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Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

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Okay. Let me start with an email from Jennifer, and she asks this: Two questions. One, what are my thoughts on a company in Sweden?

Now, a company in Wisconsin microchipping their employees and ultimately wanting this type of technology to be widely used in the future for payment, health records, boarding passes, etc. Could it possibly be a reference to Revelation 13:16 through 18, where there's a mark or a sign that people have on them, and it signifies that they are subservient to the world system and worshiping, quote, the beast or the antichrist. For many years. I've heard about this. For many years, Jennifer, I've heard people talking about this and saying we've got to look out.

And this microchip technology, I mean, people have it with their pets to track their pets. And doesn't it make sense to have a microchip in your child? If the child is kidnapped, you'll be able to trace the child or the child gets lost or something like that. And I understand why people will talk about it and how it could be viewed as a benefit. And there are places now you can pay based on a thumbprint or a fingerprint because that's the system that's in place.

When I fly back from overseas and I go through something, it's an expedited way to get through customs. And it takes my fingerprints and recognizes my passport and things like that. I appreciate the technology. I personally do not see it as directly. tied to Revelation 13.

However, Should such a system be put in place in the future, I see how it could tie into it.

So we don't want to be anti-technology, but and I know people that won't give social security numbers to their children. They resist doing it because they think that's part of the world system or the mark of the beast. And that can just be plain silly. But I do see how things like this could make a one-world rule scenario more feasible, or how you could be checked on your physical body for ID. And if you don't have that ID, if you have not signed up with that system, say in certain parts of the world become a member of the Communist Party in years past, or made a certain confession to Muslims today that you cannot have normal participation in society or maybe not even live.

I could see how something like this could lead in that direction. But in and of itself, I don't see it as something necessarily evil. But we watch with interest and caution. All right, when we come back, second question about the building of the third temple in Jerusalem. Does the Bible talk about this?

We'll be right back. Change the world. Change the world. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. 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 back to the line of fire. Michael Brown here.

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Okay, before I go to the phones, 866-34TRUTH, here we go. We go to Jennifer's second email question. Rebuilding of the third temple, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. All right. There is a movement among a small number of Orthodox Jews in Israel to rebuild the third temple.

Of course, there's a conflict. How could it be built when right now you have the dome of the rock there in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the immediate vicinity of where the ancient temple used to be? Others claim that it's another location, but Most agree that the mosque could not be there if a temple was to be rebuilt. How could that happen? Major questions there.

And it's mainly evangelical Christians who are more focused on this than the Jewish people as a whole, or even the population of Israel. But there is a small number of very religious Jews eager to do this. Most religious Jews believe that when the Messiah is revealed, that one of the things he'll do is rebuild the temple.

So, because of that, it's not a major movement in the Jewish world right now, but there are some pushing for it. I do believe that prophecy suggests that there will be a third temple. That 2 Thessalonians 2, speaking of this Antichrist figure, will set himself up in the temple of God. Could that be metaphorical? That the church is the spiritual temple of people of God or the spiritual temple, and hence he will set himself up in the midst of the people of God?

Or is it speaking about a literal temple where he'll demand worship? I believe the most natural meaning would be a literal temple. Just can't. Be dogmatic on it. Matthew 24, which speaks of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, its first reference is clearly to the events of 70 AD, but it's also clear that many things spoken of have not yet happened, in which case many believe, I include it, that there will be a temple built before Yeshua returns, before Jesus returns, and that the rest of Matthew 24 will find its fulfillment there, just as many Old Testament prophecies have that parallel, an immediate application and a future application.

So it could well happen. There is a group regarding the Temple Mount and building of the Temple. They have been training for years. Priests have been training for when the Temple is rebuilt, how to offer the sacrifices properly. They have the various priestly garments that have been made and the bronze altar and these various things that have already been made and are just waiting for a temple.

So we shall see. It's one of these things. Stay tuned, but don't stay focused on this. Focus on the great commission and the things that are before us that are sure. Indefinite.

866-348-7884. To the phones we go. And we start with Michael in Denver, Colorado. Welcome, sir, to the line of fire. Hello, thank you.

So My question is. Modern Orthodox Jews Say that Won't say God's name. such as Elohim and Adonai, Mm-hmm. Unless they're under certain uh normal circumstances. They say it's because his names are too holy.

Instead, they say Hashem.

So my question is And I studied Hebrew and I came across this and I thought this was very strange. Mm-hmm.

So my question is. Those who won't say God's name in everyday conversation beca because they believe his name they're too holy. What do these same Orthodox believers think about those in the Tanakh, such as Abraham and Moses and David and the patriarchs? who are clearly recorded as saying God's names in everyday conversation. Right, well, the first thing is when they say Hashem, of course, that means the name.

And sometimes the Bible speaks of the name of the Lord coming, like Isaiah the 30th chapter, and his name refers also to his character and his being. But Hashem, the name, just becomes another name for God. And you're right, they won't say Elohim, which is God, or Adonai, which is Lord, capital L, or literally my Lord's, but meaning Lord with a capital L. And of course, they won't say the tetragrammaton, whether it was pronounced Yahweh or Yehovah or whoever it was pronounced, they won't say that in particular. But here's what we do know.

We do know that many centuries back, This custom began of substituting Lord or substituting something else for the divine name. We even see it in the ancient translations. We see it in some of the Septuagint manuscripts that you start to substitute Kurios, and that is now what you have: Kurios Lord, instead of Yahweh or whatever the original divine name was.

So, in other words, yes, considered too sacred, too holy. But Your bigger question is. What do they say then of The religious Israelites or Jews of the past, or the forefathers, the patriarchs, who clearly used God's name.

So there'd be. Two ways of reading it. You know, one, and I can't say that traditional Jews think like this, but one would be to completely retroject today's customs back on the ancient world. Meaning, no, the text says that name, but they didn't actually say it.

Now, again, it's highly unlikely that someone would believe that, but sometimes people do that. They will actually take their traditions and retroject them back onto biblical leaders.

So, I'll give you an example. It's just a joke. But traditional Jews know and agree, this part's not a joke, that wearing a yombula, wearing a head covering, is not biblical. In other words, it was not commanded in the Bible. It was not even commanded in the earliest rabbinic literature.

It's a custom that has become the norm, and such has become a sacred thing to do.

So The joke is this. How do we know that Isaac were Yahmaka? wore a skull cap, a head covering.

Well, it says in Genesis 24 that he was out in the field meditating and praying. And you mean to tell me he would be praying without wearing a yarmulke?

So, again, it's just a joke, but it shows how people can take customs of their day and retroject it back. I've seen Christians do the same thing. For example, when Aaron and Hur hold up the hands of Moses, remember when he's fighting Joshua and the Israelites are fighting against the Amalekites in Exodus 17, it says that when they held his hands up, that Israel prevailed. When his hands got tired, Israel would lose.

So they stood on either side and held his hands up.

So I've actually read writings of ancient Christian leaders where they suggested that it was the sign of the cross. That's how they held his hands up.

So people often retroject their customs back. But the simplest answer would be that they were so close to God. and so holy That they could do this, but subsequent generations could not. Traditional Judaism believes that every generation from Moses is further away from Mount Sinai and thus more reliant and dependent on the previous generations.

So, as the saying goes, If they were angels, we were men. If they were men, we're like donkeys.

So, these earlier ones, of course, they could have conversed with the Lord in a direct way that the later generations could not. And that would be the most likely explanation that they would give you.

So if an Orthodox rabbi So um One of his students saying Elohim and Adunai and And so forth. And they're Rabbi says you shouldn't do that, you should say Hasam. And if his student says, well, David and Abraham said these names, so I think it's okay. Would there be, you know, scolding? Oh yeah, yeah, but but a rabbinic student wouldn't think like that.

In other words, they fully understand that they are on a different plane. than they were. They believed that these people had the gift of prophecy, for example, and had a special relationship with God, an ability to relate to God.

Now, what a religious Jew is praying. They will say Elohim, they will chant.

So that's not a name of God, that's a title, you know, meaning God. But they still will not say the tetragrammaton. And that, according to Jewish tradition, the high priest would speak just once a year at Day of Atonement, or certain mystics would claim to have this special revelation of the name and speak it and things like that. But no, a traditional Jew, if they were going to make the claim that David did it or Moses did it, that would be the height of arrogance. That would be the complete lack of recognition of the greatness of those who went before and the closer relationship they had with God.

