The following is a pre-recorded program. You've got questions. We've got answers. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown.
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Michael Brown, delighted to be with you today here on The Line of Fire broadcast. I'm not giving out the phone number because I've got a stack of questions that were posted on our Instagram account, Dr. Michael Brown on Instagram. Our team posts material from there on Instagram, posts material from me on Instagram on a very regular basis, but I don't get to interact directly with many on Instagram as much as I'd like to. So, sometimes we've taken questions posted on Facebook, sometimes posted on Twitter.
This time we thought we'd take questions posted on Instagram. So, no calls today. Sit back and enjoy the broadcast. If you're not getting, my frontline newsletter comes out once a month. It's digital. It's beautifully produced from the Hebrew word of the month to the inspirational message of the month to powerful testimonies to an excerpt from one of my books to great quotes. You'll be blessed. You'll look forward to getting it every month. It's free.
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Just click subscribe and it'll be coming your way. All right. Chief Sloth asks, not that I believe in fulfillment theology, but if being part of Israel was in fact a covenant of physical people, how is it possible that they could be, quote, cut off from their people as described in the later books of the Torah? And he gives a list of verses, Leviticus and 18th chapter, 20th chapter, Numbers, different chapters, Exodus, et cetera. Well, you can actually go back to Genesis 17, that the physical sign of the covenant was circumcision. So, for Abraham's physical descendants, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the men had to be circumcised on the eighth day or they would be cut off. So, because they were not in compliance with what God called for, they could be cut off from the people. That is God's prerogative to set up standards.
So, yes, it was based first and foremost on physical descent, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But then, absolutely, there were certain requirements like circumcision or you would be cut off. There are other requirements later, as you mentioned in some of these other books, that if certain things were violated, that the people would be cut off. Now, there is a penalty called charate, which is literally cutting off, and is debated within Jewish teaching and among scholars as to what it meant. Did it mean cut off spiritually? Did it mean cut off physically? Did it mean no children?
Did it mean some other type of punishment? That's debated. So, where you see cut off from the people, it can have different meanings. But for sure, there were things that could exclude you from the nation. Obviously, with repentance, you could be grafted back in.
But there were things that could exclude you from the nation. And then, it's up to God if he wants to continue to look at someone as part of his people, even though they've been coming in to the excluded, he can still regather them. But it's not only physical descent. It's also people that were grafted in like a Ruth, like a Rahab, like others. These people that chose to follow the God of Israel and became part of the community of Israel and became fully Israelite. So, it was physical descendants and those who turned and converted to follow the God of Israel. Now, in terms of being in right spiritual standing with God, that was never based on physical descent.
Never based on physical descent. So, God could say of Israel, you're my son, my firstborn, B'ni B'chori Israel, give that message to Pharaoh. God could say that of the nation of the generation that dies in the wilderness. So, they were not in right relationship with God as a nation, but they were still his son and his firstborn. They were still chosen.
So, Israel's chosenness remains, Israel's calling to service remains, even if individual Israelites are not in faith. They, according to Romans 11, have been spiritually cut off. If they repent, they can be grafted back in. But notice, even when they're grafted back in, they're still part of the natural olive tree.
In other words, they've been cut off, but as natural branches, Paul says they will all the more readily be grafted back in. R7 Saga, why did you deny rapid firing verses out of Dr. Tuggy during your guy's debate? It's actually been confirmed by Sean Finnegan that you did just that. First, I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about to be totally candid with you.
And if there was some point that I was rapid firing verses, if I quoted number of verses in a debate and gave the material, and here's how you can respond to it, it'd be standard in a debate. But in any case, watch for yourself. Just go to the Line of Fire on YouTube, Line of Fire YouTube channel, or just go to thelineoffire.org, type in Tuggy, T-U-G-G-Y, and watch the debate for yourself. It's been up as soon as it was done. We put it online immediately.
It's been online ever since. And I feel very good about the way the debate was handled. I feel good about the evidence that was presented. No question I was on the right side of the issue scripturally, which is why I feel good about it, not because of me, but because of the Word. And I don't have the slightest clue what you're referring to here. If someone was alleging that I was firing verses out so quickly that they couldn't be refuted, now is my strategy.
No, not at all. There's a mountain of evidence in Scripture. And I presented that evidence, and this was not a philosophical debate, but a scriptural debate. So what am I supposed to do?
Not use the Bible? So honestly, I'm a little baffled by the comment. But watch the debate. Watch for yourself. Their ego, or their ego, Lou.
