Dr. Brown Tackles Your Toughest Social Media Questions

You've got questions. We've got answers.

Hey friends, this is Michael Brown. As always, on Friday we're here to answer your questions, but I'm not giving out the phone number because we're not taking calls today. This is the last day during the week where I have been separated away, spending time with the Lord, seeking his face, doing some writing, and I have not been doing live broadcasts. We have prerecorded all of these to free me up so I can concentrate on what matters most and hopefully serve you even better, glorify the Lord even more, be a greater blessing to you and to many more people. So thanks those of you who have prayed, excuse me, prayed for me during this week for this time away, and those of you who have donated and helped with your end gifts, thank you. Thank you so much. Deeply appreciate it. So what we're doing today is taking questions that I previously solicited on Facebook, so don't post the questions now, but sit back and enjoy the broadcast. I trust you'll find it to be informative as always. All right, let's start with Eliel.

This is what he says. Blessings. I have a question about The Harbinger II. I enjoyed the book and was wondering if you had a chance to read it. I know you had Jonathan Cahn on your show and was wondering what are your thoughts on what he reveals in the book.

Okay. I have the book on my desk. I was actually sent an extra copy of it as a speaker at the return event this past September, September 26th in DC. And because I had some audible credits, I decided I'd give the book away and listen to it on audio. So I have not yet done it.

Long answer. I've not yet done it. I was moved by the conversation Jonathan and I had on the air. I was stirred by it.

I would say I was stirred by that more than any interview we've done. If that reflects the contents of the book, then I trust I'll be stirred by the contents of the book. But as I say with all of his books, I absolutely believe God has raised him up to bring a wake-up call to America to warn of impending judgment or judgment even in our midst to call us to repent and turn to God. I believe he's been supernaturally raised up to do that. As for each point he argues in his books, test them by scripture, evaluate them historically to see if they're accurate. And he would welcome that as well. In fact, he has amened me making this very statement. Okay, let's see.

Haley Joy. I have a question about the Passion Translation Bible. Is it correct to consider it a paraphrase like the message? I've heard many, many pastors, including my own, reference it from time to time. And I've heard some of my friends solely use that translation, mostly because of how beautiful and poetic it is. I've also heard a few prominent pastors have decent arguments as to why it's heresy and absolute garbage to abbreviate the two-hour-long videos I've watched. To what extent can we base our biblical beliefs on this translation? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Yes, Haley, I've actually addressed this many times, but I'll address it once more. Number one, it is a paraphrase.

I don't care what anyone says. It is a paraphrase. It is not a direct translation. It's a paraphrase. In that sense, similar to the message.

That's number one. Brian Simmons is a colleague. I haven't seen him in many, many years. I preached from years ago. I believe he loves the Lord and loves the Word and is a serious student of the Word. If he says it's a translation, I differ.

It's a paraphrase. If you're not convinced of that, here, do this. Take out any five English translations. Here, go to BibleGateway.com, right? We can get a multitude of Bible translations. And go through the Beatitudes, all right? Matthew 5, 3 through 12.

Go through them. Read them in the King James, New King James, NASB, ESV, NIV, CSB, NET, you name it. Read in all of those, right? TLV, Tree of Life, right? Messianic Jewish.

Read in any of those. Then read it in The Passion, and you'll see it's a paraphrase. Most notably, the same Greek word that occurs at the beginning of most of those verses, micarius, which would be the equivalent of Hebrew ashrei, truly happy, truly blessed, is translated differently in verse after verse. Now, Brian would say he's bringing out the meaning of it.

That's fine. It's a paraphrase. It's a paraphrase. Now, I believe at times it's beautiful and powerful, and I'll freely quote it in that respect. But to use it as a primary translation, no, no. Absolutely, categorically, no.

You are getting the Bible, as interpreted and understood by a godly man who loves the Lord, to you, as opposed to translators doing their best to just get what it says to you without their clear mediation and interpretation. I've interacted some with Mike Winger, Pastor Mike Winger, about this. I may not come to as severe conclusions as he would, but his critique is a fair critique. His critique is fair.

In other words, he's not just some crazy heresy hunter speaking vainly and out of turn. Okay. Let's see.

Let's go to Misty Lynn. I will ask the question that I've tried to have answered in the past. I'm a believer who was backslidden for many years but came back to God in March. I want to know if and when the Holy Spirit leaves a person, if they were filled but then leave the faith. I guess it's hard for me because I don't feel the way I used to back when I was first saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit many years ago, but maybe that is because I messed it up. I used to feel God, but now that I'm back to being a believer, I don't anymore. How do you get the baptism of the Holy Spirit back? I know this time I will never leave God again. I just want to know I'm saved. This is a basic faith-related question, but I'm sure there are many more who lived through the Brownsville revival and are in the same situation as me.