So, again, I'm with you on that. To me, these are biblical examples, and to me, God calls us into intimacy, and we can be absolutely reverent, right? We can be God-fearing and reverent and still very familial.

So, when Jesus calls us his friends, that only deepens my reverence for him. When I call God Abba, which is an intimate name, s kind of halfway between daddy and father. Uh that to me is is not being casual, that to me is being intimate. But uh yes, the recognition would be in traditional Judaism that the distance is such between these generations, that what they could do And for example, Moses talking to the Lord face to face as a man talks with his friends, it mentions in Exodus 33 and Numbers the 12th chapter.

Well, who else? Who else did that?

Well, we're not Moses. That would be the answer. That would be the rabbinic perspective. Michael, thank you for your question and keep studying Hebrew. You're doing well.

We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown here, delighted to be with you. You've got questions, we've got answers. The earlier you call, the better chance we have of getting to your call.

866-348-766. 7884. Hey, one other thing. You may have a question, and we've probably answered it already. Maybe I've done a whole show on it.

Maybe I've written articles on it. Maybe we have videos on it.

So, what you want to do is go to askdr brown, a-sk-d-r-brown.org. If you're unable to call the show or unable to get through, askdrbrown.org, and just search, search in the digital library, and you'll find many topics covered in great depth there already. 866-34Truth. We go back to the phones over to Indiana. Lucas, welcome to the line of fire.

Hello, Doctor. Thank you very much for taking the call. You're very welcome.

So I'm going to be studying Ancient History this coming semester, and I wanted to know if you could recommend a resource for understanding the historical context of the Old Testament books. Sure. Let me give you a few recommendations. One, if you're looking for historical and cultural background. You can go a couple of different ways.

InterVarsity Press has the Bible background commentary. One volume on the Old Testament, one volume on the New. The InterVarsity Press Bible Background Commentary. It is exclusively cultural, historical, geographical. That's all it is.

It's not a theological commentary. It's not an exegetical commentary. When I was writing commentaries on Jeremiah and Job, I would often turn there for convenient references to cultural or historical or geographical backgrounds.

So you can get that volume, which is very helpful, very useful. Craig Keener did the Old Testament, John Walton and several other scholars did the Old Testament. Or you can get the Cultural Backgrounds Bible. If you want something a little simpler and right there with your Bible, you can actually get that. John Walton did the Old Testament.

Craig Keener did the New Testament.

So the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, it's condensed. It's not as much information as in that. That one volume, but that's also useful because it's right there with your Bible. Also, if you're looking for a good history of Israel, what you'll find is that. Critical scholars read the biblical account very differently than conservative scholars do.

They see a lot more reconstruction. They posit a lot more changes. They see errors in certain places. Conservative scholars find the Old Testament narrative to be reliable.

So one of the better histories of Israel is by Ian Provan, P-R-O-V-A-N, and Tremper Longman.

So Provan and Longman, a biblical history of Israel. It's now in its second edition.

So it's a highly respected work by two top conservative Old Testament scholars.

So that'll help you for the larger history of Israel. The other volume will help you put each book in a historical and cultural context as best as possible. Thank you very much. You are very welcome. Where are you going to be studying, by the way?

Uh, well, actually I'm I Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a good idea. Ah All right, yeah, so that's excellent. Let me tell you this. A lot of what I've learned over the years, I've learned having to teach.

It's just the way it is. You realize, man, I don't know as much as I thought about this. And, you know, fifth graders, so, yeah, I mean, either of these will obviously give you way more info than you need. Your other option, just look for introduction to the Old Testament. Tremper Longman is involved with one of those two.

An intro to the Old Testament. That's the other way to go. Get a conservative scholar with an intro to the Old Testament, and that'll give you, okay, here's when we understand it was written. Here's the background. Here's the relevant culture and things like that.

So that'll be helpful. And God bless you, man. I'd much rather teach advanced seminary students than fifth graders. The latter being much too intimidating for me. All right.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. 866-34TRUTH. Let's see if I can grab an email here.

This is from Ralph. I have a question for you. I believe in speaking in tongues. I pray in tongues, but here's my question. Is it okay scripturally for everyone in church to be praying in tongues at the same time?

The reason I ask is because the scriptures say let two or three speak and let one interpret.

Well, Ralph, obviously Paul's instructions there in 1 Corinthians 14 are pretty straightforward, aren't they? That when it comes to our public assemblies, he said, I'd rather speak five words in a known tongue than 10,000 in an unknown tongue. Although Paul himself said, I speak in tongues more than all of you, 1 Corinthians 14. Although he said that those who speak in tongues edify themselves and speak mysteries in the Spirit, although he said all in 1 Corinthians 14 don't forbid speaking in tongues, there's a proper order for the public assembly.

Now, here's what's not clear. Let's say we're all praying together. Many of our churches have this culture where everyone prays out loud together. All right, let's pray right now for the president. All right, let's pray right now for revival in our city.

All right, we all want to pray right now for this family member that's very sick. And everyone prays out loud together. And then the pastor, whoever's leading in prayer, will then pray over the mic, and everyone agrees with him. If you've ever been to Korea, Or a Korean church, this is the way it's regularly done in Korean churches. They'll have everyone pray together, and it just sounds like thunder, just this roar of voices.

And then, actually, some of the Korean churches bing! They ring a bell. Yeah. I don't know how many still do it, but it's been done many times when I've been there. Bing!

They ring a bell, everyone gets quiet, and then the leader leads in prayer, and everyone says, Amen. In a setting like that, You're not really hearing what the people around you are saying.

So maybe you're praying in English and I'm praying in Hebrew and the person next to me is praying in German and the person next to them is praying in French and the person on the other side is praying in tongues. We're all just expressing our hearts to God at the same time. We're not delivering a message. In a context like that, if you have all believers together, you don't have unbelievers there, everyone praying in tongues at one time, I don't think that's the issue.

However, when you're talking about delivering a message, When you're talking about everybody speaking at the same time and you have something that's chaotic, no, no, that's certainly contrary to what Paul is speaking about.

So everyone praying together and no one hearing one another because we're all praying and it's just one voice ascending to God. I don't think that's the issue. The issue is, if I'm standing behind the mic and I'm going to speak in tongues for 10 minutes, oh, maybe I'm edified, but you're not. But hey, tell you what. If I was a fluent Spanish speaker and you weren't and I spoke in Spanish for 10 minutes, that wouldn't help you.

It's the same principle. Tongues in that sense is no different than any other language. Public communication must be clear and it must edify.

So if you have a message in a tongue, then let two or three at the most speak and let others interpret. This way also you are digesting what's being said, just like with prophetic words, the same thing. One speaking, another is inspired, let the first one stop and the second one speaks. This way you have coherence rather than confusion. Yeah.

So, I hope you find that helpful. And this is based on reading scripture and then being in charismatic Pentecostal circles many times over the years. And those of you who are not charismatic Pentecostal, well, you don't have to worry about that issue in your own church. All right, remember. Download my free e-book, Seven Secrets of the Real Messiah.

How do you get it? Sign up for the email list. Do it right now at Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown. And When you're there, be sure to check out our latest videos and articles, cutting edge commentaries on what's happening in the world now.

We want to be like sons of Issachar. understanding the times and knowing what Israel should do. 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 866-34TRU. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Well here we go. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Let's do it right here. the line of fire. You know, controversy inspires me when it's constructive. if it pushes me to speak up.

if it pushes me to stand up. If it pushes me to address a subject, and I can bring truth, I can bring more light than heat. It excites me. And there are so many questions, and so many issues, and so much confusion. That if I can help set the record straight, if I can help point us back to simple foundational truths, boy, it's my joy to do so.

So, your calls on all manner of subjects are welcome, be they controversial or not, be they technical questions about the Bible or difficult spiritual questions or moral, politically based questions that can be supercharged with controversy. We are very glad to take your calls. And you can be a skeptic, you can be an atheist, you can be one who mocks religion and really wants to ask me something and challenge me. That's great. I welcome it from the heart.

866-348-7884. We're going to go straight to the phones and we'll start in Petersburg, Virginia. Stephen. Welcome to the wine of Tell you what, can't hear Stephen there. We'll have to come back to him in a moment.

