Dr. Brown Takes Your Questions

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. You know, I, as I've often told you, sitting here like a kid in a candy shop, waiting for the show to start. This is Michael Brown. It is Friday.

You've got questions. We've got answers. Our joy today to take your questions, whatever is on your mind, anything under the sun you want to talk to me about, the phone lines are open. 866-34Truth. That's 866-348-7884.

Anything on your mind, any question biblically, theologically, morally, culturally, spiritually, practically, politically. Phone lines are open. And if you want to differ with me on something, I actually put out a request to all of our social media folks, it's over half a million, and said. Hey, if you differ with me, give me a call. If you differ with me, give me a call.

If you have some area of disagreement, give me a call.

So we'll have a friendly discussion, and I'll do my best to help sort out fact from fiction. We are really excited about the official release of Breaking the Stronghold of Food January 3rd, new year, new you. The pre-release is out, and we're already hearing from readers. You can order on amazon.com at a great pre-order price. Just saw this posted on Facebook a moment ago.

Best book I have read on food addiction. It is written by those who had to make a decision to make a change because their lives and their future depended upon it. It is written as they walked through the journey to break the addiction food had on them. It is a husband and wife team who went through the good, the bad, and the ugly of fighting something that appeared bigger than themselves. Yet they soon learned that was not the case.

I highly recommend the book. It was just released within the months. You got the pre-release. Thank you, Michael Brown and Nancy Brown, for sharing your journey so others can get a grip on the stronghold that appears at times running their lives and excuse me, ruining their lives and future So uh So encouraged by that. A pastor wrote to me yesterday: Love the weight loss book.

Great job. I work with thousands of weight loss clients at 24-Hour Fitness, and you hit the nail on the head. The biggest thing is people making excuses and they don't have time, and that eating is healthy. Eating healthy is too expensive. I've always suggested it's more expensive, but so is cancer.

Whether it's holiness or health, there's always a price to pay. And with more words of encouragement, so we are really excited about the book coming out. It's going to be specially featured in Charisma Magazine, the January edition. And I just got a. A pre-release of the magazine just sent to me today.

So we're really praying and believing that this is going to touch many, many. Lives 866-348-7884. Again, the name of our book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, you can pre-order it on amazon.com today, and it'll be out in slightly over two weeks. All right, I've only got a minute before our first break is out.

So, I'm gonna go to the phones as soon as we get back straight to the phones. But looking at an article. yesterday, which group of people. is the most educated by far. in terms of formal education, the most educated in the world.

Is it atheist? Is it Jews? Is it Muslims, Christians, Hindus? far and away the most educated people on the planet. Jews.

Yeah. And second, Christians.

So Some of it has to do with demographics, countries in which people are raised, but on the flip side, you have to say, okay, why is a country like Israel? On average, having much better education for its people than, say, a Muslim world or a Muslim country that has a thriving economy and that could easily have solid education. There's a certain ethic of education that's been very strong in Jewish tradition through the centuries and obviously goes right along with the calling to study God's laws and commandments.

Okay, you've got questions, we've got answers, maybe you've got disagreements too. Phone lines are open, we're going straight to your calls when we come back. Shake the nation. Change the world. Change the world.

God of light, hear our cry. Send a fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. You've got questions, we've got answers. Welcome to the broadcast 866-6666. 34 truth is the number to call. Let's start in Houston, Texas, with Tari.

Welcome to the line of fire. Yes, you thank you for taking my call.

Okay, I have a question. I was reading David Platt's book. And in it or sorry, radical. And in it, he mentioned the concept of of that nobody's innocent. And I totally agree with that.

Um it it kind of goes with when people say, what about the innocent person in Africa that never heard the gospel? But I I have a Question about the nuance. When God talks about in the Old Testament and the new that he hates the shedding of innocent blood, Could you explain the the nuances between those two concepts and how they fit together? Sure. First, of course, David Platt's book, Radical, is a very important book, and he's doing a tremendous amount of good in the kingdom.

So appreciate it. I appreciate you reading the book and then seeking to put into practice what he lays out there and what his church is seeking to do. On the one hand, no one is innocent, meaning every human being falls short, every human being sins. Even a little child that is not culpable, a little child that doesn't understand the difference between good and evil, is still in some way polluted because of the fallen race. Just like that baby is a mortal physically, that child will grow to one day die physically.

We are mortal. We are also sinful.

So no one has to teach a little child to say no. No one has to teach a little child to lie or to rebel. It's in our nature. At the same time, in terms of culpability, a little baby is innocent. Deuteronomy 1.39, it says, Moreover, your little ones who you said would be taken as booty, and your children who don't yet know good from bad.

They will go in there, meaning to the promised land. That same reference is there in Isaiah 7: how old the child is when the child learns to distinguish between good and evil.

So there is moral culpability. The more we understand, the more knowledge we have, the more responsible we are, to whom much is given. much is required. On the other hand, there is complete innocence in terms of Uh If you have, say, a one-year-old child in a crib, right? And someone breaks into the house and robs from that house, well, the child is completely innocent.

And not only that child, but the parents there. They're completely innocent. In other words, they are now victims of a crime.

So there is innocence in terms of perfect Moral innocence and purity, and that does not apply to any human being. There is innocence, and you find it often in the Bible. Say, I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. Let's say there's a crime down the street and someone named Michael Brown committed it, and police come knocking on my door.

They go, Oh, sir, we're not looking for you. It's another Michael Brown. Yeah, I'm innocent.

So no baby deserves to be killed in the womb by its mother. And you may have children in Syria, and they're bombed and killed. No, in that sense, that's innocent blood.

So again, it's a matter of nuances, but the Bible would be very clear on that. in terms of it being clean. The Hebrew for innocent would normally be clean. You can use the same thing in the physical sense, but it's being used in a spiritual and moral sense.

So it's one thing to say, yeah, in Africa and India and China, someone who's never heard the gospel, they're still guilty before God of their own sins and their own failings and rejecting of whatever light they've had. But in other ways, they'd be innocent of other things, and they could say, hey, my hands have not shed this blood, I'm not guilty. That was even a ritual in Israel. If there was a body found and they didn't know who was involved, then the elders would all say, Hey, we didn't do this, our hands are clean. And that's basically what's being said here.

Okay, thank you very much. You are very welcome. 866-348-7884. Let's go to Keith in Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire.

How you doing, doctor Brown? I've called several times. Me and you, we always agree to disagree. But on this one, this Friday, you said we could agree to disagree with you. Oh, you bet, man.

I don't agree with the Hebrew Israelites. But I would agree with some of the things that they're saying where in the beginning of the stages, it's proof within the Bible that the early stages of God's chosen people were people of color. And the people of color is stated in Acts thirteen, one, it's stated in Job thirty thirty, it's stated in Jeremiah fourteen two, And so why are those people are denying, including the e the Limba tribe with DNA evidence proving that they had the DNA of God's chosen people?

Well, the the Limba tribe, we recognize them as Jews, as Israelites. I have friends who work among them. Absolutely.

So, how come they don't have the rights of passage to get back to the promised land? It just has to be verified. In other words, if it's verified, That they have Jews. They can eat. They can get in.

For example, the Ethiopian Jews, there were thousands of them airlifted by the government of Israel, brought into the land. because they were recognized as Jews. And there are rabbis whose whole mission is to go around the world to try to find lost groups of the tribes of Israel. But the issue, sir, is that, for example, if you look at Acts 13, 1, now they're in the congregation in Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. Niger is a definition of black.

Right, right.

So the whole point is... It comes from a Latin word of Greek. Right, right.

Which is the Latin word for Greek of black. Right, right.

But the whole point is, if everybody was black, you wouldn't have singled him out.

Okay? That's what the black Hebrew Israelites are missing. Of course, there were dark-skinned people among the house of Israel through intermarriage and other things like that. Of course. No, I'm talking from the beginning, though, because Noah's son is Ham.

Ham definition in Hebrew means burnt.

So I'm talking from the beginning, correct? Ham has nothing to do with dark skin. The name Ham has nothing to do with that. It doesn't ham mean burnt in Hebrew. Can you at least say that?

Doesn't ham mean burnt in Hebrew? It means hot. It means hot. Thomas. Time's burnt, Dr.

Brown. You can Google it yourself. Keith, Keith. I don't need to Google it. I have a PhD in Semitic languages.

