Well, I want to get caught up on a whole bunch of interesting news here in America, and the phone lines are open to take your calls. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
That's 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Well, it's an exciting and busy day here. It's our first day of classes of the new semester at Fire School of Ministry. It's always neat to greet our incoming students and see our returning students again.
So look forward to our first night class tonight. I spoke to them in chapel this morning. Also, a busy day as soon as radio is over, I head over to the hospital where my nearly 94-year-old mom is scheduled to have a procedure to check out some problems she's been having. If you think of it, uh, just Pray for grace on my mom, Rose Brown. She's old and frail.
Mine is sharp, but old and frail. And any time you have these types of procedures, it's an important thing to. Just get her through it properly.
So, yesterday I wasn't able to take calls right before the broadcast. I especially recorded the shows for you. Things on my heart to edify you, bless you. Just looking at a comment, someone sending me thanks for the word of encouragement yesterday. But the phone lines are wide open.
Phone lines are wide open, 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Anything under the sun you want to ask me about, you want to do what you do on Friday, you've got questions, we've got answers. I'll take some of your calls if you need my input or would like my input, be it politics, be it society, be it morality, be it Israel, be it spiritual life, be it the scriptures, give me a call, 866-348-7884. Yeah. There's an article I wanted to get to yesterday.
I planned to, and then I ended up going in an unexpected direction. But it's an article that was posted a couple of days ago on salon.com, liberal website, and is summarized on Breitbart.com, a conservative website. The GOP must dump Jesus. or risk irrelevance And quote, post-Christian America. I want to interact with that.
I want to interact with an article. From a few days back in the New York Times by Deborah Fikes, F-I-K-E-S, I assume Fikes, a challenge to my fellow evangelicals, want to interact with that and My latest article, which I strongly encourage you to read, go to askdrbrown, a-sk-d-rbrown.org, click on latest article. how gay activists Will respond to a major scientific report that refutes their talking points. How gay activists will respond to a major scientific report that refutes their talking points. In short, They're going to shoot the messengers.
They're going to shoot the messengers. Oh, there will be some. There will be some who will interact with the data. And they'll raise their questions about it or say, well, they believe the data points in another direction. Yeah, there'll be some that will do that, but I'm just telling you, if it hasn't happened already.
Uh because of the uh Everything that's been going on just with family and extra time spent with my mom. Nancy and I spent hours yesterday at the doctor, then getting her checked into the hospital and things like that. I may have missed some reactions already from gay activists and gay activists' website and their allies, but I'm just telling you what's coming. This is a major study. It's getting major headlines like almost everything the media tell you about sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong.
And Johns Hopkins Shrinks warned against kids going transgender. Yeah, major headlines reporting this. People writing to me, Mike, have you seen this report? It's major. Yes, I'm telling you what's going to happen.
Rather than interacting with the report, 143 pages discussing over 200 peer-reviewed studies in the biological, psychological, and social sciences. As Ryan T. Anderson says, painstakingly documenting what scientific research shows and does not show about sexuality and gender, I'm telling you what's going to happen. Yes, they're going to attack the messenger. Watch and see.
866-34TRUTH phone lines are now wide open. 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 today on the Line of Fire 866. 348-7884. The number to call. There was a really cute tweet earlier. Hey, Josh, buddy, if you're listening, keep listening.
You'll learn. You'll see. Often I yell, shut up, when I hear Dr. Michael Brown on the radio. He does nothing to edify the church.
So I actually reached out to him. I decided to respond. Anyway, and then a few seconds after that, I saw someone else posted this note. Where was it? Oh, let me find it.
Here we go. Dr. Brown is the reason why I'm a proud Christian. That was to a YouTube video. Hey, you're going to get blasted if you're a public figure, especially if you're standing up for the truth and lifting up Jesus.
You're going to get blasted. You're going to get misunderstood within the church and outside of the church. And you're going to have people who appreciate what you do. Best thing: honor the Lord for everybody listening. Stay humble.
Stay listening. Honour the Lord, and do what's right. And don't be moved by criticism and don't be moved by praise. Be grateful when you're able to help people and make a difference. And when people don't like what you do, hey, you can't please everybody.
Best to please God. But do it with a humble spirit so that if someone has a constructive word for you, you're always ready to hear that. But you don't believe the junk that comes your way. And it's day and night. I mean, it's day and night.
We get blasted day and night. We get appreciated day and night. Thank God people are listening. 866-348-7884. Before I go to the phones.
Let me interact with this article. on salon.com, it reflects what others have said. America's post-Christian.
Now I remember hearing that. 30 years ago. Wasn't Francis Schaefer talking about that? Weren't others talking about that? 30 years ago?
Longer. That America is, quote, post-Christian. And in many ways, it has been post-Christian in terms of who we were. post-Christian in terms of our heritage. Post-Christian, in terms of many values that played a more major role in our society in the past.
that are now marginalized in many, many ways. True. Uh on the flip side, Still, the vast majority of Americans identify as Christian. Still you have thriving churches, thriving ministries, making an impact. And still, There there is There is definitely.
Definitely a major role that the church is playing. And the big issue is not so much that America is post-Christian. The big issue is that the church is not acting in a Christian way. The big issue is that those who believe are doing very little to really press into God in prayer, to really evangelize their friends and their neighbors, to really be disciples and make disciples, to really stand up for godly issues. Listen.
The debate on abortion would look completely different. completely and totally Different. If 10% of all believers in America got actively involved in pro-life work. If just 10% did, The abortion debate in America would look radically different. The pro-life movement would make massive progress.
And we would see progress and change throughout America. That says if 10% got actively involved, what would happen if 20 or 30 percent did? Or how about this? If 10% of believers, well, I'll make this one a little higher. If 25% of believers prayed seriously.
for awakening in their own lives, in their local church communities, and in the nation. America. would soon be shaken with the move of God. If 25% of believers, I'm just talking about those who are genuine believers. If 25% of those who are genuine believers, Would really give themselves to the Great Commission and really seek to win the lost and make disciples, America would be rocked.
The problem is not the declining numbers, which are there, that instead of 80% of the population or 85% identifying as Christian.
Now it's 75 or from 80 to 70. And that's why Matthew Sheffield proclaims in his Salon article. that uh the GOP must Abandon its Christian values, its alliance with Christianity. I should say it like that. Otherwise, it will become irrelevant.
He points to the Pew Research study, finding that 23% of Americans say they're unaffiliated with any religious tradition, up from 20% just three years earlier.
Now, bear in mind, they have not become atheists or agnostics, most of them. They just said they have no religious affiliation.
So, according to Matthew Sheffield, the fact that Ted Cruz didn't get the GOP nomination. This is a perfect window into trends that will set the pace of American politics for decades to come. Americans are moving away from Christianity, including people most likely to vote Republican. What's interesting is that the Republican platform ended up being Very, very Christian in terms of key values about marriage and family. You can debate how Christian it is on other policies, and that's a fair debate and discussion: how the gospel works out, where it intersects with society.
But the obvious things like marriage and family had very, very strong Christian values there and a strong emphasis on religious liberty that still ended up being there in the platform. Why? Because it's still important. And I think Matthew Sheffield is reading things very, very wrongly. Ted Cruz getting in.
would have been amazing. I don't mean we know he would have been the best candidate. I endorsed him. God only knows what kind of uh candidate he would have made for president or what kind of president he would make. But it would have been amazing.
I mean in that he is so conservative. He is the most consistently conservative senator that we've had running for office in decades, running for major office. And he was considered to have no possibility at all of making it. He was too conservative. He was too radical.
He was too isolationist. He was too independent. He was too anti-establishment. And yet it appears If you didn't have the phenomenon of Donald Trump, he probably would have won the Republican nomination. Matthew Sheffield's getting this completely wrong.
It's We did not have anyone like Ted Cruz last election, the election before. With George Bush, you weren't talking about someone nearly as conservative. The fact that he almost got in, the fact that he was as competitive as long as he was and was the number two to Donald Trump is pretty amazing. Could it be that Matthew Sheffield is reading things incorrectly? But not only so.