All right. Uh let's see here. Question. A while ago, you had Pastor Bill Johnson on your show asking him questions about their church practices. Last year, I spoke to friends of mine that used to go to my church.

They're like family. Anyway, I was shocked and angered at the same time. I'm looking through Facebook. I saw that my friend's wife got a tattoo. I haven't spoken to them in maybe a couple of years before that.

So immediately I posted questions. The response was, you haven't spoken to me in a while.

Now you're rebuking me. I apologize. She started telling me that no way was she convicted of doing anything wrong. She told me that someone or a group of the tattoo ministry, that sounds like witchcraft. They read your tattoos and pierces.

What do you think? By the way, this is first-hand news to me. I didn't see it on the internet. Hope to hear from you soon.

Okay. And the writer asked that I not use the name. Can I just give you one word of advice? Regardless of what you think about tattoos. I don't have any and I wouldn't have any.

Couldn't do it in good conscience. But I'm not judging others that do. There's one verse in the Old Testament, Leviticus 19, that addresses it. And it's not in the context of universal holiness principles for all. It's in a context of separation principles for Israel.

So, and even then it's in the context of mourning for the dead. I personally would not have a tattoo and don't have tattoos, but I'm not going to condemn someone that has gotten tattoos as a believer. Obviously, certain things are plainly satanic and wrong, and others say all tattoos are satanic fun. That's another debate entirely. Just to understand, I don't have any.

But I am not going to judge a church or a ministry with thousands of people in it. Based on what someone in the congregation does, or even what someone in the congregation says. Uh if if someone was listening to the radio show. And then you heard they were a regular listener. Oh man, I love Dr.

Brown. I listen to Dr. Brown every single day. I love his broadcast, and so on and so forth. And, you know, going on and on with that.

And then they do something flaky and they post it online. And well, Dr. Brown doesn't have a problem with it. Don't judge me. by what that one person does.

What you want to find out is, okay, what does Dr. Brown say about that? What's his view on that?

So someone might go to your home congregation. And they may have very compromised views on things, and they say, no, our pastor's fine with it.

Well, maybe he is. Maybe he isn't.

So what you always want to do Is find out directly from the leadership of a ministry what their particular view is, especially when you have thousands of people that go to a church.

So, for example, if someone goes to Joe Osteen's church and they have certain practices and they say, Oh, yeah, I learned this from Pastor Osteen. I'm not going to judge Pastor Osteen by that. I'm going to listen to what his actual messages are. And then when I listen to his messages, I might say, I like them. Or I don't like them.

So that is the wisdom. That is the right way to do it. go. We will be right back with more of your questions. Dr.

Michael Brown. 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.

Thank you for joining us. Welcome to the line of our 866-348-7884. You've got questions, we've got answers and we go back to the phones in Orlando, Florida. Matt, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Doctor Brown.

I have a question. I was wondering, in your estimation, why uh a Christian would be co would be uh left-wing politically. And then I'm also curious if you have Any advice for churches that might be split down the left and right aisle? Um and what maybe what they should do. Yeah, the first question is a little easier to answer than the second question.

But one of my friends said that the Lord once said to him, You can't fly with only a right wing or only a left wing. You need two wings. And it got me thinking about this. Look, I cannot understand how a Christian could vote for a candidate that is a. uh pro-abortion candidate for the life of me, I can't understand that period.

I cannot understand how someone could vote for a candidate who believes that, well, you can redefine marriage or something like that. How could a Christian vote for such a person? Can't see it under any circumstances. But often, folks on the left will have sensitivity to areas that folks on the right don't. For example, folks on the right might be quicker to wage war and might be more hawkish.

And in the process, you might displace millions of people and hundreds of thousands might die. And they might say, well, what about them? I mean, you're pro-life. You care about abortion, right? What about all these people killed in war?

Or they would say, you know, you're insensitive to the needs of the poor. You don't like the welfare state and all that. Fine, we agree with that, but you're insensitive to the needs of the poor. Or you're looking at this issue. We're looking at larger justice issues.

And, you know, we see all these people being killed because there's so much access to guns. We think there should be more gun control. You said, no, no, all the murders take place where you have the most gun control.

So the debate goes back and forth. But it's often that people, Christians that lean left, are concerned about other issues. And I've had them call my show and say, look, I don't like abortion, but here's why I voted for Barack Obama. Or, here's where I voted for Hillary Clinton. And we've had serious conversations, and I've probed them and questioned them, but they'd say, Well, it's the lesser of two evils for me, also.

And I couldn't vote for this candidate for the following reasons.

So, sometimes it's compromise. Yes, sometimes those on the left have compromised biblical principles, but sometimes it's just that other issues are important to them. I was talking to a black pastor in New York City one time, and he said to me, Look, you're concerned about getting prayer back in schools, I'm concerned about getting education back in schools.

So he might look at the party that, in his view, was going to be more concerned with educating poor children in the inner city, and he would vote for that party, even though he didn't like other aspects of where that party stood.

So that's how these things can happen. And I think we need to challenge each other and to listen to what folks have to say. Not some radical leftist, so-called social justice warrior that's out in some bizarre fringe position as far as I'm concerned. But I used to like it when Hannity and Combs, the late Alan Combs, were on together because they'd each make their point and one would sound good till the other came and challenged it.

So there are often two sides, and I think we need to hear the other side and be challenged by it.

Now, in a congregation where you have diversity, often where you have ethnic diversity, you'll have major, major controversy. For example, you've got a congregation that's equally divided between blacks and whites and Hispanics. And you're almost guaranteed to have disparate political views there. One pastor in Connecticut told me, who's a white pastor with a racially divided church, I mean a unified church, but racially divided in terms of numbers. And he went through these voter guides.

And with the voter guides, he said, okay. Here's what we're going to look at. We're not endorsing a candidate, but here are the issues. Here's where we stand. And we encourage you to vote based on these principles.

So he thought to him it was a no-brainer they'd all vote Republican, and it split down the middle. The whites largely voted Republican, the blacks largely voted Democrat. He was shocked. I remember him telling me he was shocked. But obviously, each side had its reasons for what they did.

They were people that loved the Lord and that had different perspectives.

So what I would say is this. I would say in a setting like that, I would let both sides articulate things. If I was the pastor, I was the leader, I have an ability to argue both sides pretty well.

So I'd say, all right, let's present this side, why we should vote for this Republican candidate, and all that's good, and all that they stand for, and these life and death issues. And then here are their weaknesses.

Now, here's the Democrat candidate. Here's why we should vote for them. And then here are the weaknesses. Or maybe have two people with two very different views. Passionately get up and argue their viewpoint.

All right? And here's one: maybe Hispanic individuals going to talk about the immigration issues, and a white individual is going to talk about pro-life issues, and a black individual is going to talk about social justice issues. And they'll each explain their perspective, and it's like, oh. All right, so we can each love the Lord, and we can each love the Word. And hold to differences.

Yes, I will shout out to the world. If you love Jesus, you cannot vote for a pro-abortion candidate. Better not to vote at all. I will shout that out to the world. But I do understand.

that there's some that will and say, look, it's the lesser of two evils. And I see the so-called pro-life candidate as having all these problems that are going to cause loss of life in another way. Hence, the debate.

So, the best way, I think, is to let different sides express themselves, let people understand it, and then at the end, end it with prayer, end it with coming together and saying, Look, whatever we do, let's major on the majors. We love Jesus, we want to reach the loss, let us not divide over these things. Thank you, sir. Great question and always relevant. 866-34TRUTH.

Let's go to Brad in Hebron, Indiana. Welcome to the line of fire. Oh, thank you, doctor Brown. I appreciate the opportunity. Um I I've been hearing some things about the Talmud.

That's pretty distressing.

Some of it has to do with some perversities. With adult child sex in some of the information. I don't know if that's true or not. But I wanted to find out if you could kind of enlighten me on any of that.

So there are all kinds of several million words. Very complex, very difficult to understand, easy to misrepresent.

So to be clear, I don't believe in the inspiration of the Talmud. but it is often lied about. and completely misrepresented.

So you can go to Islamic websites, you can go to neo-Nazi websites, and they will have these so-called exposés against the Talmud.

