God's Medicine

Talk about God's medicine today. Hey, if He's the healer, He's into healing through doctors too. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Well, thanks for joining us on a special broadcast today on The Line of Fire. What makes it special is I'm going to be joined by Dr. Mark Stengler at the bottom of the hour. He has not just been named Doctor of the Year, he was recently named Doctor of the Decade. He's a personal friend, he's a great soul winner and apologist for the faith, and is my doctor as well.

When I'm out in California, that's where I go. So we're gonna have a great conversation, talk about naturopathic medicine, talk about things that God has put in this world that are helpful in healing, and talk about a new book He has out on healing the prostate. So we'll take some calls, medical-related calls, in the second half of the broadcast. If you've got a medical-related call, save it for then because I am not a medical doctor. Every so often we'll have things posted and sent to us asking for medical advice. I can give them scripture, but I can't give medical advice. Alright, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

If you've been trying to get through, get on the air, other days have been unable to. I'll take calls on any subject under the sun, as long as there are areas where I can help you. Any subject under the sun that relates at all to content here in the line of fire, glad to take your questions, interact with you.

So 866-34-TRUTH, phone lines are open. Okay, there is an ever-increasing crackdown on conservatives, on Christians, on social media these days. Yeah, people get hit from all sides. I understand that people get removed, blocked from all sides, but overwhelmingly, undeniably conservatives, Christians, are getting hit. So I tweeted out a week ago that in God's sight, the new, the nominee, President Biden's nominee for Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services, quote Rachel Levine, in God's sight, is a biological male.

Richard Levine, now with the name Rachel, is a biological male. So for that I got blocked on Twitter, and I decided rather than fighting it and having an appeal and ongoing suspension, I removed the tweet so I was blocked for 12 hours, during which time I wrote an article talking about what Twitter had done and the outrageousness of it. And then the moment I was reinstated, we posted the article and said, hey, this is, this is why I was off, just want you to know. So we got the message out that way. For simply stating biological truths, Daily Citizen's focus on the family magazine was removed from Twitter.

This is what we're dealing with. You cannot even say a simple fact that this individual is a biological male. Nothing hateful, nothing attacking, not calling the person perverse, no hate speech, just biological fact, can't even do that. I've had folks blocked on Facebook for similar transgressions. There was a page that had Bible verses about homosexuality, one of my friends had up on Facebook.

That got, that got removed. There's no question that this is happening, so there are many different ways that we will continue to raise our voice, and I'm working on a book now, it's come out in early 2022, God willing, that'll lay out the wide-scale attempt to stifle our voices and silence us on a wide, wide scale, but then what we can do in many different ways to speak up, to fight back, to take our stands, and to continue to get the message out that is most important to God and to us. I say all that to say that many have been warning about this for years, and I wrote an article a couple years back, actually 2018 now, when YouTube was cracking down on Alex Jones and Infowars, and I wrote an article saying this is why this should concern all of us. In point of fact, I've never been a fan of Alex Jones and Infowars. I know there are various voices within that organization, but I've never followed it, been a fan of it, but I felt that it was important to raise the issue and say, hey, this is going to affect more than Infowars. So I wrote the article, and at the end of the article I referenced a famous poem by the German pastor Martin Niemoller about the Nazis. First they came for the Jews, I wasn't a Jew, etc., and I changed it to say this. First they came for Infowars, and I did not speak out because I found them offensive. Then they came for Geller and Spencer, so Pam Geller and Robert Spencer, who exposed Islamic radicalism, and I did not speak out because I found them obnoxious. Then they came for PragerU with their great educational videos, and I did not speak out because I found them opinionated. Then they came for a host of others, and I did not speak out because I have my own life to live.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. There's a quote attributed to Winston Churchill that says, appeasement is like feeding a crocodile and hoping that it eats you last. So don't just say, well I'm safe here, safe here.

We're not trying to create problems and trying to provoke opposition. Every so often I will test something and say, is Twitter gonna ban me for this? Is Twitter gonna punish me for this? I asked the question, is Twitter gonna punish me for saying that quote Rachel Levine is in God's side of biological mail?