Interesting name there. How would you answer objections to Jesus being the Messiah from the line of David, because he wasn't Joseph's biological son, and Jewish tribes were based from their father's blood? So it's a great question, and one that I've often tackled over the years in my interaction with the Jewish community, and one that I deal with directly in answering Jewish objections to Jesus volume four. Answering Jewish objections to Jesus volume four in the five volume series. Number one, Jesus, Yeshua, was the son of David, but he was also greater than David, which is why David calls him Lord in Psalm 110. It's one of the arguments that Jesus raises in Matthew 22, and parallels in the Gospel. So he was the son of David, and yet greater than David.
How can that be? Well, he was born to a human mother, but was supernaturally conceived, and spiritually God is his father. So he is human, but he is greater than man. He is the son of David, but he is greater than David. So, as far as royal descent, he was Joseph's son, in a case that had never existed before. In other words, Joseph is the father, even though he was not the biological father. This is a once only case in the Bible, which is why it's not covered by Jewish law. What does Jewish law say if your wife conceives as a virgin?
It's not covered by Jewish law. But I believe Luke's genealogy is actually the genealogy of Mary, Miriam, as other scholars posit. To read it properly, he was supposed, people thought he was the son of Joseph, but was actually the son of, and then it's Miriam's father that's listed in Luke's genealogy. That's a common interpretation, not uniquely mine.
So, how does it work? There are times when physical descent through the mother did matter. For example, you mentioned tribal heritage or tribal lineage. So, the daughters of Tzilafat in the book of Numbers, if you'll read that in Numbers 27 and Numbers 35, if you read their account, they didn't have, they were women who didn't have husbands. There was no legacy now of the name, the tribal name, the family name being passed on. So, as long as they married within the tribe, then the legacy could continue through them. You even have a genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2 that mentions that Shashan had no sons, only daughters. So, he gave one of his daughters to an Egyptian slave, and then the genealogy continues, unbroken, through the Egyptian slave and the Israelite woman, as if it was a pure Israelite genealogy.
So, descent can be traced through the mother, and that's the case here, I believe. That's why he was in the flesh, the son of David, and spiritually the son of God. Let's see, Asir Rochman, Dr. Brown, why do you and others keep saying there will be a great revival? What scripture does that refer to? I keep seeing a great falling away.
Ah, I love the question. I see in the Bible, clearly at the end of the age, parallel extremes. We see the wheat growing until the harvest and the weeds growing in the parables in Matthew 13.
We see that the harvest is the end of the age, and there's a great catch of fish, both good and bad. We see in the book of Revelation, the seventh chapter, there's a multitude from every tribe, kindred, nation, that cannot be numbered. Elsewhere, the book of Revelation refers to an army of 200 million, and yet this number is so big and significant it cannot be numbered.
This is the end time harvest that's being spoken of there. Not only so, you have passages like Romans 11 25 that speak of the fullness of the Gentiles coming in, and as Israel returns, it's going to bring reconciliation of the world, riches and treasures beyond anything we've seen spiritually. We see end time passages where God says of Israel, arise and shine for your light has come. So in the midst of gross darkness, God's light shines. We know that the Great Commission must be completed, and there may be three billion people that have never even heard the name of Jesus.
Today, maybe 40% of the earth's population. So while the number of those who's heard the gospel continues to grow, while the number of disciples on the earth continues to grow, there's a massive number that are still to be reached. And we know according to Acts, the second chapter, that the outpouring of the Spirit is for the last days, and it continues through the last days.
The outpouring of prophecy and gifts that are spoken of there in Acts the second chapter. This is for the period of the last days, which is from the death and resurrection of Jesus until the end of the earth. So there are passages that talk about apostasy and falling away, so I expect both.
I expect both at the end of the age, so that's my biggest scripture reason. Secondly, if you'll press in on some of the passages about falling away and apostasy, you'll see they were talking about the New Testament times right through these ages. For example, if you look at 2 Timothy, the third chapter, that tells us in the last days, perilous times will come. When you read through, Paul ends up telling Timothy, stay away from people like this. In other words, in these last days in which we live, Timothy, it's not just going to be easy and, you know, cherries falling from, ripe cherries falling from the trees on our heads and, you know, lollipops and, you know, no, it's going to be tough in these last days in which we live.
So that was for then, and it's for today. Warnings about apostasy and deception, they were for then and for today, but so also were the great promises of outpouring. So I'd encourage you to revisit the Bible through those eyes, and then on a spiritual level, God's put it in my heart and the hearts of many to cry out and pray, and around the world on a daily basis for years now. More people are coming to faith than ever in world history. So God is pouring his Spirit out. Miracles are taking place at unprecedented levels around the world. Amazing and glorious things are happening as I travel around the world. It's incredible to see what God is doing. And much of it is hidden in the Muslim world and the Hindu world and other parts of the world.
