The Gospel Is Revolutionary

Do you ever wonder why Jesus and his followers were so hated, so persecuted, so reviled?

It's time for the Line of Fire with your host. Activist, author, international speaker and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling eight six six three four. True. That's eight six six three four truths. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown, friends. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

You know, for many years now, the theme of Jesus revolution has burned in me.

Jesus changing us and calling us to have a revolutionary effect on the world around us. The gospel being a revolutionary message, Jesus being the leader of God's revolution, not a revolution of hatred or anger, of violence or intimidation, but a revolution of love, overcoming hate of goodness, overcoming evil of truth, overcoming lies. And I want to open up the scriptures to you today. This is going to be truly eye opening as we open up the scriptures and understand why Jesus Yeshua was so hated, why his followers were so hated and reviled, and why we are hated and reviled to this day. This is Michael Brown. Welcome to the Line of Fire. I won't be taking calls today. One of these days, we're going to dig deep into a subject. So I won't be taking calls. I won't be commenting on the latest breaking news either. But let's start, Matthew, the fifth chapter. We know most of us know the Beatitudes. You've heard the words of Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven or blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God or blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth and blessed means truly happy. But what does Jesus say in Matthew? Chapter five, starting in verse ten.

Again, this is an opening major sermon, Sermon on the Mount. What does he say? Verse 10. Blessed many truly happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, persecuted for righteousness, persecuted for pursuing righteousness, persecuted for doing righteousness. First, love it. Blessed are you truly happy to you when others revile you. Why? Why would I be happy when people revile me? Why would I be blessed when people revile me? Lester to you and others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely. On my count, rejoice and be glad for your award is great and heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

All right. That begins to give us an insight. Why were the prophets persecuted for the prophets? Persecuted because they told people what a wonderful life they're going to have. We just want you to know how much God loves you. And you're going to have a wonderful life. Let's kill them. Stole them. Why would people react like that? Why would they react with hatred and violence to people that pat them on the back and told them what they're itching years wanted to hear? Here you got some corrupt business person and they're making money by exploiting the poor. And you've got some corrupt priest in the temple who's stealing from the temple and seducing the women. And the prophet comes in and says, God's going to bless you. And his smile is on you. They'll applaud somebody like that. But the one who exposed the sin, the one who calls out corruption, the one who speaks up to abuse of power. That one will be hated. What happened to John? The emersed John the Baptist. He was beheaded. Why was he even in prison in the first place? He was in prison because he called out Herod. He called out his adultery. That did not go well. So the darkness is going to hate the light. The darkness is going to try to snuff out the light. And we see this theme all through the New Testament, all through the New Testament. And to the extent we are identified with Jesus now, with a political party now with the political theme, it's fine to have those affiliations. But to the extent we are identified with Jesus, we will also be hated and reviled the way he was. And many others will listen to us the way they listen to him. Now, he takes up this theme again in Matthew, Chapter 10. Matthew, Chapter 10. He said he and his disciples, he's telling them, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. And then he says this very interesting thing in Matthew, ten verse twenty three.

He says, when you're persecuted in one city and flee to another. Is that amazing? He just said, you'll be hated by all for my namesake. But the one injuries to the MLB say then when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. What amazing council were truly a city. You'll not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the sentiment comes and there was 24. A disciple student is not above his teacher, nor a servant or slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher in the servant, like his master. If they have called the master of the house be eligible, meaning the devil himself. How much more will they malign those of his house whole.

