The New Testament Church turned the world upside down.
How come we're not doing that here in America? It's time for the Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. If you're listening to me today, or 20 million people listening to me today, I'm going to speak with the same sobriety, with the same conviction, with the same force, with the same passion, with the same fear and honor of God. Because this is a message that I must deliver.
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That's 866-34-TRUTH. If you'd like to comment on my show yesterday about the sad nature of hardline cessationism, by all means give me a call. God willing, tomorrow I fly to Colorado and speak in Englewood, Colorado Wednesday night. Then Friday fly over to Pasco, Washington. I speak in Pasco Saturday morning.
Then Saturday afternoon fly over to California. Speak in Danville, California Saturday night, Sunday morning. So if you're on our email list, you'll be notified. If you're in that zip code area, you'll be notified so you can actually get to meet me at one of these services.
Again, the number to call today to get on the phone to talk with me 866-348-7884. I have a question for you. I have a question for you. Which would you say is more true? In America, in the last generation, the church has changed the world more than the world has changed the church or the world has changed the church when the church has changed the world.
In my view, there's no question whatsoever that the answer is number two. That more than the church changing the world, the world has changed the church. More than us impacting our society, speaking here in America, impacting our society with the gospel and bringing about moral and cultural change. More than we have done that, the world has been changing us.
The world has been impacting us. In other words, the church looks more like the world than the reverse. And when I talk about the world looking like the church, I mean not outward ritual. I don't just mean church attendance. I don't mean customs, traditions.
I certainly don't mean legalistic standards. But I mean being transformed, knowing God, loving that which is pure and good, standing for righteousness. In fact, you have to ask the question, if there are so many tens of millions of born again Americans, 25-30% of the population would claim to be born again. Now, where you live, it might be 1%. Other parts of the country, it might be 40%. But 25-30% would claim to be born again Christians, even though we've had a decline in professing Christians, a more rapid decline than we've had in recorded history in the nation. Still, there are tens and tens and millions of us. You think if we were really burning bright, if we were really living for Jesus, if we were really passionate about the gospel, if we were really living godly lives, if we were really people of prayer, if we were really raising our families right, if we were really keeping our marriages together in the Lord, if we were really caring for our neighbor and loving our neighbor, America would look different.
I'm going to go to the scripture in a moment and look at some verses in the book of Acts and ask some questions from there. Let me paint a picture for you. Let's just pick a country, some random country in some part of the world. We'll nickname it, Niberia. We'll come up with some new country called Niberia.
It has a Christian population of one-half of 1%. Niberia is famous for high levels of corruption, not just from the government but right through the society. The business world is massively corrupt. It is also known for all kinds of sexual immorality. It's famous for sexual sin across the country, from open prostitution to rape to all kinds of perversions.
It's well known for that and massive, massive problems of drunkenness and depression and suicide and the country, largely a godless country. Then, as missionaries have been working there for many, many years and praying and fasting and serving, something begins to happen and the Holy Spirit is poured out. People begin to be born again and the church begins to grow. It becomes more and more open and more and more bold and more powerful and influential to the point that from one-half of 1% of the country being Christian, now 25% of the country is Christian, claiming to be born again, Bible-believing, Jesus-following. Now, would you expect to see a change in that country?
If it went from one-half of 1% to 25%, so an increase 50 times over 5,000%? If it had that kind of influence, over a generation, would you expect to see change? Would you expect to see change in the government? Would you expect to see a decrease in drunkenness, a decrease in depression, a decrease in suicide, a decrease in sexual immorality, a decrease in corruption? Yes, why?
Because the light is shining in the darkness and the light displaces darkness and the light brings conviction and the light brings transformation. Would you also expect to see higher levels of education? Would you expect to see less divorce?
Would you expect to see less crime? Would you expect to see more humanitarian work, more hospitals, more orphanages, more care for the elderly? Yes, across the board, because these are the things the Gospel has done through history. And this is what Jesus says about shining our light. Let your light shine that people will see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven in Matthew 5.
