You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers

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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Well, here we are. I am ready. I am excited. I am thrilled to be here with you on the air today. Michael Brown, remember to call 866-342.

34 Truth. That's 866-348-7884. As always, on Fridays, you've got questions. We've got answers. You can ask me a question having to do with politics.

You can ask me a question having to do with culture. You can ask me a question having to do with Bible translation. You can ask me a question having to do with spiritual life issues. As always, though, just a few guidelines. Anything is game on a Friday, but for it to be constructive, it should be in an area where I have some level of expertise.

If it's an area where I don't know anything whatsoever, if you want to talk to me about details of fixing your car's transmission, sorry, I can't help you. If you want me to talk about the mating habits of the earthworm, sorry, I can't help you there either. But there are lots of other areas where we can help you. One other thing that we suggest and request, if you're in a church and there's a controversy in the church, maybe your pastor is teaching a particular thing and you and others in the church are struggling with it. Then it yeah, Johnny, I'm not an expert on Freemasons either, so we'll save that for another day when we have an expert on.

Good, good, we covered that one.

So, yeah, don't call me about fixing car transmissions, about the mating habits of earthworms, or about Freemasons. Although, probably we get more calls about the. Last of those three subjects than the first two. But let's say you're in a local church and there's controversy there.

Well, you don't have to call up and say, I go to such and such church in such and such an area with Pastor so-and-so.

Now it puts me in a difficult position because what if you're not representing things accurately?

Now we just made that leader or pastor look bad. Or what if it's someone in the other congregants are listening and they don't know what's going on? And so you can just raise the issue. Hey, I'm in a church and the pastor's been teaching thus and such. And based on what you're saying, we can just evaluate that.

All right.

So fair enough. 866-348-7884. Here's an email from John. Hello, Mr. and Mrs.

Brown. Thank you for writing your book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food. I'm reading, crying, reading, and gaining hope. Good. I like that smile in there.

Question is: Is your website up with the workouts you mentioned in the book? If not, may I know your 7x200 rep workout? I'm a former athlete who is up to nearly 400 pounds at 320 now and working my way to 220. I would like to concentrate on bodyweight workouts, and since we have similar builds, I'd like to try the 7x200 rep workout you mentioned in the book and online. Thank you, John.

Okay. We planned on doing a Get Fit with Dr. Brown YouTube website just to have fun and to encourage you. My trainer was going to give me workouts to do, and then I would do them, and we would do them together online. We have not been able to record them yet for a number of reasons.

But the whole thing was not to try to compete with professional workout sites, but to say, hey, I'm in my 60s, and by God's grace, I'm in good shape. Let me encourage you to get in good shape. Let's have some fun together. We haven't been able to do it yet.

However, I will send you another link that does tell you specifically what that workout is, exactly what it was that I'm seeking to do, you know. Periodically, annually, just to measure myself. But I want to give you one to try, all right? And we come back on the other side of the break. If you're into just working out, getting fit, maybe this will encourage you and listen.

All I want to do is encourage you. I know it's a struggle to be overweight. I know food habits are hard to break. I know it's hard, but with God's grace, I want to encourage you. We'll be right back.

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.

Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. Michael Brown here, delighted to be with you, 866. 348-7884. In a moment, I want to talk to you about some bizarre interaction I had with someone on Twitter a little while ago, someone who claimed to know the Hebrew language. And it's one of those things where they instantly disqualify themselves.

But I'll come back to that in a moment. Any question you have of any kind, as long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, and yes, you can feel free to call in and differ with me. You don't have to be able to win an argument with me to express a difference. You don't have to be able to out-debate me to express a difference. All right.

I don't want you to feel intimidated. Yeah, I have the mic and it's my show and I'm a debater. But unless you call with an arrogant, nasty attitude where we have to expose error and correct things, we'll still do that in love. But unless you call with that kind of attitude, you can still differ with me and you don't have to be able to win an argument to have a difference with me. All right, fair enough.

So, just real quick, for those of you that want to try something. And see what kind of shape you're in. Don't again. Don't do heavy exercise or push hard unless you're in good shape. Or if you haven't had a physical or check with your doctor, please don't do anything silly.

All right? I'm not a professional trainer. This is not professional advice. But here's something that I've done with folks. I did a challenge with some of our.

Or are ministry school students that were like college age, you know, between 18 and 21.

Some of the guys that wanted to try were ladies as well. But it's just a fun thing I'll do on the road if I don't have much time. I want to do a quick little workout. And it consists of just four. different exercises.

One is jumping jacks, right? The other is air squats. The other is push-ups. The other is crunches.

So jumping jack, you know the legs go out and you you Touch your tips of your fingers over your head.

So, you know, you're swinging the arms and legs. The air squats, you stand basically upright like you're going to be sitting down in a chair with your back straight. And you squat down as deep as you can to like chair level and up. And then the push-ups, we do kind of wide, so they're shallow, wimpy push-ups. And then crunches that's laying on your back, right?

Elbows to knees. You connect your elbows and your knees, and that gets the abs going.

Okay, so. Here's the deal. Jumping jacks, two count for one. All right.

And if you're just tuning in, I'm answering an email from someone about a fitness issue and working out. I wanted to know one of my routines.

So two counts for one. Meaning with jumping jacks, if I say do 20, you do 40. You count every other one. And then everything else is one as one.

So you start with 20 of each, okay? You start with 20 jumping jacks, meaning 40. Jumping jacks, two for one. Then you do 20 air squats. Then you do 20 push-ups and just do them.

You can kind of do wimpy push-ups. That's all right. You're just trying to keep yourself moving. And then do 20 crunches. Jump back up.

Then do 19, 19, 19, 19.

So that means 38 jumping jacks. And then 19 air squats. 19 push-ups, 19 crunches. This is where you're on your feet for two, and then you're on the ground for two. Then 18, then seven.

So you count all the way down, and you do them in that order.

Okay, you don't run one and two another. You do them in that order. Switch from one.

So at the end, you're doing like two, two, two, two, one, you know, jumping up and down, back and forth. And you do that, the goal is just to keep moving. All right, if your form is lousy here and there, that's okay. The goal is to keep moving. When you're done, you'll have done 420 jumping jacks.

210 squats. 210 push-ups, 210 crunches, and you'll normally see You may be running out of strength for one. By the time you get back to it again, because you've done other exercises, you're actually in better shape. You know, you can keep going. I can do all of that in.

Oh Probably certainly under 15 minutes, probably under 14 minutes if I push hard, okay? Yeah, in the old days when I was heavy, the best I could do was in the low 20s.

Now I could do it under 15 minutes. Give it a try, but just finish. If you take three hours, that's...

Alright, but only do this if you're fit to do it, okay? 866-34TRUT. Let's see here. A question from Holly. What does the Bible say about cremation?

And is it okay for people of the Christian faith to exercise cremation for their loved ones? Holly, ultimately, this is going to be a decision that you and your loved ones have to make between you and God. I had a friend of mine that wrote a little track against cremation based on the Bible. and another friend who wrote a mini book against cremation based on the Bible. And they pointed out that throughout Scripture people are buried.

It is an honoring of the dead to bury the dead. That, for example, if people were left to natural elements, that would be an absolute horror. That would be divine judgment.

So burying the dead, even burying the dead in anticipation of the resurrection, obviously, thousands of years go by, the that you're just going to have ashes in a coffin. We understand that. But there was the honoring of the dead, burying the dead, that that was the norm in doing it. And based on reading the little track one of my friends wrote and looking at some of the arguments that my other friend had in his mini-book talking about that, I thought, yeah. you can make a good case against Cremation, and then you look at other religions like Hinduism that cremate, whereas Judaism doesn't, etc., you know, traditionally.

Someone then pointed out a couple of times in the Bible. where the bones of the dead were burned in the Bible. or the body was burned and the bones were buried and I thought, okay. I mean, and it wasn't in a judgment setting. Uh I've had Family members, loved ones who were cremated.

