Answers to Your Questions Live from San Diego

Hey friends, I'm live in San Diego. You've got questions. We've got answers. The body. 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. All right, I don't get it. I'm looking out the window here. I'm broadcasting from Calvary Chapel, Oceanside, California, right outside of San Diego. I'm looking outside the window and I see palm trees, but it...

This San Diego, come on, it's overcast, it's cloudy, it's rainy. You don't come all the way out to the West Coast into the San Diego area for rain, but here we are. It's beautiful on the inside in the midst of a terrific conference on Israel, Islam, and the church. And my joy to be with you.

So we're live, which means you've got questions, we've got answers. 866-34 Truth Traveling with my portable radio studios we do around the world. 866-348-7884. Anything. Under the sun, you want to ask me.

As long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, have at it. My joy to answer your questions again: 866-348-7884. Biblical, theological, personal, spiritual, moral, cultural issues. Let's do it together. By the way, some really fascinating Things in the aftermath of President Trump meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and then in the aftermath of yesterday's press conference where Trump was Trump.

All those that voted for Trump or that are Trump enthusiasts, you were cheering him on and his... Pundits or his fans saying it was the greatest thing they ever saw, and then taking on the media and calling them dishonest and fake. And then, of course, the secular media or the left-wing media outraged over it. And of course, the tension between them growing. But many felt it was a major turning point for Trump to push back on the offensive.

And that's what he does best, taking things to the people and speaking for the frustration of the people. In any case, a couple really interesting things in the aftermath of... The Trump Netanyahu Netanyahu meeting. There are right-wing Israeli leaders. right-wing Israeli leaders who are enthusiastic about what's happening.

They are feeling this is a new era. They feel that This is a new time in Israel. American relations, and they're thrilled to hear the tone of the meeting and even Trump speaking about the possibility of one-state solution versus two-state solution. There are liberal American Jews who are up in arms saying, What? One state never can't work.

What are you doing? It's got to be two-state. It's fascinating. Fascinating. I've got to delve into this more deeply.

I want a better understanding of why liberal Jewish Americans are so terrified by the prospect of a one-state solution versus two-state, and then talk about that more on the air. At the press conference. This is with Netanyahu. When an Israeli, or excuse me, a Jewish reporter. Uh pressed.

Pressed Donald Trump about anti-Semitism, an increase in anti-Semitic. anti-Semitic incidents in the States. And people are appalled, Jewish leaders appalled at Trump's answer. He couldn't answer the question. What's going on?

Well, what's interesting is this reporter was on Fox News last night. And uh it's Jake Turks. What else correspondent for Jewish news magazine, Ami magazine? And he said. We understand why this is so hurtful to him to see himself being called an anti-Semite.

He said charges of anti-Semitism against Trump are very unfair. He said, I'm with him when it comes to being outraged about him being charged with this anti-Semitism. He said he had a prior relationship with Trump. It's recovering him as a correspondent. He said, I've worked with the president, with his people throughout the campaign, throughout the transition.

So many times I've seen some of our colleagues in the media describe certain events as and the way it relates to the Jewish community in a certain light that no one in our community saw that way.

So this guy saying, hey, I'm with Trump, and I'm very hopeful based on our exchange. Wow, very interesting. Hubble. 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 so much for joining us on the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. Delighted to be with you.

Coming away live from an overcast, rainy, greater San Diego area today. If you're anywhere in the area, the Israel Conference will continue through tomorrow afternoon. And then I'll be speaking at the Oceanside Calvary Chapel. All three services over the weekend. That's Saturday evening, early evening, and then both Sunday morning services.

You've got questions, we've got answers. 866-34TRUTH. Two things quickly. I wrote an article last night, burdened while flying to California. Excuse me, was posted last night and is getting shared.

left and right over 10,000 shares in the first what? 12, 15 hours, something like that. Just on one website alone. Get the word out. It is called.

Shame on the silent Christian leaders who refused to stand against government tyranny. Shame on the silent Christian leaders who refuse to stand against government tyranny is my response to the Supreme Court's 9-0 ruling against. Baronel Stutzman saying that she discriminated against. a gay couple by refusing to or declining their business when it came to making floral decorations for their quote wedding even though she'd served this customer for years and employed gay employees and served the gay community without a problem for years just in good conscience as a Christian she couldn't do the floral arrangement for the quote wedding well she's been found guilty of discrimination and the courts ordered her to pay for the legal expenses involved from the other side ACLU. I mean this could be hundreds of thousands of dollars could be a million dollars the court has the ability now not only to go after a business but to go after her home go after personal assets go after after a savings account it's an utter and complete outrage so this is a call for Christian leaders to speak go to my Facebook page ask dr.

Brown and you'll see it there share it with others also I had noticed a great picture.

Some precious grads from our ministry school. I haven't seen them in years. But my dear friend and colleague Scott Volk saw them and posted a picture. And I was joking around with them. It's a great, great family picture.

And mom and dad and a bunch of little kids. And I mentioned how content the mom looks and how awesome the kids are, the great smile on the dad.

Well, to my amazement, to my amazement, there is a post from the wife. And she said, the reason I look so content is because of the plant-based diet I've addressed and I've adopted. And the husband said, absolutely. In other words, they read my book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, our book, Nessie, and I wrote, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, and it's changing our life. I just read a post from another man.

He said, I've lost 25 pounds so far. I've struggled for so many years. I've lost 25 pounds since I started with your book, and I'm a changed man.

So if you don't have it yet, Breaking the Stronghold. Hold the food. You can order it online. If you've read it, be sure to post a review. If it's helped you, post a review on Amazon.

866-34TRUTH. All right, we go to the phone starting in Boston with Eric. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, thank you, Dr. Brown.

My question relates to Abraham, the language that he spoke, and this ties into a contradiction in the Quran. In the Bible, it speaks about Abraham coming from Ur of the Chaldees. And From what I understand, this word or has an interesting history to it, how people understood it through history. Apparently, the cron sort of picks up on an error that it means fire or flame.

So if that's the case, that would seem to be an easily demonstratable error in the Quran.

Now I was just wondering if you could shed some light on like what does Ur mean, what language did Abraham speak and things like that? Yes. Here's what we do know. We know that when Jacob goes back to Padana Ram, Now this is not or of the Caldis, okay? This is...

this would have been somewhat in between. But when he goes back to Padana Ram, they speak Aramaic. And Jacob now has Taken on the language of Canaan, which Abraham would have also learned, presumably. And the language of Canaan then comes in different dialects like Phoenician and Hebrew and things like that. But that would not have been their original language.

They would have spoken Aramaic or Abraham, potentially an ancient dialect of Babylonian that's called Akkadian. As for the actual meaning of Ur, we're not 100% sure. And here's what you have to figure with the Quran: is this something that you would call an outright error? Or is this popular etymology? For example, in the book of Genesis, We're told that uh Babel got its name Babel because they're God Balal.

He confused the tongue.

So Bavel. Balal, right? But in reality, that's not the true meaning. Bab el is Bab Elu. It's Bab Eli, gate of the God or gate of the gods.

So that's how it got its name. And this is just a play on words in the Hebrew. It would be as if someone said, I was given the name Mike because I'm always behind the Mike, something like that.

So that's... The name Ur originally, from what we know, certainly does not go back to a meaning of fire. But is the Quran actually thinking this is the reality, this is what it comes from, or is it just kind of a play on words? That would be the question there. In other words, should we hold the Quran to that standard to say it's an obvious error?

Uh but From what we know and understand, we're not 100% sure about the original meaning. Uh it does not mean fire. It could be related to words that do, but from what we know, does not actually mean that. Do you know offhand the Quranic passage you're speaking of? Um, I I was watching a video from David Wood.

Actually, yeah, I have it right here. Um, chapter thirty-seven. Verse. um ninety seven.

So thirty seven ninety seven. Got it.

Okay. Yeah, we'll tell you what, just when we have a break, I'll just pull it up in Arabic and English and take a look. That's not something that was off the top of my head. That being said, David Woods is a very solid guy when it comes to this, and he's not into internet conspiracy and that kind of thing, so he would be a good, reliable source. And there are times there are definitely things Muhammad misunderstood as he learned them from Jewish and Christian sources, or things that were just Jewish traditions that he actually thought were part of the Bible.