That when the world sees us, 1 Peter 2, the unbeliever and the ungodly see our lives, they're convicted and they end up glorifying God as well. This is how the Gospel has transformed the world through the centuries. This is why so many universities came out of the church, why so many hospitals came out of the church, why so many humanitarian works came out of the church. I remember some years ago when tornadoes just swept through Alabama and devastated certain parts of the South and my wife just wanted to help out and others joined in there just going down to different parts of the South, Mississippi, Tennessee, different places. And there was one place where one Christian team was and friends of ours in Alabama and it just, neighborhoods completely decimated. And there were these different ministry outreaches there.
There was Operation Blessing, there were different ones there just helping on the ground and helping people just sort things out daily basis and food supplies and helping process of rebuilding. What was interesting was every organization there was Christian. Now I don't mean that atheists don't care. I don't mean that secular people don't care. I don't mean that other religions don't care. But it was conspicuous.
Not just because it was Alabama, this is around the world. Christian ministries lead the way in doing good. And it was the spread of Christianity through the ancient world that level out the disparity between male, female. In the home, one standard for the man, he'd do what he wanted, different standard for the woman. And so many other things were liberating for women. The end of gladiatorial combat, fighting to the death for the entertainment of the crowds. All of these things ultimately were abolished because the gospel spread.
Ultimately that's what ended slavery in British empire in America. The gospel. So the gospel brings about positive change.
The question is, why aren't we seeing it in America? So, so many believers and with believers in places of influence throughout the political world, throughout the world of media, throughout the world of education, throughout the world of sports, throughout the world of social media influencing and on and on. We have so many people in high places. You would think that we would be bringing about more change, positive change. The reason that we're not is very simple. We're too much like the world to change the world. We're too much caught up in our own sins to set other people free from sin.
We are too much living for this age so that we've lost sight of bringing the reality of eternity into this age. And the fact of the matter is, in many ways, we're more American than we're Christian. There's not always a contrast between being American and Christian. But sometimes our passions for the nation, our political passions and our patriotic passions, as good and noble as they might be, outshine our passion for the Lord. So as much as we've got a massive national problem, which can only be remedied by a sweeping revival in the church, where we return to our first love and turn in repentance for more sins and encounter the Lord afresh, that then leading to a national awakening beyond that, outside of that, it cannot happen. We will not see the change that we desire.
We will not see the church playing the role it's called to play. That being said, that being said, it starts with you and it starts with me. As old evangelist Gypsy Smith was asked many decades ago how he prayed for revival.
You've often heard me say this. He said, I take a piece of chalk. I draw a circle on the ground. I stand inside the circle and I said, Lord, revive everything in this circle. Let it be your prayer, Lord, start the work in me. Where do I need to repent? Where have I left my first love? Where do I need to return to you? Where do I need to humble myself? Where do I need fresh vision, fresh faith, fresh empowerment? Start a revival.
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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, friends, to the Line of Fire broadcast.
Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. The number to call 866-34-TRUTH to get on with me a little later in the show. So just hold for a little while, but we'll get your calls shortly. 866-34-8784. Like I do on Fridays, opening the phones today. I've had a couple of Fridays where I've had a prerecord and so I didn't take live calls. I took social media questions so you can call in today. 866-34-8784.
Anything you want to talk to me about, we'll try to make some time to do it. And shout out of appreciation to our friends at TriVita. I was just talking to Michael Ellison, the founder and owner of TriVita, and he's really burdened to see people get healthy. Now, we understand it starts with diet. It all starts with diet. It starts with diet.
You can't get away from it. These are supplements, not substitutes. So he knows that lifestyle changes are essential, but these supplements can be a great help as well.