Not only so. Renewal movements come out of times of decline. Revival movements come out of times of decline. There have been times in American history, and I alluded to this yesterday, where it looked like the church in America was sunk. It looked like things would never turn in the right direction again, and God moved with great awakening.
and God moved with holy upheaval. Yes, I know. That the younger generation is overwhelmingly liberal and the older generation overwhelmingly conservative, if you're going to break things down, or let's just say largely, maybe not overwhelmingly, largely. And there's the old joke, if you're not a liberal when you're young, you don't have a heart. If you're not a conservative when you're old, you don't have a mind.
It's the old saying, whether you agree with that or not, just throw that out. But many of the younger people, once they get married, once they start families, once they get established, will change some of their views. That's one thing. Another thing is this. Another thing is this.
God can move. There are Christian families and Demographically, they're having larger families. than many non-Christian families or many nominal families. And that can bring a demographic shift. There are so many things that could happen to bring about change that basically, what you need to do.
What you need to do is simply this. You need to have a party come together based on what it believes. You need to have a a uh a party come together based on what it believes is right. Otherwise, why even have a party? Just say, okay, what do the people want?
What do most people want? That's what our party will be. No, then it has no values and it stands for nothing. Picture of you're going to start a church, but you don't really know if the people in your area are more into the Bible. Or they like the Book of Mormon.
or maybe they prefer Jehovah's Witness teaching. Or maybe they're into new age, so you'll kind of see where the people are coming from and then base your church or your religious establishment on that. What kind of nonsense is that? No, no. And you know, if you're committed to opening an Italian restaurant in the city and people come and say, We prefer Chinese, you don't say, Okay, we'll start to serve Chinese.
You're not equipped to do that. All the more when we're talking about convictions, all the more when we're talking about values.
So what the Republican Party needs to do. is needs to be true to its core values, whatever those are.
Okay. And if they're largely Christian, then wonderful. It needs to be true to its core values. and then it needs to effectively reach out based on that. And the key to training America Is simply forget politics now.
Forget Republican Democrat. The key is to do what? Is for the church to wake up. is for the church to come alive. and go after God?
And for the remnant that's going after God to pray for awakening for the whole, that's the key to America's future. All right, more news, your calls, when we come 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.
Welcome back, friends, to the line of fire, your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Delighted to be with you today, 866-348-72. 884 is the number to call. Let's go to the phones in Ohio. Evangelist Kay, welcome to the line of fire.
Hi, God bless you. I enjoy your program so much, and I'm so grateful for being able to tone in. I wanted to say to you that I speak right to your mom. I've heard you say that she's ninety four. And the Bible speaks about us being obedient to our parents that we might receive longevity.
And so I can almost attribute her obedience to her parents that God has allowed her to be given the grace of ninety four years on earth. And so we just pray and ask God to let the doctor's hands be anointed and do the procedure successfully and that you can Back to her normal spirit of being old, while a young woman. Amen. Amen. Hey, that is so sweet of you and so kind of you to call.
I'm so glad you're blessed by the show, but that's very kind of you to call and offer that prayer from my mom on the earth. Thank you. Dear sister, and may the grace of the Lord flood your life. And I look forward to giving everyone a good report on my mom in the next couple of days. Thank you.
That's very kind. I appreciate that. Hey, let me just say one thing. Um our sister is absolutely right. and reminding us that the first commandment in the Bible with a promise That's what Paul points out in Ephesians 6 is honor your father and mother.
The first commandment with a promise. that it may go well with you. that you may live long in the land and prosper.
So God was telling Israel that honoring father and mother was a key to their longevity in the land. My mom actually was raised by other than her mother and father, and of course, was honoring of those authorities growing up. But when she was seven years old, Her mom died of a brain tumor. And her father abandoned the family. She was born.
in England. and then was sent over to relatives here in America who raised her. And all that to say that you have a lot of adversity. I mean, that's rough, isn't it? Your your mother dies when you're that young?
And Father abandons the family. This is fresh to us because when we were At the hospital yesterday, and then at the doctor's office, filling out some family history information. We were just asking her a couple of questions for clarity, and what did her father die of and how old? She didn't know. He abandoned the family.
After she was married, at my dad's initiative, they reached out to him. And I'm saying this for a purpose, so stay with me. They reached out to him because my my father thought, look, he abandoned the family, but there's got to be some good in this man and some desire to reunite with his daughter, but he was he was very distant. Very distant when they reached out to him. How how sad.
So All that to say that that my mom was the product of a terribly broken home because of the death of her mother. Her mother was just in her 30s when she died.
So the death of her mother and the abandoning of the household by her Father? And then Comes over to America, raised by relatives that she didn't have a relationship with before. But then her life is a very stable life. In that regard, a very normal life. And as long as she and my dad were married 30-something years before he died suddenly in 1977.
a wonderfully happily married life. You may have a lot of adversity in your background, and that's why I bring this up. I was just struck by that. Um My mom is as sweet as they come, as affirming as they come. And just everyone, you know, the hospital, the doctors, they all end up liking her because she's just her personality and things, you know, as frail and old as she is.
But I don't look at her as like this really tough fighter type. I never saw it like that. And yet She was able to persevere through the hardships of life. and end up having a a very normal life in other respects. I think that's something that God's put in us in human beings, that strength, that tenacity.
Um All the more then. Do we want to help those in difficult situations overcome? As a church, this is, we want to be there for those with broken families. We want to be there for those who have the odds stacked against them. We want to be there for those who are marginalized and put out.
to bring them into wholeness. in Jesus, and then we want to prioritize healthy marriages and healthy families. You want to know how America can be changed?
Solid Christians. having solid marriages.
solid families, raising up godly kids for the next generation. That's how America can be changed. 866-34TRUT. Let's go to Brooklyn, New York. And Joyce, welcome to the line of fire.
Thanks so much for calling us. You're welcome. A United States judge blocked Obama administration guidance. that transgender public school students must be allowed to use bathrooms of their choice. granting a nationwide injunction sought by a group of thirteen states led by Texas.
Reid O'Connor, a judge for the Northern District of Texas, said in a decision late on Sunday that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedures for notice and comment in issuing the guidelines. He also said the federal guidelines had the effect of law and contradict existing legislative and regulatory texts. Yep. Yeah, I'm just going to, yeah, Joyce, I'm just going to jump in. Thank you so much for sharing that with our listeners.
This is major news that I didn't get to yet. But, yes, the Obama administration, sadly, has been guilty of massive overreach in ordering all schools to. To allow a boy who identifies as a girl to use the girl's bathroom or to play on the girl's sports team or share the girl's locker room or shower facilities and things like that, complete overreach, complete. Reinterpretation, misinterpretation of previous laws that made reference to sex, meaning biological sex. And absolutely outrageous.
A total of 24 states, Joyce, have been involved in fighting that. But in that particular lawsuit that you mentioned, yes, exactly, 12 other states.
So a Texas judge right now has said no to this.
Now, what's going to happen next? The battle is going to continue, but this is yet another indication, just as target. stores has has discovered that there are lines that Americans don't want to see crossed. And there are lines that ought not to be crossed. and there is going to be pushback.
Unless the church completely throws in the towel and Americans completely throw in their critical thinking. There is going to be more pushback. Hey, I've got to run, but thank you for sharing that news report word for word with us. Much appreciated. And it is major, important news.
All right. Joyce is in Brooklyn. Are you in Brooklyn? is September 8th on your calendar. I'll give you more details about location, but September 8th.
If you live in Brooklyn, you want to join me for a very special night on Isaiah 53, the rabbis and the messiah. And I'm gonna do QA, live QA. I'm gonna meet, greet you, sign books for you. And then September 10th, this is gonna be a blast in Manhattan. We're going to look at Israel and the presidential candidates and evaluate where they stand, take your questions, meet and greet.
Saturday, September 10th, Manhattan. 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.
All right, all right. I was able to articulate this. just boiled it down into a tweet. I knew what I wanted to say and just was able to communicate it during the break, which is this. I am not so concerned with a post-Christian.
America. I'm more concerned with an un-Christian church. That's my real issue. That's my real concern. The concern, as I've said many times, is not so much with the presence of darkness, it's with the absence of light.
