How to Avoid Deception

The Bible warns against deception. How can we avoid it? I once heard it said the problem with deception is that it's very deceiving. Jesus warns against deception, Paul warns against it, Jacob, James warns against it.

How can we avoid it? Here's the phone number to call. Bible theology questions, questions about the deception that's in the church today, areas where you differ with me. Same phone number for everybody. 866-348-7884. That's 86634-TRUTH.

I'll get as many calls as I can over the course of the broadcast. What I want to do first though is talk about the power of deception and then lay out some Biblical guidelines, some principles that will help us avoid deception. But think back to the first deception recorded in Scripture in the book of Genesis, the third chapter, where the serpent challenges Eve. And remember, there's not an overt attempt to deceive in the most blatant open way, saying, hey, look, if you do this, you're going to destroy your lives. If you do this, you're going to forfeit eternal life. If you do this, you're going to bring a curse on all generations that follow.

But, you know, hey, you'll feel good in the process that that would have been here. We're trying to seduce you, but we're going to tell you the consequences. No, the seducer doesn't do that. The deceiver doesn't do that. The person that's trying to con you out of your life savings doesn't knock on your door and say, hey, I'm a con man and I'm going to con you out of your life savings. So sign here on the dotted line.

And look, I've traveled the world. I've seen lots of different names of churches and ministries and organizations. But I've never seen a church, the first church of the deceived, the congregation of the misled. Well, because no one is knowingly deceived.

No one is knowingly conned. People may harden their hearts against the truth and sin against God. But if you're going to be conned, you are seduced into it. You are deceived into it.

It presents itself a certain way. So what the serpent does in Genesis three is tries to get Eve to question God's integrity. Oh, yeah. Is God said this?

Yeah. He has he has other motives as ulterior motives. He's he's not being steady with you and straight and steadfast and truthful and honest. No, no, he's he's telling you one thing because you've got to protect his interests here and so on.

He doesn't want you to be like him. That's how the door is opened. And then you add in a little extra. You take away something here.

That's what happens. Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 24. This applies to his his immediate disciples of that generation. But then there's an applicability in all generations. And then ultimately, again, at the end of the age, when when Jesus is explaining to them the sign that's going to come and the destruction of the temple and his return, the end of the age, these events they think are all one.

But he's he's going to explain them in a way that overlaps kind of putting them all together in one, even though they're separate events. Joshua answers them, be careful that no one leads you astray. People are going to try to lead you astray. There's going to be a push to lead you astray. So be careful that no one leads you astray for many will come in my name, saying I'm the Messiah and will lead many astray.

And then if you skip down, he says in verse nine, then they'll hand you over to persecution and kill you. You'll be hated by all the nations because of my name. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray because lawlessness will multiply. The love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

And this good news of the kingdom shall be proclaimed to the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. And then the end will come. So many, he says, will be led astray. Many will be led astray. There'll be false prophets. There'll be false messiahs.

We see elsewhere there'll be false miracle workers. And Jesus says, Do not be led astray. Now, what does Paul warn?

And this is repeated in his letters as well. Paul writing in Ephesians, Chapter five, gives this warning. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's judgment comes on the children of disobedience.

What's the context? He's just listed sinful behavior of all different kinds and saying those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom. And he says, hey, don't let anyone deceive you with empty words. There's a false grace message. There's a false forgiveness message. There's a non repentance message that says doesn't matter how you live, you just get in anyway. He says, no, don't let anyone deceive you with empty words. God's wrath is going to fall because of these.

And then one more passage. Then I want to give some guidelines as to how we can avoid deception and talk about some very serious lessons that we need to learn right where we are, especially in America today in early twenty twenty one. But look at this. James Jacob, as we like to remind you, Chapter one, he says this verse twenty two, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourself, deceiving yourself. We can deceive ourselves. I realized many years ago I could deceive myself as easily as I could deceive someone else.

That's scary, isn't it? For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he looks at himself and goes away, he immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect Torah, the Torah that gives freedom. So God's perfect law and continues in it, not becoming a hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.

He shall be blessed and what he does. And then he says, if anyone thinks he is religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart. So again, self-deception. This person's religion is futile.

Boom. So what's the point here? And this is written to Jewish believers. That's that's clear from the beginning of the letter and from the contents of the letter written to early messianic Jews.