And yet, as we find out more and more of what's happening, it's amazing and startling. And there are many churches in America that have been experiencing wonderful outpouring with many, many coming to faith. I just got off the phone with the pastor.
His church, they've seen as many as a thousand people baptized every single year, new converts for several years running out. And I've been there. I've seen the fruit of it. I've seen the amazing growth.
I've seen the impact on schools and campuses. God is moving. Be encouraged. I can't help but be in God's presence to come out encouraged for the faith and expertise. This is Michael Ellison, founder of TriVita Wellness. I'm always thrilled to offer a new product from TriVita that is science supported with equivalent doses per serving that follows the science.
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It happened to me a number of years ago, and I will never forget when the physician said, Michael, you must change the way you think, or you will have no quality of life and you will die a premature death. Now I can assure you Ashwagandha KSM 66 is in my daily diet. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health and director of wellness services at TriVita. I want you to know that TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66 is not just Ashwagandha. Ashwagandha KSM 66 undergoes a rigorous formulation process and has 22 gold standard clinical trials. TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66 adaptogenic properties assist your body in adapting to stress, reducing fatigue, and restoring your natural balance. Join countless others who have discovered the benefits of TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.
Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Welcome back to the Line of Fire. You know, I did a workout right before radio today and was just pleased to see greater strength that I've had in the past. And so, obviously, I'm getting older, not younger, but healthy eating, boy, it makes a massive difference. And TriVita supplements that I add in, especially nitric oxide and myo health.
Those are helping as well. So that's why we so appreciate our great co-sponsor TriVita as part of my life as well. All right. I'm not taking calls today because I'm answering your questions on Instagram. If you want to follow me on Instagram, it's Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. Michael Brown. If you want to follow me on X, Twitter, put another L in the middle from my middle initial, Lewis. Dr. Michael L. Brown on Twitter. Then on Facebook, it's just Dr. Michael Brown. On YouTube, it is the Line of Fire.
But know if you search Dr. Brown and whatever video you're looking for on YouTube, you'll spot us. Okay. Helanta, Dr. Brown, how would you biblically address modest clothing for teen girls? Mind you, modest seems to be subjective and most people go with the culture.
Yes. So what's modest in one culture is immodest in another culture. Are you talking modesty the way it would be in radical Islamic world, say in Afghanistan, where the only thing you can see of a woman is her eyes behind the veil and some of the most extreme, only one eye is visible. You think of that because you want to be modest.
You mean modest like that, or do you mean a modest bikini as opposed to a thong bikini? So how does one weigh modesty? We agree with the principle, right?
We agree with the principle, but how do we define that? If we get into specifics, well, it can't be this, can't be this, can't be this, then number one, it's going to be culturally relevant in one place and irrelevant in another. In other words, certain cultures, a modest woman never wears slacks, never wears pants. In other cultures, a modest woman doesn't wear a dress unless it goes down to the ankles or unless the sleeves go down to the wrist.
So if we get specific, it's going to be relevant in one culture, not in another, and more importantly, could easily be legalistic, could easily become just an outward form. So I would rather emphasize this point of view, this mindset, and say this to men and women, but especially because there's pressure on women to look a certain way and present themselves a certain way, and because girls know that guys are looking more at the outward appearance even more than a girl is at a guy. So here's the principle, never dress in such a way so as to draw sexual attention to yourself. Never dress in such a way so as to intentionally create lustful desires on the part of boys.
Now you might say, God's really blessed me with beauty and a nice figure, and whatever I wear, God's going to be lusting after me. You can't stop guys from lusting. You can't stop guys from looking.
Guys are going to do what they do, and that's their problem, and if they're Christian and if they're Christian guys, they need to get that right with God and get his help there, all right? But you don't want to intentionally draw sexual attention to a part of your body. Dress in a certain way so that you know it's going to get this guy looking at you in a particular part of your body so as to think sexual thoughts and have sexual desires. There's no justification for a woman of God doing that whatsoever, and that's why I'm at a husband and wife and the privacy of their home, so I'm just talking about dress in public. And the same way, it would be wrong for a guy to dress in a certain way, so with the goal of getting a woman, a girl, to look at him sexually, look at a certain part of his body and have sexual thoughts, that's always wrong. So don't put a stumbling block in front of someone. You can't stop a guy from lusting. I'm sure there are guys in the Muslim world that look at a woman behind a veil and figure out a way to lust after her, all right?
So you can't stop men and boys from doing wrong things and thinking sinful thoughts, but you do not want to be the one provoking them. So you can look beautiful. You can look great. You know, someone suggested that the clothes you wear should draw attention to your face. That's another way of thinking of it, right? And you might have a beauty, and look, if you've got a sensational figure, so just go a little bit out of your way to dress modestly. You're blessed in that way, so just be a little more careful, right? Or would you rather be so appallingly ugly that when people see you, they look the other way? Is that preferable? So if you've been given a lot, just be a little more careful with it, right?
