Exciting Updates on the New Messianic Bible Translation; Is Facebook Biased? And Much More

Turmoil in America. Turmoil in the nations. Where do we look? to the living word of the living God. Uh It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. That's 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the Line of Fire broadcast. This is Michael Brown. As always, a lot happening in the world around us. As always, we need to get our heads clear.

We need to get our perspective right. We are not like the rest of the world. We do not panic like the rest of the world. We do not pull our hair out like the rest of the world. We do not lose heart like the rest of the world.

Even if the world is going crazy around us, We look to the Lord. We keep our bearings. The Word of God tells us the day will come that everything that can be shaken will be shaken. And the Word also says that the righteous will never be shaken. Michael Brown, so glad to be standing here together with you on the front lines.

Here's the number to call: 866-34TRUTH. 866-348-7884. Through this week. We're going to have some special guests joining us because there's something major and exciting that is taking place. The Tree of Life version of the Scriptures, the first ever Messianic Jewish version, a complete fresh translation from Genesis to Revelation by a team of Messianic Jewish and Christian scholars.

So the first project of its kind. has now been taken over by one of the Biggest Christian publishers in the world baker books. They are now working together with the Tree of Life team on not just distribution, but producing new editions of this Bible. And it's an exciting, major moment when a publisher of Baker's stature. Embraces a translation like this.

So, I'm going to be having some special guests on who'll be talking to us about these very things, the significance of this version. But here's what I want to say to one and all. The answers are in the word. The answers are in the word. whatever societal crisis we face, Whatever electoral crisis we face, whatever family crisis we face.

whatever personal crisis we face. Whatever world crisis exists, the answer is found in the living Word of the Living God. And when we turn our hearts there, And set our hearts in peace before the living God, we will not be moved by. Fear. All right, there are things happening in the news that deserve comment.

The presidential campaigns continue to heat up. I've got some thoughts and insights on that. There was a major meeting last week with conservative media leaders and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. I have a brand new article about that. And an article that got my attention over the weekend.

Where a professing Christian woman claims that Jesus was the first transgendered man. What? Yeah. I've written about that as well. And some fun interaction with my friend Dr.

James White. I put out a video why I'm not a Calvinist. He put out a video why I am a Calvinist that sparked a lot of interaction on Twitter.

So we've been having some. Helpful theological interaction there. But one major breaking news story: that the officer involved in the death of. African American Freddie Gray in Baltimore has been found innocent. I know that this is going to be another major, major story that has played out for months to come.

I have no comment on it at this point because I only know what you know in terms of general news. I have no detailed sources. I have not been able to thoroughly investigate things.

So I know many will want to weigh in on that and comment. As we have more information, I absolutely will do my best to provide any insights I can. Right now, whatever's happening, right or wrong, just or unjust. Let's keep our heads and act like children of God, having God's heart, but not responding in the flesh. We'll be right back.

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

Back to the word we go. The Word of God, living and active. The Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, the Word of God, which is a tree of life. to those who take hold of it as written in proverbs the third chapter and it's chanted in synagogues. on a regular basis.

My guest Dr. Jeffrey Seife is a friend and colleague. He is a professor. He is the project manager of the Tree of Life Bible. In fact, he serves as the University Distinguished Professor of Bible and Jewish Studies.

He's also been a cop. and a pastor. And done many of these things at the same time. And we get to talk about some exciting news with the Tree of Life. Hey, Jeff, great to have you on the broadcast today.

Well, Dr. Brown, it is great to be with you, as always. Hey, just tell me about being a policeman and being a pastor and being a professor. You've done that all at the same time through a good number of years. Is that right?

Well funny you should mention it. I have been working since five o'clock this morning as a police officer. I think we're new. To do this radio interview with you, and then I'll go back to work a couple hours on the streets. All right.

Well why why do you do the police work? Why? Because I just I feel it's a calling from God. I love it. I'd love to get out in the streets.

I love this thing called justice. I like to advance the kingdom. Um I like the dispense grace. To me, it's a wonderful extension. of biblical faith, vision and virtue.

Okay. There's a lot of really great lot of people that He's here for. Neith. And you wrote a book once called Guns and Moses. What was that about?

Yeah. It was about the use of force. People. All right, hey, tell you what, Jeff, I'm not sure what's up with our phone connection. Betsy, if you can just check.

what's going on with uh with Dr. Seife there, and we will get that worked out. Guns and Moses was a detective's look at the five books of Moses.

So I'll let Jeff Seife talk about that. But here's what's significant. Here's what's significant. Baker Books getting behind the tree of life version of the Bible. Means that millions of people that might not have been exposed to this translation will be exposed.

So we'll. We'll talk about that in a moment with Dr. Scythe. Jeff, hopefully we've fixed a connection problem.

So Guns and Moses, that was a detective looking at the five books of Moses, yes?

Well, a police officer looking at the use of force in the Mosaic texts.

Okay. And how does it make our forefathers seem in need of grace or righteous in themselves?

Well, I'm not sure altogether what you mean. The reason I Uh oh, what's the Because I think it's fun. Maybe Mr. Chairman. Need to be And docile, and let the world roll over them.

And I think there's a place in the biblical economy for justice and the use of force, and I wanted to explore that. Got it. All right.

Very interesting. Very interesting. All right.

Jeff. The tree of life version. Why is this such an important Project. Why is this unique in really in the history of Bible translation?

Well, to me The Bible is a Jewish story from Genesis to Revelation. And not only was the text written by Jews, to Jews in most cases and about Jews. But Uh many years. those that have been offering a telling of it Uh in The English language or other languages haven't been particularly sensitized to things Jewish. What's unique about this translation is those that worked on it were individuals.

of Jewish extract who have terminal degrees in religious studies and can offer a telling of it, or they're individuals of non Jewish extract that have gotten terminal degrees in Jewish schools, thus they're sensitized to it.

So this is a telling of the literature that accentuates the host culture from which it emerged. All right, and With Baker Books now partnering to get this out, how does that change things in terms of the scope and reach of this? Or what does that say in general about the translation?

Well, I think the Bible is the greatest story ever told. I think the Jewish connection to it is the greatest story never told. And with Baker Books now, a major evangelical publisher, putting their moxie behind it and sending it out into the culture. it'll give a hearing to this kind of story amongst those that may be vaguely familiar with it at best.

So I think it'll accelerate Those in the culture being able to appreciate the Bible from a Jewish perspective. Yeah, and Baker really seems interested. They put out some beautiful additions already. And. Go ahead.

So the preorder Was it? fifty times greater. The sales from the preorders of it were fifty times greater than what they didn't anticipate. This was three weeks ago. And we're launching it from Jerusalem later on this week.

And I have to head on an airplane on Friday and get there for an event actually early next week. But even before the official release of it, they've already begun the second printing. Wow.

So they must be pretty thrilled with that. Yes, from my understanding, yes. And why wouldn't they be? Yeah, and even long-term plans of a study Bible and things like that that they're interested in.

So, Jeff, let's talk here for a moment. You're on the streets as a cop. We're in ministry. as a pastor. You are educating on a seminary level.

Can you say dogmatically with me that the answers Every life problem, every crisis in society that there are ultimately answers found in the Word of God. Yes, principally, exclusively. As a police officer, I'm not solving problems, I'm dealing with issues. Right. But I think the issues, the poor performances.

that lend themselves to people needing to deal with police, it's because of a poor head and a poor heart. And I believe that God can and will change it, irrespective of how far down and how far gone they are. And and what about w we're we're in constant world crises or potential crises You've written and spoken about the times in which we've lived, in which we live, and the various factors from Iran to Israel. Does the Bible speak with relevance to these world issues or to these nations today, or is it just some antiquated religious book that we're looking back to with some kind of nostalgia? No, I think people need biblical medicine for life's assorted hurts.

And I don't think that the Bible is out of step with the modern era. The Bible did an interesting job of giving voice to the kind of pressures and problems that will emerge as we make our way through time and space to the coming of our Lord. Yeah. And as far as a Christian with no Jewish background picking up the Tree of Life version, will they be put off by lots of foreign terms and expressions, or will they find it speaking with clarity and very user-friendly? One of the problems, there is an antecedent to this.