I was a preacher's kid. Misty, I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles, but I would encourage you not to speculate about when the Holy Spirit leaves or if he doesn't leave. I would encourage you to focus on the fact that God has staked his reputation on the fact that the cross is enough and that he restores you and forgives you. I would encourage you every day, even multiple times a day, to read through all of Luke 15 from beginning to end until it becomes clear to you that the Father was longing for you to return. And as you were returning to him, he had initiated the process.

He's the one that put it in your heart to come back, and he's the one that came running out to greet you. That's the truth. Read the last two verses of the Book of James.

That's the truth. When restoration comes, it comes fully, beautifully, and the same cross that brought you forgiveness the first time around brings you forgiveness the second time around. In fact, although it's painful and grievous to have walked away from the Lord for so long, it can be even more beautiful to be back with him than ever because you realize the error of your ways. You realize the bankruptcy of being separated from him. You realize how wrong it was and what you were missing, and now you want to cling to him like never before. But I would throw myself on him and rather than say, I'll never leave you again, just say, Lord, you know the weakness of my heart. I entrust you to keep me.

I'm putting all my eggs in your basket that you will keep me. So read through Luke 15 over and over again until the full revelation hits. If you need a book to read about the love of God, check out David Harwood, H-A-R-W-O-O-D, a dear friend and colleague of many years who's taught classes for us at FIRE for many years. The true love of God, or God's true love, David Harwood, H-A-R-W-O-O-D, or you can take a class that he teaches on that, a video class. Just go to, oh, let's see, it's on teachable.com, FIRE School of Ministry.

You'll find it. You'll be enriched by it, blessed by it, helped by it, encouraged by it, and the Holy Spirit is in you and upon you. That's through his grace.

If you spoke in tongues before, you can speak in tongues now. And I would dare say that the biggest reason you don't, quote, feel God is because you still feel guilty. You still feel like I let him down. I betrayed him.

I was dishonorable. Look to him. Thank him for complete forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. Thank him that the same God who started the work will finish it, that his gifts and calling are irrevocable, and begin to worship him as if you felt him. And trust me, soon enough, his presence, his joy will be there. In fact, I want to pray, Lord, bring the release of love and forgiveness and grace to Misty, to enjoy intimate fellowship with you once again, to never stray in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, let us go to Joy. What do you think about the Carl Lentz scandal in light of all the concerns people had about him before he was caught in adultery? What would you say to the Muslim woman involved? First, my heart goes out to Carl and his family. I hope he's found a true place of repentance. I hope his family can be restored and stronger than ever, his marriage. And whether he's used by God to preach again or not, public ministry, that's really very secondary to the larger issues. But that's first and foremost. I don't condemn him, I don't judge him, I don't sit here as holier than thou. To the contrary, to the contrary, I say there go I, but by the grace of God.

All right? Now, I had some differences with him on some points in the way he presented things, on some controversial moral and cultural issues, and we interacted privately about those things. And, you know, the fact that he got to hang out with different celebrities and so on, whatever, they're just people, right? Now, you say, yeah, but that was what brought him down the path. Okay, well, then what about the holiness preacher? What about the guy preaching holiness from the pulpit, using a King James Bible, wearing a, you know, a black suit, black tie and white shirt, never gone to the movies in his life, doesn't own a computer, wants to stay away from internet, and he commits adultery.

And we can have it to anybody, that's my point. I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, well, see, it's because he was doing this, this, this. I don't know what was happening in his private life. I don't know what his standards were, all right? And he could have been having very high standards, but just foolishly opened the door and started playing games with sin.

So, it can happen to anyone. So, I'd say, number one, we pray for our brother, and we pray for his wife and kids, for grace, for restoration, and above all, that the testimony of Jesus would be recovered to a watching world and to maybe celebrities, young, you know, Justin Bieber and Haley that, you know, that looked to him, that he'd be able to minister grace to them, you know, others that may be disappointed, right? Pray for that. Separate issue, what he was preaching, how he lived, that's what we was preaching we can evaluate based on the word, how he lived, God knows, all right? But plenty of holiness preachers fall.

Plenty of people who rail against pornography from the pulpit are addicted to it privately. That's why we do our best to restore in a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves as we're also tempted, Galatians 6, right? As for the Muslim woman, what a terrible shame. A terrible shame, not just that she got brought into an adulterous relationship with a man and obviously made her own choices, but that somehow she will look at Christianity as hypocritical or pastors and leaders as hypocritical. So hopefully, out of this, some believers can reach out to her, God will put them in contact, and she could find people that really love the Lord. I'm not saying Carl doesn't love the Lord, but that they can minister grace to her. So we should pray for her as well. We must not forget her and just pray for Carl and his family.