Now, there are traditions in the Talmud that I definitely reject. There are things that rely on ancient folklore and superstition. There are statements that I find objectionable. But most of what's presented is gross misunderstanding.

So I'll give you the classic example because it's the one that you're referencing, okay? Here's a classic example. It's talking about a girl, right? Let's say a three-year-old girl. and she loses her virginity.

That's the way the hymen is broken, technically. It's nothing. What does it mean? It's just like she sat on something and there was a stick and it penetrated her and that's what happened. It has to do with marriage.

In other words, let's say there was a child who at the age of two years old, God forbid, was violated by someone, was sexually abused, right? Is she now disqualified from being married as a virgin? In other words, whoever marries her cannot marry her as a virgin, or should she still be treated under law as a virgin? And the answer is: it's nothing. It's just like someone poked you in the eye or you were penetrated with a stick accidentally or something or sat on something.

So it has to do with status as a virgin. It's not saying that child abuse is inconsequential or that you can marry a three-year-old or something like that. What it's saying is under the law, which is a merciful thing. Yeah, don't look at her like she lost her virginity. You know, treat her as if she was a virgin because you can't do the normal test for the loss of virginity.

You know, did the woman bleed, et cetera, as Deuteronomy required.

So that's the issue there. All right. And many things like that are grossly, grossly misrepresented.

Now, are there statements in the Talmud? that are ugly or obscene or wrong. Yeah, there are. And in the Talmud, you'll have many opinions.

So Brad said this, Mike said this, Joe said this, Sam said this, and then here's the final verdict. And in the midst of it, you'll have some things that are ugly or some opinions. For example, all the different animals brought before Adam, right? And none of them were suitable.

Well, one rabbi, this is one rabbi in two and a half plus million words who said that Adam had sexual relations with each of the animals and none of them were suitable.

Well, that's obscene. That's gross. That's ugly. I don't know, but I don't know a single rabbi in history. who based on that said that bestiality is okay.

So you do have some statements like that that are ugly. You do have some things that can paint Gentiles in a bad light or women in a bad light. But overall, That is not the spirit or tone of the Talmud, and the worst things of all, sir, are gross misrepresentations. All right, we'll be right back. Grab a new sign, shake the new sign, change the world, change the world God of light, hear our cry, send a fire.

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.

Ah! Yes, here we are by God's grace functioning as your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst. a society and caste and a church all two Compromise. You've got questions. We've got answers 866.

348-7884. Remember, download my free e-book, a real eye-opener: Seven Secrets of the Real Messiah. How do you do it? Just go to askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. Sign up for our emails.

When you do, you'll get the e-book free, plus the benefit of our emails, which I think you'll find very, very helpful. We go back to the phones: 866-34Truth. Our friend Nick in Alberta, Canada. How are you doing, man? Hi, Doc Brown.

Good. How are you? Doing well, thank you. Awesome. The question I got for you today is that in Exodus it says that the Passover was supposed to be the the new year, the Jewish beginning of the year.

But then I know the rabbis moved it to Roshana, the feast of trumpets. Can you talk a little bit about that, when that moved over, why it moved over? And how do they justify doing such a thing when it's pretty clear in Exodus? Yeah, in fact, it's so clear that Rashi's commentary, the most famous commentary on the Bible, Rashi lived in the 11th century. that that he begins comments on Genesis 1, quoting another rabbi who asked, why does the Torah start here in Genesis 1?

Why doesn't it start in Exodus 12? Because Exodus 12, this is the beginning of the commandments to Israel. And if the Torah is about laws and things like that, then why doesn't it start there? You know, when God's telling Israel, okay, this is the first day of the year for you, you know, the Passover, it's a new beginning for you.

So the importance of it is always recognized. At some point in time And we can't know exactly when. But at some point in time, before the New Testament, a shift was made. uh or at least other new years were recognized. For for example Uh we we may have a fiscal year.

And the fiscal year is the financial calendar that's used. We may have also, along with the fiscal year, a school year. And the school year is like from late August, early September into maybe May or something like that. And then we have our calendar year.

So in Judaism, there were different years that were developed.

Okay, this is the agricultural year, and this is the royal year or the civil year. And somehow they came up with four different years and then ended up saying that the first day of the seventh month would be the new year. How exactly that transition came is not known to me. In other words, we know that it happened, but over what period of time did it happen or how did it happen, we don't have explicit records for it. We do know by the time of the Mishnah, which is compiled a couple hundred years after the time of Jesus, but reflects many traditions going back a generation or two or three or four or sometimes longer before that, it speaks of the four different new years.

But to a Jew, when you say the new year, uh traditional Jew, that's one thing and one thing only, and that's Rosh Hashinah Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashinah being the head of the year. This is the n now it's significant in that it's a wake-up call. It's good spiritually, and that it's a wake-up call, it's a call for repentance, it leads into the Day of Atonement, and then after that, the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, it's quite a way to start the year. The year starts as opposed to partying in a traditional Jewish home. It starts instead with repentance and introspection and seeking God in different ways. But did the rabbis have authority to make that change? No.

If you are a Karaite Jew, So a Jew that does not believe in rabbinic tradition But it's not a messianic dude. It's not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. You still celebrate. The new year with Passover. And to me, as a Messianic Jew, It's an interesting call.

On the one hand, you want to be part of the larger Jewish community. And calling Feast of Trumpets the new year is not a sinful thing in terms of it's not related to partying and getting drunk or getting high. It's related to repentance and wake-up call before God.

So most Messianic Jews will still celebrate that or will say to one another, you know, Happy New Year and things like that, because that's what the Jewish community worldwide is doing. And we're still part of that. But really on a scriptural basis, no, there's no basis for it to change. And this is one of the areas where I'd say the rabbis did something beyond any authority that God gave them.

So it's part of the culture, it's not changing in that regard, but I don't see it as biblical, nor do I see it as part of the authority that God gave these men. Hmm.

Okay. All right. Well, thanks. That's a great answer. All right, you are very welcome.

866-34Truth. Let me give you a little insight here into how Rabbinic Judaism works, okay? Let me give you a little insight. Deuteronomy 17 is talking about the Levitical priests in those days. Or the judge that will be judging in Jerusalem, you know, national leader or leaders.

And let's say you have a dispute. In your local village, your local city, and the elders can't agree on it. It's some issue of bloodshed or something like that, and you can't agree. We don't know what verdict to come to.

So just like today you have a court system, and then it gets bumped up, bumped up until finally the Supreme Court, this would be like the Supreme Court of ancient Israel. and you had to abide by what they said, obviously for national order. And whatever they say, you know, go left or go right, you had to do it. You couldn't question it. uh under penalty of death because th this was the authority.

So it would be just like the Supreme Court decrees something, we don't like it. But if we go out and defy it, then we're breaking the law.

So that's how it was in ancient Israel.

Well, over a period of time, this authority shifted from what would be the Supreme Court, so to say, in Jerusalem, to the rabbinic authorities and the rabbinic leaders of the generation.

So the Pharisees are succeeded by the rabbis. And they would then point to this text and say that this is the authority. That, in other words, whatever the community leaders, the spiritual leaders, the religious leaders, the teachers tell you, you have to do it. And when it says, well, they tell you to go to the left, go to the right, okay, that then became interpreted, even if they tell you left is right and right is left, you have to obey.

So I have talked with traditional Jews sometimes. Very sincere people. Very God-fearing people, very devout. Their whole family, everybody, the mom, dad, the 12 kids, 100% in, committed. and praying the prayers and keeping the commandments as best as they can, as best as they understand.

and repenting and asking for forgiveness. Very sincere people, very genuine people. When I've challenged them and said, but look, the interpretation of the rabbis here is wrong. The interpretation of the rabbis here is contrary to Scripture. I'm the one that gets rejected.

In other words, who are you to say? But it's like, but just read it, read the text in front of your eyes, it's right there. But no, their tradition tells them something else. And they are to follow these rabbis and follow these great leaders of previous generations because they are the giants. They were the ones that had more wisdom and more knowledge and were closer to the original revelation.

Who are we to argue with? Them. That my friends, is a problem, is a danger. And that's where for any of us, any of us, Whatever church tradition you have, religious tradition, when tradition overrides scripture, you are now in the area of. dangerous deception and error.