I can read Hebrew fluently. I don't need to Google it. But every time you argue, you like to bring a different version of the Bible instead of the King James Version. Why are you relying on a later translation? You're not relying on the Hebrew text.

I'm relying on the Hebrew text and the Greek text, Keith. I'm not relying on it. Jeremiah 14:2, it doesn't say of color, of darkness to the ground. It says of black to the ground. All right, tell you what.

Tell you what. I'm going to read it from the Bible. Keith, Keith. Here's the problem, Keith. You don't listen.

You don't listen I can help you, Keith. I can help you. I I don't know how old you are, but I'm pretty sure I've been studying these things since before you were born. All right. And these are not mysteries.

What we're talking about here are not mysteries, but for you, when you want me to Google something, Keith, here, I'm going to Google where you live and tell me what your house is. No, no, you live there. You can talk about it.

Okay? So, Jeremiah chapter 14. Yeah. The second verse, okay? What does it say?

I'm going to read it to you in Hebrew. Judah mourns, and her gates languish. They mourn deeply to the ground. And the cry of Jerusalem rises up. Kadyaru That's used here, or kadru, simply means to mourn deeply, and it can refer to someone having an ashen look in their face because they are so grief-stricken.

But remember, the book of lamentation speaks of the princes of Israel and says they were whiter than snow. And to try to say that all original Israelites were black is nonsense. If that was the case, great, they weren't Caucasian either. Keith. Here's a word of wisdom for you from the Bible, okay?

Be quick. To hear Slow. To speak. slow to anger. Because I can help you if you'll listen.

These are areas I've studied for many, many years. I can help you. If you'll listen.

Alright, so keep. Listening. Were there black-skinned, dark-skinned Israelites among the people of Israel through their history? Yes. Were the original Israelites Negroid according to that um Um Categorization, were they black skinned?

No. Were they Middle Eastern skin, so darker than my Caucasian skin, and lighter presumably than your than your uh your black skin? Yes. Would they have fit in among the people of Egypt? Yes.

Were the people of Egypt black-skinned? No. You can look at ancient hieroglyphs, inscriptions, and then with the paintings and see the Nubian slaves or the Nubians among the Egyptians who were black-skinned. And the Egyptians were brown-skinned. The Israelites would have been brown-skinned in that case.

All right, not only so, but there are even excavations that have been done, and skull sizes measured, and things like that, and skull structure.

So we know that the Israelites would have been brown-skinned, not black-skinned, not white-skinned. I hope you'll keep listening, Keith, but let me help you. All right, let me help you. We'll be right back with your calls. 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 line of fire.

This is Michael Brown, your joyful voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Hey, just a quick thing. I look, we can all study the scriptures together. We can study them in English. We can study them in the original languages.

We can get on our knees before God, open the Bible, say, God, give me insights, speak to me, help me. And the biggest issue is the condition of our hearts. The biggest issue is a submitted attitude before the Lord and the desire to learn from Him. And you can know the biblical languages fluently. You could memorize the Bible in 10 different translations, and it doesn't mean you know God.

It doesn't mean you understand the scriptures.

So I I I don't like to pull rank. and say, Okay, you're telling me this means this, but Sorry, this is my area of expertise. I'm telling you, you're wrong. I don't like to pull rank, but when someone so grossly steps. over the bounds of wisdom and propriety.

And as I'm sitting here looking at the Hebrew text or looking at the Greek text on my screen that the person wants to talk to me about, and they are now going to tell me, Google it, and they're going to tell me that I know it doesn't mean a certain thing. At that point I'm going to say, Hey, sorry, buddy.

Sorry, ma'am. But here are the facts. But you can differ with me and not know any Hebrew or any Greek. Let me tell you, Nancy, my wife Nancy, does not know Hebrew or Greek, but often. often Over the decades of our marriage, she has pointed out the meaning of a scripture to me that I've never seen.

And she's pointed out the meaning of a scripture to me where I differed with her. And she said, No, study it. Go check your commentary, study it. And I come back and say, honey, you're right. I've misunderstood this.

And that's just her reading the English Bible and reading it with insight and asking God for insight.

So feel free to differ with me. Don't let my background intimidate you. But if you're going to tell me, for example, that I know my wife's name is not really Nancy, that it's actually Mindy. Or Henrietta. I'm going to tell you sorry, sorry, we've been married for over 40 years.

Okay? So. That's our fair play. All right. 866-34TRUTH.

We go to Jacksonville, Florida. Carl, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown. I I would like to give my condolences about your mother. And and um I want to say in advance, thank you very much And and you're um Broadcast has been a real blessing to me.

And God bless you and yours.

Well, thank you, sir, for all of that. Thank you so much. And um God bless you and your relatives. And um And I guess maybe Um Some of your relatives might celebrate Hanukkah and And I don't know if you were You and Nancy celebrates Christmas. You could just cover it.

Yeah, just as wishing for a blessed holiday season for our family and relatives, sure thing. Yeah, so what's your question, sir? Uh yes, um It says this lady called and you know, and and um she called you and She said, will the Holy Spirit ever leave a Christian? I don't think so. This is hard for me to put in words, but uh You know, your commentary about the About um the Holy Spirit leaving a Christian What is the difference between somebody willfully sinning and a prolical son, you know, when the Bible talks about?

Yeah, sure. Yeah, so it's a fair question to ask. Will the Holy Spirit ever leave a Christian? And I have a video on this, a short teaching on it. If you go to thelineoffire.org and click on the digital library, you'll see it there.

And look, people think, okay, I got a bad attitude towards my boss during work. Did the Holy Spirit leave me? You know, I cut someone off in the road and slammed my horn. Did the Holy Spirit leave me? I looked at a pornographic site for three minutes last night.

Did the Holy Spirit leave me? I didn't pray for two days. Did the Holy Spirit leave me? And people are very concerned about that, and that's a fair concern to have. But what's clear is that the Holy Spirit indwells us as believers, and our sin grieves the Spirit.

And we're urged in Ephesians 4.30 not to. To grieve the Spirit who has sealed us. It doesn't mean sealed us to keep us sealed in. It means sealed us, set us apart, put a stamp on us, identified us as God's children waiting for the day of redemption. That being said, though, It is possible for us to forsake the Lord.

it is possible for us to say, I will not follow Jesus, and to die in our sin, whereas the prodigal repented and came home. If the prodigal died alienated from his earthly father in rebellion, the story would read very differently. There would be no reconciliation and no rejoicing. You said, yeah, he was still his son, yes, but he was alienated from his father and outside of his father's house.

So someone can walk away from God, someone can refuse God.

Someone can determine that they're going to do what they want to do, harden their heart, and refuse to repent and never turn back. In which case they can walk away from God. God will not force them to stay in the house. They can walk away from God. And not only so, but as we look at the pattern of the children of Israel in the Bible, at a certain point, the Holy Spirit.

the shechinah, the the presence of God in their midst, left them. and they went into exile, and there was that separation.

So no, we don't have to worry. Did the Holy Spirit leave me when I gossip? Did the Holy Spirit leave me when I cast a lustful glance? Did the Holy Spirit leave me when I coveted my neighbor's house? Uh no, we don't have to worry about that, but did I grieve the Spirit?

with my sin. Yes. and that should hurt us because we love God and we don't want to hurt him. And Jesus shed his blood for us that we would be wholeheartedly devoted to the Heavenly Father.

So that's the best way to understand it. I may break fellowship with the Lord because of my sin. 2 Corinthians 13, 14 speaks of having fellowship with the Holy Spirit. I may break fellowship with the Lord with the Spirit because of my sin. I may grieve the Spirit because of my sin.

But unless I refuse God, walk away from God, deny Him, and refuse to come back. No, the Holy Spirit doesn't leave us. He continues to work in our hearts to convict us. And even when we turn away, even if we could forfeit the salvation that we had. The Holy Spirit is beckoning us back, calling us back.

And an important lesson, friend, as a believer, the Holy Spirit will never condemn you. He will never, ever condemn you, but he will convict you. Condemnation says you're guilty, get away from me. Conviction says you're guilty, come near to me. That's the difference.

Conviction draws us back so that we can receive cleansing and fresh forgiveness from the Father. Hey, thanks again for the kind words, Carl, and the Lord's blessing on your family this Christmas season. Friends, I'm taking calls for 90 more minutes, so stay right there. We just have one phone line open now if you'd like to join in 866-348-7884. If you want to keep listening to the broadcast, you can do so on your cell phone, tablet, or a computer by going to the line of fire.