And that's how they get into the Quran. And that's, unless you are an Islamic fundamentalist and thoroughly believe that the Quran was given 100% by divine inspiration, then those things are fairly easy to see. Hey, thank you, Eric. And if you keep listening, I'll have a bit more info for you after the first break. Let's go to Ariana in Long Beach.

Which Long Beach, Ariana? Um, the one in California. Ah, all right, because I grew up next to Long Beach in New York on Long Island.

Okay. Well, welcome to the line of fire. What's on your mind? Thank you. Um, this is about uh Calvinism.

And it's just something that I've just kind of been struggling with, and I've ultimately rejected it, but it has some kind of I don't know, a strong hold on my spiritual life, but that's kind of a different issue. It just seems to me that, um, Calvinism is kind of the product of like a late antiquity western pagan Gnosticism. Um just in terms of meticulous determinism and humans being so totally depraved that We literally have no other will other than to sin. And I was, and it seems like they also impose that on the New Testament, particularly Paul. And I was just wondering if we understood the New Testament from the The Jewish Context that was written, especially Paul being an ex-Pharisee and obviously well-versed in Jewish theology.

How would he understand? the nature of God's sovereignty and the extent of our depravity. Yeah, those are great questions. Of course, I myself am not a Calvinist, but I was from 77 to 82. and I've had many friendly debates with my friend Dr.

James White and others about Calvinism. Let me first say that the Calvinists would argue that they're just using Scripture to make their point. They would point to the sinfulness of human beings in the days of Noah when God had to wipe out everyone except Noah. They would point out in Genesis 8 after the flood that God says the thoughts of human beings are evil continually from their youth. They would go to Psalm 51 where David says, I was born in sin.

My mother conceived me in iniquity. They would go to Paul's list of verses in Romans 3, where he's quoting from the Psalms about everyone being evil and turning away from God, and hence all human beings caught up in sin, and all of us needing to be justified freely by the grace of God.

So they would argue that their position is... is biblical in that respect. I would say that the determinism of the of the teaching, of the the understanding of predestination. You have some of it reflected in Dead Sea Scrolls, but for the most part, those teachings are not found in Judaism. And the way the question of predestination and free will are summed up In Uh Second century, third century Jewish teaching, it's a short little statement which says, everything is foreknown.

the how to shoot it to not but Free will is given. And I would say that would have been closer to Paul's thinking than a Calvinistic model. I'll be right back and we'll talk more on the other side of the break. 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. Alright, just uh very quickly Back to Eric in Boston. I want to continue with Arion in Long Beach, California.

And if you've got a question for me, phone lines are open: 866-348-7884. Any question you want to ask me of any kind, or if you differ with me, want to challenge me on something, by all means, give me a call. We'll have a friendly discussion.

So, Eric, just to go back to this. I'd have to see what David Wood's point was on the actual video. I respect his work in Islamic apologetics enough to take seriously what he's saying. His point may have been that the Hebrew for Ur can be related to the concept of flame, and Ur in Hebrew is light, but that would not have been the meaning of the original word. If it had been, say, Babylonian or Aramaic, that it would have had a different meaning.

And again, we're not 100% sure what Ur meant in terms of in its original language. There's speculation, different arguments.

So that would probably be his point, that they're mistaking it as if, as if Abraham's language was Hebrew, which it would have been later, but that wouldn't relate to Ur. When he came out of Ur, he would have either been speaking Akkadian or Aramaic.

So that's probably the point that's being made. The association of Ur and flame or fire, that's easy to make in Hebrew.

So perhaps that's the point that's being made. I'll have to check. the video for more.

Okay, so Ariana You can easily see that when you read church history in the first few centuries. That they do not have an understanding of human beings being so bound by sin that they do not have a free will. They are unable to save themselves. The church leaders would universally say this. They're unable to save themselves.

They need God's grace for salvation, but they can say yes or no. They can They can turn to God as he calls them, or they can refuse to. That's basically universally taught. And the bondage of the will, to the extent it's taught in Calvinism, you find resurfacing again in Augustine, which is four centuries after Jesus. And Calvinists would say, well, he was the one that really took up and continued what Paul was saying.

And others would say, obviously, the disciples of Paul and the disciples of those disciples got it right, and Augustine got it wrong.

So I would say that the depth of predestination that is taught in Calvinism certainly would not have been taught in the mainstream by a first century Jew, or I believe Paul would have believed and taught, nor do I believe that's what he taught in Romans 9 either. As for the degree of total depravity being taught, it's certainly not taught in Judaism as a whole on this level. It wasn't in the ancient world, and it isn't today. But I believe you can make a strong biblical case for human beings' captivity and sin without God's grace.

So you ask good questions. The other thing is we don't know 100% sure everything that Pharisaical Jews believed in the first century, and then how much of that Paul carried over in his beliefs and how much changed. Those are the other questions to ask. But I agree with you that the Calvinistic... Understand that the text would have been foreign to Paul as a first century Jew.

I do agree with that. Thank you. Can I just ask one other question? Um, would you recommend the complete Jewish Bible? Is it reliable?

Oh sure, let me tell you exactly what it is, okay? The Complete Jewish Bible by my esteemed friend and colleague David Stern. is an overt attempt to get Christian readers to recognize how Jewish the New Testament is and to help Jewish readers feel thoroughly at home in the text. In that sense, it goes beyond what the reality was, for example. When you're talking about the Holy Spirit, so it's the Ruacha Kodesh, right?

Okay, when Paul was writing to the Corinthians, he would just write to them in Greek, and they would read and understand in Greek. But David Stern wants us to remember the Hebraic nature of this concept. When Paul was writing to the Gentiles, he was known as Paul. And his writings to them, even though there are Jewish concepts in them, he's still writing to them as Gentile believers. David Stern really wants to make clear the Jewishness of these things, the Pharisees, the Prushim, and the Sadducees, the Tsaddukim, and things like that.

So let's just say it's overemphasized to get the point across as to how Jewish the New Testament is, but it's a fine translation. And then for the. For the Old Testament Let me just explain, for the Old Testament, he took the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, updated it, and even more Hebraized it, so Moses became Moshe and things like that.

So overall, it's a fine Bible to use, but just realize you're going to get a very, very Jewish feeling, even in letters to Gentile believers and things like that.

Okay, I was just concerned that because I actually have one, but I didn't know if. Substituting Torah every time, like, law is used, if that kind of especially in Galatians, it that kind of gives it a overly like um Hebrew roots kind of No, no, it's here's here's the challenge. The Greek word nomos. can mean law as in the Torah, which is more teaching than law. It can mean law in the sense of like a principle, all right?

Or it can mean law just here's the law about this or this or this.

So sometimes it just means law in general in the New Testament.

Sometimes it means principle. But many times it means Torah. And David Stern's a good scholar. And he worked on this carefully, but there are debatable passages. For example, Romans 8, the law of the Spirit of life and Messiah Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

So how should that be translated? Or either... Should either be referenced Torah, should both be referenced as Torah?

So I'll just grab that here on my screen in Romans chapter 8, verse 2.

So, ESV, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Complete Jewish Bible says, why? Because the Torah of the Spirit. Which produces this life in union with Messiah Shu has set me free from the Torah in quotes of sin and death.

So there you might have said it was better to translate law than Torah, but the second time he puts it in quotes.

So here and there it's debatable. But let's just say it corrects a major issue, which for many, the moment they see law, they think negative. They don't think Torah is the whole in God's teaching and instruction.

So like any translation, use it, but compare it with others. And here and there, you can respectfully differ with the translator's conclusion.

Okay, thank you very much. You're very welcome, and I appreciate your sensitivity to these issues. The newer translation that I worked on with a team, the Tree of Life Bible. We'd also highly recommend to you for good accurate study of the Jewish roots of the faith. All right, friends, stay right there on the phones.

I'm taking your calls another 90 minutes. You can keep listening at thelineoffire.org. And we have Oh, submitted our Astructor Brown app to Apple eight times already, and they keep sending it back for modifications. We don't want to say it's because of content yet. We'll see.

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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, thanks for joining us today. What I have my voice there, thanks for joining us today on the line of fire. Michael Brown coming your way live from Outside of Rainy. San Diego, rainy, windy, overcast. Oceanside, California.