Change the world. Well, let's do it. You've got questions. We've got answers. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown here, your joyful voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Yeah, you've got lots of questions. You've got questions. We've got answers. So give me a call. Anything you want to talk about, anything you want to ask me about, any area of expertise that I have.

866-348-7884. Controversial questions are more than welcome. Disagreements are more than welcome. Clarification questions, where you want to probe something I've said, they are all more than welcome. We're not thin-skinned here.

We're not insecure in our position here. We are trusting God, trusting His Word, and confident in His truth.

So, By all means, give me a call, 866-348-7884. Oh, let's see here. All right. Good question. Do signs and wonders validate a preacher's doctrine?

What if miracles in people getting saved happen under preachers with questionable doctrine? If you get touched by God under a false prophet, does that mean it wasn't God? If God does save people and does miracles under false prophets, why? It's confusing. All right.

Very, very important question. In the Old Testament, signs, wonders, and miracles often validated the messenger of God. Moses was sent with signs to perform in the presence of Israel and Pharaoh and his court. And in the same way Elijah called down fire from heaven. These were signs that confirmed them as messengers of God to a disbelieving or questioning people.

and they confirmed that God alone, Yahweh, the God of Israel, was the one true God. In the New Testament, the signs and wonders accompany the message of the Gospel to confirm, similarly, that Jesus is Lord, that He has risen from the dead. but they don't necessarily accredit the individuals.

Now for the apostles, God backed them in unique ways and Paul could speak of that as well. But if I pray for the sick, And the sick are healed. What does that confirm? that God heals. It doesn't confirm that Michael Brown is necessarily a man of God.

If God uses you to speak a prophetic word over someone that is exactly accurate, what does it confirm? It confirms that God knows that person and is speaking clearly to them. It does not necessarily confirm you as an individual. As individuals, we must be tested doctrinally. What do we believe?

Does it hold up with Scripture? And morally, how do we live? Does it hold up with Scripture? So those are the questions that we address. Yes, God performs signs, wonders, and miracles to this day.

There's not a verse in the New Testament that says that they will stop before Jesus comes. Around the world, God is working with signs, wonders, and miracles to glorify the name of Jesus and in accordance with Scripture.

Now, maybe someone teaching or preaching has a wrong doctrine or emphasis, but they genuinely know the Lord. They genuinely believe God for healing. They may even have a gift. Remember, the Corinthians had gifts, but they had some moral issues and they had some doctrinal issues, but they were still believers who were gifted by God.

So maybe God is using a particular vessel, and that vessel is gifted by God and has faith. It doesn't mean everything they teach is accurate. it doesn't mean everything that they believe is accurate.

So many people are touched and received mightily from someone who may be wrong about the end times or have a wrong view about Israel or some other issue, but God is still using them. And if you were blessed through them, it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you or tainted in your life. It just means you want to be careful not to be enamored by the power and believe everything that person says because they seem to be powerfully anointed. That's we could fall into danger. We'll be right back.

Change the world. Change the world. Oh, God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown, 866-3487.

884. You've got questions. We've got answers to the phones we go starting in Greensboro, North Carolina. Monique, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you.

God bless you. I'm actually blessed by the first things you were saying because my question. To you, just I've listened to you before, and everything so far that I've heard has been sound. Why do you think? that there's such a lack of humility in the teaching um, that's at the forefront even in the body.

I don't want to call the force anyone out. Um but Or do you not think that? I mean, but my point, to me, it seems so blatant that it is fair to say why. hasn't been so easy for there to be such a lack of humility. Even in the teaching, even if it's true, but just no spirit of God, no servant and gentle apt to teach, like the scripture says, and certainly no cloak of humility.

Why is that? Yeah, well, first thing is, the question is who you're looking at and who you're talking about. And we're not mentioning names intentionally, of course. Right, right. But in other words, some listeners may be listening or folks watching, and they're like, yeah, she's exactly right.

I don't see any humility. And someone else is like, what are you talking about? All the teachers I know are very humble and gracious.

So it all depends who we're being exposed to. I would say this. Folks I've worked with around the world for many years are humble. They love the Lord. They're serious about God.

They're serious about teaching the Word. They're not in it for money. They really do fear God and they want to be accurate in what they have to say.

So that's one thing. But. Here's the flip side. Here's something very different. The fact is that if we're going to be on T V...

If we're going to be in front of a megachurch, There's almost a persona that goes with it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. And that persona may. not seem humble.

You know, here, I'm on the radio. I've got my radio persona. It is, so I have fun. You've got questions, we've got it. I mean, I'm having fun with it, right?

It's part of who I am. I love doing it. But early on, someone heard me on the radio and said, Mike, what happened to your humility? Humility. I said, What do you mean?

I said, Well, you're both having answers. I was just having fun. You know, to me, this is part of who I am on the radio. And when I'm on TV, Obviously, you know, if I'm sitting there kind of like that, all right, we're going to open the Bible. You know, it's like, hey, we're going to dig in the word today.

And, you know, so you've got, you know, 5,000 people in your church service. The whole feeling is kind of alive and animated.

So I'd say three things: one, some are proud.

Some are proud and full of themselves. Let God be their judge. But I'm not going to emulate them. That's one. Two Some just may seem that way because of the nature of the medium through which they're speaking.

And three, there are plenty, plenty, plenty who are serious teachers, love the Lord, and as always in the body, you've got far more good apples than bad apples. And I just would try to concentrate on the good apples and pray for the bad apples.

Well, thank you so much. And I understand what you say, too. And it takes discernment either way. You don't just jump out and go, well, that doesn't seem like humility because I think that's something that you have to discern. You don't go based on just what it feels like.

So I understand what you're saying about the TV. But in other cases, unfortunately, it's absolutely so. But thank you so much for answering that in that way. It probably helps a lot of people, too. Thank you so much.

Yeah, and Monique, let me say one last thing. A good test of humility. It's not the appearance, but the response. In other words, if you challenge someone, let's say someone is presented with a question. Like there was a famous leader in the body years ago.

He didn't know me from Adam, right? And I heard him teach on prophecy and prophetic ministry. He didn't know me from Adam. A big meeting, people formed lines to get into the meeting. I was in ministry.

I was teaching at a Bible school, but he didn't know me from Adam. I wrote him a handwritten note. It was in the days before emails or even everyone having, you know, typing things out of the computer. I wrote him a long handwritten note saying that I think he was wrong on this particular verse, and here are the reasons for it, right? And he's a big shot.

He was famous. He was well known. I gave it to an usher and I said, Hey, could you get this right? Is he even going to see it?

Well, the next day he says, hey, is so-and-so here? I just want to thank him. He wrote me a great note. I think he's right on that, and I'm going to change what I said. That's humility.

That, to me, would be the fruit of it, to really listen and hear.

So, hey, thank you. Great question. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. God bless you.

God bless. 8663487.

So, I think that's a good idea. Uh let's go to Scott and Winston-Salem. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Yes, sir. Thank you.

I got a probably a brief question. You might not think it's very good, but The comparison of truth versus deception It seems it seems Yeah, if we're if we're to see We're accountable, not to mention who deceived us. You know what I'm saying? What? I am I was just wondering why Gallery would I'm not running questioning Rom.

I just he knows I mean, well And just wh you know, just uh Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, your question. Right. Th what is the uh difference between Deception In truth, Mm-hmm. What's the difference between deception and truth?

truth. Truth is accurate. Truth is in accordance with God's Word. Truth is in accordance with Reality. Truth is not misrepresenting anything.

I think we understand those things. It's not a matter of my truth and your truth. If you're a Scott from Winston-Salem, that is verifiable, that is accurate. That is in accordance with the plain meaning of what we're saying. If I say, well, that's your truth.

My truth is that you're actually boris from Russia.

Well, no, that's not my it's not truth. at all.

So deception is when I think I'm following the truth and I'm not. It's one thing to blatantly lie. It's one thing to blatantly say That That uh that I am boris from Russia when I know that I'm not.

Okay, that would be lying. But if I really believe it, someone has convinced me that I'm boris from Russia, then I am. deceived.

So, in short, in short, We have a situation where people think they're following the truth and they're not. They think they're following something accurate. That is being deceived. Here's the trick, though. No one is knowingly deceived.

