Alex McFarland Guest Hosts for Dr. Brown

Welcome to the Line of Fire Mics, Dr. Alex McFarland. 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. Welcome back to the line of fire.

Alex McFarland's here.

So honored to be sitting in for Dr. Brown. He's traveling. He's headed to Australia. Hope you're keeping him in prayer.

And we have got a power-packed show today, folks. You will want to stay to every moment of the line of fire. Today we're going to hear, we're trying to get on the line our first guest, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forrest of North Carolina, which we think will have any moment. We're also going to have a pastor, Dr. Mark Cowart, from Colorado, who's got a national conference called Breaking the Silence.

It was held last year, an amazing conference with people like Tony Perkins, General Gerald Boykin, and it's about some of the moral issues of our day. We've got an author, Marianne Herring, and she's going to talk to us about raising a reader in a Wi-Fi world. If you're a parent and you're wondering, you know, will my kids read books? Then you want to hear Marianne Hering. And then in one hour, we have.

Dr. David Jeremiah, beloved pastor, best-selling author. And so we look forward to having these guests on. We look forward to hearing from you. My name is Alex McFarland.

I'm a writer and a speaker, Christian apologetics teacher, and a great fan of Dr. Michael Brown. And so it's always an honor when he asked me to sit in for him. And, you know, I want to give a quote here. Will Durant, I don't know if you know this name, but Will Durant, he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He was an author. And he, with his wife, Muriel Durant, wrote a series of books on the history of Western civilization. And so he was interviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times before he died. And listen to what Will Durant said. He said, I survived morally because I was taught the moral code along with religion.

While I have discarded the religion, which was Roman Catholicism, you and I are living on the shadow of that moral code. Listen, one of the greatest Historians of the last hundred years. We are operating in America on the Christian. Ethical code which was given to us, but unfused with Christian faith. What will happen to our children?

We are not giving them an ethics. imparted with a Christian faith, they are living on the shadow of a shadow.

So let me let me let me uh translate this. He was saying he was raised on the Christian ethic here in America, even though at the time he wasn't a Christian.

Now, he later became a Christian before he died. Will Durant did become a believer before he died. But he was saying: look, even though by the 70s, 60s, 70s, 80s, the Christian faith was beginning to wane, but we are living on the vapors of this Judeo-Christian moral code, what about our children who. Don't have Christianity. They're living on the shadow of the shadow of the shadow.

My point in that is that we need to restore belief and morality here in America.

So when you talk about things like the bathroom bill, when you talk about gender and gender dysphoria and people that want to. Yeah. Turn from a male to a female. Besides just arguing against reality, fighting nature itself, what all this is doing is serving to undermine. Undermine The moral code that was the foundation on which our Declaration of Independence was written, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights.

And that's why it's not just about religion. This is about civility. This is about the very parameters that make for a civilized society. And so yesterday we had Abraham Hamilton III's general counsel for the American Family Association recently met with the board of Target. and was pretty much just shown the door.

Uh why would we ask you to sign up Boycott Target? Why would we urge you to vote and stand up for morality? Because it is the epistemic foundation of our country and our freedoms. More on the line of fire from Alex McFarland when we return. Stay tuned.

Ain't the world It's fire we want, for fire we Please take your hand to the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Alex McFarlane sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown. Very honored to be doing that and doubly honored to have the first guest on the line that we've got today. This is Lieutenant Governor Dan Forrest here in North Carolina, wherever you're listening in America.

Dan Forrest is the Lieutenant Governor under Governor McCrory here in North Carolina. And let me just say thank you, sir, for making time to be on the line of fire.

Well, Alex, it's good to talk to you again. It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on. I remember a couple of years ago in Charlotte, you graciously came and spoke at our conference, Truth for a New Generation, in front of a couple of thousand young people. And we gave an award to you, and we were honored to do that.

But a lot to talk about in a short time to do it. Talk to us. The eyes of the nation have been on North Carolina regarding HB2. And I want to say, as a person who understands the moral foundations that our founders had in view when this nation was birthed, thank you, Governor Forrest. Thank you for, I believe, very courageously standing up for ethics and morality.

But just give us a synopsis of what that's been like in these weeks, where really, though you all were doing the right thing, you came under great fire for having done it.

Well, Alex, you kind of have to back up and realize that this was more of a planned attack from the left than anything else. It was certainly the Charlotte Mayor who and city council who were trying to create a solution for a problem that didn't exist down there. And in doing that, they passed an ordinance that was unconstitutional. But it's interesting how the media Immediately jumped on the governor and the General Assembly in North Carolina for passing legislation to strike down that unconstitutional ordinance when the real a firestorm should have been against the mayor of Charlotte. I mean, really what the General Assembly did was try to the best of their ability to maintain the status quo as it had been in North Carolina and say men use men's rooms and women use women's rooms.

And by the way, City of Charlotte, you can't tell all the businesses in your city what to do and how to operate under public accommodation law because that's Something the state does. And so the state has that authority. They had to strike down for it.

So, really, all the fire powers should have been against the city of Charlotte, their mayor, and their city council for doing that, not against the General Assembly, but. Really, what you find out is it's not only an ideological battle, it's also a political battle that we're in. Governor's up for re-election. I'm up for re-election, as well as obviously the whole General Assembly. And short window here, five months away.

And so when you want to have control back of the state of North Carolina as the left has for some time, and they're going to use any opportunity they can. And this is one of those opportunities Well, in Raleigh, how many of your fellow legislators really get it? I mean, if we abolish any moral code, if we abolish moral and ethical boundaries, we really don't have a context in which our laws and our Constitution can be lived out. I mean, how many of your peers really get that?

Well, I think the majority of them do. I think that that's why it was pretty easy to call the special session. The Speaker and I had the opportunity to call a special session with the written signatures of the majority of the House and Senate members, and that wasn't a difficult thing to do. I think they got it. I think what you always have is you have a whole lot of pressure coming against a lot of people.

North Carolina becomes the tip of the spear, if you will, for this national attack, not just that happened in Charlotte, but it became a national issue when the Justice Department with the federal government got involved. Moretta Lynch got involved and told us that they were going to cut our funding in North Carolina for education and housing and transportation and everything else if we didn't repeal the bill, which was a major overstep on their part. And then she went so far as uh comparing uh H B two to the civil rights Act of this sev uh sixty four and seventy two and saying that this was like Jim Crow laws in the South. And then you have the President come out the next week and say that all schools had to open up their bathrooms and allow boys to play on girls' sports teams.

So it was an amazing onslaught in a very short period of time.

So I think certain people start to get a little worried and a little scared when when those kinds of things happen. But the way I see it right now is the General Assembly and the Governor have been standing strong, and I think they'll continue to stand strong as we go forward.

Well, let me ask you this, and I know there are people because, you know, I'm on the road speaking every weekend. I've been in 23 states in the last 10 months. Many citizens across America, like myself, are watching with bated breath, frankly, praying for you, Governor Forrest, praying for Governor McCorray, and just hoping, hoping that you all will stand strong because this is about the soul of our nation.

So here's my question, a two-fold question. Have other leaders in other states reached out to you and your courageous stance has maybe emboldened leaders elsewhere? And is the North Carolina leadership committed to stand strong for HB2 and for ultimately morality?

Well, as I see it now, I think the leadership is committed to stand strong. And yes, I have actually heard. Through the grapevine, that other leaders across the country have been involved in by the stance.

So I'm proud of that. It's good. Hopefully, it can be an encouragement to other states for standing up against this kind of one overreach in an unconstitutional ordinance from a city from a city, any city. But like Charlotte, the same has happened in Houston a year ago and it was struck down. But also, this is the first time that I know that the state has really stood strong against the federal government, against the Obama administration, for really what I believe is a a very shameless act when you start to compare uh Bathroom Privacy to Civil Rights Act.

Uh and uh trying to change the the definition of what sex means and the civil rights access. 64 and 72. And so I think that's just a shameless act. But to go a step further than that, it was even more shameless from the rep wretch that, you know, this is like Jim Furlaw's in the South and Alex, you know as I do that the color of your skin has absolutely nothing to do with the bathroom you use or where you sit on the bus or what lunch counter you sit at or anything else. But your biology has everything to do with what mathematically you use.

And so to even make a statement like that is shameful by the Justice Department.