Right now I want you to think of this from it. Some of us just think, if I could be nice enough, if I could be sweet enough, if I could be non confrontational, I could be a loving person. Everybody will love me and everybody will accept me, no matter how devoted I am to God, no matter how closely I walk with him. As always, I'm just nice to people and show love that everybody will love me. Well, obviously, more people will love you if you're nice to them rather than nasty to them. And to the extent we can be known as people who love our neighbors as ourselves. That's good. That's positive. But but. But hang on. Hang on for a minute. Was anyone more Christlike than Christ? Was anyone more compassionate than the son of God? More kind Wolong suffering. Did any of us die as innocent people and die for the sins of the world the way he did? And yet his name is Curse to this day. So Jesus says if the master of the house is called the Alcivar. So it's been man himself. If they're calling me the devil, what do you expect them to call you? Servants of the household. If they call them the teacher, the devil himself. What are they going to call his students? It's an interesting thing. I remember too close to 20 years ago. I remember where we were living when this happened. I discovered an online group of religious Jews who were attacking me because of the work we were doing, sharing the message of Jesus with other Jewish people. As a Jew myself, sharing the message of Jesus, the Messiah with other Jews. And by God's grace, were effective at doing this. And they were maligning me and attacking me and saying all kinds of false, nasty things about me. And I discovered it late at night. Nancy was ready in our bedroom. I went running and to tell her I was so excited, I was so blessed to see it. And I'd been opposed before on the line before. This is kind of an organized effort. I thought, what an honor. What an honor to be hated because of my association with Jesus. What an honor to be rejected as he was rejected. Now we have this theme coming up again in Luke's Gospel, Mark's Gospel, about persecution for the faith. But there's an important passage in John 15, we're told, about why the gospel is hated.

Why the followers of Jesus, a hater. Again, we don't want to be hated because we're obnoxious. Because we're stubborn, because we're nasty, because we're mean spirited. We don't want to be hated because of a political affiliation. That was if if you have a political affiliation that causes people to hate you. Fine. But that's that's different than being hated for the gospel. Politics is divisive in a whole different way. All right. Peter writes that that if if you're going to suffer, don't suffer as a busybody, don't suffers a thief suffers a follower of Jesus.

But in John fifteen John fifteen Guiney verse 18, Jesus addresses this issue. And he says this, John, 15 and 18.

If the world hates you know, that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world. But I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word. They will also keep yours. Look back in verse 19.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you were not of the world. But I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you.

All right, let's step back and consider what the Lord is saying. When you were different than others and when the differences in your life expose the wrong in other people's lives, do you expect those people to welcome you with appreciation? Here, I'll give you an example. Let's say that you are part of a criminal family. It is generations of criminals and you decide to break away and going to ministry while they continue to make their money off crime. Now, there might be some among them that are convicted and reach out and say, hey, help us. We need to get out of here. But otherwise, you are now a threat to them. You are now the outsider. You are now the one in their eyes judging them. You are now the one that is different here. I give you something even even more basic. It's it's 5:00 in the morning. It's still dark out. Everybody is sound asleep. You've got four guys with with beds in this this campus and all sharing this big room. But you decide you're going to get up early and work out. So you set your alarm at five to bang, bang, bang, bang blaring. And you jump out of bed and you start going about things that, well, will they appreciate it when you disturb their sleep? Will they appreciate it when you're the one working out there, the one land there? They want you to stay in bed to and shut that stupid alarm. Let us sleep in a.. A weekend. What are you doing? When you go against the grain, when you swim against the tie, you become a threat to people. You become a target. You become a hater. When you stand in the middle of the road and say there's a better way. When you stand in the middle of the road and say you're going on the path to destruction, think of that. Now, some will. Thank you. Some will be safe. But let's say there's this broad road and everybody is heading in this direction. I think this is the way of safety. This is the way of deliverance.

And you stand there and say, broad is the road to destruction. Jesus words and Matthew, several weeks, 13. Broad is the road to destruction. Narrow is the gate.

Straight is the way that leads to life. You're on the wrong path. It's like putty. We've been five miles on this path. We've been on this path for 10 years already, buddy. Who are you? Tell us we're wrong. Just as the world hated Jesus for bringing light into darkness, we will be hated. When you stand up and and oppose LGBTQ activism and say God has a better way. Your hate it. You become a target. When you stand up and champion the life of the unborn and the sanctity of life beginning in the womb. And when you say yes, black lives matter. Beginning in the womb. Now you're crossing a line. You become the target. When you say this latest hit rap song by these ladies is vulgar and sexually explicit, degrading to our women and degrading to our daughters. Now you've set yourself up as some kind of puritanical hypocrite.

You are now a target to be taken down. When we get to the Book of Acts, which we do momentarily, we'll see that the gospel message is subversive to the society, that the gospel message threatens the status quo.

Friends, I'm talking about gospel revolution.

It's the line of fire with your host, Doctor Michael Brown, your voice of more cultural and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on the line of fire.

Michael Brown not taking any calls today, but asking the question, why are Christians to stay persecuted around the world?