When my mom passed away, of course, we buried her last year, but I've had other family members where it was not my choice or had I had no involvement with it that were cremated. And I don't think that they committed some horrific sin against God that affects them in the world to come or something like that.

So I think you can make a good case for burial, but I'm not going to condemn a family where there's cremation or lay a guilt trip on them that's ultimately between them and God to work that out. 866. Three, four, truth. I'm just going to keep going with email questions here for a bit. Jeremy.

I have a quick question on the canon of Scripture. How do we know what books are supposed to be in the Bible? I've been reading the Antinician Fathers and they seem to hold a lot of Catholic and Orthodox views. I was under the impression that these are also the men we look to for listing the inspired scriptures, etc. I understand that God is the ultimate authority on his own scriptures, but how do we know which ones are inspired without looking to fathers that hold different views than we would?

Any info would be great. Yes, we recognize that within different segments of the professing church. There are differences. The Catholic and Orthodox would include the apocryphal books. Those are included in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures.

But they are not included in the official Jewish canon of Scripture. The Ethiopian canon, the Ethiopic church, actually uh reveres the book of Enoch as well as scripture. How do we know? I mean, Enoch is quoted by Jude, but then you also have others quoted in the New Testament, even pagan poets. What do we make of that?

To me, the simplest way to look at it is this, Jeremy. That We look at the New Testament. and see what Jesus and the Apostles quote as scripture. They may reference other texts, and again, they do it with texts from outside the Bible as well. They do it with texts from Pagan authors, as well as from other ancient texts that may have been literature that they read among themselves but were not part of the Bible.

Look at what they quote as scripture, though. not a passing reference to something, not simply a quotation, but what is quoted as Scripture. what is quoted as as it is written. or Scripture says where the Scripture cannot be broken. Or a text that is quoted as the Lord saying.

Okay. And you will find that it is never with reference to any of the apocryphal books. You'll also find in some of the earliest writings from the early church leaders that they're not referring to the apocryphal books with scripture quotations in the same way.

Now, some of them later on will be, okay? But for me, that's what's determinative. When I see that none of the apocryphal books which are worth reading, like 1 Maccabees, for example, Prayer Banas, I mean there are different books that are worth reading, Tobit, et cetera, they're worth reading, but not as scripture. When I see none of them are quoted as Scripture in the New Testament, then that tells me that the New Testament writers agreed with what became the Jewish canon, which is our current Old Testament. And then with regard to the New Testament books, here and there there was some dispute about some of the books and debate and discussion, but ultimately near universal agreement or totally universal agreement on what books belong in the New Testament.

So you can feel secure that the books of the Bible we have are those that God wanted us to have as Scripture. 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.

Alright, before I go to the phones, let me encourage you to check out my latest articles and videos on the S. Dr. Brown website, ASKDRBrown.org. My most recent articles, X Gay is Here to Stay. Hmm, what's that about?

You'll want to read it. And yes, gay activists are after your Children, what I write there is simple, clear, truthful. And Dismiss uh distressing. To the point that we need to wake up and get involved and make a difference. And some recent videos are Jews who followed Jesus Still Jewish and are discernment ministries biblical.

All those on my website, askdrbrown.org. When you're there, check out our special resource offer. When you do, 30% off all of our DVDs in our store online: 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to the phone starting in Colorado Springs. Cliff, welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, thank you, Dr. Brown. You're welcome. I uh I had actually I think posted this on your uh ask doctor Brown um uh the Facebook page. But um But the question is, you know, m My wife and I don't have the greatest relationship at that Well, we haven't in quite a while.

Um Uh her and I I've gone separate ways to as related to to following Christ. Um, you know, she she's still a professing Christian. doesn't really Act it out and you know I I try to point things out to her, she gets very upset. um, as a wife, she, you know, she doesn't really Ah, too much. like a wife, in my opinion.

I mean And she re you know, she refuses to go to counseling, which, you know, I think would help because obviously, I mean, She she's probably not the only person with with an issue out.

Okay. you know, I'll be honest, you know, I'm not I'm obviously not perfect. Um, but my question is, I mean, if things like the thing is continual down this line and you know, she continues to be Not not essentially immoral because she's not as far as sleeping with other people or anything like that. But um as far as being um you know just And Okay. committing to God, not committing to wifely duties.

I mean, w what should I do? I mean, I've moved out of the house before, Um But then I've I've had to move back because our stepson's autistic. My stepson's autistic and he gets violent. And so, you know, I wanna be there to to make sure, you know, he's not harming himself or others and Yeah, well Cliff, let me share some thoughts with you. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this, and when you mention the additional dynamic of an autistic, potentially violent son, certainly it puts pressure on everybody.

What I'd encourage you to do, though, is this. And it is it is the difficult way, it's the way of the cross. but it's the way of redemption. Which is that you put the entire focus on loving your wife as Jesus loved the church. that whatever issues she's having, whatever hypocrisy she's walking in, whatever withholding of things from you that she's doing or no intimacy or whatever, that you put your whole emphasis not on pointing out what she's doing wrong or even complaining about it.

Which is difficult and and frustrating and and More ways than one. But you put your entire emphasis every day on going to God and asking that he'll help you to be the husband. He called you to be. Only God knows the amount of pressure and stress that having an autistic son has put on her and the toll it's taken, or what's happened with her own relationship with God or faith in God because of that. Only God knows all those things.

But... If I were in your shoes, I would make my whole effort to draw closer to Jesus myself. And to be the greatest husband and father I could possibly be, whether I get anything given back to me at all. whether I get any appreciation. whether I see any change in her behavior or attitude.

I would determine to walk in unconditional love. There's certainly no grounds for divorce or anything like that. We make lifelong commitments to one another for a reason, and we do it before the Lord. It's one thing if someone abandons you and remarries, you know, and Et cetera, that's a whole different case, but you're not dealing with that. I would also say this, though, Cliff.

What's amazing is when when we walk like that And I believe there's a message you can even find on my website called Husbands Love Your Wives, if you're looking our sermon connection, probably on your spiritual growth, that I preached at our home church many years ago and we decided to put online. Husbands Love Your Wives. But what's amazing is as you do that over a period of time, not asking for anything or expecting anything. you really do see change coming. And I would even, if I were you, Sit down as long as you're in communication.

If you won't go for counseling, that's fine. I mean, it's better she would for both of you. But to say, hey, how have I failed you as a husband? How have I let you have I hurt you? Just let her express herself to you.

And then take it to the Lord without being defensive. I I know. That in a relationship that we can generally justify ourselves to a certain extent. if we feel like we're trying and the other one isn't. But what's amazing is when we just cast off that mentality.

and say okay, Jesus, how does Jesus love the church? That's the way I'm supposed to love my wife and nurture her, build her up. But he laid down his life for us. That's how I'm to do it.

So Nancy and I married 41 years now. And we can each give a list of where we fall short as spouses or as children of God or as parents or grandparents, whatever. It's not like we're starry-eyed and oblivious, but we love each other deeply and dearly. and have a wonderful relationship. And if you ask Nancy, What is it?

And she and I can speak about this publicly, it's not a secret. What is it that she most... appreciates about me is that is that I love her unconditionally and she knows that and feels that. and never feels like she has to perform or look a certain way or be a certain person. She knows I'm gonna love her.

unconditionally And that's what's absolutely critically important. for her. This is the way the cross cliff Uh there a marital counselor, I'm sure, could sit down and give you both numerous practical uh suggestions. But what one one last thing, just a very, very simple question. Did you both ever read the the famous uh five love language book?

I haven't but But what we have not read it, no. And and and that's actually a gift that my mom and dad gave me. And And we haven't read it. Yeah, it's it's not it's not a cure-all. But if you could ask her to read it, and say that you want to read it, that you just want to understand what her love language is.

Again, this is not the cure all, Cliff, but let me just say this as I'm looking at the clock, I've got a break coming. Let's just say every day you you brought flowers home to her and showered her with gifts. But her love language was quality time. You could be making all these efforts and running in and out, running all about, whereas she just wants to sit down with you in a focused way. And look at your eye to eye.