And they did. That was a clear enough answer. Otherwise I'm just seeking to be obedient to the Lord and get out messages and speak the truth and love and with wisdom, and if there are consequences, there are consequences. But we need to look at this together, continue to use the platforms we have to raise our voices, and to continue to push back and challenge. Okay, another note, then I'm gonna take some calls. My new book, Christian Antisemitism Confronting the Lies in Today's Church, just came out yesterday, just released. We signed a whole bunch of books and are sending them out to those that pre-ordered, numbered, signed copies, kind of a collector's edition we do with the first printing of a new book. Done it for years now and I enjoy doing it and glad to see who's ordering and put a name there and a scripture.

So it's a joy to do it and I appreciate your interest in the books. Those of you who have the book, if it blesses you, please do post review on Amazon and anywhere else where you read, but Amazon in particular just because of the amount of scope that it has, the amount of reach that it has, and I also encourage you to do it if you were blessed by the book because at a certain point anti-Semites will start weighing in and attacking. So I posted about Christian Antisemitism on my Facebook page yesterday and I said, by the way, if you post an anti-Semitic comment here in a book exposing Christian Antisemitism, that's a surefire way to get blocked. It would just be like if it was on Martin Luther King Day and I had a quote honoring Dr. King and someone posting a blatantly racist comment, they're out, boom, blocked.

Well, the same way, especially if we're talking about Christian Antisemitism and someone as a Christian in particular posting an anti-Semitic comment, blocked, gone. So somebody, and we had to delete a bunch of people. That's how bad it is. That's why I wrote the book. That's how serious it is. But check this out.

Check out what this guy posts. I'm not going to put his name up here to embarrass him. Apparently it appears that English is not his first language, but in response to that note of mine saying, if you post something anti-Semitic here, it will be removed. Ask Dr. Brown, where is your patience, tolerance, you vain and workless, I think he meant worthless, immature and dreaming Jew cowboy.

Shalom my, and then he used the N word for me, a white guy. It is an honor to be blocked. You act like the people who crucified Jesus.

So this is the kind of craziness and sickness that's out there. So the Jew cowboy derogatory, hey, you call it an honor to be blocked. Shame on you for posting such an idiotic, vile, despicable post. I happen to be the one being attacked, but it's vile, despicable. And someone say, Hey, you're looking for an anti-Semite. Here I am. And, and just out of curiosity, cause I don't see the vast majority of posts and comments just out of curiosity.

Cause I saw this, I clicked on it. And sure enough, the guy's talking about forgiveness of sins through Jesus and so on and so forth. That's what you call a Christian anti-Semite. You say, okay, look, they're crazies out there. We know they're crazies out there.

They're weird people. Fine. So through the internet, they have a voice, but you don't write a whole book about like one crazy person out there. Okay. I didn't write a book about one crazy person.

I wrote a book about something that is rising an epidemic level in many parts of the body today. Let me illustrate this for you. All right, let's put the first video link up. I have numerous videos on our Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel exposing anti-Semitism, anti-Semites, et cetera. So there is a video called True News and Rick Wiles Exposed, and this was posted July 12th of 2019. Now, normally our videos on the Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel have maybe like 95% thumbs up, 5% thumbs down, probably on average because most of the people there like what we're doing and give it a thumbs up, right? That's why they're on that channel. So look at this one, True News and Rick Wiles Exposed, where we have some ridiculous, crazy anti-Israel, anti-Semitic comments. We expose them on the video. Look at this, 1000 thumbs up, 1.8 thousand thumbs down. That's also a good amount of activity in terms of one video. So it's almost two to one thumbs down versus thumbs up. Where did that come from?

Where did all the people come from? And you read many of the comments, vile, ugly. You say, I haven't seen really bad ones. Those get deleted and pulled.

You'd be shocked, but what's up there? All right, here's another example. Here's another example. So Catholic scholar E. Michael Jones really influenced conservative comedian Owen Benjamin. So I have a video where they're going after me and attacking me and claiming I'm misrepresenting or whatever and not telling the truth.