A very good friend of mine, I was with him in Jerusalem two weeks ago, Dr. David Stern. tendered a translation, and it was so loaded with Hebraisms that the average bear in Yellowstone Park that wasn't already familiar with things Hebrew would have to struggle to get to and through the literature. We were much more selective with the employment of Hebraisms in order to use a term in modernity to make it more reader friendly. We didn't want to overwhelm are people with Hebraisms, but just enough To lend a sense to the literature that lets the reader know it's a story that belongs within Jewish culture.

Mm. Yeah, and we're finding great, great reception to folks who've gotten the tree of life version. And I'm just going to announce this in a moment to our listeners, for our new supporters, how they can get a copy of a beautiful Slimline Tree of Life Bible. But, Jeff, we've just got one minute. Why should folks get behind this particular ministry, the work that we're doing here, the work that I've been doing over these years?

Why should people stand with us get behind this work?

Well, in terms of the Bible, I'm glad that anybody reads any Bible in any version, period. And the Word of God goes forth, period, every language and all the English renditions. With this, there's something fresh here that is to get Jewish hands and hearts back in the Jewish door that is the Bible. It's a unique distinctive, and some people are called to get behind at different levels, and I'm glad they are. Yeah.

All right, Jeff, we want you to get back on the streets patrolling and being an ambassador for the gospel. You're a unique brother and friend, and so glad to have you heading up the Tree of Life project. God bless you, man. Thanks once again. God bless.

Bye-bye. God bless. All right, friends, that was Dr. Jeffrey Scyth. We've got an exciting new offer.

Actually, we've extended it last week.

So I want to tell you about that in a moment when we come back, about the Tree of Life version. And then Oh Major gathering of evangelicals could be 500 evangelicals a month from now to meet with Donald Trump. Talk about that and we come back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, phone lines are now officially open. 866-34TRUTH. 866-348.

Oh, let me tell you first about how to get a copy of the new tree of life version. There's a beautiful slimline. Edition that just came out. In fact, when I got it, I thought it was a much, much more expensive Bible. Honestly, when Baker sent me a copy of it, it is a beautiful, slimline edition.

Of the tree of life version of the Bible. When you get it this week, we're paying the postage and giving you a free. DVD. As well. All right.

So go to the website, askdrbrown.org. By the way, if you haven't checked our website out, we have completely revamped it. You'll find it massively more user-friendly and eye-friendly.

So go to askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org, right on the homepage, click on the special resource banner, order as many copies as you like. You just heard from Dr. Jeff Scythe that the pre-orders were 55-0 times greater than Baker was expecting, and they have to go to a second printing before it has even been officially released. Yeah. Amazing.

I'm amazed to hear that and blessed.

Okay. Evangelicals and Donald Trump. Where should we be right now? Obviously, we're not some type of body where there is one head, the head evangelical, telling every evangelical how to vote. Obviously, and that's not, I mean, you don't have that with the Catholic Church or any Protestant denomination either.

But how should we how should we uh relate? How should we relate to The question of evangelicals getting behind Donald Trump. There's going to be a major meeting. If I was going to be invited, I couldn't be there anyway because I'm scheduled to be in Australia. But there's going to be a major meeting with as many as 500 leading evangelicals put together by Tony Perkins.

who was an endorser of Ted Cruz, by the way. to meet with Donald Trump and to ask him serious questions. Where does he stand on this? Where does he stand on this? I do not believe they're going to be quizzing him on his knowledge of the Bible.

And all that would mean, even if they did, was how much prep did he have meeting with people that told him things. No, I don't believe that's the purpose of it. No one's trying to make him into a theologian, not that I know of. No one's trying to claim that he's this deeply devoted Christian with deep Christian roots or. I don't know any of these evangelicals that would be coming at it from that angle, but rather.

If elected, what kind of president would you be? Where are you going to stand on religious liberties? How important are this going to be to you? Hey, you had an opportunity to take a stand with North Carolina and you didn't initially. That's a concern.

You gave a list of Supreme Court justices, but would that be modified?

So on and so forth.

Okay. I I think it's a great idea. I'm glad that it's happening. I am glad that people, even those that may have been in the Never Trump campaign, are willing to look further at this. and probe further.

and want to be responsible with their vote. They're saying we can't vote for the vote. For Hillary or Bernie. because of their radical stance that to us are anti-Christian in many ways and anti-Bible in many ways. And I can't speak for all the people that would be there.

Presumably, that's where the majority would be, or the vast majority. They feel the responsibility to vote. Do they not vote? Do they vote third party? Did they just say, hey, anyone but Hillary?

What's the mentality? I think it's great. that they are doing this. My concern would be How do we know? And I'm not poo-pooing this.

I think it's great that it's being done. I think it needs to be done. I think it's excellent that so many will be meeting. Again, my concern would be How do we know? that if elected that Donald Trump would hold to these things.

How deeply ingrained are they? Inside of him Is this just another example? of evangelicals getting duped. This has happened to us before. And I don't even mean that people A line up front.

They may even sincerely believe these things, but then once they get into office, they shift. And my larger concern would be What type of person would Donald Trump be? if elected. What type of man would he be? What type of leader would he be?

What type of president would he be? What type of character would he exude? How would that help or hurt? the United States of America. Those are deeper questions.

And I am not campaigning as a never-Trumper.

Okay? I am not campaigning as a never Trumper. That is not my goal. During the primaries, I was outspokenly clear earlier on. When Senator Cruz and others were still running and there were other options, I raised my concerns loud and clear about a Trump presidency and said that we have far better options.

We don't have those options.

Now, some of you thought he was the best option from the start. That's fine. I won't divide with you over that. But. going forward.

What's my posture? And I'm going to actually have a friendly debate with my friend Sid Roth about this later in the week, later in the broadcast, later in the week, because he. wants to encourage believers to actively look at voting for Donald Trump. And he knows I have reservations, but my goal is not to discourage anyone from voting. I am not an adamant, never Trumper telling everyone don't vote.

I raised my concerns during the primaries. I made it clear I'm raising these during the primaries. And The the question is now. Which direction do we go? David French, who is a never-Trumper and one of the most articulate voices on internet that I see attorney David French, a national review, has been very outspoken.

And and um He says, listen. Uh as Trump was winning. Uh as you know others Republicans, conservatives, people are looking at it. Trump was winning. They're winning.

Consequently, we learned that their much-vaunted conservatism was a mere means to an end. In other words, a lot of people who were outspokenly against Trump. For various reasons, and saying he would be a detriment to the larger conservative cause or a detriment to the Republican Party.

Now that his victory is inevitable, Well, then let's get behind them. And he says, David Francis, virtually every character, defect, or ideological blind spot they condemned in others, they overlooked or even justified in Trump. Uh He has very, very strong points that he's made. Others are standing with him. As I've said many times, it's not a personal issue with me, it's not a pride issue.

My heart is wide open. to look at things as we get closer to the fall. and make a wise decision about my vote, whether it'll count or not or mean anything in the election. We'll see. I mean, it could be a landslide either way, and who knows what in the world is going to be happening come the fall.

But. I just want to say That I am not. making this a hill to die on. If you vote for Donald Trump, then up no, no, no. I'm simply raising the concerns I've had.

and hoping That these evangelical leaders will have wisdom. If they're going to turn around and speak to perhaps several million people that they represent. Will they have wisdom in that meeting? Will they ask the right questions? Will God give them discernment?

And will God touch Donald Trump along the way. That's obviously the greatest prayer. Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders that God would radically touch them. But you don't want to vote for someone based on who you think they will be, but based on who they are. All right, go to the website.

If you have a minute, go now. AskDrBrown.org. Order your copy of the Tree of Life version of the scriptures. We'll be right back. 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, 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. So what kind of revolution are we talking about here?

Sweet. We talk about it all the time. Revolution, revolution, revolution. What are we talking about? Are we talking about taking up arms?

Are we talking about anger, violence, intimidation? Burn down buildings. No, no, no. If you listen to this broadcast for more than 30 seconds, you know the answer is an emphatic no to all those. We're talking about Jesus so radically changing us that we go and change our world.