If you just say, hey, would you read this and tell me what your love language is? and then go to God. Say, I want to love my wife the way Jesus loved the church. He'll do something in you and I'm sure, Cliff, it'll do something in her. It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr.

Michael Brown.

Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thank you so much for being part of the broadcast. Without you, we would not have a Friday broadcast answering your questions here on the line of fire. 866-3666-6666. 348-7884 is the number to call. I want to go straight to the phones in Richmond, Virginia.

Zach, welcome to the line of fire. How you doing, Michael Brown? Doing well, thank you. Uh I have a question about infant baptism. Yeah.

So as some denominations practice infant baptism, others condemn it. is there scriptural references that we can use to say it's okay to the infant baptism. Surely. Obviously, within the body, by the way, you're going to be able to hear me, but you won't be able to respond. I'm hearing a lot of, sounds like wind or something in the background, which is hard on the ears of our listeners, but you can hear me perfectly well, Zach.

All right, number one, I do not believe that infant baptism is scriptural. I'll give you the arguments for it, but I don't see it as scriptural. Number two, this is not a heaven or hell issue, meaning there are Christians who differ over this, and yet we both recognize the other as being true believers.

So I don't believe in infant baptism. If you were baptized as an infant, and didn't really come to know the Lord until you were 20, then I would tell you you should be baptized as a believer. Those in favor of infant baptism would say that basically it is the New Testament version of circumcision. that this is the way that a child is brought into the world in a family of faith. And it is now bringing the child into the covenant just like ancient Israel would bring a male child into the covenant through circumcision.

And and That you'll have, for example, in Acts 16. That the jailer and his whole family are baptized.

So when someone would come to faith, they would come to faith in as the family, and even children would be baptized. And there are other arguments that folks would raise in favor of infant baptism, but that's the major gist of it. It's bringing children into the covenant. It is doing what circumcision would have done. I see no scriptural basis for that.

Number one, baptism in the New Testament is always. A response to something. You are repenting and being baptized. You are believing and being baptized. You might say, well, yeah, that's because messages are being preached, so people have to respond to those messages.

Yeah, well, then show me where it's done for anyone who is not a believer. Remember, this was something that was done in Judaism, ritual immersion, and you did not immerse a baby, okay? You immersed someone that was getting ritually pure, or someone that was going through an act of repentance, or someone that was converting to Judaism. You're talking about adults, they would be. Immersed, that would be the whole purpose of it.

So through the New Testament, it is believe and be baptized, repent and be baptized. And baptism in Romans 6 symbolizing Death to sin and new life in the Messiah is obviously something that a believer is doing. As for the jailer, when it says that he and his family were baptized, it tells us that Paul preached to all of them.

So presumably they all heard and they all responded and they were all baptized. But again, We don't divide over this. If you're a Presbyterian, for example, you practice infant baptism. If you're a Baptist, you practice adult baptism. Yet we would say the determining factor is true faith in Jesus as Savior, true turning to God for forgiveness and beginning a new life in Him.

So, Baptism in itself is not going to save us, but it is important. And again, anyone that I know that comes to faith, if I help lead them to the Lord or they're in our congregation, they were baptized as an infant. When they asked about being baptized, I tell them, absolutely, you should be. It's for adults. It's for believers.

But we don't divide over this. We recognize there are differences within the body and church history over this issue. All right, right back with more of your calls. Game Two. Give us strict to always do what's right.

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, welcome to the line of fire on our Friday broadcast. You've got questions. We've got answers if it's appropriate for Christian radio. Go for it. 866-34TRUTH 866-3487-847.

884 is the number to call. We go back to the phones in Connecticut. Salita, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown, for answering my phone call and taking my question. I have a question.

I've been reading a lot about the advancement of the homosexual agenda in schools and education. And I'm a Christian. I also home school my children because of it. But I still worry and look around me and see what's going on and wonder what can I do? What can we do to start changing that around?

Because it's been happening for so long, it feels like we're just behind. Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. In my new book, Saving a Sick America, we'll be talking about that more starting next week. But I have a whole chapter dealing with the educational system And I do have some suggestions in it. Let's realize that there are many hardworking educators in the public schools that are doing their best, that are people of integrity, that are doing their best to be good moral examples and teach our kids in a good way. Unfortunately, A lot of the curriculum is extremely humanistically based.

There is a strong Darwinian evolutionary emphasis that you're going to find through the science classes. The sex ed classes are going to have a very different morality than we do, even putting aside homosexual issues.

Sometimes in some curricula, there's even a bashing of the Christian faith and a sympathetic view, say, of Islam and other faiths. And then you have the peer pressure issue where you've got ungodly kids and so on. And so there are lots of challenges while there are many people working hard doing good.

So a few things. Number one, there has been an ongoing homeschool revolution, which is quite radical and dramatic. If you go back just 20, 30 years, or certainly 40 years, when our kids were first born, No one was even talking about this. Sending your kid to a private Christian school that wasn't a Catholic school, that was kind of the new thing, you know, that there were Protestant Christian schools. And that was the big change.

Homeschooling was hardly on anybody's radar.

Now it's very, very commonplace. And increasingly, you know, the most elite schools in America welcome homeschoolers with degrees from homeschool.

So that's something over a period of time that is going to have an impact because you do have millions of Americans involved with it.

However, that in itself is only part of the issue. What we have to do is this: we have to, all of us who are in the public school, arena, meaning we have kids. in public school from from preschool up to up to uh High school. We have to get involved. More Christians need to pray.

about getting involved in the public school system. To be teachers, to be administrators, to be librarians. It is shocking when things are documented. One of my friends is a former school teacher, and she would go into the library in her school district in Chicago and look for books on, say, homosexuality, because she was focusing on cultural issues, and find like 60 or 70. promoting, celebrating homosexuality, and maybe one.

raising a question if that one was even there. We need to get involved however we can. That means parents sitting down with their kids, finding out what they're learning, looking at the textbooks they're using, meeting with the teachers, raising issues if they have issues. Here's what it also means. How about the local school boards?

Now, most of us don't even think of that. You know, I'm thinking of change the world and shake the world.

Well, how about the local school board? That if more and more believers get involved, then we can make good decisions. For example, when there's pressure now on your school district to say that a six-year-old boy who identifies as a girl can use the girls' locker room or bathroom, or that a 15-year-old boy who identifies as a girl can play on the girls' softball team and share the shower stalls, that a school board could very easily get involved and shut something like that down.

So, Christian involvement there. I was preaching Salita in Indiana a few years ago, and the pastor was telling me about the amazing open door they had in the school district there to share the gospel in the schools. I said, well, share the gospel. He said, oh, yeah. They know some of the kids are troubled.

They got gangs, you know, other issues. And so we can just go in there and share the gospel.

Well, after the service, I met an older gentleman full of life and vibrancy, but he was a retired school principal. When he retired, the pastor said to him, we need your involvement.

So he got involved on the local school board together with other Christians, and they were able to open the schools up to the gospel to help these kids find the Lord quite remarkably. The other thing we need to do is work holistically to support solid Christian schools however we can, because they struggle for finances and it's rough. We have right now. We have to pay. You have to pay out of your tax money to support your local public school, right?

But you're homeschooling. When we sent our kids to private school, we still had to pay for a public school.

So hopefully with the current administration, there'll be more of a push for vouchers where you could say, okay, here's my money. Here's where I want to use it. But the key thing is we have to recognize how extreme things are in the schools. My latest article, yes, gay activists are after your children, gets you the tip of the iceberg. Folks can see that.

And then we get more involved. And then those that are able, because not everyone's able. Those that are able to homeschool or send the kids to private school, and not everyone feels led to, but those that are able, invest that in your kids and then encourage your kids to pray. About ways that they could get involved as they grow up. Maybe God wants one of them to be a public school teacher, or maybe God wants one of them to go to law school.

And become a judge, and you know, that these are also solid options for believing kids. Awesome. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. And hopefully, when Saving a Sick America comes out later in September, you and your family will find that a value.

May the Lord bless you. And your family for the quality choices you're making. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Thomas in Musquet. Nevada, welcome to the line of fire.