Greater San Diego area. Boy, I I knew what kind of weather to expect when I went to Canada, Florida, Michigan, and back and forth, and 80 degree differences, and weather and all kinds of time zones, but hmm. Didn't expect this. Maybe it will warm up and maybe the sun will come back out. In the meantime, it's always sunny here on the line of fire.

866-34Truth. You've got questions. We've got. Answers. We go back to Canada, New Brunswick, Canada.

Reese, welcome to the line of fire. Uh hi there, how are you doing today? Join Wall, thank you. Good. I just wanna ask, did you enjoy uh Saskatoon?

Yeah, had a great time there. Enjoyed being out there in the snow because I could. Be in it and then leave. Enjoyed the spirit of the folks. It's a great congregation, faith alive family church, hungry for the Lord and very receptive to a clear, strong message.

So, yeah, had a great time. I'll tell you, the only thing I didn't like was travel. to get in and out was literally from leaving the hotel to getting home over 14 hours and three flights.

So it's just, it's not easy to get in and out. And anyway, but sest to yourself, had a great time. Yeah. No, I hear you. I'm from out west, so when I fly home, I have to take three flights.

So, yeah, I definitely hear you with that. Anyway, go ahead. Yeah. So, yeah, so my questions, I have two if that's okay. Sure.

Okay. Number one is regarding this question on the screen regarding false prophets and uh prophesying falsely.

So I know that this is something you've mentioned on videos and other places. And uh I'm I'm also a listener to uh Pirate Christian, and I know that's one thing they've been quite critical of you is saying that. there's a difference between a false prophet and someone who prophesies falsely.

So I'm wondering if you could clear up what you mean exactly and what your biblical support is for that? And if Okay. Then we'll get to the second question, okay? Yeah. Very simply, I see in the New Testament that false prophets are hell-bound deceivers.

That it's not an in-between thing. Jesus says in Matthew 7. beware false prophets outwardly look like sheep but inwardly they're they're ravenous wolves okay so he's making clear they are not believers they are they are not followers of the Lord. They are out from under His lordship. and they are doing destructive work.

They're associated with false teachers. 2 Peter 2 says that false teachers bring in damnable heresies. Mm-hmm. Uh so that's that's one thing. If someone speaks in an assembly, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 to test everything.

He says, don't despise prophecies. Test everything, hold fast to that which is good, don't quench the spirit. And then in 1 Corinthians 14, two or three prophets should speak, and then the others should carefully judge. All right? The others should carefully judge.

So. Very simply, I understand that in the assembly, because anyone could theoretically prophesy, right, Paul encouraged everyone to seek prophecy.

So someone could think they were speaking from the Lord. All right, and maybe they're new and they don't understand this, and they could say, you know, the Lord told me that the rain is going to stop in three minutes and the rain goes on all day. It's like, right, obviously, you didn't hear from God.

So let's sit you down and teach you and help you. But that person is not there by a hell-bound sinner. That person is thereby not a ravenous wolf that's in to fleece the flock and destroy people's lives. That person needs help and guidance. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, we prophesy in part.

We know in part.

So it could be you bring a word and it's not the complete revelation, then someone else brings the rest. That's how you judge together. All right, we'll take this up on the other side of the break. Gains the world O God of burning, cleansing flame. 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 on the line of fire.

Michael Brown coming away live from California. You've got questions, we've got answers: 866-348-7884. I want to get to every possible call that I can.

So be patient and we'll get to you.

So, Reese in New Brunswick, Canada. From the Old Testament to the New, where you would stone someone that prophesied in the name of another God or that misled Israel, notice that they are speaking presumptuously. It says in Deuteronomy 18. Notice it gives the two choices: prophesying in the name of another God, which is not an innocent mistake. or prophesying something that doesn't come to pass.

These were National leaders or national voices. The people as a whole could not prophesy or discern other than by scripture. And the weight and consequences were much higher.

Now, New Testament prophets do not have the same authority that Old Testament prophets had. They're part of church and submitted to other leaders as well. And everything has to be tested and weighed by others prophetically gifted as well.

So things have changed dramatically, and everyone can potentially prophesy.

So, number one, if someone Simply is mistaken. They claim the Lord gave them a word when he didn't. You correct that person. You help them. You tell them to keep their mouth shut and to learn and grow.

And then, if they do receive something from the Lord, nurture it. Let's say someone claims to be a prophet, but they're really not. Does that make them a false prophet?

Well, if they're saved, no. It means that we should call them out for falsely calling themselves prophets. Just like there are plenty of people who claim to be teachers in the body and they're not called and raised up by God and they teach error. Do I call them a false teacher and a heretic going to hell?

Well, not unless they're outside the faith. I'll say they're teaching falsely. I don't listen to the pirate Christian radio broadcast. No attack on them. I just don't have time to listen to a lot of stuff or read a lot of the...

The websites that might attack me for different things or attack others for different things. But let's say I found doctrinal error on those sites. Would I then have the right to call them false teachers and thereby hellbound sinners in opposition to God? No, I'd say, you know, they're teaching some stuff that's not accurate. And I differ with that and they need to be more careful.

Or I question, I'm not talking about Pirate Christian Radio specifically, but in general, I question whether that one's really called to teach or not.

So that's how I'd approach it. That's my difference. I call out people regularly. I've internally, behind the scenes, called out charismatic leaders and challenged them on different things and sought to hold people to account. I'll gladly do that.

But I'm not going to throw someone under the bus and say they're a hellbound sinner if, to the best of my knowledge, they're a brother or a sister, but they have some error and some issues.

Okay. Okay. Now, Reese, let me just give you the opportunity to push back quickly. If you were one of these folks that take issue with me on this, and this is an argument I had many, many years ago, the first time Hank Hanigraff and I really talked on the air. It was actually ended up, I think, off the air.

But we since became friends in the midst of differences we have, we're friends with mutual esteem and respect. But we had that same discussion. that to him it's a no-brainer if someone claims to be a prophet or a teacher and they're really not, then they're a false prophet or a false teacher. I fully understand the logic. But I'm just trying to be more strict in my biblical definition.

What might the fellows at Pirate Christians say in response to what I've said?

Well, one thing I've heard a lot is them saying. Speaking presumptuously or speaking in the, for example, saying, Thus saith the Lord, and it doesn't come to pass is tantamount to blasphemy. because you're speaking in the name of the Lord and that thing did not come to pass. I I'm not exactly sure, but they would probably say, Yeah, you need to. Step down 100% and you've discredited yourself.

Like, not necessarily, you're a heretic. they might say that, I'm not sure, but you've probably completely disqualified yourself from any ministry because it's such a grievous thing to blaspheme. And I'm sure you would I'm from what it sounds like, you're probably That's kind of what you would say, too, I'm guessing.

Well, no, let me say I deeply respect the esteem. For saying if you're going to speak in the name of the Lord, you better be sure and you better have accountability with it. I esteem that ethic. Absolutely. And We can often go to the opposite extreme in the charismatic movement, saying, Hey, everything has to be tested.

So you still take it seriously, but you don't hold people accountable. And I've watched carefully some major words to see, okay, did these things come to pass. If not, I was ready to contact colleagues and say, okay, let's have a talk because you put this out there and it was major and it didn't happen.

So there's no question that there's a lack in the charismatic movement in doing that.

However, My understanding of New Testament prophecy is we don't prophesy with that same authority. And that therefore things have to be discerned. And it could be, you know, I could say, I feel the Lord is directing me to do this and move in this direction. And then as you go, you get more clarity or things like that, or two or three different people speaking prophetically and say, okay, what do we sense the Lord saying between us? And becomes clearer.

I think we have to be very serious, but I don't see it having that same authority as Old Testament prophecy, hence, some of the difference. All right, your other question. Oh, you know what? Um, out of respect for other callers, I think I'll I'll uh save them the time and I'll call back next step. All right.

Bless you. Bless you, Rhys. We're good. I appreciate that. Respecting other callers.

I'm sure they do too. 866-34-TRUTH. Hey, let me say this. I believe one time on one show, I had some interaction with a gentleman from Pirate Christian, if I'm correct. I thought it was a good call.

I appreciated what he had to say, if I'm correct in this. But I appreciate that you know who they are. We may have very, very deep differences. There's a great possibility. Again, I haven't followed them closely enough to know, but we may have very great differences on many things, but they are who they are.