So, as I just tweeted out moments ago. I'm not so concerned with a post-Christian America. I'm concerned with an un-Christian church. 866-348-7884. You ever hear the joke?
It's a church fundraising joke that the pastor gets up one Sunday morning. And he says to the congregation, All right, I've got bad news, good news, and bad news. The bad news is That Our air conditioning units are shot. The cooling system in the building is shot And the size of this building, it's going to cost us $400,000 to replace everything before summer comes. Bad news.
Everyone's like, ooh, that's bad. The good news is We have all the money. We need. People are like, praise God, that's wonderful. He said, the bad news is.
It's in your pockets.
Well, that's kind of the same situation here. The bad news is The nation is really in a mess morally, spiritually, so many ways we're in a mess. The presidential elections are highlighting a lot of that. That's the bad news. The good news is, we have everything we need to see America radically, wonderfully turned around.
The bad news is, it's up to us. It's up to us.
Now, why is that bad news? Because. Many believers, many leaders, many Christians have been going in the wrong direction for so long that we're just used to this. Lennox Raven used to say the church has been subnormal for so long that when it finally becomes normal, everyone thinks it's abnormal. Or in the words of Watchman Nee, by the time the average Christian Uh uh by the time a Christian just lives in an average normal way.
Everybody thinks he's got a fever. I didn't quote that one exactly. Yeah, but by the time the average Christian just gets to normal, everybody thinks the person has a fever. I spoke to the students, our incoming students, and returning students at Fire School of Ministry this morning. And I told them that what the world calls fanaticism and much of the church calls extremism, God calls normal.
America will be changed. Not by Christians becoming superstars. No. It'll be by believers doing what Jesus called us to do. by believers living lives that according to the Scriptures are normal.
I'm not trying to be some radical. Oh, Mike Brown, you're radical. I'm radical in the sense of. Of biblical, yes, radical in the sense going back to the roots, yes, but you know, radical in terms of, and Dr. Brown, you're extreme.
No, I'm not trying to be extreme, just trying to be biblical. Just try to be normal in that respect. You know what it's like you look at pictures from America, say in the fifties and you notice, wow, people were a lot thinner. Isn't that interesting? The men and women look much thinner.
And part of it was lifestyle, more active lifestyles, and the other part was diet. The food choices, the food options, and things like that. And you compare it to today, we get used to certain things. We think they're normal because we're around it all the time, and we forget what normal really looks like. How do we know what normal really looks like?
We go back to the word. We go back to the word. So how about this challenge? I want to be normal. I want to be a normal believer in God's sight.
I want to be someone that has a life that's consistent with what I believe. The way I live is consistent with what I believe and what is written. That's normal in God's sight. That, my friends, will rock This nation. 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.
Do you trust? Donald Trump. Do you trust? Hillary Clinton. If yes, why?
If not, Why? Just curious. three four eight seven eight eight four. Do I suspect there's all types of collusion with the Clinton Foundation and the? Presidential politics of Bill and Hillary Clinton?
Sure. Evidence seems to point clearly in that direction. Should it be investigated thoroughly? Absolutely. Or some of the outlandish sums that were paid to Hillary Clinton to deliver single speeches.
part of larger favors and things like that could well be. When we read about more emails yet, FBI finds nearly 15,000 more. Hillary Emails. Never turned over to the government. According to the Washington Times, officials are facing intense pressure to release them ahead of November's election.
Colin Powell saying, hey, don't blame me. Hillary said she got this idea to use a private server for me. No way, no how. Do I have grave reasons to mistrust Hillary Clinton? Personally, absolutely.
Absolutely. The only thing I trust. is that she will have a radical liberal agenda if she gets in. That's the only thing I trust because that's who she is. And that reflects her Christianity.
I believe she. Is a serious liberal Methodist. That's what I believe. That she believes that what she's doing is is... is according to liberal Methodist teaching.
Yeah, I actually believe that. Dead wrong, but I believe that.
So the only thing I trust is that she would be a radical liberal, radical pro-abortion, and you name it down the list. What about Donald Trump? Do I trust Donald Trump? Um I I do believe he wants to be a champion of religious liberties. I do believe he's more conservative now.
Then he was a decade or two ago Do I trust his word when he says he's going to do something that he's going to do it? I dunno. I don't No. I know that I do not trust Hillary Clinton. In that respect, Look, I don't fully trust a human being, a human being elected to office who knows what pressures they're under, who knows what goes on.
So there's not absolute trust in that respect. But, you know, when when I met privately with Ted Cruz very briefly, The first time around and And I said to him, listen, you know, if you're elected, man, don't betray us. He said, you know, the stakes are too high. I I give you my word. I I believe you meant that.
I believe that his his convictions are very serious, and that he's lived him out for a number of years, whether you like him or not. And that he he would have kept his word on quite a few fundamental issues. I I believe that. I don't know the same about Donald Trump.
So I asked the question after he gave his speech. in which in just one passing part of the speech, he mentioned Regret that he had for certain things that he had said. regret that he had and said that especially the things that cause personal pain I think he really meant it. I I think he did. The way he delivered it, the way the crowd responded, and he could have easily gone in a different direction, I think he meant it.
When I asked on my Twitter feed, which again is not that big, it's 22,000 and change, or our Facebook page is over 410,000.
So that's that's much bigger, but it's very easy to do a poll on Twitter.
So this just reflects those people who follow me on Twitter. And that took the time to respond.
So it's a very limited response. It's not some scientific poll. I said, what's your take on Donald Trump expressing regret for some of his past hurtful comments? Choice one, he was sincere. Choice two, he didn't mean it.
Choice three only time will tell. 21% said he was sincere. Seventeen percent said he didn't mean it. 62% said only time will tell. I'm leaning to him being sincere, but fully accept that only time will tell, because it's just a matter of what.
A couple days go by, and he's laying into some MSNBC reporters in his Twitter feed. and Kellyanne Conway, now a campaign manager who worked closely with Ted Cruz before. earlier in the election, she was asked about this uh by Megan Kelly. She was asked why is he attacking these people? You know, so much for turning a new leaf, my words.
Why is he attacking these people? and she said she doesn't like it.
So she forthrightly said that she doesn't like it. She's the mother of four children. She'd be hypocritical if she said she liked it. And in his mind, you know, he's in a major tennis match. And rather than focusing on his opponent, he's getting upset with some fans.
So what does that tell me? All right, here's what it tells me. He's a human being. Like you and me Who makes mistakes even when better judgment tells you don't do it. Have you ever done that?
Have you ever said those words that you ended up regretting saying, and then you did it again? Sent out that email. It's like, should I? Should no, I probably. I'm going to do it.
You hit the send button. By the way, I'm not making excuse. That's not an excuse. I'm just saying I think he knows better sometimes, but decides he's got to do it because someone just went after him. He's going to lash back out.
That could easily be his undoing. That that could stop him from being elected because he'll keep getting in these petty wars. And his critics keep holding them against him instead of focusing on what he needs to focus on if he's going to win the election. But I remember some years back Oh, how long ago was it? tell you what it was about 15 years ago There was a close friend of mine, 10 years younger than me, close friend.
We've been closed for a good number of years. And we ended up on different sides of the fence on some important things that were happening in our local spiritual community. And we were passionate with each other. speaking from the heart to each other. And I blind copied Nancy in one of the emails.
For those who don't know what that means, it means you send it to the person, they can see it, but the person that's getting it doesn't know that you copied someone. You know, I might do that with a correspondence. I'm trying to get some customer service thing taken care of, and then I blind copy my assistant so he'll see it, and then he can follow up with me. You know, with it from there, etc.
So I blind copied Nancy so she could see what I had sent, what I had written. She thought I sent it to her first for input. She thought I sent it to her because the situation was so volatile that I was sending it to her saying, Hey, hum, what do you think of this? What's your opinion on this? No, actually it's I s I sent it to her.
copying her what I had said to him. And she emailed back and said, All right, we got to go over this before you send it out. You know, a lot of stuff we got to look at. And I said, Han, I I already sent it. He's like, you did what?