We call them today Jewish followers of Yeshua. So what's the lesson here? The person who is away from God and knows they're away from God and spends the whole weekend partying, getting drunk, getting high, sleeping around Sunday morning, sleeps and sleeping off a hangover. That person knows, hey, I'm in the world. I'm partying. I'm doing my own thing. I'm not in church. Right. They know that. But the person that goes to church that hears the message preached but is still living their own sinful life is more easily self-deceived in that they think I'm going through the motions. See, I'm right with God. I heard that message.

Is that just hearing it's doing so. Let me lay out a few really foundational principles to avoid deception. OK, the first is and I could give different ones which are number one, but just in the order I'm giving them. The first is to cultivate humility and teachability. Pride is something that God resists. Right. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

And it's a key thing, I know that it's been a lifesaver for me through the decades to humble myself and get low and say I blew it. I was wrong. That was stupid. I apologize. Please forgive me. I'm not boasting about my humility. I'm telling you that humbling myself and getting low and receiving input and receiving correction has been a lifesaver. I am where I am by the grace of God.

The only boast is in him. But I know for a fact that the flesh does not like to humble itself, that the flesh always wants to be right. Look, the biggest obstacle when I got saved was not drug use.

That was big. I loved getting high and I was addicted to the needle and had to have drugs in my system and wanted to live in rebellion. But the biggest the number one thing, even above that was pride. I realized that when I got saved, having to humble myself and say I'm wrong, I'm wrong in my rejection of Jesus.

I'm wrong in my mocking the message you're bringing me. And then years later, as I was pursuing my doctoral work at New York University and had gotten into some theological intellectual pride. So late 70s, early 80s, and God began to deal with me and show me that things he had given me to be a tool I had made into an idol. And that the emphasis of my life was going in the wrong direction. And I was so proud to look at me and I'm in the right. Well, and that was humbled myself again and getting humbled myself many times along the years.

And I'm sure there'll be many more times I have to. Hopefully not because of some crazy idiotic mistake or sin, but just in the course of life. You know, you think you're right all the time or you hold to a position that you haven't really prayed through, whatever, or you do something stupid. Humble. Just be quick to humble yourself. Just be quick to humble yourself and be a teachable person. If you're teachable, if you're correctable, you can fix a whole lot of problems. I learned many years ago not to deal with people based on how gifted they were, not to deal with people based on how charismatic they were. Not to deal with people based on how much potential they had, but how teachable they were, how teachable they were. Go through the Book of Proverbs. Do a study of Proverbs.

Go through Proverbs and look at what it says about correction, rebuke, correction, rebuke and learn to embrace it as a good thing. Oh, my flesh will still recoil when I'll send my latest manuscript to Nancy for input. And she'll say this first chapter is terrible. My flesh wants to defend it. Then I think, OK, she sees something I don't see.

She wants this book to be the best it can be. Let me humble myself and look and see. Get low. Humble yourself before God. And then second thing, be a person of the word. Be a person of the word. If you want to avoid deception, be someone that is deep in the word. Trying to read every kind of mystical meaning, but just knowing the word, having the word in your heart, in your mind. And as you read it, pray God, help me to live this out. Help me to live this out. Help me not to deceive myself by being a hearer only and not a doer.

We'll come back to that more over the course of the broadcast. One, humble yourself. Be a teachable, correctable person.

Doesn't matter how anointed, how gifted, how rich, how prominent you are. Be a correctable, teachable person. That's one to be a person of the word. Immerse yourself in the word. Number three, cultivate intimacy with God. Have a real quality relationship with the Lord, a real love relationship with him.

It's not just intellectual. It's not just theological. Real intimacy with God that takes time.

It takes determination. Cultivate intimacy with God. That's the third thing that is so important for living purity. Live in purity. Every one of us can fall short and get cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

But if I'm walking in willful disobedience, saying it will cloud my vision. That's number four. And number five, give yourself to the basics of the gospel. Give yourself to loving God, loving your neighbor. Give yourself to sharing the gospel with the lost. Those five simple things, walking humility in the person of the word, cultivating intimacy, walking in purity and holiness, majoring on the majors of the gospel.

Those things will go a long way to guarding you from deception. All right, your call is when we come back. Just during the break, I noticed a message that was sent to me via Facebook. And there's a mother asking for prayer for her daughter, little girl, five, six years old, little girl. Little girl says she wants surgery because she's a boy on the inside. Where's the kid that young hear this stuff? Where's the kid that young get exposed to this stuff?