Why are they hated in their communities? Often when they are peace loving people, often when they are lower caste because they can't have jobs and privileges, other halves. So there are not a threat there. They're not the political power. They're not the dominant power. They're not the ones dictating to others. In fact, they're the servants of certain cultures, like a country like Pakistan. What why are they hated and despised by the Coptic Christians in Egypt, often consigned to lower jobs and lower income housing and things like that? So, again, not the dominant ruling rich party where they often hated persecuted by the larger Muslim world. Why? Let's take a look at something very interesting. In the Book of Acts Acts, the fifth chapter, the apostles have been flogged. So these Jewish apostles have been flogged by the Jewish leadership for preaching this message of Jesus. You sure it was considered divisive? It was considered a threat to the system, a threat to the status quo of firing, false message. So they're flogged and they're given orders not to speak anymore in Jesus name. So Acts Chapter five, beginning in verse 41. It tells us this. The Apostles left the on Hadrian rejoicing. Why? Because they were counted worthy to suffer a dishonor for the name, meaning the name of your shoe with the name of Jesus. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Messiah is Jesus. So they are told, keep your mouth shut. Don't mention his name anymore. And yet, day to day in the temple courts, house to house. They never stop teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Messiah. They never back down for the message. But notice, they rejoice because they've been kind of worthy to suffer for his name. Now. Years back, a little over 20 years ago, God began to stir my heart with the theme of revolution. Revolution that threw the gospel. We could see an awakening in America that had been a burden on my for many, many years. I'd studied Great Awakenings. I had been part of a spiritual outpouring. The last five years of the 90s and a shorter one some years before that. Again, student of revival in history knew the importance of spiritual awakening and how it could impact culture. And I began to think more about the theme of revolution. Revolution is overthrowing the status quo. Revolution is out with the corrupt old and in with the better. New now most human revolutions, earthy revolutions replace one bad system with another bad system, or use power and violence and force to bring much suffering. I mean, think of the effects of the communist revolution. But the concept is that the current system is corrupt. The current system is no good. It cannot be fixed. We need a revolution. And in that sense, Jesus is a revolutionary leader in that sense. He's not preaching just a new religion. Join this new religion. Sign on the dotted line and become a Christian and start going to church, rather. The commission that Jesus gives after his resurrection, going to all the world and make disciples. Put that another way. It's let's go change the world together. He says, I'm with you to the end of the age. Now let's go change the world together. How to the message of the Gospel through the teaching of the Word of God through change lies. Let's go change the world.

That's why it's not a surprise that the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King and others was birthed out of churches in the 50s and 60s. That's why it's no surprise that the abolition movement against slavery in the seventeen hundreds in England, eighteen hundreds in America was birthed out of churches. That's why it's no surprise when missionaries like William Carey went to India in seventeen hundred seventeen hundred eighteen hundreds and saw what was happening there, saw the practice of widow burning.

So a man would die before his wife died. And the Hindu custom he would would then be burned on a funeral parlor where there was a custom of burning the widow alive. Seriously? Well, why? Well, what could she do without her husband? How could she live? And this would give her a better reincarnation. Carrie was horrified by this as a Christian and worked tirelessly to see it outlawed. And it was it was outlawed for many generations as a result of that. So that's what Christians should do if we live in the midst of a society where this rampant sex trafficking. We should stand up against it. We find out it's happening in our cities.

We should be the ones leading away, leading the way and making a difference. We see racial inequality. We should be the ones leading the way and making a difference. We see the slaughter of the unborn and abortion. We should be the ones leading the way, making a difference.

But that stands as a threat to the system.

And there is now the status quo of the religious world that gets far away from the teaching of the Bible. And the real message of Jesus becomes a revolutionary threat when you go through the words of Jesus. He didn't primarily teach about this new religion called Christianity. Rather, he taught about the kingdom of God and the coming of the kingdom of God. And he brought a message of liberation to the captive, setting the captives free. That's the message of revolution. You are enslaved. You need to be liberated. And he brings the ultimate message of liberation. And this was now considered subversive. So Acts Chapter 16. Acts Chapter 16. Very interesting account.

Paul and Silas are preaching. And there is a slave girl with a spirit of divination. She can fortune, tell, predict the future, things like that.