Yeah, and my words really hurt him. At that stage in life, my words really hurt him and they inflamed something that didn't have to be inflamed at that point. Have you ever done that? Well, the difference is that Donald Trump is now a very, very, very public figure, one of the most public figures in the world, if not the most in certain ways in terms of whatever he says is getting instant attention for better or for worse.
So in that situation, all the more all the more. Do you need to guard your words? All the more, do you need to weigh your words? It's not just words.
Now I get to a larger life lesson. Allow me to do so for a moment. It's not just words, it's also actions. There's one verse in the Bible, in the King James, that starts with. It starts with the word dead flies.
The King James Dead Flies, some other translations, starts with the words dead flies. And it says this, I'll read from the ESV: dead flies. Make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench.
So a little folly outweighs wisdom. and honour. Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and. Honor. Think of Ryan Lochte.
Decorated American Olympian. If he didn't live in the Michael Phelps era, he'd get even more attention. But 12 Olympic medals, several gold medals, I forget the exact count of that, but 12 Olympic medals.
So, no, not on the level of Michael Phelps Hall, but still very, very significant, decorated swimmer. And in an inebriated state, he gets into a conflict with some security guards in Rio, in Brazil. And then the report that leaks out is at the least greatly exaggerated. largely wrong.
Some say there's truth in it as well. Either way, that ends up being headline news for several days. Lofti and the other swimmers. And even though he is now come back contrite. and and asking for forgiveness and Acknowledging his error, All of the contracts that he had with these different promotional companies, he's now lost them, I think four companies, which would cost him, what, millions of dollars, an athlete at his level.
And you think, boy, it doesn't take much. Doesn't take much. Listen, please hear me carefully. Maybe you're on the verge of an affair. Maybe you're about to do something suicidal spiritually or morally.
It takes many years to climb up that mountain. You can fall off it in a minute. Careful. Angel 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.
Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire. A couple more things I want to get into before this hour is out. A new report from the FBI. looking at crime data from the first half of 2000 Fifteen? And according to this, the most violent cities.
In America. Number one, Saint Louis. With 88.1 violent crimes taking place for every ten thousand Residence. Number two Memphis. Tennessee.
Number three, Detroit, Michigan. Number four, Birmingham, Alabama. Number five, Rockford, Illinois. I was looking for Chicago, but Yeah Number six, Baltimore, Maryland. Number seven, Stockton, California.
Number eight. Milwaukee. Number nine, Cleveland. Number ten, Hartford Connecticut. Just for your information.
86634Truth.
So let me get back to where I started earlier in the broadcast. How gay activists will respond to a major scientific report that refutes their talking points. The report was co-authored by Dr. Lawrence S. Meyer.
M-A-Y-E-R, Meyer or Mayer, and Dr. Paul McHugh. All right. And it was a 143-page report. Which discussed 200 peer-reviewed studies.
So, what they want to see is a peer-reviewed article. Which does not mean someone publishes a review about it. That's not what peer-reviewed means. Peer-reviewed means before it is published. published.
In a journal. whatever the setting is, that it is reviewed by peers in that field. And that They have to give approval before it's published. They may say, we don't want it to be published unless the author backs up this claim. Or we have an issue with this.
We we don't think the the papers argued clearly, whatever. I've submitted articles sometimes for peer-reviewed journals. And it's rigorous. You think you submitted this great article and you get all this feedback, well, different with this, differ with this, what about this, what about that? Wow, I wasn't expecting that.
And then ultimately, it makes what you're doing sharper.
Now, there are. peer-reviewed journals that have such biases that the peers involved have have already set the tone of where the thing is going, and it's very, very difficult to get something published there that differs. But ideally, it's going to be dispassionate. It's going to be dispassionate academic. That, whatever the field is, be it geology, be it psychology, be it biblical studies, whatever it is.
that the reviewers are simply going to look at it in terms of a work of scholarship.
So Dr. McHugh and Dr. Mayer or Meyer. In the New Atlantis, that's where this is published, 143-page report. They look at 200 peer-reviewed studies.
having to do with LGBT issues. That's what they look at.
So what do these studies say?
So these are this is what would be called a meta-analytical because it's looking at all of these other studies and analyzing what the studies have concluded. All right, a study of the studies. And uh they concluded. That uh It challenges the idea that gays are born that way and cannot change. It says that non-heterosexuals are about two to three times as likely to have experienced child sexual abuse.
When compared to the general population, non-heterosexual subpopulations are at an elevated risk for a variety of adverse health and mental outcomes. And the idea that a person might be a man trapped in a woman's body or a woman trapped in a man's body is not supported by scientific. Evidence, okay?
So note carefully those closing words, which are a theme of the entire study. that that the arguments there are not supported by scientific evidence. Uh So this is major stuff. Very, very major. And listen, here's some of the bio.
Dr. Mayer is a scholar in residence in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of statistics and biostatistics at Arizona State University. He's taught at eight universities, including Princeton and Stanford. His full-time and part-time appointments have been in 23 disciplines, including statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology. Epidemic.
Epidemiology, sorry, public health, social methodology, psychiatry, mathematics, sociology, political science, economics, and biomedical informatics. I don't even know what some of those fields are. What's biomedical informatics? Dr. McYugh is University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
He was for 25 years the psychiatrist in chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine, forming the Institute of Medicine in 1992. From 2002 to 2009, he was a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. among his many accomplishments. How are gay activists going to respond to this major study by these major scholars?
Simple. That's why I wrote the article to tell you what's coming. They will attack. The messengers. That's what they will do.
They will Attack The Messenger. They will say Dr. McHugh is a well-known transphobic bigot who is out of touch with the Times. There are articles that have come out against him in the last few years, accusing him of clinging to a dangerous past, saying he endangers the lives of transgender youth, referring to scary science at Johns Hopkins University, etc., claiming that he justifies anti-transgender hate. What was his crime?
What did you do that was so bad? What he did was when he was the chief psychiatrist, psychiatrist and chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he spent years interviewing people who had sex change surgery before and after. And concluded that, quote, we psychiatrists would do better to concentrate on fixed to on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia. And he told me before I appeared on the Tyra Banks show, he emailed me November 18th, 2009, and said, I hold that interfering medically or surgically with the natural development of young people claiming to be transgendered is a form of child abuse.
So he's hated. By the transgender community and accused of being out of touch with science and reality.
So here he reviews with a colleague 200 peer-reviewed studies and says, no, the evidence is against their arguments. And Dr. Mayer, Dr. Meyer, my guess is that he will be discredited as well as not his field. She's not qualified.
So I'm just telling you in advance, it's a major study. It's an important study. It's a study that will be talked about, that should be talked about. But... I can almost assure you.
I can assure you with McHugh, and with both, I can almost assure you. The response, the immediate response: look for the headlines, look for the articles if they're not coming out already, is to attack the messengers, shoot. The messengers. Watch and see for yourself. Good news is truth will ultimately triumph.
Good news is light will shine in darkness and ultimately light will triumph. It doesn't mean we don't reach out to everyone with compassion. It means that we don't believe. false talking points. All right.
Do you want to be equipped to reach Jewish people with the gospel? This is the week to take advantage of a very special offer we have on our website. All five volumes of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus plus an additional DVD at a great discounted price. Go to ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org, to check it out.
My bottom line today. Don't fear. Don't be discouraged. Keep. propagating the truth it will ultimately triumph over Well, I want to get caught up on a whole bunch of interesting news here in America, and the phone lines are open to take your calls.
It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34TRUTH.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Well, here we are again. My great joy to be here on the radio with you: 866-348-7884.
Now, I want to do three or four different things during this broadcast. Number one, If you have any question that you want to ask me, like you'd normally call in on a Friday, you've got questions, we've got answers. I'll take some calls as we squeeze them in, fit them in on subjects that may otherwise be random. But I took no calls yesterday, so I will make up for it by taking calls on any subject you want to talk to me about, and we'll figure out a way to make it fit. 866-348-7884.
Secondly, I want to interact with an article in the New York Times by Deborah Fikes: a challenge to my fellow evangelicals. It is from four days ago in the op-ed pages. I want to interact with that article. Second thing that I want to do: I want to give you some perspective on some other news as well taking place. worldwide.