We're talking about overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love, overcoming lies with truth. Overcoming the forces of darkness with the power of God's light. Being an influence for righteousness, being an influence for mercy, being an influence for justice. Look, as followers of Jesus, we are fundamentally called to be world changers. As followers of Jesus, we are fundamentally called to be disciples and make disciples.

And that means living a Jesus lifestyle in this world. And that means caring. about things in the society around us. That means caring about injustice. That means caring about the poor.

That means caring about the elderly and the babies in the womb. That means caring about those that are sold into sex trafficking. That that means caring about imbalances were People get rich by extorting from others. It means Millions of different things. It means husbands loving their wives.

And and spending quality time with your kids. It means wives being Godly examples. honoring their husbands. It means how we conduct ourselves at work. Every day.

how we conduct ourselves in school every day. I I got my hair cut on Saturday. And I thought I remembered the woman that cut my hair. She was uh open zealous believer so we'd had some nice conversation the first time and I thought she'd cut my hair previously I wasn't sure if it was her or someone that that looked like her And When I sat down, she said, Yeah, I went to your page. I went to your page.

Because I guess to talk with her and said, Hey, visit my website. Maybe we can send you a resource from there or something. And she said, I remembered you by your smile. I thought, that's nice to hear. She remembered me by my smile.

Wherever I go, if I'm at the grocery store, and I'm at the grocery store. Was was Lot of regularity just because I'll be picking something up for you know salad on the way home because we have a lot of fresh fruit in the house, and maybe on the way home the next is, Hey, can you stop in and get this? I'll often say. See the same people, you know, checking out and different things. And I always want to go out of my way.

to smile. Not to put on a sh not to put on an act. But to be a Jesus person. to see how they're doing. to talk to them by name, And it should be that over a period of time Along with the message that we bring, because you can't always preach.

You can't, it's not every situation where you can just take out your Bible and preach to somebody, right? But it should be That along with the message of the gospel that they hear through our words, that they see it in our lives. And and that uh parents If your kids are old enough And you're sharing your testimony and how Jesus has changed your life, and the grace that you walk in, and the peace that you walk in, your kids should be able to say, that's true. That's my mom, that's my dad. Yeah.

Change lives, and we're so changed that we go out and change the world around this. All right, we'll be right back. Change the world. Change the world. God of light, hear our cry.

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.

Have you ever had a problem? Turn it to social media. Have you ever had a problem with One of your posts. on Facebook or Twitter, being censored, being removed. Because it had strong biblical content on a social issue.

that people found it offensive that you were told it violated the community guidelines Have you had that happen? Uh Facebook Twitter are famously liberal.

Now they're private companies, they can do what they want. They are famously liberal, They have cracked down at different times on those with dissenting views. But interestingly, And we've experienced this firsthand. With our Facebook page that we had in the past, with my book, A Queer Thing Happened to America. We had problems when the folks began to complain about the site.

Either gay activists or their allies, And it was shut down temporarily, and we were blocked from being on Facebook. The creator of the page, myself, and What in the world's going on? And You kind of get stonewalled. I mean, interesting words used there, but you kind of get stonewalled and You don't have access. And right now, our Facebook page As our Ask Dr.

Brown Facebook page has about 375,000 fans, and we communicate with our Facebook listeners on a regular basis. Often through the day, I post a new article, boom, it's there.

Something's happening of importance on the radio, boom, it's there. We put a video out, boom, we let people know immediately it's there. And we can literally reach millions and millions. We can reach 20, 30, 40, 50 million people through Facebook in a week. Often we do.

So Um getting shut down or getting blocked. is very negative.

Well, it so happened that I was mentioning this on the radio. And someone called in and said, Hey, I was at National Religious Broadcasters. Remember, I met you, we talked there. And the woman from Facebook gave a presentation and said, If you ever have an issue, I'm the one to contact. And he then sent the email address.

I reached out to this individual, and she was very helpful. She reviewed things and said, okay, you shouldn't have been blocked. That was a mistake. Because I said, look, if this violates community guidelines, and all we're doing is having a civil discussion about the Bible and homosexuality or homosexuality in the culture. We're just having a civil discussion.

That's all we're doing. And We get blocked for that.

Well, what about all these sites? And I just posted them. And it didn't take long to just put in a few. Things with Jesus and then profanity or Christianity, profanity, whatever, just the most horrific sites you could ever imagine: the most horrific anti-Jesus, anti-Christian, anti-Bible, vulgar sites. And all those are up there and those did not violate community standards, all the different pages.

Well, it's happened maybe three or four times when something's been removed, one of our posts has been removed, and almost always it's either had to do with LGBT issues or with radical Islam. And what happens is enough people protest. That the thing then gets taken down, and we're told we're in violation, and we're warned, or can't access the site for 24 hours, or whatever it is. And each time when reaching out, it's ultimately gotten reinstated normally with an apology. And I said, I appreciate the apology, but that was really detrimental and hurtful.

And well, you know, we've got all the protection on the site, on the page that we can.

So, okay, I appreciate them working with us. And Obviously, you've got billions of people on there, and I'm sure they've got a large staff, but these things can happen.

Okay. Uh the fact of the matter is that Facebook has openly, proudly partnered with LGBT activists. To be sure that Facebook is in compliance with those goals, which would mean. That by definition, someone like me would be branded a bigot, or a homophobe, or a transphobe, or worse.

Now again, Facebook is trying to do what they believe is right. But they're very much on the wrong side of these issues. They're certainly anything but neutral. And I've had friends whose pages were shut down for these very reasons. And then you look at egregious pages in the opposite direction that are open.

and they're still operating thing, how how can that be? How can that be? It's almost like your restaurant score is a 92. on the the health and sanitary code And it could shut down. And the four restaurants around you, which score a 48, are all open.

You think someone's not right there.

Something's not right. There is an Israeli group, Shirat Hadin. That did an experiment on Facebook. They had two pages they launched simultaneously. Stop Israelis.

That was in. In Arabic and stop Palestinians, that was in Hebrew. And they posted, then they went further. Then they went further. Then they went further.

In terms of more strident, and you could even see engaging in hate speech. And the Israeli page, the one in Hebrew, was shut down. Stop Palestinians was shut down. The one in Arabic, Stop Israelis, was not stopped. And several days later, when Facebook said, well, no, actually, it was a mistake, Sharatadeen was not impressed with the apology.

So recently A former worker or more With With Facebook, said there's a new thing, trending news, that Facebook has. and that uh it is it is anti-conservative, it is pro-liberal. And Facebook is claiming neutrality. Private business, again, can do whatever it wants to do, but it's claiming neutrality. And it's anything but neutral.

claiming neutrality, but anything but neutral. And they modify things so that the liberal stories get to the top and the conservative stories don't show up.

Well, Mark Zuckerberg heard about this. The the head of Facebook. and multi-billionaire and was upset to hear it. It said there's no truth to it. Uh this is not who we are.

In other words, he does not want to have a political identity. He wants to be perceived as neutral. as a social media and news site for the whole world. That's his goal.

So he called in a number of conservative leaders to meet together And discuss the issues. First, let's listen to Glenn Beck. This is on his radio show. And he's been criticized for fawning. He's been criticized for this overly positive view of Mark Zuckerberg and just criticizing the other conservatives.

Like, look, we're not into the censorship business. You know, we shouldn't even be here, kind of thing. You know, one critic said it was almost as if he was auditioning to be Mark Zuckerberg's manservant. But this is what Glenn Beck had to say about this. Clip number one.

They didn't use this exact language, but basically they were talking about diversity training. And I just saw a report from somebody else that was reporting it to. What do you mean by diversity training? Because when I think about that, that's words that the left uses. Yeah.

They didn't use the language, but here's what it was. Why don't you bring us in, and we can do classes over a six-month period and train all of your staff. About conservatives. Taking over a private business, telling them what to do. Right, that's diversity training, that's sensitivity training.

All right.

Obviously. We As conservatives are not supposed to be doing that, that's what we criticize the liberals for doing in a wrong way, in a wrong way.