We must absolutely pray for her. And my attitude is we hold standards very, very high. We must hold them very, very high. The word is clear. We don't play games, otherwise we'll get burned. We play with fire, we'll get burned.

That's a fact. But have mercy on those who fall. Have mercy, especially if they demonstrate a repentant attitude all the more.

Have mercy. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us today on The Line of Fire.

This is Michael Brown. I am delighted to be with you. It is a joy.

It is a privilege. I hope you can feel the joy in my heart if you're watching. See the joy in my face. If you're listening, feel the smile, because it's there. I can't tell you how much I love being with you on the radio over 12 years, five days a week, and I enjoy it. Look forward to it just as much now as ever. So thanks for taking time out of your day to let me pour into you.

I'm not taking calls today. I'm answering questions that were previously posted on Facebook. But if we've been a blessing to you, if our ministry has helped you strengthen you, if it's answered questions, if it's been there at difficult times, if you value our voice, if you feel that we're doing something worthy for the church and for the world and for Israel, then do stand with us in prayer. And if you're able to help with a year-end gift, that's awesome. Just go to our website AskDrBrown.org, click on donate, or right on the Facebook page, click on the donate button.

Or on YouTube, right beneath the chat box, you can click on the dollar sign there. Thank you. All the funds go right back out to touching people like you.

So we go back to Facebook. Deborah, did Jesus have the body of fallen man, like all men born after the fall of Adam, or the body of man before the fall, perfect biology and function perhaps unaffected by disease, no genetic abnormalities, et cetera. After all, he is the last Adam, the new prototype.

Wonderful question, Deborah. But the answer would be he had the body of a fallen man. The Bible says that he was like us in every way, that he took on flesh and blood so he could be like us in every way, even experienced the reality of temptation. You said, well, Adam and Eve experienced the reality of temptation. Yes, but we see other indications of his full humanity, getting tired, right, having to take a nap in the boat, or getting hungry after fasting for 40 days.

In other words, he was fully human in that respect. If he was, if he, his body was already gonna live forever, well, here, let's say this. Adam and Eve had to eat of the tree of life to live forever anyway. But yes, he is the new Adam in that he starts things over. But was the first Adam born of a woman?

No. First Adam was created directly by God. Whereas the last Adam comes down from heaven, but through the womb of a woman, of a virgin. So the parallels are not meant to be exact in every way. But Jesus was fully like us.

There's no indication that he was immune to disease or anything else like that. All right. Ben, what is your opinion broadly on scholarly opinions of the authorship of the Old Testament, such as the four source theory? If you wanted to include thoughts in other books, such as the authorship of Isaiah that works too specifically, do you believe that any book in the Old Testament canon was finalized before the destruction of the First Temple? Yeah, it's interesting. Probably in the last two weeks, questions sent to our ministry, asked on social media, asked on the air.

It's probably like 10 times the same question came up in the last couple of weeks. So I guess there's some stuff out there that a lot of people are reading. Yeah, of course, I believe there were books finalized before the destruction of the First Temple. No reason not to.

No reason not to. As for authorship, I believe that whatever the Pentateuch ascribes to Moses, where it says he wrote it down, that he actually wrote things down, then we know there are additions. Like the last 12 verses of Deuteronomy are universally considered to be added later, talking about Moses' death and then reflecting a period many years later that no one like Moses has yet risen up. But even with the documentary hypothesis, the four source theory that you mentioned, that allegedly there were four different writers, Jay the Yahwist writer, and the Elohistic writer, and the Deuteronomic writer, and then the priestly writer, or schools, that at least two of them would have been well pre-exilic, the J and the E, much of D would have been considered pre-exilic, and then P exilic or post-exilic. So even there, those sources would have allegedly been earlier. But yeah, I have no reason to think that there were books that were finalized before the destruction of the First Temple. Absolutely. Now, as to Isaiah, I'm in the early stages of a commentary in Isaiah.

And you say you've been saying you've been in early stage for all, because there's no heavy time limit on it, like I have to get it out now. But my overall reflection is that I believe that Isaiah himself had visions well beyond his lifetime, but they may have then been transmitted and finalized through his disciples and the subsequent generations. That's why we just have one book of Isaiah as opposed to multiple books where Isaiah wrote this, and then Isaiah's disciple Yohanan wrote this, and then Yohanan's disciple Yoshia wrote this. No, there's no evidence of that that we have, but the fact that so many of the prophecies are clearly for generations after Isaiah's day, to me, I have no problem saying that God revealed things to him that were then transmitted to his disciples, perhaps further developed and then released later. Josephine, do you think people have dreams which are messages from God? And if so, how can we better understand them?