And give me an update on my dear mom, who's about to have a medical procedure done today in the hospital, almost 94 years old.
So, anything like this, it's you know, you've got to really, really be careful.
So, I want to talk to you about those different things. Remember to call 866-342. Oh, all right, right. Also, also, I do want to answer some of your email questions. I'm going to squeeze some of those in as well.
So, we'll have an enjoyable, edifying show today. Uh Is America more polarized today? than eight years ago. In in in certain ways, yes. But I'd I'd say that we were quite polarized eight years ago.
And those Polarizations have just been exacerbated. It's not so much that we have new polarizations, it's just that they have somehow deepened. The divide has deepened. And and and yes, yes. I do believe.
that in certain ways things are worse. And yes, here and there. Here and there. There are some new fissures. I believe racial divides are deeper now in America than they were eight years ago.
I think many would agree with me on that. And the current elections have heightened the divisions in America. But what's interesting. What's interesting is that you do have a true blue liberal. in Hillary Clinton.
You you have in many ways a woman who is radically to the left. and many social policies, even in international philosophy and certain things like that. Donald Trump is obviously appealing to conservatives, but he is more appealing to nationalists. He is more appealing to a patriotic America than to conservative values in and of themselves. Normally those two would overlap.
Normally the nationalist appeal would be based on conservative values, but Donald Trump has appealed more on a nationalist level. The concern about immigration, concern about security, and things like that. Yes, those relate to conservative issues, but he's not, for the most part, being looked at as a champion of conservative values. At best, people would say, well, little by little, he seems to be changing, and we believe he's become more conservative over the years. Certainly hope that's the case, because I believe it's the right direction in terms of moral and cultural issues, and economic issues, and things like that.
But all that being said, If you had Ted Cruz versus Hillary Clinton, you'd have a different dynamic of heightening the divide. Heightening the ideological differences in America.
So it's now kind of a different divide, yet it is very, very intense. What would it take for America to all come together?
Well, not all, meaning everybody, but to unite.
Well, national Security threat. But you hope doesn't happen.
Something where we have to work together. or a massive spiritual awakening and uprising, the likes of which we've never seen. Hey, with God, all things are possible. We'll be right back. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame.
Send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire, 866-3487. All right, let me interact with this article, New York Times, by Deborah Fikes. I'm assuming that's the pronunciation, F-I-K-E-S. She previously served as a board member for the National Association of Evangelicals and as the executive advisor to the World Evangelical Alliance. She holds a graduate degree in international law from Oxford University.
Let me say up front that she has interacted with different people in the world than I have. She has experience in areas that I don't. She has background in areas that I Don't. At the same time, I do believe I have a good understanding of what evangelicals believe in many different countries. I have spoken probably several thousand times overseas in many different settings.
uh more than 150 trips to other parts of the world outside of the United States, overseas trips. including, I don't know, 45 trips to Asia and how many 50, 60 trips to Europe and so many countries.
So so I I work with believers around the world, although I don't have all the experience that she has in these ways.
So where I'm going to take issue, I do so respectfully. She says, many well-intentioned evangelicals have been drawn to the Republican Party platform with the hope of making an impact on culture and voting their values. But instead of actually helping fill in, quote, the whole of the gospel, as Richard Stearns describes in his book with the same title, Richard Stearns of World Vision, this focus has had the opposite effect, helping to create the imploding black hole of evangelical politics we're now seeing in the Republican Party. As painful as this has been to watch, this may be the best thing that has happened to American evangelicalism in a long time. She says, for the first time in my life, I feel compelled to reject my community's unquestioned political alignment with the GOP.
And challenge my fellow evangelicals to reconsider.
Okay, first thing in responding: speaking for myself, I'm an independent. I have largely voted Republican. for some years. In terms of presidential candidates. I've not been able to vote for a Democratic candidate in memory.
I would have voted for Jimmy Carter as a fairly new believer, and he was known as a born-again Christian. And my dad was a lifelong Democrat, so he was my likely candidate. And then I was disappointed with him and voted for Reagan. But I do not put my trust in the party. I have over the years many times sounded warnings, raised concerns about putting our trust in the political party.
And James Robinson, a frequent guest here on the line of fire, has spoken of the error that the moral majority made of hitching itself to the Republican Party as opposed to the better role it should have played is to simply be a voice. And to tell the parties, if you want our votes, you're going to really have to stand for the things that are important to us, and that we represent this large constituency of people. You're going to have to. To show that you're really standing for these values, they did that on the one hand, but then became wrongly hitched to a party.
So By all means. Reject your community's unquestioned political alignment with the GOP. But I would say, Deborah, that you're already. speaking primarily for white evangelicals because many black evangelicals vote Democratic. They vote for the Democratic candidate.
It still baffles me when it's a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, quote, marriage candidate and things like that, that evangelicals could vote for Democrat and then they in turn say, well, how can you vote for Republican for this reason or that reason?
So we've had friendly dialogues on the air here. But all that being said, yeah, by all means, challenge that. Unquestioned political alignment. Fine. She says, Over the past 16 years, I volunteered my time helping evangelical churches around the world.
I began this work by leading religious freedom advocacy for evangelical churches in the hometown of George W. Bush, which gave me a unique opportunity to observe the importance of who sits in the Oval Office. I also saw how easy it is for American evangelicals to be a politicized subculture, a tendency I see as detrimental to authentically living out our faith, as Christ modeled for us to do. Yeah, I I agree with that too. that our primary identity is not Republican or Democrat.
Our primary identity is followers of Jesus. Our primary identity is not attachment to a political party. Our primary identity is being counterculture people that bring about godly change through the gospel. I agree. From 2007 to 2016, she writes, I work with the World Evangelical Alliance, where I represent its 130 national alliances with a constituency of 600 million members.
I traveled to many countries. I saw how evangelicals engage politically all over the world. These observations come from that work, and she lists 11 points here. Uh Let me say again. that that's an experience I haven't had.
She's had nine years. Working with the World Evangelical Alliance. Representing 130 national alliances with a constituency of 600 million members. That means that she was much more connected with many. evangelical world leaders than I have been.
No question about that. And the 11 points that she raises here, she said all of these stances are viewed as being pro-life and pro-family, and yet her point is: American evangelicals hold to these things. Whereas Evangelicals around the world don't necessarily hold to them. Maybe this is more of an American expression. Maybe this is more of Americanism than evangelicalism.
So, what are the 11 points? One, only in the United States is climate change a controversial and politicized issue. Evangelicals in 129 countries support their government's efforts to face this challenge. Two, Evangelicals in other countries do not consider a national health care system as a controversial issue and in fact see it as highly desirable. Three, one of the highest priorities for a majority of evangelicals around the world is for their governments to combat poverty and hunger, improve public education, and provide clean water for all citizens, even if this means paying more taxes.
Four, evangelicals from other countries want to see their government buy fewer weapons and invest in economic development and peace initiatives. Globally, evangelicals disapprove of torture being used by their governments in any form. Six, A majority of evangelicals around the world view capital punishment as barbaric. Seven. Our evangelical brothers and sisters cannot comprehend that American evangelicals are so overwhelmingly opposed to any gun control reform.
Eight, nuclear disarmament and the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons is not even questioned among the vast majority of evangelicals in other countries. Nine, except for countries with high populations of Muslims, protecting vulnerable LGBT citizens and other social justice issues are not viewed as being part of a liberal agenda. 10. Whether abortion is legal or illegal, a majority of evangelicals in other countries have not prioritized this in their politics. Where abortion is illegal, evangelicals are more concerned about the high rate of maternal deaths that result from, quote, bedroom abortions.
11. Evangelicals in other countries working to help refugees and internally displaced people have questioned if Americans who support Mr. Trump are reading from a different Bible because it's very clear that welcoming the stranger is a Judeo-Christian priority. And she even says this. She said, our evangelical brothers and sisters around the world cannot understand how or why the majority of American evangelicals support Donald Trump.
They have coined a new word, American ideoevangelicals, to describe those in the U.S. who are voting more for their political ideology than for their faith values. Evangelicals from all regions, he writes, but particularly in Africa, consider Hillary Clinton a sister in Christ. and someone who lives out the golden rule and all the good she has done for women and children, many affectionately call her sister Hilary. And she goes on.