And this is a home that's raising these kids in the Lord. Friends, there's a reason we've been drawing attention to these issues for many, many years. There's a reason we've been sounding the alarm. Innocent little ones are being impacted. There is a massive spirit of deception in our whole society.

It's like the nation drank the Kool-Aid and people just aren't thinking clearly anymore. And it's happened in the church in so many areas. The degree of deception, I believe we witnessed during the last election in many ways, is the greatest deception I've ever seen in the church in my lifetime. How is it that deception can come in?

And by the way, every mom out there that heard me share this or every parent with a bird, pray for this little girl and for wisdom for the parents. God would give grace and they'd have a breakthrough. But we've got to face these things head on. Deception is out there. And the first principle when you're dealing with deceptions could happen to anybody. I could fall, you could fall, any of us could fall. It could happen to anybody.

So you start there. Not by thinking it never happened to me. You know, I teach on sexual purity.

That's one of the first principles. Any of us could mess up. Any of us. If you've been around long enough, you see the most unexpected people falling and messing up.

And how could it happen? It could happen to any of us. That's why you start with humility, humility and the fear of the Lord. And I know I check. I'm just telling you, I check myself all the time because I'm often taking on controversial issues and bringing correction. I get Lord, I'm nobody. Lord, I'm not the corrector in chief. Lord, I'm not the charismatic pope or just if I see something clearly in your word, I'm burdened by you, Lord. I'm not the one to address these things. Give me wisdom and humility in doing it. And when we think I'm the one, I'm the I'm the one said everything right.

We've put ourselves in a bad position. You start with humility and then you immerse yourself in the word of God. Get in your heart, get in your mind, really know the scriptures, no foundational truths. And then with that cultivate intimacy with God, lest it just become a theological head knowledge. We're going to return a lot of John 17, three, and this is eternal life that they may know you, Jesus said, the only true God and Jesus, the Messiah whom you've sent. And then for holding this purity or essential. Look, if if you want to avoid deception, you cannot allow all kinds of sin and uncleanness into your heart and walk in it and live in it and think that's not going to cloud your vision and thinking.

And then lastly, if you give yourself major on the majors, give yourself to the basics of the gospel. Share your faith with others. It kind of keeps you healthy.

It keeps you in the middle of the lane. Love God. Love your neighbor. Share the gospel. Give yourself to the Great Commission.

You major on the majors. It's a lot harder to get caught, pulled, caught off guard or pulled off to the side. And a lot of the people who got someone to conspiracy theories in their posting day and night, what's going on?

That's what consumed them, not sharing Jesus with their neighbor, not pouring into the world, get consumed with other things. So if you want to avoid hitting walls on either side, do your best to stay in the middle. All right. With that, let's go to the phones and we'll start with Matt in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, thank you for taking my call. Your ministry has been a big help to me. My question is, I heard people like Todd for real say that all of our sins past, present and future have been forgiven. And I was just wondering if that's right.

And then also, what does it mean that Jesus is our high priest? Sure. So are all of our sins forgiven the moment we get saved? Past, present and future?

No, absolutely not. They're all paid for. They were paid for on the cross before we were ever born. There was us who lived on the other side of the cross.

They were all paid for at the cross. But forgiveness is transacted in real time. So when you come to faith and ask the Lord to forgive you, he forgives you for everything you have done and for everything you are.

But he doesn't forgive you in advance for sins you're going to commit today or the next day or a month from now or a year from now. If that happens, that same blood is supplied and we receive forgiveness afresh. Now, in terms of salvation, we don't need to get saved over and over again.

We go from death to life, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. But in terms of our relationship with God, 1 John 1 is very plain on us. First, John, one nine, if we confess our sins in Greek, that's present ongoing. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That again is present tense ongoing. It says in Second Peter, the first chapter, that those who who start to fall away from the Lord, but by not growing in him, it says they have forgotten that they have been forgiven of their former sins. So it says it explicitly, we're forgiven of our former sins. And that also explains in the Lord's Prayer why we pray the way we pray and why Jesus says, if you forgive others, you'll be forgiven. If you don't forgive others, you won't be forgiven. It's not talking about salvation. It's talking about relationship with God, that there will be a breach in your relationship with God. If you harden your heart against others and refuse to forgive, then you will not enjoy that relational forgiveness with the Lord. And just think of this. Did any of us, when we came to faith, say, Lord, forgive me, Lord, I've done this.