So we said, you know what, we got to stand up and stand strong for this because one, our Constitution absolutely does matter, but two, the moral fabric of the nation, like you said, is at stake here. Exactly.

Well said.

Well said, Lieutenant Governor.

Well, what about has there been more pushback from corporations and celebrities, or has that kind of died down?

Well, it certainly died down. I mean, you're not reading about it on the front page anymore.

Now it's on Page eight. But the media is going to continue their attempt to twist what happened here. And the day after our bill was passed, The language all over the country was Um you know, that this was the most anti-LGBT legislation ever passed in the history of America when all we did was say that men have to use men's rooms and girls have to use girls' rooms. And so, you know, that was unfortunate that they chose that tax, but that's obviously what they're going to do. And so they're still.

uh on that pathway right now. And so, you know, we're still going to be fighting this for some time, just getting the truth out. That's always our challenge: how do you get the truth out when the media buys their ink by the barrel, you know, and they can launch a nationwide or worldwide campaign against you? But, you know, here's the hypocrisy of even the business community on this. What our legislation did was say, Businesses, you can do whatever you want.

So, PayPal, who decided they weren't going to expand by 400 jobs in North Carolina and pulled those 400 jobs out of here, they said, We said to them, PayPal, you can do whatever you want. If you want to take the signs off your bathrooms, you can do that. Alex, that's a that's a little known fact about the Charlotte Ordinance that nobody really talks about is Their ordinance literally said could not have sign on bathrooms that say men's room, women's room, boys shower. Yeah. girls walk around whatever whatever they see, they call that sex discrimination.

And so opening up the doors obviously for people with all kinds of ill intent to go in and take advantage of those facilities. Uh but even more basic than that is just the basic flight. Privacy. uh that is denied the vast majority of people in this country Should the Obama administration and the Justice Department get their way on this?

So really that's why we uh are finding them so heavily.

Well, and God bless you for it. Because, you know, I speak a lot of universities, and I know one of the real ideologies that's being forced on young people these days is egalitarianism, that there are no differences. But yet, science tells us. I'm reading a book right now by one of the world's preeminent neurosurgeons, and she says that there are differences between males and females. This is scientifically indisputable.

But all of this to forbid there being designations on male or female bathrooms or locker rooms, it's a real philosophy that is chipping away, if it's allowed to go unchecked, is chipping away at the foundation of America. And again, I just want to say, and I know I speak for millions of listeners, Lieutenant Governor Forrest, thank you. Thank you for being willing to be courageous. Let me ask you this. We've only got a few moments left.

The election is coming. Give us a word. There are many citizens around America that I think the last two decades have passively watched the news unfold. Talk to us about the need for the citizenry to be informed, engaged, registered to vote, and part of the electoral process.

Well, I mean, it's no more important time ever, and I think that's going to be true for every election moving forward. Alex, you say that every four years, every two years, but this is more important now than ever. There's certainly campaigns being run against us by outside forces, and we won by the slightest of margins last time.

So, everybody wants to help. Lieutenant Governor Dan Forrest, thank you so much. The line of fire is back after this. Stay tuned, folks. Hey, this is Michael Brown.

I want to invite you to join me for our second ever trip to Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. This is a great opportunity I get to interact with you, our radio listening audience, and our ministry partners as we experience the land of Israel together and it will be a life-changer. We've got a great price on the trip. And if you're one of our monthly supporters or torch bearers, you're eligible to receive a special discount for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Space is limited, and we're accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information on the trip to secure your spot, go to askdrbrown.org, click on the Israel banner, or call our office at 704-782-3760. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Shoot. Burn up every trace of sin. Welcome back to the line of fire. Alex McFarland, so honored to be sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown.

And let me just say, my website is simply my name, alexmacfarland.com.

So honored to link arms with Dr. Brown. I've just loved and respected him for so long. We've been friends for. I guess a little bit more than a decade.

I mean, I've known of him for a long time. And, you know, Dr. Brown represents so many things. He's a scholar. He's a shepherd.

But he's a man of great courage. And God is using him in a great way. And he speaks out on things that need to be said.

Well, somebody else that is in exactly that same mold is the person I want you to meet right now. And I want you to listen very carefully because just as the lieutenant governor was telling us about this moral battle we're in, Dr. Mark Coward is doing something about it. And like Michael Brown, few people I know are holding the torch of the gospel, defending the faith, and empowering tens of thousands of lives. Few people are doing it like Dr.

Mark Coward. He's the founding pastor of Church for All Nations in Colorado and elsewhere around the nation. They've got a big conference coming up in August called Breaking the Silence. You need to know about it.

So give a good listen to our guest now, Dr. Mark Cowart. Hello, Alex. It's great to be with you. How are you doing, brother?

I'm doing good.

Well, thanks for taking time to be on. We've got a a PowerPack show. You're a pastor. You're a shepherd of people, but you're also a voice of truth in the culture, which is not always easy, is it?

Well, you know, Alex, what really began to change in my life and in my heart, doctor Martin Luther King said Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter to us.

So I began to look around, and as a pastor, I realized there were things that are going on in our nation that we can no longer be silent about. And I made a decision to start speaking up. Mm-hmm.

Well, and and in what ways have you done that?

Well, it started for me back in two thousand eight in the summer. I just had a time with the Lord, and I began to sense Some things with that upcoming presidential election. And of course, President Obama said he was out to fundamentally transform the nation. And then, of course, we began to see things happen in our nation that were Oh, just shocking. And of course, who would have ever thought we'd be dealing with some of the things we are now?

And so I began a series in twenty eleven called America the Beautiful, and I centered it around the time of July the 4th, and I just simply began to study our foundations as a nation. And I discovered we have very strong Christian foundations. Our founding fathers were men of faith. And quite honestly, Alex, we wouldn't have a country if it wasn't for the Bible. We have deep Christian foundations.

And what's happened is we've drifted from that. And of course, you know what Psalms 11 says. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

So that's when it began for me.

Well, you know, I was the same way. I went, I guess, about 20 years ago, 19 years ago, I heard a then up-and-coming speaker, David Barton.

Now, he's kind of a household name now. But when I heard David Barton, and he was, you know, showing these documents from our history and people like Patrick Henry and George Washington and all the founders, how overtly, explicitly Christian they were in their orientation. I mean, it was almost like Uh unbelievable. It was just something I had never heard. I was a product of public school.

I had never heard any of this. And it it's it was a very transformative moment.

Sounds like it was for you as well. What else? Speaking of David Barton, it happened to be an article of his that he wrote. It was three pages long, it had 101 footnotes. And it was entitled The Black Robe Regiment.

And I had never heard that phrase, Alex. I thought, well, maybe that was some type of a judicial thing or something. You know, judges wear black robes.

Well then I came to find out something I had never heard taught in all my life all of my years in Bible school and public school. And I don't even know that Christian schools teach it. But the Black Robe Regiment is simply a backhanded comment the British made. at the founding era of our nation and They basically said, you know, if it hadn't been for the pastor and the clergy, i.e., the Black Robe Regiment, we'd have won this revolution. And then.

Secular historians have confirmed this, that Had it not been for the pastors and clergy of the day, there never would have been a revolution. And they've also determined had the revolution begun Without the pastors and the clergy's participation and involvement, it wouldn't have been sustainable.

So the bottom line is that we wouldn't have a country if pastors had not been vocal and speaking up. Yeah. Well, talk to us about the Breaking the Silence Conference. For those just tuning in, this is the line of fire, Alex McFarlane, and our guest, Dr. Mark Cowart, Church for All Nations.

And I want you to talk about the need of pastors to speak up, but you've got a conference that's a resource that are going to equip people to speak up with effectiveness. Yeah, this is exciting. And of course, you were there last year. That was our first one, Breaking the Silence. And the theme last year was Our Nation, your voice and God's plan And this year, it will be August 21st through the 24th in Colorado Springs.

And that is a Sunday morning through Wednesday night. And speaking of David Barton, David is going to be one of the speakers. My good friend Andrew Womack, who's the founder of Karis Bible College up here in Woodland Park. General Jerry Boykin, of course. Our mutual dear friend Kamal Saleem, who's a former jihadist, And a host of others, Alex.