Simple principle there. Okay. Pastor Lewis, Dr. Brown, if Jesus wrote a letter to the church today in America, what do you think that letter will be about? So my subjective answer, right, my subjective answer would be that Jesus would urge us to really get to know him better and quit playing games with our lives and quit wasting time and quit being distracted with other things, whether those other things or sports or entertainment or politics or surfing the net or whatever they are, my subjective answer, and it could just be what I think he would say to me, right, or to people I know, so it's totally subjective, but that's what you're asking, what do I think? I think he'd urge us to put aside frivolous things, put aside secondary things, and really press in to know him, because knowing him and making him known is more important than anything else in this world.
Okay, let's see, this is from DJ Pate's blog. Dr. Brown, what is the gentlest and most compassionate way to tell a fellow follower of Jesus that their beliefs and certain ideologies are not compatible with scripture, especially those who are left-leaning politically? Well, like anything else, it's your tone, it's your approach, it's your heart. Do you really want to help this person or do you want to be right? Are you motivated by a love for them and their well-being and jealousy for the role they could play in the church or are you just bothered because their position annoys you? So, if you just want to be right, if you're bothered because the person's position annoys you, that's not helpful and your attitude won't be the best.
If you're motivated by love for them and jealousy for their role in the body and jealousy for the health of the body as a whole and what you feel they're doing is unhealthy, then your motivation can be right. So, if, let's just say it's someone you know, you have some relationship with, if it's a total stranger, it's going to be harder, but what you do is, to the extent you know them, if you believe they're genuine believers, if you believe they want to please and honor God, then what I would do is I would start with saying, hey, I know you're serious about the Lord, I've seen your passion for Jesus, I see you're a serious student of the Word, no, if those things are true and I've got such different convictions on some of these points and I'd love to understand why you think the way you do. I'd love to understand your scriptural reasoning. I see things so differently, but I don't want to argue, I want to understand and if you're willing, I'd like to have dialogue with you about it. And otherwise, look, if you come screaming and someone's front door screaming and knocking and threatening, right, they're probably not going to open the door, they'll call the cops, just in the natural. If you come as a friend and say, hey, could we talk, I don't want to get into a fight, I don't want to get into an argument, can we talk, people are much more open. Proverbs 15, 1 reminds us that a harsh word stirs up strife, a soft answer turns away wrath. So, I could sometimes be like a bull in a china shop because I'm going to confront something that's wrong, but it's not always the best approach.
Sometimes it is, sometimes open rebuke is called for. But in a case like this, I would seek to dialogue. If it's someone I don't really know, but I'd like to interact with, I'd say, hey, I have very, very different political views than you do as a follower of Jesus and I'm having a hard time understanding why you believe what you do. Would you mind if I said, hey, I'm going to why you believe what you do? Would you mind taking a minute to explain it to me?
I'm not trying to be right or get into an argument, but I'm just trying to understand. And then if they open up to you, you could say, hey, I appreciate that. Can I explain why I see it differently? And I'd love to get your take on that. And then if the door is open, now you can really open it up and it could be, look, ultimately say, please, please reconsider. I believe this is a very dangerous thing you're embracing or script see something very unsound.
And, and I just urge you to reconsider. You see how far you can go. Sometimes you just plan to see, sometimes you leave with a warning.
It all depends. Sometimes it's to be continued. You might say, Hey, would you read something on this or watch your video? If I do the same on your end, and then you show, Hey, I'm willing to listen.
If you're willing to listen and interact and you go from there. And many times you'd be amazed to see your plan. This is Michael Ellison founder of TriVita Wellness. I'm always thrilled to offer a new product from TriVita that is science supported with equivalent doses per serving that follows the science.
And that is true of our KSM 66 Ashwagandha with this protective process from farm to manufacturing plant. The KSM 66 has 24 published gold standard clinical trials in reducing stress, enhancing sleep and increased vitality. In a recent Harris poll, 87% of Americans feel stressed. I know the effects of chronic stress.
It happened to me a number of years ago, and I will never forget when the physician said, Michael, you must change the way you think, or you will have no quality of life and you will die a premature death. Now I can assure you Ashwagandha KSM 66 is in my daily diet. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health and director of wellness services at TriVita. I want you to know that TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66 is not just Ashwagandha. Ashwagandha KSM 66 undergoes a rigorous formulation process and has 22 gold standard clinical trials. TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66 adaptogenic properties assist your body in adapting to stress, reducing fatigue and restoring your natural balance. Join countless others who have discovered the benefits of TriVita's Ashwagandha KSM 66. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order.