I've done that. I've been a thief, lied. Lord, forgive me. Wash me clean.

I'm such a wretch. Save me. And Lord, would you also please forgive me for the lying and stealing and all the bad stuff I'm going to do next year in the year after? No, it would never occur to us to ask for that because you ask for forgiveness when the debt has been accrued. So you can look at it as if there's an infinite storage of funds to cover our debts in God's bank account. But they are drawn on when we fall into debt and ask for forgiveness.

I address that at great length in my book, Hypergrace. In fact, that's a fundamental error of the hypergrace message that your future sins are forgiven the moment you're saved. They're paid for, but not forgiven. Jesus is our high priest, is our great high priest, is the one who goes to God on our behalf, the one who is our intermediary, the one who makes the way for us to have a direct relationship with God, the one who offers himself up for us to die for our sins so that we can be forgiven and enter into God's holy presence. And Hebrews 7, 8, and 9 really lay that out in amazing depth. Okay. What would 1 John 5, if I can just ask, what would 1 John 5, 1 John 5 where it says there's a sin to death?

Yeah. So John says that not every sin is to death, but some are. Biblical scholars really debate the meaning of that. The idea of, you know, in the Catholic Church that you have certain sins that are deadly sins and other sins that are less consequential. You know, they would perhaps get that doctrine from that passage. But could it be talking about a sin that leads to physical death and it is of such a consequence that there will be physical death?

You wonder, well, why couldn't there be repentance or forgiveness? Is it talking about something that would lead someone to be spiritually cut off? Then how would that tie in with message of grace? The bottom line is, as important as the verse is, sir, we really don't know exactly what it means. Bible scholars debate it and I've never read anything where I could say I'm absolutely definitively sure.

So it's one of those things that it's a question mark. But what you want to do is major on the majors and know in my own life, if I go to God and repentance, He will forgive me. He will cleanse. He will wash those things away.

He's faithful to keep His word through the blood of the cross. Hey, thank you, sir, for the good word. Thank you. Yep. God bless. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Jonathan in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

How are you doing? This is, yes, we spoke Yom Teruach, the week of that. Okay, back in September, all right.

Right. Well, based on that subject matter, I kind of want to go over the same thing again, a comment, and maybe you can give me some help if you're led to. So I listened to your Holy Desperation CD about the year 2011, and I prayed for that. And I'm not sure if you remember my situation.

No, I don't. I'm sorry. The guy had, well, I had voices for five years. It was demonic.

Right. So, and it was, well, I got visions of all kinds of things that were not of God. I went to three Christian counselors, and they all said it was demonic. And I tried doing a three-day water fast.

I tried all these things, and it did not go away. And it lasted, and so I also got your eight sermons on, like, the Holy Spirit has a voice, God stops signs, the guidelines. I went through that every day for two years, the first two years of it, and started praying in tongues, as well as praying through the Bible every day. So I want to thank you for that, because it helped me out, and this day, you know, didn't get weird. Does that make sense?

Yeah, go ahead. Okay, well, so anyway, it eventually stopped. I got to a point where I actually got cuffed in my skin, and I actually put on Facebook about these things two weeks ago, about all the things that I went through. And, you know, it was a breakthrough for me to get to that point. However, I got through the demonic voices that stopped, that just stopped. Then it got to the emotional point.

It took three years to overcome that, too. Are you still there? Yeah, yeah. All right, so listen, when we come back on the other side of the break, I know from what you're saying and just what I see on my screen, that you're kind of stuck where you are now. I want to give you some practical advice when we come back. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks for joining us, friends, on The Line of Fire. How do you avoid deception? How do you know you're not being deceived? People in cults think they're following the truth.

People in all types of weird groups and with weird beliefs think they're following the truth. For those of us who believe the Bible is God's word, how can we avoid being deceived? Simple principles. You humble yourself. You live a life where you are correctable and accountable and teachable. You cultivate humility. You're a person of the word. Get in the scriptures.

Have the word in your heart, in your mind. Write it down. Repeat it.

Look at it. Think about it. And then you're a doer of the word. You live it out. You seek to put things into practice.