Oh yes, for sure! I absolutely think people have dreams which are messages from God. And it tells us explicitly in the New Testament, right, in Acts the second chapter, where Peter quotes from Joel 2, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, right? Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, dreams in the New Testament as well, you know, Acts 16 for example. So yeah, there's no reason, and I mentioned Acts 16 as opposed to say Matthew 1 and 2 with Joseph, because this is now after the cross, right, and God's still revealing things in dreams.

Yeah, no reason why he wouldn't. I'll give you an example of something. When I lived in Maryland, this is, I'm trying to think where we were when this happened, I would say it's around 93 or 94, my friend Sid Roth came into my office one day, either that or called me, and said, Mike, God's instructed me to put a book together, and I'm to get the testimonies of 10 different Jewish believers, you know, this one who was a Holocaust survivor, and this one who was a former Hindu guru, and this, you know, just this whole range. I'm supposed to get these, and I want you to write one as well, and then we're going to publish this, and it's going to be an outreach tool for Jewish people. Well, I did write a chapter in that, and initially it came out called They Thought for Themselves.

The books total between English, Russian, maybe Spanish, Hebrew, the total distribution of these books, in terms of to how many non-believing Jews the book was sent or given, total between these languages, maybe it's four million, maybe it's five million, I mean, it's been extraordinary in terms of the level of outreach. Extraordinary. That was the first prophetic dreams Sid had. In a dream, he felt God gave him that directive, he knew it was the Lord he acted on it. Now, I've been saved 49 years now, and maybe I've gotten a couple of prophetic dreams.

Maybe. My dreams are not prophetic otherwise. I know other friends that get prophetic dreams or directional dreams all the time, all the time. I am also not expert at all in interpreting dreams.

It's not a gift I have. People will send me their dreams and I look at it, it's like, hmm, I don't get the insight, the symbolism, the meaning, the language. There's a brother with the Lord now, John Paul Jackson, prophetic brother, who seemed to really be gifted in interpreting dreams. And he's got probably a book out or a teaching series, so check out John Paul Jackson and dreams, search for that. John Paul Jackson, dreams. And one time he said to me, one of the few times we got to hang out together, he said, you know, dreams tell you more about yourself than anything else. It kind of reveals what you're thinking is going on inside of you.

But in any case, that's what I would recommend. But that being said, don't just try to interpret every dream. Lord, what's the meaning of this? I was on a roller coaster, which became a mushroom, and then the mushroom turned into Elvis Presley, and suddenly Elvis Presley became a brontosaurus. And then the brontosaurus became my grandmother's pet dog. And then the dog was chasing me down the street, and the next thing I was flying. All right, well tell you what, if the Lord has a message for you in that, let's trust he'll get it across.

I'm not going to sit and spend the hours trying to figure that out. But if you kept getting the same dream, or when you got the dream, you woke up with the sense of the Lord saying there's something here, then you pray about it, or you ask for further insight. All right, Kelsey, which parts of the Bible were for the time the verse was written, which applies to us? Salvation applies to all, of course, through the whosoever beliefs of John 3.16. For example, when God was talking to Joshua, it says not to be discouraged. Is that just for Joshua or for us also?

So use this principle. Jot these verses down. Romans 15, 4.

Romans 15, 4, which says that everything that was written beforehand was written for our hope, encouragement, strength. 1 Corinthians 10, 1 through 11. 1 Corinthians 10, 1 through 11. And there Paul says that the things that happened with God judging Israel in the past, those were warnings for us.

So look at what happened to them, be warned by. Romans 15, look at what happened to them, be encouraged by it. And then 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, about the inspiration of God's word and how it's profitable for teaching and profitable for ministry for the man of God to use in a certain way. Okay, so in short, there are things that God gave to Israel for a certain time, for a certain purpose. From them, we learn, right?

From them, we make application. We come to understand, but we understand it's not a direct word to us. There are other things that are universal principles. The principles of Proverbs are universal principles of wisdom. When God says, I'm going to judge the nations for this as well as Israel, so that applies to everybody. Or whatever is written in the New Testament directed to all believers, that is for all believers. So learn from everything, grow from everything, gain insight from everything, make spiritual application as appropriate. When God tells Israel, don't be discouraged, or God tells Joshua, don't be discouraged, and that comes to you in a moment when you're being discouraged, take hold of hope in the Lord.