No one is knowingly misled. That's the issue. You've never seen a church called the First Church of Deception. Or the congregation of the misled.

Someone once said the problem with deception is that it's very deceiving.

So how do we avoid deception? We stay close to the Word of God. We humble ourselves before God. We live in accountable relationships. Those are key ways to avoid deception.

866-34-TRUTH. And I do appreciate the call. You know, some things are so. Foundationally, they say, well, how could I answer that? What is truth, right?

Let's see here. Zachary. I understand you're against free grace theology.

Well, I'm against hypergrace theology. I'm against hypergrace, not, quote, free grace. I believe in free grace. I'm against hypergrace. But my question is, do you believe only the 12 disciples were saved in the Gospels?

What about the God-fearing women who were also disciples of Christ and the 500 disciples that left Christ prior to the 12? There are two types of Christian in the Bible, the carnal and the spiritual. Both are saved.

Well, why would you even think for a split second that I didn't think that there were others in in the New Testament. saved or others in the gospel saved. If people believe God, following the example of Abraham, put their trust in God for salvation and turned to him. Uh for forgiveness. You turn away from sin, turn to him, why wouldn't there be plenty of others saved?

And the idea that there's such a thing as quote, a carnal Christian, that's a mistaken concept. There are Christians who are carnal. They're Christians who act carnally. And 1 Corinthians, the third chapter, makes reference that Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for being carnal, but Paul makes clear in Romans 8 that we are required and called to be people of the Spirit.

So if you are saying Zachary. that you can practice sin. Willfully. You can pray to be saved, pray for God to forgive you, and then willfully. Practice sin.

Willfully participate in sinful activity to the day you die without repenting, You can be a practicing alcoholic extorting adulterer. idol-worshipping murderer to the day you die without ever repenting and you're still saved. No, you're not saved. Either you were never saved in the first place, or you have rejected God's gift of salvation, one of the two. but under no circumstances at all.

Could you call that person a believer? The the whole New Testament is explicit on the point of on that. And and you know who's the most explicit on it? Paul. Most explicit, those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom.

Read 1 Corinthians 6. Read Galatians 5. Read Colossians 3. I mean, he is dogmatic and he is clear as to what we do with the flesh. Read Romans 6, 7, 8, and the end of 13.

We'll be right back with your calls. God changed the world. 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 for joining us today, 866-348-7884. You've got questions we've got. Answers.

Let's go to Patrick. I was going to Patrick in Clover, South Carolina, but tell you what, I like the question that was there. What about seeing the Shekhinah glory in the New Testament?

Now in English we call it the Shekinah glory, but it's from the Hebrew word Shechinah. Is Shechinah, by the way, a little teaching here, is Shechinah found in the Old Testament, that word no, it's not. It means the manifest presence of God, the presence of God dwelling among us. Is that word found in the Old Testament? No, but the verb shachan, to dwell, to be a neighbor, that's found.

And to me, the pivotal verse is in Exodus the 25th chapter, where Moses tells the people on behalf of the Lord, Vasuli Mikdash, and have them make for me a sanctuary, a holy place, for Shachan Tivatocham, and I will dwell, I will tabernacle in their midst.

So, when people would see the glory of God, it's normally the Hebrew word kavod, which speaks of heaviness and weight and divine presence. presence and the kavod was manifest say in the cloud the cloud would come down or and and and fill the place and and so exodus 40 or 2 chronicles 5 the priests couldn't even enter to minister because of the cloud because of the kavod because of that divine presence it was it was tangible and real You'll have some accounts where the people saw the glory of the Lord and they fell to the ground and screamed and worshipped.

So, what about seeing the Kavod in the New Testament, seeing the glory of God in the New Testament, or today?

Well, why wouldn't it happen? Why couldn't it happen? based on what's scripture. You say, well, we see the greater glory of God in the face of Jesus. Yeah, I understand that.

And 2 Corinthians 3, that the glory of the old covenant surpassed by the glory of the new. Yes. Amen. agreed who wholeheartedly.

So our focus is on Jesus, not on seeing a cloud or seeing fire and things like that. But when the Holy Spirit came in in Acts two, right, the hundred twenty there, they they saw what looked like tongues of fire. over each of them, split tongues of fire over each of their heads.

So that certainly was an outward sign, and the Holy Spirit came with the sound of a rushing violent wind. In Acts 4.31, after they prayed, the building was shaken.

So why couldn't someone see the cloud of God's glory today? People say, man, that's phony.

Well, d why? Are you saying that just because some church, you know, during the worship, they have like a smoke machine? that that means that God's glory can't really come and fill a building. I know of meetings You know, meetings in a completely different setting. No big building, no smoke machines, no nothing.

where the presence of God was so real that The cloud filled the room. I've seen it with my own eyes one time. And I I was just tea teaching Korean students in New York City. in the early 1980s. This actually happened to me.

So I'm not saying that every so-called glory cloud is true or that some things aren't manipulated. No, and I don't measure anything by that. I'm just telling you something that happened in my own life before I ever heard of it, before I heard of a glory cloud or anything. All I knew is what Scripture said. And I was teaching Korean students in New York City.

I was teaching them Hebrew and Old Testament. Your seminary students. at a branch in New York City. And I came in to teach. It was winter.

All right? And The you know, really cold outside, New York winter. I came inside to teach, and when I got in the room, To my surprise, it was completely filled with steam. I mean, c just completely. And I thought, what in the world is going on here?

Maybe there's an old heating system in the building? Could that be the case? Maybe there's an old heating system. May maybe that's the issue? And that's what's going on?

Could could that be it?

So there's steam coming out of the pipes. But 'cause they didn't say anything, I didn't say anything. I mean, there was a little room, I had fifteen students in the class, just completely filled with steam. Or it sort of looked like there was like a cloud in there, or fog, heavy fog, sick fog.

So I didn't say anything, they didn't say anything.

So after teaching for maybe a half hour, I forget the exact time, it dissipated. And lessen and less and lessen it disappeared.

So I finally said Oh, what what was that? Fog steam and th the room What what was that? And uh they looked at me Like what what are you talking about? I said you know the whole room was filled just like with steam like you know cloud like fog whatever And one of them I mean their eyes got really big and one of them said Reverend Brown. Maybe The steam from our coffee?

You know, just sarcastically, I realized I was the only one that saw it. And I thought something's going to happen today. God's going to move today.

Something is going to happen. And Lo and behold. Nothing unusual happened that day, and I I asked the Lord About it. I asked the Lord about it, And I felt the Lord say to me, I'm going to do great things this semester among the students. And sure enough, even though I was teaching Hebrew and Old Testament, we had an outpouring of the Spirit.

I mean, we had a bona fide outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And deep repentance, people getting right with God. A skeptic came in one day, just during chapel, lunchtime, they'd eat and then have chapel service, and the Holy Spirit was poured out.

So, I would, since I experienced this myself, and since there is nothing in scripture. against it, Then yes. I believe it can happen. happen today. I would never seek these things.

I would never look for them. And one ministry I know That people have said on a number of occasions they've seen the cloud of God's glory appear.

Well, in point of fact, when it does happen, the leader I know tells everyone, just go on worshiping the Lord. It's obviously a sign of His presence, but just go on worshiping the Lord.

Some of my friends were at a meeting in a local congregation, and they felt this tremendous presence of God. And a number of people said they saw. uh the cloud of God's glory in in the room. And someone took a picture and Sure, it seems to be there, and there's no logical explanation for it. That being said, I've seen all kind of hoaxes.

I've seen all kinds of phony things. I know charlatans have taken advantage of something like this, so we don't seek these things. But I see nothing in the New Testament that tells me that they cannot. happen. I see nothing.

In the New Testament, it tells me that cannot happen. Hey, Patrick, we just reconnected, but I answered your question.

So if you missed it, I answered your question at some length because I liked the question.

So if you missed my answer, sir, just go to thelineoffire.org later today and you'll be able to catch the entire question there. There. All right. So, do I believe that God's manifest presence can occur in these New Testament times? Yes.