It's not just theoretical. You cultivate intimacy with God. Build a solid personal relationship with Him. You turn away from known sin where there's strongholds in your life. You go to get help. You don't just allow these things to stay.

And then major on the majors. Give yourself to the basics. I inevitably see when people get into weird things that they are no longer giving themselves to the basics of sharing Jesus with others and serving others. These are ways to avoid deception, friends.

866-342-866-348-7884, the number to call. And I want to talk about some serious delusion, deception that's in our midst right now. But speaking to Jonathan in Minneapolis, shared before the break some of his extraordinary journey, things he went through, demonic attack he went through, emotional attack he went through. So, Jonathan, I just want to share this with you. And it's biblical.

It's simple. But I really feel it's it's applicable when we get to a place in our walk where we feel stuck, where we're not making progress, where we're not growing. In Revelation 2, when Jesus speaks to the church in Ephesus that had left its first love, he says, Do the things you did at first. So how many couples listening to me now? You hit a rut in your marriage and you were not getting along. Well, you weren't communicating well.

You weren't sensitive to one another's needs. And you think, OK, we need time for ourselves. Let's have a date night again. Let's just get away for a little while.

Get someone to watch the kids or whatever. And you start doing the things you did at first and then the connection is there and so much flows. Good things happen. So, Jonathan, what I'd encourage you to do is whatever congregation you're part of, get involved in practical service. Even if you feel nothing, even if it seems dull, get involved in practical service.

All right. Is there outreach? Can I get involved and just going out? Is there a way I can help? Is there you have something where you're feeding the poor in the community? I mean, what can I do this just I just want to serve and get involved and get busy. It's amazing what happens. It's often God sees the effort that's made and then jumpstart. So I pray for a brother that there'd be grace poured out and that is he majors on the majors and just gives himself to practical service, that you ignite something fresh in him and he'd see acceleration and growth in his walk with you. Hey, Jonathan, thank you for calling. May God's grace be yours, my brother. Eight six six three four truth.

We go to David in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, good to talk to you. Thank you. Hey, so I just want to thank you for your ministry.

I've called it a few times. It's like you're just amazing help. I've got some of your books and it definitely blessed me.

So I just had a question on the marriage stuff for the land. Mm hmm. And I'm kind of costal charismatic. And I as well as you have post tribulation in my understanding of and eschatology.

And so, you know, I go to a Sunday to God school, actually. So I like, you know, sometimes if I if I ever I don't I don't like purposely get it to the base people or whatever. But sometimes people will question me and they'll have questions. Sometimes I don't I don't you know, I know a lot of good answers. But someone asked me a question about the marriage for the land when I think that will be as somebody who is post tribulation.

And so, like, how would you explain the marriage? Because one person told me they were like, oh, like, you know, you're not going to have time if you're post tribulation. You'll get raptured. And I don't know if you've ever heard that before.

Oh, yeah. The thing is, with all respect to our to our pre-trib friends who raise it a lot. You know, when is the marriage stuff for the land going to take place? Because in their mind, we get raptured. Then we have seven years to feast in heaven, et cetera, while people get slaughtered on the earth. And then we we come back down with the Lord.

So here's the big, big question. Please tell me all of the major verses that discuss the marriage supper of the lamb. So why don't you tell me the biggest one or two that come to mind that talk about this amazing event called the marriage supper of the lamb in the Bible.

So let's give me the biggest one or two that come to mind. Off the top, I know there are revelations, but off the top of my head, I don't know these backwards. Well, there's at the end of Revelation, the 19th chapter, it's there's the supper of the lamb, and that's for all the animals to come and eat the bodies of the people slain under God's wrath.

So that's not it. So where are all the other verses? Well, they aren't.

They aren't. This is not a major theme of the New Testament. In fact, if if you'll do a search, you know, Bible search for a marriage supper or marriage of the lamb, you'll find that there's not a lot that's written about it. So to make it a major issue, when is this major event going to happen when it's not a major event spoken of in scripture? That's the first error.

The second error. Who's to say that it doesn't happen when when the Lord establishes his kingdom on the earth? So he appears in glory. We we are resurrected and raised up to meet him to escort him back. Is the quote meeting in the air is to escort him back, not for him to turn around and go back to heaven.

