Thank you so much for joining us today on the Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown, here to equip you and empower you to help you engage and stand strong on the front lines. Friends, we're living in a day when every single one of us, we are in the Line of Fire, but in Jesus we overcome. In Jesus, the light shines and the darkness cannot overcome it. All this month is going to be a very, very important series.
Call a friend, tell them to tune in. One of the great topics, challenges that the church must face, how we navigate this is going to be crucially important, not just for the current generation, but for kids and grandkids. What about the Bible and LGBTQ issues and people? What about can you be gay and Christian? What about how Christians engage the culture here? What about how Christians love family members, friends who are struggling? What about going to a gay wedding? What about trans-identified athletes competing in sports?
What about what the Bible says about these issues? Oh, it's going to be in-depth, it's going to be critically important, and it's all going to be bathed in love and truth. Before we open things up and tell you where we'll be going all this month, let me encourage you to sign up for our frontline newsletter. The testimonies alone will blow you away when you hear about what our Fire team is doing all around the world. When you hear about the amazing things we're seeing in Jewish outreach and ministry, the lead article every month will really inspire you and encourage you and build you up. We've got a Hebrew word study each month, other special features.
It's absolutely free. So sign up today. Go to thelineoffire.org. Thelineoffire.org. Sign up today for the frontline newsletter right on the home page. By the way, some of you have known me for years, followed our ministry for decades.
Others don't know me at all. I'm a new face, a new voice for you. So when you do sign up for our frontline newsletter, we also put you in our welcome tour. We'll tell you about my testimony from LSD to PhD, or put another way, from shooting smack to Semitic studies.
Yeah, another alliteration there. We'll tell you about the three R's of our ministry, revival in the church. That's what our heart beats for first to see that the church revived and healthy and strong.
That means healthy church starts with a healthy you. And then gospel-based moral and cultural revolution in society. As Jesus changes us, we have a life-giving impact in the society around this bringing revolutionary change.
And then the last, the climax of it all, redemption of Israel. So we'll share all that with you, the many free resources we have on our website at thelineoffire.org. Our main textbook as we go through this really important subject is the Bible itself. We'll be supplementing that with my book, Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding with Love and Truth to Questions About Homosexuality.
Later in the broadcast, I'll tell you how you can get a copy of the book for yourself. Let's start with Scripture. Speaking of Jesus, John 1-14 says this.
I'm going to read verses 1-14 to 1-18 in John. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Notice it doesn't say full of grace or truth, but full of grace and truth. Jesus embodies within himself grace and truth. And we as his followers, we as his ambassadors, we as his representatives here on earth must bring those two things together. A tremendous love and kindness and compassion for those who are hurting, those who are lost, those who don't know the Lord. At the same time, an absolute backbone of truth that does not compromise or move from the standards of God. And it says this, John, meaning John the Immerser, John the Baptist bore a witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. So again, grace and truth come through Jesus the Messiah. We're going to be getting into the word a lot and talking about practical cultural issues.
And again, I want to do my best to equip and empower you because this is the world that we live in. Today's show though, I want to go back a little bit and share some of my own history there and some of the things that are relevant to you in terms of where we'll be going on this broadcast. God saved me in 1971. I was a heroin shooting LSD using long-haired hippie rock drummer living in rebellion and pride. God wonderfully intervened in my life, radically transformed me. And as the years went on, I began preaching in 1973 at the age of 18. I'm almost 69 now so been been at this by God's grace well over 50 years. I feel like a kid in a candy shop, so excited to be alive and in God's purposes today.
And what a day to be alive. What a day to be on the front lines for the gospel. But I began preaching in 1973 and the message of repentance has always been something very dear to me, not a message of condemnation, but a message of holy conviction, calling us to turn to the Lord and repentance, calling us to bow before him for his grace to work at our lives, his grace to work at our lives, a holy and beautiful life. And being a regular person, tempted like anybody else, and seeing that the power of sexual sin in the Bible and how many people were destroyed by it, I always preached a strong holiness message and talked openly about the temptations of sexual sin, adultery and porn and things like that, and warned about it and preached those messages to myself. And then over the years, I saw friends and colleagues destroy their ministries through sexual immorality that put even more of a holy fear within me.
And that was on my heart for years. I wrote a book in the late 90s, Go and Soo No More, A Call to Holiness, that Bill Bright from Campus Crusade wrote the forward to. These were things dear to my heart, important to me, but the issue of homosexuality, the issue of same-sex attraction, the issue of the culture wars and gay activism and where that fit, it just wasn't on my radar. I never had a particular burden to reach out to those who identified as gay or lesbian or bisexual. Transgender was not as big a thing then, going back 25 years or so, as the story gets closer here, but say around the year 2000, you know, preaching about cultural issues more, talking about the church having a revolutionary impact on society through the gospel, still this was not really on my radar. So if you go back 20 years ago to 2004, I had written at that time 19 books, and in those 19 books, if you went through every single book and pulled out every single sentence or paragraph having to do with homosexuality or homosexual practice, I would say it filled less than one page.