In other words, you know who they are, what their names are, what they believe. And uh The same with other friends, colleagues I have, those that may not even look at me as a friend or colleague, but they are believers, and you know who they are when you go to their website. What I don't respect. is the anonymous websites. the heresy hunting websites and you don't know who they are.

You say, Well, you don't know have to know who they are because they're just reporting truth. Ah. Trust me, at least the ones I've seen, it is heavily dosed with their particular interpretation. In fact, there was one I was looking at the other day and I was laughing out loud when I read the mistaken understanding and what it's putting on me. It's like, and these guys actually believe it.

Honestly, I felt bad for them. Assuming it's more than one person, male, female, I don't even know. But you need to know who's speaking. What's their spiritual track record? What are their theological backgrounds?

To whom are they accountable? With whom are they in fellowship? Those are good questions to ask and know. You're going to come set everybody else straight and no one even knows who you are. You're not going to get my respect at all.

And if and if you have a good job to do, well then do it in the light.

Well, we can't 'cause the controversial is I cover controversial issues. I get death threats, I get death wishes, I get all kinds of junk coming my way 24-7. That just comes with being a public figure. What's the big deal? Let us know who you are.

Then we can know: oh, wow, you have some authority in this issue. You're a highly respected theologian. Wow, you've planted 20 churches in your country and they're growing and thriving. You're a proven shepherd of the sheep. Oh, okay, you have this theological training from this place, and you're strong in Hebrew and Greek.

That helps to know. Oh, you're in this particular fellowship, which broke away from that fellowship, and that gives us a little bit more understanding of your particular background. Great. Then we can have a much cleaner and more edifying and useful conversation. You want to hide behind anonymity.

Shame on you. Shame on you. We're not talking about someone doing secret outreach to ISIS. And if anyone knew where you were broadcasting from, you'd be beheaded before the hour was out. We're not talking about that.

We're talking about Trying to spot and reveal false teaching or wrong teaching or error in the church. And it's shameful. Not only is so much that I've seen just... Bulgus I tell you, it's bogus. It's like you tell me, well, Mike, you're not in California right now.

You're in Timbuktu. No, I'm sorry. I know where I am right now.

So when people report, I'm, you know, and he probably doesn't for this reason or that's motivation or that motivation. It's like, you've got to be kidding me. I did a TV interview once, and people estimated that there are several Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of books were sold through the interview. You you you gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me.

Actually, we we didn't sell any to the ministry directly. And I think it ended up with an order placed to the publisher of a few hundred books. And they're like, hey, you probably need it to sell tens of thousands of books. You you gotta be kidding. But People actually believe this stuff.

I feel bad for them. I'm going to focus on what we do, though, and glorify the Lord. Reach out to as many as we can. All right, we come back. We're going straight to your calls.

I was going to take a call now, but I thought now we had a minute or two, didn't want to rush you, so we'll be right back to your calls. Stay there. 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 866-34TRUT. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the Minecraft.

Okay, so just got a post on Twitter with a link to David Woods. Teaching on the Quran error was Abraham delivered from a fire. And yeah, there's an old Jewish tradition that says that. And again, I mentioned that there are... Jewish traditions that Muhammad probably thought were part of the Bible, all right?

And as a result of that, included them as if they were true. Quite a few Jewish traditions in that respect. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Michael, also in Canada, Fort Erie, Canada. Welcome to the line of fire.

All right. Thank you, Doctor Brown. You're welcome. I uh I'm I'm having a little trouble with my walk right now because I Actually, your previous caller was really timely because I'm having this feeling that I might be a profit. But I'm not really able to get any opportunity to test myself or have myself tested in my congregation.

even though they're Pentecostals. All right, so first what let's distinguish between someone prophesying And someone being called to be a prophet, as in apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. And I believe there are apostles and prophets today. But not with the authority of first century apostles, the 12 apostles. But I believe that there continue to be emissaries who are planters, foundation builders, pioneers, apostolic leaders that God raises up, and those who are also called to be prophets, again, not with the authority of Old Testament prophets, but functioning as prophets did in the New Testament.

But there's a difference between prophesying. or having the gift of prophecy and being a prophet. Whereas I look at that as a deep calling, as something that shapes one's worldview and mindset. And just like an evangelist has this tremendous burden to win the lost and to equip the church to win the lost and is consumed with that. And a pastor on shepherding the flock and teaching and nurturing, that the prophet is more bringing kind of a wake-up message and a message that is opening up dimensions that others aren't seeing and sometimes revealing sin that needs to be dealt with.

So what would make you... Right. what I've been feeling. Mm-hmm. Like um Well, I'll give you the specific example.

Like, they I've been getting feelings about. about what's happening in Canada, like with the Quebec mosque attack and now this motion M one oh three. which is for fighting against Islamophobia, but A lot of restricting free speech at the same time. Yes, it's respect it's restricting free speech and it's essentially a Sharia blasphemy law. And I wanted I want to tell people in my congregation that I think prose that persecution is coming to Canada now.

And I think it's on the way and now we have to prepare. We have to read the Bible with that mindset that We will be persecuted soon. before it comes and we We end up being cowards about it. Yeah. Micah, let me ask this, and these are very serious issues, and Ones that we should not take lightly.

When you say you have no opportunity, within your congregation Does it mean they just look at you a certain way and aren't open to what you have to say?

Well, the people I've been talking to, they all seem to agree with me, but they say you should ask the pastor For a permission, and you shouldn't interrupt. And I think that that makes sense. But when I've spoken to him about this, He also seems to understand and agree with me, but he says I'm not sure the congregation's ready to hear this. Mm-hmm. Right, so so what you do is this, Michael.

Let's put aside exactly what God is calling you to do and take this specific burden that you have. Everything flows out of a burden, prayer, number one. The prophets were great intercessors because they were so burdened for their people and they saw trouble coming in advance and hence it broke their hearts and shattered them.

So, first thing you want to do is really take this to God in prayer more and more and more. And the more you pray, the more you're with him, the more you'll feel confirmation if this is really something that he's saying. It'll burn in you. It'll get from the point that you think it to it burning in you in a way that's very intense. That's just part of a prophetic burden.

That's one thing. Secondly, I would just do your best to write it out plainly and share it with the pastor, and then you leave the responsibility of getting the message out to the flock. You leave it to him. It's going to be his responsibility because God didn't make you the leader of the church now, made him lead the church for whether he makes the right decision or wrong. It's up to him to then process that and say, hey, I want you to share this with the congregation.

Take five minutes on Sunday. Or to say, hey, I'm really praying about incorporating that into some of my preaching, or whether he says, I believe it's coming, but we just need to pray now. If he says the latter, and there's no way to get this out and it's burning in your heart. Just say, hey, do you have any problem with me just sharing this in the circles I have? You know, social media or different things that I really feel we need to be praying.

I really feel that persecution could be coming. And then if it's really something the Lord's saying, that That there'll be a lot of others that you'll hear, or a number of others, carrying the same burden, saying the same thing, because the Holy Spirit will be warning and seeking to prepare the church in Canada. That's one thing. The other thing is that it won't be limited to this, that you'll get burdens in other areas about something that's wrong or something that's coming, and it's heartbreaking and painful. We agonize over these things in prayer, but then we sense that the Lord is saying this, and then as we build a track record, then we have credibility.

As we build a track record, people are more inclined to hear what we have to say. and to respond appropriately. The other thing is, if the Lord is gifting you in these ways, He may give you insight into what other people are going through at given times. And you could call them and say, or email them, hey, I've been praying for you. I just had this sense of urgency of something going on in your family.

Is everything okay? And when they say, wow, this is really timely. We just had this thing happen with our son. And so then that encourages you, okay, I am hearing from the Lord more. And then people will recognize that you're hearing from the Lord more.

And then the gift and the calling start to make room for themselves in that respect. All right? Okay. Yeah, so hopefully Yeah, go ahead. It's just a matter of patience then.

Yeah, patience and letting letting the the calling. Surface manifest itself, whatever it is, whether it's a specific gift that operates or something happens time to time or something that becomes very deeply part of who you are. And like I said, it'll go beyond just, you know, I think this is coming. It'll be something that stays with you. And the more time you spend with the Lord, the deeper the burden will get.

And in the meantime, if there's any frustration, just let that be God's way of helping you grow in character, patience, and perseverance. Hey, thank you for the call. By the way, I know some of you listening think, I don't know. I mean, does God actually speak that way?

