone. So jarring, agonizing. Any of you that have lost a parent that you were close to, especially suddenly like that, you know, the pain of it.

He was just 63 years old. But I wrestled, I agonized. And ultimately, what I said was this, I know the goodness and the mercy of God. And I know the perfection of God.

I know that he will not do anything that is not perfectly right and good. And therefore, if I could see face to face, if I could see God, and see Final Judgment Day, hoping for mercy, hoping for mercy for my father, hoping even that as as Jesus said, whoever receives you as he sent his disciples out, his emissaries, right, whoever receives you receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. That if, if, if he was if he was a believer, because he received me as a believer, if there is mercy there, wonderful, glorious.

If he received the Lord in his last minutes, wonderful, glorious. But I had to say to myself, even though I love my father dearly and deeply, I trust my Heavenly Father. And I know whatever he does is good and right. And on the day I stand before him, whatever he shows me, the reality is, I will know it is good and right.

That's what I concluded. And that's what I've lived with ever since then, almost 50 years later, that that deep sense of I trust God. And whenever he does, it's good and right. And he's faithful. And he's as merciful as he is just, and therefore I can trust him. Now, do I believe that unsafe people are being consciously tortured forever and ever and ever and ever? No, I don't understand scripture to be saying that, that they are tortured forever. They are eternally separated from God.

They are forth for the eternal life, and will come under severe, horrific judgment. There's clear on that, and I don't deny that. At the same time, I know that what God does is consistent. The righteousness of God, the judgment of God, is ultimately consistent with the cross as well. Of that, I am sure.

Okay, last point, last point. We should, though, ask the Lord for a greater burden and greater wisdom and greater compassion to share the good news with others. We should ask God to show us how lost people are without Jesus Yeshua, the Messiah. We should ask God to deepen our love for those who don't know him. Deepen our burden to reach them. Give us more opportunities, not in an obsessive way, where if I have to witness every day, I've got to talk to people every day, and people I'm supposed to know, Lord Jesus, I just have to get up and breathe every day. No, that's not the burden of the Lord. That's not the leading of the Lord, and it's ultimately gonna drive you crazy and bring very, very few people to the Lord. That being said, most of us, especially in the West, have a limited burden for the lost.

Most of us can just go around people who don't know the Lord and be around them all the time and hardly even think about it. So it is good to say, God, burden me with your heart. I've prayed this God knows how many times.

God, pray to get now. Break my heart with the things that break your heart. Shatter my indifference. So let that be a prayer. And then also be filled with praise. Lord, you're good, you're merciful, you're compassionate, and you are a righteous judge. And we can trust your judgments because we know you're not cavalier. We know you're not temperamental.

We know you're not mean-spirited. God, everything you do is good, and therefore I will worship you in good times and bad. I will worship you when I understand. I will worship you when I don't understand. I will love you no matter what.

I will serve you no matter what because you are good. It's not cognitive dissonance. It's not denial of reality. It's encounter with reality that makes us safe.

Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire. You've got questions, we've got answers. I'm answering your questions that were posted on Instagram. That's at Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. Michael Brown on Instagram. And on Twitter, that's Dr. Michael L. Brown, Dr. Michael L. Brown on Twitter. Okay, before I get to your questions, I just want to share with you one more time this really fantastic supplement from TriVita called Nopalea. If you missed the interview with Dr. Paul Burnett on Monday, please go back and listen to it. It'll give you understanding about chronic inflammation, the dangers of chronic inflammation, and the benefits of Nopalea, which I'm using myself. You've heard endorsements from other friends that have used it as well. Say, Dr. Brown, what are you doing? Are you a salesman?

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Again, no Pelea. All right. So with that, we go back to the questions. This is from Catholic Dad on Twitter. In what ways do you disagree with the Catholic concept of initial justification of believers as outlined by the Council of Trent below? All right, Catholic Dad, I'm going to read what you posted and respond exactly to that. I am not James White, my friend Dr. White, who has debated Catholics and done much in-depth study on Catholicism. I'm simply going to respond to what you posted and whether I agree with it or not.

Okay. So chapter eight of the Council of Trent, in what manner it is to be understood that the impious or impious is justified by faith and gratuitously. And whereas the apostle saith that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that sense, which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church hath held and expressed to it, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all, justification, without which it is impossible to please God and to come into the fellowship of his sons. But we are therefore said to be justified freely, because that none of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works merit the grace itself of justification, for if it be a grace, it is not now by works. Otherwise, as the same apostle says, grace is no more grace. So just responding to those words, not larger Catholic doctrines that I'm not an expert in Catholicism. All right. I have Catholic friends that are co-workers on the front lines of many key issues in the Lord.