And that's why they're part of my daily regimen and why we're so glad to offer them to you. And for us, it's not killing birds with a stone because it's a negative image. It's doing a lot of good at the same time that you get to invest in your own body. And then TriVita turns around and donates money to our ministry. So we get to invest in more people and see a healthy and thriving church, which is what we live for, what we burn for, what we desire.
Acts chapter 16, Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas are supernaturally directed with their team to Philippi. And while they're there, they're preaching. A woman comes to faith.
Others come to faith. Paul sharing the gospel. There's a demonized woman following him around as he speaks. And she's shouting, These men are servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation. There must have been something obnoxious about it because finally Paul had it and he drove the spirit out of this girl. She had the spirit of divination. She made a lot of money for her owners by divination, etc. So now that they see that she was our cash cow, she's gone.
This power that was in her is gone. They're enraged. And they drag Paul and Silas. Remember, they're Jews. They dragged them before the Gentile council there in Philippi.
And this is what they say. These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advancing customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. By Roman law, you could not practice or preach a new religion. There was established religion.
You could not preach a new religion and preach new gods. And that's what they were. That's what they were alleging. But the fact is, by preaching Jesus and then hear this by driving a demon out of a slave girl, they were disrupting Satan's kingdom. They were upsetting Satan's apple cart. So they are falsely accused on the one hand of being troublemakers who are who are creating an uproar in the city.
So they're falsely accused on the one hand. But on the other hand, they were stirring up trouble in the spiritual realm. They were causing upheaval and uproar in the spiritual realm by driving out demons in Jesus' name. All right, now we go to the Book of Acts and Paul is now teaching in a synagogue in Thessalonica. And some of the Jews come to faith, some of the God fearing Gentiles. But there are other Jewish men who are troublemakers and they stir up a riot.
And it says this in chapter six that they excuse me, chapter 17. As we get into the fifth verse, they rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and saw this in order to bring them out to the crowd. Because these these unbelieving Jewish agitators who stirred up a crowd and it says this. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city official shouting. These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here. And what are they? What are they guilty of? And Jason is welcome into his house. They're all defying Caesar's decree, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.
All right. Now, on the one hand, they were saying ultimate loyalty is to Jesus, but it didn't mean that you couldn't be good citizens. So there's a falseness to this charge, but there's a truth to the charge in that they were saying Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. Caesar is not Lord.
Jesus is Lord in terms of the ultimate Lord. But what about they've turned these men have turned the world upside down. These men have caused trouble all over the world.
They've now come here. Well, were they troublemakers? Well, they were peacemakers. It was the agitators, the Jewish agitators that created the problem, not the Jewish apostles.
On the other hand, their message was a threat to the status quo. On the other hand, there was a reason that they were marked by Satan. And so when you get to Acts 19, Paul's in Ephesus and he's driving out demons and healing the sick in Jesus name. And some of the Jewish men hear about what this other Jewish man Paul is doing in the name of this alleged Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. And they think, well, we drive out demons, too.
Let's try doing it in his name. So there's a demonized man and they order the demon to leave the man in the name of this Jesus, Yeshua, whom Paul preaches. And the demon says, Jesus, I know and I know about Paul, but who are you? And then jumps on them, beats them.
One man against seven, they run out of the house naked and wounded. And it creates this shockwave through the city about the power of this Jesus, this name of Jesus. And then so many people come to faith, people burning their magical scrolls and witchcraft books and so on.
So many people come to faith that it now is hurting the idol business, the manufacturer and selling of idols. So there's now uproar in the city. There's uproar where the apostles went.
There was either revival or riot. And friends, this is still what's happening in different parts of the world through the gospel. Why are we seeing it in America? Again, we're not troublemakers. We're peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus says, for they will be called children of God. So this is this is positive.
This is good. Being a peacemaker is a good thing. And we are ambassadors of reconciliation, telling the lost and dying world that through the death of Jesus, you can be reconciled to God. God has been reconciled to you through the cross. Be reconciled to God. Turn from your sin to him. So this is this is a glorious, wonderful message we carry.
