Our Weapons Are Spiritual

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That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks friends for joining us today on the line of fire. This is Michael Brown delighted to be with you.

We've got a special guest will join us at the bottom of the hour. I believe some words of encouragement and blessing for the body, words that will help you. I've got a lot of ground to cover and as always I want to navigate through a bit of a controversial minefield. A challenging issue and that is the intersection that we spoke about many times of the gospel and politics of our calling to serve the Lord and be salt and light in this world to what extent does that interact with culture with politics an important issue obviously a critically important issue and I'm gonna say a few things that may be controversial but not for controversy's sake I believe you found them helpful here's a number to call to interact with this or other subjects 866-34-TRUTH 866-34-8-7-8-8-4 that's number to call okay let me start here and we're gonna read some scripture would you agree that when you read the scriptures when you read the words of Jesus when you read the letters of Paul when you read God's commands to us in terms of how we are to live and conduct ourselves in this world that that spirit that's laid out there the conduct lifestyle witness attitude that that is different from a political spirit meaning that the campaigning nasty angry attack mode type of thing I think we all agree those are very different right if you're preaching from the pulpit and and or you you're doing a home Bible study with your family it's like how does God want us to live what character qualities should we have how can we love God how can we love our neighbor that would be one thing if someone's saying how to run an effective political campaign in this dog-eat-dog world that's gonna come out very different nasty ads all kinds of provocative stuff now in the same way if my goal on radio on internet on TV if my goal was prime primarily to be a political commentator say a right-wing conservative political commentator if that was my goal and not to be a voice of scripture a voice of biblical reason a voice of moral cultural and spiritual revolution if instead my goal is to be a right-wing political commentator I'd be nasty I'd be thrown out insults I'd be using cheap nicknames for people not now listen those that do that and that's who they are that's between them and God I'm not sitting like well I would never do that I'm simply saying that's who they are they were a particular audience same on the left there's gonna be the insult the attack that the provocative type of comments and get your anger stir it up and I don't want to do something about that well would you agree with me if if you go to a partisan news website this is just about all of them right I mean everybody's got such a strong perspective that bleeds through the news but if you go there if you go to a a partisan website and start reading the headlines no matter what side you're on your blood's gonna start boiling you're gonna get angry what's happening it's a side is bad it's falling would you agree with that okay my goal is not to provoke you in that way my goal if I talk about things happening in the news I'm gonna play a clip from Don Lemon a little later in the show I'm gonna interact with my goal is not to get you hating Don Lemon and bashing Don Lemon and calling them names that's not why I'm here so it's a challenging thing friends I'm just being totally candid with you to constantly interact with political and cultural issues which is part of my calling I'm not simply a Bible teacher on the radio I don't need to just be doing that because there are so many fine Bible teachers on radio on internet and podcast and TV plus we've got an abundance of materials where I'm just teaching the word do that all the time teach and preach all the time but when I'm here with you on the line of fire when I'm writing op-ed pieces that's not my primary role just be a Bible teacher rather to take the Word of God and or walk with God and say now how do we live this out how do we live this out in the school world how do we live this out in and our family and our community in a workplace how we live this out in the local church interfacing with the world around us how do we sort this through with elections and media and social media and all that's why I'm here to serve as your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst of a society and chaos and a church all too often in compromise and that's why you've tuned in right so of course we'll get into the word well we'll use scriptural principles we'll talk about all these things and different days we may just take calls and all the calls are theology related that's perfectly fine but the challenge the challenge especially on social media friends is to to post controversial issues provocative issues to say okay please read what I wrote about this and then weigh in and comment without giving place to a carnal spirit without giving place to all the anger and you know what I'm talking about is this making sense all right so I understand right now that there are grave grave concerns in terms of where the Democrats may be taking America for good reason there are grave concerns if the Equality Act and HR one were to pass it would massively change who we are massively attack our rights if you add it in say you know DC statehood so the electoral college has yet another shift and and then if you have a flood of immigrants coming into the country illegally and then first-generation voting Democrat and you could have a shift it's very difficult to recover from and ways where it's it's almost set in the way that it would take a landslide of change in America to overcome it there are real reasons for concern which is a reason that I voted Republican versus Democrat at the same time our primary battle is not a political battle here in short this is what I believe happened I've prayed much about this I've reflected much about this I've listened all right my perspective is a very very simple one always try to boil things down make them as simple as I can make them here's my perspective that we saw the grave issues that we're facing as a country we saw the way that the radical left wants to go when I say we I mean conservative followers of Jesus of all color and background we saw the way that the radical left wanted to go we saw the radicalizing of the Democratic Party and we saw the real issues and and things we needed to vote about but then we got caught up in politics we got caught up in the political spirit we