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I've got some words of encouragement and faith for you today. Hey, the Church of Jesus is going forwards, not backwards. 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, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving season, the end of last week, and we are thrilled. To be live with you again. Today we were live on Friday, day after Thanksgiving. Had a great time taking your questions. We start the week together.

This is Michael Brown and the number to call 866-366666666666. 348-7884. If you want to ask me about anything, I'm going to take some random calls today. Anything you want to interact with me on. And I'd love to hear from some of you who differ with me on certain points and you could tell me why I'm wrong.

I'd love to hear from you as well. That number to call 866-348-7844. Eight. I began to say In 2015 that you would see a lot of pushback. you would see a lot of pushback against certain social and cultural elements that you would see a pushback against some radical agendas in our society.

I've often said that For gays and lesbians, what for them is a matter of freedom, equality. For us, it is a matter of social activism. And I said, you can expect to see a pushback. I wrote about it in my book, Outlasting the Gay Revolution. Obviously, that pushback has continued in many ways in 2016.

In the churches where I am, though, in the places where I travel and speak in America and around the world, I see two things rising at the same time, and this is encouraging. I see a greater love. For those who identify as LGBT. I see a greater love for those that would be considered on fringes of society in certain ways or those that would be left out or misunderstood. I see a greater love and a greater desire to reach out And I see a greater pushback against a social agenda.

And the question is. How can we Reach out and resist at the same time. How can we reach out to people while resisting an agenda at the same time? Because those very people will feel as if we are pushing them out, not just differing with your agenda. That's where building relationships comes in.

That's where getting to know people on a personal level comes in. And I've got a striking illustration for you, and I'm sharing this. I'm about to write on it with the permission of the rabbi himself. I didn't tell you this last week. I wanted the rabbi's permission before I.

Talked about this publicly, but I have his permission. He is a regular listener to the line of fire broadcast and might even be listening now. That's the case, Rabbi Bill. A shout out from your friend here. He knows my positions on moral and social issues.

He knows my opposition to same-sex, quote, marriage. He knows that I put the word marriage in scare quotes when it comes to same-sex couples. He also knows of my love for all people, And When we were making the arrangements for my mother's funeral last week. We uh I work with the local cemetery, Jewish cemetery where my dad was also buried. They provided a rabbi, my sister, one of the reform rabbi there, so that's the liberal, the most liberal main branch of Judaism.

And interacted with the rabbi, a reformed rabbi, and it turned out he knew who I was. Listened to the radio show, which I was blessed to hear.

So I went online to find out about this rabbi. And lo and behold, he came out as openly gay over a decade ago. and has devoted uh much of his Uh Service To reaching out to gay and lesbian Jews and to call other Jews to be more affirming. That's the rabbi. that presided at the intimate gravesite ceremony for my mother.

We embraced and we talked and we hugged. And we plan to stay in touch. Why? Because we're both human beings. Stay right there.

It's fire we want for fire we want. 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.

Welcome back, friends, to the line of fire. The number to call 866-348-7884.

So, yes, the rabbi who performed. The funeral ceremony. At the behest of my sister, she wanted a rabbi there, of course, understandably. I said I was happy to perform everything at the funeral. She said, No, she's still practicing Judaism.

She wanted a rabbi there. It turns out the rabbi is openly gay and quote, married to his. uh to his partner, the man he'd referred to as his husband. Uh so I wanted him to know that I knew who he was, just as he made clear to me that he knew who I was. And we both wanted to make it clear one to another that this was not an issue.

And so what's the point of this? You s you say Mike You oppose gay rabbis? Of course. And Mike, you believe that according to the Torah, homosexual practice is detestable in God's sight? Correct.

And and Mike, you're considered this, you know, this vicious homophobes. Ah, ah, see, that's where we talk about humanity. That's where we talk about humanity. I understand. From this rabbi's perspective, as a reformed rabbi, liberal rabbi, obviously as an Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox rabbi, he'd have a different perspective.

But I understand from his perspective. He's seeking to do what's right in God's sight. And he is pursuing righteousness and justice and equity and fairness and adapting ancient religious texts to contemporary times and the spirit of Judaism. That's what he believes. And that he would believe I'm zealous but misguided in opposing these things.

And I would say that he is zealous but misguided in doing what he's doing. But here's the deal. Yeah. We are Americans living in this society. We will both answer to God for our lives.

The thing I want to see more than anything is for this rabbi to know who Jesus Yeshua really is. That's what I want to see more than anything. Of course, he would expect me to have that perspective. That's what I want to see. That's my number one issue.

That's my number one prayer: he will come to know Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. That's my great desire for him. And everything else falls into place first. From there on. But you see, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5 that when it comes to the church, the body of Messiah, if someone claims to be a follower of Jesus, They say they're a member of your local assembly and they say, I'm born again, I love the Lord.

And that person, that man, leaves his wife and runs off with another lady. All right.

So he's living in adultery. And now the two of them start showing up at church services. And the leaders reach out to that person and they say, Listen, you're in sin. You need to repent. You need to go back to your wife.

No, God showed me this is the right path. And so on. If they do that and they refuse to repent, ultimately you excommunicate them. for their own good.

So that they'll come to repentance, right? The same way if some guy's living with his girlfriend. Or some guy's living with his boyfriend. whatever, and they're in they're in sexually active relationship and they claim to be following Jesus if they refuse to repent. You you know, you give them time if they're new, but if they refuse to repent, you you excommunicate them.

All right, that's the New Testament is very clear on that. That is for their repentance. That is for them to turn to the Lord. That is for their forgiveness.

So that they will recognize the error of their ways. But as far as the world, as far as society in general, Paul didn't say, Don't eat with these people. He said, No, you have to leave the world.

So my issue is in the midst of my opposition to gay activism. How can I be a friend? How can I be a neighbor? How can I build relationships? Uh honor.

Someone's humanity as a fellow human being created by God while I seek to lead that person to repentance. Whoever they're whether a Muslim, a Hindu, an atheist, whether they're doing drugs, whether they're drinking, whether they're in a relationship that God's word says is a sinful relationship, even if they feel it's right. How can I lead that person to know the Lord and lead them to repentance? And you see, it has nothing to do with homophobia. If I was a homophobe, Do you think that I would say, yes, it's fine to have a gay rabbi officiate at my mother's funeral ceremony?

You think any homophobe in his or her right mind would think of that in a million years? No, of course not. No way, no how Not a chance! But the fact is it's not a homophobic bone in my body. I simply agree with what God says about sexual relations and family and marriage.

Because of which I oppose certain things in society.

So now let me get to this issue of pushback. Let me get to this issue of pushback. Uh here is A story that I don't know if you heard this, but Reported on Daily Wire and other sites. This woman is dominating her cycle racing. Except she's not a woman.

Yeah. So this was from a few days back. Back Amanda Press how do you pronounce this last name? I always read her articles. Press did Jackie Amo, I'll get it right.

Last weekend, a 36-year-old man raced in a massive annual Tucson cycling competition against thousands of women and shocker! He won big time. According to the Arizona Star Daily, the Biological Mail raced the 106-mile route in 4 hours and 36 minutes, a winning time for the women's division, though a whopping 25 minutes longer than the men's first-place finisher.

Now, I know that you're thinking, how is this fair? Those female athletes sacrificed and trained countless hours just to have their competition stolen from them by a man. The patriarchy is alive and well.

Well, relax, you bigot. That male cyclist who goes by Jillian Beard and says he's a woman, so it's cool. That's absolutely huge, Bearden told the Daily Star in the wake of his massive victory. We're at a moment of time, especially now, where not only do we have to come out, but we have to be positive, we have to come together in solidarity and move this country in a direction that is accepting of all. Ah, time out.