And so I put out a video or E. Michael Jones and Owen Benjamin telling the truth. Look at this one. It's about anti-Semitism, challenging their anti-Semitism. 365 thumbs up, 707 thumbs down. So once again, roughly two to one thumbs down compared to thumbs up.

Why? I'm exposing anti-Semitism. You virtually never find it like that on any other topic.

Really. On virtually every other topic I cover on Facebook, you almost never, ever, ever, I don't think ever see anything close to that. But when you expose anti-Semitism, the, quote, Christian anti-Semites come out of the woodwork.

Not all profess to be Christian, but many do. Here, just one last example. Black Hebrew Israelite myths and fantasies, errors. So the complete misinterpretation of Deuteronomy 28, complete misinterpretation, cannot refer to them as they claim, especially about buying and selling and so on.

Absolutely cannot. So I break it down. I break it down just looking clearly at what the Hebrew says. Look at this one.

721 thumbs up, 785 thumbs down. Once again, when we confront anti-Semitic lies, we confront these kinds of things, we get a serious backlash. That's why I wrote Christian Anti-Semitism. And when you read the book, friends, you'll be shocked by the content, but it's documented with links, with specific quotes, information. It's essential reading.

Christian anti-Semitism confronting the lies in today's church. Your calls when we come back. 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. Welcome, friends, to the Line of Fire, 866-34-TRUTH. In a little over 10 minutes, I'll be joined by my friend, Dr. Mark Stengler. We're going to have a fascinating conversation. And if you have medically related questions and trying to get some insider input, we'll see if we take some medical calls as well.

Can't give official advice, whatever. But, okay, 866-34-TRUTH, and let us go to Elwin in Fairfield, California. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Good afternoon, Dr. Brown. It's been a while. Dr. Brown, I have a question in John 19, verse 11, when Jesus is the fourth pilot, and he makes a statement, and that statement is that he talks about a guilty of a greater sin. Is that dealing with John, is that dealing with the Pharisees and the Sadducees who he had to confront, or is that dealing with Judah?

No, I believe he's dealing with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders in particular, who handed him over to be killed. So we know clearly in Scripture that there are some sins that are more serious than others. This is a classic example where Jesus speaks of a greater sin.

For example, in Matthew 23, he talks about the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness as opposed to tithing on agricultural products. Or 1 John 5 says that there's a sin that leads to death, but not every sin does. And we know when God was judging Israel that he would judge Israel more severely for certain things. So obviously, even common sense would tell us that it's a far greater crime to murder someone than to steal a pen from them. Obviously, we understand these things.

You know, a husband and wife are not going to have a divorce because the husband one day forgot to put the toothpaste away, you know, but there are going to be more severe things that could sever a marriage. So I only say that because some people think, well, all sin is equal in God's sight. No, all sin is consequential, but not all sins are equal. So Pilate was acting within his own authority to do what he did. Pilate was, he did have the right under Roman law to sentence Jesus to death.

Now he was wrongly sentencing him, but he was doing it within his sphere of authority. So it was a wrong act, but within his sphere of authority. The Jewish leaders were really going outside of their authority to get Jesus killed. They really had no grounds for it, and they had to push something over to Pilate to get him to do that, and they should have known better as Jewish leaders on top of it with the scriptures and a covenantal and priestly calling, you know, the high priest, etc. So that's why those who turned him over committed the greater sin. They were sinning against greater light. They were Jews. Pilate was a Roman, and they were going out of their authority to get this done whereas he was acting within his own.

They all sinned, but their sin was greater. Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you for your time, sir.

You are very welcome. God bless you. God bless you. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to William in Wilmington, Delaware. Welcome to the line of fire. Oh, thank you. God bless you. I have a general question. I myself do not drink at all, but I might want to one day. Is it okay as a Christian to a few times a week to drink a beer since the Bible says that you could drink without getting drunk?

Alright, that's a question that is answered individually. It may be fine for some Christians and not fine for other Christians. We all agree that drunkenness is sin according to the scripture.