Now, I think Mark Zuckerberg does need to be educated about the other side of the issue. And he was asked by one gentleman, do you have young conservatives working with you? Basically, everybody in your organization share your mindset is overwhelmingly. Basically, does that something to think about? I agree, that's important, and I commend him for being open.

But I think Rush Limbaugh has it right. When he says that the world in which Zuckerberg lives, he thinks that is the world. As I write in my article, which you can read by going to ask Dr. Brown, askdrbrown.org, and checking out our latest article. Uh I believe that he sincerely means this to do what's right, but doesn't understand there are many other issues he's missing.

For example, if he's working with Glad. Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which I nicknamed the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement, they have a list of over 100 conservative political commentators, including me. Over 100 saying to the major networks, don't have these people on your shows to talk about gay lesbian issues, family issues, those kind of things, because they are militant, extreme, anti-LGBT. You know who's on that list? Not just me.

Here's on the list. Doctor Ben Carson. Reverend Franklin Graham Yet these are the kind of people that Gladys says don't have on your networks, yet Glad has worked with Facebook to fashion their policies.

So what Mark Zuckerberg doesn't get is that this is not the only way to look at righteous causes. If you want to be neutral, then you're not working with GLAD. And these other organizations, you're listening to them and you're listening to our side, and you're saying, okay, let's just be sensitive to all sides, or just everybody has at it. But no, you're not going to block the one site and not the other and claim neutrality. Media Research Center President Brent Bozell on Fox Business Network's Cavuto Coast to Coast had this to say about the meeting.

I left with an encouraged because I think that they fully understand there's a problem. I explained from our standpoint between the Media Research Center and For America, my other organization, we have some 19 million Facebook fans. I think we're the biggest out there, and we've never had a problem, but there's too much smoke to dismiss the lack of a problem. There is a problem within Facebook, and I think there is a serious determination on the part of Mark Zuckerberg on down to fix this for the twofold reason: that one, it's a direct threat to his business model if there's an erosion of trust. And secondly, because I think this was his vision for Facebook.

Yes, he's a left-winger. Yes, they're all left-wingers, but he wanted a marketplace. Yep. Seems to be the case. We'll be right back.

Change the world. Change the world. Roll card of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. 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 so much for joining us on the broadcast, 866-348-7884. Listen.

Friends, I am all for civil dialogue and interaction. In fact, in fact. When I teach apologetics, the defense of the faith. I lay out two keys for effective apologetics. If we are to do apologetics effectively, Then there are two essentials.

Number one, you must rightly understand the other person's objection or question. In other words, many times we respond to something without really understanding what the person is saying. We think we understand their problem, their objection, and we often pass each other like ships in the night. It can even happen in a public debate where each side is missing the other. And we do it in interpersonal communication.

Forget debates, forget apologetics. We do it right within the same home sometimes. And I've had people call. And they ask a question. And I respond and I thought, okay, I probably gave them a more thorough answer than they were waiting for.

They just listened patiently and I maybe went on for three or four minutes with a detailed answer. And they said, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. I meant this. Like, oh, I misunderstood your question.

So, first thing, you've got to understand the question correctly: the objection, the problem, the issue. How can you be assured that you're doing that? Simple. You repeat it back to the person in your own words.

So, do I understand that your issue is this? And you repeat it back in your own words. If they are satisfied with it, good, you've succeeded there. Yeah, that's my issue. And husbands, wives, roommates, siblings.

Can I tell you it's a great thing to do? Interpersonally, that if there's a disagreement or someone is upset, rather than just defending your point or being proud or being stubborn or being offended. It's sometimes it's good to say, Okay. Do I really understand that you're upset because of this? Because many times the moment you get there, oh, it's solved.

It's like, I didn't even know that. I was unaware. I'm so sorry. And it gets fixed.

Okay, the second point. is you must understand and feel the weight of the objection. or the press or the the question or the issue. When someone says, you know, I've been struggling for this for years since my child died, you know, how could there be a God who's good and let my child die? I was only two, and we prayed for months, we prayed.

baby cried and we prayed and still lost her and And you think, oh, it's easy. I mean, it's such a theological question. It's easy to answer. No, no, no. You don't get it.

You don't get it. Well, I can give you scripture. No, no, no. You don't you don't understand the weight and the pain. You say, Well, how can I?

I've never lost a child Ah, that's when you ask God for an empathetic heart. That's when you ask God for insight. That's when you ask the person. Tell me what this loss... Felt like Tell me what happened as you prayed.

Tell me where your thoughts were about God so you can understand from their viewpoint. Then you can begin to respond.

So One thing I advocate is doing your best to understand the other position.

Now, as much as my critics will call me a bigoted, homophobe, transphobe, a hater, a Nazi, Taliban, ISIS. Hitler, you name it. I've been called it maybe in the last week Yeah, all the time. Trust me, you'd be shocked. By but and by the way, I'm not some martyr because of this.

I'm it's not some persecution complex. I'm just talking about realities here. And it's it comes with the turf. It's fine. But I can assure you That these same critics would have to acknowledge that I could present their viewpoint clearly.

and even in a compelling way. To get you to think about their side, because I've chewed on it, and I've listened to it, and I've wrestled with it, and I've wept over it.

So what I'm asking for the Mark Zuckerbergs of this world Is understand our viewpoint, even if you don't embrace it, because obviously I don't embrace these other points. Even if you don't embrace it, even if ideologically you're on the other side of the fence. Can you see our viewpoint? Can you see our point of view? Can you understand why we hold to this?

Ah, okay, yeah, now here's why I differ with it. But yeah, okay, that way you can be neutral. or at least have a better chance of being neutral. You take a group like GLAAD Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement, as I've nicknamed them, on their list, this is as of yesterday. on their list of people to be blacklisted by the media.

when it comes to marriage, family issues, things having to do with LGBT issues. This just a sampling of over a hundred. Doctor Ben Carson. Yeah. Reverend Franklin Graham.

CNN. ABC, NBC CBS, MSNBC, Fox, don't don't have him on. If you're going to talk about, say, gays in the military, if you're going to talk about... Gay adoption, if we're going to talk about should marriage be the union of two men. No, no, no, no, don't, don't.

Have him on. Franklin Graham, Ben Carson. Ryan Anderson, Dr. Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, don't have him on. Jim Daly of Focus on the Family.

Don't have him. How about Princeton Professor Robert George? A brilliant professor, highly respected. Uh law professor. How about Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council?

How about one of the top Hispanic leaders in the nation, Dr. Samuel Rodriguez? How about Southern Baptist leaders like Al Moeller and Richard Land? How about conservative journalists like Eric Erickson and Todd Storrens, and Catholic leaders like Bill Donahue and Jennifer Roback Morse, all on the list, and people like me? And others?

This is what you call censorship. This is what you call shutting off the free exchange of ideas. Hey, I open these phone lines all the time until critics call in and try to have guests on to debate me on various moral, social, cultural issues, but very few takers that we have. I'd do that every day of the week if the people were willing to join me. and let's have a civil discussion.

And then, if you don't agree with these positions, you've got folks like Attorney General Loretta Lynch demonizing all of us. And we're just like those who were pro-segregation and pro-Jim Crow Laws. What? a bunch of hogwash. What's distressing is, I'm now seeing this literally on a daily basis.

Did you hear that? Daily basis. I am, and this is what I'm seeing that's being sent to me via social media. One guy, seventy-eight-year-old mother, goes walking into. A bathroom?

And There is a man in it. Dressed as a man? A man in. The bathroom, seventy eight year old, Mother goes in there. That was two days ago.

Yesterday? One of my colleagues at our ministry school, his daughter. Goes into the Planet Fitness locker room, and there is a man, dressed as a man, standing there. In in the Planet Fitness locker room, she walked right out. This is what we're dealing with now day and night.

And and to To have the Audacity to compare this With what was just like the new civil rights movie. Is no such thing. Read my article on Five Reasons Why Transgender is Not the New Black.

So These are issues we're facing. These are issues now, Facebook. is looking at and hopefully Mark Zuckerberg will bring on others from a different ideological viewpoint who will help him to see more clearly.