Do I see evidence for outward manifestations in the New Testament itself? Yes. But our focus is on Jesus, not on seeing him physically, not on seeing a cloud in the room, not on feeling a particular thing, but on following him, the Savior and the Lord, and having an intimate relationship with God through him, and thereby bearing much fruit. We are people of the word, we are people of prayer, we are people of holy living, we are people who give ourselves to the Great Commission, and we are people who believe in and welcome the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. Stay tuned, 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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thank you, thank you for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown here. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Phone lines are open. 866-34TRUTH. 866-348-7884. Any question in any area of expertise, I have my joy to answer you. The video we put up from the Monday show where I was talking about strengths and weaknesses of the King James Version has hundreds and hundreds of comments already.

Let me just see.

Well, last time I looked, and it was just posted, what, two days ago.

So go to askdrbrown.org and you'll find it in the digital library. If you want to join in the comments section, you can do that over on our Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel. But let's just see a lot of folks weighing in. And yeah, you have some hostile and irrational comments, but lots of excellent discussion going all around on that.

Yeah, it's just looking at it now already, 259 comments, just since it was posted yesterday on our YouTube channel.

So we welcome your calls. We welcome your questions. Anything where I can be of any help whatsoever, give me a call: 866-34TRUT. Let's see here. Okay, which question do I want to ask?

All right, this is from Chris. Just pondering your op-ed, which is about whether churches should celebrate sex change surgery, because the Church of England is now contemplating that having a special service. It's kind of a new birth, and you're changing, and now the church is going to affirm you. Going down some rabbit holes, but following the opinion and logic, a trans feeling that their God-given body is wrong or errant. How about a Christian coloring his or her hair, breast or face, plastic surgery?

What about going truly all the way? Absurd braces on teeth. I don't agree with the teeth God gave me, they are wrong.

So I alter what He created with man-made device. Help me climb out of this rabbit hole. All right, so yeah, let me help you climb out of that rabbit hole. That's pretty easily done here. If you fix your teeth, okay, for example, I have a severe underbite.

And if If my teeth were fixed a little bit, it would help my overall life function. Let's say someone else has one leg shorter than the other.

So they put a little padding or whatever it is, you know, some type of arch support in the other shoe to balance them out. You're correcting a physical problem. problem. All right. You're correcting something that is a basic physical problem.

Not something that is altering your God-given identity and changing you into something else based on your own perceptions.

So if I don't like my hair, it's too short.

So if hair grows, you can change it. The cosmetic things like that doesn't essentially alter who you are. But if I decide, you know, I'm really a leopard. I'm not a human being, I'm a leopard. And I'm going to start to add this one guy was the leopard man.

I mean, he lived outdoors for years and tattoos from head to toe and finally got old, couldn't. Fend for himself and went to a nursing home instead, where he's clothed, I guess, in the nursing home. But that's a different thing. when you're going to surgically mutilate and alter your body.

So we could debate certain surgeries. Are they mutilating surgeries? Are they surgeries that violate who you are as a person, the way God created you? Are they playing into fantasy? And deception, that would be different than, let's say, a woman had a bunch of kids over the years, put weight on and then got back in shape, but had saggy, flabby skin and just wanted to have a little skin-tightening thing.

That would be a cosmetic surgery. That's a whole separate debate, completely unrelated, 100% unrelated to the transgender issue.

So look, you break a bone, you set it. That's biblical, that's scriptural. They did that to animals. It talks about that, setting a bone. And it's a man-made device to set it.

Yeah. But you are enhancing something that God made as opposed to fundamentally altering it. We'll be right back straight to the phones. 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. We are going straight to the phones, 866-348-7884. We'll start with Gail in Irving, Texas. Thank you for calling the line of fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. Thank you for taking my call, and I thank God for you and your show.

Well, thank you. I just yes, I just wanted to get your take on this chip technology. There's so much of it so much coming out and a lot of people don't know. And as far as the church at large being more Informational, giving out more teaching on that. I just want your take on it.

Yeah, so there's pro and con with all technology. You know, the Internet is amazing, and it's used for the gospel, and it connects people around the world, and it's also used to get out all kinds of misinformation and pornography and destructive stuff. People learn how to build bombs on it.

So technology in itself can be neutral, but can be used negatively or positively. And I actually answered a question, an email question about this very beginning of the... of the broadcast about an hour and a half ago about a company in Wisconsin, a company in Sweden that wanted all their workers to have a chip installed in their physical body that would monitor their work, but then it could potentially monitor other things.

So on the one hand, you know, the idea of, hey, you get a chip put in your dog, and if the dog runs away, you can find the dog. That sounds cool. What about having a chip in your child that's just GPS? What if your child got lost? What if someone kidnapped your child?

That seems positive. What if you could just go into a store, you didn't have to have a credit card or anything, you just wave your hand over something, and it'll take money out of one account. That's all sounds great and positive. The problem is. How much information is someone going to have about us?

How invasive is it going to be? And then people always wonder, you know, in the book of Revelation and, you know, the Antichrist figure that you can't buy or sell unless you have, you know, the mark of the beast or the number of his name, and it's going to be in people's, you know, right receiver, a mark on their right hand or their foreheads. And is this what it's talking about? I mean, as long as I can remember, someone had a theory about what that was talking about in Revelation 13, since I got saved 45 years ago. But I look at it like this, Gail.

It's interesting to see where technology is going. It could be used positively, but it could be used negatively. I mean, people are surprised to find out that conversations can be heard in their home through their smart T V that people can eavesdrop. That there was There was a TV show and a dialogue going on on TV and the Amazon Echo. uh heard it And thought that it was being told to go online and order something.

I was preaching in Australia and mentioned Syria, and someone's cell phone started. Dictating what I was saying, thinking I said Siri to wake up the cell phone.

So You know, I look at it with interest and think this could be positive, but the more that it gets personal, and now someone wants to put a chip in me. I I would be very resistant to that. Generally speaking, there are things for health purposes. You know, it just monitors a health thing. That's all it does.

And this can save someone's life, fine. But otherwise, I'd just be cautious about this. I'm not necessarily tying it in with the end times or the book of Revelation, but just how much. Access, do you want other people to have to your own life? And I think that's where the privacy issues become a real concern.

Right. Okay. So thank you very much, and God bless you. All right, God bless. Thank you for calling, Gail.

866-34TRUT. Let's go to Doug.

Well We won't go to Doug. We'll stay in Texas. Mark in Arlington, Texas. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Dr.

Brown. Can you hear me okay? Oh, yes, I can.

Okay. Um my question is. Let's see if I can put this right. Is our Christian root really in Judaism or in Christ? And if it's in Christ, in Christ said that he was before Abraham and supersedes Judaism.

And in the book of Hebrews he He's a high priest after Malches the Dex. Are our Christian roots really in Judaism, or does it supersede Judaism? Yeah, let me let me fine-tune the question, which is a good question. Judaism, when we say Judaism, Does that mean Judaism today? Does that mean Judaism a thousand years ago?

Because that Judaism rejects Jesus. Does that mean the Judaism that was current in Jesus' day, in which case there were competing Judaisms? Let's look at it better like this. Galatians 4. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

What did Jesus do on Saturday? He kept the Sabbath. Where did he go to worship? He went to a synagogue. What did he say?

He did not come to abolish the law of the prophets, but to fulfill.

So, in him, we find the full meaning of the scripture.

So, that brings greater meaning to the Sabbath, not less. That brings greater meaning to the feasts and holy days, not less. In other words, it doesn't abolish them. It doesn't just make everything into... a a spiritual reality that has no earthly Rather, the first believers lived as Jews and taught as Jews.

And to understand the New Testament, sometimes you need to understand Jewish teaching and culture of the day. And remember, Paul urges the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5, either literally or metaphorically, to keep the Passover because Messiah, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed for us.

So there's still spiritual meaning. to these things, and Paul writes this in Romans 11. He points out that Gentile believers are like Branches of a wild olive tree that were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, and the cultivated olive tree. is the nation of of Israel and the individual branches, Israelites. And and he says he says this.

He says, if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild ol olive tree were grafted in among them, And with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Do not boast against the branches.

So, Mark. The roots of our faith go back to the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. which then developed into Judaism. developed into Judaism and Many traditions then were added that changed things over the years. And of course, Jesus was rejected.

So if you recognize that there are Jewish roots of the faith, not so much Judaism, but Jewish roots, and that they culminate and point to Jesus. Yes, he's before Abraham, but he came into the world as a Jew. And he's going to return as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And he's going to return to the city of Jerusalem, not just somewhere in mid-air.