And then of course, we have our areas of strong difference. I agree with everything there with one question more. Where it says that faith is the beginning of human salvation doesn't mean that someone is genuinely saved by faith, genuinely justified, genuinely forgiven, genuinely transferred from death to life, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. At that moment of truly trusting in the Lord that they are saved, forgiven, that their sins are washed away, that their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, whatever you want to add to that. And now they're called to grow in sanctification. They're called to a life of good works. If that's what it means, I agree with it 100%. If it means that that's the first step, now they have to do certain works in order to enter into salvation or they have to reach a level of sanctification to enter into salvation.

No, of course I differ with that. Are we called to sanctification? Absolutely. Are we called to good works? Absolutely. Should we prove our repentance by our deeds? Absolutely. All right. But it all depends on the meaning of beginning of human salvation. So just responding to that directly, I absolutely agree with it. If by beginning it means you're saved, you are now born again, you are now a child of God, freely justified by grace, now grow. Now live that out. Now prove your repentance by your deeds. But if it means that step one, step two is certain good works or certain Catholic rights or certain deeds of contrition and then you're all the way in, then I would differ. All right. Let's see.

G. Maldonado. Is only Sunday the Lord's Day? I don't know where the concept that Sunday is the Lord's Day comes from. I think that every day should be the Lord's Day. So the church service should be every day. Okay.

A bunch of things in the question. Number one, the term Lord's Day found in Revelation, the first chapter has been interpreted by the church for centuries as meaning Sunday. But there are some scholars who have argued that it actually means Saturday Sabbath. And there's an argument both ways. Certainly when John was writing the Lord's Day at the end of the first century in the book of Revelation, it's unlikely to me that it meant Sunday at that point in history, that that was the day marked as the Lord's Day in a distinct way and was now set apart from Saturday Sabbath.

It's possible, but I'm not convinced of that. It could also mean the Lord's Day there in Revelation one, it could simply mean the day of divine visitation. And that's all that it's really talking about.

So that's debatable. But your larger question, Sunday was never set aside in the New Testament as a special holy day. That developed in church tradition over centuries, and then was codified by the Catholic church in the fourth century that Sunday was the new Sabbath.

All right. But it's not in the New Testament. And God never commanded the Gentile believers to have the seventh day as a rest day. It's something they could have learned from Jewish believers, but it was not a command. That was a sign that God gave to Israel. So Romans 14 is your principle here.

Forget everything I just said. If you weren't following it, Romans 14, read it over. For one person, this is a special day. Sunday is a special day set aside to God. Saturday is a special day set aside to God. For another person, every day is set aside to God the same way. Honor one another's convictions, don't judge one another, don't condemn one another, but honor one another's convictions.

All right. And go from there, recognizing that each one is doing this as unto the Lord. As for having a church service, that's what makes the day holy. That's wonderful to do, to come together to worship, to pray on that day because it's a day of rest from other labor. But every day should be holy in that sense of our lives devoted to the Lord.

All right. Let's see. Truth seeker, explain why the father repeatedly declares himself to be the only person who is Yahweh excluding anyone else, Jesus.

Where does that happen, truth seeker? Show me once. Where the father, speaking in the Old Testament, as the father, as Yahweh, right, because you have the name Yahweh in the Old Testament, says that I alone am God and no one else. I alone am Yahweh and no one else. Show me.

It's not there. It's Yahweh saying I'm God and no one else. Right? So the question is, who is Yahweh? Yahweh is father, son, and spirit.

Right? Yahweh is the father, Yahweh is the son, Yahweh is the spirit. One God, that's who he is. His name is Yahweh and he is father, son, and spirit. So you just read something into this saying it's the father.

Right? It's the father who made this statement. You know, in Isaiah 45, when God says that to him every knee will bow, to him every tongue will confess. Paul takes that in Philippians 2 and applies that, every knee bound to Yahweh, every tongue confessing that Yahweh is God, and applies that to the lordship of Jesus. And says that's to the glory of the father, that every knee will bow to him and every tongue will confess that he is the Messiah and the Lord.

So yeah, you've misread the text, you've read something into it. J. Jacobs, hello Dr. Brown, is it safe to assume that every use of the term in Hebrew, acharita yamim in the Tanakh is a reference to the season immediately preceding Jesus' return? No.