She says, it's also my hope that the Democratic Party will seize the opportunity to reach out, particularly to younger evangelicals who recognize the importance of healthy parameters for church-state separation and are exploring where they can vote their values for a more pragmatic, holistic, less politicized gospel. We need to listen to them and help lead a path forward if we truly seek to live out our gospel's, our gospel faith's greatest command of loving one's neighbor as oneself.
Well, let let me ask first. Depart. If that includes the baby in the womb. Ask that question. I know that's one of your points here in your 11, but Loving your neighbor as yourself is.
Is the baby in the wound your neighbor? Then, if that's the case, then under no circumstances can you or young or old evangelicals, black or white evangelicals, Hispanic, Asian evangelicals, Native American evangelicals, whoever you are. You cannot support the Democratic Party. with its all but All but flat-out war on the unborn with its radical pro-abortion policies. You cannot.
You c un unless you want to have blood on your hands. They have a radical pro-abortion policy and the Democratic candidate The Democratic candidate Is one who has said that abortion, if needed, right up until. End of the ninth month. when the baby is about to be born. Planned Parenthood's never had a better friend as a presidential candidate.
And Henry Clinton doesn't have any better support than she gets from Planned Parenthood. There is a reason for that.
So if you want to talk about quote holistic Less politicized, more pragmatic. How about starting with protecting the life of the baby in the womb.
So let me start there. Yeah, we have many friends working in China, living in China. And the Chinese church has been somewhat oblivious to the issue of abortion. The Chinese Church has been somewhat oblivious to even to the one child policy. Why?
Ignorance. Ignorance. That's all. As the church deepens, as the church takes hold more and more of God's moral values. It will grow in these areas too.
and it will bring about change. You watch and see. If the church in China continues to grow, Continues to have an impact, it will. Bring about change. With the one-child policy.
It's not strictly enforced now, but still there. It'll bring about change. I've got a lot more to say. I don't disagree with everything she's saying. But there's some fundamental misses here that in my view I won't interact with.
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.
All right, I'm interacting with an article from Deborah Fikes, a challenge to my fellow evangelicals, August 19th, 2016. I believe she raises some fine points that I agree with, challenging the degree that evangelicals, white evangelicals primarily, relate to the Republican Party. And I've often said that that it is a misplaced trust. and that what we need to do is hold to our values. And then yes, we're going to vote primarily for Republican candidates on pro-life issues and pro-family issues and various economic issues and things like that.
But we are not looking to the Republican Party to do what the church is supposed to do. 866-34Truth, taking your calls on a wide range of subjects today. But before we go to the phones, Let me major on a few points here, okay? Uh She says, point three, one of the highest priorities for a majority of evangelicals around the world is for their governments to combat poverty and hunger, improve public education and provide clean water for all citizens, even if this means paying more taxes. And in America.
We are very suspicious of big government. In America, we have a history which is revolting against the crown. Hence, the emphasis on being armed.
Okay. And by the way, I'm not a member of the NRA. I don't make a big deal about gun issues. I'm going to have some, for the first time, I'm going to bring on a guest that's going to be a pro-gun rights. I've never had an anti-gun rights pro.
I just haven't focused on that.
Okay. Over the years. But. The churches are active doing these things. In other words, We don't think that it's so much the government's role To be doing a lot of this, this is what the church does in most communities.
It gets involved with helping the needy and poor and things like that. And we are suspicious of government programs that try to provide this to people. We don't feel it's done in a good way. We feel in many cases it is not empowering. Whereas you can't compare the situation in other countries with the dynamics of America and with the size of our country and other things like that.
So, it's not that American evangelicals don't care about ministering to the poor and the needy. It's something that normally comes through the church. and not through the government. Um Majority of evangelicals around the world view capital punishment as barbaric.
Well, there's division in America about that among evangelicals. I'm quite sure of that. But I wo I wonder if that's th the case. You've got... What?
25%? Of the Christian population in the world in Africa right now. How is capital punishment viewed in Africa? Do the evangelicals, the vast majority of evangelicals or a majority view it as barbaric? Same in India, we've got a growing number of Christians.
I'm just wondering. I don't know that to be the case. I'm questioning that out loud. I'm questioning that out loud. And then I'm absolutely 100% first-hand experience questioning number nine.
Except for countries with high populations of Muslims, Protecting vulnerable LGBT citizens and other social justice issues are not viewed as being part of a quote liberal agenda. It may not be called liberal, but it's considered an anti-Bible agenda. Country after country after country. I've spoken in these countries. I've met privately with government leaders in these countries.
in Asia. and in Latin America. And and and in India. And I have colleagues working all over Africa. I With all respect?
Deborah, I have no idea where you're coming from on this. No, not just countries with high populations of Muslims. protecting vulnerable LGBT citizens. Yeah, they they don't want to see people rounded up and beat up. Or God forbid, you know, it's happened in, say, parts of Africa where a lesbian woman is raped.
You know, they're going to cure her of her lesbianism. What a horrific, barbaric thing to do. Uh But As as far as gay activist agenda, they they recognize it's coming to their countries. They are deeply concerned about what America is exporting in this way. I've met with businessmen.
I've met with educators. and then leaders I know in different nations and in Europe. Same thing, deeply concerned. And yes, you better believe that evangelicals recognize this as a non-biblical agenda, as a worldly agenda. And to the extent that leaders have looked at this, they recognize a lot of it's funded.
by Americans like like George Soros and others. And it's gay activist groups in America behind a lot of this push. And the activist emphasis in in Hollywood and and in education. Yeah. So I yeah, I I flatly differ with that.
Based on lots of experience I have in that area. And then, all right, you've worked, Deborah, in Africa far more than I have. I've only been to Africa a couple of times, so I'm relying on what. My colleagues who've lived there for decades have said, and African believers that I know, born and raised in Africa. and others that I know in other countries who work with government leaders in Africa.
The idea that to Hillary Clinton. is viewed as quote a sister in Christ, and many affectionately call her sister Hilary.
Someone will lose out the golden rule. Obviously, you've run into that. Deborah, obviously, you've experienced that. I'm not denying that. All all I know is this.
When when she made plain to African nations. That they were going to have to accept American views on homosexuality. There was outrage across the continent. across the continent. And the feeling from leaders was, how dare she seek to impose these values?
And some of the leaders upset were not even Christian. And many were quite Christian. And we're quite upset over this.
So, I don't know how she's viewed by all. I do know. how she was viewed in this particular instance. And she was viewed as anything but Christian in her position. And to the extent she may be viewed as Someone living out the golden rule, all the good she's done for women and children.
I don't know how much good she has done for women and children. Maybe she is known from a distance. Maybe she's not known as well. as we know her.
So, I think there's some major holes. I just pick on these few. I think there's some major holes here. And you know, as for things like climate change. And how evangelicals in other parts of the world view that versus American evangelicals, I don't have a comment on that.
I've never interacted with evangelicals in other countries about that. national health care systems Again, Americans have a great ⁇ many evangelical Americans have a problem with Obamacare, as it's called. not with national health care If it can be fair and right. The fact is most of the countries you're talking about around the world do not have health care that's anywhere near, even in the same universe, as American healthcare. And therefore, whatever they can get is something they're grateful for, whereas we already have something very strong.
What can we do to improve it and help others get in on it? That's the bigger question. I think it's a lot more nuanced. Your sister, then you're making it be. And to the extent You're saying lead the Republican consider the Democrats.
I think you're making a massive mistake. If, if, if, if, If that is what you're saying. You you are now going from one overreaction to a completely wrong reaction. We come back. I'm going to go to the phones.
So thanks for being patient. I'm going to go to the phones and see some of your emails as we continue today on the line of fire. Have you signed up yet for Israel Tour? But I should mention that Joey will will We'll play an Israel clip in the Next segment. Have you signed up?
Encourage you to do it. Change your life. I assure you, you'll be impacted. Shake the nation, change the world. Hey, this is Michael Brown.