We all agree that we are called to be sober according to the scripture, and we all agree that fleshly addictions are destructive. So something that you have to have, especially if it's not for your overall health, is wrong. But for one person, maybe you grew up in European culture. You grew up having wine with your meals. You've never had like Coca-Cola in your life, and you wouldn't because you think it's unhealthy. But you've had a small glass of wine with dinner for most of your life. You've never been drunk once in your life. You've never been tempted to get drunk because just little wine is what you drink.

It can be perfectly fine for you. And someone else who was an alcoholic when they got saved and their parents were alcoholics, they can't touch it ever. It's unwise.

It's violating the freedom that God gave them. So I've totally abstained myself because when I came to faith, I drank to get drunk. I had no interest in liquor, but I drank to get drunk.

Notice it's not like I had a taste for it, had to, you know, check this out or that out. I drank to get drunk. When I got saved, I repented of that. I had no reason to touch it. The church, I got saved in total abstinence.

So that's what I did. And then as I began to minister and lead, I thought it's just best for my example to never drink it again. I haven't had a desire to either, but I thought as a leader, because others may look at me and follow my example. And there are plenty of people that used to struggle with drink.

I don't do it. And my general counsel to leaders is if you can avoid this, it's great because it'll cause less people to stumble. But scripturally, we are not forbidden from drinking. We are forbidden from drunkenness and called to be sober. So if it's fine for someone, you know, that have a beer with lunch a couple of times a week, like you said, they don't get drunk. They're not tempted to get drunk.

They're not influencing others to get drunk. Nothing wrong with it, but it's going to be an individual choice. And you should never feel pressure from someone else in making your own individual choice. You should walk in love towards others, but not feel pressure like, oh, I got to join in with the gang, or I don't want to seem religious.

No, you hold your convictions before the Lord and then respect the convictions of others, as long as they don't violate scripture. Thank you so much. That was perfect. Thank you. Thank you.

You are very welcome. 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go over to Rick in Concord, North Carolina.

You're on the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. Hey. Hey, I just want to tell you, I appreciate what you do, and you've been to my church before, and when you first showed up, I kind of validated you through my church, but now I validate my church through you because they're affiliated with you. I've got to know, you know, listen to you. So you're, you know, I really appreciate your wisdom and your knowledge and your grace, most of all, in dealing with some of these people, you know, that I've watched you on your debates and things.

So really gracious. My question is, in the book of Job, at the very first book of Job, it refers to the sons of God and Satan approaching the Lord. The sons of God, who were they? Yes, the sons of God are most certainly angels, the angelic host. They're mentioned later in the book of Job and being with God at the time of creation. So sons of God is another Hebrew way of saying divine beings or beings who are of the divine class, meaning that they are spirit beings like God as opposed to earthly beings like us.