No. Acharita yamim can be after. We have acharita yamim in Isaiah 2 is after his return. Sometimes acharita yamim can just mean distant days from now, and sometimes the period before his return. Yeah, the last days there.

But certainly not only that, for sure, absolutely. Welcome back, friends, to the Line of Fire broadcast. If you don't get my emails, go to AskDrBrown, askdrbrown.org. AskDrBrown.org.

Sign up today. This way we can be in touch with you, tell you more of my own story from LSD to PhD, the three Rs of our ministry, and how we can help stand by you, equip you. It's our commitment to infuse you with faith and truth and courage so you can stand strong and fulfill the things God's given you to do. That's why we're here.

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All right, I'm gonna go back to questions on Instagram that were posted for me. Mike, what have you found is the most effective way to reach Jews who haven't trusted in Jesus and Muslims. That's out of prayer because I know that is extremely important.

It's a massive question, Mike, and I'm gonna answer as simply as I can. First, for both Jews and Muslims, prayer, yes, build relationships. Take a genuine interest in someone's well-being as a believer and not in a hidden way. In other words, you're not hiding the fact that you're a follower of Jesus, and then six months after being friends, you say, oh, by the way, I believe in Jesus. And it's also, that's not to be the first thing you say, by the way, I'm a Christian. But build a relationship. Care for someone, not just as someone to win to the Lord, but as a fellow human being with needs and ups and downs and things like that.

Build a caring relationship as you're able, all right? Now, I am far less expert in reaching Muslims than Jews, so I wanna concentrate on reaching Jewish people. Remember that the great majority of Jewish people that you meet in America will not be religious Jews.

In other words, they are not praying three times a day, they are not strictly obeying the dietary laws, they are not strictly keeping the Sabbath. Most of them are fairly nominal in terms of their Judaism. Still, there is the deep concept that Jews don't believe in Jesus. So you want to realize that this person you're dealing with probably hasn't read the Bible much, you're probably more familiar with scripture than he or she is, you're probably more devoted to religious faith than that person, and yet they do feel being Jewish is important. So you share your testimony with them, you demonstrate the reality of God working in your life and the beauty of experiencing forgiveness of sins and a transformed heart, and then ask questions about what they do believe, if they do, some are gonna be atheists.

If they do believe in God, do you believe in what the scriptures teach? Then you can begin to, when you're talking scriptures, you can begin to talk to them about what's written in the Old Testament about the Messiah and start to show them some of the Messianic prophecies. You say, I don't even know where to start. Go to my website, realmessiah.com. In fact, send them if they have questions, realmessiah.com. Look at the debates I've had with rabbis, look at the seven secrets or seven keys of Messianic prophecy, all free material on realmessiah.com. So go there, check that out, and sharing Messianic prophecies are effective. Ask them, do they know about Jesus being a Jew? Do you know that Christ means Messiah? Are you aware of those things? Yeshua's mother was named, his name was Yeshua, and his mother was named Miriam.

No, I didn't know that. Hey, look at what he says, read the Sermon on the Mount together, and show them his Jewishness. And then the other thing is, this is a sinner like everybody else.

Jews sin the same as Gentiles sin, right? We all fall short of the glory of God. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, and even say, hey, let's look at the Ten Commandments, and how you're living, and begin to show them a need for the Savior.

Coffee with scripture. In 2 Kings 5, 18-19, after Naaman was healed of leprosy, he asked Elisha to pardon him for bowing in the house of Ramon, and he told him to go in peace. What are your thoughts on the prophet Elisha appearing to not correct or rebuke him for bowing to a false god after receiving his healing and proclaiming God's authority? He was a Gentile. He was not part of the people of Israel. And in his service to the king, he was required to do this particular thing, but he was saying, it's not going to have any meaning. And Elisha, I believe, spoke with wisdom and said, go ahead, because that was not actually the issue. I know, for example, the Christian leaders in India, because they are leading in India, they are leading mainly Hindu people, and they may have to participate in various things, like, you know, here's the dedication of a Hindu temple, and they're required as government leaders to be there.

Remember, they pledged to be the leaders of the whole people. Now, they, as understood, they are not Hindu. It is understood they are not worshiping that deity, but they are simply going through an outward ritual. In certain cases, it can be done, and there's nothing to it.

Look at it like this, a little different angle. If you're a follower of Jesus, you're careful with what comes out of your mouth. You should be, in terms of your tongue. And we don't use profanity if we're followers of Jesus. Well, who defines profanity?