So we meet him like the people, the crowds would go outside the city as the emperor or Roman dignitary was coming in, meet him and then escort him back. So the logical time to have the marriage supper, if if there is to be this event we speak of in this way would be when he sets up his kingdom here. Now, first thing we do is feast together with him. That would seem to be in harmony with Isaiah 25. That speaks about this great feast at this time when death has been done away with and things like that.

So that's the most logical time to me. And there's a lot that will happen. Reckoning and various things. There's a whole lot happens if you read Ezekiel 38 and 39 and it talks about after the destruction of gold, my gold, et cetera, that it's months and months and months of cleanup. You know, so there's there's plenty of time for all these things to happen when Jesus establishes his kingdom here on the earth. But the first thing I'd say, well, let's look at the major verses, you know, show me say, hey, give me your five biggest verses. How about your three biggest verses to one biggest verse is just not there in terms of this thing that has to be this event at this particular time.

And if they can show you that that that it is there in scripture, there is no reason why it can't be when Jesus sets up his kingdom here on the earth. Amen. All right. Thank you, Dr. Brown. You're very welcome.

And of course, you're always honoring of the school where you are. You're not there, as you say, to start an argument. But if something comes up, hey, have a healthy discussion.

Absolutely. And the book Craig Keener and I wrote, Not Afraid of the Antichrist. If you don't have that, that lays out why we feel the way we do biblically. Speaking of the second coming, thank you for the call.

Let's just take a look at Second Thessalonians, the second chapter, Second Thessalonians, the second chapter. Paul is writing to the believers and he says, Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, reading from the tree of life version and our gathering to him, not to get shaken out of your mind or disturbed either by spirit or word or letters, if through us as though the day of the Lord has come. But no one deceive you in any way. There's the warning again against deception. But no one deceive you in any way for the day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. And that's what the Greek apostasy means.

It does not mean a catching away unless the rebellion comes first. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one destined to be destroyed. So speaking of the Antichrist, he opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he sits in the temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God. Don't you remember that when I was still with you, I was telling you these things and now you know what holds back for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already operating.

Only there is one who holds back just now until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one, again speaking of the Antichrist, will be revealed. The Lord Yeshua will slay him with the breath of his mouth and wipe him out with the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is connected to the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders. And with every kind of wicked deception toward those who are perishing, they perish because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God sends them a delusional force to lead them to believe it is false so that they may be judged, all those who did not believe the truth but delight in wickedness.

Look at this principle. When people will not believe the truth but will delight in wickedness at the end of the age, God will send them a strong delusion to lead them to believe what is false, to bring them further under judgment. Okay, today I'm not saying that people are believing in an Antichrist or that that's the situation we're in. I'm not taking 2 Thessalonians 2 and applying it directly to today. I'm taking a principle from 2 Thessalonians 2 that we find elsewhere in the Bible that when we continually sin against God and continually refuse correction, that God gives us over to judgment. It can be sudden destruction. It can be further deception. What happens in Romans 1 is the human race rebels against God.

God gives us further over to our sin, our uncleanness, our wickedness. So I'm watching today as people are refusing to throw out the conspiracy theories that obviously did not pan out. Donald Trump is not currently president. There's not some secret plot going on where a day or two from now he's about to take over for Joe Biden. That the more people believe the lie, the more, either just by their own nature or by God's judgment, they're given over to lies. And I've been reading that Joe Biden, this is actually a fake Joe Biden that was inaugurated. I mean, increasingly insane stuff. And the same way when people who insist know the prophetic word is true, the prophetic word is true. It did say eight years of Trump, eight straight years of Trump.

So Trump, it's something's going to happen. They're believing increasingly weird things and crazy things. It's the same principle. And this is the path to deception. This is what we've been talking about on the air today, that when anyone can make a mistake teaching prophetically, morally, it happens. You humble yourself, you get low, you ask for forgiveness. There will be consequences to our wrong actions. But you humble yourself, you get low, you receive the correction.

God gives grace to the humble. Often you can come out of it stronger than before. But when you insist no, when when when you will not listen to reality, when you not receive correction, that's really dangerous.

And there's some friends I'm watching them step into complete denial of reality, into total delusion. This is really, really dangerous ground there. We'll be right back. Go straight to your calls.