But when the kingdom of God advances, it's a threat to the kingdom of darkness. In that sense, as Leonard Ravenhill used to preach, we should be known in hell. It should be Jesus, I know. And I know about Susie. I know about Tom. I know about Sam. And I know I know about Martha. I know about Michael. I know about this. I know I know about them. But who are you? No, we shouldn't be on that. Who are you list? We should be on the list of the ones the devil knows because we're making a difference.
What I'm suggesting is very simple. If we were more intimate with God, if we were walking and more of the fullness of the spirit, if we were more grounded in the word, if we were living lives that were truly countercultural and not so absorbed with the love of the world and the lust of the world and the pleasures of the world and the idols of the world and the distractions of the world. If we would be more with God while we live in this world and go to our jobs and raise our families, because most of us are not called to vocational ministry. Ninety nine percent of ministry that takes place is just us out in the world, in school, in in workplace, in our communities, in our places and social media, wherever you are. There's some people bearing the gospel message. If we were walking in greater intimacy with God and greater holiness and purity by his grace and empowerment, if we were preaching the gospel more clearly and more declaratively, if we were operating in the power of the spirit, driving out demons in the second. It would be just as much upheaval in America as there was in the Book of Acts, and it would be just the same reputation. These people are turning the world upside down are now here. So are we now going to go out and start trouble?
If you hear that, you're not hearing a word I'm saying. What I'm urging us to do is go to God earnestly and repent where we need to repent and ask him to forgive us where we need to be forgiven and to cleanse us where we need to be cleansed. And then press into him for fresh grace in our heart, for fresh outpouring the spirit in our lives, for fresh boldness to share the gospel, for fearlessness to make Jesus known, for the power of the spirit to operate through us in the healing of the sick and driving out demons and to go through the open doors. As God sets before us with wisdom and respect for others, we never know what God will do.
And you can see the unfolding of glorious scripture promises right here in our land, in our lifetime. Why not now? Why not you?
Why not now? There's a target on your back. There's a target on my back. If you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values, you could be canceled. You could be cast out. You could be put down. You could be silenced. I'm here to say, friends, that I am not about to be silenced.
And I don't believe you are either. It is time for us to stand up. It is time for us to say enough is enough. It is time for us to push back in Jesus name, not fighting the way the world fights.
No, overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love, overcoming the flesh with the power of the spirit, overcoming lies with truth. And that's what we're here to do on the Line of Fire broadcast. And friends, it's not just a broadcast. It's a broadcast of people around the world, God's people standing up saying enough is enough and saying, Lord, here we are. Send us. Use us. I want to urge you today to join our support team because we are on the front lines together and we are literally touching people around the world, in America, in the nations, in Israel. And together with your help, we're going to amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe. I urge you, go right now to thelineoffire.org. Thelineoffire.org. Click donate monthly support.
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Donate monthly support. This is how we rise up. 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. Thanks for joining us on The Line of Fire.
Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. I'm going the phone lines momentarily. 866-34-TRUTH. Don't want to miss tomorrow's broadcast. If you can't listen live, you can watch on our YouTube channel, The Line of Fire. You can watch on our website, thelineoffire.org. You can listen by podcast, Apple, Spotify, all the different podcasts that major ones will carry it. So you don't want to miss the broadcast as I'll be talking with one of our missionaries from Iraq.
Yeah, he's in studio, face to face, in studio talking about what they're seeing in the Muslim world in Iraq. So you don't want to miss it. You'll be encouraged. You'll be blessed with that. Go to the phones.
Let's start in Canada with Leanne. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, thank you for getting my call.
Sure thing. Hey, I am wondering if you could give me some insight on the situation my family is facing currently. We were born and raised Calvinist for 30 years.
I've got a family of four children and hopefully more to come. But we are wanting to leave our Calvinist church now for two hours radius of my house. There is no non reformed churches.
