Updates on Israel, Jewish Scriptural Insights, and Ken Ham on the Ark Encounter

From the Ted Cruz speech to Israel and the Palestinians to Noah's Ark, we've got you covered today. No. 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. Yes, it is Thurley Jewish Thursday, and as always, we'll take your Jewish-related calls.

And as always, we'll talk about Israel-related issues. But First, I want to weigh in on what's happening in the Republican National Convention and the swirling controversy over the Ted Cruz speech last night. This is Michael Brown. You're listening to the line of fire. The number to call to be part of the conversation is 866-348-363.

7884-866-34 TRUTH. Any Jewish-related question of any kind, phone lines are open. That includes Hebrew questions, that includes questions on Messianic prophecy, Judaism, Jewish tradition, modern state of Israel, etc. All of those and more will answer on this Thursday. Later in the broadcast, again, we do two hours every day in different parts of the country, get different parts of the broadcast.

Later in the broadcast, you're going to speak with Ken Ham. about the arc encounter. Ken Ham, famous as a young earth creationist. Famous for answers in Genesis. And they've got this amazing replica of Noah's Ark, and it's creating controversy and generating great interest around the country.

Ken will be with us, and we'll be addressing a bunch of other points of interest. 866-348-7. Eight, eight, eight. Four. But uh Ted Cruz's speech last night On the one hand, It was known.

It was submitted in advance. to the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump.

So they saw what he was going to say. And they saw That he was going to say vote your conscience rather than endorse Trump. He never promised to endorse Trump.

Now you might have said, well, he gave his word previously that he would. Yeah, that was before Donald Trump uh uh uh apparently was involved with getting out allegations that there had been sex scandals with Cruz. Of course that silly thing passed, but that and then attacks personal attacks on Ted Cruz's wife and then on Ted Cruz's father.

So Ted Cruz never said he would endorse after the initial pledge. Obviously, some water had gone under the bridge. But He was given a major platform to deliver a speech at the convention. And he was received with extended standing ovation, meaning that he was looked at in a positive way. He was looked at in a positive way by the delegates.

Despite the fact that he had not endorsed Donald Trump. That's significant. He was being welcomed.

Now was his greatest goal to unify the party. It was his greatest goal to unify the party Behind Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton. Was his greatest goal to simply reiterate the message that he stood for. of of constitutional principles and religious liberties in a strong America. Or was his goal to posture for a 2020 election.

Thinking that Donald Trump will not do well. and that this is his time to to lay out again where he stands. And let the nation hear these are our positions. Uh in point of fact Only he knows the answers to all those questions. But I wrote out some observations.

You can read them. By going to ask Dr. Brown A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org and clicking on latest article. I wrote out 10 points that we can learn from the vote your conscience line, and I'm going to go through them very quickly. Number one, both the Drudge Report and Breitbart remain militantly pro-Trump.

Which right now means militantly anti-cruise. If you go to them as leading conservative websites drudged as being a massive news aggregator and I don't know, billion people go there on a regular basis or a billion hits. It's just wild how much. tension they have. Uh some multiplied millions get their news from there.

They remain militantly pro-Trump, which right now means militant Atlantic cruise. Number two, Cruz remains a polarizing figure. He's loved more by some for last night and hated by others from last night. 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. We will unite.

the party we will use Unite the country by standing together for shared values, by standing for liberty. God bless each and every one of you and God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Thunderous chorus of booze, man. a prolonged standing ovation when he began the speech.

and thunders booze when he ended because he said vote your conscience Vote your conscience in November. Obviously that could not mean a vote for Hillary, but would it mean a vote for Trump? Maybe not. 866-34Truth on this Thursday, Jewish Thursday. We're first covering my thoughts on the Cruz speech from last night.

So 10 points I wrote out. Number one, both the Drudge report and Breitbart remain militantly pro-Trump, which right now means militantly anti-Cruz. For example, the Breitbart headlines were Lion Ted breaks his pledge. That was the report. And the Drudge headline with graphic, hell's a burning with a picture.

It almost made it look with the red... the red color that was behind him as he spoke. It almost gave the impression that he was burning in hell. I mean, that was what was being put forward. Number two, Cruz remains a polarizing figure.

So some are going to say, what incredible backbone and integrity. And others will say, what incredible selfishness and small mindedness. And number three, the Republican Party remains deeply divided.

So there's been a real effort to unite behind Donald Trump, but You didn't have George Bush, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney there, not even John Kasich.

So the Cruz speech now underscores, underscores the lack of unity that's there. Number four. political rhetoric political rhetoric can go too far.

So the Trump attacks on Cruz were at the point where he he was not going to endorse And then remember, right before dropping out, Cruz called Trump a pathological liar, utterly amoral. and a narcissist at a level I don't think this country has ever seen.

So, without some type of private reconciliation and public apologies, it seems that too many lines were crossed for either candidate. to endorse the other. Number five, Ted Cruz has guts. It is true that his speech was submitted to the RNC leadership before it was delivered, and Trump himself states that he saw it.

So they knew he was going to save out your conscience, but it takes chutzpah. to get up and do it. Number six, despite the delicate support of Trump, they welcomed Cruz warmly. Perceiving him to be part of their celebration until he failed to endorse it.

So he really could have had a tremendous. Unifying effect and could have had the wind in his sails in that respect. Others would have lost respect for him, saying he compromised and caved in. And by the way, The way it's playing out in many circles today is that Cruz failed and he sunk his ship and he destroyed his political career. And when I did a poll on Twitter, in fact, let's just see what the results are right now.

I asked folks on Twitter. And if you're not connected with us on Twitter or Facebook, do so at my website, askdrbrown.org. Just click on the Facebook or Twitter icon or YouTube icon. But I I asked this question. By saying vote your conscience rather than endorse Trump, Cruz showed real integrity.

Put himself first, betrayed his party. 14% said betrayed his party. 24% said put himself first. 62% said showed real integrity.

So we. uh r r remain It remains to be seen how this is going to play out for Teg Cruz long term. Number seven, the cruise speech powerfully articulated the conservative position. Number eight, when it c Excuse me, when it comes to voting for Trump, vote your conscience is a loaded phrase. I would always want to be able to tell people to vote their conscience.

Right now, it's a loaded phrase. Number nine: Donald Trump does not feel he needs Ted Cruz and his camp to win. Um Imagine that Trump thought it was strategic to have Cruz speak at the convention, otherwise, there would have been no invitation. But since Trump tweeted that he saw the speech in advance, he must have decided that he can win with or without Cruz's supporters. Given the success rate so far, it wouldn't be surprising if it proves true.

And number 10 for cruise. This was about 2020. I tweeted out shortly before his speech. Here's my guess on the crew's speech tonight. He'll call the party to unify around conservative principles more than around Trump, so Cruz, 2020.

But this was hardly rocket. Science. To read the full article, go to askdrbrown.org and you'll see it as the latest article.

So when all said and done, Given that Cruz never promised a Trump endorsement, I'm not entirely sure why he was invited to address the RNC. There was a calculated if it was a calculated risk, seems to have backfired.

So it adds just another chaotic event to an already chaotic convention. I don't think the DNC will be as chaotic. Of course, I would deplore, utterly deplore any solidarity with some of the key Stances of the Democratic Party utterly categorically reject them and appreciate the Republican platform, but ultimately. I don't think the cruise speech is going to hurt Donald Trump in the long run. Remember, Ronald Reagan was Teflon Ron.

Nothing stuck to him. Donald Trump has been. Teflon Don. But the events further solidified Cruz's reputation as one of the most loved. and hate it.

political leaders in the nation.

So all the plots have thickened. All the players True to form. Let's go right to the phones today on Thursday, Jewish Thursday. We'll go to West Long Branch, New Jersey. Mike, welcome to the line of fire.

Hi hi hi Darth Brown. Thanks for having me on the show. I just would like to know if I was witnessing to a Jewish person, okay.

Okay. Um Jeremiah thirty one, thirty one, when it says that I'm going to make this new covenant, okay. How how did Jewish people do do they believe that this new covenant has taken place or wh or do they think it's going to take place? Yeah, uh A secular Jew doesn't even know it exists, basically. A secular Jew is not even familiar with that passage in the Bible and has never thought about it.

