Thoughts on the State of the Nation; Answers to Your Calls and Questions

America continues to shake and quake. What is the church's response to the chaos in today's society? Um It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Protests and violence erupting again in Milwaukee.

Demonstrators firing shots, throwing objects, and setting cars on fire. The weekend of violence began on Saturday, with demonstrators torching several businesses, overturning cars, and throwing rocks at police. Governor Scott Walker activating the National Guard to assist police and declaring a state of emergency. Smith's family and friends holding a vigil marked by prayers: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, with his sister calling for peace. Don't bring the violence here and the ignorant here.

All right. Right now, turmoil in Milwaukee and even that clip that you just heard. The media not necessarily telling us all the story as it's happening. This is Michael Brown. I'm delighted to be with you, serving as your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst of a society in chaos and Church all too often in compromise.

Here's the number to call to weigh in: 866-34 Truth. 866-348-7884. As we are once again faced with racial tensions here in America. If there's something to learn from this, what can we learn? If there's something redemptive to speak into this, what can we speak?

If people are being incited to violence and anger on false Premises based on false information. How do we respond to that? Are people being used as pawns in larger cultural battles? And where should our concerns really lie? as followers of Jesus.

Now Let's just review what happened. in Milwaukee. over the last couple of days. There was a young black man Early 20s, who was shot and killed by a police officer. You say, ah, same old, same old.

Here you have a white cop killing an unarmed black man for no reason. Actually, according to all reports, the man was armed. He had a lengthy criminal record. He avoided police, and there was a chase. And according to police reports, he had this gun.

when he was shot.

Now, everything filmed by the policeman's body camera. We should have more details maybe in the next week or two that are released to the public, perhaps even before that. But what's not as widely reported is that the officer that shot him was also black. And the sheriff of Milwaukee is also black. And the fact that there are now riots against them or whites being beaten up.

single mountain their cars being beaten up.

Well, this has nothing to do with white-black, as far as we know. and could simply be a policeman doing what he's trained to do. You've got an unarmed suspect running away. It turns out, in fact, that he had a criminal record, but you have an unarmed suspect running away and then confronted. with a gun in his hand refusing to put it down.

Did he start to raise it? Those are all other questions. But from what I understand, this has nothing to do with white versus black. This has to do with larger issues. And the fact that the the cities and inner cities of America can erupt so easily, that's what concerns me the most.

What concerns me the most is perceptions here. What concerns me the most is the larger inequities in our society. And the fact that somehow Since the civil rights movement has grown and gained so much ground since the 60s that things have gone in the opposite direction. for more black families than not in America. In other words, that things are worse now, in many ways, than in the days before.

The civil rights progress was made. And I'm including things like family structure and overall well-being. And violent crime, why is that? And what about the comments of that sister at the end? We'll come back to it right here on the line of fire.

Age the world O God of burning, cleansing flames. 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. With you. Militarize in a community. uh and when you uh attack people Eventually, people are going to start to rebel against that type of oppression. That is the voice of the new Black Panthers leader addressing the issues in Milwaukee.

My view. My view. is that people are being exploited right now for other purposes. My view is that tensions are being exacerbated without good reason. There are things to address in terms of inequities in our justice system without question.

Those need to be examined in an ongoing way. We need to ask the larger questions about the high percentage of black Americans who are incarcerated. And if the reason they're incarcerated is because of larger problems in the inner city and the family structures, we need to address that. If the reason they're incarcerated is because of inequities in the justice system, we need to address that. We put all the issues on the table for open and honest discussion as followers of Jesus.

But it does not mean that we go along with violent protests just because there may be injustice somewhere. We recognize when people are being used. We recognize when tensions are being inflamed. We recognize when wrong mentalities are being played into. And as followers of Jesus, we don't just go along with that.

866-34TRUTH to weigh in 866-348-7884. Let me give you. An example. of uh of what I'm talking about. This quote from the sister the uh of the the man who was killed by police.

When she says, look, we don't want to be burning things down. We're only burning things down. That was played. That clip was played. On the air, CNN for example played it, to say that she was speaking against the violence.

which she was actually saying in her grief and anger was the whole quote is don't burn stuff down here bring it to the suburbs burn stuff down in the suburbs. Why are we burning our city when we're upset? Burn down the suburbs. That's quite a different sentiment. Would you not agree?

And then and then Listen listen to this. I want to highlight something. It is a wrong mentality that is being played into. It is a destructive mentality. It is a mentality that helps no one.

And please understand. We've had 16. Out of the last 24 years with Democrats leading the country, correct? Eight years of Bill Clinton, Eight years of George W. Bush, eight years of Barack Obama.

So sixteen. out of 24. at times with a Congress that was strongly behind the President, at times with a Congress that was hesitant to go with the President, but still allowed most of the major policies to go through. Why are things in the condition they're in today? Why are things in the state they're in today?

I believe there are policies in place. I believe there are things that are put forth that are supposed to be for the help of the inner cities and the poor that work in the opposite way. that instead create a mentality of entitlement and that play into a mentality of victimhood rather than helping to empower people in ways that are constructive. But let's grab clip number three, and what you'll hear speaks for itself. I'm going to actually bring in, though, Orlandis Jackson.

He is 24. He lives in this area. Just to give you a sense of young people in this area and to watch your neighborhood go through this right now. Just tell us what's going through your mind. It's sad because, you know, this will happen because they're not helping the black community.

Like, you know. The rich people, they got all this money and they're not like, you know, trying to give us nothing. It's sad. It's like. You know, and please it's just it's crazy.

All right, that was WTMJ TV in Milwaukee. What's very sad is to hear those Thoughts. To hear that mentality, quote, it's sad because, you know, this is what happened because they're not helping the black community. Like, you know, the rich people, they got all this money and they like, you know, trying to give us none. The idea, I don't care who's speaking here: black, white, green, yellow, purple.

That's not my issue. The idea that there's something wrong because the rich are not giving the poor money. First, Everybody's being taxed and the rich are being taxed more than anyone. And tax dollars are being used for welfare and other things that do directly affect the poor. But the idea that that's the way it's supposed to happen.

That the rich people come over and give their money to the poor, and then that's going to create equity. No it's not. That money will be gone. That that money will not be invested long term. Why?

Because there hasn't been proper training and empowering to do these things. Instead, there's been the cultivating of an entitlement mentality. I stand for justice. I stand against the mentality of victimhood and entitlement. I stand for equity.

I stand against the systems that keep people in bondage through the generations. and that even encourage fatherless homes. for the purpose of welfare. Yes, there are needs to be met legitimately, but the system that's been in place, whether it was intentionally put in place by leaders to keep black Americans down, or whether it was compassionately put in place, but But well intended, but wrongly executed. Either way, it's hurting people.

Are there larger issues to consider? Yes. Are there questions to raise again about the criminal justice system? Yes. But the mentality that is leading to riots in Milwaukee is destructive.

It is based on falsehoods in many cases. And it contributes to a mentality that we don't like the way things run. We're going to start setting fires and things like that. And where are right now the major civil rights leaders of today, the major African-American leaders who will appear on the scene immediately, if this had been a white cop shooting an unarmed black man, they'd be there. Where are they now speaking into the larger situations?

Where are they now speaking into the communities and saying, listen. Lo we are we are people of decency and honor. Let's work hard. Let's get our families strong. The bigger issue is why why do so many young men already have a criminal rap sheet?

I look at that and say something's wrong in the larger society. And we need to look at it together. What I mean is, yes, everybody's responsible. But somehow there's a system in place that makes it very difficult for people to overcome these obstacles in the inner city. What do you think?

Do you agree with me or disagree? 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Greg in Brockington, Massachusetts to get the conversation started. Welcome to the line of fire. Yep, I don't really mean to be correcting you, but it's Brockton, the home of Rocky Marciano, Brockton.

It's just put incorrectly on the side. I understand. And I thank you for taking my call. And I want to speak to an issue that gets no currency in the media. And I'm speaking also as a Christian personally, it gets no currency in the church.

When we look at these rioters, to a man You see that they have no fathers. When you go into the prisons, To a man, you see that the violent offenders, the drug users, et cetera, have no fathers in their lives.

Now, many of them.