So study the scriptures. Study the scriptures. look at the word and come to your own conclusions. Hey, friends. Don't forget.

to download our app. Ask Dr. Brown. We're still having issues getting it on iPhones and iPads, but download the Ask Dr. Brown app.

Get it on your phones today. And to stand with us on that app, just click donate. You can partner with us together for the gospel. My bottom line today. One thing for sure the Spirit's saying to the church, it's almost an always word.

Wake up, you who sleep. Hey friends, I'm live in San Diego. You've got questions, we've got answers. Uh 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 welcome, welcome to Oceanside, California. about 45 minutes from the San Diego airport. Got in late last night, was able to get, oh, six and a half hours sleep maybe, and then came over to teach the first session at a great conference here on Israel, Islam, and the church. And during breaks in my radio broadcast, I've been interacting with some of my friends from Israel. Their flight was delayed multiple times in San Francisco.

And I'm going to have to switch sessions.

So literally, as soon as I'm done with this radio broadcast, I'm going to go back downstairs into the main auditorium and swap sessions with an Israeli friend that's delayed. But all the joys of ministry. And right now, I'm thrilled to be with you live on the air with our portable radio studio. I travel with it around the world. You've got questions.

We've got answers. 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. My article on the stream, shame on the silent Christian leaders who refuse to stand against government tyranny. Please share it as widely as possible at stream.org. Shame on the silent Christian leaders who refuse to stand against government tyranny.

May I ask you to please get it to your pastor before this Sunday. Get it to him today or tomorrow. Or if you're a pastor leader, please read it and say something from the pulpit tomorrow. It's very important. The outrageous ruling of the Washington Supreme Court.

9 nothing against religious liberty. 866-348-7884. You've got questions, we've got answers, and we go to Haymarket, Virginia. Rick, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown.

I appreciate your intelligent perspective on things, and I get I don't get to listen to your show that often, but I always enjoy it when I do.

Well, thank you. My question today is on predetermination, which you were discussing earlier in the program. Yeah, in the first hour, a caller was wondering if Paul as a first century Jew with his Pharisaical background and the way he read the scriptures, would he have related to the predetermination of Calvinism? And I said, no, I don't believe that he would have seen that that way.

Some aspects of Calvinism, of course, he would have agreed with, but others, no, I don't believe he taught it, even though Calvinists looked to him, nor do I believe that would have been his contextual and biblical understanding either.

Well, that's kind of very much along the lines of what I wanted to ask, in that I'm more familiar with the Calvinistic perspective on predeterminism, and I've heard lots of biblical justification for that perspective.

However, I haven't heard Um, the biblical justification for the non for the non-Calvinistic view on predetermination. And I was wondering if you could please Um helped me understand that. Sure.

would ultimately teach a double predestination of sorts. that before the world was formed, that God looked at humanity that he would create. and chose some for salvation for nothing in themselves, not that he saw that they would one day believe, but purely by his love. in what to us would seem to be arbitrary. In other words, there was nothing in us.

Why he chose us and not others is a mystery. And then he passed over the rest, thereby effectively damning the rest. And I would say very plainly that the entire Bible tells us choose, choose, choose, choose, choose because our choices have not been predestined. That when God says, choose life that you may live, in Deuteronomy 30, I said before life and death, it's because our choices have not been predetermined. That when Joshua says in Joshua 24, choose who you're going to serve, it's for my family and I, we're going to serve the Lord, it's because the choice has not been made in advance.

I'll continue that on the other side of the break. 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 for joining the broadcast today. You've got questions, we've got answers. 866-348-7884. So, Rick in Haymarket, Virginia. A non-Calvinist would believe that there are certain things that God has predetermined, that there are certain things, for example, that Jesus would be a lamb slain, that was determined before the foundation of the world.

God foreknew that Adam would sin, but God did not. predestined Adam to sin. God gave Adam a free will and forenew. What Adam would do. I believe God foreknows everything because he inhabits eternity and he doesn't see time the way we see time.

He knows the end from the beginning. We believe that God predetermined before the world began that he would have a people in his son Jesus and this people would have a certain destiny. But then it is up to us to respond with a yes or no to the offer of grace and mercy and salvation that we can harden our hearts and we can say no. When the scripture says today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. That's an actual response you can give, as opposed to thinking that it's been foreordained before the foundation of the world that I'll ultimately be in or out, saved or lost.

So those would be fundamental differences. We don't believe that God has predetermined before the world began who will be saved and who will be lost. Rather, he has predetermined that he will have a people in his son, Jesus, and then he calls us to repent and believe, and he empowers us to. repent and believe, and we can say yes or no to his grace and to his empowerment.

Okay. So I understand from the Calvinistic perspective the that we do have free will as well. to make our choices, et cetera. But also in the Calvinistic view is they put those two things side by side. They put predetermination alongside of free will so that although we do have free will and we and our choices will have eternal consequences, that the predetermination still exists.

And um Well let me ask this. Does a Calvinist In your view, does a Calvinist believe that you have free will when it comes to salvation?

Well, the explanation that I have, as I understand it, and I'm not a theologian by any means. Um is that It has to do with whether or not we have this reservoir of holiness, I don't think that's the right terminology, within us that would allow us to love God and come close to God to say, Yes, I want to be saved. And the Calvinistic view is that we have total depravity. In other words, there is no island within us that would allow us to say, to come to God in the first place. Exactly.

Right. Right, exactly.

So. So we don't have free will when it comes to salvation. In other words, we don't have the power to say yes. It's it's Right, so that's the whole point, that when it comes to salvation, a Calvinist would not say that you have free will. And what I would say is that when God's word comes with empowering grace, and we can refuse it.

And we could say yes, we could say no. And again, I'm not going to get into a debate about it. You can watch some of the debates I've had with my friend and colleague, Dr. James White, and hopefully get the best of both sides if you just go to my digital library on the website, thelineoffire.org, and just click on search. Calvinism or predestination, you'll see friendly debates I've had with Dr.

White, so you can hear him presenting his viewpoint and me presenting mine. But I yes, we are totally depraved. We cannot save ourselves. It's like we are in a 10,000-foot pit. And there's no possible way out.

If we had a million lifetimes, we could never get out of that pit. And God puts his hand down and reaches out to us and says, Do you want help or not? And we have the ability to say, Yes, I need help. Because that is a freedom that He's given us. He has chosen to give us that freedom to respond.

We cannot save ourselves. but we can respond to his grace, which is why the word calls us to respond over and over and over. And that's why God continually rebukes those who didn't respond, because they had the ability to and they didn't. You don't rebuke a cripple for not walking. You don't rebuke a turtle for not flying.

Why rebuke a lost sinner? Who cannot say yes, why rebuke that person if the only thing they could say is no? Obviously they could say yes, hence responsibility comes in, and that would be a fundamental difference with Calvinism.

Okay, well, and I understand all that, and to my uh to my brain at least That makes a lot of sense. The the issue that I struggle with is that um I know that everything that makes sense to me isn't necessarily correct biblically or in keeping with God's will.

So Blue what? What I have heard in terms of the, again, going back to the Calvinistic Support in the Bible when I have heard the people that support that view. Have quoted specific Bible verses and said, you know, when you look at this, It seems that the Calvinistic view is very much supported in some of Paul's writings. And I guess in other places in the Bible as well. And so, what I what I'm looking for, I guess, and maybe this I'll find it, as you said in the video, what I'm looking for is some specific support In the Bible for that non-Calvinistic view, so that I can say, okay, here are some verses that really support that view.

Yeah, sure.

So watch the debates, and you'll get tons and tons of verses. many, many verses, but I'd say read the Bible. In other words, read the whole Bible when it says choose. and God holds us responsible for not choosing. And then God commends those who do choose.

And rebukes those who don't believe and commends those who do believe. It's not a mystery here in terms of, well, that may be contrary to my understanding. This is who God is. We're creating His image. Certain things are right.

Certain things are wrong. Certain things are just. Certain things are unjust. This is through the whole Bible. Plus, we have God categorically saying in a number of passages, he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they would turn and live.

That God doesn't want anyone to perish, but all to be saved. God loved the world so much, which in John's gospel, it's not talking about the elect, it's talking about all of society, all the entire world. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, that whoever believes would be saved.