A religious Jew is. Is looking forward to this happening in the future. Jeremiah 31, verses 31 through 34. In the Messianic era, they believe that when the Messiah is revealed, when the Messiah comes, that he will lead the Jewish people into obedience to God, so that there will be a circumcising of the heart of the Jewish people, and that they will obey the written law and the oral law, meaning all of the traditions as well, that they will totally obey them, so that something supernatural will happen in Jewish hearts. They are not looking for new laws so much and new commandments as much as.

The law as they know it, written and oral, they believe will be written on their hearts, and they will all just automatically obey. and their sins will be forgiven, but now they'll be in complete obedience to God through the supernatural circumcision of their hearts.

So they're waiting for the new covenant to yet be realized. Mm-hmm. Wh when when wh when I go to to the synagogue, um, you know, to attend and and and fellowship, Um there Everybody is, they're caught up in the first five books of the Bible, and rarely we ever study a Psalm or one of the prophets or. Daniel or you know any any anybody's uh you know Proverbs You know, it it's they're they're just going to be stuck. in in Deuteronom at the end of Deuteronomy where they haven't even hit the promised land yet.

Yeah, it would be obviously in the synagogue. You have the cycle of readings where you read through the Torah once a year. And Jews in Babylon would read through it once a year. Jews in Israel would read through it once every three years. That was the reading cycle.

But ultimately, the Babylonian cycle is the one that's been adopted worldwide.

So that's the main focus. You do read supplemental passages called the Haf Torah.

So that would be a reading from one of the historical books or one of the prophets. But yes, the main focus would be on the law of Moses. And then, if you were in a synagogue, excuse me, in a yeshiva. In a place of rabbinic study, what you would focus on day and night would be Talmudic traditions, the development of the law, the law codes.

So there would be even in that sense less study of scripture and much more study of rabbinic traditions. And for a traditional Jew, Torah, when you say Torah, that doesn't just mean the five books of Moses. It means all of the span of Jewish study. It means all of the span of the study of traditions related to the law.

So a traditional Jew will be. intimately familiar with the five books of Moses. familiar with the passages they pray from the Psalms every day. Familiar with the portions of the Bible that are also read in the synagogue, but the rest of the Bible that's not read in the synagogue, they would be much less familiar with. They would be far more familiar with the law codes and the other traditions that have been passed on and the discussions of the law found in the Talmud and things like that.

And again, they would not be looking for a new covenant and the way we take it is a new and better covenant where even the laws have changed. Rather, they would say the same laws, but now written on our hearts so that we can obey. And of course, we do believe that the new covenant has been inaugurated through Jesus coming into the world, but we're in a transition age. We're experiencing things in part, not yet in full. We'll be right back.

Around my new time, shake the new sign, change the world. Change the world. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUT.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to the line of fire. 866-34TRUTH is the number to call. When all is said and done, when all is said and done, Things have been so unusual in this election cycle.

Things have been so unusual in that we have two candidates who have extraordinarily high unpopular ratings in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. and then very, very devoted supporters. And obviously both parties wanting to unite around Those two candidates. It's It's to me the most polarizing election I can remember. And one that Could have massive implications depending on who gets in and what type of person that person will be once they get in.

But either way, Our job remains the same. Either way we're called to pray. Either way, we're called to share the gospel. Either way, we're called to make disciples. Either way, we're called to live holy lives.

Either way, we're called to impact the maximum number of people we can in the greatest way for the gospel. Either way, we're called to raise godly families, and on and on and on it goes. You say, yeah, but our liberties could be affected. Yeah, they could be. depending on who's elected, they could be affected.

They're affected now some under the Obama administration. It could get more extreme under the Hillary Clinton administration. Unforeseen things could happen with the Trump administration. But either way, we have an assignment, and that's what we concentrate on, regardless of who is elected. There was a question.

That was posted from a caller just unable to stay on to ask the question about black-Jewish relations.

So we transition over to. or thoroughly Jewish Thursday emphasis. Questions asked about black Jewish relations. And They are not in a good place now in America. They're not in the worst place they've been, but they're not in a good place.

There was a time when they were much better. If you think back to one of the famous moments in the uh civil rights movement one of those iconic moments. one of the great Jewish intellectuals of the last century. With some profound insights, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Marching side by side with Dr.

King in the civil rights movement. They were prominent Jewish leaders who were involved.

Now, to this day, To this day, Jews are very liberal in America, by and large, except for they're very, very religious. And they, like most black Americans, vote Democratic. Let's say that if 95% Of black Americans voted for Barack Obama. 85% of Jewish Americans voted for Barack Obama. very interestingly.

Yet there has been a breakdown in black-Jewish relations. Is it because of disparity in income, social status? Is it simply that skin color has gotten in the way? Is it Jewish prejudice towards blacks, black prejudice towards Jews? You'd think two peoples who have suffered as much as they have, two peoples who come from the background of being liberated slaves, two peoples who have been minorities in country after country and have suffered accordingly.

You would think that there would be more solidarity, and yet right now there is less. and the reasons why are sometimes difficult to articulate. But that is a reality. And Oh. As much commonality as there is, it seems the differences are more apparent these days.

All right, let's see if we can grab a couple of calls. Laura in Brooklyn, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, how are you, M Doctor Brown? Doing well, thank you. I have a question regarding the King James verse: kiss the sun lest his anger be kindled but a little.

Could you just explain to me what that means or what it translates to in the Hebrew? I know you commented on that in past shows, but I forgot the answer. Yeah, if you go to my website, realmessiah, realmessiah.com.

Okay. And if you look at objections, just search for Psalm 2. I do discuss that, okay?

Okay. Uh but i in short The controversy primarily comes down to the word sun, which uses the Aramaic word bar instead of the Hebrew word ben for sun, even though ben is used elsewhere in the Psalm. that God uh appoints his son on Mount Zion. Why would it now say uh bar son instead of ben son. It seemed to make no sense.

So the ancient versions, the ancient Greek translations and Syriac and Aramaic and Latin, have different interpretations of the word, meaning it was somewhat obscure or somewhat difficult for them to understand as well. And many say, well, it should just mean something like worship in purity, you know, kiss meaning worship, and all these different interpretations. I believe the best way to understand it. Is that those words, including the Hebrew word for kiss? that they're both actually Aramaic.

That would mean changing the vowels in the In the text, but the vowels were added much later, so that's commonly done by translators anyway. And that the the best case that I would make is this. that God is addressing the nations. The nations that want to rise up against his anointed king in Jerusalem, be it David or Solomon or ultimately the Messiah. And the king was known as God's son.

And therefore God says to the nations in Aramaic kiss. The Sun And then lest he be angry, which would then be referring to the Son, or it could be referring to God.

So. The concept would be that those two words are actually Aramaic, both kiss. and sun, just using different different vowels for kiss. God is addressing the nations, just as in Jeremiah 10, verse 11, God addresses the foreign nations in Aramaic to rebuke them for their idolatry. Here, God would be addressing the foreign nations and basically saying, pay homage to the sun.

That's what kiss would mean. Pay homage to the sun. Because remember, the nations want to revolt against the Lord and his anointed one, both and, right? And this would be God saying, no, no, I have appointed my king in Jerusalem. Don't you dare revolt.

You do homage to him. And those words spoken to the nations, spoken in Aramaic. And again, you'll find that enforced in more depth. If you'll go to realmessiah.com and just look under objections, you'll see it under messianic prophecy objections, okay? Yes, thank you.

You're very welcome. For others listening, thinking what was the problem there, if you look at Jewish translations of Psalm 2, you'll see they don't translate with kiss the sun. But there are a couple of historic Jewish interpreters that say that is what it means. That's the right way to understand it. It's not quoted in the New Testament.

But that part of the verse of the Psalm, but I believe actually it is an excellent. Way to understand it. And again, what's the call? Honor God, honor his anointed one. And otherwise, if you take away kiss the son, there's no reference to the anointed one to the king at the end of the psalm, which makes no sense at all because the issue is with God and his anointed.

Anointed one. All right, friends. Remember, we've got 90 minutes of additional broadcasting. You can continue to listen. On askdrbrown.org.

Just click where it says listen live, do it, enjoy the show, or catch up with the whole broadcast later today at askdrbrown.org. 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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Well, there is some very, very exciting news creating tremendous controversy. People calling for boycotts, others saying this is absolutely amazing.

The Ark Encounter. a built-to-size replica of Noah's ark that has been put together and is now available to be seen and viewed. And Joining me for the first time on the line of fire, the man behind all this, you all know him, Ken Ham, President and CEO of Answers in Genesis, here to tell all of you, our listeners, about the ARC encounter. Ken, thanks so much for what you're doing. It's great to finally have you on the air.