Wow. I live kind of in the middle of nowhere and I'm just not sure what I should do. I have some friends who have been seeing our perspective of non Calvinism and they have requested we, we go up the ladder in our formed churches and go to the synod and fight for the truth. I don't know if I can. I don't know if I'm spiritually strong enough. I don't know if it's even biblical. And I was wondering what your personal thoughts are on this.
So you and your family have become convicted by the word that Calvinism is is not scripturally true. Yeah. Got it. Got it. So number one, I would absolutely not try to do what your friends are suggesting, however good their intention.
I would absolutely not do that for a few reasons. Number one, the leaders are convicted. The leaders believe what they believe or they wouldn't be doing what they're doing. And the idea that you might be able to present a new argument to them or challenge them is is pretty unrealistic. I mean, that's why they're leaders. They're they're convicted.
They believe and they would be the least likely ones that you would persuade. That's the one thing. The other thing is they didn't change. You changed. So let's just say that you you always went to this Japanese restaurant and now you decide you don't like Japanese food.
You preferred Chinese food. Well, you don't go to the restaurant and say, OK, we'd like you to pull out a new menu. You change.
They didn't change. So even if they're wrong. And with all respect to my Calvinist friends, they know I'm not a Calvinist.
I was for five years, but I haven't been since 1982 or 83. So with all respect, whatever the group is, if you went to a non Calvinist church and you became a Calvinist, I'd give you the same council. In other words, you respect the leadership. You wanted the leadership. You could explain why you're leaving. And and in that case, you explain why you're leaving respectfully and say you really you're not here to challenge. You're getting an argument. You're happy to explain. Now, they might want to try to convince you.
And you say, hey, you know, I've heard the arguments are happy to chat with you either way. But you honor the leadership. God put them in charge, whether we agree or not, just like the parents in the house have authority. So pastors, leaders, they have governing and leadership authority. So you bless them. You pray for them. You think that you take away whatever good you can from your time there.
And and you explain why you're moving on. Then the problem is that, like you said, for two hours around, there are no churches that are not Calvinist. I might explore maybe one of them is a healthy church, but much more mild than its Calvinism.
It's not so front and central. Maybe you can feel at home there. Or if it's like, no, no, it's just kind of it's we can't sit in that setting. What I would recommend is if you look for other believers, you know, maybe this other couple you mentioned, other family, you look for some other believers, begin to just pray, spend time together spiritually and then see if you can. It's not ideal, but if you can connect with the church online that you find preaching that you relate to, there are some that really try to minister to people online. In other words, you're not there physically, but they try to find ways to connect, bring you into a spiritual family, provide counsel and blessing and help to you.
So it's it's it's not the ideal situation. But if I was gathering regularly with other believers just for fellowship, for prayer, you know, just to hang out. And then just kind of hooked up with another church that doesn't just have sermons online, but an online community.
Then until something else rises up in your area or a house church is formed or or something else, someone plans to church, at least you have that spiritual community. That would be my council. OK. I appreciate it. All right. Does that sound feasible to you?
Yeah, it does. My husband and I were considering moving to find a church body. Ah, OK. Well, I didn't want to raise that possibility, but that's always best if it's possible. You know, in other words, you don't want to do everything just for church family because you want to be able to support your family and make sure work options are good and things like that. Whatever else you have to explore, because you may move somewhere else and then find a little disappointment with the church after a while. But normally you have more options.
And if you're in another area, you could have 20 or 30 options of churches to go to until you find. OK, here's where we really fit. But here's the one caution I want to give you. Don't get into a fight. I don't mean that you're fighters, but sometimes things you can honor and just leave with blessing, especially if you're going to relocate. Hey, we're going to be relocating and you're not challenging. You're just explaining why you're leaving rather than get. We don't want to debate when I hear argue when I hear you speak evil.
We so appreciate what we've learned and received here, but we we feel for various reasons. It's time to move on. And then if friends come and want to get in arguments with you, just bless them. Don't don't don't let it get ugly.