Hello, Dr. Brown. I got a couple of questions for you. I was I was on YouTube and I ran across a missionary named Uh David Hogan. Yeah.

And uh first question is Man, is that dude for real? And can I take. keep uh Matthew Chin and just believe it and and believe for people to be healed and raised from the dead and stuff.

Okay. In my answering this question, I will have the critics swarming all over me, but that's okay. Number one, Matthew 10, Jesus sends his disciples out. and says to heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons.

Now you could say, okay, that was a specific calling for the twelve disciples when they were sent out at that time. On the one hand, I agree with that. On the other hand, Jesus tells us in John 14, 12 that whoever believes in him, which is a universal statement, the Greek is used several times in the Gospel of John, and it's always universal, whoever meaning whoever. whoever believes in him The works that he does. And he did, we will do also, and even greater works than these will we do, because He goes to the Father.

So he goes to the Father and now sends His Spirit and intercedes for us.

So I would base my theology not just on Matthew 10, where there could be a pushback against that. I would base my theology on John 14:12, and then the testimony in Acts, where the sick are healed. where demons are driven out. and where the dead are raised. and there are documented cases of the dead being raised to this day.

By the power of God, it's not the norm. Jesus did not go about raising the dead all the time, so we know and understand that, but at times the dead were raised. As for David Hogan, Folks will have to evaluate firsthand whether his claims are true or not. Here's what I can tell you. Uh he was in my home over twenty years ago.

And he is as radically devoted to prayer and fasting and loving Jesus and being an unashamed witness as anyone that I know. I can tell you that. I can tell you that I visited his work in Mexico over 20 years ago and went out into outlying areas where they planted churches among the Mexican Indians. And The gospel has gone where it had never gone before. I can tell you that's true.

I can tell you some have left his ministry. And and and Have uh attacked him and written against him. and renounced him. I can also tell you that two grads from our ministry school have been with him now over 15 years, two brothers. They have served with him in the jungles of Mexico and outlying areas for over 15 years, and I just saw one of them.

Oh, two weeks ago? And he would absolutely 100% vouch. For David Hogan.

So There you have it. Be challenged in your heart. Obey the Lord. And let's see what he does. God bless you, sir.

God of light, hear our cry, 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.

Thank you so much for being a part of our broadcast, 866-348-7884. Remember to call this is Michael Brown, your joyful voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Any call of any kind that's appropriate for Christie Radio in any area of expertise I have, by all means, give me a call and I'll do my best to get to as many of your calls as I can. All right, we go to Tampa, Florida. Gene, welcome to the line of fire.

Hello, Michael Brown. Thank you for picking my phone. You're welcome. If uh Thank you for help uh for helping me understand the gospel. I didn't understand the gospel before.

So I got two questions. Uh the first question is uh the church that I've taken now is that oneness in a person's church no no uh the UPC They don't believe the doctrine of the Trinity, but I do believe this is what the Bible clearly teaches.

So what should I do? I've been praying what to do. I've been in the stretch for eight years now. I wrote the pastor about his teaching, but He doesn't seem to want to question his belief Because they are ve very, very valuable for the belief. They told me that no one can change their belief, I don't know what to do.

And the second question is Um They believe that Unless one have spoken in tongue One doesn't have the Holy Spirit.

So I do not speak in tongues.

So therefore, I do not have the Holy Spirit, which means I am not faithful Uh so I don't know what to do. Yes, sir. All right, Gene, what you need to do is without making a big fuss. without making a a public spectacle over it. without challenging the leaders, you simply need to leave that church.

And get in a church that preaches a gospel that is more in harmony with Scripture. There may be many fine qualities about the people there. You may have a lot of beliefs in common. But those two things, which of course the UPC is famous for, Or are things they will not move on, barring God shaking the whole denomination. I'm not damning them all to hell.

God knows their hearts. God knows whether some are in right relationship with him or not. But uh You are not going to change them, like I said, barring God shaking the whole denomination. And it's always a good practice. to go to a place where you are in harmony with the doctrine so you can submit yourself fully.

And then you can also serve there and throw yourself in. Certainly the oneness Pentecostal idea that When Matthew 28 says, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, that the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit is Jesus, and that Jesus praying to the Father is just kind of like playing different roles. Or at the baptism in Matthew 3, for example, where Jesus is being baptized and the Father speaks, you know, this is my Son whom I love, and the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove, which is clearly showing us Father, Son, and Spirit, that that's just like different manifestations and so on. It just doesn't work textually. Yes, there's one God and one God only, but He is complex in His unity and He has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Spirit.

And in John 17, Jesus talks about the glory that He enjoyed with the Father before the world began.

So, They're so wrong on that. And then to tell you that you don't have the Holy Spirit because you never spoke in tongues is an insult to God and His grace. Gene, the moment you put your trust in Jesus to save you, The Holy Spirit entered into you. and you were given new life by the Holy Spirit. and you became a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there is something else in terms of the Holy Spirit coming on you in power. And in response to that, you speaking in other tongues, that hasn't happened to you. But you are a child of God by faith in what Jesus did. And the proof of that is the new life that you live in him and that you're indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

So they're quite mistaken on a number of lines. And what I would encourage you to do, I'm sure there are plenty of good gospel preaching churches in Tampa, is just to pray about the Lord leading you. If you have friends that are in another church that they like, great. I can't recommend churches on the air for a number of reasons. But, I mean, unless you lived in my neighborhood, I'd tell you where I go.

But otherwise, Uh, if you're not sure where to go, then just look at some churches in your area and you know, get online and look, and and then look at their doctrinal statements. See some that are not, you know, that are in driving distance from your house and look at their doctrinal statement. If they hold to the fundamentals of the gospel, as opposed to some of these aberrations that you'll find in the UPC. Then check it out. If it's a place where you feel you can be at home there, great, throw yourself in.

But I would certainly move on, especially after eight years, sir. I would absolutely move on from that church. But like I said, don't make a big fuss out of it. Don't make it like you're on a mission to expose them. Just leave quietly and move on somewhere else.

I would do that in a heartbeat if I were you, beginning this Sunday. All right? Yes, uh and then when I was praying and then Uh when I read the Bible on in Isaiah fifty five, verse eight, And so I was troubled by that too when when the Bible says that for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither uh are your ways my ways you fear the Lord. speak with me uh because I wanted to change things.

But I don't know. Yeah, but here's the deal. Even if they're wrong, it's not your which they are in these ways, it's not your role to change them. For example, if there's a restaurant and it's it's serving you know fast food unhealthy food right Well, you don't want to eat unhealthy food, you don't go to that restaurant. You don't own the restaurant.

You're not responsible for the restaurant. You just don't go there.

Well, the same way God didn't raise you up to be the leader of that church. or to give you a role where you would have authority. To change them.

So, the best thing to do is to make your will known by leaving. And, like I said, I'd go somewhere else beginning. this Sunday. I I'd do it that quickly if I was able to. But I I wouldn't.

Go on the war path. I'm going to expose them. I'm going to write letters to the pastor. Leave them to God and pray for them and get on with your own life. Hey, may the Lord bless you, Gene, and may He lead you and guide you.

866-34TRUTH. Tell you what. I've only got a minute. Before the break, so those of you on hold, stay right there. As soon as we resume on the other side of the break, I will take your call.

All right, so stay there. I still wanna tell you about this crazy interaction I had on Twitter with someone claiming to know the Hebrew. And you know what it's like. It's like someone telling you, oh, yeah, I know how to drive a car. And then they say, okay, show me, go ahead, drive.

And they grab the steering wheel with their teeth and they try to put their hands down to touch the pedals. Like, what are you doing? I don't think you know how to drive a car. Or they get in the back seat and say, okay. I know how to drive.

Well, if you're in the back seat, you can't drive the car. That kind of crazy stuff, and yet.

Some people who were ignorant enough actually will get swayed. by silliness like this. This is where we do our best to get the word out. Hey friends, if you appreciate what we're doing, And believe in what we're doing and wanna stand with us, why not do this? Why not go to our website, check out some of the DVDs that you like best.