Hey, it's great to be with you and I hope you understand my Aussie accent here. Oh yeah, yeah. In fact, I was just in Australia for 10 days, so I think I've got it I've got it mastered.

So Ken, you've had your Creation Museum near Cincinnati had more than 2.7 million visitors in nine years, and now the ARC encounter. Why is this generating so much controversy?

Well, I think it's because it is so professional. I mean, it's really the standard, the quality of Disney. Actually, even some of the secular reporters have said it's beyond Hollywood. People all over the world have heard of Noah's Ark. To actually build Noah's Ark as a true timber frame structure, in other words, using the big heavy logs, post and beam construction, built it the size of the ark.

I mean, it's one point five times the length of a football field and half the width of a football field, built fifteen feet off the ground, designed as a ship, but then built as a building for tourists to go through, filled with world class exhibits. I mean, it is such a striking piece of architecture and very iconic the way you look at it, and from ground level to the roof, is seven stories high. It's making a statement to the world. It's saying Christians have built a themed attraction to compete with the Disneys of this world, but for a different purpose, to get the message of God's Word and the gospel out and impact the culture, particularly in an age in which we see some of the church not impacting the culture like it used to. We wanted to say, how can we impact the culture, capture the world's attention?

And you know, it really has. Yeah, now this is a $100 million project, the first phase of the park. It opened July 7th. I immediately began to hear from people who were there, some of my colleagues, and they were just stunned by this. Is there a sense where people begin to think, oh my God?

This really happened. Even believers, when they see it, they think this really happened.

Well, you know, I've been down there quite a number of times. When I say down there, it's 45 minutes south of the Creation Museum, and my offices are at the Creation Museum. But I've been there quite a number of times. I was actually there just before we did this interview, and I talked to people down there. And here's what I've heard a number of people saying.

For instance, Someone uh stopped me and said I thought I had faith and really believed the scriptures. This has taken my faith to a whole new level. I have family stop me and say, our kids say this makes the Bible real. And then non-Christians, I had a non-Christian leader in the community with me there, and they walk up to it and they say, wow, this is unbelievable. This is so massive.

And then to make this statement, you know, maybe Noah could have fitted the animals on board. And I'm also hearing from people saying their friends and family who they can never get to church and not interested in church are calling them and saying, hey, going to take us to the ark? They want to see the ark. People are fascinated with Noah's Ark. And so just having it there, just showing the size of it.

I love to sit in the bus. Would that takes you from the parking lot. We have these 11 shuttle buses, they're big buses, and takes you on this beautiful drive down a valley and then up the valley. And then as it rounds a corner and you're suddenly you're taken out of the modern world and then you're in Noah's world. And then they see the ark.

You hear the gasps and the oohs and the ahs and the wows and words like epic and unbelievable and it's indescribable. And you know what? It makes a statement to them and people tell me. They never realized Noah's Ark was so big. It makes it more real.

And kids are so used to those bathtub arcs with giraffes sticking up the chimney, you know? And then when they see this, it helps make them realize this really happened. And that's a big part of it as well. Incredible. All right.

We'll be right back with Ken Ham. Friends, go to arcencounter.com. I'm trying to think through my own schedule. My next excuse to get to Ohio, archencounter.com. We'll be right back.

Give us strict to always do what's right. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks so much for joining us. All right, so the ARC encounter actually in Williamstown, Kentucky. Go to archencounter.com. I'm speaking with Dr. Ken Hamm, who is the president and CEO of Answers in Genesis.

Ken, obviously you've spent your life looking for answers in scripture. You've been confronted by every type of objection to the Noah's Ark story. What would you say is the most common objection, or the most common two or three objections, and what are the scientific answers to those?

Well, I'd say the top of the list when it comes to the scientific objections is that Noah couldn't fit all the animals on the ark. I mean, I hear that all the time. Even the research we did to find out if people would come if we built a life-size Noah's Ark and then ask them questions, what questions do you want answered? That was the top one. How could he fit all the animals on the ark?

And actually, we have exhibits in the ark that deal with this. Because you hear people like Bill Nye and others saying he couldn't fit the millions of species on board. No way it could have happened. But the word species is a modern word, and it's part of man's arbitrary classification system: kingdom, farm, class, order, family, genus, species. And the Bible doesn't use the word species.

The Bible uses the Hebrew word mean in Genesis that really is translated kind or sort. And so what is kind or sort? What do we mean by that? What did God mean by that? And so our scientists have done all sorts of research, and basically it comes down to this.

Would say that the kind in Genesis 1, when God made kinds of animals and plants after their kind, and two of each kind, seven or some, went on Noah's Ark, it represents more the family level of a classification. If you take dogs, there's one dog family candidate, and then you've got these different genera and different species. You've got dingoes, wolves, coyotes, jackal, fennet, foxes, your domestic species, and so on. But scientists can show how you can connect all those, that this one interbreeds with that, and that one with this, and so on, and you can show that they're all really the one kind. And so, our scientists have done that with the various animal groups and come to the conclusion that probably at the most about four thousand four hundred kinds were needed on the ark, and that's probably even overestimating.

And when you think two of each kind, seven of some, and then most land animals are pretty small, and you do all your calculations, we show people that there was plenty of room on the ark. And people get that as they come in, they get that and say, wow, so he didn't need all the different types of dogs, he just needed two dogs. He didn't need all the different types of elephants, just two elephants. And then it starts to make sense to people that you had speciation after the flood, which is not evolution because dogs are always dogs and so on. But he only needed two of each on the ark.

Another objection is that There's no way that Noah could have built the ark. I mean, you know, he didn't have modern technology and cranes and tools. Actually, the Bible doesn't tell us what sort of tools Noah had. And people before the flood lived for hundreds of years. Who knows what sort of knowledge they accumulated to develop what sort of technology?

I mean, within a few generations of Adam and Eve, they're building musical instruments. They're workers of bronze and iron. Who knows what they would have had by the time of Noah? And that's one of the reasons why we have exhibits on ancient man, even some of those structures in South America. We don't know how they built them and what technology they used.

How could they lift these heavy stones and how could they carve them to fit together so closely and so on? And we're saying, you know, people have an evolutionary view of history and think of Noah as some primitive, unintelligent being. He's probably much more intelligent than us, probably was even building ships and God used that background to his to then call him to build Noah's ark. And so we answer those questions and another One of the main ones would be, but there's no evidence of a flood anywhere on the earth.

Well, actually, there are billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. The fossil record in places is thousands of feet thick. Go to the Grand Canyon, look at all those layers. There are layers like this over most of the Earth's surface. We'd say most of the Earth is covered with the layers from the flood, that the fossil record is actually the graveyard of the flood.

The evidence is all there crying out at us. And so we even have exhibits dealing with the geology of the flood. And the point is, we can have answers to all these objections that people have. And the more people get answers, the more they say, you know what, maybe I should look at this. Maybe the Bible really is true.

And that's what we want people to do. Got it.

So if folks go to this exhibit, and again, I was surprised, one of my colleagues, been around, been there, done that kind of thing, how stunned he was to be one of the first to see the exhibit. And of course, you've had the Creation Museum flooded, and now you're getting people calling for schools to boycott the Ark. You know, I'm sure you saw all this coming. You can only smile at it and grieve at the same time. But if folks come with the whole families, with kids and things like that, what is there to actually do once they're there?

I mean, I travel just to see the Ark and walk around and be stunned by it. But what else is set up to make it especially family-friendly?

Well, you know, the Ark and the Museum are two sister-themed attractions. A lot of people who come to the Ark then also stay and come to the museum too, which has all sorts of things here: the planetarium and the special effects here and the gardens and petting zoo and so on. When you come to the ark, even the bus ride itself is incredible. And then you go down. This valley, and you come up to the ark.

The ark itself is an exhibit, and then you can walk through all three decks of the ark. It is a massive structure. You can put four to five thousand people in there and they disappear. I mean, it is a massive structure. And we've got all these world-class exhibits on each deck.

It's sort of like if you go to Disney, you've got to go to this attraction, that attraction, this attraction, that attraction. We have multiple attractions on each deck of the ark, and we've got three decks. And the first deck is as if Noah has loaded the ark and there's animal cages, and you hear animal sounds, and you see animals in cages, there's sculptured animals and so on, but they look so real. And deck two, we've got a lot of the themed exhibits of Noah's workshop and blacksmith's shop and also his office and library. And you've got an interactive kids' exhibit, and we've got a whole pre-flood world exhibit.