And if you don't, you know, it takes to the to the tango. If you stay out of a battle that can be smooth with blessing and nobody gets hurt. OK. OK. All right.
Good. God bless you. May the Lord guide you through it to a great home spiritually. Eight six six three four truth. Let us go over to Jordan in Michigan. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, Pastor Jordan.
I'm here from Kalamazoo and I'm actually a doctoral student at Randy Clark Seminary where you teach. So sweet. Have we talked before? Yes, sir. OK, great, great. Yeah.
I mean, I know you need. Yeah. Yeah. You've met lots of people there. I get that.
But we've met. Yeah. And I'm actually going to be doing my dissertation on some of the Trump prophecy stuff. I thought you might appreciate just me. That interests me for sure. Absolutely.
Yes, sir. So my question and I love what you're sharing today. But my question is, a couple of weeks ago in my spare time, I'm kind of jumping in something new to me. Jewish studies. And I came across for the first time the document or documentary hypothesis with the J, E, D and P documents. I just assume you're probably uber familiar with.
I heard about it from an academic professor out of Yale. And, you know, just in a natural sense, you know, to me, editing, reacting to stuff. You know, if God wanted to use that kind of stuff and inspiration, he could.
And that wouldn't bother me at all. But I just wanted to ask, is this something because it's so new to me, is the document hypothesis something that just comes where the Jewish or Christian, I guess, Bible believing people really hold to? Or is it more outside of believing? It's critical scholars. So for those familiar with this, sometimes in the early days, it was called the Groff Velhausen theory. So it's developed by different scholars over a period of time. But it's basically saying that not only did Moses not write the Pentateuch, that none of it was written in his time.
You might have a fragment of a poem or something like that, but that you had different people writing different accounts. And one, when he wrote, he used the Yahweh name. So that's the J, the Jehovah's or the Yahwist. So he wrote and that may have been like ninth, eighth century, so several hundred years after Moses. And then another, he mainly used the name Elohim or the term Elohim referring to God, instead of Yahweh.
So he's that's the E, the Elohist. Then the D is the Deuteronomist who kind of did a rewrite of things centuries later. And this would be now in the time of reformation, pre-exilic reformation. And finally, there are all the things having to do with laws, rituals, ceremonial things. That's all the priestly stuff that actually comes last.
And that's actually even exilic or post-exilic. So it's and then someone else later on, so maybe eight, nine hundred thousand years after Moses weaves these all together in one document that we call the Torah or the five books of Moses. So it's it's incompatible with any idea that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Even if you say that when we affirm that, we only mean that he wrote the core of it, that there are other things that were added later. Or we know certainly that the reverse is added later. For example, the end of Deuteronomy speaking of his death and what happens after his death.
So it's understood. I mean, some could say he wrote it by prophecy, but others say, no, that was written after his death. Or parenthetical comments like Genesis 12, the Canaanite was then in the land. Well, it was written after the Canaanites were not in the land. So even Orthodox Bible believing Christian scholars have accepted that you could have a verse here or there that is written later than Moses, but that the core of it is Mosaic. And whatever it says Moses wrote, he wrote according to the documentary hypothesis. He didn't he didn't write those things. They were composed later.
They they may have had some traditions going back to Moses, but they come later. And the fact is, though, aside from hypothesis, you know, it's hypothesizing that this is true. There is there's no evidence that it is. You have all kinds of problems because one author knows the one thing and the other doesn't know the other thing. It's like a baseball game where someone reports innings one through six and the other has seven and eight, but no one has nine. And two of them contradict each other.
It ends up creating problems. And then as as an Egyptologist, an ancient New Eastern specialist like his kitchen pointed out decades ago, we don't actually have any example of documentary composition like that in the ancient world. Weaving these disparate sources over centuries into one.
So I was never impressed by it. I in the early days would read books refuting it. But I mean, this goes back to that. It became very prevalent in the 1800s and influenced a lot of unbelief in the 1900s. And it's it's still out there and critical scholars still hold to it.