And just clicking on listen. Remember, our new book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, releases on January 3rd to the general public. You can order it at a great discount price on amazon.com. It's going to be specially featured in the January issue of Charisma. And we trust that many, many lives will be radically transformed by God's grace.

Shake the nation. 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. Hey friends, welcome back to the broadcast. You've got questions, we've got answers: 866-348-7884. The number to call, let's go to date.

Well, I was interested in that subject, but I guess Dave couldn't hold. Let's try Karen in Las Vegas. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great, thank you.

Well, my my question is I believe that we are all created in the image of God, and I believe that the Father is shaping us all up into the image of his Son. How come I can't? Except that I can't accept that. I I keep still wanting to change people myself. You you know what I mean?

Well Okay. Do you believe that we're all on that the Potter's wheel? God God is shaping us all up. M well, uh, some of us are submitted to him and some aren't. He wants to shape us all up.

He is working in the world. He's always working. He's sovereign God. But as far as Who is he conforming to the character of Jesus? It's those of us who are following his son, Jesus.

For example, he is not conforming a Muslim to the character of Christ. He is calling that Muslim to repent and turn to the gospel. He's not conforming to the people. He doesn't grant repentance, though. See, that's just it.

God himself calls to repentance. Yeah, and we have to respond. I don't need repentance. We have to respond. Right, but I personally don't need to to go chauffeur somebody over there into repentance.

I don't need to do that. No, but you but we're vehicles, we're vessels. In other words, we pray for people. We set a godly example. We share the gospel with them.

And we then, through the word, call them to repentance. We don't try to make them here. You have a child, right? And the child is two years old, and the child. No, I'm not.

Well, you pick that, you may pick that child up, right, and put them in their room and close the door and say, You stay in there until you change your attitude. We can't do that, and we're not supposed to do that with people who are trying to lead to Jesus, right? We're not trying to coerce them, force them, pressure them. That's not the gospel, that's not how God offers it.

So I may urge someone. I may know someone well enough and say, listen, man, you've got to get right with God. You're destroying your life. I may urge them. I may plead with them.

I may, in another situation, just say, hey, think about this. Think about what I had to share. Or, hey, read this book or read this chapter in the Bible.

So, we're going to sow seeds. We're going to seek to be fishers of men and women. That means we have to try to catch, right? A fisherman doesn't sit on shore. A fisherman goes out with their net or with their fishing rods and they seek to catch fish.

So, we are trying in that sense to catch souls by sharing the gospel with them, by showing them that God's ways are best, by showing them the sinfulness of their ways, by showing them that they're guilty in God's sight and that there's a way of redemption. And we don't just, we are vehicles. God works through us to touch lives.

So just like you made a decision to pick up the phone, call me and talk to me, the same way you make a decision, okay, I'm going to try to build a relationship with my new neighbor there, bring over some cookies and chat and so on, and then little by little form a relationship, maybe invite them to a Bible study or share the gospel with them.

So that's how we seek to witness. And then the Holy Spirit does the hard work of changing lives. That's what I see. See, I see the Holy Spirit doing it. For example, okay, um To condemn another is to close the door on your own salvation.

Okay, so I I don't do that. Um Isaiah, God says, if you don't point the finger, okay, then He, God Himself, will say, Here I am. Right, right, yeah, but uh okay, just to jump in though, read the New Testament, okay? Read the New Testament. Read the book of Acts because I've got a break coming up here.

We're not allowed to condemn the world. The world's already condemned. Read the book of Acts. Look at the sermons in the book of Acts. Start in Acts 2.

See how the apostles preached. They call people to repent. They say, you're guilty before God. And they offer them new life and peace. They got to go, but that's our path.

It's fire we want For fire weed. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-342. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on this Friday edition of The Line of Fire. You've got questions, we've got answers. 866-348-7884 is the number to call. And we'll start with Jerome in Philadelphia.

Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Hey, um Thank you so much for your ministry. Um Capping theory is some really bad times back in twenty thirteen.

I just want you to know that. Um So I have a question for you. I Grew up in a Pentecostal church, so I have a you know, I'm kind of conservative theologically. Um but I got a word of prophecy Back in two thousand Um Twelve. And I pursued it, and that called on me to move to Philadelphia.

and go into seminary. And one of the and I got into this church Um and the prophecy was basically confirmed. Um Now I'm on staff at that church. But the church is Somewhat. More liberal than I would have ever dreamed that I would be part of.

I just wondered what you by Sometimes I wonder like is this what God Yeah. Um And it just feels strange. I mean, another thing is: I'm black, the congregation is mostly white. It's just a really. weird space for me to be in.

So I just wanted to see what your thoughts were about that. Yes, Jerome, first I'm so glad to hear that we were able to be of help to you through a difficult time. That means a lot to me and my team. And I appreciate you involving us in this difficult question now. When you say that That there was prophecy fulfilled, and that's why you're in this church.

Otherwise, if you didn't feel divinely directed there, this would not be the place you'd be in, obviously. It would not, no.

Okay. That doesn't mean, sir, that. You must stay there. Even if the Lord supernaturally directed you there. If it's a place that you cannot support wholeheartedly, If it's a place where you cannot sign on the dotted line that you affirm the doctrine and the direction of the church.

then your role there would be uh A to be a witness to the truth. and to seek to speak to the leadership, honoring their authority. But in to challenge the areas where you differ and said Yeah. Are you open to considering these things? And probably wouldn't be, but you ask those questions.

The other thing in being there is you learn firsthand. How much people can depart from the faith and the problems it creates for a church and the ripple effect it has on the congregation. And often you can't learn that without being involved on the inside. But you don't need to feel consigned to stay there. And in fact, if you cannot wholeheartedly support the leadership as a staff member.

Or as a congregant, then ethics would say, okay, then I need to step away. I need to make my appeal with respect. And it could be that the pastor was once much more conservative. And then through whatever things happen, the person shifted, and you might be a voice of conscience for that person. You you might be a voice of the Holy Spirit to that person, but if he's set in his ways, No, we've been that way.

I don't believe that. That's just old-fashioned stuff, etc. And he's determined to go in the direction he is. Then, with all respect, you need to step away. and be part of a congregation where you can throw yourself in, heart and soul.

where you can support the leadership and believe in the vision, where you yourself can grow and where you can freely minister to others because you wouldn't be able to in that setting because the moment a conversation comes up on a convers uh uh uh excuse me, a uh issue of confrontation or a controversial subject, instantly there's going to be division now.

So sometimes we feel like it's up to us to save the church or change the church, but because God hasn't put us in senior leadership there, there's only so much we can do.

So I would learn from this. I would take in everything I can from the landscape and how liberalism negatively affects the whole congregation. I would request a meeting to just graciously appeal for reconsideration on some of these points to the leadership. But if they're set in their path, then you need to transition out graciously and find a place where you can really throw yourself in, heart and soul.

So Yeah. Thank you for that. I think that, that is the case that I think I am. on the front line seeing what liberalism does to a church. And I'm kind of seeing those effects.

And also, I think you're right on the point of the pastor being being more conservative at one time. Um And Yeah.

So yeah. In terms of the effects of the church There are things I would surmise just based on my knowledge of how liberalism affects the gospel and affects Religious commitment. You'll find the same thing, whether it's in Hinduism or Islam or Judaism, that when people don't actually believe in the authority of the written texts and begin to question this and that, their commitment will wane. There, you know, that's just the way it's going to be. Here, look at it like this: you're watching your favorite team in sports, right?

And you think they've got a real shot at the playoffs and they're playing great ball, and you're watching more avidly, but they're having a lousy season and it's painful to watch them. You don't mind skipping games if you're a sports fan, right?

Well, it's a very weak analogy in terms of a clear parallel. But when you can throw yourself in wholeheartedly, I know this is God's word, I know this is his truth, I know these are eternal issues, I know lives are being forever changed, and so on, right? And you can throw yourself into that heart and soul by life or by death, your commitment's going to be very different than the commitment of the person who's like, well, the Bible's an inspired word. It's inspired at a certain level, but it's man-made and we can't trust everything in it and we don't believe in heaven and hell. You're going to live very differently than the person that takes it seriously.