Some of them have fathers who abandon them. But The fathers I'm talking about are the ones who are thrown out of the lives of those children in the courts. We have created a system that has it views the father as the enemy of the family. I have been a volunteer activist With an organization called the National Parents Organization for the last eighteen years. And I would ask you to have our founder, his name is doctor Ned Holstein, He is a medical doctor with Harvard credentials.

who started our organization 18 years ago. and he will tell you about this phenomenon that I have labeled court-ordered fatherlessness. where in sit situations where there are separation and divorce, the father is regarded as the enemy of the family. in the courts. I've been standing outside of courthouses this summer holding a sign that says Dads' Lives Matter too.

And I can't tell you how many people approach me, men and women, and I wind up praying for these people. I'm talk by the way, our organization is national. We have tens of thousands of members, forty percent of whom are women. We're talking about mothers who see that their sons lose their children and by extension their grandchildren. I was just talking recently to a mother who came outside of that courthouse frustrated.

because her son had lost his kids. Uh he was away on a tour of duty. We have military fathers who lose their kids. This is a this there are millions of men And the church has turned A deaf ear to this. family leading leaders, like focused on the family and uh the Family Research Institute.

I have made overtures to these organizations for a long long time. Tell you what, Greg, here's what I want you to do. Give Howard the info on the founder of your organization. And we'll certainly look into having him. on the air.

But this raises the larger issue of fatherlessness, which we will pursue on the other side of the break. It's fire we want for fire we want. We please. 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. Whoa. You activists out there, you civil rights leaders.

All of a sudden Black Panthers NAACP come out the woodworks. They just came out of nowhere. We don't want justice. We want justice. No justice, no, please.

That's all you see, no death, disc, no please. Shut up. When there were 60-plus shootings in Chicago a few weeks back, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. Few weeks later, it was 47 drive-bys in one weekend. Where were you?

Nowhere to be found. When Lil Ray Ray kills little Luke, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. Okay, when the little girl was shot when she was riding her tricycle in the front yard and stray bullets hit her, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. Yeah, that is a black American voice speaking against the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking against the civil rights leaders for hypocrisy and for I'm talking about current leaders for hypocrisy and for stirring up dissension and strife. And I could not agree more. 866-348-7884. I firmly believe that racial tensions are being stoked.

I firmly believe that things are Uh the the emphasis that's being put where it's being put. The results it's getting are destructive, not constructive. It's the opposite of how positive change came in the civil rights movement. It's stirring up the opposite types of sentiments. And it's when you end up with violence and riots over, remember, from what I understand now, a black officer.

who serves under a black sheriff. Shooting a black man with a criminal record who, according to our reports, was armed. All right, now we have to see the full footage to see what happened. But to now turn that into a black versus white conflict. And a poor versus rich conflict is to completely miss the point.

And to me, the bigger question is. Why did this young man already have such a criminal record? Yes, he's responsible. We're all responsible for our actions. But in what environment was he raised and why is that environment so prevalent in the inner city?

Across ethnic boundaries and color boundaries, why is it so prevalent? Listen to what Dr. Walter Williams said, professor of economics at George Mason University, himself African American. He wrote this in 2015. To weigh in, 866-348-7884.

And remember who's talking here. I am not some conservative talk radio host who's always exalting the white Republican position. Far from it. as you know. I'm always going to raise things that are going to be controversial and unpopular in certain circles if I believe they're truthful.

Walter Williams said this today the overwhelming majority of black children are raised in single family headed families As early as the 1880s, three quarters of black families were two-parent.

So this is shortly after the Civil War. In 1925, New York City, 85% of black families were two-parent. One study of 19th century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children had the same mother and father. Today's black illegitimacy rate of nearly 75% is also entirely new. In nineteen forty black illegitimacy stood at fourteen per cent.

It had risen to twenty five percent by nineteen sixty five when Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote The Negro Family, The Case for National Action, was widely condemned as racist. By 1980, the black illegitimacy rate had more than doubled to 56% and has been growing since. Both during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a man was rare. among blacks. These things are grievous and painful to read.

My point again. is stirring people up. the riots, the anger, It is unproductive. And in many cases, it is based on falsehood rather than truth. And it continues to buy into this victimhood entitlement mentality that is destructive.

And if my main message to you, let's say you're a fellow Jewish person, and my main message to you is that we're victims and society owes us and everybody's taking from us and we've been persecuted through the centuries and that is not going to empower anybody and it's not going to help anyone to overcome. And if my argument is, well, let's start burning down buildings and setting cars on fire and attacking people, it is 100%. Counter productive. All right, I'm about to go to the phones. I'm about to go to the phones.

A few quick announcements. A few days ago A liberal rabbi. Wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times is God Transgender. I responded to it both in a detailed article and in a very clear video. We're getting a lot of questions about it.

We responded immediately. You can read that article or view that video at my website. Ask Dr. Brown, a SKDRBrown.org. Also, we got such a great response to Ray Comfort's Atheist Delusion movie last week.

That you can download, and then half of the proceeds are being donated back to our ministry. We got such a great response, we extended it one more week, except we added in. The entire School of Cultural Engagement. Six leading teachers, each teaching about seven hours on audio. You can download that.

It's normally the list price is like $150. You can get it for $20 download.

So take advantage of those resources. I didn't want this half hour to escape without me announcing that all at Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. My question is: what positive things can we do? As a nation, as a church, to address these issues in a constructive way.

We go to Manhattan. Janet, welcome to the line of fire. Hi. I totally agree with what you're saying. The amount of black males that are in jail does not compare to how it was forty or fifty years ago.

Illegitimacy and everything that you spoke about, especially among the poor. I've traveled among the poor. I mean, it's among the poor as far as blacks is concerned, very little marriage. Marriage is not made an importance. Um But at the same time, I've also traveled to places like Colorado where there are a lot of the poor Caucasians.

Yes, they hung on to marriage, but at the same time, there was a high rate of abuse, alcoholism, incest.

So I really can't so even though they are married, they were married, there was a severe, severe dysfunction. I mean working in social services. You know, I've seen it. But the bottom line is, we could just blame it on moral degeneration where not being lined up with the word of God. And when that happens, God, we lose protection.

You lose protection. When you're out there and you are not caring whether What child are you bringing when you're bringing this child into the world, and what could you offer that child? What can the father offer when you don't care whether that child is given a decent home, a decent life? Things happen to you and you lose God's protection. And you're going to get what you desire in your heart.

And if what you desire in your heart it's just lawlessness. Just, you know, you're just thinking more about your flesh rather than the life of these children. These children are going to grow up and reflect. the family and the community. And um you know, th these peop the the poor are open to all kinds of um of uh of ugly things, a lot of oppressive.

Yeah, tell you what, Janet, stay right there. I I want to continue talking with you on the other side of the break. What do we do? Constructive solutions. What do we do?

It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Yeah, just consider consider this one stat. 1960, this is an article a couple years back, Psychology Today. In nineteen sixty only one child in every three hundred fifty lived with a mother who had never been married. By 2012, 22 out of every 100 kids lived with a single mom.

and only half of those moms had ever been married. Wow. That is just unreal. All right. So, Janet, back to you constructively.

What do we do? How do we help? people, especially in the inner cities, that have grown up. without a normal mother-father home. They've grown up with immediate family members in prison.

They've grown up with a lot of drug use surrounding them. How do we as Christians help address these problems that are so glaring?

Well, as experience of a number of churches, conviction and sin is no longer preached that much anymore. And Without that, the truth is not setting people free. You know, you're going into the churches, and it's that true conviction of the humbling of that heart. has to be taught. It has to be taught out into the streets.

It has to be preached out into the streets. Um, you know, people have to get out of the churches and minister to people the way God wants us to minister. Without that true conviction, and I'm talking about believe your heart believing and realizing that something has to be changed, that you know, this world is going to come to is going to come to a point where we have to change before Christ comes back. I mean, without that truth. Without that truth, and I'm not talking about just ministering, I'm talking about being convicted.

I understand. It's not being taught. And when a person doesn't feel convicted, There is no change. Got it. All right.