And then on deck three, it's a lot of themed exhibits where we, oh, sorry, a lot of the teaching exhibits where we have teaching on the Ice Age and the geology of the flood and on ancient man and the Tower of Babel and then the Bible Museum. Who are opening the Bible Museum in 2017 in Washington, D.C. have a big Bible Museum exhibit in there. But there's not just the Ark, even inside the Ark, the timbers are an exhibit themselves to see what the Amish craftsmen have done. And then behind the Ark, we have a zoo as well as a petting zoo.

And we have all sorts of animals in the zoo: zebras, and kangaroos, and yaks, and packers, and llamas. We have camel rides and donkey rides. Even our restaurant, we have a 1500-seat restaurant. That'll be one of the biggest restaurants in America. And it's made with big logs, too, and a massive collection of taxidermy in there.

And while that's all there, we're building a nomad village right now, and then we're going to be building Phase 2, which is a walled city village with Noah's house and family before the flood. And then we're going to build a Tower of Babel.

So this is just an ongoing Construction process, and there's plenty to do there. I think just everyone I've met said, We're coming back, we're going back to bring our churches, our friends, our families. I want to come back and spend a lot more time here. I mean, the people are absolutely stunned. It really is unique in the world.

There's nothing like it. And I have people standing there with tears in their eyes, and they just say, I'm stunned. I don't know what to say. I've never seen anything like this. We had a lady the other day who said, I've traveled the world to Rome, to Paris.

I thought I'd seen it all, and she said, I stand in awe of this. I haven't been to church for fifty years, and this has stunned me. Wow. That's incredible. And obviously, that's a large reason that you've done it.

Hey, just be sure you tell the Lord why you're building that Tower of Babel before you build it.

Well, we're actually building it to say, see what happens when they rebelled against God, and then to explain that we're all one race and we all go back to Adam and Eve and to try to deal with racism and prejudice and explain all the dispersion of people group from the Tower of Babel and to really deal with that issue to help people understand we're all related, we're all one family, and we shall be leading the way in dealing with racist issues based on the true history in the Bible. Wow. That's incredible. That's awesome.

Well, listen, seriously, I'm not just saying this as a radio host. You got me sold. I've got to get there and then bring our kids and grandkids because that's where we're at now with families. You'll be amazed. They'll be amazed.

And you'll say, you really can't explain this, even from the pictures and the videos. You've got to come and experience it. As soon as you see it, you're just going to stand. Most people just stand there stunned for a moment. They really do.

Yeah, well, I'm preparing to be stunned. Thanks for all you're doing. And I know as much favor as you have, you get a lot of resistance attacks.

So thanks for standing strong. Deeply appreciate it.

Well, we'll continue to contend for the faith. That's what we're called to do. That's it. Without flinching. God bless you, Ken.

Thanks so much for joining us. Hey, thank you. All right, so Archencounter.com. Check it out. Archencounter.com.

Yeah, and in all seriousness, I want to figure out a way to get there with family. I think that Yeah, you heard it.

So get over there, check it out. And you know, a few years ago, some friends involved with looking for the ark and feeling it had been discovered at Mount Ararat and so on, I saw some video footage. And I said, I don't know if this is actually it. I don't know the details. I'm not an archaeologist and I don't know all the other ins and outs of it.

But it was staggering to see. I mean, it looked like this could have been it. But what struck me was: yeah, of course, I believe what the Bible says. Of course, I do.

However, This underscored it so deeply so, so deeply Then I said, uh okay, I Uh This happened and it's staggering. what happened. Whether that was the actual arc discovered or not. We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We often hear about the apartheid wall. The apartheid wall.

That Israel is an apartheid state and they have an apartheid wall. It's a monstrosity. and it is ugly and it is land grabbing. and it is destructive to the Palestinian people. It divides families, it divides communities, it is without justification, it is illegal, and it is not primarily for security.

We hear this over. and over what is the truth about this wall. Is it primarily a wall? Is it primarily a fence? Why was it built?

Why was it built? Where it was built? What has been the impact of this? There's a report on YouTube, AJ Plus. This is an offshoot of Al Jazeera TV, targeting 18 to 24-year-olds.

And this is Dina Tarkrouri talking about this quote, apartheid wall and saying, is it? For security, or is Israel further oppressing the Palestinians? Listen to what she has to say. I'm standing in front of one of the most infamous man-made structures in the world. In some places, it's as high as eight meters, making it twice the height of the Berlin Wall.

It runs 280 miles long, basically the distance between Philadelphia and Boston. It's been under construction for the past 13 years, and it's still not done. Oh, and according to the International Court of Justice, this wall is completely illegal. Ah. Let's first point something out as she references this wall.

It is 97% fence. And 3% wall. Let's just start with the facts. 97% fence and 3% wall. That's the first thing.

Second thing. Most Israelis don't like it either. Most Israelis are not happy with it either, but it is there for a reason. What is the reason to keep murderers out? And why is there a wall at certain points rather than just a fence to keep snipers out?

And why is the wall a certain height at certain places? To keep snipers from killing Israeli children, and women, and men. That's why it is there. But of course, there's going to be a very different spin put on it from Palestinian activists.

So Dina Chakruri continues her description of, quote, the apartheid wall. I'm in the occupied West Bank where Palestinians have been living under Israeli military occupation since 1967. The wall is one of the most imposing parts of that occupation. Israel began building the wall in the early 2000s during a wave of suicide bombings that targeted Israelis. The Israeli government calls it the separation barrier or the security fence and says the aim is to keep out Palestinian attackers.

But thousands of Palestinians still manage to get across every day looking for work.

So, if the wall doesn't stop people from crossing, then what does it do? Let's take a look at the root of the wall. You'd think a wall meant to stop people from entering its territory would be built on Israel's border, but 85% of it is inside the occupied West Bank on Palestinian land. Uh International law says it's illegal to build settlements like these on occupied territory, but this is one of over 200 settlements and settler outposts housing half a million Israelis in the occupied West Bank. Technically, these settlers live outside of Israel proper, but the wall has shifted the boundary between Israel and the West Bank to swallow up more Palestinian land.

Ah, ah. Let us address some of the points that were made. Number one. The wall was built to keep murderers out and again it is primarily a fence, a security barrier. It was built to keep murderers out.

How did it do in terms of reducing Palestinian terror? Dropped it by roughly ninety nine per cent. Dropped it by roughly 99%. That is a fact. It has been tremendously effective.

The Palestinians that are coming in through the regular checkpoints are obviously coming in and are not murdering Israelis. And in fact, those that are, that's the smallest, smallest, smallest minority, and the so-called occupied territory. Let's remember, if not for the murderous intent of Palestinian leadership, everybody would be living in peace. What happened to the Palestinians, Arabs, who live in Israel proper? They went from 200,000 to 1.5 million since 1948.

They are in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. They sit on the Israeli Supreme Court. They have positions of influence throughout the nation. They have more rights than other Arabs in the Middle East. They have tons more rights and liberties than the Palestinians living under Palestinian authority or under.

Hamas in Gaza. Why? Because if you don't want to kill the Israelis, they'll do good by you. If you don't want to kill the Israelis, the government will work with you. But she has more to say, and we'll give one more clip as she weighs in with why this is so ugly and wrong and unjust.

You'd think the biblical city of Bethlehem would have a booming tourism industry. But here, you can find one of the clearest examples of how the wall has devastated the Palestinian economy. Many businesses have shut down and families have left. When it's completed, Bethlehem will be completely cut off from its agricultural land, its churches, and more. The wall, along with a series of illegal Israeli settlements, are physically strangling the city and it can't expand.

And because of the wall, most Palestinians coming from Bethlehem cannot take this road to nearby Jerusalem. You can only get through this checkpoint if you have a special permit, which most Palestinians can't get. Yeah.

So there you have it. This wall, a fixture of the occupation, has destroyed neighborhoods, strangled the economy, and illegally grabbed more Palestinian land. Palestinians call it the apartheid wall. And the question is: how long will it stand? Yeah, again, one misrepresentation after another.

Palestinian leadership celebrates his martyrs. Palestinians who go in and murder Israeli children. Celebrate them as martyrs. Name streets after them. Have celebratory events in their honor.