Place an order, all right, 30% off on all the DVDs, but then any profit that comes in, that goes right back into ministry, right back into radio, airtime, and blessing others.

So you'll be blessed. You'll help us at askdrbrown.org. 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.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Line of Fire 866-6666. 348-7884 is the number to call. Do you have a question for me about something you heard on Christian TV or read in a book? Do you have a question about something you're reading in the Bible yourself? Are you struggling with how we address moral, cultural, or political issues?

Question about Israel, Islam, the Middle East, anything that we ever talk about here on the line of fire. In any shape, size, or form, feel free to call. And I give this announcement out over and over and over, but get very few takers. by all means, if you differ with me, if you think I'm wrong on some point, be it spiritual or moral or social, political, whatever we've talked about, if you've read my articles or listened to the show or watched my videos, if you think I'm wrong on anything, Tell me. We'll have a conversation.

What if you're right? What if you have an insight and I'm missing something?

Well, you could help me and help a whole lot of other people because by God's grace we reach a bunch of people. What if you're wrong? What if I could help you? And that affects those that you touch as well. Or what if we can just agree to disagree, but without hostility?

Don't attack me on social media and write all kinds of nasty things and than not be willing to call and talk because I'm not going to bite you. If you do.

So, trust me, I put out this call all the time for critics and those who are hostile. I get blasted on social media. They even blast me during radio time. It's like, I can't reply to you during radio time, number one, and number two. There are too many people online for me to reply to.

That's why we pay for airtime so you can call and express your views. Fair enough? How much more inviting can I make it? 86634Truth. Let's go to, is it Sitali in Corona, California?

Is that correct pronunciation? Hi, Dr. Brown. Yeah, it's Fit Lolly. Sitlali, okay.

Yeah, sitlali. Um, I'm just so thankful for you and your ministry. It's really, um just helped me really see who God is. And I actually heard you and Dr. James White Debate, and I really appreciate both of you guys.

You guys are awesome, and you blessed my boyfriend and I in so many ways.

So we're just thankful for your ministry. I actually I wanted to ask you a question about um Your thoughts on the Four Square Church. It's a Pentecostal denomination, and it's currently, I'm under one that. is rooted in the Four Square Church. And I wanted to know what your thoughts were on it.

If You had heard or understand their doctrine and if you believe it's sound or not. Um, my church personally, we just went from, we just did a series on, um, from debt to surplus. which talked a lot about finances and um Speaking to the mountains of financial debt and a lot of that stuff. They handed out these like little pamphlets. I am in no way knocking my church because I am Under their leadership, and I just wanna.

understand and grow. in the Word of God and always be led by the Holy Spirit. But some of the things just weren't settling in my heart, and I just want to know. Yeah, sure. What are your thoughts?

Yeah.

Let me address the general first, and then if we run up into the break, we'll get into some specifics because I want to ask you a couple of questions as well. But the best known Foursquare church leader in the world is Pastor Jack Hayford in his 80s now and a highly, highly respected Christian leader across America and as sound as they come in terms of being a Christian thinker. And and a man of uh impeccable track record in terms of of living above reproach.

So four square church are are fairly basic. Pentecostal, charismatic in their beliefs. In other words, all the fundamentals they'd hold to, I hold to as well. As for specific churches, everyone's going to vary. Stay right there.

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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome back to the line of fire, 866-348-7884. Have you checked out my latest articles and videos? My video, The Safest Video on All of YouTube. Oh yeah. You want to watch that.

Are dissermon ministries biblical? Those are some of my most recent videos and new articles. X Gay is here to stay and another. Gay activists are after your children. When you read them, you will hear nothing but truth and Love.

In those articles.

So check them all out at askdrbrown.org. All right, I want to go back to Sitlali in Corona, California.

So the Four Square Church is in terms of Pentecostal beliefs, is absolutely mainstream. And their fourfold emphasis. They emphasize Jesus as the Savior. Baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

So we're baptized in the Spirit, we speak in tongues. He's the healer, and he's the soon-coming king.

So they would be different from. Those that don't believe in the gifts of the Spirit for today, or don't believe in divine healing for today, or don't believe in the baptism of the Spirit, speaking in tongues for today. I believe in all those things. And just during the break, I took a look at the 16-page doctrinal statement that's held to by the Foursquare. Just scan that.

And to me, that's all just fundamental, normal. Uh Meat and potato gospel, so to say, from a Pentecostal perspective as well. As far as every individual church, though, and what's taught, that's going to vary.

Some of them will be more enthusiastic in the things of the Spirit. And have a greater emphasis on praying for the sick and things like that, others will be less so. But as far as what you were taught about debt, Uh were you given practical teaching on stewardship. on on purchasing, on how to spend money, how to give, or was it all a matter of how to address this from a spiritual perspective without a lot of practical in it? It would Pretty practical.

They addressed Um they're going to be doing a financial piece university, which I think is awesome. And um I just think that the way that they were I guess I don't really believe in attaining. Like, that's not. What I believe in. it being a blessing, like where I attain riches or wealth.

Because I believe that. just worshiping Jesus is a blessing in itself, you know? But I guess they handed out these like, um Just scriptural words of prayer. and faith about God's provision.

So they address something like So I speak to every financial mountain that stands against me, and I say, Mountain of debt, lack, limitation, I command you to be removed in the name of Jesus. I command you to leave and not return to my life.

So they kind of use things like that and um They hand it out to our congregation.

So I'm just trying to discern If it biblical to be under something or a church that just teaches on those things. Got it. All right, so again, my response without being there, and I appreciate your humility towards the leaders and wanting to be honoring. Number one, There are certainly many verses about provision in Scripture. Old Testament and New Testament.

For example, Proverbs 3, 9, and 10, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. Or, for example, the words of Jesus in Luke, the sixth chapter, which you cannot totally divorce from finances. Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap, for with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

So when I give, when we support our local congregation, when we give to our missionaries around the world, I give in faith, with expectation that I'm honoring God, with expectation that the funds will be used for the gospel, and with expectation that as I put God first, even in my finances, that he'll provide for me so that I can have my needs met and be a blessing to others. That's provision. That's generosity. That's good to teach, and it's scriptural.

However, if financial riches become the goal, it's one thing for a businessman to say, hey, I want to make a million dollars a year so I can support missionaries around the world. Or, I want to make $10 million a year, and I want to ultimately live on 10% of my salary, which would be $200,000 a year. I want to live on this amount so I can support the poor in my community. It's one thing for a businessman to have motivation to succeed if he has larger gospel. uh um motivation but To pursue riches in and of themselves, that's dangerous scripturally, and it takes us away from contentment in the Lord.

And 1 Timothy 6 warns about it in very, very strong terms.

So if they are preaching a gospel of financial prosperity, Or Jesus died to make me rich. Or, I should be pursuing riches. That's certainly erroneous, and if that is something that's regular and steady. I would not be comfortable in an environment like that at all, even if everything else was sound. If, on the other hand, it's just something that came up at this time.

And maybe it is going a little bit too far. I mean, that confession that you read, it's one thing to. To speak the word and speak faith, it's another thing to think that's how your financial troubles are going to disappear. Obviously, it's two different things.

So I'd look at it like this: if this is a major emphasis of the church and it goes the way of preaching a gospel of financial prosperity, and Jesus died to make me rich, and the more money I have, the more proof of my spirituality, then that's not the place I want to be. If it's something that just came up in the midst of financial teaching and it was mainly practical, but some of the emphasis was a little off, I would just, in that case, eat the meat and throw away the bones if I found everything else to be healthy and good in the church.

Okay. Awesome. All right.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Oh, you're very welcome. God bless you. Appreciate it.

eight six six three four truth. We go to Hawaii with Derek. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, how's it going, Dr. Brown?

Going great. Thank you. I wanted to see what your take was regarding this, and I was thinking about it while reading scriptures. Did Adam and Eve have glorified bodies prior to the fall or sin of? inception Um, if there was no death yet.