Time out. It is one thing. To Treat everyone with kindness. It is one thing to say if you have a neighbor who identifies as transgender that you love your neighbor as yourself. It is one thing to say if you have a gay couple next door that you treat them with love and you reach out to them and seek to lead them to the Lord.

Yes. And if they're going to be away for a while, you know, Get their mail for them or whatever. Why? Because they're people that need the Lord like everybody else that's outside of the Messiah. That's one thing.

It's another thing when you start to restructure society. And friends, that is not going to succeed. There will be pushback. At a certain point This will reach its critical mass. When you have more and more men who identify as women, winning female competitions and the ladies who sacrifice and who train.

and who are athletes and who are competitive. Are being defeated easily by biological males, who, by the way, if they were competing against the men, would be losing badly, there's going to be a pushback. There is going to be a pushback. Here's a quote from one of the competitors, Emma Daniels. Um I'm glad that this person is comfortable with who they are.

And they're able to be happy in who they are, but I don't think it's competitively, completely 100% fair. That would be a very polite understatement. Biological males have physical advantages over biological females on average. And therefore, when you're going to put them in competition, direct competition, one against the other, you are going to have this kind of unfairness coming up because of which there will be pushback. And I was reading an article in the New York Times that was urging the Democrats to get back to putting a message on economy and things like that and move away from some of the social issues as the major fight because they're saying, you know, listen, this is not the way we're going to win.

There is going to be pushback. That is the reality, friends. I've been saying it for years, and I'm sure that gay activists and their allies will overplay their hands, be it with trans activism, be it with attacking the rights and the freedoms of others. And you say, well, how can everybody have their rights and freedoms side by side? That is going to be the great challenge.

That is going to be the great challenge. Because if people on my side had their way in the society, there'd be no such thing as, quote, same-sex marriage. And if those on the other side had their way, There'd be no sanctioned opposition to it. How do both work hand in hand?

Well, I want to see a culture turn in a way that's more moral, more biblical, which I believe is then for the best interest of the country. I can tell you this. if LGBT activists continue to overplay their hand. And come against the fundamental freedoms of other Americans, freedoms of religion, speech, and conscience. you're going to see a turning of the tide.

How much of that? Relates to what happened in the elections? Does any relate to what happened in the elections? On a certain level, On a certain level, with many Americans saying enough is enough with the way the country is going, this is certainly a sub-plot to a larger story. All right, I'm going to give you some specific news when we come back, but pray for God's very best for Rabbi Bill.

I'm sure he would welcome a prayer like that. Pray it for me too. Prayed for yourself. 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 the line of fire at 866-348-7884. If you've got a question for me, the You can only call on on a Friday. You've got questions, we've got answers. I'll take some calls today. If you want my take on anything that's happening in the society, let me know.

Biblical questions, we'll take those as well. Hey, one quick note for you. If we have been a blessing to you through this radio broadcast, if we've been a help to you through the articles and videos we've put out through the year, we give ourselves as a team, we pour ourselves out to do these with all the excellence we can. If we've been a blessing to you, would you stand with me this Friday? I leave for my 24th trip to India.

Then on the way back, we'll go to Italy. We have to finance these things. We go there to pour out, not to receive. But there are lots of costs involved with this. And at the end of the year, finances can get very tight.

If we've been a blessing to you, would you help us with a one-time year-end gift? Remember, this radio broadcast is listener-sponsored. If you go to my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. If you go there, you can just click on donate. Or here's our text-to-give number so we can change the world together: 929.

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The New York Times, this was November 14th. But I cited it in an article I wrote last night. Jonathan Martin I wrote this article. Headline pulling Democrats back to It's the Economy Stupid. The story says this: the Democrats' stunning defeat in the presidential race and continued struggles in lower-level contexts have jolted party leaders.

And to concluding that their emphasis on cultural issues has all but crippled them. By diverting voters' attention from the core democratic message of economic Fairness. But even as Democrats agree about the need to promote their agenda more aggressively for the middle class and voters of modest means, especially in parts of the country where the party has suffered grievous losses, they are divided over how aggressively to position themselves on the economic left with battle lines already forming over the lightning rod issue of foreign trade. I don't want to get into the whole discussion of the economy. That's not what I want to major on.

What I'm going to major on is that first paragraph, that opening sentence. that that the Democrats defeat it wasn't just in the presidency, it was in other races across the country. The Republicans have more control in America than uh than in Any time, what, in 80 years? And Ted Cruz has said that if Republicans don't deliver on their promised agenda, then Americans, other Republicans, should take to the streets and hold them accountable, with pitchforks. I mean, he's using a metaphorical expression there.

Um but what is this reaction to it's a reaction to a lot of things. It's a reaction to a lot of the political correctness and the Washington establishment and those things that Donald Trump took on. It's a reaction against the feeling that all these special interest groups, whoever they are, that they're put first and your average hardworking American is left out. That's part of the phenomenon of what's happened. But please understand.

to the extent that the Democratic Party is identifying With cultural issues, you say, no, no, no, that's the Republicans that are doing it. The Republicans are the one who's strongly pro-life, and the Republicans are the ones who oppose same-sex marriage, and the Republicans are the ones who make a big issue of religious freedoms. That's true, but they're doing it as a pushback. against where the Democrats are pushing things. that the Democrats keep going further and further left.

Yeah, and even though in many ways America is not as conservative as it used to be, you You push too hard in one direction, and there's going to be a pushback. We've been saying that for years. We've been saying that those who came out of the closet, speaking of the radical activists, want to put us in the closet, speaking of conservative people of faith in America. But the reality is we're not going to go in the closet. This conflict is going to arise, which makes it all the more important to be building personal relationships in the midst of the theological, ideological, and cultural, and social differences.

To be caring for other human beings as human beings while being able to look them in the face and say, Well, I flatly disagree with you there. I believe that's wrong. I believe it's wrong in God set. I believe it's wrong for the society. And we're going to have to learn to do that because right now.

Right now. Things are at a point. Where the Obama administration overplayed their hand in many ways. with executive orders With, if you want to look at the transgender example, by pushing that aggressively in the schools. And what happens is now that Americans who want to be tolerant, who want to be accepting, I think your average human being in America wants to be accepting of others.

I believe that we as a country hate bigotry. that as a country we recognize the sins of our past. We recognize our sins against Native Americans. We recognize our sins against African Americans. We don't want any of that in our culture today.

That's why the left keeps trying to associate Donald Trump with the Ku Klux Klan radical right. That's why Trump instantly denounces this and disavows that. And to the extent that gay activists and transgender activists have been able to say that gay is the new black or transgender is the new black, many Americans are sympathetic. Plus, you have a gay friend or a gay family member, a gay colleague who's a nice person. You think, well, why shouldn't they be able to do what they want with their lives like I can do with what I want with my life?

That's the general sympathy of Americans. The problem is, it's never. ultimately come to just a matter of equality. It's come to Mordecai must bow. Even though everyone bowed to Haman in the book of Esther except for the Jew Mordecai, he wasn't happy until Mordecai bowed and he became so enraged with Mordecai he wanted to wipe out all of his own people.

I'm not comparing that to gay activists and that gay activists are not trying to wipe us out. But I'm telling you, as long as we can oppose the direction of gay activism, as long as we can say that we will not perform weddings, as long as we have tax exemption for these kinds of things as religious groups, there is going to be opposition. And that opposition will not hesitate. I'm talking about the radical left. It will not hesitate to take away our rights in the name of its own rights.