And basically, What that is, you remember Dietrich von Hoffer said this. He said, silent. in the face of evil is evil itself. And you know I grew up in West Texas, but who would have ever thought we would be dealing with situations Of men going into women's bathrooms and things of that nature. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

we have a serious threat in America. From radical Islam, and people are afraid to speak up. And unfortunately, we just saw a travesty this last weekend, and 49 people are dead. And Alex, it's all because people are not speaking up. And that's why the Lord dropped this into my heart last year.

to break the silence. This year, our theme is focusing on the power of one. Hold that thought, Dr. Cowhert. This is the line of fire.

We've got a brief break. We're going to continue this conversation about breaking the silence and speaking the truth after this break. Don't go away. 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. We're back.

Alex McFarland here, sitting in for Dr. Brown, who's on the road traveling. Our guest, Dr. Mark Coward. Cowart, Church for All Nations.

Hey, Dr. Cowart, before we resume the conversation, give us a website on the Breaking the Silence Conference. It is Breaking the Silence Conference dot com. Again, Breaking the Silent Conference, and that's spelled out, Breaking the Silent Conference. And you can go online and register.

There is no charge for it, but we do need to get people registered. And folks, let me say, I used to live in Colorado Springs. It is one of the most exquisitely beautiful places in North America. Easy to get into, either Denver or the Colorado Springs airport. You'll love it.

Church for All Nations. I've been there many, many times. It is one of the most spirit-filled places in the USA. And you will not be disappointed. Plus, I know, Dr.

Cowart, you mentioned General Boykin. You know, he was recently in the news. He's a professor, one of our greatest living war heroes, and he's come under the fire for standing for morality too, hasn't he? Yes, he has. He seems to stay in the news, and of course, he's a personal friend of ours.

I'm telling you, if there's anyone that loves this country, and he says this, one time he was speaking for us, and he carries a copy of the Constitution. And he reads it on a regular occasion. And he pulled it out and he said. When he enlisted in the military, he took an oath and swore to defend that constitution. And he said there was no expiration date on that defending of the Constitution.

And you know, we have freedom and liberty that we are allowed to have freedom of religion, not freedom of worship. That's something people need to watch for. Hitler himself didn't care so much if Christians worship. Just keep it in the four walls of the church. But we have freedom of religion, freedom of speech.

And he exercised that, and all of a sudden, some LGBT marched down to The college there and demanded his resignation. But what the good news on that was, the students spoke up. Very loudly, and he was rehired and reinstated there. And you know, it's become a sad day in America when we cannot express differences. of opinion.

And it seems like the ones that cry uh intolerant seemed to be the most intolerant. Sure.

Well, you've been a pastor for 30 years, built one of America's great churches. Folks, listen, if you're a pastor, And you really don't speak out on the moral issues, you've got a platform God has entrusted to you that you need to be using. And maybe you're a parishioner, a church member, and you need to tell your pastor, hey, it's okay, be bold, get up there and preach. We're not going to bail on you, we're going to support you. Pastor Mark, just give a word to the Christian leaders out there about the importance of being bold in the proclamation of truth at this hour.

Well, I cannot emphasize enough, and if you're a pastor listening or attend the church, I want to encourage you to pray for your pastor, but also. speak to him. You know, recently George Barna and David Barton did some research, and they found that the majority of Christians in America are desperately wanting to hear their pastors and leaders speak out on issues such as abortion and homosexuality and political issues that affect all of us. I cannot emphasize enough, and a lot of times people say, well, media is the most powerful thing in this nation. And I really differ with that.

I believe that the pulpit is the most powerful force in America because God chose the foolishness of preaching. And I've got numerous testimonies we don't have time to go into of pastors of small churches that have affected entire states. And if we are silent, if people can't hear truth and light from the pulpit, where will they ever be able to hear it?

So we must speak out. People everywhere, you need to go to Colorado, August 21 through 24, breakingthesilenceconference.com. Thank you, Dr. Cowart. Stay tuned.

The line of fire is back after this. 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 to the line of fire. Alex McFarland here. Honored to be sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown.

Folks, I told you we were going to have a power-packed afternoon, and it's happening. And we're excited about the guests that you're about to meet. Let's talk about happy things for a moment. We've been talking about the culture wars and all of that, but Sunday is going to be Father's Day, a day for the celebration of family and fatherhood, and of course, child rearing. And one of the quotes that I've loved for years, it's inspired me for years, it's attributed to John Wesley.

I don't know if Wesley really said it, but supposedly, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said, Those who read lead. Those who read, lead.

So I don't know who really said that, but it is true.

So we've got somebody that is a blogger, has been a blogger for Focus on the Family. She was one of the founding editors of Clubhouse Clubhouse Jr. and has written a best-selling Book, a series for children. Marianne Herring of the Imagination Station series, Focus on the Family. I know you've seen her name in print before, but I want to ask her a question here in a moment.

First, I want to say welcome, Marianne. Thank you for being on the line of fire. Oh, you're welcome. It's a privilege to be here, Alex.

Well, thank you.

So here's my question for you. You've written on parenting, you've edited books, you've worked for Focus on the Family, you've written one of the best-selling books. I know it's a best-selling series, The Imagination Station, because when I go to home school conventions, I see kids all over America carrying these books around. I want you to talk about those. But here's the question.

Parents. Can they make their kids readers in a Wi-Fi, mobile device, internet world? Can we do that? Absolutely. As long as kids are interested in stories and weird facts about cockroaches.

they will enjoy reading. Uh well, weird facts about cockroaches. That's Yeah, so so how do we do that? Everywhere I go out in public restaurants, the airport, I mean, everybody is like glued to their mobile devices. And Psychologists tell us that we retain more when we like physically read a book.

I know we do a lot of reading on the screen, but the age where a kid is going to read Up that progression from children's books to, you know, being a reader in. middle school, high school and college, has has the age passed when we can hope that our kids will really have a broad base of knowledge because they were a reader?

Well, they can always have a broad base of knowledge, and you don't have to read a book to be absorbing information.

So, yes, it is going to look a little bit different. this generation than other generations, but all is not lost. Um Because humans have a curiosity Especially when they're young and they do seek out information, they will look for it and read it. you know, whenever it's available and it meets their needs. The key is for parents is to meet their needs with um with books, magazines.

and other forms of literature, but to also cut back and control the WiFi, which is really, really difficult. I'm there. It's so hard. And every year, it gets more difficult as my kids have aged. But especially for the younger kids, it's very easy to control.

And get them interested in the picture books. And best thing of all, it's usually free because most communities have a a well-stocked children's library. What what do you say to the parent who um they've not really set boundaries on video games or mobile devices? How can a parent begin to put some structure into their kids' wifi usage if they haven't really already done that?

Well, I would start by especially during the summer when school isn't an issue, I would start by offering fun alternatives and rewards. Um I always find that um You know, honey sells better than vinegar or catches more flies than vinegar. And so I would have rewards for limiting it and then fun alternatives that probably do involve some kind of literature available for them. It's also better for them, especially in the evening, to cut off the electronics before they go to sleep. You want to do that even for teenagers.

An hour to an hour and a half before bedtime, if you can even establish a bedtime, which I know is hard. I have seventeen-year-old twins. And any kind of boundary is very difficult. But I do it.

Well, you know, a lot of parents, because I know I, you know, speak around the country and do parenting seminars too. A lot of moms and dads They say, but my kids, if I take away the internet, my kids are going to freak out. My kids just kind of have a meltdown.

So What do you do when there's a meltdown?

Okay. Hey, I think we're losing you a bit. Are you there? Yeah, can you hear me? Yes.

I haven't moved. I'm sitting here. I have five bars. I promised.

Okay. See the challenges of technology. You know, you could go and and you know, move away from where you don't get internet access, but The the reality is is Wi-Fi is only getting better and more invasive.

So just like anything like television, every generation has face The new thing that teens are addicted to. In my grandma's age, they didn't believe that fiction reading was appropriate for young ladies. And so women had to sneak and read their fiction in in in private. Times have changed. There's a lot of very valuable, meaningful fiction available to your kid.

Bottom line is you have to be a parent and set some boundaries. They will, unless they have severe psychological issues or even minor ones, the meltdowns, they last a few days. and you just have to weather it. And then Then you offer Interesting material for them to read or other activities, and they will embrace it. And and uh parents shouldn't fear the meltdown, should they?