We return. It's the Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Friends, don't forget to visit our Web site, AskDrBrown.org. Christian anti-Semitism just released today. You can download the e-book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, the Christian book, get the paperback there. If you want a signed copy, you can still get that from our Web site, AskDrBrown.org. And I discovered just while flipping through the book that there's a code where you can get a free copy of the e-book of Jezebel's War with America. Very important book came out a couple of years ago and still being read very actively to this day and get the free e-book. So there's a code when you when you buy this book, you'll find it at the back of that book.

So when you get the book, make sure to take advantage of that. All right. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Chelsea in Silver Springs, Maryland.

I used to live in Olney, right near Silver Springs. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Can you hear me? Yes.

Loud and clear. Okay. Okay. Perfect.

Thank you. I'm a huge fan, so you'll probably be hearing from me. You know, I'll remember you.

I'll remember you. Yeah. So my question is in regard to the apostle Paul and his writings. I'm just curious, though, do we have to do we treat what the things that like he said that were like from him so differently from in like when he said it was coming from the Lord? So like, for instance, in I think it was one Corinthians seven, where he talked about to the married people, I give this charge, not I, but the Lord. But then in the next verse, he says to the rest, I say, I, not the Lord. So, like, when he says, you know, from the Lord, like, is that do we treat that as like a command? But then when it's saying when it when he says, you know, from I, we treat that more is it like the suggestion?

Like, like, how do we treat all like a command? All of us have asked the same question when reading it, trying to sort it out, because if it's all part of scripture, if it's all part of the Bible, because we're reading it as part of the Bible, then what do we make of this? Well, first in in in Second Peter, the third chapter, Peter refers to the writings of Paul as scripture. He says that, you know, people that don't know and understand will twist the meanings of Paul like they do the other scriptures.

So Paul's writings from an early time were already considered to be part of part of the Bible, part of scripture. But what what about where Paul says these few times in his letters where he makes a distinction between his advice and what the Lord said? All he's saying there, Chelsea, is I don't have this directly from Jesus.

I'm giving you my judgment. But the reason that we're reading his judgment in the Bible is because it was also inspired by God. So he's saying, hey, I have this directly from Jesus. This is what Jesus taught on this. So I don't have this directly from Jesus, but I'm giving you my advice as an apostle. And we understand that that was equally inspired. And Paul later on, as he's dealing with the Corinthians in the 14th chapter, he says, hey, hey, listen, I have the Spirit of God also.

You know, I'm not just speaking by myself. So, yes, we take that as authoritative as well. The difference being one is directly the teaching of Jesus that he was passing on. And the other saying, hey, I don't have this directly from Jesus, but let me give you my wise counsel as an apostle. And God in his wisdom has that included in our Bibles, too.

So take it all the same. The same Holy Spirit inspiring both. OK, so what it what would you like if you if you do that, we don't do what like he says, like I not the Lord. Would that be considered like a sin then?

Because I heard somebody say that, like when he said, do not be unequally open believers. You know, people always say, oh, well, that, you know, well, they could always, you know, consider that thing about that in terms of marriage. But they said that this particular pastor said that or whoever he was said that that is not technically a sin. That's just like, yes, he just said it will be unwise, but it's not necessarily a sin if you if you if you don't.

So, OK, it's like, do you agree with that or no? Paul Paul is giving a command. Don't do it. He says, what is what does Satan have to do with with God?

What does light have to do with darkness? He's saying, don't do it. Come out from among them and be separate. Paul's dealing in First Corinthians seven with what if you're married? So let's say you have two unbelievers right there, you know, worshipping at the local idol temple and the wife gets saved. Should she leave the husband?

No, no. Not if he's willing to have her. Don't leave, because you could be the one that that leads him to the Lord. And any children you have, God will consider is as sanctified to him through the believer. So he says, as long as the unbeliever is willing to have you fine. But to knowingly go and marry an unbeliever is something that is sinful.

Now, God can redeem that. But for every one case I've heard of evangelistic dating, you know, where where the believer goes with the nonbeliever, then marries the nonbeliever to lead him to the Lord. For every one case I've heard of someone being led to the Lord, I've heard 10 or 100 of the believer being pulled away or the believer going through a real hard time. And last thing in First Corinthians 14, Paul says this. He's challenging the Corinthians. Verse thirty six. Did the word of God originate from you or did it come to you only? If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord's command. But if anyone ignores this, he'll be ignored. So he's saying it in that context in First Corinthians 14.