And one professor, Mark Trishnett, said, Hey, the conservatives didn't make a deal with us. We're not going to make a deal with them, to paraphrase. And here was what, a Harvard professor, I believe, and he's basically saying, hey, Uh don't don't play games with the religious right. Basically, time to put them in the closet. Again, to paraphrase, we're not going there, friends.

And Mordecai is not going to bow. And the pushback is going to. Continue. You can mock my words today, but you'll mark them Tomorrows.

Next time change the world. 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, can I mention something to you that is very powerful? Very beautiful.

something that you rarely find outside the gospel But you commonly find within the gospel And it's something that I find also is something that's fairly deep in in black Christian tradition as well. But there's an article on the stream, stream.org, where I'm a regular contributor. It's by Kevin Daly, and it was published yesterday. Families of South Carolina Church Shooting Victims Urge Forgiveness. For Dylan Roof.

This is the young man, the young white man. who went into the Mother Emmanuel African and Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. And shot dead, was it nine black? worshipers there. Oh So the question is Should this young man face the death penalty?

He faces 33 federal charges, including nine counts of violating the Hate Crime Act resulting in death.

So he. He went into a church building. He was befriended by the people as he went in. And then he pulled a gun. and murdered them in cold blood.

And from what we understand, he murdered them because they were black. I mean, you're talking about one of the most terrific crimes. in recent American history. in in terms of how it took place, in terms of the setting. the absolute ugliness and horror of that.

Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother was killed in the massacre, told the New York Times she believes executing Roof would be an act of vengeance. She explained that her Christian faith instead calls her to forgiveness. Her mother was killed in cold blood. by a demented murderer. And what does she say?

My humanness is being broken my humanness of one in this man to be broken beyond punishment You can't do that if you really say that you believe in the Bible and you believe in Jesus Christ. You can't just. waiver. Um Two other surviving family members made court statements extending mercy to Roof. Obviously they don't want him to just walk They don't believe that's right or just.

or even uh wise But they don't want him to get the death penalty. Nadine Collier said, You took something very precious away. from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you.

And have mercy. on your soul who's she talking about her mother who was killed. Um Uh Taiwanza Sanders Thwa. uh excuse me, Felicia Sanders said this about her son. Every fibre in my body hurts, and I will never be the same.

Tawanza Sanders is my son, but Tawanza was my hero. Tawanza was my hero, but as we say in Bible study, we enjoyed you. But may God Have mercy. On you. I mean, the world looks at this and the world has no way to understand this.

Huh? How do you say God have mercy on you? How do you say I forgive you. for murdering my father or my mother. or my son or my daughter.

How is it humanly possible? It's not. That's the power of the gospel. That's what happens when people receive mercy from God. They receive mercy from God and they have mercy on others.

It's not that they don't want justice. But they want to extend mercy to this man and allow him to live behind bars to receive. Mercy. Maybe you've got some petty difference with someone and you're not forgiving them. Remember, Jesus commands you to.

At a relational level, you can break fellowship with him over refusing to forgive. This intern won't forgive you. If people who've had family members killed by a demented murderer can offer forgiveness, surely you can offer forgiveness for people who've spoken ill of you or hurt you in other ways. We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown.

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

Let me give you another example of pushback in society. This was on wnd.com. As reported by Bob Unruh, fight over gay wedding cake given new life. Judge, you need to. make a decision whether you wish to pursue it.

Bob notes the infamous Northern Ireland case penalising a family baking company for refusing to promote gay marriage, where the wedding cake may have a new life. WND reported earlier when an appeals court in Belfast refused to offer relief in the penalties for Asher's Bakery in Northern Ireland for violating that nation's non-discrimination laws. And it was reported that the owners were considering taking their fight to the European Court of Human Rights.

So here's the bakery, Asher's Bakery in Northern Ireland, a family bakery company, a fairly sizable one from what I understand. And They uh Serve anyone, serve any customer gladly without hesitation. But When they were asked to put a message on a cake that was a gay message, they said they couldn't do it.

Now, can I ask you a question? Do you really think with the rise of Islam in the UK. Do you really think with a Muslim mayor of London, in case you didn't know that, the mayor of London is Muslim? Do you really think that if a Muslim bakery was asked to bake a cake for a gay couple's quote wedding? Do you really think that the The bakers would be expected to comply.

that there would be national pressure on them to comply. That they would be fined and perhaps potentially lose their business. Do you think the Moslem community would accept that? I don't mean that it's completely monolithic, but do you think the Muslim community would accept that? Do you think here in America?

which has a far lower percentage of Muslims than does the UK. And far less cultural influence from Islam than the UK has. You'd be shocked if you're in in the UK to see how much cultural influence Muslims actually have there.

Well, do you actually think in America that there would be pressure. on a Muslim bakery to cook a gay quote wedding cake. I seriously doubt it. Hey. Think back to Cleveland.

when Muslim taxi drivers said sorry We can't drive these taxis. that have ads for Gay Olympics. We're not going to do it. Where was the national uproar over that? Where were they called out for being homophobic bigots?

Where were the suspensions and the fines being widely reported in the media? Where were the court cases? You didn't hear about it? Oh, no surprise.

So going back now. to Ireland. According to the Belfast Telegraph, a door has opened. Senior judges in Belfast say that a section of the Northern Ireland Act nineteen ninety eight may give the MacArthur family, which owns Oshers Bakery, a path to the Supreme Court. And Judge D.

Clan Morgan told lawyers for the family this week: you need to make a decision whether you wish to pursue it. And uh David Schofield uh QC for the MacArthurs. What's QC? Obviously, a UK abbreviation for some legal role. I told the court we are happy to look at that and confirm our suspicion, our submissions in writing.

And The Court of Appeal last month affirmed a fine for the bakery. They said they discriminated against Gareth Lee by refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding. The bakers said they didn't care about or even know about his sexual choices, but the message was what their Christian faith would not allow them to promote.

So they were ruled guilty of discrimination or ordered to pay a fine of, oh, maybe seven hundred fifty dollars. And the family said, look, this has nothing to do with the person. This has to do with the message. and it violates our religion. At a certain point, there will be push back to these things.

Mark my words, friends. You say, but Mike, maybe this is just the end of the age. Maybe everything's going to get worse before Jesus comes. And this is just another sign of it. And Christians are going to lose their rights around the world.

After all, Christians are being persecuted, physically persecuted in other parts of the world right now. What makes us think it's not going to happen in America, UK? I'm not saying it's not going to happen. I'm not saying that we won't be physically persecuted by whoever, be it whatever group, be it radical Muslims in America or be it any other group. Um Yeah, I'm not saying it's not going to happen.

There's no guarantee in scripture it won't happen All I'm saying is I see No scriptural evidence that we are in the last days right now.

Okay. By which I mean the last of the last days. Of course, we've been in the last days since Jesus died and rose from the dead, New Testament terminology. But I see no evidence that this is the final generation. That our grandkids won't grow up and fulfill the calling of God on their lives.

I'm living as if I've got to run my race the best I can and then pass the torch on to the generations that follow. My goal is to see the Lord return. Every fiber of my being wants to see the Lord return in my lifetime. Certainly, that's all of our great goals and desires: an end to suffering, an end to pain, the glory of God filling the earth, the knowledge of the glory of God filling the earth as the waters cover the seas. Yeah, we want to see that.

I want to see that. My heart's burning for it. Yes, yes, yes. I labor with that goal in mind. Absolutely.

However, I can't see from Scripture that we are that generation, nor can I see from Scripture that that generation will not be marked by revival and outpouring of the Spirit as well. that there'll be parallel light and parallel darkness.