But no, it's not that compatible in any way with the Bible. Will you be safe in that regard? Hey, thanks for the questions, George, and questions on your labels. 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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As a new customer, 100 percent 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, friends, to the Line of Fire, 866-34-TRUTH. Okay, as we get closer to the elections, by all means, be informed. By all means, use the sacred privilege that you have of voting.
Use it. Much of world history, people had no vote. Much of the world today, people have no vote.
It's a great entrustment. Let's use it wisely. By all means, let us cast our votes in the fear of God. Let us be informed in voting. But please, please, please do not look to politics to do what only the Gospel can do. Please, please, please do not look to a person to be a political savior. Please, let us keep our perspectives and priorities right. The Gospel is the Gospel. Politics are politics.
They intersect, but they are not the same. Let us keep that in mind and make the main thing the main thing, namely our mission here in this world, which is lifting up Jesus, being disciples and making disciples, knowing God and making Him known. We also vote, but that is not our main mission or calling in this world. Just a friendly reminder. 866-34-TRUTH.
Lydia in Florida, welcome to the line of fire. I have a question that's come up quite a few times. Does scripture teach that we should pray against high level demonic beings and principalities and cast out demonic influences over a region as opposed to casting out demons, which are different at a different level? We know that we can do that. Right. For sure.
For sure. We are in a spiritual battle. We understand that. And Ephesians six says that we're in a battle with principalities and powers. So just like we're in a battle with Satan, we're in a battle with demons.
We're in a battle with his powerful angels. So for sure, part of our warfare is in the spiritual realm. We agree on that in general.
Absolutely. Secondly, we agree that ministry of believers is driving out demons. So in this in this world with people we're dealing with, there might be someone severely demonized that needs to be set free. And they call out to the Lord for salvation and they get freed.
They get delivered of demons. So for sure, we're called to do that. And that is something that we should be seeing in the present age. But I do not see New Testament examples of casting out principalities or driving out demonic strongholds from a region. What I do see is praying for the advancing of the kingdom of God and praying for God to to drive out forces of evil with the coming of his kingdom.
So there there are a great example of something. I was just down in Mexico City ministering maybe an hour and a half outside of Mexico City and a pastor there from Mexico City with about 1500 members in his church. Told me that when he began his church and was working in the region where they were, it was the worst crime region in Mexico.
He went through all the stats, devastated. So he gathered church's leaders to get this over a period of years and they began to pray together, fast, cry out. And over a period of time, things changed dramatically. So to this day, many years later, it's still the same that the changes were that dramatic and they stuck and it came out of corporate joint prayer and fasting. So there could be a joint authority on believers where God moves on you in Jesus name at a given time to come against powers of darkness in Jesus name and to ask God to advance his kingdom. But the idea that we can drive out a principality or that an individual believer is going to do that, I think is unwise and without biblical support. So while we have this battle in spiritual places in the spiritual realms, including principalities, powers of these different levels of hierarchy in Satan's army, that's part of our ongoing battle. Just like we can't drive Satan out of this world. We don't have the power to drive Satan out of this world. His day will come. We can't drive him out of this world.
I don't just see, especially individually, being able to do it. Now there's one prophetic brother. This may seem very odd to many people listening, but read Daniel 10, friends, just for the battle in the spiritual realm that goes on.
You'll find it very interesting. Daniel 10 for an insight into what happens in the spiritual realm. But there was a prophetic brother that warned Christians about trying to drive out principalities or take these things on and saying you end up kind of out of your league and uncovered. But for sure we resist the devil in general by saying yes to God, no to Satan. We see people set free through preaching the gospel and some are delivered, demons are driven out in Jesus name where demonic powers are broken. And as the church rises and comes together in a region and the gospel moves forward, that can drive out principalities and powers. But I don't see it as something that we are doing in prayer as much as doing through the preaching of the gospel.