So definitely the angels. So the one that's called Hasatan, there's a debate, is that just another angel who's called the adversary and he has a certain role of kind of being like the spy on the earth or is it the same one as the devil of the New Testament? So I really looked at that question afresh in writing my commentary on Job and I do absolutely believe that it is the devil. So it is an interesting thing that before the cross that there could be God calling for the angelic host and Hasatan the adversary, the accuser, being among them but still under divine constraint. You could argue that since the cross he doesn't have access to heaven and you know there's debate about that but I believe it's the one that we know as Satan the devil and that he's appearing with the angels and that God is doing what he's doing in terms of Job for the whole for the whole universe to see not just on the earth but for the whole spiritual realm to see how God is going to prove his servant Job and demonstrate that there are people who worship God not for the benefits but simply because of who God is. Okay yeah I run across that every now and then I always forget and I asked one of my pastors and he just it kind of blew his mind when I asked him that but it's just something it's really deep and you got some churches would split over you know when you start talking about stuff like that you know it's really yeah it's really interesting. Yeah it is and look Rick you know obviously it's the kind of thing that there can be different views on different understanding and interpretation but it's once you understand that this is playing out in front of the whole heavenly host and that the reputation of God will be on the line and obviously his eternal purpose is being worked out through his servant Job. I mean the book I was so consumed with for so many years I had to devote years to writing a commentary on it. Hey Rick thanks for the good word I appreciate it and let's see all right we've got time for one more call Justin in Kannapolis North Carolina if you could weigh in real quick with your question I'll try to answer. Uh yeah I just had a question I just recently heard today about there was a preacher and he used a book called Tibet I believe that's what it's called I've never heard that before I think he used it like it was scripture uh okay what you're never heard that book yeah what you must be referring to is Tobit yeah Tobit t-o-b-i-t or t-o-b-i-t-h you'll find it in a catholic bible it's it's a book that was written between the old testament and the new testament so that protestant bibles do not have it catholic bibles and others would have it as as a book of the bible talking about things that that happened in old testament time so it's Tobit t-o-b-i-t or t-o-b-i-t-h I do not regard it as scripture but you could say it's kind of in between a good book and the bible so it's not equal to the bible but it has a status because of its history that would be more than just your average book so Tobit t-o-b-i-t or i-t-h you can look it up and you'll be able to read it online easily enough hey thank you for the call all right when we get back i'm going to be joined by my friend Dr Mark Stengler we're going to be talking about how God made the body to heal and what naturopathic medicine it is and then a new book that he's written as well that he's written as well don't go anywhere oh god of burning cleansing flame 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 so much for joining us today on the line of fire you know i i put out a video just a fun little thing for our folks on on youtube and facebook explaining how it is that i am called doctor but i'm not a medical doctor you know normally if you're a medical doctor if you're being cited say in an article some newspapers writing about you whatever so you that'd be pretty like dr james dobson you know psychologist or psychiatrist or a medical doctor or physician of some kind the name would be there but if you have a phd if you're a professor it may say professor in front of your name or may say something else but it won't say doctor even though you have a phd which is a doctorate just the way it's generally used so how do i end up getting called dr brown well what happened was number one when i was in college i i only used my first and last name i didn't use my middle name or middle initial i was michael brown and years preacher on the world people just knew me as mike brown anyway michael brown didn't use the middle initial what happened was that when i was getting ready to graduate there was a registrar you go to things were not automated then in terms of just you know computers and accessing things online so i had transferred credits from one other school started community college went over to this college where i was going and and then transfer credits was taking some outside classes brought them in and the woman that was behind the the counter there the registrar she was kind of pushy you didn't really say much to her and name give her the name social security give her the first number stop okay well turns out there's another michael brown surprise surprise plenty of me's right plenty of people by that name so i i would give her my name at the beginning my social security number there's another michael brown who's i'm sure there are many but there was another michael brown there whose social security numbers were the same as mine at the beginning and she was putting my credits in in his account and when she realized what happened rather than apologizing rather than saying ah okay hang on hang on just got some info here that we have a scheduling conflict that somehow we have dr stangler down for next week as opposed to today so an error somehow on our end let me just see what what happened here how this happened because i'm i was just killing time for minutes to tell you what tell you what phone lines are open 866-344-866-348-7884 anything under the sun you want to talk to me about i've got a bunch of things to talk about but anything under the sun you want to talk about any question any comment anything at all phone lines are open 866-344-truth but i'm going to do this right now during