I want to invite you to join me for our second ever trip to Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. This is a great opportunity I get to interact with you, our radio listening audience, and our ministry partners as we experience the land of Israel together and it will be a life-changer. We've got a great price on the trip. And if you're one of our monthly supporters or torchbearers, you're eligible to receive a special discount for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Space is limited, and we're accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information on the trip to secure your spot, go to askdrbrown.org, click on the Israel banner, or call our office at 704-782-3760. 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.
It is great to be with you today on the line of fire, 866-34Truth, number to call. I've opened the phone lines for anything you want to talk to me about today. I was unable to take calls yesterday because of some medical needs with my mom, almost 94 years old, my dear, sweet, frail old mom. And Nancy and I had to take her to the doctor's office and ultimately get her admitted to the hospital for a procedure that should be done a couple hours from now.
So as soon as radio is over today, I'm going to head over. But yesterday, late morning, I recorded the or The night before, I recorded the broadcast yesterday, so I couldn't take calls. But I trust you were edified, blessed, and helped by the broadcast.
So, phone lines are open, and hopefully, the procedure today will reveal the source of some problems that have been troubling her for a good number of weeks now.
So, if you just pray for Grace, she's almost 94, she has to be put under anesthesia.
So, you just have to be very careful with this: that God would bless the procedures and bring healing. I do appreciate it so much. Thank you for being part of our extended family. 866-34Truth. I'm going to go right to the phones.
Brandon Florida Gill, welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Michael Brown. I appreciate you taking my call, especially if it's a little bit off-topic. Oh, yeah, we're wide open today, so go ahead.
Okay, I appreciate it. And know that I will be praying for your mom. God bless you, and God bless her and your ministry. Thank you. My question is that my wife just recently purchased some jewelry from a particular company that she kind of liked.
And on our we were taking a little ride on the trip this weekend and she had decided to research the company while we were driving and She was kind of shocked when she went to their website and saw that they were basically. openly a new age in that they infuse a lot of new age principles into their jewelry. Like they they say that they sell their jewelry infused with positive energies and stuff like this, which It's obviously new age and occultic, and they even say that they use Um positively infused uh Charms and they even say talisman on their jewelry pieces. And we were both under the conviction of the fact that this. This is an You know, fitting for us as Christians and stuff like that.
So we decided. That we wouldn't have any jewelry from this company. And she even took the piece back. where she got it from and and got her uh money back from it.
However, we do know of other Christians who purchase the jewelry and they see nothing wrong with it.
So I was just wondering what your thoughts are. Yeah. Wearing stuff like that or participating in stuff like that has any type of danger to Christians and stuff and if I can get your thoughts and your wisdom on this. You bet. There are a couple of questions.
One question is in principle Because they say what they say about the jewelry, they're upfront and overt about it. In principle, Should a Christian buy and wear that jewelry? That's one question. The second question would be: in actual practice, is there danger? Could there be some type of demonic influence?
In other words, is there something real? That is happening. With this jewelry because of these spiritual forces that are that are being attached to it.
So I'll respond to that on the other side of the break, but I appreciate you raising the question. 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 866-348-7 884. Anything you want to ask me about any subject under the sun in any area where I have expertise, I'm opening the phone lines wide in this last half hour of the broadcast today.
So, back to Gil in Brandon, Florida. First thing, I really I really appreciate what you and your wife did. I believe you act in accordance with your conscience, and regardless of who agrees with you or not, I believe that is. Honorable in God's sight, okay? That you felt that the people were overt about this?
And even if there's no actual imagery, if there was imagery. If there was stuff that that was clearly uh wrong imagery. In other words, that was known. To have satanic associations or things like that, or sending out anti-Christian messages. I mean, for example, if someone had a cross with a slash across it, I mean, obviously, but let's assume it's more subtle than that.
The fact that they are outwardly saying We are infusing these with energy, etc. That to me is like 1 Corinthians 8. about eating food that was sacrificed to an idol. That if someone you go to someone's home to eat, right? and they just serve you some meat, you eat it.
You give thanks for it and you eat it. If he says this was offered to an idol, then you don't eat it. For the sake of that person's conscience, you don't do it.
So, even though you know it's just food, it's just food. The fact that they're saying, Hey, this was offered to an idol, and then because obviously the idol isn't eat it, it's then sold in the meat market.
So, they're telling you you don't want to participate. You know that the food is still food, it's going to go in your mouth and it's going to exit your system later. You understand that, but that person doesn't understand it.
So, for their sake, you don't do it.
Now, in this case, it's one step further. Which is, according to them, they are actively seeking to impart some type of spiritual power to this.
Now, It is totally 100% possible that your wife could have worn that jewelry the rest of her life without ever having a negative effect, without ever having any type of demonic oppression, without ever having anything happen. It's possible. It's also possible That it's mixed. It's also possible that there are demonic influences. Look, the fact of the matter is, anyone that works in the occult.
Anyone that that um Lives in these areas, open themselves up to demonic spirits or other powers, realizes there is a real spiritual realm. And that things can be demonized, that places can have high levels of demonic activity. You know, when people talk about haunted houses, no, we don't believe in ghosts the way people do, but there could be extreme demonic activity.
So is it possible? That something could happen, that there could be some oppression or something negative, or someone says, I don't know why, whenever I wear this thing, I get a bad headache. And then it's like, yeah, well, look, look at the, you don't know what this imagery means? No, oh, it's this and that. And you don't know this company, they're into this whole satanic.
Oh, I didn't know. And then you throw this stuff out, you never have another headache. Those things can happen.
So on the one hand, my normal faith attitude is Go ahead and try to curse me. Go ahead and try to attack me. God is in me, God is with me. Greater is he who's in me than he who's in the world. And that is my general mindset.
But if if I know that something has been dedicated For unclean purposes or something like that, if I know that it has been someone is trying to infuse it with some type of demonic power, why would I want to buy it? Why would I want to do business with that company, A, and B, why would I want to have that on me? You know, Smith Wigglesworth, who lived from 1859 to 1947 and head of the amazing Ministry of Faith and Healing, he would not even wear, let's say you wanted to put a rose on his lapel or something. He would not even wear it.
Now, I'm not advocating this. I've plenty of times speaking overseas. They give me this little thing with some flowers and they put it on me, you know, or some wreath or something like that. But he wouldn't wear it. Because he said it's dying.
It's already dying, and I don't want anything with death on me. I mean, that's how extreme he was. But if you do it out of love for the Lord and just not wanting to be polluted, hey. Do you think it makes sense in God's sight that because the jewelry is pretty? that we support a company that's aggressively new age and trying to infuse their items with other spirits and powers, that to me would be compromised.
If someone else does it though, it's between them and God. But I fully agree with your decision. Yes. And again, it's not like we don't we're not secure in our authority and who we are and why. But my concern is even though we have that, if we leave ourselves vulnerable by participating into it and giving the enemy rights, Yes, yes, yeah, fully understood.
Here, here, look. Look at the principle in Deuteronomy, the seventh chapter, okay? And it's not as extreme because we're talking about outright idolatry there. But in Deuteronomy, the seventh chapter, God told Israel, you know, don't intermarry with the Canaanites, don't worship their gods, and don't bring a detestable thing into your house, talking about an idol, or you, like it, will be cursed.
So again, we're not talking about something that extreme. God's not going to curse you for wearing new age jewelry or something like that. But you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it.
So, if the thing itself is dark, demonic, if the thing itself is a participation in other spirits, no, we're supposed to be children of the light.
So, yeah, I'm with you totally. We know our authority in Jesus. We don't have fear or concern. But I remember years ago when I was in Africa. I think it was in Africa.
I don't think it was Mexico. I got this really interesting chess set. And, you know, it had, it didn't have your typical chess-looking pieces. They were, they kind of looked like warrior characters. And because it was so interesting looking, I had it out like in one shelf and like in a bookcase.
There was some behind glass, and I had it out there. And some friends came over and they're like, There's some demonic thing in your house. There's just something wrong in your house. Like, what are you talking about? And they said, that, and they found it.
They said, that. That's demonic, can't you tell? When I looked at it, it's like, ooh, those dudes look, I never saw it like that. The little characters look kind of like these little demons. I thought, you know what?