And I'm kind of curious. to see what your take. is uh what their state of being was at that time. And would be Jesus in his resurrected form. Um you know, he appeared like a gardener, but he still had his It's a balloon.

I mean, what wha what do you think um What state of being do you think Jesus was post-resurrection as well?

So, kind of a two-point question. Sure thing.

Okay, so as far as Adam is concerned. Uh if he had been glorified. Adam and Eve had been glorified and they were in the equivalent of resurrected bodies, then as I understand it, death would not have been a possibility. whereas they had to eat from the tree of life in order to live forever. And they were barred from doing that, right, at the end of Genesis 3.

They're kept from eating the tree of life. But God says, if they eat of it, then they'll live forever.

So that would tell me that they could not have been in perfectly glorified bodies because they had to eat of the tree of life. And whatever of this is symbolic language, God knows, but just taking it face value literally, okay?

So, my understanding was that they would have had glorious bodies, that they would have been the perfection of humanity, that. They were not made with all kinds of defects and shortcomings. And rabbinic literature, now again, this is just. Homiletical. It's not like some ancient traditions have been preserved and passed on.

But ancient rabbinic literature speaks of Adam being like massively tall and could walk over the whole earth and just a few strides. You know, one tradition says his body reached from earth to heaven before sin caused him to sink. He was of extreme beauty and sunlight brightness, etc.

So those are some of the pictures, but that's just rabbinic myth. There's no substance to it. Uh but I do want to point out this one thing. It's a little off topic of what you've asked, but I I believe it's uh it's it's important to mention this. I often wondered.

What was it like? To be Adam and Eve. before they ate the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What did that actually mean to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? And I thought of this.

You could put two babies next to each other, right? that are say each six months old, a baby boy and a baby girl. and they're in the nursery, and they're each having their diapers changed. And they're laying next to each other, totally naked, without any sense of sexuality, any sense of. of being ashamed because they're naked, because they're totally innocent in that regard.

So think of Adam and Eve as being perfectly... formed by God. Fully mature. human beings And yet utterly innocent as far as having the same understanding of good and evil that we have. Again, different question than you asked, but something that is striking.

in terms of their existence.

So Jesus after the resurrection The one hand, he certainly glorified for sure. But he does speak of his wounds. He said, a spirit doesn't have wounds as you see that I have.

So in what state was he? We'll talk about that on the other side of the break. Ain't the world It's fire we want for fire we It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks, friends, for being part of the broadcast 866-34-TRUTH. You've got questions, we've got Answers.

Okay, so Derek, just during the break, out of curiosity, I typed in online Jesus resurrected body. Those three words without quotes. And interestingly, The first two references that come up, number one is Carm, Carm.org, which is an excellent apologetics website. I'm going to read from their statement in a moment. Number two, Jehovah's Witnesses.

Because Jehovah's Witnesses are trying to teach that that Jesus rose differently and it's not the resurrected body is different than the glorified body, etc. But if you look at the CARM article, C-A-R-M You'll find it to be very, very helpful. And they make this statement, which they say is a fundamental statement with which I agree. Jesus rose from the dead in the very same physical body in which he died. Let me just jump in and emphasize that this is what Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15: that our whole hope of future resurrection.

Goes back to the folk that Jesus rose from the dead. Physically, right? If he did not literally physically rise from the dead, then we don't have the literal physical hope of our own future resurrection as well. That's number one.

So Jesus rose from the dead, the very same physical body in which he died. This resurrected physical body was a glorified spiritual body. The spiritual body is not merely spirit. The spiritual body is the resurrected, glorified, physical body. body.

I agree with that, and my understanding on the Gospels would be that just the way Jesus presented himself, He could have been covered a certain way, whatever it was. Also, the Holy Spirit not opening their eyes to see. That would indicate, yes, the same Jesus, because he says, Look, here are the nail prints, look and see, tells Thomas to touch him. There is people physically grabbing his feet. To worship him, so we know he is recognizable in that way.

that he is a literal being. In other words, he's not just a spirit floating through the air. But the resurrected body is a glorified body, but it's actually a body, just will have certain. different qualities and will live forever. But that being said, if you look, for example, in Luke the 24th chapter, what does it say about the two on the road to Emmaus when Jesus is with them?

Uh And they only realize when he takes the bread and blesses it, it says then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

So God simply didn't let them see or know. But in other cases, thinking it's the gardener, it could just be, you're not. You don't recognize them because of What he's wearing, or how he's standing, or where he's positioning himself. You know, there's so many possible explanations. The gospel just doesn't give us all the details.

But it's not like he rose in one body, then appeared different another day, another day, and it's like, who is he? It's like, wow, he's one day he's tall, one day he's short, one day he's black, one day's white, one day he's green, one day he's blue. No, it wasn't that. It was the same Jesus in his resurrected body. But interestingly...

Uh, it's the same body in that respect.

Now, here's the question. What if You're you're an amputee. Right? Or what what if you're born, say, Let's put aside that. What if you were born, say, and you're your physical body, you're missing a limb?

Or there's some other defect.

Well, obviously, God will address all that, but somehow we will be recognizable one to another in the world to come.

So appreciate your questions very much. Thank you, Doctor. Appreciate it. All right.

866-348-7-884.

Okay, I may get to some more emails. in a moment, but Let me just tell you about this interaction I have with a fellow. On Twitter today. And obviously, you can't interact with everyone. I'd love to trust, trust me, trust me.

I love truth. I love to engage, I love to answer questions, I love to debate.

Okay. So when I see something posted, that's not true or accurate. Let's say for example, I post a YouTube video. And I happen to see comments.

Now, plenty of comments I won't see, especially on Facebook or response to articles.

Some articles I write can have hundreds or thousands of comments in response. And I don't see any of them. Understandably, I'm sure you can understand that. But I'll see something that's posted. And maybe it happens to get stopped by YouTube.

In other words, it doesn't get posted immediately. Maybe it has a link in it. It's linking to another website.

So I may happen to be the one on our team that sees that.

Well, someone has to approve it. And I'm looking at it and what it says is false.

Well, if you study the Hebrew, it says this and it but because someone's giving their opinion and they're not m attacking another person or lying about me or something or slandering somebody, we approve it. That's not true. But it's their right. There was comments section they they get to weigh in. And I would love, love to fix every error, but that's not the way it is in this world.

That is not the way it is in this world. And God has not called me to be his policeman as if I alone am right and everybody else is wrong. But there's certain things that are factually false, and certain things that are factually true. And no amount of argumentation can change that. If I say that a microphone is a telescope, I'm not going to be able to see through it.

If if I tell you that a bicycle is a jet, I'm not going to be able to fly on it. The same way If I tell you that the English word three, T-H-R-E-E, actually means Well, that's not true. That's not accurate.

So somebody's challenging a comment I made on Twitter. And when I look at his his bio which I'll sometimes do if I'm trying to interact with someone. And he only had a handful of followers, like 70, 80, but I'm still trying to be civil and interact. And he knows enough Hebrew to scare the church or something, and knows the biblical languages: like, ah, okay, great.

So he starts saying, you know, Leviticus 18, 22 is mistranslated as saying that it's detestable for a man to lie with a man the way a man would lie with a woman. And I said, mistranslated by whom? I said, this is my area of expertise, you know, Biblical Hebrew, and so on.

So he proceeds to post some things, a couple of things where everybody knows, yeah, and it's meaningless, you know. And then the other stuff is like, what are you. talking about? You've got to be kidding me. Anyone that knows Hebrew knows that these two words that are spelled the same are two different words.

It's just like you say, Well, I n I know English. I know what it means to go to the bank. And I said, okay, what does it mean to go to the bank? You say, well, there's a river and the river has a bank. That's not what you mean when you say, I've got to go to the bank.

It means I've got to go to the place where you deposit money or take out money. Same word, bank, but anybody who knows English knows they're two different words. And for him to post what he did about Hebrew, he said, I used to think what you did, then I discovered these things. I used to be homophobic. I said, I'm not homophobic.