Hail them as Shaheeds, martyrs who are now in paradise. Palestinian TV incites hatred against the Israelis to the point that children, 13, 14, 15-year-old children, will just go into Israel to stab Israelis to death because they're so angered towards Israel. Oh, and Israel is going to take away the privileges at the Al-Aska Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and things like that. And all these lies are spread. And then, as they're spread, the people get inflamed with anger.

If the Palestinians stopped inciting violence, if the leadership stopped inciting violence, there would be no wall. And Christian influence and freedoms in Bethlehem began to go down when the Palestinian authority took control. Look at the quality of life. In Gaza for the Palestinians there, it has suffered greatly under Hamas. And by the way, the root of the wall.

You saw it's not going 50 miles into territories, or I mean some outrageous amount of space or something like that. Cutting in a little here and there. Why? Because as Israel analyzed things, they said this is the best way to build it to keep the murderers out. If the Palestinians would work to stop the terrorists and would work with Israel rather than against Israel, there would be no security barrier.

It's anything but an apartheid wall. It's a security barrier to keep murderers out. And everyone should say that is a good move. Bottom line today, Goldamair said this, peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us. From the Ted Cruz speech to Israel and the Palestinians to Noah's Ark, we've got you covered today.

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. Yes, so did you ever see a sustained applause turn to booze as quickly as happened last night at the Republican National Convention as Ted Cruz gave his speech, prolonged standing ovation, cheers throughout, and then basically booed off the stage for not endorsing Donald Trump.

Some say thank God he stuck to his guns. It was a tremendous integrity that he showed. And others are saying he betrayed the party. He betrayed the party. And he He sabotaged his political career.

So I have a whole article about it. You can go to my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org, and read that to get my take. On the speech, but either way, if my only criterion. And how I voted was who will be a better friend of Israel. I would vote Republican, not Democrat.

If that was my only criterion, of course it's one of several, which is why I could never vote Democrat with the current state of the party. But if that was my only criterion, That from the earliest days of the Republican candidate's speeches, They were all strongly, strongly, strongly pro-Israel. And I don't think in word. only. 866-34Truth.

It is, it is thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Any Jewish-related question that you have of any kind whatsoever. Hebrew related. Judaism related, Middle East related, even Islam related, we'll do our best to give you solid answers. 866-34-TRUTH.

We'll go right to the phones. Woodburn, Massachusetts. Susie, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown.

And I also want to thank you for going into really good Insightful truth about the what you call the apartheid wall by what was the reporter's last name? Do you know what? It's a curiosity. Yeah, just in the last hour, for those just tuning in, I interacted with the charges that the Israel security barrier is actually an apartheid wall, and we were just refuting some of the misconceptions about it. But thank you, Susie.

We'll actually be putting that out as an instructional video, those few minutes there.

Okay, well, could I ask you? That's not my question one colleague. I didn't know you were going to talk about that. I'm very interested. Where is she from?

Is she from non-Israeli or whatever? Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. She's probably Muslim, Arab, or Palestine, Christian. Yeah, it's Al Jazeera, so they're quite hostile to Israel there.

Yeah, uh-huh.

So you're. Did you have a question that you had wanted to ask? Yes, I do. What do you think of um and this does relate to Jewish uh ancestry or, you know, the Jewish people. do you have any confidence in ancestry DNA uh saying that you have Jewish ancestry?

Do you do you think that's anything or is it not? If you're saying you sent in a DNA sample? I did. I did, yeah. And they said I was.

I'm just saying that what they told me, 1% Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi. Yeah, that would mean so. I mean, that's obviously very, very tiny, but I'm no DNA expert, but I believe it's accurate because there is intermarriage. Right now, there's a large amount of assimilation in America with Jews intermarrying, especially Ashkenazi heritage.

So that would just say somewhere along the line, quite a few generations back. There was some intermarriage of some kind. It wouldn't give you Jewish status today in any court of law. If it was a time of persecution, say, if the Nazis were going after you or something like that, you wouldn't qualify as a Jew. You'd have to have one grandparent to be a Jew, so quote, one-quarter Jew.

But yeah, it would seem to be accurate that somewhere there was some Jewish blood intermingled with the family, some intermarriage some generations back. It seemed to be uh seemed to be accurate from what I understand. Hey, thank you for the call. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We just put out a video earlier today.

You can watch it by going to AskDr. Brown. dot org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org, and you'll see it as latest video. And it asks the question, do Christians and Jews worship the same God? Do Christians and Jews worship the same God?

Now, I did some polls on social media a few months back. And I asked the question, do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? And the overwhelming answer for my constituency, which is overwhelmingly Christian, was no. Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.

Now if we said why is that?

Well, immediately we'd say that Muslims don't believe in a Trinity. Muslims don't believe in the deity of Jesus. The the picture of Allah is different in the Quran than the picture of God in the Bible. Therefore, we don't worship the same God. When I asked the question, do Christians and Jews worship the same God?

the answer was very, very strongly yes. But hang on, Jews don't believe in a trinity, and Jews don't believe in the deity of Jesus.

So how could we then say that that they worship the same God. This would be the difference. This would be the difference. When We we start we start with the same common ground. When we start, we start with what?

The Bible. That's where we start. We start with the Tanakh, the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament. And we agree. that that is the God that we're worshiping.

In other words, When a Jew is praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we also are praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now, we may conceptualize that God differently. We may conceptualize his unity differently, believing in his tri-unity, but in only one God. Obviously we have grave differences over who Jesus is. One of my friends, ultra-Orthodox rabbi, said, What would be the, when you think of why you couldn't believe? In Jesus as the Savior, as the Messiah.

What's the very first thing, the very first thing that comes up, no possible way that you could believe in Jesus as Messiah? He said, well, yeah, the first thing would be his deity, the idea that he's God.

So, obviously, that would be a massive stumbling block. Of course. I would say that's just wrongly understanding what we mean when we say Jesus is God. That would be wrongly understanding our position. And what we hold to is in keeping with what the Bible teaches and does not violate Scripture in any way, and does not violate the verses in Numbers 23 and 1 Samuel 15 that say, quote, God is not a man.

doesn't that violate those at all when rightly understood. But we would agree that the descriptions Of the God of the Old Testament remain true. Yes, we have a further revelation of His grace and mercy through the cross. But The Bible of the early believers was what? The Old Testament.

So in that sense Our source, our foundational source is different. Our foundational source is different for Uh for All right. Our worship of God versus Muslims. No, there is overlap. We both believe in one Creator God, before whom and after whom there is nothing.

We believe that He has all power and might, and so on. And yet... The Allah of the Bible is different. Than the God of the old, excuse me, the Allah of the Quran, forgive me. The Allah of the Quran is different than the God of the Bible.

Even if we just say the God of the Quran, because that's what the Muslim thinks when he thinks Allah, that the God of the Quran is different than the God of the Bible. Do Jews And Christians worship the same God?

Well, yes and no. Yes, in terms of we're praying to the same God. Jesus never told the Jews of his day, you're praying to a different God, he's saying you don't really know him, you don't really know the Father. That was his point. Here I come revealing the Father.

If you've seen the Father, you've seen me, and you're rejecting me, therefore you're rejecting the Father. You study Moses, but don't see that Moses is speaking of me. But he didn't say you're worshiping a different God. No, when he was asked what's the first and greatest commandment: Hero Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. He reiterated that.

He reiterated what a Jewish person would have said as well. And John 1 says what? No man has seen God at any time. And 1 Timothy 6 says what? God dwells in unapproachable light.

No one can see Him.

So we say the same things about God that a Jewish person would say, yet we say He was fully revealed to us through. Yeshua the Messiah.

So we have different conceptions of God in certain ways, but otherwise worship and pray to the same God and with each say you're misunderstanding who he is or misrepresenting who he is on some level or another. When it comes to Allah, the differences would be more fundamental. If it was a matter of we're all working from the same Hebrew Bible and talking about that. God in the same way. Then you could say that yeah Christians and Muslims worship the same God but with different understanding of who he is.

But when you have the Quran. Even misunderstanding the Trinity as if the Trinity was Father, Son, and Mary, not Father, Son, and Spirit. And when you have a picture of Allah, even though He's called merciful and gracious, that is different in many ways than the God of the Bible, we say no. Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.