So there are tangible roots. We should recognize them and appreciate them. And again, the way Paul puts it here, Mark, is that you partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

So, all of the good that God did in Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Israel in the Old Testament, that's what you as a Gentile believer get grafted into and get to partake. Of as if it's your own.

So that should be recognized and appreciated, but at the same time, you don't need to become a Jew. or find out about Judaism. or learn Hebrew. To be spiritual, your spirituality and mine as a Jewish believer is found in our relationship with Jesus.

So He's central, He's preeminent, He's above all, He's the full expression of God in human form. Right, if we've seen him, we've seen the father. That's central. That's foundational. But at the same Time We recognize that he came into the world as a Jew.

Under the law. to fulfill that which was spoken by Moses and The Prophets So it's kind of a both and thing as long as we keep him. central. Church, on the one hand, through history, swung so far from its Jewish roots. that it basically said for a Jew to be saved, you have to live like a Gentile.

and it replaced Passover with Easter. and things like that, and replace the seventh-day Sabbath with Sunday. And would mark those as heretical if they continued to keep the Passover and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus there or continue to observe the seventh-day Sabbath as Jesus did and as the Apostles did. It swung that way. Others swing the other way and think that they've got to be super-Jews in order to be saved and even try to get Gentiles to live like Jews.

Both of those that took place in church history and more recently both of those are Erroneous. Hey, thank you for the call. Much appreciated. 866-348-7-884. Hey, friends.

Please be praying with me. I'm getting more excited about the release next month of Saving a Sick America. Cannot wait to see the book get out. Pray with me that God will use it to impact the nation. That's why I wrote it.

It is a prescription for moral and cultural transformation. If you haven't yet downloaded the Intro and first chapter, it's absolutely free to do so at savingasickamerica.com.

So, make sure you do that. You can also watch the trailer there. If you pre-order, there are instructions on the website there, savingthesickamerica.com, how to do it. If you pre-order, you'll also get a free e-book sent to you. Yes, a free e-book, Five Ways to Pray for America.

We will be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Hey, I want to handle a very sensitive email. I'm not going to use any names here, but this is from a mom. And Right now, this could be many, many moms all over America. Many, many moms.

We get asked these things over and over and over again.

So here we go. I still find that hard to write lesbian daughter. And this is a woman whom I'd speak spoken to priv uh previously about her daughter raised in a Christian home, homeschooled. and now living as a lesbian wanting to quote marry her partner And the mom gives some of the history here that I'm not even going to get into. But but the big question is How do we maintain our stance without affirming her lifestyle?

We allowed her to bring her girlfriend to our house on July 4th. About a year ago, I wrote her a long letter complete with scripture and full of love regarding our differences. She responded with, I love you, Mom. Our relationship otherwise is very close. She feels like family is very important, but I know that until God does a work on her, that is changing little by little.

There may come a breaking point and that may all change. She adores her little sister, so if it doesn't, it'll break her heart as well as mine. Her dad and I don't always agree on how to handle things, but he loves all his kids very much. Can you give me some insight on how best to keep a relationship with her without compromising on the Word of God? I believe God has amazing things in store for her and has given her gifts, so I really want to keep our relationship strong so God can reach through our lives if he chooses that route.

She just needs to surrender fully, and that is our prayer. All right. Again, I've been asked these same questions many, many times, and there's a lot more in the email, a lot more specifics, and I'm not going to get into. Any of those because I don't want to reveal identity in in any way whatsoever beyond um speaking previously by phone, on the air, and now the specifics here that I can address. All right, she knows where you stand.

She understands what you believe about Scripture. That's clear. You've made it clear. And thankfully, she responded with, I love you, mom, not I hate you, or why do you hate me? or get out of my life or.

Okay, so thankfully that happened. You don't need to bring that up again. She understands that. Just love on her, love on her, love on her. Pray every single day, God, make me a blessing in my daughter's life.

You and your husband, pray, Lord, make us a blessing in her life. And then pray, God, convict her. Convict her of sin, convict her that you didn't make her for this, whatever the trauma, whatever happened in her life that you described, whatever the background and when her feelings may have shifted. Pray God get to the root of it and help her. God save her and save her girlfriend.

I know of people where one of the lesbian partners got saved. I know of several cases like that. Actually, as I think of it, a good number. One of them got saved and that's what broke up the partnership.

So somebody may have been praying for their daughter and the daughter's partner and the daughter's partner got saved and then they left and that's how the prayers for the daughter got answered as well.

So Pray that God convicts her of sin. Although she might be doing better in certain ways now, obviously, she's not in the right relationship with God, and this is not the relationship God intended for her. But you just love on her, love on her, love on her in every way. And Reach out to the girlfriend with the gospel. To whatever extent you can, Treat her in that regard as if she was an unsaved boyfriend.

and your daughter was was going with an unsafe boyfriend. And you couldn't bless the relationship because you knew it was bad or wrong for whatever reason. But you reach out to the daughter, so you reach out to this one as well. You reach out to... Uh you reach out to uh The In this case, the boyfriend, the unsafe boyfriend in real life here.

The girlfriend.

So that's number one. You pray, you pray, you pray as you're doing, you love on them. But then, if it comes to, hey, we're having an engagement party, can't be there. I understand that it's Fortune can't be there. All right?

And now the little sister is noticing more and more, is that... Why did she I thought she likes you know what's going on with the partner and and if it's problematic to do family events because of that with the partner, just have to understand that it's it's painful, it's difficult, she may not have chosen her feelings, I'm not saying she has, but she has chosen to act on them. I don't think she chose her feelings. I don't think she woke up one day and said, Yeah, I think I'm going to be a lesbian. All right.

But she is choosing to act on these and feeling it's what she wants to do right now.

So you can't participate in that. If it came to a wedding with love, you can't be there. Because otherwise, you are giving your sanction to it. You are participating in the celebration. That's going to be painful, but she knows where you stand.

You don't need to bring it up all the time. And do everything you can to keep the door open. I have heard calls from the daughter or from the mother years later and saying, it was my mother's love. She just stayed with me. She kept praying.

She never gave up on me. And that's why I came back to the Lord. I'm speaking specifically of cases even where it was a lesbian relationship involved. That's what I would counsel you as I counsel others. The love be deeper and greater than it's ever been.

Let the love be. As steady as it's ever been. And to whatever extent you can be involved in her life, do it. and to whatever extent you can reach out to her partner, do it. And beyond that.

Prayer is the key. Look, there are other things Lifestyle choices that people make, life decisions that they make, feelings that they act on, and we don't agree with many of them as parents. And sometimes we have to say, hey, if you do this, you're on your own. Right? You know, I'm doing this, I'm taking this course of action, I'm converting to this religion.

All right, well, I can't. I can't bless. I'm having a conversion ceremony this long. Can you come? No, sorry, I can't.

To me, you're denying the Lord. that I'm going to love you and stand with you and pray for you. And reach out to you. And if you marry a Muslim, you know, then we're going to reach out to both of you and pray for both of you to be saved. But no, we're not going to participate in this, or no, sorry, we can't participate in.

this aspect of things that that happens not just in cases like this But love, love is the key.

Okay, I know I am saying that a hundred times, but... We need to hear it over and over because love overcomes everything. Love overcomes everything. Read Romans 12 a lot too, just in terms of our general personal dealings with those who oppose us, those who differ with us, those who are sometimes hostile. Let us overcome evil with good, let us overcome wrong with right, let us overcome error with truth, let us overcome darkness with light.

All right, friends. I'm out of time here, but I've got a bunch of new articles online and a bunch of new videos. There's a prophetic warning to Christian educators. That's a real eye-opener and I think very, very important. There are articles on President Trump.

The old lady, the devil, and Donald Trump. I think you'll find that very helpful whether you are for the president or against the president in terms of your own voting and your own political views. A new video is uh My interview with apologist Greg Kochl or do babies go to heaven? Babies that die go to heaven, according to the Bible. All those at askdrbrown.org, just waiting for you there.

Take advantage of them and be. be blessed in the process and then we will Re-engage on Monday. Remember, if you haven't signed up for my emails, go to askdrbrown.org. And when you sign up for the email list, they've got a free e-book to send you. Even