So, I'm not looking for cultural collapse. I'm looking for a gospel-based cultural renaissance. I'm looking for a gospel-based cultural reformation. I'm looking for a gospel-based cultural revolution, not fought with human weapons of hatred and anger, and strife, and violence, and guns, and knives, but fought with the power of the Spirit, with love overcoming hate, with truth overcoming lies, with. light overcoming darkness.

He said, man, you're a dreamer. Dr. Brown, you are just a dreamer.

Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Um totally separate subject. It's a totally separate subject, okay? I'm not I'm not putting this in the category of a gospel-based moral and cultural revolution.

If there's any relationship or not, it's another subject. But but here. Six months ago, Three months ago. All the talk was the collapse of the Republican Party, the Republican Party falling apart. And basically Hillary Clinton crowned the first female president.

And now It is the Democratic Party that is in massive disarray without leadership. Is the Republican Party with unprecedented and unexpected and unpredicted gains? across the country. Who Saw This Coming. Oh, a few here and there.

but certainly only a few, percentage-wise, saw the shift, saw this coming.

Now now please hear me. I'm not saying this proves anything about God. Or about the gospel? I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is it was unexpected.

It was it was unpredicted. It was unlikely. And yet it happened. And part of what happened was not just a vote, but a cultural shift, a cultural push back. Be it pushing back against the biased media, be it pushing back against political cronyism in Washington, be it pushing back against special interest groups in America, be it pushing back on the the things that many perceive were a wrong direction in our country, whatever the case may Yeah.

It was an unexpected push back. And And rather than Hillary Clinton appointing radical liberal justices to the Supreme Court. that could have changed the face of America in many drastic ways for the next generation. That is not going to happen from everything I understand with Donald Trump. And he could well appoint strong conservative pro-life justices that could have a very positive effect on the direction of America and rightly enshrine or protect many of our fundamental rights.

So the point is this. Often unexpected things happen. I wrote about it out last year in the Gay Revolution. I gave examples in the book there.

Some shocking political situations that took place a couple of years back that nobody saw coming. the the defeat of of of highly touted young Republican Eric Cantor, for example, by a complete unknown guy that was massively outspent and he was one of the greatest political upsets in in American history. That happened. Lots of unexpected things can happen. Hey, if I told you 20 years ago all the gains that LGBT activists would make in America, you wouldn't believe me, but that happened.

Who's to say there's not going to be another turning in another direction? May it be for the good of the country. May it be for the glory of God. May it be for the healing of the nation? We'll be right back.

Shake the nation. Change the world. Change the world. Give us strict to always do what's right. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire 8662. Three four eight six. 7884 is the number to call. On a related note, My latest article was how the left continues to self-destruct. And you can read it on my website, askdrbrown.org.

But I give a few examples. where left-wing media Like Democrats, they don't seem to be learning the lesson of the election.

Now please hear me. If A political party has certain values, and those values are important to the party. It doesn't. Change those values. It doesn't throw out those values when society goes in a different direction.

It seeks to. To win people over to those values or to raise up political leaders who can advance that message, right? But certainly it needs to recognize if what it's presenting is not resonating. or how it's presenting its message is not reaching people. And and somehow It needs to It needs to.

not reinvent itself in terms of Values, but reinvent itself in terms of how it gets its message across and finds a more relevant place in the society. When it comes to the media The the media has lost so much credibility. It has lost so much credibility by being so biased, so overtly biased. You know, when CNN was nicknamed years ago the Clinton News Network, it seemed to be that in the election. Seem to be so biased against Trump and towards Hillary, and it's losing viewers because of that.

Many believe it's losing viewers because of that. Is it catching on? The Washington Examiner claims, according to inside sources, that CNN is taking an increasingly negative approach towards its coverage of President-elect Trump. causing at least some tension within the network. Rather than saying, okay.

We should be holding Trump accountable. That's what we should be doing as people in the news.

Okay, fine. Another inside source says, however, since the election, CNN is out MSNBC at MSNBC, meaning it's become even more liberal than that very liberal network. And the source said, in the long term, that's a dangerous place to be. Doesn't CNN get it? that that people feel they're not getting honest reporting.

They're not getting unbiased reporting. And therefore, they're not going to tune in to watch, they lose credibility. It's one thing to say we are left-leaning, or Fox is right-leaning. but we're going to do our best to report objectively or fairly. but you know what our core values are.

It's another thing to disqualify yourself by by misreporting or by misleading headlines or emphasizing things in wrong ways that give misleading impressions. Um Washington post Another part of the Left leaning mainstream media One of the most influential four or five newspapers in America. The Washington Post ran a report which was aggressively pushed by the editors. Executive editor Marty Barron joined in claiming that a Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news during the election. Yeah, so that According to this report, which was widely read, the number one most widely read post report.

or one of its most widely read when it came out. They claim there's Russian propaganda. behind the alleged fake news that influenced the election. And so they claim that is Russian propaganda behind WikiLeaks? And the Drudge Report?

As well as Black Agenda Report, Truth Dig, Naked Capitalism, and The Ron Paul Institute. Yeah, so You think, well, who's going to believe this?

Well, the radical left will believe it. and others are going to shake their head and say, What, are you kidding me?

So it's it's Russia that's fueling the fires of of of Right-wing sites like Drudge Report. and libertarian sites and groups like the Ron Paul Institute? Are you serious? And and then And then the Democrats are look looking to potentially uh have as their party chairman uh representative keith ellison From Minnesota? In the past, according to an article by Fred Lucas on the stream, He said he wants the Democrat Party to come out against the Second Amendment, compared the 9-11 attacks to the Nazi.

Nazi Reichstag fire, and was affiliated with the controversial Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. He once said that Hillary Clinton would have to prove she's not a Republican to get his support.

So they think they're going to consolidate their cost by going further to the left? It's only further self-destruction. And then how about ESPN? ESPN, sports network, but infamous for its strong liberal views. Baseball legend Kurt Schilling, after he was fired, accused ESPN of being bigoted and intolerant toward conservatives like himself.

Do you know October? October alone, they lost 621,000 subscribers, according to reports that I've read. Six hundred twenty one thousand. That's a mind boggling. Number.

621,000. We can't say for sure. What caused it? But there are some who believe, and That the network went political, and not just political, but political left. And people aren't tuning in to watch sports for that.

They're tuning in to watch sports for sports. In January 2016, an ESPN memo advised that, quote, we should refrain from political, editorializing, personal attacks, or drive-by comments regarding the candidates and their campaigns. Including, but not limited to, on platforms such as Twitter or other social media. In other words, stay out of politics, boys. Girls, stay out of politics.

So what does the SPN do? with the death of Fidel Castro. has a lengthy article. Entitled Fidel Castro 90 Fused Sports into Cuba's National Identity. And it it speaks candidly of his conflicts with America, It mentioned the negative effects of some of his economic policies, but it doesn't talk about his atrocities.

It doesn't talk about all the people he had killed by firing squads and all the people he put in jail and the families he destroyed. Not a syllable about that. Instead, it's all about what he did for sports.

So ESPN, once again, does not seem to be learning its lesson. And this is what I see happening more and more, friends. that those who are pushing a radical left social agenda And we are doing it not in a way that says, here are our views, we respect differing views, but no, here are our views, and we're either not going to acknowledge other views or we're going to silence other views. Friends. We're watching them lose ground.

by the day. It's not time to gloat, by the way. This time to get on our knees, repent of our own sins. And While we have room to breathe. Stand up for the gospel and reach.

Out. Friends, again, your year-end gift would be of great help to us, especially as I get ready to go to India. Go to askdrbrown.org and click on donate. My bottom line today. The gates of hell will never prevail against the Church of Jesus.

I've got some words of encouragement and faith for you today. Hey, the Church of Jesus is going forwards, not backwards. 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.