So that Facebook can be a neutral media outlet, and that many of us don't have to wonder about what's coming next. And is this post going to get too much negative criticism and be shut down, even though it's a fair post for civil discussion? All right, friends, another reminder. We are extending the special offer. with this beautiful slimline edition of the Tree of Life Bible.

With a free DVD, go to my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org, click on this special resource offer right on the homepage. My bottom line today. We must. We must function as salt and light, otherwise, the society will collapse around us. Turmoil in America.

Turmoil in the nations. Where do we look? to the living word of the living God. Uh 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.

I want to encourage you to try this experiment. Are you ready? This is Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the line of fire broadcast. Your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst of the a society and chaos in the church all too often in compromise.

I want to encourage you to do this experiment. It won't take you too long. But you do need to be in a quiet place. And you do need to be undistracted while you do it. All right, here's what you do.

You take out your Bible, preferably a print Bible, just so there's no possibility of being distracted with something on your phone. But whatever form of it you have. Take out your Bible. the one you read from most regularly. And open to Psalm one nineteen Now if you're able to get on your knees when you do this, all the better.

So here's what you do. You ready? You've got Psalm 119 open. You get down on your knees if you're able to. And you Read it.

Out loud. You read it out loud. And as you read it, You Ask the question. Can I genuinely say these words? Can I genuinely say these words, or do I feel like a hypocrite?

Insane.

Now, I've done this a few times over the course of my 44-plus years in the Lord. And there have been times when I've done it when I've had to confess to the Lord I feel like a hypocrite. You say, well, what do you mean? Psalm 119 is the greatest Psalm about the word in the Bible. Psalm 119 is this in a sense in microcosm.

Some has what is it 172 verses And it is Uh eight. uh for for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

So the aleph, the opening letter, eight verses that begin with that. The bait. The second letter. Eight verses that begin with that. all the way through.

And It is extolling the Word of God. It is praising the Word of God. But not just that, it is speaking of our love for the Word of God. One verse that always comes to mind, the law of the Lord, the teaching of the Lord, is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

I want to encourage you to read that out loud, all of Psalm 119. And as you're reading it to ask yourself, is this really how I feel? Is this really, honestly, how I feel about the word, or do I feel hypocritical? Yeah, 176 verses, of course. Do I feel hypocritical?

as I'm reading it. And if you do, don't be condemned. To say, God, would you renew a passion in my heart for your word. God, would you renew in my heart a love for your word? God, would you give me a greater desire and hunger and thirst for your word?

And the thing that's amazing It says you'll spend more time reading the word. As you'll spend more time meditating on the word, that your love for the word will only increase. and abound and intensify. And you'll find yourself saying, Sweeter than the honeycomb. Sweeter than the sweetest thing I know.

is your word. Your truths are more desirable to me. than anything in this world.

So do the test. Do the test. Psalm 1. 119 we will be looking at a number of things about the Word of God and sharing some exciting announcements about the Tree of Life version and pointing us back to the Word, whatever is happening in the world around us, back. Two.

Description. Shame. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire, 866-348-7884. the number to call.

So, major news, we reported it in the last hour. Baker Books, one of the largest Christian publishers in the world, one of the most respected Christian publishers. Has embraced the tree of life version of the Bible, a unique translation with a team of Messianic Jewish and Christian scholars teaming together for the first time to produce. A complete new translation of the Bible as a team with messianic sensitivities, messianic Jewish sensitivities, and thus true to the roots of. The scriptures and the roots of our faith.

Dr. Jeff Seif in the first hour told me that the pre-orders for the new edition put out by Baker were 50, 5-0, 50 times more than they expected.

So they had to go to a second printing before it was even released. And I want to talk about the significance of this new Bible, as ultimately, everything that. We need in terms of wisdom is found in the word of God, how to live, how to please God, how to make an impact in this world. It's found in the word. My guest, a dear friend, I was just with him recording TV shows in Phoenix, is Jonathan Burness.

You've seen him on TV. He is the president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International. You've seen the Jewish Voice broadcast, which airs around the world. And Jonathan has had the privilege of preaching the good news to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Jewish people face to face around the world. And we're going to talk about the Tree of Life version today.

Jonathan, great to have you on my show this time. Mike, great to be with you. Thanks for having me.

So, Jonathan, why is this project so important? Why are you personally involved in the Tree of Life version? Mike, I'm involved with the Tree of Life because, as importantly as the content of this Bible itself, which is amazing, a great translation. I believe it's prophetic in it because it represents the collective work Of a Messianic Jewish movement. In other words, Jewish people.

who have come to believe that Jesus, or we call him by his Hebrew name Yeshua, is our promised Messiah, and yet we understand that he is the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies given through our prophets. And so we haven't converted to Christianity. And this movement Which began in the first century because all of the first followers of Yeshua were all Jews. Uh faded out of history until the restoration of Jerusalem in 1967. And since that time in the last forty years, there has been a revival Of the Messianic Jewish movement, Jewish believers in Jesus.

And this Bible represents. the collective work of the restored Messianic Jewish community. And I think that's prophetic. I really do. That so many have now gathered together.

um and put to and joined uh in this effort Contributing their gifts and talents to make this Bible happen.

So it's very exciting. uh not in just the content, but in the prophetic aspect of who who uh made this happen. Yeah, that's a great perspective to put on it, Jonathan. And you're an eyewitness. to an amazing work that God's done among our Jewish people in the Soviet Union, in Latin America, in Africa.

What have you seen with your own eyes in terms of this work of Jewish regathering?

Well, thanks for asking that question. First of all, in the nineties, Mike. I had the privilege of traveling to Russia beginning in 1990, in fact. And met uh Jewish people uh throughout the former Soviet Union that were open to the gospel and responded uh uh the message of Yeshua in nineteen ninety three. That expanded into international festivals of Jewish music and dance.

where we actually filled first music halls, four thousand C plus music halls. sports complexes and then later in the mid nineties, football stadiums. with predominantly Jewish people. I'm talking about 75%. of the population filling a football stadium, Jewish.

hearing and responding to the gospel. And I can't tell you how many were born again. but I can tell you that I personally saw tens of thousands of Jewish people Stand or come forward in altar calls and pray with me, many of them with tears streaming down their eyes. We now have. Messianic Jewish congregations throughout the former Soviet Union.

Our ministry, Jewish Voice, has been working now predominantly in Ethiopia among the Beta Israel. in Zimbabwe among the Lemba community And we believe these are Jews that Uh Mm-hmm. We're we're scattered To the four corners of the earth during the different diasporas. seventy eight D and then again uh Um later with the Spanish Inquisition, you saw Jewish people That were forced to leave Spain and later Portugal and wandering throughout Europe. And they are now being restored to to Israel, to the land of Israel.

Over a million Russian speaking Jews, over one hundred thirty thousand Ethiopian Jews living in Israel. But Mike, along with that physical regathering is a spiritual restoration of Jewish people finding their Messiah. and there's very likely more Jews who believe in Jesus today than any time since the first century.

So we are seeing the spiritual revival of Israel before our very eyes, and it's Bible prophecy being fulfilled. Yeah, and again, the production of this translation now from the Messianic Jewish movement, partnering with Christian scholars, with Jewish training and things like that, they are, it is a prophetic sign. It's part of this larger picture. And just going back to Africa for a moment, Jonathan, the. Uh Any of these groups that claim to have Jewish roots or history I mean, some have been Sabbath observant and practiced circumcision and said were Jews even though it's brought a lot of persecution on them.

Have there been any DNA tests, anything like this, that point in this direction? In fact, there has been DNA testing. The Ethiopian Jews have many of them have have tested positive not only for a Jewish heritage, but this priestly gene. which is really a scientific uh uh test that was done. to compare Uh Kohanim.

Uh from both the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic. And among the Lemba, seventy percent of those tested actually had this Uh Right. Briefly, Jean. This Cohen gene. And they will, I believe, in the future, be accepted as immigrants to Israel.

So, yes. DNA testing is proving the fact that Jewish people that were scattered throughout the world are in fact being recovered now. Their identity is being recovered. Amazing. Just amazing.