live radio to see did i just get this wrong or did we have this wrong on our calendar and let's just see all right somehow there's a scheduling issue they had it for a different day so we will get dr stangler on with us obviously we're not going to take him away from his patients now but uh he'll be on with us god willing we'll get that fixed and rescheduled but in the meantime why is wide open phone lines are wide open i got some extra time because i don't have a guest 866-344-truth okay so here's what happened so i rather than the woman saying i apologize she just said you have a middle initializer she said use it so this way there there are tons of michael browns but there are somewhat less michael l browns so i did that but then there are a whole lot of michael l browns there's a ton of them you know i'd be looking for some of the account you know account with the airline name it's like oh we got a lot of michael browns so we're okay so then just for identification purposes like a credit card or something else or an account i was starting you know frequent fire with an airline i put doctor in front of the name just so that i would be there would be less and even so there's still dr michael l browns there are but at least it cut the number down for identification purposes but wherever i travel everybody who is mike brown traveled preached wrote everybody who is mike brown and then when i would be lecturing at a at a seminary or university setting or something like that then i'd be professor or doctor so uh you know that that would come up like that but that was in that that would come up like that but that was in that setting right so i had my academic setting and doing my academic work and i was professor michael brown at dr michael brown and then my ministry to the body just more broadly just like you're talking to on the radio i was mike brown or michael brown when i got down to the browns for a revival and and god put it on my heart to raise up a school of ministry and and together with the team we raised up a school of ministry now everyone knew me as the director of the school so the the the president of the school everybody knew me as that and as the president of the school in a school academic setting i was dr michael brown and every since then on i've been dr brown but the thing that's funny is is is that we will get periodic medical questions that are sent sometimes from other countries i'll just happen to notice on facebook dr brown i've been suffering for and it's like oh gosh i wish i could help this person say hey i pray for you but i'm not a medical doctor so we're going to have a medical doctor on dr mark stingler recently named doctor of the decade a good friend of mine evangelist apologist as well but we'll we'll get him on and uh have some great conversation then all right so enjoying our extra time here let us go to d in richmond virginia thanks for calling the line of fire hello dr brown i was just wondering your interpretation of john chapter six when jesus says that you know he tells them to eat his flesh and drink his blood and how could catholics get that so wrong right so catholics would ask us how we could get it so wrong as non-catholics and they would say that jesus says literally my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and and you must eat my flesh and drink my blood that this is actually something that we are doing we are literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood with communion and our answer is no no no they were never literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood when he stood there and told them that they were never literally to do that it was always metaphorical from the start the same at the last supper this is my body this is my blood it was always metaphorical eat this in remembrance of me so the catholic interpretation would say no it's literally the body and blood of the lord so the the wafer and you don't bite it just let it dissolve because it's literally his body and and it's literally the wine you're drinking or grape juice is literally his blood that it's transubstantiation it literally becomes the body and blood of the lord and with all respect to my catholic friends i i categorically reject that again understanding in john six it was never literal then they were not to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood and then later when everybody leaves except just his disciples and they don't understand either you know they said where are we going to go you have the words of eternal life but he says something interesting he says the end of john six what are you going to do when you see the son of man go up to heaven the flesh profits nothing it's the spirit that gives life the words i speak to they are spirit in their life in other words when i'm not physically here how are you going to deal with this idea of eating my flesh and drinking my blood when i'm not physically here and that's him trying to get an understand i'm not talking physically i'm talking spiritually so it is it is a literal interpretation by catholics that doesn't even go the literal way because no one literally ate his flesh and drank his blood when he was on the earth it's always been metaphorical true thank you you are very welcome eight six six three four truth let's go to rob in raleigh north carolina welcome to the line of fire yeah thank you dr brown appreciate your broadcast and all um i had recently had an atheist friend from a college friend who calls himself an atheist that is uh we're both uh around 70 years old and and he's getting i guess getting a little worried about it uh so he reached back to me realized i became a christ in my sophomore year in college long before there but i was one one point i think for him is the whole uh idea of evolution and i'm just wondering he said he'd love to hear a debate uh about the subject of evolution so um i'd like to wondered if you could point to one or more debates that would be available online and i'm afraid i'm gonna want to stack the deck a little ones where the what were the uh the creative first on the side of intelligent design or creation really um uh made us you know slam dunk yeah well