And that's how her owners make money off of this demonic gift that she has. And Paul drives the spirit out of her. And now she can't tell fortunes anymore. Can't predict. So the owners now lose their income. So so they they bring Paul and Silas. So let's start around verse 18, 19 of of chapter 16. They bring Paul and Silas and after after he tries his spirit out. Verse 19, when I only saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized. Paul and Silas and dragged him into the marketplace before the rulers. And what they had brought them to the magistrates. They said these men are Jews and are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in and attacking them in the magistrates toward the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into a prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Let's go back to verse 20. When they brought them to the magistrates, they said these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. Let's let's break this down. Paul and saw this were Jews. They were followers of Jesus, the Jewish messiah. But Judaism was a legal religion in Rome. So why accuse them of being Jews? Well, the first thing is they're outsiders. They're they're not like the rest of us. They're different.

Then they are teaching customs not lawful for us. Well, under Roman law, you could not call for the worship of new gods or invent new gods or new religion.

It was it was many, many years, centuries, actually, before Christianity was recognized as a legal religion fully in the Roman Empire. So what they were saying in a certain way was true. In other words, the message was disruptive. The message was revolutionary. The message was radical. But on the flip side, they were lying through their teeth because the disruption was not because of Paul and Silas. They were preaching a message of life and salvation. That disruption was their reaction to it. Now the theme continues into the 17th chapter of acts. And here's one of the most famous verses from the Book of Acts Acts, Chapter 17, the opening verses, talk about Paul preaching Thessalonica. And it was his custom. We go first as it due to the synagogue. Go to the synagogue and tell the Jewish people the messiah has come. Well, as a result of it, says verse four, some of them were persuaded and join Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and a few of the leading women. So some of the Jews believed and then some of the devout Greeks who had Gentiles that were worshiping in the synagogue. And if you're the leading women that the Jews were jealous taking some of the some wicked men of the rabble. So the other Jews. Right. If symbol, even Pawling saw us themselves, Jews, the other Jews were jealous and taking some wicked man of the rabble. They formed a mob, set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. I mean, they could not find them. They dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has received them and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. Look again at verse six. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. I that's it. The accusation that the followers of Jesus have turned the world upside down and are preaching another king, not Caesar, but Jesus. Well, on the one hand, the disruption was completely that of the non believing Jews, the troublemaking Jews. In this case, they caused the disruption. They caused the trouble. They stirred the opposition. They were the ones that were the troublemakers. Paul and his team, they were peacemakers. So the accusation, on the one hand, is false. On the other hand, it's true the gospel does turn the world upside down. It was true just not in the way they meant it, that the gospel is a threat to the ruling system. Listen, you can be a controversial leader and hold to left wing values and you'll be loved and received in many ways. But you take the same personality and now you begin to hold biblical values. You will be branded a lunatic. You will be hated as being a self-righteous prude. People say, who do you think you are? It is quite amazing. And you will see how your message and your life, you've seen it some in your own home, your own household, your own job setting on school.

The gospel really is a threat to the society around us. We come back, we'll talk to you a little bit more about the theme of revolution. An amazing experience I had 20 years ago again this year.

It's the line of fire with your host, Doctor Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling eight six six three for truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

So what's Jesus got to do with revolution, after all? I mean, sick of revolution.

You think of anger, hatred, people marching in the streets. You think the burning of buildings. You think of a violence. You think of overthrowing a government military, overthrows the government of some overthrows the military and revolution. Well, many revolutions, probably most earthy revolutions are just that. They are destructive. They are violent. The American Revolution was for a good cause. But, of course, that was a violent revolution. Most revolutions involve the shedding of a lot of blood, but the revolution that we're talking about in focusing on involve the shedding of the blood of Jesus rather than taking life.

He laid his life down and then he has brought about, through his sacrificial death, more radical change to the world than anyone in history. When I began to teach on the theme of Jesus revolution in the late 1990s of the Bible school, I led at that time in Pensacola, Florida. One student came up to me and he said, you know, when I was in high school, I wasn't a follower of Jesus. He was college age at this point, and he'd come to faith later in his high school years. And he said, you know, I was in high school. I was a rebel, wasn't a follower of Jesus. And we had a class where we were studying the writings of revolutionary leaders and looking at their quotes. And he said the one that struck him as a non believing, I think, drug using rebellious teenager. He said the ones that struck him as the most radical and the most revolutionary of all were the teachings of Jesus about Jesus was included in this book.