Well, it's pretty well defined by laws. In other words, certain words you can and can't say, and you know, public TV, certain hours, words can and can't be said. We know what's a profane and what's not, the basic ones, right? So you don't use profanity. I don't like hearing profanity. If I have my choice, maybe I'm watching some historic documentary to gain information and there's some profanity in it. Okay, I don't like it, but it's there.

But maybe you're at work, everybody in your job uses profanity from morning till evening. Well, you don't like it. It's nothing you're doing.

It feels a little defiling. It's like you say, okay, it's just words. It's ultimately just words, it's just sounds, and you live with it. So anything that ultimately calls you to compromise, anything that calls you to act in a way that is compromising your own convictions before God, you can't. And it could be that after a time, Naaman had to tell his master, I'm so sorry, I can't do this and I'll suffer the consequences. Maybe Elisha was dealing with him just as a babe, but it was because it was just some outward thing he was doing and Elisha understood, okay, there's no heart behind it, no big deal.

That's my best understanding there. E. Martin, what in your view constitutes God violating someone's free will? It seems to me that God can use pretty strong means to get someone to do something without violating their free will, pointing to Acts 9, the salvation, radical transformation of Saul of Tarsus. So let's understand first that God being God has so much at his disposal and understands us so well that without messing with our free will, technically, he could set things up in a way that 100 times out of 100 we're going to respond a certain way and he knows us and those are the free choices we're going to make. So in that sense, he could get us to do whatever he wants us to do at any point, at least to within limits, simply by being God and frail little human beings.

I mean, he can set things up in such a way, just like a master chess player with a novice chess player sets up traps and the person freely makes their choices only to get checkmated very quickly. I believe God in his ethic will not simply do that just to get programmed results, because ultimately, he wants us to love him freely. At the same time, he will give us over to our sin, he will harden us in our sin, he can do that. There are times when he will work so as to carry out a particular purpose and someone will make a foolish decision in order to carry out that purpose.

However, here's fundamentally what I believe. I do not believe that God will cause us to go against our fundamental desires and ethics before him. In other words, if he gives someone over to make a foolish, sinful, destructive decision, it's because that person was already acting foolishly. It's because that person was already rejecting wisdom, or they had already stepped out into serious sin, and in stepping out into serious sin, now God was further giving them over to him.

I don't believe he would take someone who prays for hours for wisdom, who meditates on the word asking for wisdom, and then simply because he needs someone to make a foolish decision, would harden that person to do it. So a Pharaoh that God hardens and check my website AskDrBrown.org or our YouTube channel, AskDrBrown. Check it out for videos on the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Probably if you just search for Pharaoh or hardening, you'll see I've got a shorter one, and then one where I put the Hebrew text up. But you'll see that Pharaoh repeatedly hardens himself before God takes him deeper. Three different Hebrew verbs used, each one further than the one before it, that God takes him deeper in the hardening process. Elijah. Hi, Dr. Brown.

I'm a college student. I'm leading a group of friends in a study about how to hear God's voice in prophecy this semester. Do you have any advice on how to practically run a prophetic meeting? None of us have much or any experience personally, but we're convinced that the scriptures tell us to eagerly pursue spiritual gifts. Any advice you can offer on how best to run this group would be much appreciated. We're all a bit intimidated in starting, but are trying our best to be discerning and seek wise counsel. Thank you.

Well, good. You're on the right track by seeking wise counsel. That is a good place to start. So I would encourage you first in your seeking of wise counsel to see if you can get anyone to give oversight who is more experienced in these things in the Lord. Either a faculty member that is full of the Spirit and flows in these gifts or understands prophecy better, or an older campus mentor, someone you could find, anyone that can be of help would be great. If that's not possible, I'd encourage you to get a book that you read through together, a practical book, a book on how to hear the voice of God. There may be some books by James Goll, G-O-L-L, written on that that you find helpful. So read it through together.

Some of them will have practical steps that you can take. And then make clear, we're seeking to grow in hearing God. We're not running around the campus saying, thus sayeth the Lord, and making proclamations and declaring the end of the world. We're seeking to grow in hearing the voice of God and being able to speak as his people, as his children. And Paul does say to eagerly pursue the gift of prophecy. And there's not a verse in the New Testament that ever tells us to stop eagerly pursuing that. So I will continue to do that and continue to encourage others to do that until Jesus returns.