Now, there are many Jews who believe that Jews and Muslims worship the same God. and would be a little more hesitant to say about Christians. But the three quote great monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, that would say, okay, all All worshiping this one same God, I would have differences with that. And I would say that fundamentally, Even though we are all praying to the God who created the universe. Even though we are all saying We are all saying, God, we want your will to be done, etc., even though that's true.

On the flip side, in many fundamental ways, The God of Christians is different than the God of Muslims. And you can even see that in the expressions of our faith and how we relate to God. Here, let's get really fundamental. There are so-called 99 names of Allah. None of them are father.

Not a single one of those names is father. Muslims do not relate to God as Father. You say, yeah, but do Jews relate to God as Abba? They wouldn't normally call him Abba. the way Christians would.

But Jews pray on a regular basis, Alvina, Makena, Our Father, our King. The Our Father prayer has many parallels to prayers that traditional Jews pray. In other words, Jesus was taking some of those traditions and bringing them together in simplified form to get to the fundamentals of the fundamentals. All that to say, Muslims don't know God as Father and don't believe He can be known as Father, that that would be. Belittling him or bringing him down.

We are his servants/slash slaves, but we are not his children experiencing intimate fellowship with him. That's just one way. That Muslims worship a different God than Christians do. When it comes to Jews and Christians, to say it once more, Yes, the same God, but with different understandings in many ways of who he is. All right, if you've got Jewish-related questions, I'm going to get to the phone shortly.

866-348-7884 is the number to call. One quick note. The last segment in the last hour. I did a little talk about the so-called apartheid wall. And I ended it by quoting from Golden Meyer, who said that.

Peace will come. when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews. Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews. Hatred can be blinding. There are some Israelis who hate the Arabs.

And it's a blinding hatred. and they've committed atrocities. There are Arabs who hate the Israelis, and it is a blinding hatred, and they've committed atrocities. If you think of it for a moment. If you think, say, to the shooting of the police officers in Baton Rouge a few days ago.

It was a black man who was doing it out of hatred for cops. That was clear in previous statements he had made. but one of his victims was a black cop.

So, the blinding power of hatred is just that, it's blinding. And people now act irrationally. And people now even violate fundamental human values because they are so filled with. hatred and animosity.

So all that to say. Goldemeyer's point remains well taken. And when you can still have in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a mother celebrating that her son went and say stabbed an Israeli girl to death. Little girl sleeping in her bed. Stabbed her.

to death. Uh cold blood. Just because she was a a Jew living in a in a settlement. And the mother can celebrate what the son did. He was then killed by Israeli security.

When you have that level of hatred you'll never see peace and you will never find wholeness in any way. All right, we're going to come right back with your calls, 866-348-7884 on this Thursday to your Thursday. Shake the nation, change the world, change the world we want, for fire 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. And it's Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown, welcome back to the line of fire, 866-348.

7884. We go to Perth, Australia. Samuel, welcome to the line of fire. Yes, good good afternoon, Dr. Brown.

How are you doing? Do doing well.

So is it, what, like four or five in the morning where you are? Actually, it's three point twenty in the morning, sir. Oh, okay. All right. Well, no, good morning to you and good afternoon to me.

That works. Yes, sir.

So Sir, first of all, it's an honor to be with you on the line of fire. I must say to everybody who's listening that you are really what you say, the one that the voice of of of consciousness and everything that you you say in in your in your radio program is is really, really good and it really build up people. And I really thank you for that, sir. And um I'm gonna come to my I I got two questions. My first question would be In Exodus 23, if we read from From the verse 28.

God is talking to the people of Israel just bef before They're going to enter the land of Canaan, the promised land at that time. And God said to them that. There's here are the things that you should do, and here are the things that you shouldn't do. For example, God said to them not to make any any any deal, any any treaty with Bia. the inhabitant of the land at that time.

So the heart of the question itself. Do you think that this um This commandment From God. to his people could be applied through the ages. What I mean by this is, for example, that when that happened when they came back from Egypt, Do you think it it also was was also when they came out of of of The Atherian Um you know, when they were taken away. And when they when they came back from the Babylonian as well, captivity as well, sir?

Yeah, so the commandment to not make any type of treaty with the inhabitants of the land, say Deuteronomy 7, destroy the altars to the other gods and wipe out the people utterly, that specifically was a one-time event in terms of judgment on the Canaanites for their extreme wickedness. And even though God made clear that Israel was not standing by its own righteousness, but because of God's calling and purpose, at the same time, the nations that were in the land were extremely wicked. But to those that were outside of the land, God said, extend peace. Don't just try to conquer them, but extend peace. And if they'll submit to you, they can live.

But once you get past that period of time, you're constantly going to have other inhabitants in the land. And say, after the Babylonian captivity, Jews had sovereignty, but only for a limited period of time. The scattering under the Assyrians, there was never a clear return from that exile, like there was a clear return from Babylon.

So I would say the spiritual. implications would remain the same. Don't intermarry. Don't intermingle in terms of your spiritual values and your moral values. And if you live side by side, do so in a way that you do without compromise.

And ultimately, as you're righteous, you'll have the headship in the land and they'll have to submit to you. But I don't believe that Israel was just supposed to try to wipe out whoever was there when they came back in the land. But they should not make treaties and covenants in terms of intermarrying, in terms of any type of syncretism with their worship.

So, to me, the main thing would be: keep yourselves pure and separate. don't worship their gods. don't intermarry with your sons and daughters, and this way you'll remain a wholly separate people. If you start to assimilate, then you'll be utterly destroyed from the earth. That's how I would apply it in the generations that followed.

Okay. Okay. And do you think that your answer was clear, but do you think also that it might Um It could have been applied. For example, when when um the Jewish people took Back to Jerusalem. In nineteen sixty-seven, after the Six Day War.

Do you th you remember they gave back Um the authority kind of. to um the Jord Jordanian people that was. Who was the occupier at that time and kind of still is?

So, do you think this could have should apply because it's it's a kind of a treaty, right? Yeah, but but again, they they made treaties with surrounding nations. They made treaties with the Gibeonites who actually were in their midst and deceived them. In Joshua, the ninth chapter, they said, Okay, well, then you're you're going to be subservient to us, but I believe that Israel right now is not in a position of righteousness before God. Israel is in a position just standing by God's mercy.

And because of that, I would say that wherever they can make a peace treaty, that's great. That's progress, that's positive, that's something good that should be explored, but not in the sense of any type of compromise. Again, the challenge, Samuel, is that you're not looking at a nation that is submitted to God as a nation. And that is you've got secularism throughout the whole country. The great majority of the country, or the strong majority, is not observing Sabbath in any type of strict way, is not living by so many of the laws of God.

You've got drug use, you've got crime, you've got prostitution, you've got all the problems that other nations have.

So for Israel to just say, okay, we're going to take this part of the law and live by it makes no sense. Rather, as they continue to submit to God and then of course embrace the Messiah, then more and more there will be spiritual blessing that comes their way and authority. Will that happen fully before Jesus comes? Only God knows that. Uh but Yeah, I appreciate it.

I just think that Israel right now has to view itself as it is, which is, yes, a Jewish state. but not a state that is primarily Torah observant or anything like that. And the very, very religious Jews, they would want things a certain way, but they're still a minority in the country. And that's why Samuel many Jewish leaders, rabbis, traditional Jews around the world, opposed the modern state of Israel, actually. They opposed the modern state of Israel because they said it's built by atheists, it's built by communists, it's built by secularists.

And because of that, Because of that, they said it's going to be a negative influence on the Jewish people, and it's only going to incur greater anti-Semitism worldwide. And many of the points they made were good in the natural, except for the fact that God was behind the restoration. God was the one bringing the Jewish people back to the land, not because of any good works on our end, but because of his mercy. Hey, sir, I'm out of time, but thank you so much for being up at this time of the day in Australia. And thank you for the very, very kind words.

By God's grace, we will be your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. And it was a wonderful joy to. To be in Sydney and Melbourne for 10 days last month. But thank you, sir, for the call. Much appreciated.

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

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on this thoroughly Jewish Thursday. 866-34TRUTH is the number to call. Last hour, I had on the air with me Ken Ham, famous from Answers in Genesis, talking about the Ark Encounter exhibit.

And boy, it got my attention. I want to go there with kids and grandkids, and of course, go to the Creation Museum as well. But. It brings me back to the fact that the Hebrew scriptures They're devastating to read. I'm reading through the Bible afresh, and I'm in what am I in now?