I mean, they're going to happen anyway. And if if your kid has a meltdown because you're putting in structure and discipline, uh they'll just have to get over it, won't they? Yeah. But you be supportive and patient. You don't want to shame a child for having a meltdown.

I had one child in particular who who's pretty good at them. And when he was five, man, he could keep the whole family tied up for an hour and a half. until I figured out I he could just have those meltdowns in his room. And eventually they got down to an hour and twenty. And then when we got down to oh, it's only forty five minutes Yeah.

And now he's my most tractable child of all. But if you if you back down then it's just gonna snowball and you'll have to learn they can manipulate you and then it's not all over, but it makes it more difficult. You mention rewards for reading. Um You mentioned rewards for good behavior a few minutes ago. T talk to us about that.

So, bribing as a parent, it's okay to bribe my children to reach. Oh, my goodness. Do you work for free or do you get a paycheck, Alex?

Well, I do a little bit of both. A lot of what I do is pro bono. Yeah. Um, yeah, it can be a reward, it can be a special dessert, it can be um Kids need to be rewarded, not extravagantly. I mean, if they sit down and read for 15 minutes, you know, they don't get a new Porsche, for example.

But, um ha filling out um charts work well for some kids. I'm just being able to put a star on there and getting some approval for some kids' work.

Sometimes it doesn't. Um there are some kids that finding a reward System is more difficult than others, but if you're creative, you can usually find one. Um I used to okay, and you you're probably not going to like this. I used to pay my kids to read nonfiction. I had a whole bunch of magazines we subscribed to.

They weren't reading them. I would pay them a dollar per magazine article that they read. My goal was to keep them reading and to become educated. And they weren't such aberrant or such um voracious readers that I went broke. But it seemed to be a fair trade-off, and they did it well.

And the bottom line is Um they took their ACTs and they did okay in reading.

Well, we got him there. It wasn't it's not always pretty, but we got him there.

Well, there you go. For those just tuning in, we're talking with Marianne Hering. She's an author, an editor, and a parenting expert, and has been a voice for Focus on the Family. Y um I want to talk about the Imagination Station books because these are books that kids will read. I mean, we know that.

How many are in that series right now? How many books have you done in that series? Um 18, I'm working on book 19 right now. And what will that one be about? That one is going to be about Daniel and the Lion's Den and the history of Babylon, the Jews in exile in Babylon, and it's fascinating.

And so, what's the premise behind the Imagination Station? It's historical fiction, right? It is. I have two characters, Patrick and Beth, and they're nine-ish. And they travel around and witness great Christian historical events.

Hold up, false.

Sorry to cut in. This is the line of fire. Stay tuned. Alex McFarlane, guest hosting for Dr. Brown.

We're back after this brief break. 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. Welcome back to the line of fire. Alex McFarlane sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown. Hey, folks, you want to stay tuned?

We've got a great show. We're talking with Marianne Hearing, author, editor, parenting expert. In 10 minutes after the break at the top of the hour, we'll have Dr. David Jeremiah, best-selling author, beloved pastor, and cultural voice. Marianne, before the break, we were talking about the Imagination Station books.

So the premise is you've got these two recurring characters who go through great periods of history and you're teaching history, the Bible, and good values through these stories, right? Yes, great periods of Christian history. I focus on key Christian moments or biblical moments.

Okay. And so you mentioned Daniel in the lion's den. What are some of the other Christian historical moments that the books have covered? Oh, we focused on Leif Erickson when he brought Christianity over to Greenland. And we studied Rome when Telemachus.

stopped the um the gladiator games by jumping into the arena. and challenging the Emperor Honorius that it was wrong. Wow. Do you want me to go on through all my? We did the Redcoats Are Coming, which was we did the Battle of Lexington and Concord, but we looked at one of the preachers who was preaching and had gunpowder stored underneath his pulpit.

Wow. So if we can find a Christian Engel on American Advent and other world events. We do and we present it to the the kids so that they know that Christians are brave and courageous and that it it does matter. The Christian worldview does matter and it's worth fighting for.

Well, and in what age range are these books aimed at?

Well, they're not really at an age range. They're at a reading level and it's pretty much SMAC right on at third grade. And what I've done is um I looked at the reading statistics For the U.S., and by third grade, a bunch of kids are already behind, about 30% of them.

So these books are high-action, very engaging books that even third and fourth graders who are struggling readers will be interested in. But I have a lot of kindergartners who are fans as well. Wow, I was going to ask you, d I'm sure you get some good feedback from older youth and parents, but what's some of the what's some of the feedback you've gotten from children that have stumbled upon these books? The feedback that I most appreciate are from boys about 10 and 11 years old who don't like to read. Um they will write to me and tell me this is the first book I've ever enjoyed.

And so I've written it in such a simple I don't really back down on vocabulary, but my sentence structure and my paragraphs are short. They can access the material, but it's got a lot of action in it, and they just love it. And so that really was my target audience, is writing for boys who were struggling readers so that they had something. But girls as well enjoy these, my main character best. She's uh a modern protagonist.

She's feminine, but she's also not easily intimidated. Mhm. And these are thoroughly Christian. And uh they will affirm rather than undermine the Christian values that parents want to impart, right? Absolutely.

Well, hey, let me ask you this, because that is great. You know, studies show that girls tend to be earlier readers than boys oftentimes and do more reading than boys. But you're hearing that little boys are reading these books. That's great. Let's talk about getting your kids into the Bible, though.

What advice do you have for parents about grooming their children to read God's Word?

Well I I think exposing kids to God word in any format that they will absorb. Is wonderful. I did not think I would let my kids read comic books that I did. As soon as the I think it would cook p published a a very thick book um In comic book form, I bought them from my boys because they will read that and they know the stories. God's word was uh transmitted orally for generations.

And so also there's a whole bunch of good Bible story material. Um That that takes it out and breaks it down for kids who are struggling readers. You just need to go to your Christian bookstore and spend some money. You can also get the Bible on tape. My boys would listen to.

would listen to the Bible. um easier than they would reading it.

So I've been there. One of my sons has a learning disability, and it's just really tough to get him to read anything, but he would listen to it.

So parents just need to be creative, nonjudgmental, and really set aside your budget to spend at the Christian bookstore because the resources are out there. It's just finding the right one and encouraging your kids to dive in. Yeah. And, you know, it's so important. I know we've heard this verse ad infinitum, but train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

From the training up of the child to the when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Sometimes there's an interval in there, a dry spell spiritually, isn't there? Under candy. There can be and um You know, that's just part of growing up. The kids will have to one day identify themselves as Kristen apart from the family. Um value.

And so they have to internalize those and choose them. But if they have been in a healthy family and have seen those values play out into healthy relationships, Um Peace. love, joy, all of those things they're really not going to walk away from it easily. they're going to be less inclined to take a a bad bad advice or to pursue something else, but but some will. And we've We that's why the story of the prodigal child is in there.

There's no silver bullet that's gonna, you know, magically get your kids there. But um the Holy Spirit is alive and well. And has been For eternity, so we can count on him to reach our children.

So prayer is also prayer is also a part of it and then Um, making sure your children I used I have moved my children around. We stayed at one church, but I have moved them from youth group. Um occasionally joined other churches' camps and gone to other churches' um Awanas, like our church didn't have Awanas, and I love the Awana program. The Bible memor memorization is just so key.

So even if they can't read, the kids can can memorize those Bible verses and those tend to stay. There's like a sweet spot in in elementary school when kids can memorize a lot and that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. And and they need to see uh Christian commitment modeled in the lives of the parents, don't they? They do. You have to be consistent.

For the Imagination Station books, what's the website? Um theimagination station dot com. TheimaginationStation.com.

Well, Mirian Hearing, thanks for the great work you do for the kingdom. Thanks for being on the line of fire this afternoon. All right. Thanks for having me, Alex. God bless you.

Hey, folks, this is Alex McFarlane sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown on the line of fire. Hey, we've got an incredible next hour coming up. We'll kick it off with Dr. David Jeremiah.

I do want to make you aware of my newest book, Stand Strong America. Facts about our history, our past, the present, and a plan for revival in the future. Stay tuned. The line of fire is back after this. Welcome to the Line of Fire Mics.