And they stood out from the words of other revolutionary leaders. See, it is to the core of my being. It's not just the way I'm introduced on the air. Your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual evolution to the core of my being. I'm convinced that we are the ones who are to lead moral and cultural revolution. We followers of Jesus, we worshipers of the one true God, we who believe the Bible to be God's word, that based on his principles, not by us taking over.

Not a theocracy, not will we force everyone to conform and bow down to our views that we set up priests and clergy to run the nation and their penalties if you don't keep the Sabbath or the penalty. No, no, no, I'm not time on any of that. I'm not talking about a theocracy. I'm not advocating for that. I those have been unhealthy through history. All right. One day we believe Jesus will return and he'll set up his kingdom. Then let him rule is king. Until then, we have a political system that we work through and we advocate for ideas and we seek to change people's hearts. All right. So I am all for justices being appointed judges and justices, Supreme Court, federal courts that are conservative, that are constitutionalists, that are God-Fearing people. And I'm all for them legislating a good ways and having good laws in America. I'm absolutely all for that. I'd love to see Roe v. Wade overturned nationally and then overturn state by state. And then women offered compassionate alternatives as they're struggling and maybe someone that's the horror of a rape and that that we're there to help and and that no one is abandoned, that everyone is cared for before birth and after birth. I'm I'm all for that. So I'm not saying that we abandon politics. No, no, no. I'm not saying we abandon the culture wars. No, to the contrary. We're in the frontlines, but we're in the front lines in a gospel based way here. Let's look at it like this. All right. My latest book, Evangelicals at the Crossroads, will be past that Trump test. So it came out, came out in July. We're getting great responses from readers. And when I referred to the Trump test, I mean it in two ways. One, as followers of Jesus, can we unite around Jesus even if we differ over Trump rather than kill each other? Not literally, but just about all the words that are attitudes. The other part of the Trump test is, can we vote for President Trump and support him as president without compromising our morals or convictions? Our witness. And in the book, I lay out a way that you can't and there's no book like it. I'm quite sure. I've read extensively, studied this. No book like it that lays out the evangelical case against Trump and the evangelical case for Trump and then gives us a path where if he's the candidate we support. To me, it's it's a no contest. Him versus Joe Biden. Kamala Harris, it's Kamala Harris. A no brainer there. But for me, not judging you, if you differ with me to speak honestly with you. But even if Trump gets four more years Trump pants, that's not going to solve America's deepest problems. That's not going to fix what ails us the most. There's only a gospel based solution for that. We're not gonna have racial reconciliation without that. We're not going to deal with a score bridge of opiate addiction. Without that, we're not going to deal with the epidemic of pornography. Without that, we're going to deal with the plague of follows homes. Without that, we're not going to fix a lot of problems without a gospel based moral and cultural revolution. So nineteen ninety nine. I start writing a book. I get gripped. I mean, utterly gripped. I was in the midst of a ministry schedule that was so intense. I was literally involved in ministry related work 80 to 100 hours a week. And now I'm gripped in the midst of this to start writing this book Revolution. And I asked our student body, almost 12 hundred students. I said, I'm writing this book. What do you think of this subtitle? A counterculture manifesto. Now, like I said, what do you think of the subtitle, A call, a holy war. The whole everybody exploded. Now, this was before 9/11. This is before holy war was being taken a certain way with with Islamic terrorism. It was harking back to the Christian idea of spiritual warfare and and holy war. And so it was a spiritual battle. But the book came out in 2000. It's called Revolution The Call to Holy War. And that is a brand new edition about to come out in October. I'll tell you about that in a moment.

And obviously with a different subtitle, because holy war is taken on a very different image. All right. The new book coming out in October Revolution, an urgent call to a moral to a holy uprising. But here's what I'm telling you. This story. OK.