As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast. Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, I want to do something I almost never ever do on the air but it's make an appeal for a ministry colleague.
I've got information from my dear brother that I worked with in India, been to India 29 times now with my friend Yesuparam. I call him the truest Christian I know on the planet. We've literally risked our lives side by side preaching the Gospel there. Some of his men have been martyred for preaching the Gospel and they have some urgent needs in the ministry and with the hospital project they're working on, about $38,000 in urgent needs right now.
I can't remember him reaching out to me with an immediate need like this. He's put the large hospital vision and other things they planted over 7,000 churches, maybe it's over 10,000 churches out in tribal regions. Just amazing to see the work they've done, the orphans they've cared for for many, many years. They don't call them orphans anymore because they're in a children's home, they're being raised in a wonderful way.
But extraordinary work all over India than in other parts of the world as well. And just immediate need in his shared brother. Our eyes are on the Lord but we've got to meet these needs. So if you feel impressed to get behind him, maybe you just inherited some funds and praying about what to do with them and you wanted to tithe, go to lncministries.org. LNC is in love and care, lncministries.org. And just give them a one-time donation today, whether it's $10 or $10,000, it'll go a long way.
Just wanted to share that with you. Say, Dr. Brown, does your ministry need money? Oh, we always do. We're always expanding, we're always touching more people, there are always more lives to touch, more materials to get out in Hebrew and Israel and on and on.
But right now I just wanted to draw attention to my colleagues' needs. All right, back to your Instagram questions. Todd, why is there so much infighting amongst the church, name calling, hellbound talk, you're wrong, you're the devil, etc., when questions are asked about the prophecies of Christ's return, aka the rapture, the second coming post pre-trib, aren't those chosen followers of Christ all going to the same place? I don't understand the gnashing of teeth among God's people and the subject.
Todd, it's unfortunate. You're absolutely right. Sometimes we get so passionate about our own understanding of the end times that when anybody differs with us, we look at them in these extreme, dangerous terms. I once saw a great, great Christian cartoon.
In other words, it was a written cartoon in a leadership magazine, a Christian magazine. It had all these different paths. So you're going into the heavenly kingdom, the world to come, and there's dispensational pre-tribulation, there's historic pre-trib, there's mid-trib, there's post-trib, there's pre-wrath, there's amillennial, post-millennial, just all these different paths, right?
So everyone's on their own path, everybody on the other side's just one path. So yeah, these are not issues of salvation. And what I've seen, because the pre-trib rapture doctrine became so popular in the last century, and it's tied in with movies like Left Behind, or the Left Behind best-selling book series, or Hal Lindsey's book before that, Late Great Planet Earth, bestsellers, that it's somehow gotten an emotional hold on people. And when you challenge it, when you say that we will be kept by God through the great tribulation, that that seems outrageous, that we won't be safe from tribulation, that gets people upset. Others have become so anti-Israel that when there's any future purpose for Israel, they get worked up emotionally, etc.
Or others are so pro-Israel that when there's no future purpose for Israel, they get worked up emotionally. It shouldn't be. It should not be. But it is. It's just another example of our immaturity where we need to grow. It's not to say you can't believe passion.
I wrote a book with Professor Craig Keener, Not Afraid of the Antichrist, but we don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, so I have strong views on it. But God forbid, we divide over it. You say, your friend in India, yes, sir, pardon me, worked with him for 29 years, what does he believe? I don't know. I don't know.
We've actually worked here 31 years, 29 times in India. I don't know who believes in this. We've never talked about it.
You've been there 29 times? Yeah, never talked about it. I've got staff members, I've got friends I've known for 40 years, and I don't know what they believe about this. We've never talked about it. I had faculty members I taught side by side with for years, and it never came up in a conversation. I couldn't tell you exactly what they believe. So, you don't have to divide over these things.
You work side by side without dividing over end times issues. You, real deal, why has John Calvin not received any negative attention for his part in putting to death Michael Servetus? Actually, from his critics, he gets blasted for this all the time.
Absolutely gets blasted for it all the time by his critics. His supporters would say, you're not understanding that this was church state, that Geneva was like church state, that doctrinal issues were also legal issues. Just like in early America, before the United States, so the colonies, you could be penalized for not going to a church service in certain colonies, or you could be penalized for certain Christian violations in certain colonies. So, in the same way, it was a culture where church and state were so united that if you were considered to be a heretic, you could be put to death. Now, I'm not trying to defend this. I'm not a Calvinist, and apologies to my Calvinist friends if I didn't say that accurately.
But from his critics, this is brought up all the time as an example of murderous, harsh John Calvin. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, Dimitru, or is it DML? I can't even figure this out. Dimitru, 1776.