At the same time, that which is a universal directive or clearly written for us and it's directed to us, especially in the New Testament, take as God speaking directly to you to act on those things. Thanks for joining us on today's Friday broadcast. I pray that the blessing and smile of God will flood your life, that you will join nearer to the Lord as we come to the end of this tumultuous year, that His Word will be the grounding of your life, that the Holy Spirit will be close to you, and that you will make Jesus known, make Yeshua known like never before. All right, I'm not taking calls today. I'm answering questions that were previously posted on Facebook, so don't post them now. I'm answering questions that were previously posted. Let's see.

We'll go to Brian. Hey, Mr. Brown, shalom. I also have similar testimonies with you, with drugs at a young age, and I've been a child of God and a disciple of Yeshua for about four years now. But my question is, do you have a short and to the point video clip of why you can't be gay and a Christian at the same time?

I have a sister that has turned to that lifestyle a few years ago after her third kid, and I want to show her the clip and try to explain to her that it's not okay to think like that. And also, please pray for me and all of us to be better and more obedient children of God and disciples of Christ. Yeshua, please, and thank you. God bless you and your family forever and ever.

Amen. All right, guys, I need you to post a link for Brian to our video, our Consider This Video, Can You Be Gay and Christian? All right, so yes, Brian, we have a six-minute video, Can You Be Gay and Christian?

And we're gonna—our team, since they get a moment, we'll post that in response to you. So before I answer this on the air, you will see a response, okay? So, Can You Be Gay and Christian? It's on our YouTube channel, AskDrBrown. It's on our website, AskDrBrown.org/. Consider this, and then you'll see it.

Can You Be Gay and Christian? Concisely, we lay out the issues. We do it in love. Also, check out InHisImage.Movie. If she'll watch this, it may really minister to her. She may get mad at the short video, but this movie, InHisImage.Movie, that may be something that she'll take the time to watch. And then my book, Can You Be Gay and Christian?, which is written with real compassion, Can You Be Gay and Christian? May the Lord touch her and strengthen you and your family. All right, let's see. Marie.

Marie Eve. Hello, do you know of any charismatic theologians community online? I'm searching for new theologians, charismatic friends to talk with us. I live in a little town in the desert and just have one charismatic friend here. I just ordered my second book of yours.

Excited to read it. Okay, so, a charismatic theologian's community, online. I'm not sure if Sam Storms has a community.

Search for Dr. Sam Storms, of course, Dr. Craig Keener. There are plenty of charismatic theologians, not plenty, but a good number. Boy, I'm not sure. They're probably there. I just don't know about them. I mean, there's the Society for Pentecostal Studies, but that's academic, that's scholars. There's the Center for the Church. There's the Society for Evangelical Arminians. Some of them are charismatic, but that's more focused on Arminian theology versus Calvinist. Boy, I'm really not sure, but there are plenty of messages and teachings and materials that we have online that can be a blessing and help to you.

May the Lord strengthen you with a fresh encounter of His Spirit. Um, Andrew, was Cain and Abel reptilians or weird humans not in the image of God? I have no idea where you got that idea. Cain and Abel were sons, the first sons of Adam and Eve, creating God's image and in the image of Adam and Eve. So, I have no idea where you get the idea that they were, quote, reptilians or weird humans not in the image of God. They are absolutely in the image of God, absolutely humans. Wow, I wonder where you got that from.

No insult for the question, just wondering where you got it from. This is the place to ask the questions. Timothy, hi Dr. Brown. I was wondering what you do not like or disagree with in the book called Christ the Healer by F.F. Bosworth. Thank you very much. It's a great book.

I haven't read it in many, many years, but F.F. Bosworth was a Pentecostal leader and, in fact, a man who helped disciple A.W. Tozer. Yes, yeah, Tozer was charismatic. Oh, I don't mean that Tozer would have liked some charismatic TV preacher today, but Tozer himself believed in the gifts and power of the Spirit for today.

Yeah, but F.F. Bosworth was one of the men who discipled Tozer. Christ the Healer is an excellent book. What might I disagree with?

I might disagree with what could be an over-application of Biostripes. You were healed. I forget exactly where he comes down on that, but he's got a classic line because some of the early faith healers, they rejected doctors, they rejected medicine, and a lot of it was not the best medicine then.

The practices were not what we have today, and still we're growing, right? There have got to be better cures for cancer than chemotherapy, for example, right? But some of the ones completely rejected going to doctors under any circumstances, etc., and they felt it was sin or compromise your faith. Bosworth had a great statement that if God's the one that's putting sickness on people, then every doctor is in rebellion to God, that every hospital is a house of rebellion, that every nurse is working against the purposes of God, because God's putting sicknesses on people, and the doctors are trying to get them off. But then flip that over to saying doctors are working with God, hospitals are working with God, nurses are working with God to bring relief of people's sufferings. But we use that as a textbook.