In the midst of an intense schedule, I write this book in six weeks, over 300 pages. I'm gripped. I'm burning with this. And the gospel verses, verse after verse that the New Testament, it's coming together in a way that's making sense in terms of the revolutionary calling. After all, didn't Jesus say leave everything and follow me? Isn't the revolutionary mentality, the worthy revolutionary mentality, life as it is, is not worth living. But the cause is worth dying for. Right. So now the understanding is this is the Jesus costs that this world is falling messed up at. We can inherit eternal life and make this into a better world through the gospel. Leave everything. Follow me. Join this world changing course. I was gripped with it.

And by putting it in the context of revolution and then laying out plainly, we're not talking about a violent revolution. We're not. And I'm not talking about self-defense or the right to bear arms separate socially sometimes. We don't advance the gospel with weapons. We don't advance the gospel with intimidation. We don't advance the gospel by putting a gun to someone's head, say, be baptized or die. That's the exact opposite of the gospel.

But I got consumed with this book and I thought, OK, I've written it in six weeks. Obviously, there's a reason I wrote it so quickly because, again, my ministry schedule was crazily busy during that season. There must be a reason that I wrote it so quickly. I reached out to one of my publishers and I said to them this. I just wrote this book, Revolution. I feel it's a major theme that we're to introduce to the body of Christ. There's a Christian booksellers event in June. Can we. So it's I'm talking to them. It's probably February. And I said, can we get the book out? We'll we'll have a special meeting.

What will we'll book some time and present the theme presents the book. And they said, oh, the CBA Christian book Solis's that's been booked for four months. Every slot is filled. And it's a plus. We couldn't get the book out that quickly anyway. This implicit if you get us a clean manuscript by March 1st, so clean, edit it for us to, to work with them will prove it and take it from there. Give us a clean manuscript by March 1st. We get it out by September 1st.

And I thought. September 1st. Who cares about September four? What makes September 1st a magical date? Why? Why did I write with such intensity? And day and night through the night? And why did I do that for September 1st? You know what it's like? It's like you race to the airport. You go through red lights. You go 100 miles an hour in a 60 mile zone. You have to get to the airport. Now. And you arrive four hours early, so you just drive slowly. You could have gotten there in plenty of time.

Why? So that's what I was worrying about. Why in the world would I write this book with such intensity, such fervor, such passion and such a short period of time to get it out for September 1st? What makes it so magical? And then one of the editors said to me, he said, you know, there's a big youth event in D.C. on September 2nd. Maybe we can have the book ready for that. I said, that's it. I understand that. That's it. That's what we're to do. Where to give away copies of the book at this event called The Call DC. Now, the organizers of the call were told that at most they'd have 50000 people because they only started organizing the event in early 2000. And they were told no matter what network you have, bringing people together the whole bit. There's a science to this. Fifty thousand max, that's what you'll have. We'd still be a great crowd in D.C.. I call a friend of mine and I said, I've got this vision to get this book out. Maybe you give away a thousand copies of the event or something. And he said, no, you're to give away a hundred thousand copies. You've got to be kidding me. You're joking. Hundred thousand copies. What? They're expecting 50000 people, Max. Hundred thousand copies. Are you serious? And he says here, let's go to the printer. Let's go the publisher. Let's see if they get the book for printed books for us for it for 80, 85 cents a book. And then we'll. Well, Will. And I'll help you raise funds for it and we'll get the book out. OK.

Problem number one. It's a 330 page book selling for 13 dollars, which is a great price. But jeez. If I get it in bulk from the publisher, maybe like four dollars a book, 80, 85 cents. Are you kidding me? Oh, and then even at that eighty five cents a book. That's eighty five thousand dollars. Where, pray tell, are we going to get. Eighty five thousand miles from where a ministry. And right now we owe one publisher about 10000 in terms of books that we're selling and then pay them after we suffered.

We'll make a long story short. I proposed it to the publisher. They felt God was in it. Yeah, this is all true. They then come to me. I didn't I didn't give me a price.

They then said we can printed for eighty thousand a book plus shipping, which about ten thousand dollars and shipping because it's on two 18 wheelers that the books were shipped in a hundred thousand books as a lot of books.

And through a stranger, someone I'd never met, who himself didn't have the money in his organization. He said, I'll fund it off on the money. And then he didn't have it. And then God supplied for him. And then he gave it to us. Then my friend helped raise the money for the shipping. And here's the event. Over 300000 thousand people there.