This was just not something I focused on. I knew some people that had come out of homosexuality, you'd call them ex-gay, some happily married in heterosexual relationships, but I didn't have a particular burden about that. I knew that there were aspects of gay activism that were impacting the society negatively and made reference to it, but again, it was just not a big thing. It was on my heart, on my mind.
In 2004, a shift took place, and you'll see where I'm sharing my story because it's going to tie in with yours. God began to burden me about homosexual activism. One pastor made the comment, my age in the 60s, he made the comment that when our generation hears the word homosexuality, we think an issue. When the younger generation hears the word, they think a person, and the fact is we're dealing with both issues and people. Both issues and people. Hence, the grace and truth that we must emphasize.
Truth when it comes to what's right and wrong, grace when it comes to how we minister to human beings. So, 2004, a couple of things happened. Some of my colleagues went to share the gospel at a gay pride event in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had moved there a few months before that with our ministry, our school, our congregation, our missions organization. We had moved there from Pensacola, Florida, and they went to share the gospel at this gay pride event. I was in England at the time, and to their shock, they were escorted escorted out of the park, Marshall Park in Charlotte, by police. They were not surrounding people, harassing people, coming as large groups. They were escorted out.
There were the same-sex couple, cops holding hands. There were some really vulgar things, a drag queen, a guy dressed in a tutu, and kind of gyrating in the presence of little children. There was one little tent booth that had porn, and kids were walking right past it. And my friends came back shocked, and God began to burden me about this. I began to look around and see what was happening in the society. I began to see how things had gone in the business world, how things were going in the world of education, where things were going in media, TV, and movies, and things like that. And right then, in 2004, I saw clearly that gay activism was already the principal threat to freedom, speech, and religion in America.
Already in the year 2004, this became clear to me when I surveyed things, when I studied, when I looked at things more broadly. And God began to burden me very deeply about the agenda, and I felt this sacred calling in addition to everything else I was doing in ministry, and as part of this gospel-based moral and cultural revolution, I felt this sacred calling to push back against the agenda. But there was an obvious question to me.
Why was God calling me to be on the front lines here? I mean, after all, I don't come out of homosexuality. It's not my testimony. I've never struggled with same-sex attraction. It's hard for me to relate to someone having same-sex attraction. I never had a particular burden to reach out to the gay and lesbian community. I never had a particular burden to help those that were coming out of homosexuality, ex-gay movement. And my educational background didn't fit. I've got a Ph.D. from New York University in Near Eastern languages and literature, so ancient Semitic languages.
I don't have degrees, advanced degrees in counseling or family therapy or sexuality or psychology. So I began to ask the question, okay, Lord, why me? I feel this sacred assignment. I see the need of the hour, but why are you calling me? All right, I'm going to answer that question on the other side of this break. I've got an important announcement for you. Give us a good listen.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. And now back to the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, ready to infuse you with faith, truth and courage. Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire. Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Yes, genuinely every day here to infuse you with faith and truth and courage so you can stand strong on the front lines.
One more reminder, if you're not getting our life changing, life impacting, edifying, encouraging, inspiring and free frontline newsletter, go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org and sign up today. So I was asking the Lord, why me? I understand you've called me to be confrontational.
I understand you've made me as a debater. I understand that I'm to be part of this gospel-based moral and cultural revolution. But why me in terms of homosexual issues and gay bi trans activism?
Why me? Now, God's called me to having involvement in Jewish evangelism, but that makes sense. He's called me to write what had become by his grace, all by his grace, definitive books and Jewish apologetics and to debate rabbis.
But it makes sense. I'm Jewish to start, right? That's who I am.
From the moment I was saved, I was now sharing the gospel with Jewish people and being challenged by rabbis. So that's number one. Number two, academically, I've got the degrees that equipped me for this.
Number three, it's my nature to debate and it fits well. But why this calling in this situation? And here's what I felt. This is 2004, friends.
I realized no one gets to sit this out. This is going to be the great spiritual, moral, cultural issue of our day. Now, of course, abortion, pro-life, that remains of preeminent importance in God's sight. There are many other social cultural issues that are life and death that are very important in God's sight.
But this is the one that hits a certain angle. This is the one where the church is challenged on its position. This is the one where we are openly being told we're misusing the Bible, just as we misuse the Bible to support slavery, just as we misuse the Bible to support segregation, just as we misuse the Bible to oppress and suppress women. Now we're misusing the Bible to hurt loving gay couples and Jesus-loving trans individuals. We're misusing the Bible. So I saw 20 years ago, not only was this the principal threat to freedom of religion, speech, and conscience, but that this was something all of us would have to deal with.