Many years ago, I remember using it the first time as a textbook in the mid-1980s teaching on divine healing. I'm sure there'd be some interpretations of certain lines I differ with, but otherwise it is a classic book in many ways. Now some of you may read it and say, what about this line?

It's been many years since I looked at it, and I looked at it more to see, okay, edifying, I'm going to recommend it as opposed to reading it critically, so I could tell you every point I differed with. All right, another question from Andrew, but I'm going to try to only answer one from each person. If Jesus wore tassels with a cord of blue, why don't his followers wear them? That was something under the Sinai Covenant. We're not under the Sinai Covenant. God never called the Gentiles to wear that.

And why just pick that out? Why not many, many other things under the law that would have been practiced or that are required in Torah? Many, many, many, many, many others that we don't even think of practicing or following. No, those things were outward reminders under the Sinai Covenant, remembering the children of Israel to keep all his commandments. They were also part of the garment that was worn. In other words, we don't even wear that kind of garment today. But if someone wants to wear them, it's between them and God.

I have friends that wear them, it's between them and God, Jewish and Gentile believers, again, it's between them and God. But the emphasis on the New Covenant is that God writes these things in our hearts, they're internalized. But there's no command in the New Testament to do it.

You're not under the Sinai Covenant, especially as a Gentile. Laura, I just finished your book, Not Afraid of the Antichrist. I see eye to eye with you in your views on end times. I wonder if you can give an overview commentary on Daniel chapter 11. Thank you.

Ah, yeah. Daniel chapter 11. Can I give an overview?

Let's just take a look at it and I'm glad that you agree step for step. So Daniel 11, the first year of Darius the Mede, he stands to confirm strength in them. So we'll get away from controversies about chronology and exactly who's who.

I'll tell you the truth. Three more kings will arise in Persia. The fourth will be far richer than the other. So you have the Medo-Persian Empire begun by Cyrus.

So this is a description of those things. By the power he gains through his riches will stir up everyone against the Kingdom of Greece. So the Kingdom of Greece and Alexander, so that ultimately displaces the Medo-Persian Empire. So as we all know, you had these major empires, the Assyrian Empire, after which is the Babylonian Empire. And they often would go back and forth as to who was in supremacy and just kind of all under the rubric of Babylon, right? But beginning with Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, it's the first major one mentioned. So Babylonian Empire, then that's displaced by the Greco-Roman, excuse me, by the Medo-Persian Empire, then that's displaced by the Greek Empire, then that's displaced by the Roman Empire, and it's during that time that the Messiah comes during the time of the Roman Empire, all right? So this is laying out some of the conflicts that are going to take place and arise under Alexander and his successors, and the divisions that will take place under the Grecian Empire, and then ultimately a key leader who symbolizes, you know, you have this several times in Daniel, a key hostile anti-God, anti-Christ leader, like Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century, that prefigures or personifies a later anti-Christ, and hence there can be some prophetic application to the end of the age based on what happened in these centuries before the time of Jesus.

So that's my very broad overview. Holly, how do you explain Lot offering his daughters to wicked men in Genesis? It does show how messed up and depraved everything was, that's part of why the account is there, and it reminds us of the fact that women had lower status than men in the ancient world, and it reminds us of the extraordinary place of honor that you would put on a guest, that if you had a guest staying with you and now the people of your community were going to attack your guest, that it would be better for you to let your own family suffer than to allow a guest in your home to suffer. But that being said, even though Lot is called righteous in 2 Peter the second chapter, the fact is his soul was vexed by the ways of Sodom, and he was a man of his times, so it's there to show the depravity of the whole situation. Again, it does underscore the degree to which women had a much lower status than men, so we don't look at that as a positive, obviously, or something to emulate, and it does remind us of the incredible place that protection and honor of a visitor had in the ancient world. Rather, they have your own daughters defiled than the visitors. That's the reality there.

No pretty picture to put on it. But Andy, how do you reconcile the alleged contradictions in Genesis 1 and 2? Some say that Genesis 1 is a poem in the Morellic Oracle and that Genesis 2 is the actual creation story. Based on my reading and research, I tend to believe that Genesis 1 is an overview of the creation story. Genesis 2 is a more specific zoomed-in view of the creation story that focuses on men.

Yeah, that's exactly how I read it. Genesis 1 is not a poem, but Genesis 1 is not primarily there to tell the sciences, primarily to teach us about who God is and how he works, and the order with which he works on the earth. That is primarily why it is there, it is to give us a revelation of God as well as to tell us about the history of his creation. But yes, Genesis 2 is focusing in. So Genesis 1, a massive wide-angle lens, Genesis 2, a super-powerful telephoto lens, and that was going to recapitulate and give you further details. It's almost like a story that you're reading, or you're watching some thriller, and it's like, how are they going to get out of this? What's going to happen? And then the next episode takes you a little deeper and behind the scenes and tells you more of what was actually happening.