Over three hundred thousand people came for twelve hours. A prayer and fasting. Mainly young people. And we had 17 busses come up from Pensacola, over 700 people, the largest group from anywhere in America, from our Bible school. So most of the school came up and I preached on the theme of Jesus Revolution. And because there were so many Uria, as you said, only one book per family, we still gave away over 70000 copies, gave away over one million dollars. Retail value of books gave away that day.

And we sensed it was the beginning of something. We sensed something was in the air. Many ministries with young people come out of that. Many things have been worse and of that amazing day.

That's part one of the story. Part two is today we're talking about Jesus revolution.

It's the line of fire with your host, Doctor Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

You know, you don't often associate the theme of revolution with the gospel, but it is the ultimate revolutionary message. Overthrow the status quo.

Out with the old. In with the new. Replace the corrupt and fleshly with that which is heavenly and good transformation. Revolution is radical, dramatic change. That's what Jesus brings is the ultimate revolutionary leader. But he fights with different weapons. Think of that. He wins the world by laying down his life. He will come one day as the judge changed the world by dying for our sins, not by coercion, not by force, but by laying down his life and calling us repent.

Repentance is a revolutionary turn. Turn away. Turn around. Turn away from what's wrong. Turn to God. These are revolutionary concepts. That's why the followers of Jesus are so hated and despised. Because we're against the system, the system of the age, the system of this world. And while we're involved in the political system, our beliefs transcend that system. Our ultimate loyalty is to a heavenly kingdom. And then as citizens of that heavenly kingdom, we seek to live productive lives in whatever country we find ourselves and serve that country for its good. So let's now fast forward 20 years later in my Revolution book back in the year 2000. I said very plainly that Cultural Revolution is at hand, that things are going on in society. There's a seek, there's a yearning culture. Revolution is at hand. And it's either going to be Heaven-Sent or hell-bent who's going to rise up first and turn the tide. Friends, the answer is the world did. The answer is the flesh did. The answer is activists with other causes. Just think of the transformation of our society with LGBT activists and just that from the year 2000 until today, unrecognizable in terms of the level of changes that have happened in America. And we could go item after item where so many changes have happened for the worse. Even some of the vile, sexually explicit, exceptionally vulgar content of some songs whose names I won't mention on the air, just reading more about some of the content. You can't even look at the lyrics just too vulgar. Some from men, some from women. I mean, are degrading and. This just becomes so much more common. Little girls, little boys learn the words and singing along just a gentle degrading of the culture and the rise of Athie ism, the new Athie ism, the effect it had in the dropping out of church and the dropping out of faith. There has been a revolution, a culture evolution, and it's been for the worse, not not for the best or for the worst. And now you add in with that the radical socialism and the cancel culture and the mob ocracy. We're at a turn. As I've said many times, we're about to go over the cliff as a nation. So the warnings that we sounded looking back 20 years later, this really is all m g as in, oh, my God, I was on a conference call with one of my publishers. And it so happens that an editor that work with the publisher in the year 2000, the one that said, isn't that youth event, September 1st, 2000 going to happen, the called D. C. He's now working with my primary publisher, publisher he worked with back then. No learning exists now, working with my primary publisher run a conference call and one of his colleagues asked me that book, Revolution, that you wrote in 2000. Can we see it? I said, sure. They said, would you be interested in putting out a revised and updated edition for 20/20? We think there's something to this like say I could grip with this and I go back and start reading the book and I'm literally shaking on the inside looking at what we warned about 20 years ago. The things that we said were coming and now going back and reading it and saying, oh, my. We warned and people didn't believe us when we said a culture revolution is at hand. They didn't believe us when we said the only antidote is a Jesus revolution. They didn't believe us. They didn't hear us. Some did. Most did not. Now, 20 years later, we find ourselves really at the precipice. So I went back to this book again with a new title, Revolution, An Urgent Call to a Holy Uprising. It comes out October 6th of this year. Revolution, an urgent call to a holy uprising. Yes, it's a radical book because it's a biblically based book.

Yes, it's a radical book because it looks at what Jesus actually says and how he lived and what he calls us to, you know, our American version of convenience store Christianity and just go in there, shop, get a few items and move on, or this comfortable spectator Christianity where we just kind of come together, enjoy a lovely performance and maybe put a little money and go home. That's not the gospel. That's not the message of the gospel. Look, I've I've spoken all around the world. I've I've served in persecuted countries. I have literally prayed for people.