Alright, so you say, well, what do we do then? Well, it could be that you begin to pray in journal. I really sensed the Lord was saying this. Maybe you pray, Lord, will you share anything with me for someone in the room here?

Maybe there are 10 of you in the room. And you say, okay, as I was praying for you, I just kept seeing a picture of like your father. I guess it was your father. And he's crying. And does that mean anything? It's like, oh, yeah, my mom just died.

And my dad's been having a hard time. It's like, wow, okay, that meant something, right? Or, you know, the, the, I felt directed to speak this to you. Does it have any meaning? You know, and it's strange. I just had this image and, wow, that's amazing. It's exactly, now you start to grow. And I think, okay, I'm hearing a little bit more clearly.

And then they build your faith to speak a little bit more strongly as well. Alright, we'll be right back. I'm going to jump back over to Twitter and take a bunch of your Twitter questions in the last segment. Remember, get my emails at AskDrBrown.org. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us as we're answering your Instagram and Twitter questions.

Today I'm going back to Twitter at Dr. Michael L. Brown, Dr. Michael L. Brown on Twitter. Alright, let's see here. Brad, explain why you support the most destructive Christian doctrine of this age. There's a video attached, which I'm supposed to watch, with some bowing down to some idol, a moech deity with a Jewish star next to it. So, Brad, the very post of that is actually quite offensive and I can't take seriously. If you have a genuine question, then ask, what do I think of a particular doctrine?

I'm not going to take the time to watch your video, especially one that seems to be antisemitic just on the surface of it. Feel free. You have a legitimate question.

Go ahead and ask it. Stuart, is a tribal group or person living on the earth, has never heard the gospel, will they automatically go to hell? No one automatically goes to hell, but I understand what you're saying. Can we be 100% sure that every one of them will be lost and separated from God for eternity? We assume they are lost.

In other words, human beings outside of Jesus are lost. But is it possible that they have responded in some way to the revelation of God they've had? It's possible.

It is possible. There are many testimonies through the ages of this happening, of missionaries going to share the gospel and someone had a certain simple foundational knowledge. Remember in Acts 19, Paul is talking to believers in Ephesus, but they only heard about Jesus through John's baptism. So they didn't know the full story of his death, his resurrection, everything that had transpired. So Paul had to tell them the rest.

So this can happen. Abraham, as Abraham, believes the gospel. Galatians 3 believes the gospel. And I believe the seed of it was when God said, through your seed, the whole earth will be blessed.

Abraham believed that. So someone may have responded to the revelation of God in nature. Jesus says, John 12 32, if he's lifted up, he'll draw all people to himself.

So I believe the Holy Spirit is actively drawing. And it could happen that someone has come to a certain foundational knowledge where they can put their trust in this this one true God who's different than the other gods and the other gods aren't really gods at all. But obviously, we send missionaries because 99 point whatever percent of the people that's not going to apply to God knows the exact percentage.

And they're missing out on the riches of God's salvation. Do I believe that there's another chance they get after your death? No, not as I understand scripture. I do not see scripture saying there's another chance after death. Do I believe in some type of purgatory where they can somehow be redeemed and purged and pay for their sins?

No. But God knows the fate of every individual on the planet and God is just and fair. Andrew, some folks believe that the millennial reign of Christ is literal 1000 years, others that the 1000 years is symbolic. Some believe it's a future event others that we are in the millennial reign of Christ. Now, what is your understanding from the Bible? My understanding is that it is literal and future that yes, Jesus is ruling reigning in a spiritual way. But Revelation 20 makes clear that that rain either 1000 years literal or 1000 years symbolic is marked by the binding of Satan, so he can no longer deceive the earth. So certainly as deceive the earth in the past, he's deceiving the earth to this moment.

Peter says in First Peter five, he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Jacob James four tells us to resist him steadfast in the faith. There are other warnings in the New Testament about spiritual warfare, the battle that we're in Satan's activity, he is absolutely not bound right now. And to just say, well, it just means bound so we can't deceive the nations for final end time revolt.

No, that's that to me, with all respect to my millennial friends, that is absolutely special pleading. Is the kingdom of God something that we can bring about through the gospel? No, ultimately, the kingdom of God extends through the preaching of the gospel. But when Jesus returns, there will still be much wickedness on the earth. He will fulfill the promises he gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he will fulfill the promises he spoke through the prophets.