well listen here here's the thing our issue with evolution is not micro evolution in other words evolution and change within species which makes perfect sense which does not violate scripture and which is easily demonstrable but macro evolution the evolution from one species to another of which there remains no actual evidence there are no missing links that that fill in these these gaps and then the other things that evolution can't answer for example the origin of the universe or the origin of life or the explanation of dna coding so these things really are not not answered by evolution so we would say that true science leads away from evolution so if you're looking for debates here here are the names you want to look up and then you can pick and see which ones you like the best look for any debate with william lane craig on evolution or debating an atheist william lane craig and you'll see he comes out wonderfully and strongly uh john lenox so craig american john lenox uh irish several a couple phds professor oxford cambridge that kind of thing that kind of thing john lenox l-e-n-n-o-x those would be two of the strongest voices that are out there and if if you're just trying to i mean there's there's so so much literature that's out there in terms of of demolishing evolutionary ideas even some of the least strobel books that might be very accessible to your friend like the case for the creator uh would be a really good one to look at where he interviews scientists from different perspectives so so these strobel the the case for the creator if your friend's willing to read something and i think i think he'll find these really helpful and if in fact he'll humble himself his mind can be renewed but the biggest thing is his heart can find god hey rob thanks for the question hopefully you'll find some good resources there we'll take some more calls 866-344 michael brown oh i looked away for a second and look back up phone lines are jammed so let me dive right in here uh gary in san diego california welcome to the line of fire thank you for taking my call dr brown i have a quick question about charismatic versus secessionist i've always struggled with many friends always making prophecies or claiming healing only to find out a couple weeks later the healing did not happen and then i had heard a teaching on john macarthur that we do believe in miracles god can heal but we don't believe anybody has the gift then i've been hearing your teachings for the past few months and how you are charismatic but you seem way more critical of the abuse in the charismatic movement and i'm struggling to determine where do i fall now and do you have any teachings in depth studies that you can recommend to understand the difference uh yeah yes sir and and thanks gary for being a serious student of the word and wanting to honor the lord let me say first that in first corinthians paul commends the corinthians for not falling behind in any spiritual gift he says that in the first chapter but then as the book goes on he's dealing with divisions in their midst spiritual immaturity carnality he's dealing with sexual sin he's dealing with denial of the resurrection he's dealing with abuse of the gifts he's dealing with defiling the lord's table people even getting sick and dying as a result so there was a lot of junk going on in the corinthian church a new church with a lot of error and yet paul recognized the validity of the holy spirit moving in their midst so the first thing i'd encourage you to do is to really look at scripture and put aside good or bad experience and just say okay if i'm just reading scripture what do i believe the bible says about these gifts ongoing today and then starting from there then you build your way out and you see what seems to be in harmony with that and not in harmony with that when when pastor macarthur wrote his book strange fire i wrote an immediate response i felt stirred by the lord to do it but people have to evaluate the material for themselves called authentic fire and it's a response to pastor macarthur's book but it's much more than that i lay out a biblical position for why i hold to what i hold to and what scripture plainly says and then some of my other colleagues wrote appendices for the book as well so if you're if you're able to get that book authentic fire i think you'll find it really really helpful because it will deal with some of the issues of abuse but then clearly lay out what scripture says clearly open up the experience that we are to have in god i i am charismatic pentecostal continuationist whatever term you use because of scripture i've had amazing and wonderful experiences but i've also had bad experiences i prayed for people that were dying or very sick and they died i've i've seen other errors and issues right now there's a massive need for accountability in the prophetic movement in the charismatic church massive need it's it's crisis point in my view but i recognize the validity of what god's doing and there are countless testimonies of god's faithfulness and healing power and prophetic words so i would recommend you get my book authentic fire get on our website or or any of the online book dealers if you want an extensive teaching series just on the subject of healing i i have a multi-hour series on the subject of healing i think at least 16 hours long that you can get on my website it's an audio class uh on divine healing so you can check that out but if your reader get authentic fire i think you'll find it really helpful and then you can go from there all right thank you so much and if you don't mind me adding if in my personal life i've prayed for gift of tongue uh people have prayed for healings for me people have tried to pray for me to get clean none of that has ever happened how do i reconcile do i not let my experience paint my view or how do i explain that well the first thing is that we recognize that not everyone will receive each gift or receive it the same way the second thing is i still want to base my views on scripture so if scripture convinces me that something is not for today and i think i experienced it i'd question that experience if scripture tells me something is