And again, somehow the Lord's positioned you to be on the front lines of all of these different things and to recognize this is all part of God's prophetic plan coming to pass, along with the production of this Bible, that would have been kind of an unheard of thing because of not even having a clearly defined Messianic Jewish movement in decades past. It is all quite remarkable. Does this seem to have supernatural favor on it to this project with the release of the Bible? I think it does. We found great, great response from Christians that watch our television program.

Many of them understand that Romans 11, 25 is in process of being fulfilled. That the blindness is coming off of the eyes of the Jewish people. That's what Romans 11:25 tells us. that a blindness in part has happened to Israel, but it's until The fullness of the Gentiles comes in, and I believe there's a fullness. I don't believe it's full number, Mike, personal.

I do believe it's a fullness. It's a fullness of time. It's a fullness of identity, it's a fullness of power. And I believe this translation somehow ties into this period of time. that Paul speaks about in Romans 11.25.

Yeah, and we got a better response to this. You and I were some of the very first to offer this in its earliest form.

Now Baker's putting out these gorgeous additions and attractively priced as well. But you and I were some of the very first to get it out. And this has been maybe the most popular thing we've ever offered. With uh, with tremendous responses from folks, so um, appreciate your partnership. By the way, John, I've done the same thing that you've done, uh, done interviews from my car because that was the only way I could do it.

But, uh, hopefully, no, no accidents and no GPS joining us. Hey, I pulled over, I pulled over to do it. I'm just getting air. I'm sorry, I'm up visiting my mom in upstate New York this week, uh, but I really wanted to be on with you.

Next time, I'll try to beat a little headline. No, no, that's that's trust me, I've done it before and try to try to think, okay, did this get her that get, but that's that's that's uh live radio. Hey, um, One question, we've got 30 seconds. We are asking folks, especially, to stand with our ministry, with Ask Dr. Brown, and the work that we're doing.

Would you share?

Well, I'll tell you what, do you have two more minutes to stay on with us, or do you have to run? Absolutely. All right, stay right there and come back. I just want to ask Jonathan one question about the ministry work that we're doing. He's an honored and esteemed friend, and then we'll let him get on his way to take care of his mom.

We'll be right back. Askdrbrown.org. If you want to find out how you can get this brand new, beautiful, slimline edition of the Tree of Life version of the Bible, askdrbrown.org. You'll find it right on the homepage.

Next time. 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.

I'm speaking with my dear friend and colleague, Jonathan Burness, the president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International. Uh John and I have known each other for oh Go on, 30 years, ministered when he was leading a messianic congregation in upstate New York. And then watched as God has given him a message and a voice around the world, and watched as God's used him in amazing ways with Jewish harvest around the world. And now we're partnering together to help the whole world know about the tree of life version of the scriptures, which is now being distributed by Baker Books.

So, Jonathan, I appreciate you being on the road, taking another minute to be with me. In the next few weeks, we're going to be giving our listeners some great opportunities to partner together with us. I know that you appreciate the ministry work that God's called me to do, but I'm wondering if you could just take a minute. and tell our listeners why you believe that it's important that they do stand with this ministry that God's called me to do. It would be a pleasure and honor, Mike.

We've known each other, as you just said, about three decades. And I have watched you in the last thirty years being raised up by God as a voice that has spoken truth prophetic truth, first to our Messianic Jewish movement, to stay on track. Challenging Jewish people to believe in their own scriptures and their own Messiah, Yeshua Jesus. debating rabbis boldly. Uh In this question of whether Jesus is our promised Messiah.

and then also step into this incredible battle Uh for the biblical values of our nation. And I believe God has hand-picked you as a revolutionary, as a spiritual revolutionary. To raise up an army that, and I believe it's the last days too, Mike. That's my personal. belief as I look at scriptures and look at the world around us.

And I I think there's very few people you have a unique calling and voice To stand up for biblical values and to raise up an army that will. Uh That will Speak forth. the word of God. And I've watched it happen, Mike. I've seen the fruit.

And we're going to continue to support you. And I'd urge everyone listening to get behind this ministry. In this man, in a tangible way, whatever you can do. because it takes money to m to to to to uh to pay for these books. radio bills and other expenses, but this is a prophetic voice.

that God has raised up for this hour.

So I'm firmly behind you, Mike, and I hope others will join the rallying cry and support you. Thank you, Jonathan, for very kind words. And yes, thanks for the partnership of Jewish Voice. You've been a great blessing to us over the years.

Well, you can count on us in the days ahead. Amen. Hey, God bless you. Have an awesome time with your mom. And it's going to be amazing to see what God does with the Tree of Life version.

Thanks again, dear brother. It is. Got that. What a joy to speak with Jonathan. And we just had some great hangout time together in Phoenix when I was on his TV show last week.

In fact, those shows, I think we recorded three shows together that should air When is it? About two weeks from now, roughly about two weeks from now. All right.

One great way that you can stand with us is to get your copy of the Tree of Life Bible. We've got it with a special offer where you get a free DVD as well. And again, no hype on this. They sent me the new editions that they've just put out, Baker, and there's this beautiful slim line. Which I thought was this.

mega expensive Bible just 'cause it's it's so nicely put together. And I was amazed at the price.

So get yourself a copy. We're also sending you a free DVD and paying the postage when you do. You can do that on the website, ask Dr. Brown, ASKDRBrown.org. You'll see it right on the home page of the special resource banner.

And you'll be blessed by the translation. And thankfully, it's beautifully produced as well. Uh last hour Last hour. I mentioned an article, my newest article, about Facebook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Asking the question Is he a well-intended liberal with a massive blind spot?

In other words, he wants to be neutral. He does not want Facebook to have a political identity. But he's surrounded by people, especially from his generation, who share the same worldview and ideologies because of which it's hard not to have a strong bias.

So for example, If If you lived in the days of of uh The Civil War. and you said I want to maintain neutrality. then that would have been almost impossible to do. You'd have no voice at all if you want to be neutral because a side had to be taken. And in many issues today, sides are taken.

and each side looks at the other as the guilty party.

So the pro-life movement uh were passionate. We are absolutely passionate. For life, we are absolutely passionate for the life of the unborn and for the well-being of the mother and for the future of that child in this world. And yet, And we look at those who are militant pro-abortion. Like we would have looked at slave traders.

I mean, you are standing for the terminating of the life of the unborn in the mother's womb. And then the pro-abortion movement looks at us as these Christian terrorists that are shooting abortion doctors. Of course, completely caricatured view of abortion. uh and a ridiculous view. But what's the point?

If you say well I'm gonna be neutral on the abortion issue. Or what's that look like? What's that look like? I'm gonna be neutral on major cultural issues. What's that look like?

If you're convinced. that the cultural issues are in many ways black and white. then you're not going to be neutral because you think you're taking the right side. And and that's kind of the environment in which Mark Zuckerberg's operated, so that many with biblical conservative values are looked at as if we were the slave traders. You know, the whole world in that sense is turned upside down.

But I believe he wants to do what's right. I believe he wants to do what's right, and I just noticed this on Twitter. It was during the break. I saw an email come in. If someone uses profanity on Twitter, they're communicating with me, they use profanity, we'll just block them.

If they're abusive and ugly, you know, attacks and threats, we just block them. But I happened to notice one One new guy that was going after me, and the name that he operated under was a death threat against theistic believers.

So I thought, you know what, I'm going to report this as abusive. And Matt, check this out. I just got a note from Twitter that they removed the account. They found it abusive. You can be neutral and say, okay, if anyone crosses certain lines, you get blocked.

Whoever you are, whatever side you're on, if you cross certain lines, Twitter could say we're all atheists, but if you cross the line calling for the death of theists, you're blocked. Just like if you cross the line calling for the death of atheists, you're blocked. And you can say within these parameters, have at it, have your different views. That's. That's the challenging thing.

Uh what is denigrating and demeaning and violence provoking? Certain things very clear. Other things, hey, we're just expressing our different views passionately. But I do believe that these different social media groups. If they're going to remain effective, viable, growing.

genuine platforms, they're really going to have to be diverse in a way that's different than they think. Because in the contemporary lexicon, diversity means my way or the highway, specifically the LGBT activist way or the highway. And tolerance means being intolerant of all views outside your own. And being inclusive means exclusive. to all competing contrary views.