Hey, Dr. Brown. I recently came across a statement by an influential Orthodox rabbi who influenced some of the Talmudic texts that Jesus was a blessing to the Gentiles because he protected the Torah, and because of his teachings, all the nations of the world began to adhere to the seven Ohai laws. How common are complementary statements like this about Jesus and Christians and Talmudic sources? I think it is relevant today because anti-Semites spread many misleading citations from the Talmud, supposedly directed against Jesus. We're used to debunking the faith claims that Orthodox Judaism hates Jesus, but we really talk about how Orthodox Jews occasionally compliment Jesus. Okay, number one, it is true that there are religious Jews who hate Jesus.
No question about it. And there are derogatory passages in the Talmud, some of which actually do speak about Jesus. Now there's debate about whether any do or not, but I believe some of them do, and it's no surprise. The New Testament rails against the Jewish religious hypocrites, does it not? Jesus calls them brood of vipers and talks about them being children of the devil.
That's harsh rhetoric. And if you ask a Christian today, do you believe Muhammad is burning in hell, they would say yes. So it's no surprise that some Talmudic rabbis had very negative views of Jesus and believed that he was burning in hell.
There's no surprise, right? That if I ask a Christian today, do you believe an Orthodox rabbi who denies Jesus is denied Jesus and died, they're burning in hell, they'd say yes. So it's no surprise that people have these very intense views. But most of Judaism doesn't deal with the real Jesus. The Talmud doesn't deal with the real Jesus. It deals with the Jesus of church history, who was often a distortion of the real Jesus. So you're referring to the writings of Rabbi Jacob Emden from a couple of years ago, who had these very positive things to say about Jesus.
They're the exception, not the rule in terms of older literature. Now, in my book, The Real Kosher Jesus, which I'd really encourage you to get and read, The Real Kosher Jesus, I have quote after quote from famous rabbis and famous Jewish teachers and Jewish geniuses like Einstein, all praising Jesus, all speaking positive things about him. Some of them, it's not the Jesus of the New Testament, it's kind of a Jesus of their own creation, who is not fully God and things like that.
But many texts with great appreciation. And your average Jewish person today, religious Jew, your average religious Jew, doesn't think about Jesus, it's not an issue to them, any more than I think about Buddha on a daily basis or Muhammad, it's just nothing that's on their mind, nothing to think about. The ultra, ultra, ultra-orthodox, the ones who've been raised in the most closed environments, the ones in whose mind there's a direct line from the New Testament to the Holocaust, they would definitely think very, very badly of Jesus. But again, it's not the Jesus of the New Testament, it's the Jesus of church history and of some of the derogatory passages in the Talmud. When I do speak of the Talmud though, bear in mind that you're talking about a work of maybe four and a half million words with the commentaries and commentaries, ten plus million words, twenty large volumes, which unless you're a top Talmudic scholar, you have not worked your way through.
And unless you are one of the elite people on the planet, you have not mastered all of the material. So literally, you could start studying Talmud today in an environment, in the Yeshiva environment, where you're learning hours and hours every day. You could start learning Talmud today and study it for fifty years without ever finding a derogatory passage about Jesus, because they're only here and there. It's not what the Talmud is about. So, the other thing I would say is that more and more modern Orthodox Jews have positive views of Jesus, they just say, he's not for us, or they could see him as a prophet to the nations. Now, we say it's either or. Either he's Lord or he's not.
Either he died and rose from the dead or he didn't. But many rabbis would say, no, it's wonderful for Christians to believe this. I was speaking part of a service Sunday morning in Waco, Texas, and afterwards spending some time with the pastor before I flew out, and he mentioned how Dennis Prager had been such an incredible influence on his life and helped him believe in Jesus. And I texted Dennis, and he really appreciated me saying that, and he said, you know, he knows many Jews who have turned to Judaism through his influence and many Gentiles who have turned to Jesus through his influence. So, that continues.
So, things are much more nuanced than many would realize. Moses Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah, so Jewish law code, Maimonides lived from 1135 to 1204, he said that despite Jesus not being the real Messiah and Muhammad being a false prophet, despite that, that God has used Christianity and Islam. Christianity has been used to spread the notion of Messiah to the whole world, and Islam has been used to spread the importance of keeping commandments, but then at the end of the age, the nations will say, like Jeremiah 16, we followed lies. Now, when the real Messiahs come, they'll follow the true God of Israel. And I've told rabbi friends, I know you look at that as a compliment, like look at the good that Maimonides said about Christianity and Islam, even though he didn't believe they were true faiths. I said, it's a bit of an insult to every missionary around the world and those laying their lives down for the gospel, that all they're doing is giving them better lies than they had before. All right, let's see, Noah, Dr. Brown, my wife and I were recently talking about the Corinthians passages regarding head covering. Would you mind giving your thought on that passage?