for today and i'm not experiencing it then i'll say lord there must be more so i know many things in my own life i've only received after really hungering after them really seeking god earnestly and then i received so what i would do gary if i were you and i appreciate the personal question it's very very valid and important i would say father i want everything you have from me so i can serve you most effectively and help a dying world lord whatever that is i want everything you have for me the fullness of your spirit in my life so i can best glorify you and trust that he'll bring you into those things and then first and foremost pastor macarthur and i would agree we base everything on the teaching of the word based on that that's why i am charismatic continuationist today hey thank you for the call may the lord bless you with the fullness of his grace in the days ahead uh we go to robert in hillsboro north carolina welcome to the line of fire hey dr brown how are you doing well thank you oh right me too um i've recently you know trying to be reconciled you know back to god and jesus after about 40 years away um and and i was starting to read the bible again i've been reading in joshua the old testament and he he was pretty uh gruesome and violent um as he was decimating um the cities that they came upon to take over the land and it just you know when they get when he starts talking about and they killed all the men women and children of those various um peoples it bothered me i wondered if god condoned that level of violence yeah robert it's it's a major question and many people struggle with your faith because in fact i have a book coming out in may called has god failed you where i specifically deal with some of those questions about the god of the old testament etc so number one not every act of violence is justifiable in the old testament or you could you could put on god and say well he ordered it but the destruction of the caninites is one that he called for in terms of men women and children now the question is how could that god who's elsewhere described as compassionate merciful and kind and patient with all of his creation how could that god give those kind of orders and it has to be there was something extreme and so dangerous and so corrupt that to allow it to continue in the midst of the people would have ultimately corrupted israel god would have then judged israel if he judged israel messiah never would have come no one would have been saved it's it's like an extreme act where a doctor has to amputate someone's legs both legs because of gangrene otherwise the whole body will die it could be either that as described elsewhere in the old testament that people were so wicked that the children were innately wicked as well that the some evidence of of inherited traits even on those levels you know not just physical but but moral as well others believe that the inhabitants of canin were largely nifilim that they were a mixed race of an angelic breed and a human breed and and that that is part that's why they're giants you know they're often referenced as giants and that that was something of an utter affront to god and something destructive and that's why it was just that basically one time you have the amalekites later on are to be wiped out but otherwise it's that one time that it happens in all of israel's history and at the same time god's giving them laws to treat others with compassion and the stranger in your midst you treat a certain way so there had to be an extreme reason for doing it it's not repeated through the ages there are no mandates where it just go kill men women children in fact god would would judge and hold people responsible so yeah that's the simple explanation there was an extreme reason for the extreme action but then look at the larger picture of the nature of god presented in the old testament and it's one where in the midst of wrath poured out he's extremely long-suffering and merciful and compassionate hey robert that's the god i know yeah and look that's why we're here because yeah did he destroy you after 40 years or did he welcome you back with open arms right that's that's i say open arms but i'm still resisting because i'm i'm i'm uh we're close and so i'm constantly you know and hearing um sermons on my uh radio all day long and i'm um constantly um what do you call it where you're just like oh god i gotta get out of here i gotta get amongst people and spread the word but i i can't it's like a lot psychiatrically i'm a mess i'm i'm a recluse yeah well listen just you know say say lord you've had mercy on me you've brought me you've brought me back in your grace so thank you for your goodness and i'm going to start praying for people i'm going to start praying that god would open people's hearts and minds and look just like you talked to me on the radio today and now you're talking to me a bunch of other people heard your story you you just shared something that others needed to hear because they're praying for loved ones and they're discouraged and it's been all these years obviously people are praying for you in over 40 years you've come back so say lord you give the opportunity you give the open door it could be someone you meet in some other way or otherwise you become a man of prayer and you pray lord there are people out there soul winners and evangelists bless them and use them and and and then lord where you need to change me were there things in my nature were there things in my being that are not pleasing to you i'm asking you to help and to change and to transform so so lord we pray that you bless robert with the fullness of the of your grace that you'd make up to him lost years with greater effectiveness in you and greater blessing in you we commit him to you in jesus name hey friends uh i i know we opened up the phone lines and only got to a few calls but doing the best we can to get to as many as we can we've got a lot of time for calls the next couple of days as well so look forward to hearing from you being with you and be sure to visit our website askdrbrown.org sign up for the emails you want to sign up for the emails you'll be blessed if you do at askdrbrown.org