Since we know that black Americans on average attend church more than white Americans. Since we know that spirituality, the gospel, is much more embedded in the black American culture than the white American culture, just in so many different ways, just by tradition and background and things like that. And we know that family is still a very important concept as much as families are broken up. What you're saying is if the pastors and leaders would begin to preach, and you said it's also, you've got it in the inner city of white America, and I'm sure Hispanic, it's Asian. Yeah, that problem.

Right, right.

So it's across bounds of race and it's across bounds of ethnicity. But we go back to the pulpits, the same problem we have in America as a whole, the same problem we have in the suburbs, and it just manifests in different ways there. That if we would preach truth from scripture, if we would preach it anointed by the Holy Spirit and living it ourselves, those words of truth would penetrate hearts. And then people say, okay, what do we do? How to, okay, we want to respond.

We don't know how. That's where the process of discipleship comes in. That's where the process of walking it through. And again, it's challenging when we have few spiritual fathers and few mentors. But if we weren't just preaching kind of an inspirational, feel-good message from the pulpit, or look at how bad society is and what we're owed, or the whole meaning of the gospel is just that I financially prosper, whatever.

If we went back to preaching the truth, preaching it with conviction, and then seeking to model it within our local churches, we could see change come. Janet, when you talk like that, in many ways you're talking my language. That's where it has to start. It's not the whole of the answer, but that's where it has to start. Thank you so much for weighing in.

Alan West said this, the little platoon of the black community is the church. Our Christian faith is based on individual freedom from sin and the personal decision to find spiritual liberty that leads to a better life here on earth and for eternity. On Sundays in America, the most conservative people can be found in black churches. Yes. Correct.

All right, we'll be right back with your calls.

Next time change 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 for joining us on the line of fire, 866-34TRUTH. Michael Brown here again, friends. It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to criticize. It's easy for me to sit here and say this is wrong, that's wrong.

It's easy for you to sit where you are and say, yeah, this is messed up, that's messed up. The question is, what do we do? The question is: What are redemptive solutions? Look, before I go back to the phones, it's very easy. To look at the same problem and propose the same solution for years.

Whereas it doesn't work. We do it over and over and over again, and it doesn't work. At a certain point, you have to say, okay, this is not working. I got bit by some bugs the other day. I think fire ants, although those are pretty painful bites when you get them, you normally know them.

But I had on about five bite marks on my legs over the weekend. And they get pretty ugly. I mean, they swell and they get ugly and they itch.

So, you know, I'm putting on the anti-itch cream and stuff. Just got online, looked at how to treat it, chatted with Nancy and said, okay, I'll put on some of this anti-itch cream. And my tendency is I was putting it on, it has helped a little bit. But the funny the funny thing is the the funny thing is is this uh My mentality is: I keep putting it on, even if it doesn't work, I keep putting it on. And that can be commendable when sometimes it takes time.

Test takes time. Keep doing it. You'll see results over a period of time. But other times, it's. It's we're deceiving ourselves.

It's the old definition of insanity from Albert Einstein doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

So, if we keep saying, okay, you've got to fix this, society has to fix this, we need more money poured into the inner city, maybe those are not the solutions. We've tried them over and over again, and they've failed over and over again. In fact, in many ways, they've made things worse. Let's go to East Orange, New Jersey. Jackie, thanks for calling the line of fire.

Oh, thank you. Mm. Yes, what I wanted to say is I raised my son as a single divorced mother, and my mantra has always been. Yeah. Empowerment plus Yeah.

I personally don't look for anybody to do Anything for me. I tell my friends I plan to get rich one day. I work hard. If I want something, I work for it. I listen to those who are speaking a positive message.

And I never, ever once said to my son, we are victims of some kind of racial. You know, white privileged society. I don't even talk that stuff in my house. I say, hey, God blessed us to be born in this country. We're going to work hard and get what we want.

And Dr. Brown, I was raised in the Bronx Housing Projects. I lived in Harlem.

Now I'm in East Darring. I mean, I bring myself wherever I go. I don't let myself get caught up into mentalities. It's about working hard for what you want. Live by the Lord's standards.

This is what it's been for me.

So Jackie, how does someone How does someone make that adjustment? in their own minds. If they have been raised thinking the world is against me, society is against me, somebody owes me something. Right, yes, uh, and that's just the way they've been raised, and they see what appears to be injustice and inequity around them. Let's say you're a next-door neighbor.

How do you speak to that person to help them to change their thinking?

Well I tell them that Yeah. gospel that God Made you in his image, and it is his plan. For you to succeed at your talents. We all have talents, black. White rich.

poor. Let the Lord Guide you and show you the way. You were not. Born. to be a failure.

There is no such thing. Failure is not from God. Mm. Yeah, those are passions. Powerful words to speak to help everyone recognize, created in God's image, and therefore that makes us people of value, people of potential, with God's grace and with God's help.

Jackie, how old was your child when you were divorced? He was a about uh Uh two or three Mm-hmm. And I raised him. I put him in Boy Scouts. My brother, who's a deacon, was also there to be a positive male role model.

And I just had him around positive role models. I would take him to museums. We had different museum memberships. And I showed him, you know, the world, you could have whatever you want. Work for it.

His friends were of different ethnic backgrounds and so forth. And we never bought into this. Mentality of, well, you know, you're black and the world is against you. I myself just cannot listen to that kind of negativity. And he grew.

And he worked hard in school and uh you know, now he's in college and where Moving on in life. and we give thanks to the Lord every day for what we have. Yeah. And I do support people. I've seen people on the street that are homeless.

I could give them a kind word and a couple. I did that yesterday when I stopped at the bank on the way to church. I gave a woman laying in the bed. of the bank. give her $2 in a Bible track and say, God bless you.

So we don't look down on people that don't have We We bless them, but we make it clear like I raised my son. You know, you are wherever you are. That's where you You planned to be whether you meant to be there or not. Mm. And last question, Jackie.

Since you you mentioned some of the places where you raised your son, the environment you were in, obviously you were around others who didn't share that same mentality and who looked at themselves as victims. How pervasive was that from your experience?

Well See, when it came to people I associated with, like For instance. I went I made sure I went to college and graduated. I always like Like I can The only way I could describe it, Dr. Brown, I instinctively Look to I want to have more. I want to.

Do better. You know, I respected Everybody that I met, I never argued with them about But But I knew what I Wanted out of life. That's why I say. Self-empowerment. I knew that I wanted to do well.

I would listen to people, whether it was radio or television, on how you could improve yourself. My mother was one of my greatest examples. She grew up very poor, and she became widowed very suddenly when I was in high school. School and my mother, she did not want welfare, even though some family members said, Oh, you could be on welfare. This was the early 70s.

My mother said, No, she's going to work. and support her family, which she did. And my little sister Well, hey, you know, she went to school. I think And my brother would pick her up. We just worked together as a family to have whatever we wanted.

We never lived. on the mindset that the government owes us. uh anything we've Work forever. Everything and we had nice things. I don't know whatever other mine.

Yeah, that's very powerful, especially when you mentioned some of the other challenges with your mother, with a sibling.

So what a great story. What a great testimony. What a great attitude. Thank you for sharing it with our listeners. God bless you and your family.

Oh, God bless you too. Thank you. 866-34-TRUTH. Listen, we must have Homes with Active dads involved. It's absolutely critical for the well-being of the next generation.

But Billy Graham said only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children. Billy Sunday, I don't believe there are enough devil devils enough in hell to pull a boy out of the arms of a godly mother.

So, for the single moms listening, as much pressure as you're under your influence can be absolutely massive. Let's go to Rock Hill, South Carolina. Melissa, welcome to the line of fire.

Okay. Hello, Dr. Brown. Hey. Hi, can you hear me, Dr.

Brown? Yes. Okay, great. Thank you for having me on. I just wanted to agree with pretty much everything that you're spec sharing on the show as well as the previous caller, myself being a black Christian.

raised in the south, um having lived um my my parents grew up um in their early years under segregation here. But we were always taught to um respect others. We were taught to um judge people on their character and to not prejudge them. um to to or to assume that white people hated us or Um Had a had any sorts of derogatory feelings towards us. And as a Christian, I just find it.

really sad that many of my fellow black brothers and sisters has um such a sort of resit resentment or a lack of unity with our white brothers and sisters. In regards to things that happened in the past. And so It really breaks my heart that these um scenes of unforgiveness that they're being planted in the next generation as we see with the rioting that that is currently happening and that we have seen happen in recent events. Ferguson You know, namely in New York and these sort of incidents that have occurred after police shootings and that. I just think a lot of it comes down to unforgiveness, a lack of community, a lack of respect for authority.