Thank you, we love you in the Lord. So, I've answered this a bunch of times, it does come up a lot, but clearly in the culture there, a woman that was married would not be out in public with her hair uncovered, but in her home she would be. Since there were meetings in the home, and now you had men and women in the home, so it's in her private home, and yet it's a public meeting, was it appropriate for her to cover her head? So, that was part of the culture of the day. It doesn't mean women cover their head today, it's not part of our culture.
It's part of the culture then, it's clearly the woman's hair given to her for her glory, I say glory to her, and there's something splendid and beautiful, and the covering aspect is an aspect of being a submission to a husband. That's positive to this day. This is Michael Ellison, founder of TriVita Wellness. I'm always thrilled to offer a new product from TriVita that is science supported with equivalent doses per serving that follows the science, and that is true of our KSM 66 Ashwagandha with this protective process from farm to manufacturing plant. The KSM 66 has 24 published gold standard clinical trials in reducing stress, enhancing sleep, and increased vitality. In a recent Harris Poll, 87 percent of Americans feel stressed. I know the effects of chronic stress.
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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to the Line of Fire. Remember to get our weekly updates. If you sign up for our frontline newsletter, you'll get this automatically once a week. On Friday, we send you an email, hear our latest videos, hear our latest articles, normally as many as eight or ten new resources free every week. Yeah, so we're putting out hundreds and hundreds every year for you. You can read them, you can watch them, you can share them with your friends.
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Click donate, monthly support. So just to finish my answer to Noah, I believe the principles of proper order in the home remain important. Of husband-wife relationship, of the husband loving his wife as Christ loved the church, of the wife submitting to the husband and respecting him. I believe that that order remains important for God to move in our midst. That we have proper order in the home and that welcomes God and it welcomes his angels to move in our midst.
But the specific cultural custom of head covering does not apply to us today because it's not part of our culture here in the West. Okay, Ilka asks this, actually sent it privately. What do you think of the so-called numerical values of the letters of the Hebrew language? Do they have meaning and can messages be hidden in different Hebrew words in the Bible?
You have to be super careful with this. In the earliest biblical times, there were no numbers attached to the letters. So for example, when you look at ancient inscriptions in Hebrew or Phoenician related language, you'll see that you had like lines for one, two, three.
Like if you're counting one, two, three, four, then a line across is five. You had different symbols for numbers. The letters were not used for numbers. But over a period of time, and by New Testament times, the letters were used for numbers, just like the Greek letters were used for numbers. So it would be as if in English, A equals one, B equals two, C equals three, Z equals 26, that that's how it would be in Hebrew. All right, so aleph is one, beit is two, alpha is one, beta is two in Greek.
That's how it would be. So we know that the numerical value was there by the time of the New Testament. And it may have been that Hebrew picked it up from Greek a few hundred years before the time of the New Testament. And it could be that in Matthew 1, where you have 14 generations, 14 generations, 14 generations for the descent of the Messiah from Abraham to Yeshua, that that comes from David having the numerical equivalent of 14.
Dalit is four, vav is six, dalit is four. So it's possible that you have a reference to that. Or the number of the beast in Revelation 13, 666, does that go back to Greek, and is that talking about Nero, Caesar Nero, things like that. So those are questions that are asked to say that it is possible that in a given occasion the numerical value is pointed to. But there is something called gematria, which the rabbis engaged in, and in which they would just calculate numerical values of every word that they're reading. So let's say you get the numerical value of Mashiach, Messiah, and now you have the numerical value of Menachem, and wow, it's the same value. Well, Menachem is one of the names of Messiah.
You can play every kind of game with it. You can find anything equal to anything. So do an experiment in English. Take the letters A through Z, and let's just make it that A is one, B is two. Now the way it is in Hebrew, when you get to a certain point, you get to 19, then the next is 20, then the next is 30, the next is 40.
So let's just say you did that in English, okay? So A through the 19th letter, A is one, B is two, C is three. Then the 20th letter, instead of being, the 20th letter is 20, the 21st letter is 30, the 22nd letter is 30. Just do something like that, right? You come up with something like that. And then just start going through, read a sentence, and start computing letters. Or if AI, AI is often bad with math, but see if AI can do it. You can make anything mean anything. In other words, there are tens of thousands of words, and they're going to overlap in terms of numerical values.
So you can play any kind of game with it. As for hidden meanings and alleged pictographic aspects of the letters, absolute bunk, absolute bunk, false, false, false. Just go to thelineoffire.org and type in the word paleo, P-A-L-E-O, paleo. The original letters came from pictographs.