Yeah, so I read it the same way you do, and many scholars read it like that as well. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, as promised, I'm getting to as many questions as possible. These have previously been posted on Facebook, so don't post anything now, don't call because we're not taking calls today. But I hope you're enjoying this. I love getting to lots of questions, and as always, interesting questions.

Daphne, hi Dr. Brown. I've been searching answers on Matthew's genealogy and how and how many generations they are. Does it add up? And if the massacre of the infants really happened, why would such an important event not be mentioned in the other gospels, especially Luke's account?

Thank you. All right, if you check out volume four of my series Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, volume four, I do get into some depth about the apparent contradictions between Matthew's genealogy and Luke's genealogy. But for sure, Matthew is leaving out certain generations as happens constantly in genealogies. Just on the way up to the office today, I was listening to the book of Ruth on audio, just finishing Judges then in Ruth, and when Ruth has a first child, right? When Ruth's first child is born, so this is Naomi's grandson, everyone says she has a son. So all that to say that you could skip genealogies, the son of this one, the son of that one, you could skip genealogies or skip generations, that's commonly done.

It's done in the Old Testament genealogies. So Matthew strategically lays things out to make sure he's got key people in and key events in, and that's involving women and things like that, and foreigners, you know, like Rahab or Ruth, getting those things in, and then dividing it into three equal groups of 14 to make a total of 42. And perhaps he did that because the numerical value for the name David, David in Hebrew, Dalet Vov, Dalet 464 is 14. So this is symbolically pointing to David the Messiah.

That's speculation, but it could well be. You know, the problem is, it seems like 14, 14, 13. So one of them you end up counting twice, and that's just somehow the way he did it. There's an argument from Syriac that there's another generation to put in, in the Peshitta version, and I'm not convinced that that really works. It's interesting, but I'm not convinced. So there's just the counting of one generation twice for whatever reason, but that's just the way he lays it out, to divide it in 14, 14, 14.

And he could have easily added others in or taken others out, but that was his design to communicate a certain point. Now, as for the massacre of the infants, there are key things that one gospel reports on and another doesn't. Only Luke reports on one of the thieves on the cross turning and coming to faith, right, in Luke 23. Or only Matthew reports on the earthquake with the dead rising in conjunction with the death and resurrection of Jesus at the end of Matthew's gospel. Only he reports on that. Or the Jewish report about the body being stolen and that being circulated.

You know, the Roman soldiers are paid off. There are numerous accounts that only Luke tells and shares and things involving women or, you know, the Good Samaritan parable and things. So they each have their purposes. And it could well be Matthew's telling his story and Luke's like, okay, you told it there.

I don't need to tell it here. But that's why they have the different voices. And you say, yeah, but how is it that it's not recorded elsewhere? Well, how many other accounts do we have in the ancient world? The gospels tell us things that Josephus doesn't. He left certain things out.

But it's no surprise that someone like Herod could do something like that based on who he was. But it's not like we have a hundred sources and only Matthew told it. And we have like two or three, all right, and only Matthew told it. You might ask the other thing, if it really happened and Matthew didn't record it, why didn't we know?

Turn it around and ask that. Julian, are those who claim to be gay Christians considered to be brothers and sisters in the Lord? Please explain.

Thank you. All right, first, just a very black and white scriptural statement. Paul says that those who practice homosexuality, just like those who practice adultery, those who practice fornication, those who practice drunkenness, in other words, this is their unrepentant lifestyle, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. They are sinners and they will not inherit the kingdom of God. I can say that categorically based on what scripture says. All right, now, and the whole argument, well, the Bible doesn't know anything about loving monogamous same-sex relations. First, who says the Bible knows nothing about it? Didn't the writers in the New Testament live in the Greco-Roman world where those things existed? You're saying the entire history of the Old Testament, nobody ever came across a committed, loving, same-sex relationship?

Why not? Was it all just about prostitution and pederasty and temple, temple idolatry? Can you prove that? You're saying that there were, there were, quote, no gays that just loved each other in the ancient world? So there's no evidence that the biblical writers didn't know about it, but the biblical writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit who knew everything, said that this behavior, this practice, this sexual relations, the romantic relations, are blatantly contrary to what God ordered and what God established. God gave us the proper order, categorically laid it out, made us biologically and sociologically to be one with another, male with female, female with male, not male plus male, not female plus female.