A lack of strong father figures in the home that do actually instill those values of respect for authority and for others. Right, so yes, stay right there, Melissa. I want to just take another minute on the other side of the break if you can stay with us. We'll get you some more calls as well. What if that was the whole emphasis?

cultivating attitudes of forgiveness. Respect. for authority and then calling on the church as a whole to work for unity. does this together. What would happen then?

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome back, friends, to the line of fire. We're talking about race riots in American Milwaukee today. We're talking about fueling wrong fires, feeding into wrong attitudes, and instead feeding into right attitudes.

So, Melissa, if within... the African-American community, an emphasis was put on forgiving the past where it hasn't been forgiven because it manifests itself again in the present. And Teaching respect and honor for authority, and doing whatever can be done to get black men involved as fathers. and examples in their home. At the same time, calling on the the church as a whole to look at issues where there may be injustice and inequity and things like that and to work together to solve those issues.

Do you think that that would make a a positive change in in the the actual atmosphere and and uh lifestyle of of the inner city. Absolutely. The fact that fathers are not in the homes and that families are failing is very sad. And I think that a lot of the the young people are they're angry and they're dis they feel disenfranchised and cut off. From um you know, from the American dream, but it's because In many case cases, they have not been given the resources from their own family unit to compete in society and to be successful in society, but it it causes them to.

Look outward. Outward for someone or something to blame. And so it's easy to, the race issue is so sensitive. And our media is is very strategic at Using these instances to further divide us and with false narratives. And so when you have people who are already angry, And who are looking for a reason or someone to blame for their situation, and you have a media outlet that is.

Um invested in keeping us divided and and in um creating false narratives. people angry. For ratings and such. You just create the perfect storm. And this is why the church must lead the cause and must.

be the loudest voice over the media and over the lies that um that we're hearing. Yeah, Melissa, I couldn't agree with you more on every point that you made, point after point. I'm with you. Thanks for your voice. Thanks for your witness.

I appreciate you calling in. Thank you both for talking about this issue, Dr. Brown. You bet, you bet. All right, 866-348-7884.

Let's go to Richmond, Virginia. Ray, welcome to the line of fire. Doctor Brown, thank you for taking my call. Yeah, but a few points. I I live in Richmond, but Inner City, uh I'm Hispanic, I'm Puerto Rican.

Uh grew up in the Bronx. And I agree with the with the lady that was on before, Nancy. First of all, there's no quick fix. to the situation right now. But I do believe Leave.

Um vehemently that Mm-hmm. The the lack of teaching your children character Is a big mistake. And also, there's a big mistake that I think that the Catholic Church has been the one to Um uh uh it's it's Put this out there as a fact. That poverty and And God go together, you know, and our youth is convinced that. If you want to be successful.

In life, and if you want to be not even wealthy, well, I just say wealthy. You know, you can't be uh You can't follow Jesus because they've made religion to be something that that's poor. You know, it's synonymous with poverty. And that's not true at all. The biggest thing that the Bible speaks about is that you can be successful in every way if you follow God, you know?

And I think that that's been portrayed. out there and it's the big belief. If you are you know, involved in being uh if you're a Yeah. or a priest or whatever, there's no way that you can All right, so let me just throw a thought in here, Ray. On the one hand, I understand how Catholic priests take a vow of poverty, and there can be the mentality that the poorer you are, the holier you are.

You know, that can be felt throughout church. churches as a whole. On the flip side, when you counter that with a A prosperity gospel, which is different than what you're saying. You're saying you can honor the Lord, work hard, live by His principles, and be blessed. and be financially prosperous and and and Cared for in this world, but there's a mentality that says that the gospel is a means to riches.

That Jesus died to make us rich. And what I find in many churches in poor areas, rather than teaching biblical principles about hard work and rather than teaching biblical principles about honor and things like that, they teach how to use the gospel to get rich, which now is completely avoided.

So I'm not differing with what you're saying. But there's got to be a happy middle ground that does not go the way of the gospel of poverty or the gospel of prosperity. You follow what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, and I I didn't mean that at all, that that yeah, yeah, I understand. happened, but I didn't see it happen.

Yeah. see that, you know, uh there's a difference there. You know I had a Friend, not too long ago, that he saw a pastor in one of the local churches riding a horse. You know, and to him, that was way wrong. I I I I couldn't read that.

What's wrong with a pastor drug? A force, you know, if you like the type of a car, You like this type of car, you know? But I saw and noticed how people, you know, Yeah. uh are offended by that.

Okay. Got it. So if he was if he was driving a rundown car that's that Had to be repaired every other block that would have been more fitting.

Now, of course, it would be wrong if he's driving a Porsche because he extorted his flock. It would be wrong if he's driving a Porsche because he preaches a prosperity gospel. People give sacrificially and he gets an exorbitant salary. But to say that a Christian leader can't have a Porsche, right, it does play into that mentality. And, Ray, here's what I want to emphasize.

Here's what I want to emphasize. There are a lot of wrong mentalities that we have when it comes to the gospel. And there's the one mentality that if you're going to follow Jesus, you can never amount to anything in this world. If you're going to follow Jesus, the only real calling is to be a pastor, and then you'll never really have anything in this world, as opposed to followers of Jesus should have a positive impact on every area of society. in education, media.

Entertainment that godly people should be raised up by God to have a positive impact everywhere, as well as serve the hurting and the poor.

So you have a wrong mentality that needs to be adjusted. You go the other way, the other extreme, which of course Ray differs with as well, which is that the gospel is a means of financial success, that Jesus died to make us rich. As opposed to, we don't lay up our treasures in this world. We follow Jesus and live in the light of eternity. But hard work, generosity, living by God's principles, honoring him does bring blessing in this world.

It just does. And some of my friends were telling me in India where the gospel has spread through tribal regions. We were in those tribal regions over 20 years ago. And you're talking about incredible poverty. You're talking about people living in these little grass huts and dying just when the waters flood and they're because of bad nutrition and stuff.

And now they said it's hard to find a hut. The people have better housing and they're careful. Why? Because the gospel spread, you get still. Dirt poor compared to most of us in America, but it's made a difference because of the principles of life in it.

Hey, thank you for the call. All right, listen, friends. Please visit the website askdrbrown.org. We have an amazing special resource offer this week you don't want to miss, plus my latest articles and videos. My bottom line today, God's ways work and produce life, not destruction, not division.

America continues to shake and quake. What is the church's response to the chaos in today's society? Yeah. 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.

Alex, do you believe in God's existence? No, I do not. How long have you been an atheist? I would say probably since I was about 15 years old.

So you don't believe in the existence of God? No, not really. What happened when you were 15? Um, I started questioning things and I really just started to think about the logic behind everything. Hmm.

Those are some clips from the important Ray Comfort movie, The Atheist Delusion. I'll tell you more about that in. A moment. H6634 Truth is the number to call. And we're talking about what's happening in society today.

We want to be constructive, not destructive. We want to be helpful, not harmful. We want to point in the right direction. Expose what's wrong, but point in the right direction. And that ties in with the issue of God.

That ties in with the issue of God. the greatest single need in America to day. is for a greater God consciousness. Beginning in the church. and then spreading to society.

a greater consciousness of who God is, a greater consciousness of our relationship to him. A greater consciousness of his ways and his principles and his truths. A greater consciousness of the fact that we will give account to him. a greater consciousness of the fact that we reap what we sow. A greater consciousness of the fact that people ultimately don't get away with anything.