And I would uh imagine that's what you see in the church there. Yeah, yeah. And uh Yeah, if so Um you know, I listen to you because, you know, you're someone who talks about revival, you know, I Is it reading a different book? Um And it's just it's kind of an alien thing to the people that are there. Um And Yes.

So it's just a very isolating, weird time. But I am learning a lot from seeing this upfront, what it does to um a church for it to question certain things in the Bible. Um Or like you said to for the leadership to say the Bible is inspired in a certain way. Yeah, I mean what's that going to do to your prayer life? What's that going to do to you?

Taking a scripture and saying, God, I know you said it and I'm holding you to your word and faith. You know, it affects everything. And then, are you really sure that that Muslim is lost without Jesus? Are you really sure that that atheist is lost without Jesus? You know, is it mainly just a matter of being civil?

And whoever is civil is blessed by God, and that's as far as it goes.

So, you know, may the Lord guide you on your journey, sir. And then at the right time, may He plug you into a vibrant congregation of like heart and like mind. And there must be a good number in the Philly region. Hey, blessings to you, and thanks for calling in and for your kind words. 866-34TRUTH.

Let's go to Westchester County in New York. Luke, welcome to the line of fire. How are you doing, Dr. Brown? Doing well, thank you.

Let me first say greetings in the Most High God. and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost Comforter, all of which are one. in our blessings to your ministry and what you have done. A couple of questions. I usually get to listen to you Once in a while, 'cause usually m I'm at work and once I come out for lunch, that's when I Get on the phone with you and we just want a blue moon.

It's always a blessing to hear you speak, but I just want to say to people that's listening as well that This discussion, or any questions that I have, or even anyone that's a Christian, I would say. It's just more for discussion and to enhance our education, not to debate it against each other and cause strife between the people of God. It would just say that.

So my question is this, and it's in line with some of the what Keith said on another call as well. Uh a couple of questions. In the Bible it said that about those who call themselves Jews By not juice. If you don't mind, just going to that for me, if you don't mind, as well as the young man that talked about his calling and what he's supposed to be doing. as well.

I just pray that God will bless him and he will just seek uh as you had said as well, just seek the Holy Spirit. that the host rare will guide him and use him and he will Be obedient to the Holy Spirit. as well as to the young lady about the mission of Papa Christian. is that we were caught would be that That great commission of we'll go out and preach the gospel in all the world. And that's what we should do without hatred.

and to do it in love and humility. And anyone that we see that's doing something wrong or do something outrageous, we could be the one that's doing that as well.

So we need to be humble with that and try to kill the flesh and let God use it. Yeah, so and thank you, Luke, for weighing in on those different calls. Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 speak to two congregations in Asia Minor that were under persecution from those who said they were Jews and were not and were a synagogue of Satan. There are two ways of reading that. One, they weren't.

They weren't Jews. Just like black Hebrew Israelites are not Israelites.

So they weren't Jews. They claimed to be Jews and they weren't. They were a synagogue of Satan. The other is... They were Jews, they were physical Jews, but because they were persecuting God's people, they were persecuting the Messiah and his people.

He said, you're not acting like Jews. You're Jews, but you're not. You're my people, but you're not. Just as he said that to Israel in the past, as he could say to the church at times. 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 for joining us on this Friday and making our broadcast lively. and informative with your calls, 866-348-7884. You've got questions, we've got answers. So again, Luke, just to finish my answer, yeah, there are times when God's people act in such a way that they're not acting like his people. And Hosea, he says to the people of Israel, he says, Call them Lo on me, not my people.

and then when they repent, he says, call them my people. Belo ru kama th they've they've not received mercy and compassion. But now, when they repent, they'll receive mercy and compassion. The same people, all right, it's not saying that DNA, you are not Israelites. then you're not acting like my people.

And it would be like a mother saying, That's not my son. Isn't that your son? That's not my son. My son wouldn't do it. In other words, he's not acting like my son.

So, if Revelation 2 and 3, we're speaking about Jewish people who were persecuting these Christians, these followers of Jesus, the Messiah. God would be saying, yeah, you're Jews, but a name only. He doesn't mean ethnically. He doesn't mean your descent is not from the Jewish people. He doesn't mean that the DNA wouldn't verify that.

All right, um, and it would just be like saying to someone, You're not American. Yeah, you burn the flag, you're not an American. No, no, I'm born and raised here. I'm a citizen. That's not what the person means.

The same way here. But it could also be referring to people that claimed to be Jews and weren't. They weren't. They were Gentiles. They were part of some group that thought they had Jewish identity.

And they were also persecuting Christians. All right. Thank you, sir, for the call. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Bruce and Prince Frederick, Maryland.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. God bless you and your family. We really appreciate your ministry.

My question relates to our oldest who loves the Lord. And she and her family are starting to follow a lot of Tora Um Kind of in line with a lot of Mark Bilch's ministry out in Washington. And my thought is if God is calling them actually into ministry among Jewish people to help them come to Christ. This definitely could be a step of faith. Um if They're just doing it.

It's a great practice. You know, the Bible's got good practices for us. But I don't see it as an enhancement of faith or necessarily walking by faith. In a general sense, for a Gentile, and I wanted your comments on that. Yeah, give me an example of the most extreme things that they would be doing in your eyes.

Well, I don't know that anything is extreme. I don't see what you do in Torah as extreme. Oh, okay.

Well, it would be extreme, for example, if someone was offering blood sacrifices. It would be extreme it would be extreme if if if um A man had a brother and and the the brother was was married and died without having children, and then this one was was was married and then and took the wife as a second wife because the the Torah commands that, uh to have children through her for the brother.

So um how strictly are they following Torah?

Okay. Well, if you remove all the temple practices, we're talking about festivals and diet primarily. Mm? All right, so do they feel tho uh what about Sabbath and new moons? Sabbath, definitely.

I'm not sure about new moons. We haven't discussed that. All right. What if they're in a situation where. They're over at your house and the f and the food you serve them is is not In the food laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, well, they refuse to eat.

Then I would figure out something to serve them that would would be all right, you know, according to the way they look at it. Right, but I'm saying would they refuse to eat if that was the only alternative? No. No, they wouldn't. They wouldn't refuse.

Okay. That's well that's positive. And do they believe that they're supposed to live in the midst of a Jewish community? I'm not sure that's clear for them right now. I know they have a tremendous burden.

for the land of Israel, which Thank God for that. I I do myself. Um Yeah, so here's again, I'm looking at this from a distance, don't know what's going on in their lives. It could be that the Lord's giving them a greater identification with the people of Israel and a burden, and there's nothing in the word that says don't keep the seventh-day Sabbath or don't keep the dietary laws or don't keep the biblical calendar.

So, wonderful if they find life and meaning in that. Great. Often, though, it's a progression that ends up leading people away from Jesus. I've seen it now for decades, where they get all caught up in Jewishness. where Jesus is not central.

Where Jewishness or Jewish identity or Jewish lifestyle is central, and they end up actually departing from Jesus. We've seen it happen tragically.

So that's what you have to watch. Are they getting more and more into things? Are they becoming more and more legalistic? Are they becoming l uh if they're in a church service and you're singing praises to Jesus Christ, can they enter in or do they feel like I can't do that? Those are the telltale signs that they're getting caught up with what would be more of a religious attitude.

than being led by the Holy Spirit. And as for living among religious Jews, every every religious Jew, if they lived among a religious Jewish community, everybody would know that they're not Jewish. Because the religious Jews are steeped in all kinds of Jewish traditions that your family would have no knowledge of. And if they tried to keep them, they would expose themselves of doing it in ignorance very quickly.

So in that case, it's often just best to be Gentile Christians. And we're Gentile Christians and we love the people of Israel and we love the God of Israel, but we're not claiming to be Jews or trying to be Jews. And that I have friends that have shared the gospel in that context with the Jewish community for years, and they've done it successfully, being who they are. But having a great love for Israel and the Jewish people. What I think would be very helpful is if you got a copy of my book, 60 Questions.

Christians ask about Jewish beliefs and practices. Sixty questions. Christians ask about Jewish beliefs and practices. And the last quarter of that book specifically deals with questions about the law and Christians and the law and what's obligatory and what's not and helps sort those things out.

So I think that would be helpful for you and for your daughter and her family to read as well. Thank you very much. You are very welcome, Bruce. All right, friends, we're out of time. But I'm going to be taking calls for one more hour.