And yes, in prayer for God to move as opposed to we're just taking authority over a principality. If that distinction makes sense to you. Oh, absolutely. And that's what I assume you would probably say. So I just needed some confirmation because of some things that I'm involved in.
Thank you. Yeah. And look, people can be well intended and just sometimes we go beyond where we should. And then sometimes it gets downright wacky. And, you know, I mean, an exaggerated thing. But while someone's brushing their teeth, they're commanding 20000 angels to go through the region and taking authority over this thing.
If you're doing that, the whole world would be transformed within a week. You know, absolutely. Yeah. So sometimes we're just in a spiritual fantasy world and and then other times we are dealing with real demonic powers.
But let us do it with with wisdom before God. Hey, thank you for the call. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. You bet.
It's six, six, three, four truth. Let's go over to Prince and Austin, Texas. You know, Dr. Brown, good day and thank you so much for your your show. It's been a blessing to me. So my question is this. So I am from I'm from Africa and the United States a few years back. So I notice a lot of changes, like in terms of the Christian culture between Africa and America. It is safe to say that the idea, the doctrine of sensationalism, that is a situation of spiritual gifts. It's something that is more for Western constructs because in most parts of the world, you definitely not hear about that. No one has heard of that before they go to America.
But some Christians tell me that there is no such thing as gifts of the spirits. So what do you think about that? Yeah, you're 100 percent right. Your observation. You know what it's like? It's like if you go to the equator, no one has ever seen snow. And now you travel to Alaska to tell the people of Alaska there's no such thing as snow. What are you talking about? You just never experienced it at the equator.
So, yeah, we in fact, I was just talking to a colleague about this that you don't have. Just like there's the joke there are no atheists in Africa. I was I was telling some of our team members that in Baptist churches in Africa, they drive demons out of people. You know, absolutely.
Why? Because the spiritual realm, you are aware of the reality of the spiritual realm, where some very sincere and well-meaning Christians in the West are in such an academic and theological culture and in a secular culture that they fail to understand these spiritual realities. Because it's impossible from the Bible to argue for the cessation of the gifts. It's not there is no biblical case that can be made for it.
And around the world, you can't make a case for it because God is moving. And would you say in Africa that it's common for someone to come to the Lord because they were miraculously healed or delivered or family member was miraculously healed or delivered? Is that a common thing?
Oh, yeah, that's very common. I mean, honestly, like you said, even the Baptist church. So back in Africa, people do that. People pray in tongues in the Baptist church in Africa. People heal the sick. I mean, it's a norm. It's like an expectation. But when I moved to the U.S., like in Africa, I remember one time, we had a gathering where we had to pray for someone who was believed to be possessed.
That was not a believer, actually, but we prayed for the person and we believed the person was restored. So it's a very normal practice. When it came to the U.S., it's just different. Like you said, it's a very intellectual, academic society, even the Christian faith. It's all about intellectualism. And do you have a seminary degree?
Where did you go to seminary for? Things like that. So anyways, just confirming.
Yes. So what I want to encourage you to do is pray that God will connect you with other Christians of like mind, because just like me, there are plenty of us here in America who think the way you do and have the same beliefs and never get used to cessationism. Meaning it's let it all always seem odd to you. Let it always seem like like a peculiar thing.
You know, there's going to be a big conference in October on cessationism in the movie that just came out. And I kind of picture like in the midst of a storm with thunder clouds and rain pouring down people holding a conference. There is no rain. It's not raining.
It's raining everywhere. And it's raining, according to the Bible. And, you know, I mentioned this a few days ago, but there was a Swedish brother, an intercessor living in the States and a brother came over from Ghana and was hanging out with him and was going from meeting to meeting with him. And he said, now I see why God's not moving in America the way he is in Africa. He said, all you do is feast. All we do is fast. So bring bring the good of Africa and let's work together to see the church in America. Shaken and awakened with the fire of John. May it be so. You.