There are ultimately consequences to our actions, to our words, to the lives that we live. And that God, through His mercy in Jesus, can change things. But if we don't turn to Him, we fool ourselves by thinking that, well, we just got away with whatever it is that we think we got away with. Why do I bring this up now? I bring this up to say.

as we look for solutions. to the racial tensions that are here in America. We dare not make this only a political situation, or only a social situation, or only an economic situation, or only a criminal justice situation. All those things are issues. But ultimately, it's going to take the church rightly taking hold of God.

leading the way with constructive holistic solutions for the rebuilding of our nation. 866-348-7884 is the number where you can weigh in. Let's grab clip number two. This is the mayor of Milwaukee commenting on the shooting that took place a couple of days ago. This was his comment on it.

I have not seen The video. I have, however, seen a still photo extracted from that. And that still photo demonstrates. without question that he had a gun in his hand.

Now here again, to repeat what I mentioned in the last hour for those that missed it. We have a situation with a young black man who, according to the reports, was armed, who was running from police. Who Was then shot with a firearm in his hand.

Now, the question was: he told to put it down? Did he turn? Did he point? Did he do any of that? All those questions remain to be answered by the body cam, by the video that was shot.

But what's not as widely reported is that the officer who shot him himself is an African American. And And that the sheriff is also African American. And from what we can tell, this has nothing whatsoever to do with white cops killing unarmed young black men, has nothing to do with that whatsoever. And the riots that are being stirred up are being stirred up under false pretenses. and are destructive more than constructive.

The question is, how do we move forward? But listen, whoever you are, Democrat, Republican, black, white, rich, poor, Hispanic, Asian, whoever you are, don't allow yourself to be a pawn in somebody else's political agenda. We'll be right back with your calls. Angel 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 for joining us on the line of fire, 866-34-TRUTH.

How do we move forward? How do we bring about positive change in the inner city, in race relations? with with uh democratic Presidents in place. For 16 out of the less 24 years, with the first black American president finishing up eight years in office. If the Democratic policies were helpful, If we were moving towards racial harmony in a deeper level, I would dare say, I would dare.

Say. That things would be very different today. I am deeply concerned, deeply concerned that. in point of fact, we are heading in the wrong direction, and many of the reasons for that are the policies we have in place in our nation. Let's go to Richmond, Virginia.

Craig, welcome to the line of fire. Good afternoon, Dr. Brown. How are you? Doing well, thanks.

Good, good, good. In reference to what you're talking about, you know, the thing is that Jesus said it plainly, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I think a lot of times what happens, we have idealistic views about what we think should be the case, and it's not always the case. I love what the sisters were saying about how that they have a positive attitude. They don't look at themselves as the victims and all of this.

And there's many of us who don't look at themselves as victims, but that doesn't make us any less victimized. things like this do happen. The bottom line is you're one person speaking against racism, saying that I feel like it should change and we want it to be different. And there's many that do, but there are many of those that doctor Brown, they don't care.

Okay, they don't care. There are people that are still prejudiced. There's still people that are still racially biased. There's still people that practice racism in this world. And it affects many of us African Americans because of the jobs we work, because of the communities we live in.

There's a difference between the food lion in the inner city and the food lion that's in the suburbs. There's a difference. I know because I've lived in both places. And I've experienced both. Same with the McDonald's, same with the Hardy's, same with the Wendy's.

They're different in different areas. These things do occur. There's differences on the way that you're treated on jobs. It's an unfortunate reality, but it is a reality. It doesn't change until people come face to face with reality and make a determination.

We sit in our churches Sunday in and Sunday out. Lord, empower me. Lord, bless me. Lord, strengthen me. But ultimately, we're saying, Lord, do all of those things, but don't change me.

Don't challenge me. Change takes challenge, Dr. Brown. Change takes challenge. It means being willing to do something different than you've ever done before.

Don't just come into my neighborhood and say, hey, we're reaching out. Come sit down beside me in my favorite restaurant and be my friend. Come to my barbershop. Come to my pool hall. Come to the places that I frequent, you know, that we frequent as people and understand who we are as people.

Reach out and embrace and touch and become a part of. You know, this is what I'm saying. It's going to take more than just simple dialogue and conversation. Is going to take action, real action. And the church should.

Should be leading the way. It's unfortunate, you know it, and I know it, but the church is the most segregated place in the world on Sunday morning. And that that is shameful. That is absolutely shameful. Yeah, and and Craig, I understand that Sometimes, if you have a community that is primarily Asian, primarily Hispanic, primarily black, primarily white, and you're going to a church in your community, that it's likely that the racial makeup will reflect that community.

And many times, you know, people move into an area, maybe Asians move into an area, they're first learning the new language here in America, etc. They build up a community, they have a church, and it's mainly ethnically centered. I understand that, but the larger unity must be there and felt. You know, my own life, Craig, has been deeply enriched by traveling overseas and being in many different nations, and then having many internationals in our school, and then even seeing how America is perceived, good and bad, in other countries, the influence we have, good or bad, learning the diversity of culture, learning to appreciate, respect, and then seeing how God's principles work across the board. But look, here's the simple fact: most of the media is going to be reactionary.

So, you see. Riots in Milwaukee, you're either going to have the race baiters who are using this to further exacerbate tension and lay a guilt trip on others, or you're going to have the others saying, Look at how bad things are in the inner city, what's the matter with these people, as opposed to saying, Okay, what do we do? What do we do constructively? And what you're talking about, the first thing is caring, right?

So, that's that's the big, I see this. And the first thing that comes to mind is: okay, here's another young black man with a long criminal record. Why is that so common? Why is that happening?

Okay, fatherlessness.

Okay, so how do we work together as a church to address that? And then there can be inequities maybe in the court system or sentences passed down or things like that.

So we have to bring it to attention.

So all this that's happening around us has to stir us out of apathy, has to stir us, and I say us, the body together to get involved. And like you say, don't we got to actually get involved in one another's lives and understand each other and see the world through each other's eyes and then be able to make positive contributions to that.

So look, Craig, what we can do is keep talking about it and do what we know how to do on a practical level and pray for others to catch on as well and try to use these flashpoints in the media constructively rather than just to build an audience and get more people. Listening because it's controversial.

So let you get the last word in, sir. Yes, sir, Dr. Brown. That's the thing I want to say, and I understand that the media does exacerbate issues quite a bit, but we can't be deceived into thinking that only the issues projected in the media are the issues, only issues existent. There's many things that the media will never catch hold of, there's many things that people experience on a day-to-day basis.

I just went through something on my job where somebody said something behind my back, not knowing that I was within earshot distance. It's shameful because this is 2016. It's shameful because now the United States, after the history that they went through with the Native Americans, the history they went through with enslaved African Americans, after that history, they got to the point where they had an African-American president, and that could have been a shining moment for this country. But instead, it turned out to be a debacle in a lot of ways for a lot of people because a lot of people weren't ready. Simply because they have It's not just the blacks that have to let go of the past, the whites do too.

All right, so I said last word, but you brought up something else.

So, can we talk in a minute? Let's do this. True. All right. Muh it's very possible.

very possible. that there were many white Americans who weren't ready to have a black president, although it took a majority white vote, or a large percentage of the white vote, I should say, to get them elected just because of the numbers here. But my impression, this is my impression, okay?

So we're going to compare notes here from the worlds that we live in. My impression was that the nation was ready to come together celebrating a first black president and feeling that this was a major statement against our past and against our fairly recent past, you know, because when did segregation end? And it still exists on a certain level in some places. My feeling was that there was a lot of race baiting. or the president emphasizing things in wrong ways that ended up being destructive rather than constructive or playing into a victimhood mentality.

And then that further gets each side inflamed. In other words, Donald Trump is a very divisive candidate, right? I found President Obama to be somewhat divisive as a president so that I feel we could have done much better. That's my impression. You can totally differ with me.

That's fine. I'm just giving you my impression on things. Yeah, I understand that. And, you know, believe it or not, the night that President Obama was elected, I was talking to my older brother on the phone and I said, Kevin, just be prepared to see Obama backlash because there's people that aren't ready. This is before the man took over and took office.

Yeah. Because it's just knowing and having a knowledge of the fact that people aren't ready. Yeah, it took, and I told people, I tell people all the time, that 12% of the population did not elect President Obama. That didn't happen.