Welcome, friends, to the broadcast today. Remember to call to join in the conversation: 866-342323232323. 34 Truth 866-348-7884. I do have words of encouragement for you, but first. If you haven't been following the news today, there were reports of an active shooter on the Ohio State campus.

Reports that students were told to run or hide, or if needs be, fight, which would be a standard policy announcement for an active shooter. as far as I understand. But it turns out That what happened was an 18-year-old Ohio State University student. Plowed into a plowed his car into a campus crowd, then jumped out and started stabbing people with a butcher knife. before being shot dead by police Monday morning.

Nine people were taken to hospitals after the ambush. One was in critical condition.

So, even though the incident was initially reported as an active shooter situation, the suspect did not shoot anyone. And he is an 18-year-old Somali refugee. From the reports that I'm reading here, let's just see if there's any other information. People said it clearly looked deliberate. Um And then Uh Officer Yells to the suspect, drop it and get down, or I'll shoot.

Then fired on the suspect. The man was going insane.

So, obviously, the fact that he is a Somali refugee, he had lived in Pakistan. People are talking about, yeah, look, ISIS called for random knife attacks. And was this related to terrorism? This is obviously going to stir a whole, a whole lot of Oh. emotion right now.

Thankfully, none of the people were killed aside from the attacker. And we pray for grace on those that were injured, especially the one in critical condition. But what we need to do is this. Let's not be stupid. Let's not stick our head in the sands if, in fact, this is another Muslim refugee.

Who has been infected? with radical Islamic thinking. On the other hand, let's not jump to conclusions. Before we know all the facts, and let's not assume That your neighbor who is a Muslim is also a terrorist. All right, so let's not put our heads in the sands if there are.

issues that we need to address. And let's not jump to conclusions without knowing. The facts. And thankfully, you had an officer there very quickly. and was able to kill the The attacker, who obviously had murder on his mind.

Was this? Part of the plan. Of ISIS, the They had promised there'd be terror attacks during the holiday season.

Well, let me just say this. Whatever they want to do. It seems they're not doing yet. Be it divine restraint, be it too much intelligence we have. be it lack of network they have, Obviously, if they could do what they wanted to do, look at what they're doing in other parts of the world, they'd be carrying out acts of terror day and night.

The fact they haven't Either means As I say, they don't have the wherewithal to do it here. We have too much counterintelligence. or it is simply a matter of divine intervention. But this much we know. We don't react in fear.

We react in faith. We don't react in fear and trembling and run and hide. We act in faith and we act in wisdom. And we pray for wisdom for our political leaders. We'll be right back with some words of encouragement.

God changed the world. 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 broadcast. This is Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the line of fire. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question, 866-348-7884.

Can you show me where in the Bible It tells us that we should be discouraged and fearful and pessimistic as God's people. Can you tell me where that is in the Bible? Can you tell me where in the Bible? It says that the closer we get to the end of the age, the more. hopeless we should be as followers of Jesus.

the more fearful we should be the more timid we should become The more escapist our attitude should be. Can you show me one syllable in the Bible? That points in that direction? Oh, yes. There are verses that talk about our redemption draws near.

But those are verses that say when the world is fainting around us for fear of what's coming tomorrow, that's when we lift up our heads. That's when we lift up our heads and rejoice because our redemption draws near. And by the way, we haven't gotten near that situation yet, the end-time upheaval the Bible speaks about. Trust me, if that was the case, we wouldn't be thinking about upgrading our cell phones. We wouldn't be thinking about what to cook for Thanksgiving.

We wouldn't be thinking about which football game do we want to watch on Sunday. We wouldn't be thinking about the kids and the soccer leagues. No, the upheaval that we're talking about is such that, as scripture says, People are fainting for fear of what's coming. That's how dreadful it is. At that time, Jesus says, lift up your heads.

Look up because your redemption draws near. But there again, the context is not escapism, the context is faith. and encouragement and hope.

So can you tell me anywhere in the Bible? I'm open. I'm a student of the Word, but I don't claim to know anything. Can you tell me anywhere in Scripture That says that The closer we get to the end of the age, the more fearful hopeless, pessimistic, gloom and doom, negative escapist we should be? It's all over and And we're out of here.

Let's just batten down the hatches, and hold on, hold the fort, till Jesus comes back. It's can't be long now. Hey, listen, friends. I don't want to be like a broken record about this because I've said it many times over the years, but come on. I was told Jesus was coming any minute when I came to faith in November, December of 1971.

I was 16 years old. Her oldest granddaughter's about to turn sixteen that's that's how old I was. I got saved, he said.

Now it's our granddaughter who's approaching that age.

So look. I live in expectation. and eager desire of the Lord's return. But I do not have the mentality. We're just going to hold on until Jesus comes because it's getting real bad out there.

Can I ask you? Which is greater? the power of God or the power of Satan? Can I ask you which is greater? The power of light.

With the power of darkness? Can I ask you which is greater, the power of truth versus the power of lies? Can I ask you which is greater, the power of the Spirit versus the power of the flesh? Doesn't John write that that we are of God? and that he who is within us is greater than he who is in the world?

Didn't Jesus say in this world you'll have trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world? Didn't Paul write that in all these things, speaking of all types of calamities and hardships, the majority of which we've never even gone through experienced, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us? Why, then, should we have a defeatist attitude? Why should we have a mentality of gloom and doom when our God is light? Didn't Jesus say that he would build his church, his messianic congregation, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it?

And yes, it is true. that the Greek word there for prevail Is an active word not a passive word? In other words, as God's people move forward, that even the gates of hell won't won't prevail against the people of God. And you could read gates of hell symbolizing the forces of hell and their attack on God's people, gates symbolizing the the force and the power of the city. Or is the the the people of God march forward That the gates of hell will not stop them, whether it's going into a broken-down area of a city.

Where there's hopelessness and despair and broken families and drugs and gangs, and the gospel goes in there, whether it's breaking down the iron curtain or the bamboo curtain. whether it's penetrating the veil of Islam, whatever the situation is, as the gospel goes forward, there is no power on earth that can stop it. There is no power on earth that that can stand against it. There is no power on earth that can prevail against it.

So what what's that telling us? What kind of attitude should you have? You know, we were watching a football game the other day. I guess it was yesterday with the family, just chilling into Thanksgiving vacation with family in town. Watching the game.

And the two we were rooting for was down and they were losing. It looked like they were losing badly. And you just seem to have an attitude. seemed to just have a discouraged look. seemed to have kind of chip on the shoulder, negative mentality.

Almost expect things to go wrong, almost expect to see the calls go against you. And then something happened, the complexion of the game turned dramatically, and next thing they were playing like champions. A lot of it has to do with mental and emotional attitude, friends. If your attitude is, yeah, never works out. Yeah.

Everything goes bad. Yeah, we always lose. Friends. you're going to experience that in life. Yes, there will be trouble.

Yes, there will be opposition. But you know.

Some of the most amazing testimonies I've ever heard, some of the most faith-filled, joy-filled, confidence-filled. optimistic filled Interviews I've ever done, or people I've interacted with, stories I've read. That are the most filled with hope and vibrancy and victory. They are the stories of the persecuted church. They're the stories of people who endured hardship beyond what what we could imagine.

They went through that They experience those hellish things and yet. And yet In the midst of all of it, they experienced God's grace and they found that God's grace was more than enough. I want to encourage you, friends, that is spiritual reality. In Jesus you are an overcomer. I don't feel like it.

A body's worn out. tired, emotionally worn. finances and disarray No, friend yeah, life can be rough, and life is not fair. But we overcome by faith Just look at it like this. It's like jumping on someone's back, and they hold on to you.