I brought it back from Africa, but it does look a little funny now that I'm looking at it.
Now, we had no change before and after. It's not like things were dark and cursed, and then afterwards, everything was great. It was just like, yeah, why do I want that in the house?
Now that I think of it.
So, yeah, I'm with you on it. Again, you don't judge the others. But conversely, you don't let them judge you. And to honor the Lord in that way, to say, yeah, I like the jewelry, but who cares? This is something more important, is honorable.
And then, hey, maybe God gives you an open door to reach the people, the owners, with the gospel, but you don't have to buy their stuff to do so.
So, thank you, sir, for the call. It's a great question. Thank you. God bless you. God bless.
866-34-TRUTH. All right. Let me answer an email question. Since we have just deviated from Latest news and politics and moral cultural issues. David.
Hey, Dr. Brown, just finished talking about the alleged missing portion of Romans 8:1. It is not just, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but apparently it should include to those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. I was recommended the NASB as a student, but it does not contain the full Romans 8:1. I am struggling because it seems like it is a necessary component of the verse, and it is reiterated in verse 4 of chapter 8.
Help me to make sense of why the modern English version has it, but not the NASB.
Okay, this is a really easy one, but it's a very important question. The long and short is there are two primary Uh families of manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. The Byzantine Also called the majority text or the textus receptus, and the alexandrin. The the Byzantine text is the represents the majority of the 5,000 manuscripts that we have of the Greek New Testament. Represents the majority.
The Alexandrian texts represent the older texts. And The King James translators relied on what was the text of their day, Byzantine or the majority text, the Textus Receptus. They relied on that, and that has the words. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, or according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Those are the words there.
in the textus receptus or the majority text or the Byzantine text. The King James follows that, and the modern English version, the MEV, which is an adaptation of the King James, that also. Folllows that. All right. So.
So You do have The King James, New King James, MEV, all following the same. text and relying on that. Over the last century, many other scholars have relied on what they call the Byzantine the Alexandrian text, which says here are the older manuscripts, hence the closer to the original.
So if you read the NIV or the ESV or the NASV or the NET, the majority of modern versions rely on that text, feeling it is the older text. And that text does not have those words, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
So how then should we evaluate who's right, who's wrong? I'll give you my thoughts on the other side of the break. God of light, hear our cry, send us 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, 866-34Truth. You're listening to the Line of Fire. This is your voice. of moral Cultural and Spiritual Revolution, Michael Brown.
So, Romans 8:1, how do we ultimately decide what the text is saying? Should it have that additional comment? There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ, Jesus. who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. In my view, that's not the original reading.
Why do I say it? Scribes tend to add on rather than take away, generally speaking. And this comment could have easily been added on because of the repetition in verse 4.
Now, it's possible it was dropped out. because it occurred later and it was accidentally dropped out. But I don't believe it changes the meaning whatsoever. I don't believe it changes the meaning whatsoever. You say, what do you mean?
To be in Christ is to walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. That's what it means to be in Christ. Any notion that you can be in Christ while living in the flesh and living in the world and living in rebellion is not what the text is saying.
So there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Why, the law of the Spirit of life set them free from the law of sin and death. And now by the Spirit, we don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And that's what's now reiterated for the verses that follow. Verse 7, the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, doesn't submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot. Verse 8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Verse 9, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
So I don't believe personally there's any change in meaning. It is what the text is saying.
So The addition of those words to me is perfectly acceptable as far as reinforcing what is said later. But the right understanding of the text does not require those words. Overall, though, you'll see the variations end up being this minor that if you read the text overall, they tend not to affect the larger meaning or context. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Glenwood, Maryland.
Carol, welcome to the line of fire. Yes, how are you, Doctor Anderson? Not doctor Anderson. That's all right. Doctor Brown, but you got letter A, letter B.
We're good. We're good. I'm sorry because this is my first time to call. But I was thinking, I think people should really stop to think. He has three good people that I know of that's on his I'll check it.
You talking about Donald Trum checking McDonald Trump. I'm talking about our Trump yet. First of all, he chose a vice president of the Christian. And then he has my first choice, which then Carson, And I thought he was a good man. I still know he's a good man.
And I think Sarah Palin is a good person. And when you have three good people, and I'm sure there's more than just three. We don't know what God has up his lead. And I know God is in control and He always will be. Yeah, so let me ask you this question.
You make a great point in saying We don't know what God has in mind. That's one. And two, Donald Trump has people like Mike Pence and Ben Carson who are committed believers from what we know with him. And he has some very, very solid evangelicals who are standing with him and counseling him.
So God might use Donald Trump despite. His weaknesses and failings. Yeah, it could be. That's my hope, Carol. That's my hope as well.
But just a question for you. When we say God is in control, Was God in control when when Hitler was leading Germany? or when Stalin was leading Russia or when Nero was leading Rome. In other words, we've had terrible leaders. leading countries and and hurting many, many people over the centuries.
Um what does it mean if we say God is in control?
Well, I believe nothing happens except God has allowed it. And I believe, and I believe the Bible, from cover to cover, as grandma would say. I believe that he knew all of this was going to happen just as he knows exactly what's coming next. And that's where I believe he's in total control, though he allows things that we might grow and that we might be such in such a sync with him. And I do believe we will Yeah.
Got it. All right. Hey, Carol, I appreciate you weighing in, and I appreciate your perspective. Thank you so much for calling in for the first time. 866-348-787.
884. Let's go to Fort Worth, Texas. Maddie, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, how are you tonight? Doing well, thank you.
Yes, I have just a quick question. Thank you for taking my call. Me and my husband go back and forth with this, and it's just very simple. Is it okay to buy a lot of a lottery ticket? I mean, we're not like gamblers or casino things.
Once in the blue moon, we'll buy a ticket.
So we keep going back and forth of it. Is it okay or is it not?
Now, real quick, we don't have much time. Why would you think it's not okay? Yeah. I I think it's fine. Like he doesn't think it's it's okay because he says people think you shouldn't be gambling.
Right. All right, so here's the bigger thing to me. Whatever you do, even something that minor, you want to do in harmony. And Romans 14 says, Whatever is not of faith is sin.
So if he had a problem with it, then for his sake I wouldn't do it if I were you. If you had a problem with it. Then, for your sake, I wouldn't do it if I were him.
Okay. Just general principle. I'd approach anything in life like that. I always encourage folks to go for the higher ethic between them.
Now, if you're married to someone that's a total legalist and everything is wrong, you know, everything is dangerous, that's different. But I I would not make a major issue of it, okay? What would definitely be wrong would be number one doing it to try to get rich. That's definitely wrong. It's definitely foolish.
It's definitely unbiblical. And that desire that would be behind it would be wrong. And anything that would take away. A responsible living, which is obviously not what you're doing it for. You know, we take away the responsible we have to work, we have to make a living, we have to do this.
Uh and then anything that could potentially be habit forming. and and and steal away your money. You don't want to do that's that's the whole gambling thing. You know, can you gamble in in faith? But I I've never bought a lottery ticket.
I have friends that are believers. That'll tell me, you know, like once in 10 years, yeah, the Powerball was up to like 300 million.
So I bought a ticket the other day, and that's the only lottery ticket I bought in my life. I don't think it's a big deal in that respect. But but I've I've never done it. Um, one reason being, like I said, uh It would be looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. To me, I'm contributing to something that takes a lot of money away from other people.
And and and then uh and then also If you did win, then you obviously want to give most all of it away if it's that kind of money and invest it in good causes. But do you want to say where you got the money from? And and as an example to others or not. And then, you know, to me, it's so easy to get addicted by things.
So easy to have something that's habit forming. I don't do it. But again, It's not the end of the world. Obviously, but Those are the reasons I wouldn't do it anyway. Thank you for asking.
You got my opinion on that. All right, friends, I got to run, got to run over to the hospital. My mom's about to have a procedure, so give me an update. We're trusting God for everything to go well and smoothly. Check out our latest resource offer, especially if you're interested in Jewish things at askdrbrown.org.
My bottom line today: hey, Whatever is not of faith is sin.
So if you can do it with faith, great. Uh