Okay. Yes, there was a lot of white people who were ready. And I applaud them for having enough guts to take a step. I applaud them for that, but realizing, okay, this is a different world. And I think that is, if there's any strength to the Democratic Party, it would be that.

it would be there. That they're they're more accepting of people from different backgrounds, different ideological thoughts and everything else. They're more accepting of those things. Whereas there's a little bit more closed mindedness amongst the Republicans. Unfortunately, this That's just what I've seen in my experience.

I'm sure you come from a different side of the tracks. Maybe you see things a little differently. And to me, those are not the arguing points because the bottom line is we're all Americans and we all speak the same language of love if we allow our hearts to be open to it. Yep. Yep.

Yeah, and by the way, I don't differ with your assessment of Republicans and Democrats in terms of demographics and things like that and sensitivities. My concern is that the Democratic policies in many ways have hurt rather than helped, and that the Republicans have maybe ignored some of these issues or hardly treated them, and the Democrats have focused on them more, but not in a helpful way. But listen, Craig, what we're doing is part of what needs to happen. And hopefully we can model this for others. But again, it's got to have that proviso that when we sit down, that you're open to me offending you and I'm open to you offending me, but we're going to hear each other out.

Because otherwise, if we just, if we just, well, we can't say it's too controversial. We'll never make progress.

So as committed people, we love Jesus and we love our country. We're going to sit down together and find ways to bring healing, find ways to bring justice, find ways to acknowledge wrongs and correct them, find ways to help each other, not hurt each other. We're on the same time, same team. Craig, thank you. Bless you, brother.

Game tour. Gotta It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

All right, I'm going to put a question out for you, and I want to get your impression. 866-345. truth I want to get your honest opinion on this.

So, we're going to go to the Middle East and we're going to come back to America. All right. If you know the history of the refugee situation, in the Middle East. It is quite unique. You have refugees who have been displaced by war in country after country all over America.

What happens to them? They become assimilated into other countries. They are in refugee camps, they suffer. They go through terrible hardship. Over a period of time, within a generation, they are normally assimilated in other countries.

They begin new lives in other countries. In the late 70s, early 80s, Nancy and I were part of a congregation that was super, super active taking in refugees from Southeast Asia, the Vietnam boat people fleeing their country. When America pulled out, the North took over, and the South had to flee. Terrible suffering they went through, perhaps 50% of them dying at sea, others suffering atrocities at the hands of pirates as they traveled. And Our church opened its doors and we began to sponsor refugees, and all of us opened our homes.

The great majority of people in the church opened their homes, and we began to have Vietnamese, Southeast Asian refugees living with us for years. They became part of our families. Many of them knew no English at all, and they came over and had to learn that. We'd work with them and raised our kids in that environment. This went on for, I don't know, probably almost five years.

And then we started to bring in Ethiopian refugees in larger numbers. At that point, our houses were filled.

So we then, and there were so many refugees coming in that we then worked with local apartment complexes and got them situated and started English as second language classes and things like that because we felt this is what Christians do. All right, enough said with that. It's a neat testimony to the glory of God. with Palestinian refugees early on. The surrounding Arab nations said, we will not assimilate them.

We want this to be an open sour against Israel.

So, they have continued to exist and live in refugee camps. Listen, even under the Palestinian authority. There are refugee camps in the West Bank. You can go to countries like Lebanon and Syria. And there are Palestinian refugee camps.

Even in an Arab-speaking country, in a predominantly Muslim country. They are still not assimilated. Why? because this is a way to make Israel look bad.

So you keep the refugee crisis going. Why? You keep the refugee crisis going, the goal now being that Israel looks bad, their numbers keep growing. World aid, relief aid comes into them largely goes into the pockets of corrupt politicians and into armament and terror tunnel buildings in a place like Gaza. But what's happening is you these people are raised to be refugees and raised to be underprivileged and raised to be upset with Israel as opposed to, hey, Listen.

Let's have our own state. Let's respect Israel as neighbors. We'll work together and we'll prosper. Or Let Jewish businesses come into the so-called occupied territories and start businesses where Palestinians can work and make more money and do better. Or Let's call on the surrounding Arab nations to assimilate the refugees and put an end to the refugee crisis as happens with all other refugee crises.

Or are they here, here? Let's go back to this. And I'm coming back to America in a moment. But ask yourself this question. Refugees from World War two How many displaced peoples were there after World War II?

I don't know the exact numbers, but very, very high. Where are those refugees today? Where are the refugee camps? They don't exist. Why?

Because the people have been assimilated into other countries. or into new divisions of countries. And that's where they now live.

So you don't have second and third generation refugees in large numbers from World War II.

Well, what's the refugee crisis? When did it begin in Israel? 1948, just a few years after World War II. Why are there now second and third or even fourth generation refugees? Why does that exist?

Because it is a problem that is is is exaggerated, is exacerbated, is encouraged. By surrounding Arab Muslim nations rather than looking for a way to solve it.

Okay, so. Why did I make that point? There are some who believe that there are political leaders who want to keep the black community poor. They want to keep the black community poor. Poor.

so as to make them dependent on the government and to vote for a particular party, and they are pawns in a political war. Do you believe that? Do you believe there's either a political party or political leaders whose goal is to keep black Americans entitled, excuse me, dependent? on a political party dependent on government assistance, so as to have black votes? Listen, I've read that from black leaders.

They said you used to have free black labor, now you just want free black votes. Is there any truth to that? Is that an outlandish, ugly claim? Or is there truth to that? 8663.

Three for truth. Let's go to Decatur, Alabama. Carl, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown.

I'm blessed to have found you on the radio. I just started listening this year, and you've been a true blessing to me to all of your comments and your teeth teams. Any discussions? And uh what I wanted to talk about was uh Your letters caller mentioned some things, you know, and it ties in what you were just saying about Basically, there's a class of people, and if you look at what Booker T. Washington.

Wrote in his book, Mine, something about education. He mentioned how there was a class of people. We wanted to keep the race and keep the vision going.

Now as a Aster, I have listened to several messages and I bought a book in the last month. that actually cuts to the heart of what's going on. Um In the Bible, you see the story of the uh woman at the well, John 4. and a problem that had been Between the Jews and the Samaritans for seven hundred and twenty two years, he solved the problem in that. That city in an hour or two.

And our problem is you know, in context of that is we're living true. I was raised in a very poor family. but they tell education. That was the thing. I think my you know, my grandmother, who was the major doctor for the family and my grandfather.

Who was a pastor? I mean, they They we live that they're poor, but they stress evic uh education. and even was not cut up in school. The eighth really was on me about getting education.

Well, you know, I cut up so much, but I eventually had to pay my own way. But I Get up there.

Now, you know, when it came to Obama, a lot of people were disillusioned about him. You know, maybe some people voted because of White Guild or Whatever, but Hmm. Was a disappointment to me. He was like, if you look in the Bible, you see Saul. he was a disappointment to me because I knew that he was going to be what Some have turned them to be a agitator.

you know, not really a person for To try to bring us together because of his religious background, where he spent time in church and their theology. That promotes what we have today. And that's why it's it hurts me as a You know, African American, which, you know, I'm a Christian at African American. I don't want to. you know, put the adjective in front of the mouth.

Yep. Hey, dear brothers, stay right here. I just want to talk to you on the other side of the break. Thank you for the very kind words. I'm glad that you've been a blessing to you.

And I want to just ask you a couple questions on the other side of the break. What do you think President Obama could have done better? Why do you feel he's been an agitator? We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr.

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

It's sad because you know, this will happen because they're not helping the black community, like, you know. The rich people, they got all this money and they not like, you know, trying to give us nothing. It's it's it's sad. Riots taking place in Milwaukee after a young black man was shot. As I understand the reports, he was armed.

He was shot by a black officer serving under a black sheriff. Nonetheless, this has been Uh Reported as a black-white conflict. And here's a young man interviewed on TV expressing his sentiments that it's sad that the whites have all this money and aren't giving it to those in the inner city black community. And to me, that points to the exact opposite of the solutions to the problems that we face, very real problems that we face. That points to the exact opposite of the solution and to the very mentality that is so destructive to black Americans and other poor Americans, namely that the rich just need to give them their money and everything will be fine.

Would to God it was as simple as just, hey, share the wealth. And then, of course, if you just share the wealth, you take it away from those who are making the money moving forward a ridiculously simplistic.