Jump on my back, you know, piggyback, and I'll carry you out. You don't have the strength to do it. Maybe you need someone to just pick you up like a baby and carry you out. But but God carries us, and not only that, He puts the spirit of a victor inside of us. He puts the spirit of a conqueror inside of us.

He puts the spirit of faith inside of us so that. We really do overcome. And Paul writes this. He's talking about being led forth, the apostles being led forth as prisoners. And basically it would the imagery would be, say, in the days of the Roman Empire, the army would come marching back from some great triumph, and they'd have the prisoners in cages or on ropes or hooks or chains, whatever it would be, and they'd be on their way to death.

and the smells and the sounds for some would be the sound of life and victory and celebration and to others of death. And listen to what he says. 2 Corinthians 2:14, but thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma. of the knowledge of him in every place. For to God was We are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To some we are in a realm of death leading to death, but to others in a realm of life leading to life. And who is competent for this? For we are not like the many who market God's message for profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ as from God and before God. But notice this.

We are always sustained by God's grace in the midst of impossible situations. He says, Who among us is competent? None. None. And there are other translations that don't say puts us on display in Christ, like the King James, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.

New King James, thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. ESV, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. NIV always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession. You see, that's the perspective. He's the one leading the procession.

We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

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

Let me ask you a question. Why do you think I am always so spiritually optimistic. and full of faith. This is Michael Brown, your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity. My joy to be with you to start the week together on this Monday.

866-34Truth, 866-348-786. eight eight four. Why do you think I am always full of faith and encouraged and optimistic. Is it because I'm an unrealistic person. and I I just have my head in the clouds.

And I I ignore what happens around me real life, so I just kind of live in denial, just kind of ongoing cognitive dissidence of some kind. And that's why I'm optimistic and full of faith. Is it Because God wired me like that.

So it's just some innate thing in me? Is it because as a believer in relationship with God. the optimism of God. Is in my heart? The optimism of God is in my spirit, in my mind.

What do I mean by the optimism of God?

Well, Let me ask you this. Do you think God is depressed? You th you think he's depressed. You think he's kinda morbid. You think if you could have a conversation with God the way you talk to a friend, you think he'd get you down and discouraged?

Oh. He tells the truth. And their truth might absolutely shock us. He'd tell us the truth, and that truth might have us on our knees repenting or pleading for mercy for our nation. But do you think You could leave the presence of God without hope.

Do you think you could leave the presence of God without Confidence? Do you think you could leave the presence of God without a sense of holy optimism? Come on. What happens at creation? There's mourning.

And evening. There's darkness, then there's light. There's morning, then there's evening. Excuse me, there's evening and there's morning, right? There's darkness and light, there's evening and morning.

It it it's it is the pattern. It is the the paradigm. Weeping endures for a night, the psalmist tells us, but joy comes in an abiding way. in the morning. God told the prophet Isaiah that in a moment of wrath he abandoned his people, but with everlasting kindness he'd have mercy on them.

Yes, there is evening. Yes, there is darkness. Yes, there is hopelessness. Yes, there is despair among people. But in God's perspective, the light will always shine out of the darkness and will overcome the darkness.

And the evening will give way to morning, and that morning will ultimately stay forever. There'll be no darkness. In God's heavenly kingdom, in the new Jerusalem, there'll be no mourning and weeping. There will be no hospitals for the sick physically or mentally or emotionally. because no one will be ill.

There will be no need for for weapons of war. You may have your pet dog if your pet dog is going to be there in the world to come. That's God's business, how that works out. But you won't need a pet dog as a guard dog. Y you you won't need to conceal Kari in the New Jerusalem.

Okay, and God sees that, that's reality to him. And God also sees the reality that Jesus has risen from the dead and all authority in heaven and earth belongs to him. And that's reality to me.

So how can I be discouraged? You say, Don't you ever have bad days? Yeah, I'm a human being. Don't you ever feel under it? Sure thing.

Don't you ever feel heavy pressure? Yeah. But it doesn't stay because God is God. It doesn't stay because, as a child of God, the worst case scenario is still eternal life with Him as a child of God in right relationship with Him.

So maybe you're looking too much about prophecies of gloom, doom, and destruction. Maybe next time you read through the book of Revelation. Look at the overcoming grace on God's people. Look at the promises to the overcomers in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. And notice that those are the only ones to whom the promises come.

Look, I've been involved in reaching Jewish people with the good news of Jesus since I came to faith 45 years ago. During this very season, 45 years ago. I've been sharing the gospel with Jewish people since. I've shared the gospel with Orthodox rabbis and other rabbis. And yes, I've seen some very religious Jewish people come to faith in Jesus.

And yes, I've met some Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox rabbis who are secret believers in Jesus. Yes, that's true. But the people that I've dealt with for years and years, the counter missionaries, they still believe what they believe. They're not believing in Jesus yet. And you say, isn't that discouraging?

I mean, decades of ministry to certain people and reaching out. Why would I be discouraged? when I know God's given promises. No, I can't guarantee the salvation of every Jewish person with whom I interact, but I can say that He's given promises and that there will be a national turning of Jewish people to the Messiah and that He will return and He will set up His kingdom in Jerusalem, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the seas, and there will be perfect righteousness and perfect justice. Therefore, No need to fear.

Therefore, We're confident. In the goodness and kindness and love and mercy of God, and we are confident in His triumph. In the earth. Look, these are not empty words. These are words that sustain people through losing loved ones.

in the most horrific circumstances. These are words which sustain people in the midst of imprisonment and torture because they are words of truth.

So, I want to encourage you today. The last half hour of the broadcast, I want to talk about some things that are happening in society that indicate that there is a turning taking place, a pushing back. The election was a pushback of one kind. There is also a spiritual pushback I see happening as well. I see signs of it.

I see signs of those whose goals are very different than ours. overplaying their own hand. And And I see believers and others starting to wake up. Accordingly, hey friends, remember to visit the website, the line of fire.org that's our radio website you can read my latest articles there watch my latest videos in fact I'm looking for a video that we have listed here Andy Griffith has the answer for the entitlement mentality right on the home page of the line of fire and also all this week whoa it's the whole week I didn't realize 30% off 30% off all of our top 10 best-selling books.

So take advantage of that. Go to thelineoffire.org. You can read my latest article there as well. The left continues to self-destruct. An article I wrote a couple of days back.

I've had it with the phrase, you white evangelicals. You'll find that helpful. My video on the Pandora's box of gender confusion. Where is it found? all on the line of fire.

Take advantage of it. Change the world. 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.

Thanks so much for joining us on the broadcast today. I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend with friends and with family. We did our show live on Friday. Many of you caught it, but some of you missed it. And of course, we are live today.

Hey, could I ask for your prayers? Every year, for 24 straight years, I have gone to India to minister there. It's a lot of travel to get there. It's normally a pretty full schedule. Once we're there, sometimes very intense.

This year, I'm flying back by way of Italy and spending two more days ministering in Italy before heading home. We've got some special guest hosts that will be joining us. I'll be doing some broadcasts over from India and trying to when we have a guest host, even call in from India. It's the middle of the night there while the show is on here live, but want to do my best to stay in touch with you from India. But would you pray?

One year when there were terrorist attacks in Mumbai right about the time we were supposed to fly in, the trip was canceled. The leaders there said, don't come. It's too volatile a situation now. And then I went twice another year.

So it's 24 trips in 24 years. Interestingly, it'll also be my 24th trip to Italy. But please keep me in prayer. It's a rigorous schedule. And.

All the travel Of time changes, temperature changes, different things like that. You can get a little bit worn out. And I've seen God's grace sustain me through these trips and had great times ministering there. And pray for the Lord to really move. Pray for these meetings to be meaningful.