I love those who identify as LGBT. I reach out to them all the time, and God loves them. And truth is truth. You can't change what's written. God did not make men for women and women for men.

He has a better way. And if all your life you felt attracted to the same sex, it must be very intense and it must be deeply rooted in you. You probably feel like you were born that way, but still not what God made you for. He's not the one to put those desires in you. And if you'll yield your life to Him, Everything you have, just give to him.

You'll find he has a better way in Jesus. 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.

Well, thank you for tuning in to today's broadcast. This is Michael Brown, and you know what we do on Fridays? You've got questions. We've got answers. The sooner you call in, the better chance we have of getting to your calls in the next 30 minutes.

But anything that's appropriate for Christian Radio that touches on anything whatsoever that we deal with here on the line of fire, my phone lines are open, 866-348.

Well, excuse me, I'll just we'll make it simple 866-34-TRUTH. There you go. Made it even easier for do you have do you have our app by the way? Do you have a line of fire app? No?

I just saw someone posted on Twitter raving about it, loving it. Easiest way to listen to the show all two hours wherever you are in the country or in the world. Easiest way to listen to past shows, our archives, crystal clear connection you'll have. Click on it to get to our website, check on recent articles, videos, all there. Line of fire, just search for the line of fire with Dr.

Michael Brown in your App Store or Play Store. All right, I am going to go to... an email question from Justin. I was reading Judges and I came across Judges 1137 and the word virginity appears, and I noticed that it's different than the word for virgin in Isaiah 7.14. Why is that?

Why wouldn't they use the same word for virgin?

Okay. Number one. There is no Hebrew word. which in and of itself In a neutral context in the Bible, means virgin. And talk about the Old Testament, all right?

The word betula, batulim, is plural. which can speak of virginity. But Batula, which is the most common word used for virgin, and is the primary word used when the law is dealing with virgin. In and of itself, it does not mean virgin. It's speaking of a young woman who.

Could be a virgin. And that's why you'll have verses say, you know, judgment's coming, and it's coming on the young man. And the young women alike. All right? And the word for young woman is Batula.

Virgin. Doesn't mean judgment's coming on the young men and the virgins, no young men and young women alike. In Joel 1.8 it speaks of a Batu law Mourning for the husband of her youth.

Now, some claim: well, she was espoused to be married and he died, and that's well. It's possible, but more likely she was married, but still called the Batullah, because Batullah in and of itself. does not mean virgin. That's why you'll sometimes see a batula who never knew a man. It's clarifying.

It's a young woman who never knew a man. You have the word na'ara, which can also be used in this case. A na'ara who never knew a man. That that means a Uh a maiden, and then you have Alma. Alma is the emphasis is not on virginity, it is on youthfulness.

David is called by the the male name Elem. All right.

So it does not primarily have to do with virginity. It has to do with youthfulness. Is Isaiah 7.14 explicit in the Hebrew? that it is prophesying a virgin birth. No, it's not.

The word al-ma could certainly mean virgin. But that is not. Again, no Hebrew word in and of itself. Unless it's in a specific context dealing with laws about virginity and things like that. No Hebrew word in and of itself exclusively means virgin So alma has to do with youthfulness.

It could well refer to a woman who was too young to have a child. And that could have been the clear sign. And ultimately, Matthew understands it. in that sense. And the Septuagint translators, the ancient Jewish-Greek translators of the Old Testament, into Hebrew before the time of Jesus, they likely understood it to mean virgin as well.

There's some debate on that, but that's the most likely reading. Is it true that the virgin birth is prophesied in Isaiah 7:14? Ultimately, yes. In the mind of God and the plan of God. But the Hebrew, in and of itself, if it was to say virgin unambiguously, Oh God of burning, cleansing flame.

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.

You know, if we're going to have a gospel-based moral, cultural, spiritual revolution, we've got to be grounded. You've got to be grounded in the Word, grounded in prayer, grounded in personal relationship with God. grounded in godly living. If we're not changed, how can we bring about change? God changes us, we go and change the world through the gospel 866-34-TRUTH okay I just had a slight clock issue at the end of that last segment.

So if Isaiah 7.14. was to be an explicit Absolutely clear statement. that there would be a virgin birth. The Hebrew would have had to say something like Look. The Woman The young woman who has never been with a man.

is pregnant. and we'll have a child. or this woman who has never been with a man. Will conceive and have a child. It would have had to say something like that.

Barring that What we have is a prophecy full of meaning, full of mystery. which Matthew sees, whatever the application was, in the days of Achaz, 700 years before Jesus. what whatever the application was in his day. Its ultimate application is to the Messianic king who is born supernaturally and who is God with us. If you go to my website, realmessiah.com, a Jewish website.

And look in objections or answers, I think it is. Just look at messianic prophecy, scroll through, and you'll see Isaiah 7:14 that we do deal with. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Raleigh, North Carolina. Dina, welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. How are you? Doing very well, thank you. Um I have a question for you.

And I called three weeks ago. with the same question. And I've given it some thought since we talked about this.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay, yeah, I had asked to What you thought about How All done. I'm getting feedback of the Stalking. Go ahead. I can hear you loud and clear. If your radio is turned down, great.

If you need to fix something, we'll go to another call, come back to you. Whatever's happening, I'm not hearing you.

So, as soon as Howard gets a moment, he'll come back and find out what's going on. Let's go to Ron in Saskatoon. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Doctor Brown. Hey, buddy.

Hey, I had a uh differing opinion with you on the movie The Shack. Yeah, go for it. As you know, I haven't seen it. Haven't read the The book or seen the movie, so I'm anything but dogmatic. And for some that don't know, What I did say when someone called about the shack is that we know that the the author of the book holds to some heretical ideas.

The question is how, and we know that from other things he's written since the shack. But I had spoken to some friends that had seen it and thought it was powerful. and was especially great for the unsaved and would really get them thinking about God and recognize God's love and that the errors are really not. You know, clearly pronounced in a major way. And so it could be a good bridge thing for someone to go and see.

Or even for a believer, if they recognize, okay, there's some underlying errors there, but just kind of ignore that, it could be good.

So I said, yeah, it may be. Maybe it's useful to use as a bridge, or someone goes to see it, and you can talk to them about the gospel. But again, having not seen it, having not read the book, all I could do was just offer that. That opinion, and I have other colleagues of mine who've written scathing interviews, scathing reviews of the movie and said, Everybody stay away, it's dangerous and it's poisonous. And you know, people that like me say, You're totally wrong on this.

So go for it. Go express your views. I'm not the least bit defensive over this, please.

Okay. Well, there's one thing. I noticed an article on charisma a while back. I'm looking at it right now. It's uh I can't remember the date.

I don't see the date. Anyways, the title of the article is: With Deep Regrets: The Shack Artist Warns About Devastation of Universalism. The artist is named Dave Aldrich. And he talks in this article about how excited he was to do the artwork for this book. He loved the book so much, and it was wonderful.

And then as he Really got into it more. It's uh kind of led him towards the emergent church movement. And he said he almost got right into full blown universalism. And he thanks God that he managed to get out of that. Mm-hmm.

And uh I see Uh like I know people Who I would consider nominal Christians. And I can see them going to see a movie like The Shack coming out being very emotionally moved. And then a couple of months later, shopping around Costco, seeing a a clearance book bin and seeing the author of the shack his next book. Yeah.

Here's Mm uh really unorthodox. Right, so in other words, just the thought that someone would perhaps see the movie or read the book and think, oh, William Young, okay, great. Oh, he's got something else out. Yeah, that's a very real danger, an absolute real danger. And he does have some views that are heretical, and he's quite forthright about them.

The church is wrong and needs to change on these things. That's a very real danger, and I fully respect that. Yeah, and uh it's just there's people I know if if as Christians We're endorsing it. And uh I I could just like the the artist who did the artwork. He was a Christian already.

And he almost was led astray into universalism. How much easier would it be for someone who's a nominal Christian? who's who all they remember is being really emotionally moved by this movie. And then they see the the next book the author wrote. And then all of a sudden it could just I think it leads people to universalism.