Once they took on a letter meaning the pictographic meaning no longer adhered. Or go to the Line of Fire channel on YouTube and type in paleo. And yeah, we debunked that. People get furious with me for debunking that, furious. Okay, let's see.
Surge the scribe. What would you say are the real-life practices of walking in the Spirit? I hear so many pastors, speakers say it, but hardly ever give a practical explanation. So walking in the Spirit means walking in harmony with the Holy Spirit, walking in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. So part of this is renewing our heart and mind to the Word of God, right, so that we are conforming our lives to who God is and what he requires of us and his promises and directives in Scripture. So part of walking in the Spirit means I'm going to take in the Word of God on a regular basis, renew my heart and mind with it, so I'm walking in obedience to and conformity to the Word of God.
That's one thing. A second thing is you want to have a solid prayer life so that you are in communion with God. You are fellowshipping with God, and then as you're fellowshipping with God, you're going to become more sensitive to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always leading us to say no to the flesh and yes to God.
That's in always. The Holy Spirit is always leading us to say no to the flesh and yes to God. No to sin and yes to holiness. So walking in the Spirit is also walking in obedience, walking in holiness, but it also means walking in in harmony with God so that when he leads, we're going to leads, we're sensitive. When he moves on you to pray, that you go with that burden. That when he prompts you to share the Gospel with someone, that you do that. When he speaks to you about something in your life, that you're sensitive to it.
These would be some of the practical aspects of walking in the Spirit as I understand it. Donac 320, the World War III we're hearing about for one in the church to pray is here in the U.S. or is in another area in the world. I don't know for sure that World War III is imminent.
There are signs it could burst, it could explode. Between Russia and Ukraine, that could spill over. The Middle East conflict could spill over. Involvement with China could spill over.
But I don't have a sense personally, I'm not prophesying, I don't have a sense personally that we are right on the verge of World War III. But I'm more concerned with the current war that is taking place, the ideological war, the spiritual war that is taking place here in America. The pulling of our culture away from God.
The pulling of the church away from God. That's what I'm more concerned with. And the potential explosion of great suffering beyond what we've seen in Israel and the Middle East if different players get out of hand. If Iran now with arrangements with China and Russia, what could happen if they go to war with Israel, America would certainly be drawn in. So I'm concerned about immediate things.
I just don't sense that we're about to explode into World War III. You can also read my recent article. Go to thelineoffire.org and just click on read. You'll see my recent article asking if we're on the verge of the Gog-Magog war.
Or just search for G-O-G-Gog or Magog on our website. Ross of Hymn. Does the teaching of cessationists and dispensationalists fall under the umbrella of replacement theology? No.
No. Dispensationalism is definitely not replacement theology. Dispensationalism is kind of the whole extreme. Dispensationalism emphatically says that God still has purposes for Israel, makes a distinction between the current church age and the age of grace, which is the current church age and the kingdom age when God fully deals with Israel again. But dispensationalism absolutely affirms God's purposes for Israel, just in some ways that I wouldn't agree with. But I agree with the affirming of God's purposes for Israel. Cessationism simply states that the normative sign gifts of the New Testament, tongues prophecy, miraculous healing on a regular basis, are not normative for today.
So that doesn't tie in with Israel or not. The earliest dispensationalists would have been cessationists. Probably the great majority worldwide today are Pentecostal Charismatic. So no, neither of those are replacement theology. Dispensationalism because it's the opposite of replacement theology in many ways.
And cessationism because it doesn't intersect directly with replacement theology. Conception 760, what is the difference between a Jew, Hebrew, and Israelite? On the one hand, an Israelite is a Hebrew and a Jewish person is also an Israelite and a Hebrew.
There's a lot of overlap. However, historically, the Jewish people as a whole were not considered Jews in the earliest times except for part of the people. In other words, you had the twelve tribes.
You had the northern kingdom with the ten tribes. They were considered Israel. The southern kingdom was Judah. And then those that lived in Judah would have been Judeans, Jews. So look at the book of Nehemiah. Among the Israelites there living in Jerusalem, there are the ones called the Jews. So even among the Israelites there are the Jews. You have the same thing in the book of Jeremiah.
By New Testament times, Jew, Hebrew, Israelite are used synonymously. And I got to every question but one. And that's about soul sleep from Hazbin Joe.
I'll answer super quick. The reason I don't believe in soul sleep is because I see Jesus telling the thief on the cross today, he'll be with me in paradise. I see Paul saying he wants to depart you with Jesus, which is far better. I see the martyred saints in Revelation 6 crying out in heaven before the throne of God. I see the notion that we're absent from the body present with the Lord because of those things. I don't believe, we just go to sleep. Okay.