You don't travel that far. If you don't travel that far. For no reason.

So, pray that the Lord would really work. And we've got dear, dear friends in India that we work with. It's a privilege to pour ourselves out there. And let me bring you this word of encouragement. And then I want to talk about some recent news items that indicate that the pushback that we speak of, the pushing back against wrong directions in our society, that that pushback by God's grace is rising in different ways.

But. Maybe you have a friend or a loved one. That's really in bad condition. They've never known the Lord or they have been a real a serious rebel. And uh You think I don't see any hope for them?

Or they've fallen away from the Lord, they're in jail. My friend Yesu Pottam that I work with in India Would be one of the most unlikely candidates that you would pick. to be one of the most influential Christian leaders in his nation. He was raised in Untouchable. He so hated the caste system that he joined the Naxalites, the radical Maoist communists, at the age of 11.

He signed with his own blood to join them. He became an alcoholic, an atheist. He was engaged basically in terrorist acts against the rich. When he got married in his early 20s, people just thought the guy is worthless. His father had been a Christian and named him, his father had become a Christian and named him Yesupatom, which means the foot of Jesus, that he would always be the foot of Jesus.

He hated that name. His wife was a Christian. Uh but here he was, a worthless alcoholic atheist. when he had a faint vision of Jesus, During a church service, saw him looking up in the sky, saw him with his hands open wide. And he said to him, Son, and no one ever called him son except for his father, because he was a despised, untouchable, son, this is how much I loved you.

And basically, the call, what are you going to do for me? He he got born again on the spot, went on the street, started clapping his hands. People thought he had lost his mind, started clapping his hands, saying, Have you heard? Have you heard? Because he'd seen in this vision, he'd seen Jesus with nail-pursed hands.

Have you heard? And started preaching the gospel. Through his ministry, now they've planted about 8,000 churches in tribal areas, places that. Two, three decades ago were virtually unreached, are now blanketed with the gospel. They built hospitals, they built schools, they've done an amazing work.

When he turned 60 a few years ago, government leaders came from different parts of India to honor him. Friends, God can save and God can transform. If he could use someone like Jesus Potomac, if he could use someone like me, he could use that loved one, that friend of yours. Pray with hope for their transformation. We'll be right back.

The world It's fire we want for fire we Please take 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.

Hey, let me just say this one thing about the nations. When you Take the gospel to other parts of the world. and see the Holy Spirit move in other parts of the world. be it at a hut, In in a village in India. Be it In a gathering in a an auditorium in Germany.

be it in a house meeting in Israel. Be it in a stadium in Korea. When you see the Holy Spirit move people being touched, the presence of God and worship. People repenting, people running to the altar with tears, the Lord's sweet presence there. I'll tell you it's worth more than anything.

In this world, 866-34Truth, Michael Brown. Welcome to the line of fire. I mention that again because I get ready to go to India. Friday is when I leave.

So, you know, I've had many trips in the past. I was worn out. By God's grace, now with my totally healthy eating lifestyle and exercise, I'm much more vigorous as I travel. I've always had endurance and strength when I travel, but now I'm much stronger. And Every trip zone is worn out.

It's like, oh man. Man. Another trip, and I just want to be home. And this is long, and I can't sleep on the plane, and I'm jet-legged. And then you get where you're you go in and you're just kind of left in a room and you're hungry 'cause it's dinner time for you, but it's the middle of the night there and you got nothing to eat and you can't sleep and you don't have an internet connection.

You can't contact your family and feeling alone. And I remember once I was in Finland and that's how I was feeling. And I got out my computer and I just said, all right, I'm going to journal how I'm feeling. And it was down. It was, you know, I thought, I just let me get my thoughts out, how I feel.

And then I preached and we had a great outpouring for penance and there were people on the stage weeping and the Holy Spirit just moving through the building and I just wrote down in my journal, the presence of God plus nothing is worth more than anything in this world. And you travel to the ends of the earth and climb on your hands and knees. You know, up the side of a mountain, if you had to experience God's presence like that, but it's a gift. It's a gift of his grace. It's a gift of his love.

All right.

I've got a few examples for you. about things that are turning. Things that are turning in society. Thebridgehead.ca, so Canadian site. reports this from November 16th.

Tables turned. The left is stunned by culture war backlash, and this is Jonathan Van Marin reporting. For the past decade or so, social conservatives have heard the same mantra: Your issues aren't winnable, the left owns the territory. In spite of a growing pro-life consensus and hundreds of pro-life laws on the state level, resulting in the lowest abortion rate since Roe v. Wade.

Many smug political analysts look at the blitzkrieg that took place from the end of the battle over marriage to the thick of the bathroom wars and conclude that the left. has conquered the culture. They're just mopping up now. In certain states, at least that conclusion seemed unavoidable. And then the election last Tuesday changed the narrative so quickly.

that it gave me hope for a détente between those who disagree over these fundamental issues. the sort of common ground that exists between me and many of my liberal friends. They know I don't agree with gay marriage, but they also think it's pretty disgusting for a gay couple to attempt to force their way onto a Christian's farm using the frost of law the force of law to host a gay wedding. The reason? For the first time, suddenly the left is beginning to realize that perhaps their campaign of retribution against those who oppose their social agenda has the potential to backfire.

And that even many who may agree with the essence of their social agenda find their lust for crushing dissension rather. Distasteful. Exactly. But friends. We told you this was coming.

You say, well, Mike, why do you make that point? Why do you emphasize we told you this is coming? It's It's not to lift me up in your eyes. It's rather to encourage you as hey friends, we told you. We told you here, I'll give you an analogy.

I'll give you an analogy. All right? You're playing a sports team. And you know it's going to be a a serious a serious matchup. They're a formidable foe, right?

You think we can win this game?

Well, then. Your star player gets injured right before the game starts. And then You make some uncharacteristic errors at the beginning, and you find yourself in a big hole. And I'm the coach. And I said, Hey, hey, boys, here Remember I told you last week to expect some adversity.

Remember I told you that we were going to get hit hard and it was going to look dark for a little while, but that these guys don't play well when they're challenged.

So the moment we begin to push back, we're going to see the tide turn. Don't worry, we're going to win this game.

Well, as soon as you begin to see some positive signs, you're like, wow, coach told us. Coach told us that. I'm here not as your coach, maybe for some, I am kind of a life coach, but I. I'm here to say, look. We've told you that the radical left will overplay its hand.

In their mind, it may be a matter of justice and fairness and equality and tolerance, but it becomes a real expression of inequality and intolerance. And we told you this was coming.

So the elections, even though these weren't primarily about cultural issues, they did include cultural issues and certainly a backlash against the way our society was going in many ways. Uh Jonathan. Let me get the name right again here. Jonathan Van Maaren notes this. He says, you may have missed this bit of good news out of Oregon last week from the Independent Journal Review.

For the first time in fourteen years, Oregon voters elected a Republican to a state office. But there's a bit more to the story than simply a surprising win in a deep blue state. Lawmaker Dennis Richardson, a respected though losing candidate for Oregon governor in 2014, came back to defeat well-known Democrat Brad Ovekian in the race for Secretary of State. for the state of Oregon.

Well, what happened? Why is this such a culture of achieve?

Well, Avekian is the state bureaucrat who went after the business of the Christian baker's sweet cakes by Melissa. The owners, Melissa and Aaron Klein, refused to create a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, though the bakery served gay customers. The couple believed that by participating in the wedding ceremony, they were condoning the marriage, which conflicted with their Christian beliefs. And Bradoveckian, I followed this case and met the Kleins on more than one occasion, but Branoveckian aggressively pushed this case. And really push the punishment against them ultimately to the point of putting them out of business.