So whether you're able to listen on the air or not, you can still call in and I'll get your calls in the next hour, 866-348-7884. Again, if you didn't hear this earlier, I was excited today to get a copy of FedEx to me of the brand new January edition of Charisma magazine that specially features our book, the book Nancy and I wrote, Breaking the Stronghold of Food. You can order it now on Amazon at a great reduced price, and it will be out January 3rd. New Year, New You. This book will help you.

It'll inspire you. It will encourage you. It will give you practical guidelines and direction and recommend other resources that can take you to the next level of living this out. By God's grace, I am walking proof. that these radical changes can be made.

Trust me. Trust me, everyone who's known me for decades. I would be the last person on a list of 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 that would have written a book. about healthy eating and breaking the strongholds of food because I was a lifetime unhealthy eater. If I could change Anyone could change.

So, breaking the stronghold of food, you can order it on Amazon at a great price, and it will be delivered to you the beginning of the new year. And all of you who got the pre-order from us, as you're reading it, post a review on Amazon once the book goes live. And you'll be blessing others as well. My bottom line today: pursue truth, seek truth. Seek the God of truth.

follow truth wherever it leads. We're going to dig into the Hebrew scriptures. We're going to look at some fascinating developments in the Middle East. We'll take your Jewish-related calls all today. Um 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. Don't panic. Don't look at your... Your phone or your calendar or your watch, or like, what day is it? No, it is Friday.

It is Friday. You've got questions. We've got answers. We had a glitch earlier with pre-recording our lead-in for the beginning of the show, and accidentally the lead-in from yesterday played.

So it's not Thursday. It is not thoroughly Jewish Thursday, it's Friday. Yeah, I'm glad it's Friday because you've got questions, we've got answers. Anything anything whatsoever. Anything whatsoever you want to ask me about, any question under the sun.

That's on your mind. As long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, give me a call. And if you differ with me on something. If you differ with me on any issue and you'd like to share why you differ, we'll talk about it. It can be political, it can be moral, it can be cultural, spiritual, biblical, practical, theological.

We'll talk about it. 866. Three four eight seven eight. Eight. For the number to call, and I am going to get to some emails.

Ah, let's see here. No Okay. I'm not going to give the gentleman's name. I first want to express my enormous gratitude as your ministry has shaped my life demonstrably and I have incredible respect and value for you. Your teachings ranging on difficult subjects from homosexuality to charismatic gifts to hypergrace to politics are almost always spot-on, and it is refreshing to hear a person communicate these positions so eloquently.

The Charismatic Movement and Church at Large will thank you for your contributions for years to come. As I value your input on these controversies, I have a few questions that really intersect a lot of your ministry focus. Let me jump in and say thank you, sir, for those very kind words. He writes, I've struggled with homosexuality ever since I had puberty. When I was born again, I was barely 14 years old and acting out on my homosexual desires at that time.

However, I know I had a genuine encounter with Christ as I was kept alive from suicide only because of my relationship with Jesus. In those days, while I was a prodigal in many respects, I valued Christ as best as I knew how. Because my flesh wanted to continue to sin, I attempted to reconcile homosexuality and Christianity by flirting with LGBT affirming theology. I ended up being baptized in water when I still held to affirming theology, meaning that you can be gay and practice homosexuality, follow Jesus at the same time.

So I attempted to be baptized in water when I still held to affirming theology and was struggling in sexual sin, even though I detested acting out sexually and viewed all other impurities as sin. I was then subsequently baptized with the Spirit, experiencing physical manifestations of power and passion for evangelism in tongues. As I grew older and more mature in the Lord, I recanted the LGBT affirming theology, primarily due to my charismatic experiences. These encounters with the Lord shaped me and have had a huge impact on my theology toward human sexuality. With the issues of homosexuality and hyper-grace president in the global church, and due to the complexity and varying opinions on these matters, I struggle with understanding my salvation experience in its entirety.

I hold to the belief that I am eternally secure and unconditionally elected. That is, I consider my salvation not to have been conjured up one Wednesday in October of 2014, but rather the cross of Christ as his chosen and elected one. Yet simultaneously, when I had the born-again experience, was I truly saved, recognizing the full weight of the gospel message at this time period? Or did I step into salvation at a point later in time in which I was fully repentant? How does this relate to water baptism?

Should I be baptized again if I was living in sin and unrepentant in the baptismal tank? If for our purposes we can define hypergrace as a false theology false theology that twists biblical grace so that one can keep on sinning, how does the application of this demonic doctrine fit into my personal experience? Did I live a life of hypergrace? On the contrary, was I a Christian experiencing the beautiful, life-changing power of progressive sanctification? How and why was I baptized in the Holy Spirit and experienced all the Holy Spirit's goodness while still remaining in sin and holding to non-Orthodox views?

And he goes on with further questions. I'm going to answer those. on the other side of the break. Very important questions. profound questions as he shares his journey.

I want to respond when we come back. Change the world. Change the world. Send it along. 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, welcome to the line of fire.

This is Michael Brown, your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity, 866-348-7884. That is the number to call. Any question you want to ask me that is appropriate for Christian radio, by all means, give us a call.

Now, Before I go to the phones, I just want to respond. To a lengthy email that was sent to us by a gentleman struggling with homosexuality since he hit puberty at 14. came to faith during that was baptized while Living an active homosexual life, or while affirming that that was acceptable. Said he was filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and that it's ultimately those things that led him out of his sinful lifestyle. How should he view that?

Sir, I'm not going to get into the larger discussion of unconditional election and eternal security. You can just search in my digital library or on the Line of Fire archives for shows that address that or for my debates with my friend and colleague Dr. James White, where you can hear him present his views and me present mine on election. And then. issues of eternal security.

What I emphasize is God has promised to keep us and He's given us responsibilities, and I hold to both of them at the same time. But in your experience, It seems to me unless we said you had a counterfeit conversion, and a counterfeit encounter with the Holy Spirit, And that You just got saved later on. And then you got your head clear. Unless we say that, what we what What we have to say is this. that God saw the cry of your heart, He saw that you genuinely looked to Jesus to save you.

but that you were in massive deep ignorance And it was only over a period of time that God brought you out of that ignorance as you yield it to the Holy Spirit. At what stage of faith or understanding were Cornelius and those with him who began to speak in tongues as they heard Peter preach in Acts the 10th chapter? They had obviously been serving God the best of their understanding. They had been worshiping the God of Israel as Gentiles and seeking to follow him and honor him. And now they were experiencing a spirit when they put their trust in Jesus, but they hadn't uttered a word.

They hadn't said, I believe. And they hadn't been baptized in water yet. That really threw the paradigm for these early believers, for Peter and the others. But it's like, wait a second, if God gave them the Holy Spirit, who are we to reject?

Now, here's the thing: there can be counterfeit tongues, there can be counterfeit experiences. And someone may have been filled with the Spirit and they walk away from the Lord and they can still manufacture something that sounds like tongues. That doesn't mean that they're right with God. But in your case. As you're relating it, and as I'm looking at it from the outside, which is what you're asking me to do.

It seems that you genuinely encountered the Lord, and and that he met you in your ignorance and your rebellion, And over a period of time, brought you to a deeper and truer repentance. november twelfth of nineteen seventy one. I prayed a prayer to say I believe Jesus died for my sins, rose from the dead, and I would follow him the rest of my life. Why did I do it? Because my friends were asking me to, and I thought the people in this church are praying for me.

They look at me as like the worst sinner on the planet.

So they'll get a big kick out of it if this big, bad sinner goes up and prays this. Prayer I didn't mean anything by it. But as I said the words, because my friends had been sharing the gospel with me for months and God had been working on my heart and convicting me, as I said the words, I realized, you know, I. I actually believe this. I believe it's true.

I do believe Jesus died for me. I do believe he rose from the dead. But when I said I promised to live for you the rest of my life, those are just words. Those are just words. And I was in a battle.

For my soul, the next five weeks. In church one day, shooting heroin the next, back and forth. Finally, finally. After five weeks of battling, December 17th, so that's tomorrow's date, December 17th, 1971. I said, God, I will never put a needle in my arm again.

And that's the night I know that I know that I surrendered. I don't mean perfectly in every way, but I surrendered. I stopped rebelling, and I said, Lord, I just want you to be the Lord of my life. Because that's what he made clear: you give that up to me. or heroines, either me or the needle.