We laid hands on them, formally ordained them to ministry in certain countries, laid hands on them and sent them out to preach. And there were subsequent subsequently killed for preaching the gospel. Yes, I. I'm not exaggerating. I preached in places where we were nearly killed for preaching the gospel. One of my best friends in the world was stoned for four preaching and still see the scars from when he was stone. Decades ago, I became friendly with a very famous, persecuted Christians from from last century, died probably in the 90s, early 2000s. The story is well known in prison, tortured for their faith, Christians hated around the world. Christians reviled and opposed. Christmas as a threat to the system. Light is a threat to darkness. Friends, if you follow Jesus, you'll help many people, you will gain many friends and you will acquire many enemies. People will hate you. What does Paul say? Second Timothy, chapter three. Verse twelve. And second, Timothy. Paul is talking about his own sufferings, his own hardships, the things he suffered in this city, in that city and that city member. He was beaten. He was whipped. He he suffered all kinds of deprivation. He was imprisoned frequently. Second, Timothy, the third chapter, he says, my persecutions, you know, about them, verse eleven, my persecutions and sufferance that happened to me at Antioch at Iconium Lystra, which persecutions I endured. Yet from all of them, the Lord rescued me.

Indeed, the words of Paul, indeed, all that include you, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Second, Timothy 312. Write it down all who desire to live a godly life in myside. Jesus will be persecuted while even people in posture's will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

What do you know?

All who live a godly life in the side, Jesus will be persecuted here. Let me I'm going to switch this up so radically. It's going to jar some of you. And I tell my President Trump from it. I understand that there are people who hate the president because of his being demeanor, because of his character, because of his misogynist past and various things like that. I understand that. But remember, it was the same Donald Trump in terms of being obnoxious, in terms of being narcissistic, in terms of being self-centered, in terms of being misogynist, in terms of boasting about his adulteries. It was the same Donald Trump who was loved by the liberals and the progressives. Right? It was it was the same Donald Trump that with his Celebrity Apprentice, I never watched The Apprentice, but Celebrity Apprentice and all these celebrities wanted to beyond the show. Right. It was the same guy could obviously be vulgar if if if I said, OK, Donald Trump, give me word association, no one would say pure, humble, gracious, kind.

No one would think of words like integrity or morality. Nothing. Christian Bible, God, none of those words would come up. Correct.

All right.

Now, the same people that loved him, revered in the same Hollywood that enjoyed him or that put up with him or want to be on the show, whatever, that welcomed him as a colleague and Miss America pageant said all of that, revile him and hate him, you say.

That's because he's obnoxious, though. He's obnoxious before. Well, that's because he was misogynist while he certainly was misogynist before with his comments and actions. But it's changed his behavior. But certainly he was that before. And yet he was one of the guys and part of the crowd and friends of the other celebrities and politicians. And he had money. So if you're a politician, you, like, give him his money and on and on. Right. What does he get so hated? One reason is he changes his values in terms of abortion. In terms of standing up for Christians and now it becomes absolutely reviled. That's one reason, again, I'm not paring down comparing Donald Trump to Jesus. Obviously. Obviously, I'm not in comparing Donald Trump to a baby Christian. I'm not even saying that, but I'm saying that when his views changed and went against that, the tide went against the spirit of the age. That's when that's when some of the great hostility came. And the progressives and liberals and the Hollywood crowd that once looked at him as a comrade in arms now hated his guts. There's a reason for the friend. When you align yourself with the light, the darkness will hate you when you stand for change. Gospel based change the world will reject you. Good news. It rejected Jesus and he overcame the world. That's our calling to live revolutionary lives through the Gospel. And we as God's people are the answer to the society. The sickness, the pain, the alienation, the questions. We threw the gospel at the answer people need. Hey, this is my Web site. Have you done that yet? Maybe you just started viewing us, listening to us at Starcher Brown dot org. Ask D.R Brown dot org. Let us know how you came in contact with our work. Check out the thousands of hours of free articles and free videos and then sign up. Takes you 30 seconds. Center for a weekly e blast or informative. Great stuff. Great content for you.

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