Read Acts chapter three, beginning in verse nine, where Peter says that Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for the restoration of all things as spoken by the prophets in Revelation the 20th chapter, six times 1000 years is mentioned. So I believe there will be a literal kingdom on the earth. It'll be a time when Israel will be a light to the nations where all nations will stream to Jerusalem to worship the only true God and to learn of his ways. At the end of that time, Satan will be loosed as he's bound during that time he'll be loosed. And that's will be a final rebellion.

You see, why would that even happen? To me, one reason is that God is going to demonstrate human depravity. In other words, in a world where God is accessible in a world where there is instant dealing with injustice and things like that, where the Messiah is ruling and reigning over a paradise time where the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the seas, that even after that, when given the choice, many will rebel. And that is God's ultimate way of demonstrating his righteousness and human sinfulness. And I'm sure there are other reasons in God's heart for it.

Let's see here. Mr. Bates, how do you reconcile faith and reason given that faith is defined as the evidence of unseen things and reason is the ability to understand and relate concretes or abstracts that one may not necessarily see? So, in short, I would say that as people of faith, our minds are renewed accordingly. When we therefore make certain choices, we reason in a certain way that is different than someone without faith. In other words, if God is who he says he is, then it is reasonable to read the Bible in that light.

If God is who he says he is, and the word is true, then it is reasonable to make certain decisions for eternity. Now, the problem is rationalism, which is discounting the miracles, discounting the power of God. There are evangelical rationalists that have a problem with all kinds of supernatural things because it's contrary to natural reasoning, so rational reasoning. What we need is supernatural reasoning. And to me, they go hand in hand.

You can be brilliant, learned, philosophical, logical, reasonable, and people of faith because you factor in the reality of God as the foundation of everything. Brandon, if we are to provoke the Jews to jealousy, how can we do that outside of the Torah's commands? Wouldn't they look at Christians as being disobedient to God's word? When he warned about anyone trying to lay aside the law, should he be labeled the false prophet teacher per Deuteronomy 13? Brandon, you can give up the idea that a Christian's version of keeping the law is going to provoke a religious Jew to jealousy. You know what that would be like? Take Arnold Schwarzenegger in the height of his bodybuilding, right? And I'm going to come into the gym and work out and provoke him to jealousy.

Never going to happen. For a traditional Jew, God did not command the Gentile world to keep the 613 commandments of the Torah. He commanded them to keep the so-called seven laws of Noah. So, laws against idolatry, laws against blasphemy, laws against theft, sexual immorality, et cetera, the call to establish courts of justice, the call to the command to not eat the limb of a living animal, et cetera.

The seven basic commandments that traditional Jewish exegesis draws from Genesis 2 and Genesis 9 and they become known as the seven laws of Noah. So, a traditional Jew is not expecting a Gentile Christian to keep the seventh day Sabbath. And I guarantee you that your way of keeping it is not going to impress a traditional Jew because they're doing it in the light of all of their traditions, which we don't believe in as authoritative, and you're not going to live out the way they live out. What's going to provoke a Jew to jealousy is the quality of your life, is the holiness of your life, is your love for God, is walking in forgiveness of sins, is your sacrificial love for others, is the power of God, the Holy Spirit working through you. That's what's going to do it. The other thing makes you seem like you're trying to put on a costume. I'm telling you, when you're a Gentile Christian and you try to live Jewishly, look at how Jewish I am, to a traditional Jew, it looks like you're putting on a costume and trying to trick.

That's what it does. It will not draw a traditional Jew to the Messiah. Now, you can have a great love for Israel, you can have a great appreciation for the beauty of Sabbath, and they will appreciate that. But to provoke them to jealousy, it's by exalting Yeshua in the quality of your life and walking in intimacy with God, having a real personal relationship with him where you know him and walk with him and hear his voice, where the Holy Spirit works through you, where you walk in genuine love, where the joy of God is in your life, that's what will provoke someone to jealousy.

Okay, let's see here. What is spiritual abuse? So what is abuse? Start there and then make a spiritual application, taking advantage of people using spiritual authority or spiritual threats, hurting someone in a spiritual way where we use our power as man of God, woman of God, pastor, leader, and use that to manipulate people. It is to bilk them, it is to use Bible promises to draw finances out of people in harmful ways. Those are all different aspects of spiritual abuse. In my book, Playing with Holy Fire, I have a checklist to see if you are sitting under spiritual abuse or abusive leaders. And basically, you go through their checklist, and if you check off a bunch of those, get out of there, that you got to get out of an abusive relationship. And no one has the right to say, I'm the man of God, and you must do it with the man of God and the woman of God, you must do what I say.

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