And that was the point of surrender, and from that night on, I was free by the grace of God, now 45 years tomorrow. Wh if I had died two days earlier or a week earlier a month earlier Had I truly received the Lord and now he was bringing me to deeper repentance, or was I still on the outside? Only God knows. I know that, I know, that I know that on December 17th and thereafter, I entered into eternal life. Is it possible that I had entered into eternal life some weeks earlier during this time of battle?

Only God knows. But it seems to me that your experience was similar to mine, except more protracted and with more deception and more rebellion along the way, because I fully understood I was doing wrong and was just in the battle of my life to get free because I loved my sin.

So, where does it leave things now? Obviously the word is your authority. And you know by the word the the sin of homosexual practice. And by the word, you know that God calls you to sexual purity. You understand those things.

What about water baptism? You were baptized in water when you were in a state of rebellion, when you were in a state of affirming homosexuality, which I would presume then you were baptized in that church setting. I guess you say that explicitly, a church setting that affirmed homosexual practice. I would, if I were you, be baptized in water afresh. If there's one water baptism, you've got to do it right, okay?

Just like if you were baptized as an infant in a certain church tradition and came to faith when you were 18, I say you should be baptized then.

So I would encourage that. to say, it's at this point of surrender and obedience now that I'm being baptized because I don't believe the previous baptism was righteous in God's sight. I hope that's helpful to you, that you continue to grow in your journey in the Lord. 866-348-7884. Yes, we go to the phones, an anonymous caller.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, you're on the air. Hello, are you there? All right, Howard, this is a very sensitive subject, as I can see from what's posted on my screen. See if you can.

Track Our caller down. I do want to give her another opportunity to talk to us to see if we can be of help.

So see if you can track her down. All right. Oh. Let me Go to an email question. Let's see here.

Uh Jamar and joy. Have some questions about tithing. Jamar, I want to encourage you to go to the lineofire.org and click on listen. and then just search for tithe. or tithing.

You'll see where we've talked about it on the air. Right, that's the line of fire door. Click on listen, that'll get you into the archives for the radio show. Or just click on the digital library and click on tithing or tithe, and that will get you to a teaching I've done that you can find on Our digital library. Joy is asking what's the difference between first fruits, tithe, and offering, and what exactly is Rosh Chodesh?

It's meaning Rosh Chodesh is literally the head of the month, the first of the month. It's the beginning of the month, and it's with the cycle of the new moon.

Okay, so as the moon cycles through, you have new months.

So, Rosh Chodesh is just new moon, new month.

Okay, and it's Literally, the first of the month, the beginning of the month. As for the difference between first fruits, tithe, and offering, first fruits would be the immediate dedication of produce or of income to the Lord, and it could be a tithe, it could be something else, but first fruit speaks of giving that first, okay? First fruit speaks of giving that first.

So you have crops, the first of your crops you dedicate to the Lord. You you uh have flocks, the first of the male flocks, dedicate To the Lord.

So that's what first fruits is. It can be part of tithing, but not necessarily all of tithing. I'm talking about an ancient Israelite law. If you do practice tithing in your own life, you find that to be a biblical principle that is helpful, then I encourage you: the first check that you write each month or each week, however you pay your bills, or if you do it online, let it be your tithe. Let it be your giving to the Lord and to the local work of the Lord that you're part of.

And that's a way of saying that what comes in first, I honor you with. An offering can be anything that's given, and that can be over and above.

So if Malachi 3 speaks of tithes and offerings to ancient Israel, then obviously they're not the same as tithes.

So the way it works out in church life today, if people tithe, that's their regular ongoing giving, their commitment to the local fellowship and to the work of that fellowship and ministering to the community together. And then offerings would be something above and beyond that.

So I might speak at a church, and before I speak, they receive the tithes for the maintenance of the congregation, the salaries of leadership and those on staff, the feeding of the poor in the community, whatever's used. And then after I speak, after I speak, they say, now we're going to receive an offering for Dr. Brown's ministry. That will go to help pay our radio bills or help support our missionaries overseas or things like that. That's how it would work itself out practically today.

All right, we'll be right back. 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. Boy, we lost our anonymous caller, but you've got to realize what some folks are going through. When calls come in, calls come in, I'll see the name. where the person's from. And then a word, a few words, a short line about the subject matter.

And generally speaking, we just go in the order in which people call whoever's been holding the longest we bring on, unless. It's important for us for relevance or some other reason to go to another call. And this anonymous caller don't know uh where she was from or her name. Wanted to talk to us about her husband sexually abusing her son years ago. Just to say, there's a lot of suffering out there.

And a lot of difficult situations. And we unfortunately lost that caller. They weren't there, and we tried to bring them on. But all that to say, pray for me. That that we have wisdom and grace.

to deal rightly with people that call in with very difficult problems and situations. And then pray for local pastors and church leaders who bear 99% of this weight because it's ongoing in their own communities, that they'll have wisdom, that godly councils will have wisdom, that small group leaders will have wisdom, that people can come to the body and find healing and help rather than condemnation and rejection. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Musquet, Nevada, another anonymous caller. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown, for taking my call. Um Could you just run down what a biblical model of church discipline would look like And just to be brief, It involves some pastors that left the church. One of them starting a new church about fifteen miles away. the other pastor saying that pastor is in sin and And if you left the church, you're in sin and It's it's just a big mess.

And the pastors that left said they were never even talked to by the elders.

So how does all that work out? Yeah, um The biggest problem we have, sir, Is that we don't just have one church community. in our city or in our region. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Corinthian scholars estimate, say that there were maybe 50 or 75 believers in the city. And that was the Church of Corinth.

and they met in different homes and locations. And say, for example, when Paul wrote to Timothy, Timothy functioned as a bishop or elder. over churches in in Ephesus.

So, however many believers there were, whatever the numbers were, whether they're 50 or whether there were 500 or 5,000, the elders oversaw the local fellowships and they were accountable one to another. And Timothy had authority in their lives, as appointed by Paul, and things like that.

So. You didn't have 50 different denominations. You didn't have this group doing what it wants to do, and another group doing what it wants to do.

So we have a very different situation today, and the only way that we can really live out Solid church discipline is A within our own church community where we've committed to each other. B Within a larger community, if you have unity among the leaders, or C within our own denomination in a particular area, if we're part of a denomination.

So let's just say that you were part of the assemblies of God, all right? and an elder broke away from the local church there, slandered the leaders. He himself stole money, was in sin, broke away, started another church down the block.

Well, you could now bring in the leadership from the assemblies of God. And if this person would not repent and do what was right, they could disfellowship that person, they could take away that person's credentials. and there would be discipline in that respect. But if one church is independent and the church next door is independent, then the only way to have discipline outside of the walls of your own community is if the leaders together in the city Let's say there are 20 different pastors in your community, and they fellowship together and pray together, and one person is being divisive and destructive, then they can meet together. and they can call this person to repentance and give them a path of restoration.

And if they refuse, then they can corporately say, We don't recognize this church as legitimate. And we'll all put out a statement this coming Sunday that we're praying for this person's repentance, and we believe they're in sin and being divisive. Not being said, many uh so within the local body Right, say within your own fellowship. Let's say you have someone, a regular member of the church, a deacon serving in different capacities, and he ends up committing adultery with his secretary, and he leaves his wife with no biblical grounds for divorce, divorces her, and marries his secretary, and now starts showing up at the church services.

Well then the leaders take that person aside. and they lovingly call that person to repent. And to sever their current relationship, which is not valid in God's sight, and to return to their wife who's praying for reconciliation. And if they refuse and they keep coming to the service and saying, I'm born again in the Lord's blessing, this new relationship, then ultimately you bring them before the whole congregation and you mark them and you disfellowship them. It's for the purpose of their repentance.

You say that we don't recognize you as walking as a brother now. And we will not eat with you. We will not fellowship with you. Even if your own family, it's Christmas time.

Sorry, you're not welcome to come, as harsh as that may be, to help lead the person to repentance. That's explicit in 1 Corinthians 5. But let me give this last caveat. Many times there are church splits and People were doing their best. and the enemy got in or misunderstandings got in.

And it's not a malicious thing when a new church is started. in in a community. And many times maybe the pastor himself was not walking rightly and the pastor was neglecting the flock and the pastor departed from the original vision of the church, but he's got like a stronghold on the board and so people then leave. And now, maybe the associate pastor leaves, and the people say, Please, man, we look to you as our shepherd. You've been faithful all these years.