But that's his overall emphasis, saying, hey, when I'm speaking to you, I'm speaking to you by the Spirit of God. Hey, look forward to hearing from you again, Chelsea. OK, thank you so much. Appreciate it. You are very welcome. Eight, six, six, three, four, truth.

Let's go to Concord, North Carolina. Robert, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, I was calling about I was reading Daniel Chapter 10, verse 13, and Daniel was praying and fasting for 21 days. And God sent the angel Gabriel to send him a message.

But Gabriel, when he sing, Daniel said that he was delayed by the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Was that a human being? Was that a dark angel that was delaying angel Gabriel from getting to Daniel?

Yes. So the understanding would be it's an angel. The understanding would be that there are angels over nations.

And based on this, you would deduce that there are godly angels and ungodly angels, dark angel, as you call them, fallen angel. And that there is it's actually like a wrestling match. I mean, whatever it was, shootout. However, it works in the heavenlies, that there was an actual battle. So he's going and he gets delayed.

And then Michael has to come and help him. So it's an angelic battle. Look, Revelation 12 talks about Satan and his armies battling with Michael and his armies and Satan ultimately being cast down.

So there is real warfare. Can that happen in our lives today? Can we be praying for something for God to do something and maybe a dark angel be delaying? Delaying the answer from getting to us.

Theoretically, it is possible. In other words, without this verse, I'd give you a million reasons why it couldn't happen. And, you know, you pray to God and God answers directly. But Paul also talks right into the Thessalonians.

He says that that I wanted to come visit you, but Satan hindered us. So there are various things here. Let's say the answer to prayer is not just something direct, like I'm saying, Lord, touch me, I'm sick, heal me. But the answer is going to come through someone or through some organization or through some ministry. And they're in the midst of a difficult time. You know, let's just say they're under physical attack or financial attack or spiritual attack. And they're the ones that are going to bring the answer to us. You know, let's say, for example, that that that God releases funds through a certain ministry to reach you. And that ministry comes under real difficult attack.

You know, they're going to fund your missions trip. Of course, God could send it through many other different ways. But sometimes there's it just reminds us that we need each other again when I pray. I just want you to understand my own faith as posture is set on God and God alone, period. That's it.

End of subject. I'm telling the Almighty God. And he has all power, all wisdom, all might. He's not dependent on sending the answer through anyone. He's God.

He can do the ones. That's my faith posture. I also understand at the same time that as he works through human beings, that things can take time, that he may be preparing someone or there may be spiritual resistance.

So when that how you said, well, how do I know? Well, generally speaking, if something like that was the case, you would just feel more burdened to contend in prayer. You would feel more of a sense of spiritual battle and resistance and just press through and hold on to the word and remind God of his promises and and take authority over every demonic opposition. I again, honestly, I almost never think about the devil and demonic opposition while praying. I'm focused on the Lord and the Lord alone. And yet I understand that there is warfare. There is opposition. And sometimes we very consciously war against demonic powers. You know, I remember a pastor of a church where I was in late 70s, early 80s. He said, I wish that verse wasn't in the Bible, but it's there. It just seems so odd to him. But there it is.

Yeah, go ahead. One last question, one last doctrine. I'm witnessing to Levi, a Jewish guy, about Yeshua. He's really open to him. He's read the New Testament.

But is there such thing as overloading? Could you talk to him about Yeshua too much? Or do you talk about him every day or do you step back? No, I would I would really I would really pray for him, Robert. I would really pray. And then either as I felt prompted or as he raised a question, I would speak with anyone. You don't want to drive them away. And especially a Jewish person. I could feel, you know, you're just trying to convert them or something. But one, I would pray for him every day.

Two, I would look for any interest he has. You know, I might ask him to read a book like my book, The Real Kosher Jesus. You know, watch a debate done with the rabbi, you know, and then get feedback. What do you think of this?

Watch this or something like that. Otherwise, wait for him to ask you questions unless you really feel prompted by the Lord. Because sometimes we we can drive someone away with our zeal. And if if he's open, he'll come to you. The Lord really prompt you. May the Lord use you to bring this man to him. All right, friends, try to take some more calls tomorrow. Got a really interesting conversation with a physician friend of mine. I think you'll be blessed by tomorrow as well. Visit the Web site. AskDrBrown.org. God bless.