Dr. Alex McFarland. 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. Welcome back to the line of fire.

Alex McFarland here sitting in for Michael Brown.

So glad to be with you today. You know, We are living in such times that we need a great move of God. And just as Dr. Mark Cowert was talking about earlier, that the black-robed regimen, the pastors that spoke out for truth and for the moral necessity of the American Revolution, even Britain recognized that without that, you know, there wouldn't have been an American Revolution. Have you ever thought about this?

And I'll give out this number and we'll ponder this call: 866-34TRUTH. If you want to call in, 866-348-7884. If 1776 had been 2016.

Well, let me put it this way: if 2016 had been 1776, would we even have an America? Because, I mean, think about this. As we have abandoned morality, as we have well, I'll just give you some of the rundown of some of the things that we've done to, I believe, break our national covenant with God. We've prohibited the reading of scripture in public schools. That was a 1962 Supreme Court decision.

There was a 1963 Supreme Court decision that we've prohibited prayer in public schools largely. Manger scenes and crosses and the decalogue, the Ten Commandments are prohibited from being displayed in public areas. There's a prohibition against posting the Ten Commandments in public buildings. There's a prohibition against teaching creation in public schools. There was a case in Arkansas versus the Supreme Court, and basically evolution has a monopoly on the science classrooms of America's public schools.

And then the federally subsidized taking of unborn human life.

So much more, I could say. But our nation has turned its back on God. And we're going to talk about that and more.

So honored to have from California on the line Dr. David Jeremiah, best-selling author, beloved pastor, and voice of truth in our culture today. Dr. Jeremiah, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you.

Well, thank you so much for making time to be on today. Tell us what's going on in your world and in Turning Point Ministries today.

Well, we're just Hanging in there, doing our teaching and preparing. And we just finished a book called People Are Asking: Is This the End? And we're producing all that material for. the fall season and Trying to stay ahead of everything the best we can.

Well, Dr. Jeremiah, I've followed your ministry for many years and benefited from your research and your teaching. But one of the most significant books I think you've ever done came out a couple of years ago, and it was titled I Never Thought I'd See the Day. Talk to us a little bit about the premise of that book and what you wrote about in that book.

Well, you know, it was kind of an aha moment for me, as I'm sure it has been for a lot of folks. Looking at what's going on in the world today and thinking back over one's life, realizing. that the things that are happening in our culture today are unprecedented and that If we're honest, we we never thought we would live to see such a time. And so I began to write some of my thoughts down and Um And that book was a result of that that process. What are some of the things that that Many people never thought they would see, but now are just a given in American life.

The marginalization of the Bible in our churches. the loss of the influence of the church in our culture, The anger of the atheistic people against Christianity. Hey, we've got a break. Dr. Jeremiah, hold that thought.

We've got a good long segment coming up after this. Stay tuned. The line of fire with our very, very special guest, Dr. David Jeremiah. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the line of fire. Alex McFarlane sitting in for Dr.

Michael Brown, our very, very special guest. Just a national treasure, really. Dr. David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain Church, one of America's great churches and a best-selling author. Before that break, Dr.

Jeremiah, you were talking about some of the things, and one of the things to which you alluded was the decline of the influence of the church. Um I have a two-fold question. With more than three hundred and forty, three hundred and forty five thousand churches, millions and millions of Christians. How can it be that the church has lost its influence? And what hope do we have of a restoration?

Well, you know, the church has lost its influence because we forgot who we were. You know, if we don't if we are not standing in the middle of the culture. with the truth of God's Word at at the center of what we do. We don't have a purpose. We're meaningless.

And as we began to move away from the scripture to try to be more relevant or whatever the reason was, We little by little, we lost our voice. And, um, you know nobody Nobody wants to hear a second hand Uh uh socially uh acceptable message. uh in the place where God God's Holy Word used to be. I I don't know how to I I don't know how to say it anything differently. The church has lost its voice.

because it's forgotten who it is and and w why we're here. Yeah, and and and the the pastors have a ri really a sacred trust to preach the whole counsel of God, popular or not, don't they? Yeah, but you know, today most, and there's some really Powerful young guys out there that continue to teach the Word of God, and I'm so proud of them. But many of the guys who've come through the postmodern uh uh wicket are are committed to relevance and uh and being, um accepted by uh lots of people. broadbrushing the gospel and and downplaying any restrictive aspect of it.

so they can have the greatest possible acceptance in And that's all. that's all well and good, except it it it renders the church Meaningless because we don't have anything to offer the world except the truth of God's. God's Word. When we abandon that, we we don't have anything left. Do we have any hope that America could have another great awakening?

Well You know, I just I just wrote a chapter about that in a book I've I've just completed. And uh I I remember a statement, I forget who it was.

someone gave me this statement and said over the years, in American history, there have been many times when the culture was so so gone, so so much so that Everybody said uh America's America has gone to the dogs. And he said every time that has happened, it's been the dog that's died. Ha ha ha ha. Because God has re restored it. And you know the bottom line is when we're at our lowest, we're at the best possible place for God to do something.

And I do believe that there could be another great awakening But here's the issue with that. It doesn't start in the world or in the hearts of the of the unbelievers or in the culture, it's got to start in the hearts of God's people. That's where it's always started. I was profoundly impacted by my study of Revival In that it always started at a very uh very low time in in cultural uh judgment. It always almost always started in the hearts of young people.

Young people have been the source. of God's dealing with revival in almost every situation. The modern missionary movement is the result of what what's referred to as the haystack prayer meeting, where a bunch of kids got in a haystack to escape a storm and began to pray. And as they prayed, they began to realize that God was speaking to them and they all committed to carry the gospel any place in the world, no matter what the cost. And they were the beginning of the missionary movement that we now know.

Always been kids, always been young people. We tend to kind of push them aside and say what's wrong with our young people, but Without them there wouldn't have been any great awakenings. Let me pick your brain on something, Dr. Jeremiah. The Jesus movement of the early 1970s.

That was a move of God predominantly among young people. And if I'm correct on this, it was the West Coast. It was birthed out of Southern California, wasn't it? Yeah, it's it started actually two families opened up some coffee shops for kids and And there's a great story about that. The uh the Rose Parade that year.

Billy Graham was the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade and As he rode through Pasadena in the rose parade, he was surrounded by kids had their pointing their their hands up and they're pointing to uh heaven. and and they were the they were the hippies, they were the Jesus freaks of that time. And history tells us that when Billy Graham saw them and saw their earnestness and their desire to love the Lord. He determined to correct. A new place in the Crusades for kids, and that's when he started to bring in some of their music and and uh try to reach to that culture.

He recognized the the vibrancy that was in the You know, that was Chuck Smith and all those people. Uh, the Jesus movement was I remember it. I remember it. I I was alive then, so I remember it. And I know Greg Laurie emerged out of that, and our mutual friend Josh McDowell, Josh, has told me some of it.

So let me ask you that. Was that. Um a great awakening, but much of the American church really missed it. I don't know if you would call it a great awakening. It was certainly a movement of the Lord.

And I think the result of it, the impact of it, was a generation later. With all of these Calvary churches and all of the the young men who came out of that movement who ended up going out and just taking the core message of the gospel and taking it to communities If you look back on the history of that, So many of those people were impacted by Chuck Smith and Greg Lorry, and others who came, Raoul Reese, and others who came out of that whole. Yeah They're not just here in this country. I was in London, England, with my wife a couple years ago, and Uh I saw there was a wedding going on down in the in the garden and I went down and and I just happened to run into the preacher. He had just finished the wedding and he he was it was a Calvary church in London and he he knew who we were and we had a great time of conversation and fellowship.

And that vibrancy of the gospel, the simplicity of the gospel came out of that movement. And I think it took a generation for it to really grab hold because those guys are the guys who went out and started these churches. Mm-hmm.

What do you say to the concerned American today? And I know there are many, many, many listeners right now, and they love this country, they love the Lord, but they're saying, I'm only one person, what can I do? What what do you say to that individual?

Well, of course, if everybody has that attitude, then nothing will ever happen. You know, you may not be able to do everything, but you can do something. Everybody can do something. You know, one thing that I'm very passionate about right now. It's become very convoluted because of what's going on in the political landscape.