We love you. Can we start a new fellowship? And they do it. And in that sense, it's not a matter of marking them for being divisive because it was the pastor's fault.

So, a lot of times, it's not so cut and dry, black and white, who's right, who's wrong. And we want to extend the maximum grace we can, not call people Jezebels, not call people Absaloms lightly. We want to do our best to really understand what's happening, and then, based on that, to act righteously, always with the goal of. Of restoration and repentance.

So I hope that helps as we try to cover things as broadly as possible. It it does, you know, and It's just a painful thing, you know. Just to have to love people on both sides of this deal. And uh it's just hard to know what to do. You know, It wasn't a sin like adultery or something like that.

Right. It wasn't an hour. I mean, if someone's driving around in a stolen car, you can say, hey, that's one thing. Yeah, but let me just tell you this. Yeah, I've got a break coming up.

I was involved in a very difficult split. Towards the end of the time of the Browns were revival. where there was uh just differences between the Well, let's just say the enemy got in and divided brothers. and there was a split between the church and the school. I was leading the school.

And it was painful and it was ugly. And we love each other, all buddies, and we work together. Everything's great in that regard. There was full reconciliation. But I was part of this, and there was no good guy, bad guy in that regard that somebody was out to do evil.

The enemy got in. We weren't able to sort things out together at that time. We ended up fixing it later. But the point is that God had to show me and show those that he was for both of us. He took the side of, you're my kids, and I'm for you.

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. Welcome, welcome to the broadcast. Today, you've got questions, we've got answers. You know, God is the one who puts joy in our hearts. God is the one who puts hope in our hearts.

who puts a sense of destiny in our hearts. And some of you you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and it's You're dry and you're empty and you're aimless.

Some of you say, I've been waking up on the wrong side of the bed for years. Let me encourage you. Let me encourage you to say, God, my life is in your hands. I want to please you and do what honors you. And if you'll do that, He will put that hope within you.

He will put that sense of purpose and destiny. And he will even give you his joy sometimes in the most. Difficult circumstances imaginable. Welcome, welcome to our Friday broadcast. You've got questions, we've got answers.

Anything under the sun that you want to talk to me about or differ with me on. Spiritually, practically, biblically, theologically, morally, culturally, politically. Anything whatsoever ever. That is on your mind. If it's appropriate for Christian radio, the phone lines are open right now.

Eight six six three. Three four eight seven. eight eight four we will start in new iberia louisiana Grant, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you so much for taking my call. Hey, I don't I don't know that I've ever been called by someone in New Iberia.

Louisiana. I had to look at that a couple of times. Where where is New Iberia? It's almost uh twenty miles away from Lafayette, Louisiana. All right.

And is there an old Iberia or just a plain Iberia? Uh no. No, sir. All right. All right.

Hey, Louisiana, you guys can do what you want to do there.

So my question is I have watched numerous debates and discussions on the Bible, and it seems that very frequently People just Greek and Hebrew at each other. I have little knowledge of Greek and Hebrew and probably won't Yeah. extensive study in either language.

So how can I follow along with the discussions and know who's right and wrong without Having to obtain PhDs in Greek and Hebrew. Yeah, now here's the scary thing, Grant. The more you study, the more you realize how sometimes even experts can differ. Right, and some sometimes people think, oh, it'll be easier if I learn a little Hebrew and Greek. It often becomes more difficult and challenging, and then you'll even hear top scholars debating things, but generally, Generally, Grant.

A consensus will emerge. a consensus of understanding will emerge. uh a a best reading of a text will emerge. And since we're talking about the Bible here, not just an abstract debate about some philosophical issue and what the Hebrew or Greek or ancient language has to say, we're talking about the Bible, you'll see. The consensus emerged in a majority of Bible translations.

So, the best thing to do, if you have biblical software of any kind that has multiple. Bible translations, that's great. If you've never ordered Logos software, which is premier in terms of the most titles and references, you can order through our website, thelineofire.org, and there's a discount, a promotion through our ministry where it's 15% off. There's other good software as well. Or you can just go to Bible Gateway.

Which has multiple translations. And what you want to do, Grant, is look up the verse in as many different translations as you can. And if you'll see, maybe that you look it up in 15 translations. Because I mean there's a massive host of them. And 14 out of the 15 read the same way on this particular word or verse.

There's a reason for it. It doesn't mean that the 15th is impossible, but it means that the vast majority of scholars agree that this is the best interpretation versus that.

So if there's a debate going on, Check as many versions as you can. Make a note of the verse. and then check the versions. And if you have that biblical software I've mentioned, you can just click on it and it'll tell you what the best dictionaries say. God of love Right.

And hear our cry. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome, friends, to the line of fire, 866-348-7884.

So, Grant, just to finish off what I was saying, again, you look at A number of translations, try to get from as many different Faith traditions, as you can.

Some are evangelical, some are not evangelical, some are older, some are more modern, some reflect Jewish understanding of the Old Testament, etc.

So you go through all of that that you can. And then you'll normally see a consensus of interpretation. And that would suggest that if someone is going with a consensus view, there's a good reason that these scholars from different backgrounds all understand it the same way, and the other person is maybe stretching something. That's assuming that you don't have access. To the Hebrew or the Greek.

But the other thing is, for example, if I'm looking at software. And I'm looking at a particular verse, okay? And I have software where I can now look at the Greek. And I click on the Greek, and it now takes me over to a screen, and it has four or five different of the top dictionaries and lexicons.

Now, of course, I own these in hard form, but now have more and more of them on software as well.

Now I'll see what the majority of top scholars, the world's best Greek scholars, the world's best Hebrew scholars, what they said this word means 50 years ago, 100 years ago, today, and you'll see a remarkable consistency. And that'll tell you: okay, one person is pushing a meaning that's really not primary, and the other person is pushing a meaning that is primary, that is more likely and more reliable. All right, but the reason for debates many times is because there are debatable issues. And sometimes it's very simple if people know things better. All right, thank you for the call.

866-34Truth. We were able to reconnect with an anonymous caller from earlier.

So much wanted to speak with you. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello? Yes. Can you hear me?

I can.

Okay. Yeah, my question is dealing with a situation in our family where uh early in our marriage my Husband Aye. had some inappropriate contact with my brother who um was younger than me and this Uh went on for Period of time from when he was like 13 to when he was 17. And I wasn't aware of it, no one was aware of it, and then Uh he he disclosed that to me Um my brother did. uh around the time that he was eighteen and we kind Kind of discussed at the time and he was Sorry for his actions in it.

He didn't really feel that anything would. uh happen to anyone else or further down the road. And so we decided not to bring it out to the family. But just to uh Be aware of it. And so We continued in that way and then Uh that brother Um later.

Um came to the family and and, uh said that he Uh was a homosexual and I since And been in a relationship and, um, is now married to another man. And Um So About seven years ago. How old is he now? This brother who was abused? How old is he now?

In his 30s. He's like 30. Five, I think.

Okay, so the ab abuse took place roughly twenty years ago. Yeah, seventeen or eighteen. Oh, okay, got it. The beginning, yeah. Yeah, so and when we did disclose it, it was after the uh statute of limitations.

So Um So By law we weren't. um bound to Any type of turning in, I guess.

So my husband and I have been separated because it became kind of difficult when we did disclose it. And So we have let me ask this. At what point Did you be you became aware when you were when your younger brother was 18? that he had been abused for roughly four years. By your husband, correct?

Right. Was your husband confronted with it at that time? Um not Not for two years. Two years later Yeah. Another situation came up when we had a young man in the house that.

I didn't really want Because I was more afraid of that. Right, right.

Yeah. Abuse But our daughter and she had told us and so that kind of And triggered everything. Trigger to finally open up about the other. All right, and how did how did your husband respond then? He basically at that time said it was locker room stuff and towel, slapping, wrestling type stuff.

didn't really say that it was serious and And at the time when my brother came to me, He was. Uncomfortable to give me details, just that it was inappropriate. All right, so, in other words, your brother. Never got real serious help counseling ministry Uh and obviously if he now identifies as homosexual, This is a pattern that's happened with all too many. That are young men that are abused, sexually abused growing up, especially in key formative years, and then end up.

of being attracted to men He didn't get the help that he needed, and your husband didn't demonstrate real repentance. And get the help that he needed.