Yeah, that's hey, Ron, it's totally fair. And again, I haven't, I absolutely have not endorsed, yeah, to be clear, no, I do not endorse the movie or the book. having neither read nor seen, just from what I know about them, no, absolutely not, would not endorse either. But my answer was a pragmatic one in terms of could it be useful for someone to go or not, you know, et cetera. But by all means, sound the alarm, sound the warning, get it out.

I'm the last one that's going to pose that.

So I appreciate you calling in. I appreciate you raising that other issue, not beyond the content itself. What if it just draws you into other writings from this author? And that I did do. I got a more recent book where he lays out his beliefs.

And yeah, he's quite clear on where we all have it wrong. And we need to change some of our beliefs. Yeah, so Ron, I'm with you on that and glad to give you the opportunity to shout that out to our listeners. Thank you. Thanks.

All right, you bet. 866-34TRUTH will go to Franklinton, North Carolina. Also, Ron, welcome to the line of fire. Uh yes, sir, Doctor Brown. I I've been to seminary, but I still have a problem with uh Bob Howell and you know Hilda teaching how to do Bible interpretation.

Uh what what's some helps I can use to learn how to do that better? Because my original I'm not good at original language, period. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, well uh a couple of things One is Just The general rule. that the Bible is written for our understanding. It's not written to baffle us or mystify us. There's mystery in it, right? But in other words, it's not code words.

It's God speaking to us in words that we understand.

So Just always remember. First to read everything in context if you're reading a book. To understand, okay, if I'm reading Matthew, let me try to understand Matthew in the light of Matthew. Let me try to understand Romans and live Romans. Also Let me try to understand, okay.

What can I know about who this was written to, right? I mean, the basics, and I'll review this for others as well. Who wrote this? Do I know who wrote it?

Okay, I don't know who wrote first Samuel, but Who's it written to?

Well, I don't really know. I guess the ancient Israel.

Okay, well, what's it about? What's telling me history at this period of time?

Okay, so is. Is this book a book of history? Is this book a book of poetry? In other words, Revelation is filled with symbolic language and vision.

So I'm going to read that differently than I'm going to read when Paul tells Timothy, can you bring my cloak because winter is coming? All right, I'm not going to compare that to the book of Revelation and a beast coming out of a bottomless pit. One is visionary. The other is practical writing.

So do I know who wrote it? Do I know who it was written to? Do I know why it was written. And then always do your best. to read everything.

In context, let's scripture interpret scripture And read in as much common sense way you can and ask God for insight. If I was reading the Bible, I might read a couple chapters from the Old Testament and New Testament every day, so I'm Staying in both and then do my best to read through. The whole Bible, maybe once a year, something like that. but then to really focus on key areas and dig in and study. If you don't have a famous book, How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Fee and Stewart, How to read the Bible for all it's worth.

You may want to pick that up, and I think you'll find that helpful as well. Thank you, sir. 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.

I just saw this new comment that came in to my video. Are the Jewish people Under a curse we posted a few days ago. If you missed any of these, just go to the website, askdrbrown.org, ask drbrown.org. And you will Uh you will See our latest videos and articles as well.

So, in response. Are the Jewish people under a curse? And here's how it starts: all captions: You are a liar. It was not only the leaders. I guess so all Jewish people, all Jewish people were guilty of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Got it. Yeah, that's the kind of stuff that gets posted. Yeah, that's the kind of love we get all the time, which is just fine. We're on the front lines joyfully. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to William in Winston-Salem. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown, for taking my call. You are very welcome. I just wanted to ask you a question.

There's a part that's always kind of stumped me. I believe it's in Mark 10. When the man approaches Jesus, to ask him about eternal life. and he refers to him as Good Master. And Jesus answers, Only God is good.

Uh you know you know being Fully God and fully man. I always kind of wondered why would he have answered the man in that way and only said that God is good? Yep.

So, there are a few different ways to answer that. But what's interesting is, one of the answers is the exact opposite of what we might often think.

So, the problem would be, and you have this in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that this rich young ruler comes to Jesus. And What do I do to inherit eternal life?

So he calls him good master. In one of the accounts, Jesus says, well, why do you ask me about that which is good? Only one is good, that's God. And another account, why do you call me good? And obviously, in a conversation, all these things could have transpired and been true, of course.

But the big question is: if Jesus is really the Son of God, if he's the sinless Son of God, the way we say, if he's the word made flesh, if he's God incarnate, Then On what basis does he say, don't call me good?

So some people say, well, that proves he was just a man.

Well, hang on. Doesn't he say of himself in John 10? I am the good shepherd.

So if he identifies himself as the good shepherd, He would not be saying to this man, Don't call me good. There's only one that's good. That's God. In other words, I'm not good. Why are you calling me good?

If he wasn't good, How could he die for our sins? How could he be the lamb without blemish and without spot? If he himself was not good, how could he reveal God to us and say, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, if he himself was not good?

So, The best way to understand it. is the exact opposite. of how some would think. Which is, do you know who you're talking to? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?

You know, good master. I'm not just good, master. There's only one that's good, that's God. If you're calling me good master, do you understand who I am?

So that he's actually telling him, you're... Um Misunderstanding who I am, you are underestimating who I am. You're calling me good master without only recognizing that the only one that's truly good is God, and therefore, if I'm good, I must be one with him. And that's a simple way to understand it. That that he is Telling this guy you don't know who you're dealing with now it could be that He just is challenging him on a lesser level than that.

Like, yeah, you're just throwing out words. Good, Master. You know what good even means. Only God is good without even saying that He's not. Just saying, do you even understand what you're talking about when you're talking about good and you don't even know what true morality is or true holiness is?

You're just using words lightly. And then if he says, well, yeah, only God is good.

Okay, well, fine. You're talking to someone who is also good, you know, because he has the divine nature. But uh he's certainly not saying that he is not good. That would be contrary to the entire gospel message. That would be contrary to everything that the scriptures teach about him being sinless.

and it would be contrary to his own words where he refers to himself as the good shepherd.

So it's probably the opposite, that he's saying this guy, you don't even know who you're talking to. When you're coming to approach me. And obviously, this guy was serious, but not that serious, as you can see from the dialogue that ensues. Right. Right.

So, in a sense, he was just saying, he may have thought Jesus was just a man or just a rabbi. But he was kind of saying in a way, not knowing that, hey, I'm God too. Yeah, exactly. And certainly saying. you are throwing words around lightly and don't even know.

what they mean. Because when you're talking about inheriting eternal life and all these things, you don't even know what you're talking about. You think, yeah, maybe you've been basically moral and kept the commandments, but you're still living for this world.

So his whole worldview and mindset was off, and Jesus seems to be challenging that in his words. All right? All right.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate the answer. Thank you. Sure thing.

You're very welcome. And look, when a previous caller asked about interpreting scripture, Well, you do your best to let Scripture interpret Scripture. And if you have, say, thirty or forty verses. or whole chapters. that say one thing clearly, all right?

And then you have a few verses or one verse that that seems to say something very, very different. Then what do you do? Uh You you do this. You you you compare the one that seems to be different with all of the ones that are clear. And it trips the unclear.

And light is the clear. It'd be just like this. If I give you directions to my house, right, your GPS is not working, and I give you directions. And You've you've got 10 things to do in the directions. And one, it's like...

Okay, I'm I'm not I I was writing it down, but I wasn't sure if he said to go past the street or to turn at the street. When you look at a map and you say, okay, if I go past it, then then it's not going to get me to the rest of the directions. If I turn, then the rest of the directions make sense.

So you put put everything in the larger context of scripture. and interpret accordingly and then ask God for wisdom and insight every so often You'll have something come up and you say, you know? I don't have an answer for that. I'm not sure.

So I'm going to go with what is clear. And this verse that seems to be different, I'm just going to put a question mark there and say, not sure. how to deal with this or what to make of this, but I'm going to follow what is clear and is. Definite. Hey friends, on our website all this month, you can get 30% off on any DVDs we have: single messages, whole series.

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