And as the years went on, friends began to come to me, Mike, why are you getting involved with all this? Why are you getting off track with your message and spending time on culture wars and gay activism? I'd say, hey, we're doing everything else. We haven't stopped doing all the other things.
I'm still going around the world preaching, still doing Jewish evangelism, still seeking to spark revival in the church. I said, but I feel like an umbrella salesman in the desert. And you're asking me, why am I building all these new warehouses filled with umbrellas in the desert? Because the storm is coming.
And metaphorically speaking, for many years now, we have not been able to manufacture enough umbrellas. And hey, even as you're listening to this broadcast, how often do you hear systematic teaching on what the Bible says? How often do you get to really talk through the cultural issues in a church setting? This is something that is so difficult and challenging, yet we must address together as the people of God. So God distinctly burdened me to push back against gay activism.
But I understood that was only one part of the equation. What about the people? I'm concerned about the activism.
What about the people? You say, well, you know what we say, we love the sinner. We hate the sinner.
Hang on. When you tell that to someone who's same-sex attracted, what they hear you say is, you hate me. Look, I don't do heterosexual. I am heterosexual. Some of them are same-sex attracted. It's not like I do homosexual. They say they are. They are same-sex attracted.
That's who they are. And when we say we love the sinner, we hate the sinner, they hear you hate me. So I began to ask God for his heart for the people, for those who identified as LGBTQ.
We didn't have the full list and full measure then, and actually G came before L back in those days. But I began to ask him for his heart. I actually made appointments to sit down. Here's a local gay journalist, the editor of what was called Qnotes, which was the gay newspaper from North and South Carolina. And the editor there, a gentleman named David, made an appointment. Hey, can we talk?
I mean, he would blast conservative Christians in his editorials in very, very strong words. I reached out and I said, hey, we live in the same neighborhood, not same neighborhood, same city area, greater Charlotte. And we have these very different ideas.
Can we sit and talk? And I just wanted to, I wanted people to tell me their story. I wasn't there to argue with them.
I wasn't there to convince them. I wanted to hear their stories. I wanted to understand how they saw people like me.
I wanted to get a deeper insight into their own history, their own journey. And, you know, we sat and talked at length and I got every book I could by those who said that, you know, they were gay Christians. And, you know, one book was called Holy Homosexuals.
What do you think of that? And I got books like the Queer Bible Commentary. I got everything I could to hear what others were saying and to try to see the world through their eyes and to challenge every belief, understanding I had and look at scripture and sit with people to be wholehearted before God. And because I knew that the issue is one thing, but what about the people? So it was in the midst of this season. Now it was January of 2005 and I was in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. I was together at a pro-life march that day.
It was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We walked about two miles in the freezing D.C. weather and then we stood in silent prayer in front of the Supreme Court. And as we prayed silently, the Spirit of God began to stir my heart and these words began to rise in me. These were things that had been rising in me over the months, but now coalesced in these little sayings, reach out and resist. Reach out and resist, meaning reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage. Reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage.
That is the mandate we have followed now over the last 20 years. And because God has called me to these things, I have met with political leaders in private meetings in America and Asia. I have addressed congressional leaders and university chancellors in Peru. I've been on shows in Piers Morgan Resilience, CNN, entire banks, Herschel, just talking about these issues and getting slammed coast to coast by those who stand against the values that we hold to. In other words, God in fact did raise me up as a voice in the midst of this. But this word reach out and resist has been very deep in me.
And I think it'll resonate with you. Reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage. And right then, when I felt the Spirit drop this in my heart in January of 2005 in front of the Supreme Court in D.C., I knew that it would take extreme compassion to reach out to the people because they've been hurt, many feel hated by God, hated by the church, they've been rejected by their families. So it's just like if you have a sunburn and I pat your back and say, oh, well I didn't pat you that hard, but you're sensitive.
I don't say that in a derogatory way. Many who identify as LGBTQ plus are sensitive because of what they've lived through and experienced. So reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage. Resist the agenda with courage. I understood the moment you address this, you're going to get attacked, you're going to get vilified, you're going to get called all kinds of names, it's going to get really ugly, so you need courage. And friends, what we want to do this month is help you to do this very thing.
Reach out and resist. Reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage. The book that I wrote that you will find most practical for the day-to-day questions you have, what does the Bible say, and how do we minister to friends, loved ones, colleagues, co-workers who identify as somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. It's my book, Can You Be Gay and Christian, responding with love and truth to questions about homosexuality.
It's almost 300 pages long, but it's written in a really readable way. So I did the hard work of academic study and research, but then put things together in a way that will not just inform your mind, but touch your heart as well. We really encourage you to get it because I know as you read it, it's going to make so much sense and you're going to feel so well equipped to reach others. In fact, later this week, I'll share an amazing testimony of something that happened through this book.
So this is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the Word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click donate.