But everybody can vote. And if they don't vote, I mean, last time we had an election, Back in twenty twelve, there were twenty-five million evangelicals who were registered who didn't vote. twenty five million. And you know, that to me is That's that. That's uh hard to comprehend.

because the margin in the in the election was not twenty five million. It was more like six to eight million.

So what What we have to do is to re retake our The territory that we can control. We can vote. I'm not sure what to tell people this year because it's it's such a hard call. But there are some principles that come into play, and we have to sort those out. And we let our voice be heard, first of all, by not just saying, well, my vote's not going to make any difference.

I mean, if we did that in California, we'd never vote. Because California out here we've been Democratic for so long, if you're a Republican out here or you're a conservative, you could say my vote doesn't matter. But it does matter. It may not matter to the people who count the votes and it may not matter to the people around you, but it matters to God. because we've been called upon to be responsible and uh And if we're not, then we we we're being disobedient.

That really irritates me that that those statistics are out there and they're uh They're an indictment against us as Christians. Don't you think we should look at at our vote as really a type of stewardship? I mean, God has entrusted to each citizen the right to vote. I mean, that's a steward issue, a stewardship issue, isn't it? Absolutely, it is.

How do we begin to look at all of life in terms of stewardship?

Well, I don't know how you begin. You you begin to teach it and understand it and realize that none of this that we have is ours. It's all a it's all an entrustment from the Lord. You know, we teach stewardship at Shadow Mountain in that vein, uh, you know, th this is everything you have belongs to him. You don't own any of it.

He owns it all. He he he lets you manage it for him. Over a period of time, and the Bible tells us that if we're faithful in a few things, He makes us ruler over many.

So stewardship is a is a trust that God gives us. and whether it's in money or time or influence, or parenting or whatever it is. Yeah. and we should be responsible for that. I think about 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, where Paul says, What?

Don't you know that you're not your own? You're bought with a price. I think that in the American church we need to remember who the owner is. And hey, Folks, we've got a break. We're talking with Dr.

David Jeremiah. He's got a couple of new books that we want to hear about. And so stay tuned. The Line of Fire is back after this. 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. Every trace of sickness.

Alex McFarland's here, sitting in for Dr. Brown, and our guest on the line from California, David Jeremiah. His website is davidjeremiah.org. In the time we've got left, we've been talking about revival for those just tuning in, and we've been talking about kind of where the culture is. I want to talk about a couple of things: Dr.

Jeremiah's new books, and also some of the rallies that are going on around the nation. Dr. Jeremiah, you're a prolific author. I thought I knew your canon of content, and then I was looking on the web. How do you find time to write all these great books?

Well, you know, you just said it. You find time, you make time, you do it. I just came through perfectly. probably the toughest um assignment I've ever had in the the book that comes out this fall. And I'm s I'm not sure I've still recovered from it.

It is a very exhausting thing to do a major book like that every year. And um you know, you do pay a price for it. I I do and And I don't know how to say it, but if it was easy, everybody would do it. It's really hard. And and wh what is the book coming out this fall?

The book that comes out is being released october the third is a book and the title of the book is People are asking, is this the end? And it is a book of ten Chapters that deal with many of the questions that people are trying to.

sort through with regard to what's happening in our world today. Um the first chapter is called the age of anything goes. And it's it's about What what what has happened in the loss of any restraint in our culture. The second chapter is called The Bleeding of Our Borders. It's all about immigration.

What is the What is a believer supposed to do with regard to that issue? And there's a chapter called The Apathy of America. what's happened in our culture that we just We don't seem to care any more about what's going on. Um and then over in the there's two sections. The first is about what's happening in our country.

what's happening in the world. There's a chapter that's called The Resurrection of Russia. What's going on with Russia now? Yeah. In the the cultural landscape and It it's just those kind of things.

There's a chapter on ISIS. What is ISIS and what is it doing to us?

So that book comes out October the third. It's our fall emphasis and our rallies and the other things that we're doing.

Well, and what a timely release because I'm listening to these chapter topics, and these are things that I believe would compel most citizens to want to get out and vote. Because that's really the reason I did it, Alex. I sat down one day and I said, you know what, if I'm a believer. What things do I need to really have an awareness of as we come to this election? I must confess that the election's become so crazy now, I'm not sure there's time for anybody to think about anything, but These things are important.

As you know, immigration is a big deal in this election. It's kind of the thing that started the controversy in the beginning. I preach the message that I created for this book on ISIS. Believe it or not, on Sunday, I woke up and realized what had happened the night before, and it was an eerie experience. Isn't that something?

Wow. Well, I think that's just another indicator of the fact that you're led by God. The Spirit of the Lord is directing you. And, you know. I'm just as sincere as I can be.

I just want to thank you. Yesterday we had Dr. Dobson on, and I thank God for you. I thank God for Dr. Dobson.

I thank God for Franklin Graham, who's on the road right now with his Decision America tour. And folks listening, we need to pray for these leaders. I mean, God has favored our nation with some courageous people who proclaim the word, like David Jeremiah and Franklin Graham. And, you know, Dr. Jeremiah, you know, I think about the fact how urgent it is what you do.

I mean, Chuck Colson is gone. Uh James Kennedy is gone. you know, Jerry Falwell has gone on. And the the clarion voices like yours are fewer and fewer out there.

So I just want to say thank you.

Well, you're welcome. And I don't feel like I'm Elijah by any means. I know there's a lot of folks out there who. We're standing for the truth and And you know You just You just have to ask God for wisdom because I've never seen anything like what's happening right now. A lot of those guys' names that you mentioned, I'm going to be with in a few days.

uh try to sort out Where do we go from here? What do we do? I know that God will help us, he'll give us wisdom, but um. Alex, thank you for having me and talking with me. I know you and I are going to get together here soon.

And um but it it's it's fun to be with you and Well, I was a little wondering there when I first heard the announcement that you were Michael Brown. I was glad that you came on and helped me understand who you were.

Well, yeah, I'm just sitting in for him. I know we've only got a minute or so. Tell us about your rallies. Are you on the road this summer or this year? And if so, where may people see you?

We don't do anything again until September. September, we're going to do back-to-back nights in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. I think it's around the 19th or 20th and Of September, and then in October, we do the same thing in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. And all the information on these events is available at davidjeremiah.org/slash rallies. The events are free.

We have Mercy Me with us in a couple of events. Charles Billingsley is leading worship in all these events. And all the info that you need on it is available at our website, which is davidjeremiah.org. Wonderful.

Well, we look forward to seeing you. And, folks, I encourage you to pray for this man and the great work he's doing. Dr. Jeremiah, thanks so much for being on. You're welcome.

And so we are Continuing with the line of fire, Alex McFarland's here. Folks, I do want to give my own website, which is alexmcfarlane.com. You know, somebody emailed last night, they said, Now, Alex, what all do you do?

Well, it's my privilege to lead the Christian Worldview and Apologetics Center at North Greenville University. North Greenville University is a leading Christian college in South Carolina, about 2,800 students. And in just a few moments after the upcoming break, we're going to hear from the vice president, Dr. Tony Beam. But my passion is to evangelize the lost and equip the saved.

I became a believer when I was 21 years old, and I was on the campus of UNC Greensboro in my home state of North Carolina. And I had a couple of friends that had also become Christians, one of whom is a pastor up in Boston or in Worcester, Massachusetts, right now.

So we're on the campus of UNCG, and we're trying to share the gospel with some people. I've been a Christian just a couple of days at that point.

So God fires a question to me. He goes, how do you know there's a God? Why should I put my faith in somebody who doesn't exist? Who knows if there's a God or not? And there were a few other questions, and we became strangely silent because we didn't quite know how to respond.

The very next day, the next day, I went to a Christian bookstore in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was on Battleground Avenue.

Some of you, if you're in North Carolina, you might know where that is. But anyway, I bought two books that I've got to this day. They were by a guy named Josh McDowell.

Now, I think about the providence of God at that time because I didn't know anything about anything. And I'd only been a Christian a few days, but I bought evidence that demands a verdict. and more than a carpenter. And I began to read these books just with a quest of wanting to answer some of the questions some of my friends had about God. I discovered apologetics, Christian worldview.

That not only can we proclaim this good news, we can defend it. And thus, a life trajectory was set. Hey, it's the Line of Fire, Dr. Michael Brown, Alex McFarlane. Stay tuned.