1 Samuel. And just reading through the the book of Judges. Oh, boy. What a difficult book.

So much pain and backsliding and bloodshed and carnality. And of course, divine mercy in the midst of it. You read things, it's so graphic. It's not just a spiritual illustration, it's bloodshed, it's people dying, it's nations convulsing. There really was a flood, a devastating flood.

I mean, These are intense things to think about, and 1 Corinthians 10 tells us. 1 Corinthians 10 says that the things that happened to Israel. They're a lesson for us today. 2 Peter 3 says, Look, what happened with Noah's flood is a lesson for us at the end of the age. These are things to think about.

They are sobering things to think about as well. All right, the phone lines are open. Any Jewish-related question you have, a question on the Hebrew language, question on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even some questions on Islam we're able to field. Feel free to give me a call, 866-348-7884. And I'm going to go straight to the phones now.

Somerset, New Jersey, Josiah, welcome to the line of fire. Uh hey, uh hey, Doctor Brown, um, I have a question. I was wondering about the unclean meats and uh and about when the the Lord's Day is, because I've been talking to people that hold to the Seventh day Adventist church teaching, uh and when I take them to Matthew uh fifteen and Mark seven, they they're they're they're always the response is, well this is just talking about the hands. You know, he's only talking about the hands here. Yep.

I wanted to know your response to that.

Okay, so. First question is. when Jesus says in Matthew 15 and in Mark 7, That what you eat doesn't defile you because it goes through your system and passes out. It's what comes out of your heart that defiles you. There is a gloss, there is an addition in Mark's Gospel.

that says thus cleansing all meats. And many scholars take that to mean that Mark was explaining. that by Jesus saying that, He was saying that all foods of all kinds were clean.

Now, Mark, Matthew 15 simply reiterates: he said this because of the dispute about if you eat with unwashed hands, is the food then unclean and does it defile you? What we know, Josiah, is that the disciples did not go out immediately and think, oh, cool, we can eat pork now. We know it because of Acts 10. That Peter says he's never eaten anything unclean all his life.

So they obviously understood that he was giving a spiritual principle more than anything. But here's the question. Is it true or not? What you eat doesn't defile you. In other words, the same principle would apply whether it would apply to pork.

What would apply to eating with unwashed hands? That which goes into the mouth for this very reason. That it goes in the mouth and passes out your system and doesn't affect your spirit, it doesn't defile you. Whereas the things that come out of your heart do.

So that's the first thing. Ask them: what does that principle mean? Then we certainly have Paul reiterating this in 1 Corinthians 8. And Romans 14, and I believe is best understood 1 Timothy 4 as well, that no food in and of itself is unclean.

Now, I personally don't eat any foods that would be off-limits. I don't eat anything that a traditional Jew wouldn't eat in terms of actual food content, so it's not a personal issue to me. But we'll return to this on the other side of the break. O God of burning, cleansing flesh. 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. Thanks so much for joining us on this Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

This is Michael Brown 866. 3487-885. Four, let's go back to Somerset, New Jersey.

So, Josiah, first thing in terms of clean and unclean in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, ask a Seventh-day Adventist, okay, what is the principle involved here? The principle is that what you eat doesn't defile you because it goes in your mouth and passes out of your body. Whereas, what comes out of the heart, that's your inner being, that's who you are, that defiles.

So, ask them what that principle means, and wouldn't that therefore apply to any food? This set, right. Go ahead. Uh yeah, I know my uh I know uh hold up. Yeah, so let me just continue then.

Okay, so that's the first point. The second thing is, many Seventh-day Adventists don't eat meat at all. And you have to ask them, why did Jesus prepare fish and sit and eat fish with his disciples in John chapter 21? It's a really simple thing, yet it's one that those that don't eat any meat products, they have a little bit of a problem because there's Jesus eating fish with his disciples. The other thing I'd raise to them is.

Why do you pick and choose commandments? Why do you say the Ten Commandments plus the dietary laws? If you're going to make a big issue out of the Sabbath, which is fine, then why don't you also make a big issue out of the Passover? And the other holy days and things like that. What about the rest of the laws?

It it's a totally arbitrary thing to say, okay, Ten Commandments with special emphasis on the Sabbath and dietary laws, whereas God makes no such distinction. Yeah, I know my friends my friends, they bring up the arguments of well, Romans fourteen is just talking about fasting, you know, one day seems above another. And my friend, you know, asked me, uh, well then, why is uh Uh, and and identification, uh, you know, if anyone eats uh un unclean meat it's it's an abomination then. Why didn't uh Peter go ahead teaching people, Well, you can eat clean meat or unclean meat.

Now, why didn't you go ahead and teach that? Right.

Well, Paul did. That's the first thing. You have to understand that there was plenty of time to lay this out. It was never laid out. There was not a single verse in the New Testament telling a Gentile.

not to eat unclean foods. Acts 15, it doesn't come up. There's certain dietary things, you know, things strangled with blood, but it doesn't mention other dietary laws. And Romans 14, what does Paul say there? I know as someone in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.

And 1 Corinthians 8 underscores that.

So just say, okay, please show me, because you can't show me these, why you're not observing the Sabbath, why this, why that. Please show me why. Or where in the New Testament, just because this is what some of these first believers are going to have, they're going to have letters and the teachings and things like that. Please show me where it says that Gentile believers are required to observe the dietary laws, just clearly laid out in the New Testament where this is for Gentiles.

Now, the other thing is, Galatians 2, it seems to indicate that Peter was eating with Gentiles. Seems to indicate that.

So there would have been some ritual defilement there as a Jew. And Paul says that he became all things to all people. He never violated the moral law of the Messiah. But when he was with Gentiles, he said as one without law, did he mean fornicating, committing adultery? No, what did he mean?

Well, obviously, not living in Jewish ritual purity so that he could reach Gentiles, but without violating the Messiah's law. As for Isaiah 66, again, it's in the context of ancient Israel. And in ancient Israel, it's an abomination to eat these things, and therefore God would judge those who did. And then some of them involved, whether pagan practices or things like that, for others. But the question is: just say, show me in the New Testament.

Where it says Gentiles are required to observe the dietary laws. And why don't you observe the other feasts and things that God said were forever? As far as the Lord's Day, so Revelation 1, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. The most famous Seventh-day Adventist scholar, Samuel Batciocci, in terms of the Sabbath, Wrote his whole dissertation on this and has quite a famous volume on it, and has argued that that would have been the Sabbath. And others argue, no, the Lord's Day, that meant the day of the Lord's resurrection.

So it was Sunday, and others have argued that it means the day of the Lord's appearing. You know, that was the Lord's Day. That was like a day of the Lord when God would appear and do something dramatic on behalf of his people.

So here, this appearance to John. I've read different scholarship on it, and I believe the argument can go either way. There is an excellent compilation of essays put together by D.A. Carson and Richard Balcombe, which I imagine is still readily available from Sabbath to Lord's Day. Where they go through Batiochi's arguments with appreciation but come to different conclusions.

So I'm personally not sure. I as my own lifestyle as much as possible. Saturday is a rest day for me. Often I'm ministering through the weekend like the priest who would serve in the sanctuary and have to, quote, work on the Sabbath.

So often I'm traveling and speaking. Otherwise, as much as I can wind down and rest and pull away from some normal activities, I seek to do it. That's as a Jewish person, and that's as also someone who has a schedule of speaking more often on Sunday than Saturday and doing radio Monday through Friday.

So therefore, Saturday is the more appropriate rest day for me. But I believe that God would not be displeased if Sunday was set aside for those same purposes, especially by Gentile believers.

So I appreciate the zeal of Seventh-day Adventists, but they are quite selective. and really uh majoring on the minors when it comes to the dietary loss.

Okay. All right. Well, keep up the dialogue. Hopefully, you can have a positive impact. God bless you, man.

Alright, got blessed. Thanks. 866-34Truth. I'm going to go right back to the phones in Richmond, Virginia. Rudy, welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, how are you doing, Mr. Dr. Brown? Doing well, thanks. Just calling in, I have two really quick questions.

First one is about the process of um the Jewish process of a s such marriage, you know, the age, typical age of the a Jewish couple gets together or and is it like uh arranged, like, you know, parents get to pick out who you married? And then the second one would be um oh yeah, do Jew do like the Jewish people do they I I know like, you know, Jesus made light and wine, you know, ma wine during the marriage thing. Um during the wedding. Um do they drink wine that has like alcohol or is it or is But wine, like, you know, naturally has alcohol in it and that's basically it. Yeah, are you talking uh are you talking about Today or in biblical days for both questions.