So I find an overwhelming message of God's love for the whole world. I find an overwhelming message of God's desire for the whole world to be saved, and an overwhelming message that we can choose to put our trust in him or to reject him, and that this is a choice that he and his sovereignty has given us.

So I find that throughout the whole Bible. And then I'd say a few verses here and there. Could be misunderstood to support Calvinism. And here's how I'd read them differently. But of course, watch the debate and you'll get the best of both sides.

So go to thelineoffire.org and just search in the digital library for Calvinism, Predestination, or White, so you can get the brown and white debates. Hey, thank you, Rick. I appreciate the questions very much. 866-34TRUTH. We go to Quint.

No, we go to London, England. Toles, thanks for calling. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, doctor Brown. Thank you very much for answering my call.

You're welcome. Um can you hear me clearly? Yeah. Yes. Okay.

I I have uh two questions. Regarding evidence for God's complex unity, from the Hebrew scriptures. Yes, sir. Uh More specifically, uh about uh the verses from uh the book of Jeremiah twelve fourteen. And also fourteen fifteen All right, let me just look at the verses in question.

Where are you from originally, sir? Uh I'm Greek. Oh, okay. Excellent.

So Jeremiah 12, 14. And you see that.

Now the the issue I ha I have is that In a number of Bible translations such as the King James, ESV, NIV. Um there appears to be more than one person a divine person involved in those two verses. But in the complete Jewish study Bible, These verses are translated differently Uh and the evidence for GOS Complex Unity is not there anymore. Right, so Jeremiah 12, 14. 1214 and the other verse was...

The other verse was Jeremiah fourteen fifteen. Uh chapter fourteen, verse fifteen. Yep. Yep, go ahead.

So in Jeremiah chapter twelve, verse fourteen, reading from the ESB, It says, Thus says the Lord, concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit.

So according to this translation, Uh we have um One divine person talking about my Even neighbours, the heritage I have given My people But then that person refers to the Lord in the third person.

So although that person Speaks. In the first person, He refers to the Lord in the third person.

So this gives me the impression that There are at least two divine persons. Ah, okay, got it. I understand the question. Yeah, I'll answer in short, and then I'll answer more on the other side of the break. No, this is just totally common prophetic speech.

where you can introduce God speaking and then it's God speaking. Go from third person to first person all the time. It's just very common in prophetic speech. 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. Thanks so much for joining us today on the line of fire. I've just, I've got this giant window at the church building.

They've got me alone in this in this back room here, and it's at Calvary Chapel in Oceanside, California. I'm in the midst of an Israel conference here. I've got my portable radio studio, and I've just got this big window. It's right in front of me, and I see these palm trees swaying in the wind. It is just completely cloudy, overcast, and rainy here.

Cooler weather than normal in the San Diego area. It's hard for me to get my mind off the weather, but praise God. I just look back at my computer screen and we go over to London, England. Friends, if you've got a question, now is the time to call 866-348-7884. The phrase complex unity is a phrase I've used for years to help Jewish people understand God being one is complex in his unity, which Christians often refer to as his tri-unity or trinity.

Many Jewish hearers have understandably thought we were talking about what three gods or something like that so we've had to clarify that hence I speak of complex unity but Tolls in London England you'll often have the prophet and the Lord go back and forth because as my wife Nancy said when I was talking about Jeremiah when I was writing my commentary on Jeremiah that sometimes you can't tell where the prophet begins and God ends or where God ends and the prophet begins.

So the prophet might be saying, this is what the Lord says, I say this to you and he says this, and it goes back and forth. You have that very commonly, and that's between the prophet and the Lord. It's not speaking of a complex unity there in terms of different, you know, God speaking as one voice here and another voice there.

So that, again, it's just very common to alternate between third person and first person.

Okay, great. It's good to know that this is the case. Yeah, in fact, if you look, sir, yeah, if you look at the end of Jeremiah 8 into the beginning of Jeremiah 9. you'll see things go back and forth and you'll think that's the prophet speaking and then you think h'm No, maybe it's the Lord speaking, because it sounds like the prophet You know, he says, I wish I had more tears to weep for my people. And then he says, They're all adulterers, they don't know me, says the Lord.

It's like. Was that the Lord or the prophet? And that's how deeply the prophet carried that burden. Yeah, go ahead. We have time for another question.

Thank you. A similar question about the passage from Dennis is nineteen twenty four. Um Are about um Then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah, uh sulfur and fire. from the Lord out of heaven, where we have a reference to two loads. Mm-hmm.

or to different to different persons in the one Lord. Yeah, so here's the question. Is that an unusual Hebraic figure of speech?

Well some of the rabbinic commentaries would argue that's the case. That it's a little ambiguous. You wouldn't say it like that in English. And that is what the Hebrew says. Then the Lord Yahweh rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphurous fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

So is that saying That, well, it's all God in heaven, just kind of a strange way of saying it, or. Is it saying that Yahweh was also on the earth? And that Yahweh in earth rained down fire from Yahweh in heaven. If you didn't know anything and were just reading the text, Since at the end of Genesis 18, It said that Abraham and Yahweh had an extended conversation, that Yahweh, the Lord, visited Abraham with two angels, and the two angels then went on to Sodom.

So some would say, yeah, Yahweh was still on earth. Yahweh on earth, where he had appeared in a body to Abraham, rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah. F uh fire.

So fire from Yahweh in heaven was rained down by Yahweh on earth. Why? Because he's complex in his unity, because he can be in several places at one time. That he can sit on his throne in heaven and fill the universe with his presence and yet walk among us on the earth as he did when Yeshua came into the world.

Some argue that when Yahweh appeared, he appeared as three men, but all three were Yahweh, and that the two men that went to Sodom also bore his presence, and that's what it's talking about. You could read it like that, but I think an easier way to read it is. That Yahweh, still on earth in bodily form, rained down fire from Yahweh in heaven. And yeah, it speaks of Yahweh being in two places at once and reminds us that he is God and He is able to do that. Yes, and I believe this is supported also by other verses like in AMOS four eleven uh Isaiah thirteen nineteen and also Jeremiah fifty forty.

where we have Yawe speaking uh and saying that um I will destroy Babylon like God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Uh To me. another person in God. Yeah, that's possible, or it could be the back and forth with first person and third person. That's yeah, so it's possible that way, or it could go the other way.

Hey, Toles, I appreciate your questions very much. Maybe we'll get to meet you in London one of these days. All right. God bless you. Thank you for the call.

All right, tell you what, let me, it's going to be slightly technical. But my friend Pastor Bruce Bennett just sent me this text. And since we did a debate, it's also when you can watch on who makes the final determination and salvation. You can watch that on our digital library as well. Just type in Bennett, B-E-N-N-E-T-T.

He just states this. Hi, Mike. Just heard your summary of predestination from a Calvinistic perspective on your show. I did want to point out that though your description of God's passing over some is accurate for some Calvinists, superlapsarians, other Calvinists like myself who are infralapsarians would disagree strongly with your description of God's predestination and that we believe that God elected after he saw Adam's fall, hence all of mankind rejected Christ in the garden through Adam and are therefore born spiritually dead, as opposed to before the fall, which you described on the air. Historically, most Calvinists are infralapsarians.

We would appreciate the huge difference being pointed out amongst the Reformed when you critique us in your ministry. Thanks.

Well, best thing I can do is read the direct words from my infralapsarian friend. Bruce Bennett, and there you have his position. And if James White differs with the historical argument there in terms of the majority, then I'm sure if he's listening, he'll take it up on the dividing line. But. Since we've got all that out for you, there we go.

And others are like, What did you just say? I don't get that. All right, in short. The difference is, did God before the foundation of the world have a double predestination? I'm choosing you for heaven and you for hell.

Or Did all human beings in Adam fall? And then God said, I'm choosing you for salvation. and didn't choose the rest.

Some would say, doesn't that have the same effect? Yeah, i in a way it has the same effect. In that God chose those who are going to be saved, and no one else has a choice in the matter.

So the number of those who were damned was determined by God choosing those who were saved. The Calvinists would say yeah, but they made their choice in Adam. Peace out. I wasn't there. I didn't make my choice.

Anyway, the debate, the discussion continues. We'll be right back on the other side of the break. 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, thank you for joining us on the line of fire today where I'm coming your way live from Oceanside, California in the midst of a great Israel conference. 866-348-7884.