So basically, Band-aids were put on cancerous wounds, if I can put it like that. Is that correct? Correct. My brother did my brother did go through counseling, but Um I It was more secular counseling that he reached out on his own and he has. Like He grew up in.

a Baptist church and How do I a conversion experience where Um, he got saved and Um but now he doesn't agree with how the church handle Situations like this, and he believes since he was four. This was This was something that we had not There was a secret that he kind of grew up with in his early childhood that at four years old, you're not having sexual attraction, you know. But many times people, kids will feel different, whatever. But how can I be of help right now in this situation?

Well I Um We're trying to Get counseling to through. reconcile um the marriage Right. I've also It seems like a lot of the things Uh Don't on reconciliation you know, they I'm not sure if this is a situation where it wouldn't be right to reconcile or I I believe that Okay. God is a gracious God and forgiving, and I've been forgiving. forgiven for Sin, and it's through that that I want to forgive my husband and try to repair things.

I realize that. Um the my brother and my parents probably will never you know, seek restoration or reconciliation and there's always going to be difficulties, but Yeah, well, let me just try to jump in just for time's sake before we get to a break. I'm so sorry you've gone. through these struggles and your family has And obviously they're very deep wounds. It's it is highly Christ-like.

to say that that you've forgiven your husband and that you want to reconcile. that takes God's grace to do it. because many people would have just walked away from something like this and never turned back. your husband for there to be true reconciliation your husband's really going to need to demonstrate the fruits of repentance. There's going to have to be a complete acknowledgement Of what he's done with all of the grief and pain that that would bring.

There's going to have to be serious godly counseling in his life. God only knows what his life has been like all these years or how he's living now. And to the extent that there's repentance in his life, there can be reconciliation in both of your lives, and that's a testimony of God's grace. A total testimony of God's grace. As for your brother, Obviously, it's clear why he feels put off by the church and looks at this whole thing uh negatively And somehow, the love of God has to bring him to repentance.

Conviction has to bring him to repentance. I want to send you something. We're not going to keep your name, we're not going to put you on a list or anything. I want to send you a D V D called such were some of you. such were some of you.

I want to send that to you as a gift. Howard's going to come back on in a moment and get your information. Once we send it, we will not keep you on record. We will not add you to any list. Keep it anonymous, okay?

Such were some of you. Perhaps your brother will watch this. Maybe the Lord will minister to him through it. And again, seek godly counsel. for your husband to come to true repentance.

And full acknowledgement without pointing any fingers, that's the key to restoration. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame. And the fire. 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. Friends, if you didn't already pray for this family during the break, Would you lift them up to prayer in prayer? We don't know names or anything, but God, work a miracle.

and work restoration and repentance and salvation and deliverance and freedom and new life. for this this woman, for her husband, for her brother, and for others involved. And her brother now, quote, married to another man. God cares about that other man and wants him to see repentance and salvation as well. You hear something like that, you think, oh, there's no way.

There's no way. That's the miracle of the cross. That's the miracle of the cross. Some of the most amazing stories you'll ever hear all through the gospel. God doing impossible things, God literally making something out of nothing.

866-348-6636. Seven eight eight four. We go to Simpsonville, South Carolina. Eddie, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Doctor Brown, how are you doing, man?

Real well, thank you. Um it's good to talk to you again. I talked to you about two weeks ago on the um Jude passage. Um about the people denying the Lord that bought them and all that. But anyway, um, there was a guy that that that just called in and he was talking about hearing the the debates and stuff and the people throwing the Hebrew and Greek words back and forth and And, you know, he just didn't get it when Hebrew and Greek words were used.

And I listened to a lot of your debates. I love 'em. But, um, I love a good fight. But anyway, um I have found out with the um When trying to understand a particular Hebrew or Greek word that's used If if Yeah. you can study the subject matter of the passage.

And what the passage is talking about. A lot of times, in compare other scriptures on the same subject. A lot of times that will help to determine, you know, the meaning of the word that's used. I mean, like, I have found I have found like ten different Hebrew and Greek words translated by our one in this word world. Or conversely, if you look at a translation from English into Hebrew or into Greek or into something else, you'll find the same thing.

Every word has one meaning in one context, unless there is an intentional double meaning. you know some literary device so every word has one meaning In one context. And that's why the first thing we need to look at is the immediate context. For example, we have the word bank. In in English.

And it has two dis there are two different words. There's bank like I went to the bank to deposit money and bank like the bank of a river.

Okay? So how do you know which bank it is? context. If you said I was sitting on the bank of the river, it doesn't mean that the bank that set up their building on the side of the river where you bring your money.

Now you know what it means. Let's take something that's a little more subtle. And the standard illustrations I use, let's take the word hard. The word hard could mean difficult, or the word hard can mean Like this table here, hard, right? Yeah, right.

How do I know the difference?

Well, you look at the context. Man, that was a hard test. Does that mean that you couldn't break it? Does that mean that if you hit yourself over the head with that test, it would fracture your skull bone? You mean difficult, difficult.

If I say, man, that was a hard rock. Do you mean it was a difficult rock, a rebellious rock? No, you mean it was hard, like concrete, hard.

So a good way to do things, because every word, again, Hebrew, Greek, they're no different than English or any other language in that respect. That you don't have a direct equivalence from one language to the other all the time, and that often context will dictate. The usage of a particular word, like the Hebrew word olam. It can mean forever, it can mean distant future or distant past. It can another form of it can mean world.

So, what you have to do is look at the context, and a good principle to use is substitute. the word. The rock is hard. Does it mean difficult? or does it mean physically robust?

So you substitute a word. or chorus, which is often translated grace, Many times does not mean grace, it means empowering. Stephen was filled with the chorus of God.

Well, the empowerment of God. When Paul says that this congregation received much chorus from God, it means enabling to do his will. What are the gifts called? Karez Mata. These are the divine enablings.

And then, in say Acts 15, the last words of Peter in the book of Acts, that we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus. That's exactly what Karis means: gracious love, and favor, and compassion, and kindness, and goodness.

So, generally speaking, A good way to sort this out. as I said to the last callers to read multiple translations, and then you'll see how they render that same word. And the other thing is, if you have access to dictionaries, or nowadays, again, let's say you have Logos Biblical software, so you're reading the word in an English translation, and you hover over it with your mouse, and it'll now tell you what the Greek is. And if you click on that, it'll take you to a major Greek dictionary. And that dictionary will say, okay, this primary meaning is this, but it has four different usages.

Like I was just looking at the word seal earlier. Seal can mean to identify, put a seal on. Seal could mean to seal up, like you seal up a tomb. Seal could have other nuances.

So it will now tell you: okay, here's the passage where it has meaning A. Here's the passage where it has meaning b And then you can look at that and sort that out. That's the dictionary telling you: here's where we believe it's used in this way, in this way, in this way. And then you can examine it and see how the other translations do. And bear in mind that unless you give many, many, many years to serious study of the languages, you're not going to be able to argue with the experts.

Okay? Oh, yeah. That's true.

So, what you want to do is see what they've come up with, compare it with what other experts say. If someone challenges it, See if they have good reason. In my earlier days of Semitic studies, when I focused on it much more during my PhD years and immediately after, and just was immersed in that, I wrote several articles. That actually differed with the standard dictionaries and challenged them. And some of what I wrote then was accepted, saying, Yeah, that's a good insight.

And that made its way into the dictionaries. But that was just by kind of micro-focus on an issue or something that others may have missed. But the vast majority of most majority of the time, when I'm doing, like when I did my translation of the book of Job, which will come out with a commentary when we get finished revising that, I relied on the dictionaries a lot because a lot of stuff is obscure and difficult. And some guys had studied it many years more than I had. And I sat there and said, okay, help me here.

Help me sort this out.

So we all learn, and that's why comparing translations is a good thing to do. And then using Bible software that really helps sort these things out. Hey, I got to run. Good talking to you. Remember, friends.

You can pre-order Breaking the Stronghold of Food on Amazon. It's a great reduced price. The book will be released January 3rd. Every day now we're hearing from folks that got the pre-orders, and they're excited about the book. Nancy and I are so excited to get it into your hands.

It's Breaking the Stronghold of Food. My bottom line today, hey, you don't know Hebrew, you don't know Greek, that's not a big issue. If you know God and love His Word, He'll give you insight. Bye bye.