And the clients say ultimately they still appealing their case to the Oregon Supreme Court, and they believe that the case will ultimately make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The New York Times went so far as to say that the relentless focus of the left on issues like transgender bathrooms may have cost them the election. Bill Mar Yeah, politically incorrect Bill Maher, who's been going through spasmodic reality checks as the Trump train bore down on him, brought the issue up on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher. After demanding that the left pipe down about transgender bathroom hubbub prior to the election, Maher's post-election synopsis was grim and blunt.

Maybe liberals and conservatives need couples therapy, a safe space where liberals can say to conservatives, your obsession with guns makes me uncomfortable, and conservatives can say to liberals, we feel bullied when you demand we make gay wedding cakes. Later, Marr took it even further, blasting political correctness as one of the main reasons the left had become so fundamentally out of touch. Scoffing at the idea of white privilege and noting that the Liberal refusal to admit that Islam contains a component of violence made many dubious of the left's ability to confront it. His conclusion was to the point. Democrats have become, for a lot of Americans, a boutique party of fake outrage and social engineering, and they're not entirely wrong about that.

This is Bill Maher. Look, there was on the Jimmy Kimmel show, one of the late-night TV shows, so. By nature, you would assume it's uh a left-leaning show on one of the major networks. I don't follow it. I don't know all the ideology, but that's my assumption.

They had a politically correct Thanksgiving. Um celebration. With little children performing. I mean, you've got one. Where you've got these two little kids doing the play, and they're holding a baby in their arms, they're not going to identify its gender.

Until it gets older, you know, and self-identifies, they're making fun of how things have gotten in the society. You can only go so far with this microaggression and trigger awareness and pronoun of choice and on and on before people finally say, enough with this. We're not going along with this. We care about you, we're going to love our neighbors ourselves, but we're not going to go along with cultural madness. And then this article in the bridgehead says this: that David Axarot.

So David Axerod, Barack Obama's chief campaign officer. um said to Bill Maher, No, I don't disagree with you. And then he went on to defend President Obama. Said, no, I don't disagree with you.

So friends, friends, the pushback that we told you was coming. has been rising and is here now. I'm going to give you an example of that when we come back. Shake the nation, change the world. Change the world.

Oh, God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Let me give you an example. of the left overplaying its hand. Here's a report on LifeSight News. And this is from November 21st from Edmonton, Alberta. Canada.

Alberta's new Democratic Party government has launched an inquiry into two private Christian schools whose board refuses To comply with government edicts regarding homosexuality and risks losing taxpayer. Assistance. Education Minister David Egan told reporters that Independent Baptist Christian Education Society. which operates two schools with 200 students in Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton, and supervises 1,200 home schooled students, had failed to provide a plan or written assurance that would comply with a new law forcing homosexual clubs at all schools. Eigen told reporters they did not change their position.

They did not give us any indication that they would provide written assurance that they would allow students to form a gay straight alliance. What kind of nonsense is this? What kind of absolute nonsense is this? that a Christian school Independent Baptist Christian Education Society. That a Christian school Would Have to have a gay straight alliance.

I mean, this is. An absolute overt attack on religious freedom. Not only so, It is saying you will be penalized unless you actively go against your beliefs. It's one thing to say you have to remain silent, you can't speak to this. It's another thing to say you have to do something.

completely contrary to your faith. Being silent is bad enough, but now having to do something to put in action a plan that's totally contrary to your faith is an outrage. You say, well, why should they get taxpayer assistance? They're getting taxpayer assistance because they are a school. is teaching and training children in in a way that is it is meeting the the standards of the society.

So they're in other words, they're not just sitting around chewing gum and playing ball all day, it's an actual school. And apparently, with Canadian law, it gets certain taxpayer assistance.

Now you're saying you're not going to get taxpayer assistance unless you violate your. Beliefs, your 2,000-year-old beliefs, and actively. Start. A gay Uh uh A gay club, a gay straight alliance, which is a quote safe space for gay kids in school. I mean, what if what if you had a Muslim school?

And the Muslim school was told: unless you have a special group for Christian outreach, you now have a Christian outreach. Um Club where they can study the Bible and reach out to other Muslims in the school, you're not going to get taxpayer assistance. Or conversely, here's a Christian school, and you're going to have to have a Muslim club. And here's where the Muslim students can come from. No, no, we're a Christian school.

Similar word Christian school, we don't accept gay relations as sanctioned and blessed by God. and we don't affirm homosexuality.

So no, we're not going to have an alliance. The kids are welcome in our school. Anyone that wants to come to our school and signs up to our code of conduct, they're welcome. Oh, there's no y you say, well, how is this pushback? Because this is overreach.

This is going too far. And in going too far, it will awaken Christians to take a stand. Here. Here's another example. And where is this?

In the UK. in Cornwall. A Christian teaching assistant in Cornwall, this is from Sunday, is challenging a decision to discipline her after sharing her views with a pupil.

So Vicki Allen, 51. Told a 14-year-old autistic student she was unhappy with the way the biblical rainbow symbol is used to represent gay pride. She also told a student she did not approve of same-sex relationships. You say, well, why is she putting that on her students? Because the 14-year-old asked her what she believed.

He asked me what I believe, so I told him my Biblical beliefs. The student was questioned by the school and said he had not been offended by the comments.

Now she's potentially being. Punished for this. Um And they are taking a stand. They're saying, hey. Look!

Uh she was injured in this view for for sharing her Her views with a student who asked, Okay, why is she disciplined because of that? She's a Christian woman. She works with kids with various disabilities and learning problems and things like that. She was disciplined after the boy's mother contacted the school about her comments. The school issued a warning to her for acting in opposition to the school's expectations with regards to equal opportunities.

The school argues that she failed to set out a balanced view which would allow the student to make up his mind independently. She said the kid asked. The kid asked what I believed, and I told them. Quote, I felt like a criminal. It was unbelievable.

It's taken away any trust I had. It made me more cautious. The student asked his teacher for her views on the matter in a lesson, and Alan defended the views she expressed. She said, he asked me what I believe, so I told him my biblical beliefs. He asked me out of the blue.

And Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Center, said freedoms in our country are being catastrophically eroded by political correctness and fear. Responding to a child to describe marriage as a union of one man and one woman is a belief held by Christians and many others around the world, in fact the great majority of human beings around the world, the great majority of religions around the world. But for Vicki Allen. Answering a student when he asked her. She's disciplined by the school and now seeking compensation.

Friends. The radical left will overplay its hand. It is doing so. It did so somewhat in the election, and the election on some level represents a pushback against that. But here's what we must understand as followers of Jesus.

Our goal, our mission. is to Reach people with the gospel. not to intimidate not to bully But to reach them with the gospel. To say, no, we're not going to bow down to a radical left agenda. No, we're not going to sacrifice our biblical beliefs on the altar of political correctness.

No. No, we're not going to be silenced in preaching the truth and seeking to live by the truth, but we want to reach out to all with the love of God. We want to be ambassadors of reconciliation. We want all men and women to know the love that drew us to the cross and changed our lives. And we want to proclaim and make the case that God's ways are ways of life and God's ways are best.

If we do that, We will see. A cultural change by the life and power of the gospel. Hey, Very quickly, friends. We could really use your help at the end of the year, in particular as I get ready to go to India. We have to fund this trip.

We don't bring in funds through it. Your year-end one-time gift would help us immensely, especially if we're blessing you on this radio broadcast. Then, as we've served you and delivered this broadcast to you faithfully, two hours a day, five days a week. for years now. Help us because we are a listener.

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My bottom line: don't be discouraged, don't be downcast. Jesus is Lord.