Any question you want to ask me? Any question under the sun? As long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, our phone lines are open. It can be a big, difficult theological question or a specific question about a verse in the Hebrew or Greek. It can be a question about moral cultural issues.

We'll even take Israel-related questions since I'm doing an Israel conference, even though we had our Thurley Jewish Thursday yesterday. We're all over it. Let's do it. 866-348-7884. I am going to answer a question by Josh.

on Calvinism. Hello, my name is Josh. I'm 19 years old and I run the Logical Christian Ministry on YouTube. I answer atheists, Muslims, and cults like Jehovah's Witnesses. First Josh, awesome, awesome.

Awesome, not awesome. Awesome, you're doing it at 19. Keep growing, keep learning, keep serving, keep speaking, and God will bless you. But, however, I've had also found interest in the Calvinism versus Armidian debate, Josh says. Calvinists often tell me that Armidian theology makes man the Savior instead of God, and they back this up by saying that unlimited atonement only makes man savable.

Thus it makes man the Savior because it makes it to where they choose to receive salvation. Therefore, it saved themselves. I don't know how to answer this objection. I was wondering if you could tell me what the best way to answer it is. Yeah, several levels.

And of course, this comes up in some of my debates with Calvinism. If you want to watch my debates on Calvinism, go to my website, thelineofire.org, and click on search. Search for White or Bennett. White or Bennett. You can then watch my debates on these issues with James White, Dr.

James White, and with Pastor Bruce Bennett. All right? So you can get in depth, and then this way you get both sides. You get my arguments, you get their arguments, and you can prayerfully look and see which strikes you as being more scriptural.

Alright, that being said. Number one, I find this objection utterly bizarre and thoroughly insulting. In all my decades in the Lord, It never once dawned on me. Nor has it dawned on anyone that I know in the Lord that they somehow save themselves. by receiving God's grace.

We fully understand our wretched condition. We fully understand that we cannot save ourselves. We fully understand that we need a savior. And all we do is say yes to God's extraordinary mercy. That's all.

And it's all grace. We're stunned that he saved us. We're amazed that he had mercy on us. We're humbled to the ground. To me, this is an ugly insult because it puts something on us which is the furthest thing from what we believe.

And let me be totally candid. I got saved as an Arminian. I was a Calvinist from 77 to 82.

So from 71 to 77, an Arminian, 77 to 82, a Calvinist. And I've not been a Calvinist since 82. And even as a Calvinist, it never dawned on me because I knew my experience. Never dawned on me that I could tell someone, well, you're saving yourself. It's just like you're a self-savior.

Look at it like this: you're in the water. It's a shark, your boat's capsized. Sharks around you everywhere, okay? They are about to devour you. All right, Calvinists would say you're already devoured.

Fine. I understand we've used this argument in public. And someone throws you a life preserver. You can't even grab it. They throw someone, get it over your head.

They just say, just let us pull you. Don't resist. And they drag you in, and with the sharks biting at you, your foot's even ripped up, and you get in the boat. And you don't say, Oh, I saved myself. Look at that.

I didn't resist when they put. No, no, no, no, not in a million years. You're like, oh my god, oh my god, thank you, thank you for helping me. How much more when we're saved from sin and damnation? That's one.

Two. The word is explicit on this, that if it's by faith, it's not by works. What we are doing is putting our faith in God. And Paul says explicitly to the Romans: if it is by faith, it is not by works. And three, we are simply doing what the word calls us to do, which is repent and believe.

How? By God's grace.

So we receive his mercy, we don't deserve his mercy, we're eternally damned without his mercy, his mercy comes to us and he says, believe. Say, Lord, by your grace, I believe. I want to follow you the rest of the days of my life. You didn't save yourself. You just were saved by the Savior.

We'll be back with your calls. Gains the world. Give us strength 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. You know, I just want to say one more thing about Calvinism and Arminianism. It is very easy for me. to caricature the God of the Calvinists as a monster.

and Calvinists making people into robots. But that is not true to what they believe. It is not fair to what they believe. And since I was a Calvinist for five years, since I thoroughly enjoyed reading much of the Calvinistic literature of great leaders and theologians and commentators, and since I have admiration and respect for Calvinistic leaders in church history and to today, I want to do my best to characterize their beliefs fairly and then to differ honestly where I differ and to differ strongly where I differ, but not to present their beliefs through my eyes in a way that is not true to what they would agree with.

So when things are presented as if we believe in self-salvation, it's a myth. It's false. It's not true. It's not a scriptural understanding either.

Now, what unlimited atonement does... Or rather, the fact that Jesus died for everyone in the world, it makes salvation possible. for everyone on the planet and infallibly secures the salvation of those who put their trust in Jesus. He remains the Savior. And Paul says this.

in Romans 4. that if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Right? Verse 4.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. And Paul explicitly says that. Because it is by faith. that it is by grace.

Verse, again, this is all through Romans 4 that it's laid out.

So, because we're being saved not by works, but by faith, faith is not a work. Therefore, you cannot in any way say someone is saving themselves. All right, we go to Plano, Texas, Mason. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you very much, Doctor Michael Brown.

Hey, how you doing? I'm doing all right. Is is it echoing or anything? It was a little of just speak right into the phone and we should be okay.

Okay, sweet. My question is political. But also spiritual. Um I feel like the Lord's put it strongly on my heart to be in prayer for Uh not just President, but um the various members of uh cabinet and government. And I'm wondering What we can Trust.

Out of Donald Trump's mouth. Like what we can What we can take and solidify as his actual position, given that he's kind of been back and forth.

so many times in in the past year or two on different things that he said. Yeah, well first I appreciate your burden to pray. And again, whoever's the president and the leaders of our country, we do need to pray. Pray for Supreme Court justices as well. But first, I went after candidate Trump as a flip-flopper.

And I wrote articles or one article where I listed flip-flop from here to here to here to here, and then others. got into much more detail and had many more examples of flip-flopping.

However, as the campaign went on, I found that there were quite a few things that he held to. and that he wasn't flip-flopping on. That this was who he was, and it wasn't in one interview saying one thing, another interview another, which politicians commonly do. I mean, we've all been frustrated watching politicians answer questions. Sir, do you think it's going to sh the sun's going to shine tomorrow?

And he says, you know, let me tell you that we're going to have more jobs for your state. And it's like, we didn't ask you that question. But as time went on, I saw Donald Trump. consistently standing for pro-life issues, consistently standing for religious liberty issues. consistently standing for national security and immigration reform and so on and so forth.

Thus far, I would say he has been pretty. pretty consistent. Acting on what he said he would. For example, pointing Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General. That would be a Trump-like move, appointing Neil Gorsuch as, or nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

That would be in keeping with his promises. his travel ban, the temporary ban on refugees coming in from seven countries that are hotbeds for terrorism for a 90-day or 120-day delay, that would have been in keeping with his policies.

Now, there are other things where through the campaign, he also spoke about wanting to be a friend of gays and lesbians and so on, had an openly gay colleague speak at the Republican National Convention. And he's done things in keeping with that as well. Those to me are inconsistencies where he has not yet worked out what happens when the inevitable conflict arises between Quote, religious rights and quote gay rights. What happens then? He hasn't walked through that yet.

I don't think personally he's being double-minded on that. I think he simply doesn't see why the conflict is inevitable. We are doing our best to get that truth to him in many ways as we can, trying to reinforce that to Vice President Mike Pence. And hopefully, there'll be realization of that. But it remains to be seen.

What President Trump will do. Certain things he can't do without the help of Congress. Will he go ahead and move the embassy? From Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in Israel. Will he sign an executive order supporting religious freedoms?

Will he be tough on unlawful immigration and yet look for compassionate solutions? Hopefully, he's. Having more understanding of some of the complexities of the issues and yet standing strong that look, if he doesn't try to build a wall, he'd flip-flop on that. But I think you can build a wall and also have more compassionate ways to deal with those who've been in the country for many years and are working and want to become citizens rather than deporting them and sending them back.

So I think thus far he's been consistent. And where he goes from here is going to be the bigger question to me.

Okay. Thank you. for that. And I appreciate a a clear headed approach to what he's actually saying as opposed to, you know, A lot of liberal media coming at it from the position of like the name calling and some of the different articles that I see on Facebook makes it really hard to get a good bead on. It just seems like there's a lot of voices out there that aren't coming from a constructive criticism.