Solution being put forward, but one that's encouraged by a lot of government policy and mentality.

So, how do we address this constructively? 866-34Truth. Right before the break, right before some of you joined me, I was speaking to a pastor in Decatur, Alabama, talking about his upbringing, talking about the importance of education and the examples that he had, and also mentioning the disappointment that he had as a black American with President Obama.

So, my dear brother, What do you feel are ways that President Obama was an agitator, what do you think he could have done better as our first African-American president to further racial unity?

Well, I think the answer lies with the truth. He is basically not about truth. It was his bringing his upbringing was about, I guess, based upon a lie that the problem lies in victimhood, as you mentioned, the young man before, who made the statement is they would just give us the money. It's a little bit of a My grandmother taught me that, you know. There are no victims in this world.

Unless they want to stay in the victim. Clothes, she said a victim is only a victor who has changed clothes, in other words. I grew up poor, and I didn't want to stay poor. I didn't want to be rich. but I just wanted, you know, be able to to handle business you know, appropriately in a way, according to the truth that I find in the God of the Bible who promotes it.

when you see that true, if you can apply it you know, in your everyday life by being forgiven. Giving and Don't react to everything that you hear. You know, when people use a racial slur, you know, I've learned to, you know. Hey, that may be part of their upbringing or whatnot. I'm not going to make a scene because of that.

I'm I'm you know, I can either ignore it or deal with that person individually. I don't have to go and try to make a big scene about something of that nature. But a lot of us, we're so sensitive. that, you know, if anything is said, you know, uh I guess Uh from uh uh uh uh something that I've learned, you know, there is there's money being made. And this being a victim.

Yep. Money being made and you being offended and so forth.

So those are things that as the Christian, we have to overcome. And I'm right now here in our state. We don't have a whole bunch of problems. We may have a scandal here and there as you serve with the governor or whatnot. But nevertheless, we can overcome when we learn how to apply that truth.

as I've learned with the woman at the world well, seven hundred twenty two years they struggle with a problem, Jews and Gentile. I mean, Americans couldn't get along, but these will solve that problem in a little bit. When we put race and culture and all those things, and that's what our President has done, He's been divisive in a lot of that, and the party has been doing. Same thing. One party is not doing anything.

I guess they're just so comfortable with where they are that they're not going to fight. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the words of wisdom. And thank you for words of truth. Thank you for Christian words.

And yeah, I would say the Republicans often do very little to address inner city problems and the Democrats exploit them. It's a shame, isn't it? We'll be right back. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame. Say 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. Is it a war?

Yes, it is. It's a war against black people because we are the ones on the uh on the ones being murdered. We're the ones being killed.

So there's been a war against us. That is the voice of the leader of the New Black Panthers addressing what's happening in Milwaukee. I would say quite plainly, quite plainly That is missing the point of what's happening and missing the real issues that are going on. I just tweeted out. Republicans tend to overlook problems in the inner cities.

Democrats tend to exploit them. Neither are making much positive difference. 866-348-7884. How do we address racial tensions constructively? How do we avoid using them just to Uh I keep using the word exacerbate on the show today to stir up, to provoke anger and hostility, and greater division, and to play into a destructive victimhood mentality.

I've had. An hour and a half with some fabulous calls thus far, and many of the callers saying, listen, listen. we are are not going to have a victim mentality. I grew up poor. I grew up single parent with a single parent home.

I am a single parent, and here's how I raised my kids. People say I refuse to bow down to the victimhood mentality. It's very, very important. Very important. And listen, don't let anybody.

Whoever you are, don't let anybody use you as a pawn for their political agenda. I don't care which party, I don't care which person. Don't let anybody use you as a pawn for a political or social agenda. Stand with those who care about what's right and who care about you as well. And there are many black voices that differ with the tactics and the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement.

There are some videos online, Black Voices Against Black Lives Matter. Let's grab clip number six and listen to another of these voices. Where someone will post a video of you know a cop beating the out of a black person and everybody's like oh my gosh, this is ridiculous.

Something needs to be done. I can't believe this is happening. You know, these cops. All of them are crooked. And this is just I can't believe this is going on in America today.

But then like 20 minutes later somebody posts another video of some black person just beating the s out of another black person, you know, in a street fight or a gang fight or it's like 20 people just fighting each other and s ⁇. And the comments just magically change. All of a sudden it's, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. He got knocked out. That's right.

That's how the wild and out of the you know what I'm saying? We getting real in here. I mean, Really? We want Black Lives to Matter. We wanted to stop, you know, broadcasting.

You know, we always blame the media. Media broadcast negative sh ⁇ about black people. And then we post our own f ⁇ ing videos of black people beating the s ⁇ out of black people. And Joey, let's grab clip seven. We played it earlier in the broadcast, but here's another black voice protesting the exploitation of their own community, protesting what they believe is wrong in the Black Lives Matter movement.

And these are people saying, of course, Black Lives Matter. These are our own people, our own lives. Of course, they matter. But this stuff is exploitative and destructive.

So let's listen to clip number seven again. You activists out there, you civil rights leaders, all of a sudden Black Panthers NAACP come out the woodworks. They just came out of nowhere. We gonna want justice. We want justice.

Now just this note, please That's all you see, no death, this no, please. Shut up! When it was 60-plus shootings in Chicago a few weeks back, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. A few weeks later, it was 47 drive-bys in one weekend. Where were you?

Nowhere to be found. When Lil Ray Ray kills little Luka, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. Okay, when the little girl was shot when she was riding her tricycle in the front yard and stray bullets hit her, where were you?

Nowhere to be found. These are important points. Yes, there are larger issues we need to address together as a society. But There are people who want to use who want to Use you for their political purposes, who want to exploit you for their social agenda. Who wants to use you for their own empowerment?

Don't be a pawn in anybody's, in anybody's social or political agenda. Don't and don't let somebody stir you up. To ungodly emotions and to ungodly actions. That's never God's way. The wrath of man does not accomplish God's righteous will.

There is a holy indignation and a holy anger. And certainly, when Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders in the past addressed injustices and inequities, there was a holy anger. There was a righteous indignation. But what did it lead to? It did not lead to more violence or anger or hatred.

It led to positive solutions and challenging and confronting and exposing injustice. There's a right way, there's a wrong way. 866-34-TRUTH. And listen, if this had been a white officer. That shot.

This young black man in Milwaukee. I imagine you'd have some of the prominent voices, the Jesse Jacksons, the Al Sharptons, the others, there in a hurry and saying this has got to stop. But as I read the reports, it's a black officer who shot a black man. Perhaps there's enough evidence that he was ready to pull a gun or that he had a gun on him and he refused to drop it and the officer thought his life was at risk. Perhaps there's enough evidence of that that this can't be exploited.

So so so does that mean then that you only emphasize the death if it can be exploited? That you're not just saying, okay, let's look at all the shootings in the inner city of Chicago. and say black lives matter and what are we going to do about it. Chicago's murder rate up 72% in 2016, shootings up more than 88%. And who do you think the majority of the victims are?

Don't those lives matter? And as a previous African-American voice said, What about the three-year-old girl shot on her tricycle? Does that life not matter? Does her life only matter if she was shot by a white cop? Does her life not matter if she was uh hit by crossfire and gang violence?

That's the issue where you say, okay. Is it that the life matters and we need to talk about why this is happening? And we need to ask larger questions. And we need to say, are there reasons that you have a disproportionate number of African Americans in jail? Or are they getting disproportionate criminal sentences?

We ask all those questions, but we ask them in the context of all Black Lives Matter, not just those that are taken by white cops in an alleged Uh I uh Unjust, uncalled for shootings. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go back to the phones. We'll go over to Des Moines, Iowa. John, welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. You know, Dr. Brown, people in general, all of us, we follow leaders in whatever our community is, wherever our lifestyles are. And my question is, where are the leaders, especially in the black community, I really believe our country is in dire need of black pastors and leaders to stand up and point out the errors that that the media uh support, and we also need white pastors to join together with those black pastors But here's the thing.