Uh I I guess both. Uh obviously I think today I think they probably would, you know. Yeah, okay, so yep, so as as as as far as As far as in biblical days, or say in New Testament times, yeah, couples would have been marrying much younger. A woman could have easily been married at the age of 15. She could have easily been married.

So men and women were marrying younger. Of course, they had many more life responsibilities growing up, and childhood in that sense was more brief. But they would be marrying younger and dying younger as well in that ancient culture. And Jewish tradition then said that there are three ways that a man can obtain a bride. And one way would be through A certain payment.

Okay, with this payment, I am now securing you as my bride, obviously with her consent. Another would be through the act of sexual intercourse that they would say, okay, we are now becoming husband and wife. And then the other would be through the formula of saying, you are now my wife, etc. And that's ultimately what has come as the Come to be the customary way that you have a ceremony and that you exchange vows and things like that. But in ultra-Orthodox Jewish circles to this day, Marriage would still be younger, not that young, but you could easily have, you know, two 18 or 19-year-olds marrying.

And in the most, most religious groups They won't even meet face to face until their wedding. The wedding has been arranged. In other circles, they'll get to talk. They might be in their 20s, they'll get to talk. And if they, maybe a half hour, a couple times, and if they both feel good about things, then The parents will bring them together for the wedding.

As far as wine, wine in the ancient world was not fermented as it is today, so it had a lower alcoholic quality, but it still did have an alcoholic quality, hence, the Bible talking about wine for someone that's suffering. Or the Bible talking about, say in Proverbs chapter 20, verse 1, wine is a mocker. Or wine is deceptive, and strong drink is a mocker. Whoever is deceived by it is not wise.

So Jewish. Custom often has wine. Jews will drink on the Sabbath. Jews were drinking special occasions, but it's not drinking to the point of drunkenness. It's just more part of the culture of life.

And that would have been the case there, that it would be very customary to have wine, not fermented the same level as today, but it certainly wasn't grape juice. It did have some level of alcoholic content. All right, appreciate the call. Got to run to a break, and then we'll come right back. Got one more segment on Thorly Jewish Thursday.

Shake the new sign, change the world, change the world. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUT. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on the line of fire, 866-348-7-885. four. I want to tell you a couple of Jewish jokes. on this Thursday, Jewish Thursday.

But for a purpose, okay? For a purpose, not just for the jokes. The story's told that A Catholic priest, Protestant pastor. And the Jewish rabbi were gathered together. And they were asked some questions.

First they were asked, when does life Begin. And the Catholic priests said, Oh, we're very clear on that. Teaching of the church is very clear. Life begins at conception. And we're dogmatic on that.

That's very clear. Then I asked the Protestant pastor, he said, you know, there's a lot of debate about this, and some feel life begins at conception, others feel that life begins further along in development or only when the child is viable outside the room. It's one of these things that's debated in a lot of our churches. Oh, okay. Then they asked the rabbi, Rabbi, when does life begin?

What does Judaism teach? And he said, Judaism teaches that life begins when the children leave home.

Okay. Hold on to that one. They were then asked, How do you handle the collection of money? Because all of your organizations receive money, your churches, your synagogues.

So the Catholic priest, remember they've taken a vow of poverty, etc. The Catholic priest says, well, We draw a circle on the ground, a small circle. We throw all the money that we get up to God. Everything that lands inside the circle we keep. everything outside the circle.

We give over to God. And they said to the Protestant pastor, Reverend, what do you do? He said, Oh, same thing, actually, a little different, though. We also draw the small circle on the ground. And then we throw all the the money up.

What lands inside the circle, that's God's. Everything outside the circle. We keep.

Now, did I say it like that for the first Catholic priest? The joke was that everything that lands inside the circle, that's theirs, right? Because they get very little, theoretically. Everything outside the circle, that's God's. The Protestant pastor is the opposite.

Everything inside the circle, that's God's, everything outside the circle, That's theirs. They said to the rabbi, Rabbi, how do you handle the money? He goes, similar but different. We take all the money and we throw it up in the sky. We don't draw the circle.

What God wants, He keeps. Everything else is ours.

Okay, now each each part of the joke is a caricature, obviously. But the reason I tell them is to say that In Jewish spirituality, there is often a pragmatism. There is a Jewish saying, one cannot depend on a miracle. That there's often a down-to-earth aspect of the spirituality that can attract many Christians because many times Christians can be, quote, so heavenly-minded, they're of no earthly good. My contention is they're not heavenly-minded enough.

If you're adequately heavenly-minded, you'll understand the importance of bringing the reality of heaven down to this world. and therefore you live it out accordingly. You understand eternal principles and you live them out. But remember, Judaism, as we've said in past weeks, does not have as much emphasis. On the world to come as Christianity has.

It recognizes it, as I've quoted often from the Mishnah, from foundational Jewish traditional teaching, that this world is a vestibule to the world to come. But there is not the same emphasis, the same focus on the world to come. Even the desire for the Messianic era. There's one Jewish teaching that says that the Messianic era will be no different than the current age, except the subjugation of the nations. In other words, that the nations will be submitted to Israel and Israel will be ruling and reigning.

Otherwise, it's going to be life in this world. There's not going to be some tremendous change in the structure of the world or nature or things like that.

So in that sense, there is not as much revelation of the world to come. If you compare the Old Testament to the New Testament, you see there's much more about the New Testament, about the world to come in the New Testament, which of course is a Jewish document as well, but much more about the world to come there. And Paul wrote to Timothy and said that Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. But if your primary focus is more Old Testament-oriented, it's going to be in that sense more down-to-earth pragmatic. And you'll often see that in Jewish spirituality.

One other joke. There is a spaceship. that comes down. in the Garmin district in New York City. And there is a famous Jewish Uh uh clothier there.

famous for men's suits. And it's Goldman, Goldman and Goldman men's suits. And they They are famous for you buy a suit there, they tailor it just for you. And Suddenly, a spaceship comes down right in front of their store. right in front of the store.

and the hatch opens up. And this alien comes walking out. With three necks. Three heads. Six arms.

And one of the guys in the store says to his colleague, quick, quick! Take down the free alteration side. Again, that's Jewish humor, known for pragmatism. known for being down to earth. And I just thought I'd share that with you.

Thinking of news items and other things, I thought, ah, we'll just have a little lighthearted fun at the end of the broadcast. Hey, I promise you more jokes if you join us in Israel for a tour next year. I didn't plan on setting it up like that. Just looked at the clock and realized I still had an extra minute. Join us.

It'll be the trip of a lifetime. When we went two years ago, I pushed it, but not as hard as I could have for two reasons. One, I thought, well, you know, it's what, $3,500, $3,700, whatever it is. It's a good amount of money for the 10-day trip, you know, the air for all the accommodations, the tour. It's a good amount of money, and I'm always jealous that your money's spent well.

And although I know so many people have been to Israel, I've been there many times to minister, I'd never led a tour. I knew it would be powerful, but I didn't know how powerful. Once we were there I was literally stunned by what a good deal it was.

Well, I'm thinking, wow, with this Pathus Hotel and the buffet meals there, and then the quality of the tour, and then all the things that were done, I thought, this is a great deal. But more importantly, when I saw how people were impacted, When I saw the degree that they were impacted and changed, my friend Scott Volk, that helps coordinate and lead the tour for us, his joy to do it, does multiple tours to Israel every year, and his joy to help work with us as much as possible. He said the quickest impact he ever saw was a man getting off the plane, landed in Israel, began to weep, said it's never going to be the same again.

So join us if you can.

Now's the time to get your deposit in. It's going to be here before you know it, February 25th. Tomorrow 6th. February 25th, 2021. to March 6th.

Uh, we have limited seating, in other words, there buses have so much seating and things like that. Uh, we're not going to have like five buses or eight buses or things like that, so it's a smaller tour. It's when we get to spend time together, uh, all these neat extra things added in, connecting in the land with uh Jewish believers, with Arab believers, the face-to-face connections, even getting to sit in on some of my live radio shows, having meals together. It's it's a special time, and then everything you get to see in Israel.

So, go to the website, ask dr. Brown, a-skdrbrown.org, and get your deposit in today. Can't wait to see in the land next year. My bottom line today: there's practical wisdom flowing from the Jewish people to the world, especially through the scriptures.