How do we build? How do we move forward? There's a lot of just like mudslinging and name calling and You know, it's it's good to hear a voice that's ground floor.

Well thanks Mason. We're doing our best. I wrote an article appealing to President Trump and Vice President Pence to reconsider their strategy dealing with gay and lesbian issues. I wrote an article the other day saying yes there's all kinds of left-wing intolerance but there's also right-wing hypocrisy.

So I'm trying to call it as I see it in that respect. Mason, I'd encourage you to look at headlines on Huffington Post. and then to look at headlines on Breitbart.

So, HuffingtonPost.com, HuffPost.com, and Breitbart.com, they will be polar opposites. That'll help you then start to sift through: okay, what's actually happening when you look at the two extremes? I think you find it helpful. And go to the stream on a regular basis: stream.org. I think you'll find balanced, clear-headed commentary, Christian perspective, applying that to politics as well, stream.org.

And friends, be sure. On stream.org to share my latest article. It's been shared now just on the stream almost 12,000 times. Shame on the silent Christian leaders who refuse to stand against government tyranny. Please read it.

It's urgent. Please share it. Please get it to your pastors before Sunday as well. We go to Charlotte, North Carolina. Roger, welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Doctor Brown, how are you? Doing well, thank you. Good. Hey, I am teaching my Sunday school this week, and it's an adult class. And Philippians chapter 2, I think around verse 7 or 8, talking about Jesus becoming a man, becoming a servant.

And it says that he emptied himself. What's your take on that? I I understand like there's a significance and the Greek about the word kenosis. Yeah, there are debates about this that get super, super detailed. And you might have a view which is a standard view in some Christian circles, and others will attack you and say it's heretical.

But the long and short is this. That Jesus always remained God. The Son, when He took on human flesh and was fully man, was still fully God. He never ceased being God.

However, there were certainly divine prerogatives, there were certainly things that He willingly was stripped of. For example, I don't believe that when he was a baby, he faked learning to talk. You know, that he knew every language on the earth, but he would go bo-bo-ba-ba. Or that when he was crawling, he actually could have flown around the planet, but he faked it. No, no, he was a human being.

He was clothed in flesh in that respect. When he speaks about the day of his return and says, even the son doesn't only the father in heaven, it's because he didn't know everything because he was willingly stripped of some divine prerogatives. When he healed the sick, he didn't simply do it as the son of God. He did it, what do you say, by the power of the spirit, because the Holy Spirit was upon him to do these things.

So that's what it means. He remained God, but emptied himself of these various divine prerogatives so he could fully take on human flesh. Hope that's helpful for you, Roger. 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. All right, we've got time for one or two more calls. Let's do what we can to get to them. 866-34Truth.

Remember, if you haven't downloaded my app yet, the Ask Dr. Brown app, we're having endless issues getting it out with Apple, not quite sure what the delays are about. We keep resubmitting it with changes, but right now, right now, you can download it on your Android phones, your Android devices.

So it's AskDr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R Brown. Trust me, when you get it, you'll be using it all the time. 866-34Truth. Let's go to Tammy in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Hello. My question today is about the scripture in John fourteen, fifteen, where Jesus says If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I wanted to know, is he talking about the Ten Commandments or is it more than that? No, he's definitely not talking about the Ten Commandments. I can demonstrate that pretty easily. He's talking about the commands he gave them to love one another and things like that. And what we see is this.

The Greek word commandment and tele would correspond with the Hebrew mitzvah, which is commandment. And for example, in Matthew's gospel, Matthew 5, 19, Matthew 15, 3, 15, 9, 19, 17, keep the commandments, these commandments, the greatest commandment. It's speaking about the commandments of the Torah. The same in Mark's Gospel, the same in Luke, Luke 1, that they walk blamelessly, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and all the commandments and statutes of the Lord and so on. But when you come to John, all right, when you come to John's gospel, The word commandment or commandment is different.

For example, the same word, but used differently. John 12, 49, I've not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Verse 13, chapter 13, verse 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another.

If you love me, 14, 15, you will keep my commandments. 14, 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. 15, 10, if you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. 15, 12, this is my commandment that you love one another as I've loved you.

So when he talks about keeping my commandments, he means the words that I have told you, the instructions that I've given you, the call to love one another as I have loved you. And that's how commandments is primarily used in 1 John. By this, we know we've come to know him. If we keep his commandments, whoever says, I know him, but doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar. I'm writing to you, no new commandment, but that which you had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word you've heard. But it's a new commandment.

So, especially in John's gospel, each time it says commandment is not talking about the Ten Commandments there. It's talking about either the word the Father spoke to Jesus or the commands that Jesus has given us to live by. And 1 John can refer to those commandments or to the other commandments in the Bible. But I've got a video. If you'll go to my digital library, thelineoffire.org, and just search for the word commandments, you'll see a video where I talk about the Ten Commandments specifically with regard to John chapters 14 and 15.

Okay?

Okay, great. Thank you. Sure thing.

So, by the way, this does not address the question: should we keep the Ten Commandments? That's not the question. The question is: when Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, did he mean the Ten Commandments? And the answer is: no, that's not what he was speaking about in that context. All right, we go to Richmond, Virginia.

Nick, welcome to the line of fire. Yes, thanks for having me, Dr. Brown. You're welcome. Yes, I just have a question.

You've probably answered it a million times, but I guess I just wanted to understand your views. I know you were earlier talking about Calvinism. Um, what is your views as far as God's sovereignty and salvation. Do you believe that A person can come to a saving knowledge of Christ and to behold Uh the glory of Christ. Uh apart From a work of God.

Or do you believe that that's something that they can come through by their own their own will? Oh, of course. It has to be a work of God. Jesus says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him. And then it says in John, that's John 6, then John 12, if I've lifted up, I'll draw all men to me.

So the Holy Spirit has been drawing. people to to the cross since Jesus died and rose from the dead. We can say no, we can resist his grace. That's taught plainly in a number of verses. We can resist his grace, or we can receive his grace.

But it's all his grace, either way.

Okay, wh where specifically do you have a verse where it talks about resisting that grace? Oh, sure.

Well, there are a number of verses. For example, in... A Hebrews the 10th chapter. Those of us who have been sanctified by the blood of the cross and then turn against the Messiah and continue willfully, it says that we insult the spirit of grace.

So this is to someone who was saved and sanctified and now turns away from the Lord, is going to have judgment, hellish judgment.

So they will forfeit the salvation they had. They will insult the spirit of grace. That's one reference. Also, in Hebrews 12, we're told not to miss, or others would translate, forfeit God's grace. And then...

For example, there's a verse, let me just get the exact verse in Nehemiah. where there are specific references to resisting God's drawing. I got into that in a debate with Dr. White. The idea that God's grace is this irresistible force is not taught in the Bible.

It is taught in Calvinism, and it's the eye of tulip, irresistible grace, but it isn't taught because constantly through the scriptures, God's saying, I called you, but you refused. I held out my hands all day to a disobedient, rebellious people. As Paul cites in Romans the 10th chapter, quoting from the prophet Isaiah, throughout the Old Testament, we have God beckoning and calling and people resisting and refusing, and God even saying, if only. You had kept my commandments if only you had listened to me so. And then Jesus saying to Jerusalem, How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you weren't willing.

I wanted to, but you weren't willing. Or in Luke 16, the Pharisees rejected the will of God for their lives. I mean, those in many, many other verses would tell me that plainly. Hey, but listen, Nick. I apologize, I'm out of time.

If you had a follow-up question, hopefully we can get into it another time. But I'd encourage you, if you haven't watched my debates with James White and Bruce Bennett on these issues, Go to my website, thelineoffire.org, and type in predestination Calvinism in the search box or Just type in white. Bannock, and you'll see if you look through it, you'll see different videos and audio where we've debated. These very issues. I'm out of time, though.

I'm not cutting you off, I would have loved to talk more. And if you read through Nehemiah, you'll see where God wanted to draw his people and they. Resist it. By God's grace May we turn, may we humble ourselves, may we repent. And salvation is only of the Lord.

To him alone be the honor and glory. He's the Savior. And in his sovereignty, he said, you can choose. Or you can reject my grace when it comes to you. Hey, we're out of time.

But I can still get in my bottom line. Bottom line, God is a Savior and we need to be saved. What will you do with the message of the gospel when it comes to you? Game to the world.