People need to first of all believe and live the fact that we are Americans first, And once we stand together as Americans, regardless of our color, Regardless of our race or where we came from. We can overcome this. The gospel and the love of Jesus Christ can help us do that. But we are Americans first, and the problem is. Everybody wants to put a color.

or something before the American, and we are all American. Yeah, and John, a previous caller said this, which was very important. That there must be a recognition of the issue. There must be a concern. In other words, There there must be an understanding of of needs within a community There must be a feeling of concern and pain and empathy.

For issues, and then you're 100% right. It's the gospel that has to bring the issue. Where are white leaders that are addressing this? Where are black leaders, Hispanic leaders? It's across the board.

As followers of Jesus, this is our problem as a body.

So we first need to be aware. We need to be aware that there are issues. And then we need to get involved in one another's lives as much as possible. And as I say over and over, we sit down and say, okay, look. I give you the right to offend me.

You give me the right to offend you. Let's, if that happens, but let's talk plainly. In other words, I'm not going to pussyfoot around in such a way that, oh, no, if I said you might, no, no, no. Add commitment to each other, just like a husband and wife, right?

Something's wrong, something's going on, let's address it. Be please be honest with me. That's what we do. And then if you say something to me, it's like, man, you got a blind spot, you don't see it. We have a blind spot, you don't see it.

All right, let's help each other see. And yes, then as followers of Jesus, we bring... lives together, we address injustice together, and we bring hope. Together, all right, John, thank you for weighing in. I'm going to go back to the phones, and before this broadcast is over, I'm going to give a very, very brief comment about the elections.

But we're staying focused on racial division in America and what we can do as followers of Jesus to bring a solution. Hey, we had a great response to the Atheist Delusion video to download that from our website last night. Last week, we've extended it one extra week, but we decided to do something crazy. Our entire school of cultural engagement, over 40 hours of audio by top teachers on cultural issues, normally $150, you can download it for $20, the entire 40-plus hour series on audio.

So get the video. Get the audio on the website today. AskDr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. We'll be right back with your calls.

God saves. 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. It's not gonna end today. I can't say it's gonna end tomorrow. I don't know who this gun is. But it's for y'all to start.

We not the ones that's killing us. Y'all killing us. That's the voice of the brother of the victim in Milwaukee, the man who was shot. His statement. You're the ones killing us.

We're not the ones killing us. He's obviously in pain, lost your brother. This is perspective accurate.

Well, that's the grievous part. The big situations are the ones that are not being... Addressed. Let's go to Fort Worth, Texas. Michael, welcome to the line of fire.

Hello, how are you? Doing well, thank you sir. I want to y'all. God bless y'all, and I I thank y'all. I just wanna I'm an officer.

And every time I put on this uniform, You know, I know God's with me. I'm an ambassador for God out here. And I'm willing to put my life on the line for everybody that's out here, no matter what their color is. The problem we run into Is everybody so focused on color? What color are we going to be in heaven?

As far as I recollect, it doesn't say anything in the Bible about that. We're all spirits. No, we're all going to serve God. I think that if There There's no doubt that there's officers out there that Do stuff that they shouldn't do. I'm not going to deny that.

There's bad apples in every group, no matter what it is. Obviously. But for the most part, We're out here trying to do a job to help. We get frustrated and aggravated. We show up to a call where people's getting shot Kids are getting shot.

Nobody wants to talk to us, but yet we're the ones that blame because nothing happened. It's hard for us to do something and do our job if people don't cooperate with it. And if you're doing something that you're not supposed to be doing, We have to do our job. We can't just let you walk around angry and let you walk around because of how you're feeling. You got a gun in your hand and you're doing something.

We have to take action because our responsibility is everybody's safety. And given the circumstances, if everybody would take a second and walk in the shoes one day, even just for one day. Be a police officer, they would understand where we're coming from. It's not that we want to do anything, but there's sometimes people put us in a position we don't have a choice but to take the actions that we take. And we are here enforcing the laws that God created.

And if you're coming against cops, Who I believe this is a calling from the Lord. You're not just coming against us. You know, like the Pharisees said, if we go against him and he is from God, we're not going against him, we're going against God. And that's what you're doing anytime you don't respect and obey the authority that God has placed over people. There's a reason why authority is placed there.

is for protection of people. And people need to realize that. Community needs to come together in Christ. It doesn't matter what color you are. We are all to unite in Christ as one body because that's what we're supposed to do.

Yeah, and Michael. Yeah, first I appreciate your service and I appreciate you putting your life on the line. I was working out with some friends yesterday and one guy was running with and working out with. I asked him, what's he doing now? And he says he's working in the sheriff's office and so on.

He's a cop. And I said, how do you like it? He said, it's good, but scary. And he said, a lot of the situations you walk into in domestic violence, you don't know what's going to happen. And I said, it's got to be even rougher now with the...

the public perceptions of police. Obviously, authority can be abused. We understand that. You can have abusive parents, which we do. You can have abusive government leaders, which we do.

I mean, you're always going to have that in every area of society, but authority is established by God. and you remove that and you have social chaos.

So you remove the influence of police. Let's just say it was 10% were bad apples. Maybe it's only 1%, but let's just say 10%, right? You pull out the 100% and you're not going to have complete social chaos. You're going to have all types of tragedy and upheaval.

And you're going to have people saying, where are the cops? We need the cops here doing their job. Because without authority, society is going to completely collapse. Yes, sir. And you know, this is amazing thing.

is when people get scared and and a lot of officers get scared because of the situation we're in. I'm not going to get scared because I'm going to do what I'm placed here to do because I'm sealed in the Holy Spirit and I'm covered in the blood. But but the thing about it is is It it The the turmoil is is is so bad is you know, they're talking about we're killing white people's doing this, white people's doing that. ninety percent of the colleges I go to because I work a certain side of town They're doing it to each other, and we're there to try to help them. Exactly.

And yeah, you're right. When you remove that chaos, I mean, when you remove that authority, chaos does happen. And people, I get more people coming up to me that are. from the from the black community. that tell me, thank you for what you do.

Thank you. No matter what's going on, we appreciate what you do. And I say well, thank you because I know and anybody that's got any sense knows, it's just a handful of the population that's creating this. And that handful is the one that's doing the stuff that they're not supposed to be doing. If you ain't got nothing if you ain't doing anything wrong or anything illegal, you ain't got nothing to worry about from us or anybody else.

We're not out there to attack.

Sociali, I mean, uh, harass or any anything. If if you're doing something you're not supposed to do, We're going to do our job. Plain and simple. If you don't want us to mess with you, stop breaking the law. Plain and simple.

And if if someone learns That Authority is authority, so even if you don't like the way the authority speaks to you or looks at you, if you act with respect, 99.9% of the time, you're not going to have a problem. If you comply, you're not going to have a problem.

So even if the officer is gruff, I've been pulled over by gruff officers. Even if they don't look at you right, whatever it is, if you comply and honor the request 99.99% of the time, you're not going to have a problem. And that's and when a problem does occur, everybody's upset over it. I don't imagine that if you as a policeman ever saw a video. And it looks like the cop acted wrongly.

I don't think you guys are saying, hey, ASA, right? That guy deserved it. You're like, oh, no, that's terrible. And it makes us all look bad and it hurts the cause.

So, yeah, what if the media played day after day after day, not just in some reality TV show, but on the news, heroic efforts of cops and families thanking cops. We'd have a different view. And then where there isn't justice, where you have the bad apples, man, we have much more power to address that together. Hey, I got to run. Thank you for calling.

I know others want to weigh in. As appropriate, we'll continue to discuss these things during the next few days. All right. So I'll be able to take some more calls, but out of time here. I want to say it again: don't let anyone use you as a tool, as a pawn, in their social or political agenda.

Think for yourselves. Be clear-headed. Think through what's right and wrong as a white American. I don't stand, I'm white, I have this perspective.

Well, I'm Jewish. No, no, I do my best as a follower of Jesus to say, Lord, what's right? What's wrong? Who's right? Who's wrong?

What's good? What's bad? What's just? What's unjust? What's light?

What's darkness? And then from there, We can act accordingly. Remember, check out my latest videos and latest articles at the Ask Dr. Brown website, ASKDRBrown.org. My bottom line today, we are first and foremost followers of Jesus.

Let us give ourselves to justice and righteousness and faith.