After this, our very special next guest, Dr. Tony Beam. Don't go away. 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. Welcome back to the line of fire.

Alex McFarland sitting in for Dr. Michael Brown, who is on the road traveling. And also traveling is our next guest, Dr. Tony Beam. He's one of the vice presidents of North Greenville University, a leading Christian university where I have the privilege of serving in the Center for Christian Worldview and Apologetics.

Now, Dr. Beam has been to the largest Protestant denominations annual meeting, and we want to talk about that and a few other things as well. But welcome to the line of fire, Dr. Beam. Hello, Alex.

It's always a pleasure. Sure.

Well, God bless you. Whereabouts are you? Oh, I'm somewhere in Kentucky right now.

Okay. Well, so before we talk about the Southern Baptist Convention, and I do want to hear about that, but you tell us about North Greenville. I can give a great pitch about it, but you, as one of the leaders of the college, just give us a synopsis of that and the website, too.

Okay. Well, North Korea University, hang on, let me change over here. To a different audio.

Okay, sure. Let's see if this is a little bit better. That is a little bit better. Good, good. North Carolina University is a four-year school.

Yeah. Where price makes the difference. thirty six different undergraduate degree majors. Five masters. Programs and a doctorate of ministry program, and coming soon.

In fact, august the eighth will be the inauguration of our EDD which is a doctorate in education administration. That'll begin august eighth. We have about 2600, between 2,600 and 2,700 students. And we're very blessed and thankful to be able to be a witness in our world today and to prepare the next generation of young evangelical leaders. Yeah, and you know, it's so encouraging.

I mean, we hear so much bad news about how the world is growing darker. And, I mean, there are some definite challenges, but one of the things I love about being on the campus at North Greenville is: I mean, you meet some of the best and the brightest young people, and they love the Lord, and they love America, and they're quite gifted, and they're earning a degree, and they're going to make a difference. And I, you know, whenever we have chapel, and I look out across that. Expanse of brilliant, godly young people at North Greenville being trained by world-class educators. I have hope, don't you?

Absolutely. I tell people when I have the opportunity to go to speak. that uh they can sleep well at night because There is a generation of young leaders, men and women, coming forward. who love nothing but God. And nothing but lethargies.

Uh they or Absolutely. A bull is a lion and being equipped. to take our to take really the their generation into a much better place than what we handed them. And you know, let me say this. I've been around North Greenville now for five years.

Mom and Dad, if you're looking for a Christian college that is world-class, North Greenville, unlike many, American universities, your Christian values, your patriotism, the core Values that you've given your life to. If your sons and daughters come to North Greenville, those Christian values are going to be affirmed, not undermined. That's right, Alex. Usually I have the opportunity to speak to Freshman class or A lot of times when we're having a counter weekend and parents come in, That's exactly what I tell the parents. I say, you know, you guys have been Laboring long and hard to make sure your young people have the right foundation and platform.

For Uh for life. to be able to operate in the in the world in in a way that honors God. And I tell them, I said, Look, you send your kids off to the normal average secular private or a public university. And they're going to get four years of people chiseling away at that foundation. I just sent them to the North Greenville, and we're going to build on that foundation, make it stronger.

and give them the tools they need to be a ball witness to World Cup. We're listening to Dr. Tony Beam from North Greenville University. Stay tuned, folks, because he's going to give us a report from the Southern Baptist Convention where he just attended. Don't go away, the line of fire is back after this brief break.

Ain't the world It's fire we want for fire we It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-342. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

To all George Washington, our first president, said this.

Now, listen to this quote, folks. You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. This is George Washington. Listen, these will make you a greater and a happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.

End of quote. We're talking with Dr. Tony Beam, Vice President of North Greenville University, a great school. Moms and dads, I want to give the website ngu.edu. The reason I give that out, and Dr.

Beam, you can comment on this, it burns me up. I just want to pull out my hair when, as I travel this nation, I've been in 24 states in the last 10 months, I meet moms and dads, godly parents that have spent their life and their money to raise their kids to love the Lord, youth group, church, Christian school, and then they go away to the university. University, and it's like mom and dad pay for a four-year attack on America and God. And the public educational system undermines and really fights against what mom and dad have worked 18 years to instill. When you meet young people like this that have become nice little secularists at the state university, doesn't it just break your heart?

It absolutely does. Because it's not necessary. There are overall Yeah. Good. Christian universities across the world.

this country. And I would agree. Encourage believers. to Paris. I know there's a tendency for people to say, you know, I want my son or daughter who's.

grounded in the Word of God to go to a place where they can be Light in the darkness. The problem with that is that they're being if they go to a secular university. or call it They're going to a place where the darkness is so pervasive. and the light is so dim. That there's almost no hope for them to make a difference.

It's much more likely that their life is going to be forever. Changed. by the scepticism and the constant barrage against their belief system that they're going to have to endure.

So I would encourage Christian education, and I would certainly encourage all parents and students to take a look at North Greenville University, where Christ makes the difference. very serious about that when we say Christ makes the difference in the classroom and in everything that we do. And, you know, folks, if you happen to be in the mid-Atlantic region, one of the things that Tony Beam and I do, we've got what we call the Life Answers Team. And I'm going to let him tell you about that. But if you're, you know, within, I don't know, two, three hours of North Greenville University, we come to churches and we bring these students.

It'll just amaze you. These kids, they love the Lord. They're brilliant. They speak and then they do QA. And I don't mean softball questions.

I mean the hard questions like, you know, how do we know God exists? And is there any historical proof for Jesus? And the Life Answers team will come to your church and tell the listeners, Dr. Beam, about how you got the vision for this because it really is one of the most innovative ministries I've ever seen.

Well, we just You know, I have a lot of very sharp students, you and I do, at North Carolina University, and I have them in class. I hear their debates. And I see how well prepared they are to talk about a lot of different subjects. And I thought, wow. Why can't we just get this these groups together and do what we do in class?

out in front of the local church or Christian schools or anywhere they'll have it. And so we have eight scholarship students. That makes a traveling team. We have two alternates who travel with us and fill in if needed. And these eight students have a very unique approach.

They get up on the stage, They have a team leader who presents the topic of discussion. Is is our argument? And then they began to. take and interact In a format that has become very popular with just about every church we've been into. And then as you said, after the topic has been thoroughly covered from a lot of different angles, by these young men and women.

Then we take questions from the congregation and It uh it's become a very popular way of sharing an apologetic ministry. Sure.

And during the school year, August through May, we probably do about 30 events, and our calendar fills up pretty quickly. But if you want to call us at the Worldview Center of North Greenview University, the best number to reach us, and you'll talk to our assistant, Robin McCarter, it's 864-977-2008. But is that the best extension, Dr. Beam? Yes.

Robin is there. I've spoken to her several times today while I'm on the road. Uh she's uh she'll be glad to take your calls and uh give you some calendar dates.

So you're on the road, you've been at the SBC, the Southern Baptist Convention, and what was that like this year?

Well, it was in Saint Louis, Missouri. And first of all, it was very hot. But St. Louis is a beautiful, very hospitable Did you eat any barbecue? Oh my goodness.

Uh sugars Sugar spies. Oh, excuse me. Sugar Fire Barbecue right on uh Seventh Street. Is uh We stood in line for an hour and a half and it was worth every moment. Um, it was so good.

But yes, the convention was there in St. Louis and And um it was uh uh Monday through Wednesday. And of course we had the election for president, which is always a big Highlight of the convention because the leadership. of the Southern Baptist Convention, uh the churches, the laity is at stake. And there were two primary candidates, Pastor Steve Gaines, At Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, known for the Prints of Preachers who Adrian Rogers, who was there for a number of years, and then J.D.

Greer. Who is also a young preacher who has really made a name for himself, sold a lot of books. an excellent communicator of the Word of God. and the question on the table really between these two great leaders is the question of reform theology. Uh because J.D.

Greer represents a younger element. the Southern Baptist Convention. a more reformed element. And Steve Gaines represents The older, more established Uh SBC that is somewhat less reformed than their theology. And at the first ballot, you have to get fifty percent to be elected.