Can they do it? I hope so. but we shall see. 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.

Welcome, welcome to the line of fire. This is your friendly voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. You know, it's one of these things, friends, that finally people understand why we have been raising issues that we have been raising for so many years. Why we are addressing things that we have been addressing. Why folks need to take a stand?

Because we're one of those, enough is enough. places in our society. And it's my delight, my joy. To be your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst of the chaos.

So The other day I am coming home. We are renting a townhouse at the moment. And when we moved in, the next-door neighbor was very friendly. We chatted a little bit. Uh, he asked if we needed our truck to move something one day.

I said, No, but that's that's very kind of you to offer, you know, a nice pickup truck. And uh, anyway, we've just chatted here and there a little bit. Uh, I guess he knew I taught, I was a professor, something like that. And any anyway He came up to me, he's walking his dog. And He walked past, so I was just walking in my in in the house.

and he turned around and came back. And said, You're Mike Brown. I said, Yeah. He said, Thank you. He said, Your articles He said you articulate.

What I want to say. Thank you. And he and his wife were talking. Is that the same guy? Because somehow they knew I was a professor.

Maybe Dancy had told him. I'm not really sure. I said, Yeah, I do radio show daily, and I write a lot of these articles, and I travel and speak. And he said, well, listen, he said, we know how to pray for you too. I said, yeah, it's very interesting on the front lines here.

But I hear that all the time. Thank you. You articulate what I want to say. And friends, That is that is why. We do what we do to be your voice.

In other words, when I'm addressing issues, I'm not addressing them just because I'm burdened, just because I'm concerned. Uh just just because I believe there's an issue. but because I know this is an issue that you're dealing with as well. That when God's burdening me to speak, it's not just in some echo chamber where I'm going to hear my own voice reverberating, but I get to articulate things that burden and concern you. I wrote a couple of articles, actually three in the last few days.

A couple of them you'll find only on the stream, stream.org. Uh one of them uh on the transgender juggernaut. When sanity became a crime. You need to read that, friends. It's right on the homepage of stream.org.

It is tremendously. Eye-opening. I mean right now in New York If you quote misdeploy a pronoun meaning Let's say Bruce Jenner was your co-worker, and you referred to him as him or he. You could be fined up to $250,000. But if he preferred to be called Z.

And you said, Zee, that's just a little weird. I I'm happy to call you she, but not z. You could be fined for not using the pronoun of choice. And as Professor Law Professor Eugene Volach pointed out, You now have a list of terms that include A. And V and T and E?

and Fay and Pur and Z X E Yeah, yeah, these are terms that people say, call me this, call me that. Yeah. I'm not making this up. You could be fined up to $250,000 in the city of New York if you say, sorry, I'm not going to do that. Oh, it gets worse.

It gets worse. And it's one of these times, and I'm going to give you a few examples. It's one of these times we're not in hatred towards anyone. But just because we love what's right, we love what's good, and we love our families and our kids, and we love moral sanity, that we say no, no, no. Enough.

Is enough. We're going to stand and do what's right. This is Michael Brown. We'll be right back. Shake the next time.

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. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. So, this is what happened over the last few days. Michael Brown speaking. My droid will be with you, 866-348-7884.

Oh, before I get into this. I mentioned earlier in the first hour, but many of you wouldn't have heard that. that I am quite aware of breaking news today. That the police officer involved with the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. has been found not guilty.

And I know that for many this is a burning issue.

Some would say this is another example of exonerating police and Black Lives Don't Matter. Others would say this is an example of the justice system working properly. Mm-hmm. I have no comment on this at the moment because I do not know. The facts in any more detail than what is just being reported in general media.

I do not know if this is righteous or unrighteous. And Jesus says in John 7, 24, don't judge based on outward appearance, but judge righteous judgment. I don't know the case. I don't know the situation. I know the way things were reported initially and the way the city responded initially, it's as if there was guilt on behalf on the part of the police.

I know others have said the opposite. I know it's important. We've talked through the difficult issues. We've never hesitated, whether it was the shooting death last year of my young namesake, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, whether it was the death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman. A couple years before that.

We've talked about these things to understand perspective and sensitivities. and learn about blind spots that we each have uh f quite freely. quite freely and openly. And I have learned, I think, more than I've taught during these times. But I have nothing to say right now because I have nothing substantial on which to base an opinion having not studied things carefully.

But I'm quite aware that this is major news for many in America.

So So many things were happening. with transgender activism in in the last week. Kind of off the charts happening. That I I was going to write an article listing everything that was happening. And lo and behold, my colleague in Australia, Bill Muhlenberg, we've talked by phone once, we've emailed numerous times.

I've written a forward to one of his books. called strained relationships. And uh We have interacted. Via email, occasionally by Facebook, but we've never met face to face. Talked by phone once, that was when he was a guest on the radio broadcast here.

He is an American living in Australia for many years. And What's shocking to me is, and he jokes that we're twins separated at birth. What would be interesting twins because he's what a year or two older than me, but both got saved as hippies, the whole bit, long-haired hippies, decades ago, early 70s. What's amazing is how often we write on the exact same topics, whether it's abortion, which he's been writing on longer than me, whether it's radical Islam. And maybe he's even studied that more than I have.

Whether it's LGBT issues, other theological issues, it's amazing.

So, sure, and I can't tell you how many times I finish writing an article. and send mine out and a few minutes later I get his latest article that was just sent out. And We're virtually saying the identical things and quoting from similar sources. And we both got to shake our heads.

So I'm getting ready to write this article, thinking about it, and I get an email. Maybe it got it, it came in like one in the morning or something, which is still early for me because I stay up real late writing and stuff. Lo and behold, he's he's listed. What I what I was thinking of doing, he's done.

So I wrote my article looking at the larger issues here. And quoting some of the specifics and then summing things up in terms of how we have to respond using his article. But let's just bear in mind within the last few days. The Charlotte Observer. The Charlotte Observer Their editorial board.

Issued. An opinion column. issued a Charlotte Observer. Official Editorial Saying that girls, young girls, will just have to get used to the discomfort. That was their word, discomfort.

of suing male genitalia in their bathrooms and locker rooms. They'll just have to get used to it. Just like in the past, whites had to get used to having blacks in there. bathrooms, etcetera. Ha ha ha.

Uh uh uh word words fail. What an utterly irresponsible, abusive, ugly, dangerous, miserable, deplorable. Editorial. Shall I go on with more adjectives? Of course, Bill Mühlenberg cites that.

He also points out That uh The most dangerous and underreported part of Obama's transgender edict. Namely, under the Obama administration's federal guidance, the following will happen. School districts. must allow biological males and females to spend the night together in the same hotel room on field trips. Yeah, this is according to the transgender edict that the government put forth, and this is my call for national civil disobedience to this that went viral a week and a half ago.

Colleges must let men who say they are transgender be roommates with one or more women. And School officials cannot even tell those young women or their parents in advance that their new roommate is a man without risking a federal lawsuit. This friendly government, this is why we have called for national civil disobedience, call on parents to make it known to their schools, to call their schools and ask where the schools stand, and for educators to say no as well. And if you stand up to the bullies in this case the biggest bully there is in America, the Federal Government and the President What could be a bigger bully than that? They will back down.

and I believe the courts will support us. Ultimately. Mm-hmm. Uh Bill Muhlenberg closes this article. With an account, a woman named Melissa.

She went into her 24-hour fitness gym in Seattle during a lunch break. She explains, quote, when I went to the locker room to change, I saw a man completely naked. I this is in the 24-hour fitness gym in the locker room. I quickly turned around in a panic, thinking I had walked into the men's locker room instead of the women's. Nope.

I was in fact in the women's locker room. With the change of policy, I knew there was nothing I could do. Yeah, because the state of Washington has said that if a man identifies as a woman, he can go in those bathrooms. And lock locker locker rooms. Lo look, bathrooms is more Private, and it's someone going to a stall in a ladies' room, et cetera.