And those who practice this are in direct violation to his will, and therefore will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Now, what if it's a couple that they're brand new and they're ignorant? How much ignorance did God put up with in your life as a new believer?

So they put up with a whole lot in mine. I mean, when I said I'll never put a needle in my arm again, December 17th of 1971, at that moment I know that I know that I know that my sins were forgiven, that I was right with God, that that was the point of surrender he was waiting for, that all the guilt was removed from all the junk I'd done before that. But I didn't fully realize that getting high at all was wrong.

I just knew I shouldn't put a needle in my arm. Two days after, that I was hanging out with some friends and I smoked hash with them. And I'm 100% sure I was saved. I'm 100% sure if I died in the midst of it, I would have gone straight into the presence of God. I was forgiven through the blood of Jesus and I was ignorant.

As I was taking the bus home, it's like, I don't think I should do this. All right, Lord, I'll never get high again. And by His grace, I never did after that. And I was still using profanity, you know, F this and F that, and telling people about Jesus. I was saved, but I was ignorant.

All right. And so, I mean, how God's patient. I know one woman that got baptized while she was still in a relationship with her lesbian partner. I've actually heard that from some others who are ex-gays, that they had come to faith. They were working through these things, but they were still in a relationship. This woman may have been like a two-year period. She first stopped having sexual relations with her partner. Then she stopped sleeping in the same bed with her partner. Then she stopped living in the same house with her partner.

But it was a period of time. So maybe there's a couple and they claim to love the Lord and they're brand new believers. And they've been at a church that says you can be gay and Christian. God's their judge.

But once they are aware and understand, they cannot live like that. All right. It is forbidden and will disqualify someone from entering God's kingdom. Now, there are people who say I'm not in a gay relationship. I believe it's wrong. I believe it's sinful. I don't fantasize. I seek to live a godly life.

But I identify as a gay Christian because I'm same-sex attracted. Don't do that. Don't do that.

It's a mistake. Don't qualify yourself. Don't make that part of your identity. What if I as a married man struggled with adulterous thoughts but I don't commit adultery? Should I say, well, I'm an adulterous Christian?

What if I'm a single woman and I struggle with lustful thoughts for other men even though I don't act in that relationship? Should I say I'm a fornicating Christian? I mean, why should I put a qualifier in front of it? So there are people who say I'm a gay Christian.

That's what they mean. I urge them, don't make that part of your identity. That's not going to damn you to hell. But don't make that part of your identity. You're a follower of Jesus. Your struggle is with same-sex attraction.

Other people struggle with this or that. That doesn't define us. All right. Patricia, why didn't God stop the Holocaust? Why didn't he stop the Holocaust? Why didn't he stop Joseph Stalin from his murderous purge in Russia? Why didn't he stop Mao Zedong with his murderous purge in China? Why didn't he stop Pol Pot with his murderous purge in Cambodia? Why doesn't he stop a man right now abducting a three-year-old girl and then by the end of the day he's going to rape her and kill her?

Why doesn't he stop that? There's so much evil on the planet, so much terrible suffering. We're talking about people doing things to other people. Why doesn't God stop it?

And certainly we'd wish he would, right? I mean, don't let these things happen, the monstrous evil, the unspeakable suffering. But bear in mind, when he created the world, he made a choice that he was going to create a world in which human beings would have freedom of choice, and within that they might choose evil, dastardly evil. I mean, the firstborn son to Adam and Eve, Cain, killed his brother, Abel.

So the firstborn son born was a murderer. Why didn't God stop that? Why didn't God stop Adam and Eve from sinning in the first place and disobeying? And that would have saved all the suffering in the human race because God desires to have a people that will love him freely and then be with him forever, and that somehow out of the mess, the pain, the agony, the loss, eternally, he will make something good out of it.

Eternally, it will make sense. But he does not stop us from doing evil, and otherwise he'd have to take away our will or our existence. What we have to do is work with him against evil. What we have to do is bring redemption to those who've been hurt through the cross, bring redemption to them, to those who've been hurt by human evil, by human wickedness.

We can be used by God to bring about change. And in this world, people are going to do evil things. Why doesn't God stop us from the smaller evils that we do and the things we learn to regret?

That's the freedom that he gave us. So we pray for God's mercy. And that's also why we pray for the Lord to return, because it's only when he returns that this madness will stop. But the incredible saying is God brings good out of evil, even the horrors of the Holocaust and the unspeakable losses to the Jewish people and others. Out of the ashes of that, the modern state of Israel has been birthed, which might save millions of more lives. It doesn't minimize the loss, but it's to say God can bring life out of death and good out of evil and light out of darkness. That's the God we serve. Hey, have a blessed weekend. Looking forward to being back with you live, God willing, on Monday.