And there were three candidates Pastor Crosby from First Baptist New Orleans was also on the ballot. And since nobody got fifty percent, they had to do a runoff between Steve Gaines and JD Greer. And lo and behold, they tied on the runoff, first runoff ballot. But some ballots were improperly, it seems, disqualified. And so it became a very controversial question.

And J. D. Greer just decided, you know, I'm going to step aside for the sake of unity in the convention. And Steve Gaines was elected when J. D.

Greer did not he declined to be on a ballot for the third time. And so Steve Gaines from Bellevue Baptist is the pat is the New president for So so what was the mood there at the convention? I mean, was it um amicable and It was very amicable up until the presidential election. And I think because of the way the election went. With not one candidate getting a majority, and then the controversy over ballots being um disqualified and perhaps then those ballots not counted as a percentage.

I mean, it was uh there was just a lot of discussion and some disgust expressed and a little bit of frustration there at the end, but I believe that at the end of the day, When J. D. Greer made the decision to consider Yeah. and step aside so that uh Steve Gaines would be the president. there was a sense of unity and I think kind of a sigh of relief.

that we got that behind us, and now we're moving forward with Steve Gaines as President. Wow. Wow. Well, um wh what was uh the response uh when you were there about the the tragedy in Orlando and just you know the continual rise of violence in our in our country? I mean was that addressed?

Yes, well I I Yeah.

Now, as far as on the floor. I was in the convention hall in a very limited sense because I spent most of my time at the North Grenville University booth. meeting prospective students and talking to pastors from all over the country about the school. But there it was on everybody's minds. Uh there was prayer offered.

There was uh you know, the Baptist Yeah.

Southern Batters Convention Disaster Relief Organization is one of the most incredible Rapid response, disaster. relieve organizations and the And there was discussion about how with the people of Orlando to be an encouragement and So it was on the minds and hearts of everybody. Yeah. And and they are and the the Baptist men They are just amazing. When there's a tragedy, when there's a natural disaster, when there's human suffering, among the first responders, I mean, right there alongside the Red Cross and FEMA are the Southern Baptists, aren't they?

Yes. The Southern Baptist Convention operates the largest disaster relief organization. just behind the Red Cross, um in the country. I mean they're incredibly organized. and they do an amazing job.

We're coming up on a break, and so I want to. I don't want to start a long answer to a question before a break, but can you hang on even after this break and give us just a couple more minutes? You're listening to Dr. Tony Beam, Vice President of North Greenville University. This is the line of fire, Alex McFarland, sitting in for Dr.

Michael Brown, who's in Australia.

So stay with us more with Tony Beam after this brief break. Join Dr. Michael Brown along with Messianic Jewish pastor Scott Volk for a unique behind-the-scenes tour of Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. Space is limited, so we are accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on the trip and to secure your spot, please visit our website at askdrbrown.org and click on the Israel Tour banner or call our office at 704-782-3760.

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. Shoot.

Welcome back to the line of fire. Alex McFarlane, you know, it's been a joy to sit in for Dr. Brown for these two days. I do want to make you aware, I've got a brand new book out called Stand Strong America: Courage, Freedom, and Hope for Tomorrow. It just came out literally about 10 days ago.

But Dr. Beam and I have an apologetics book coming out. Tony Beam and I have done an apologetics curriculum to really get into your Sunday school, your small group. I mean, it would be appropriate on so many levels to teach your group how to defend the faith because we think apologetics is pretty important at this time. And I'm pretty excited about that upcoming release, aren't you?

Hey, Tony, you there? Charge Beam? Hello, Doctor Beam. Are you there? But certainly before Christmas.

Yes. Hey, we had you potted down for a second. When is that going to come out? Do you know? We believe that it's going to be published.

Oksana Press. It's going to be putting it out. certainly before Christmas, perhaps mid-fall. Wow, that's going to be great. That's going to be great.

Now, you've got your own radio show, which. Uh I don't even know the station. His radio. Oh, it's. Yeah, well it's Christian Talk six sixty AM ninety two point nine FM.

It's a subsidiary of his radio. Yeah. Yeah. And uh you've been doing that, what, twelve, thirteen years? Actually, coming up on fifteen years.

Well, just crossed over the fifteen year point. And on April 15th, because it debuted April 15th, 2001.

So are are you going to do something special for your fifteenth anniversary?

Well, no, we've already missed it. Oh, okay. Because we came through, it was April fifteenth of this year. But no, we just keep rocking along at a couple of hours every morning from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

And we talk about politics, we talk about culture, we talk about Whatever is in the news. at the top of the news, that's what comes on the program, and we try to discuss it all within the framework of a Christian worldview. Yeah. Well, speaking of that, and you you're a very astute political observer, much more so than me. And I've in the time I've known you, I've really appreciated your analysis of political issues.

The election, you know, a week from Tuesday, I'll be in New York at the meeting with David Jeremiah and James Dobson, Barna, and so many Christian leaders are coming together to have a meeting. Ben Carson is really going to kind of be the moderator of the meeting with Trump. The polls, right now Trump is down a few points. Do you is it really 12? The yesterday, the most recent poll, but now he's had a rocky couple of weeks And uh and during that particular time, Senator Clinton, uh or rather um Um Hillary Secretary said Clint uh was able to Secure the needed number of delegates to become the presumptive.

Democratic nominee.

So there's been a lot of things sort of moving in her favor. for the last couple of weeks, and I think it's caused you know, Donald Trump to drop a little bit, but Yes, right now she's leading in the polls. Yeah, and you know, she got some good media bump from her. just clinching the nomination. I mean, she had some media about that.

So the between now and November, oh my goodness, there's a world of ups and downs that can happen between now and November, aren't there? Oh, four point five to five months is an eternity in in politics.

So there's a lot of things that can happen. The election is far from and any kind of peril. uh of going to Mrs. Clinton at the moment. Uh but uh obviously it would be better to be up by twelve points.

Well, do you have any um uh idea or prognostication about who Trump's running mate might be? No, you know, I quit. predicting things about Trump a long time ago. because I got tired of being wrong.

So, um his candidacy, his approach, uh the decisions he makes it makes The way he makes them and then expresses them have all been outside of anything we've ever seen, really. in the modern era of political engagement. But I would I would not be surprised if it was Bob Corker. Uh I would not be surprised if it was Newt Gingrich. Um I wouldn't be surprised.

if it were to be a female I don't know exactly who that would be. I wouldn't rule Governor Haley out, although Governor Haley supported. Marco Rubio in the primary in South Carolina, and I'm sure that Donald Trump would not does not app wouldn't appreciate that. But um I think he's going to try to pick somebody who has some Washington or some political experience. but who is also considered to be someone who is not unwilling to rock the system.

Mm-hmm.

Um You know, speaking about that, um There were plenty of of people that sided with with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio before Trump ultimately prevailed. And I've talked to a lot of Republicans who said, you know, I will never vote for Trump. Why is it that the Democrats seem to be so more able to unify Then Than conservatives.

Well, normally that's the case, but this time the Democrats have a big problem on their own. Bernie Sanders won a lion's share of the final fifteen primaries. and the Democrat on the Democrat side. And he, you know, his Supporters Many of them, in fact, saying they're going to vote for Trump. A lot of them say they will never vote for Hillary.

So this is a very unusual election cycle in that you have both candidates with high negatives. In other words. You know, in in fact uh two days ago There was a survey that came out that boldly proclaimed that Donald Trump is disliked by seven out of ten Americans. I saw that. In other words, 70% of the country.

has an unfavorable opinion of it. And it's probably six and ten or better. Uh, on Hillary Clinton.

So I was going to say, like, like she's like, she's liked any better, though, you know? No, exactly. Both of these candidates. have a problem with their baits. And it's going to be interesting to see how those things work out as the conventions begin here shortly.

Mm-hmm.

Well, time fleets away. I am so grateful to have you on. I've got to ask you this. What is the Beam household like at Father's Day? Father's Day is Sunday, and I know you you have built a great family.

What's on the docket for this weekend?

Well, Denise has been working on that because I've been out of town, but generally we go out to lunch with as many family as we can gather, and I'm looking forward to it.

Well, God bless you. Folks, you've been listening to Dr. Tony Beam on the line of fire. Alex McFarland, glad to sit in for Dr. Brown.

We look forward to seeing you again sometime really soon. In the meantime, God bless you. God bless America. My website, alexmacfarland.com.