I understand. It's less abusive and less intrusive, but nonetheless, a problem. To have a male in your ladies' room, the expectation of privacy, and all the other abuses that could come out. I have to list all of those again. But a locker room?

Come on, where people change? She said I ended up going back to the shower and toilet area where I found all of the rest of the women in the locker room. We all had the same idea, to get change in the bathroom stalls instead of in the open area for privacy. Why, 'cause there's a naked man in there By any Stretch of the imagination that this sanity would say the man should be arrested for being in there, unless he completely didn't know he was in the wrong room.

Somehow? It's blind. Otherwise he should be arrested. there should be some form of trespassing involved. She said, None of us had the courage.

to speak to management about this either for the fear that we would be labeled something we're not. Excuse me, none of us had the courage to speak to management about this either, for the fear that we would be labeled as something we're not. This has nothing to do about being for or against the LGBT community. It's the fact that we don't feel comfortable seeing a man in our dress room and that we have no way to tell if he's going to take advantage of the new policy or us. It was extremely uncomfortable.

And he's already taking advantage of the policy by being in there, even if he doesn't cast a glance at the women. He's already taking advantage of it. And to say it was extremely uncomfortable is is to put it mildly. Plenty of other women would put it in much harsher terms than that. He says that mean we can't use these gems?

Maybe. Maybe. We lived without gyms before. We can figure out ways to work out at home. If that's what's going to be in the gems, then you have to say no to the social madness.

So, look. This is bad news. This is all bad news. The good news is, we've been talking about these things for years now. In the past, People wondered, Mike, why are you talking about this?

Why are you getting on this? Oh, yeah, David Limbaugh. He wasn't one of these asking me, but David Limbaugh wrote, resisting Obama's transgender directive a hill to die on. Attorney David French, and David Linda was an attorney as well. Transgender extremism.

Two videos show how quickly the absurd became accepted, then mandatory. My friend does selling off your equipment taxes. A line in the sand has been crossed. Five things you can do about trans restrooms. And none of these men are hateful or haters.

Just saying enough is enough.

Now people understand why I've written on this, why I've addressed this, and it's been for a decade plus now. It's not because of hatred, it's because of love. The bad news is... People haven't been waking up. The good news is they're waking up.

We don't say enough is enough today. I doubt we'll say it tomorrow.

So let us say it together. Enough is enough. 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. Thank you so much for joining us today on the line of fire. Again, You may have heard me mention this. End of last week, but I spoke at a church. in North Carolina a couple of Sundays ago.

Both Sunday morning services, the pastor asked me to address, Can You Begin Christian? And what about transgender issue? and in every case I bring a message of compassion, I made clear we're not just dealing with issues, we're dealing with people. I say, if a man comes into your service wearing a dress, carrying a Bible, he's evidently a man. And he says amen to the message and sits there.

participates and what do you do? I said take 'em out for lunch. Spend time with them, get to know them. And help him find the place of wholeness so that his insides and his outsides are in. Agreement.

Well, within two weeks of that message, the pastor texts me and says.

Well, we we had uh transgender uh individual come to our service on Sunday.

So this is a male to female. And he said, everybody loved on him.

Now it's not because they're putting on an act, because they're Christians. Of course they're going to do that. He said, but we had a problem come up. Because we found out afterwards that he used the ladies' room and our policy is you use the bathroom of your biological sex.

So what do we do?

Well, you want to reach out to the person with compassion, yes? But you don't want to Uh put it ill ease. the women in the congregation or the the parents sending their their girls into the to the bathroom. And you don't want to open the door to a heterosexual that's just going to do that so that he can access the ladies' room. Remember, these.

heterosexual predator, you're talking about a sexual pervert. You're talking about just a simple predator.

So they'll do all kinds of devious things. You say, well, who would want to do that?

Well, people that are devious. You don't want to open the door for that under any circumstances.

So my suggestion Actually, when I mentioned it to Nancy, I said, yeah, I'm getting these questions that come up more and more frequently. Uh When uh When I mention it to her, she's gave wise counsel, which I agreed with. Uh which is uh Well let him use a a private bathroom. And I suggested that if he comes again, just say, hey, listen, we want you to feel at ease here. We want you to feel welcome here.

We also don't want an uncomfortable situation for you. for the ladies. Need a bathroom break. Just let one of the ushers know. And they'll just escort you back.

You know, normally the pastor's office or an office back there could be private or something like that. And look, I'm. I speak in all kinds of settings all the time. And sometimes you can't get to a restroom And you need to get to a private restroom, you can't get to one without someone opening the door for you because things are locked. Or they want an usher to escort you because you're the guest speaker and they don't want you to be swarmed or something like that.

So I've had to do that many times. If I, hey, could you just have someone open the bathroom for me?

So we want to accommodate individuals, we want to care. But when society is going mad around us, when the Charlotte observer A leading national newspaper is saying to young ladies. You're just gonna have to get used to the discomfort of seeing male genitalia in your bathrooms and locker rooms. Again, words fail. I'm a radio host.

I'm a writer. Words are my craft, words are my calling. I'm using them day and night, speaking publicly. And I was so grieved and outraged to read that. It's almost one of those words fail moments.

But this is one of a number of things happening. When when Your state, your city, your place of business could fine you a quarter of a million dollars. Because you say, look, I I just don't believe that you're Z. I have a hard your one person I have a hard time referring to you as them and they.

Well, that's how I identify. multiple genders and I don't identify in any category, I want you to call me THEY. I want you, if you're referring to me, they have a problem. They. I can't do that.

I don't believe you're they. It's I struggle grammatically with calling an individual they or them. You'd be fine up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars? And this is happening on our watch. When when uh grown women don't dare protest.

The presence of a naked man in their their gym locker room for fear of being branded bigots? When college officials could face a federal lawsuit for informing a young woman that her new roommate is actually a biological male? That's where we have to say enough is enough. We will reach out to everyone with compassion. But we will resist the cultural madness.

Yes, I know. I know our president. Uh just six days ago. issued his statement. on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

And simply saying what I'm saying. Saying you should be uncomfortable with a naked man in your locker room, ladies. Saying that institutions should refuse this federal edict, saying you can't tell other parents. We just want the parents to know you've got three young people who will be rooming together at college. They're all freshmen, 18 years old.

And Sally and Susie will be sharing a room with Billy, who's actually a biological male, who the last three months has been identifying as a female. But we can't tell, we can't tell you, parents, we can't tell you that that's going to be the rooming arrangement. Otherwise, we could face federal fine. That's where you have to say enough is enough. Yeah, call us transphobes if you want, but it's false.

I'm not going to back down because someone falsely labels me. Am I going to compromise because someone calls me names or threatens me? Uh Canada. Carly Heilman on The Blaze reports Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a bill that would criminalize anti-transgender speech. I imagine what I'm saying today could be categorized as anti-transgender speech, with violators receiving up to two years in prison.

Yeah. Huh? up to two years in prison.

Now, they might say, oh, no, no, you can have differences, but okay, is this going to be considered hate? Propaganda? If I refer to Bruce Jenner as he, would that be hate propaganda? Would that be transphobia punishable by law?

Now friends, I'm not in a panic state. I am in the Sound the alarm state. And I'm saying. We've been talking about these things for a while because we knew this was coming. The the the The secret is out.

The secret is out. It's not a secret anymore. There is an aggressive agenda. We've documented it for years now. Stand up, do what's right, reach out.

and resist, and let us equip you. Let us equip you. I am writing three to five new articles every week. Ten hours of radio. every week.

Several new videos. every week. along with the books and the public speaking. Let us equip you. Visit the new website, ask Dr.

Brown, a-skdrbrown.org. We've completely revamped it. It is a hundred times more friendly to the eye and much, much more user-friendly. Check out our digital library where all of our articles and videos are listed there in one place. Look at the latest article, the latest video.

Check out our new. Improve store and take advantage of this week's special resource offer as well. Get yourself the gorgeous new slimline edition of the Tree of Life Bible with a free DVD on the website. Together, we're making a difference. My bottom line today.

Bad news is people have been sleeping for a while. Good news is they're waking up.