we became part of the political spirit taking on the anger and the hatred and the lashing out and the attacking and the demonizing of one another so rather than recognizing our first method of battle is not in the polling place not not voting our first message of battle is on our knees and repenting of our sin and seeking God a prayer it's not either or it's not either or it's post and but it's a matter of priorities a matter of priorities that we put the spiritual second we put the Great Commission second we put revival second we put gospel based transformation second and we put almost everything oh especially white evangelicals everything into these elections have to go a certain way and if Trump is out is over that's where things got off and I said this is someone who voted for Trump twice that's where things got off emphasis and maybe as I'm speaking to you as things have calmed down a little post elections and we're starting to get on with a little bit more normal life in that regard maybe you realize why I did get caught up I did get caught up my emotions got caught up rather get mad at me what is hey Trump I wouldn't voted for Trump twice if I hated him that's not the issue well you're a sold-out liberal communist flaming left deep state please yeah and I also masqueraded Santa Claus on weekends let's be realistic okay can you see perhaps that you got caught up in a wrong spirit can you see perhaps that you thought political change is so crucial and I understand the issues are very crucial abortion issues and religious liberties and those very very crucial issues fully understand Middle East Israel China Iran and big things but can you see perhaps that what the political organizations do say the Family Research Council they do this then they tell us okay here's our recommendations in terms of voting that we just got caught up as if we were all that as opposed to hey we're believers in local cities local churches and maybe because of kovat we didn't have the outlet normally to just be about friends and family and worship and an outreach in our community so it just locked us in more to social media now's the time to just step back all right let's regain our priorities we don't abandon voting we don't abandon telling our congressman how to vote we don't abandon these things in fact you know pro-life we should be involved with that grassroots that's even more effective than voting right in our local communities let's go back to the fact that we have supernatural weapons we have supernatural weapons nobody else has nobody no power on earth has these except God's people look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 beginning in verse 3 it's Paul saying you know the Corinthians he's not the big superstar megastar apostle you know they kind of despise him it was this Paul guy and he says though we walk in the flesh not meaning flesh carnal sin flesh but this world though we walk in the flesh we are not waging war according to the flesh for though we walk in the flesh we are not excuse me I said that for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ being ready to pure punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete so he's talking here about a spiritual authority in ministry into the Corinthians the spiritual authority that he has as an apostle and and he's saying listen it is a spiritual authority it's not based on how tall I am how strong I am how much money I have how much political backing I have how much human charisma no it is a spiritual authority and ultimately friends the greatest weapon the most powerful weapon on the planet is the power of prayer is the weapon of prayer is us getting down on our knees alone or with other believers humbling ourselves before God and crying out to Almighty God to move it's not either prayer or action but there is no action that is greater than the action of prayer let's recover this let's realize we overcome evil not by becoming evil but by doing good we bless those who curse us we pray for those who despitefully use us we have different weapons we'll be right 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 you know Chris you asked a question on Facebook and when prayer doesn't even work who then do I turn to Chris that's when you turn to God all the more with all seriousness that's where you press into God because he is true he is faithful and if we pray according to his will and and seek him according to his will he will reveal himself you may have to shut down everything else you're doing for a while aside from essential work and responsibilities and see God but he will come through he may take you through the fire he may take you around the fire he may let you grow in the fire but he will take you through I have a book coming out in May it can be ordered now but I'd recommend just wait till we can share more about it has God failed you finding faith when you're not even sure God is real yeah there can be tremendous trials of faith difficult times let me encourage you Chris read Luke 18 the opening verses there the parable of the unjust judge you notice that Jesus gives a parable to tell his people to pray always and not faint not cave in in other words we're gonna be tempted to cave in it's gonna feel like there is no hope what I'm saying my brothers and sisters is that we got caught up in politics and a political spirit to the detriment of our own souls and we put too much trust in the political system and too much focus on the political political system let us put our focus on God in his kingdom intersecting with this world it cuts right through America cuts right through Republican Democrat parties even though I lean with one platform versus another my allegiance is to the kingdom of God and my desire is not just God bless America but God change America your kingdom come to America you know I've been outside the United States about 200 trips so I have a certain perspective I've spent total a few years of my life outside of America and we have so many friends and colleagues working all around the world it gives you perspective in terms of God's heart for the whole world and America plays a role but America is just another nation so it let us first get the Jesus Great Commission spirit attitude love God love our neighbor be disciples make disciples and then political issues they factor in but way down the list of what should consume our emotions our heart our priorities our time that's why I want to submit to you with love with love Ephesians chapter 6 let me read this to you then we're going to the phones Ephesians chapter 6 Paul writes this beginning verse 10 finally be strong in the Lord and then the strength of his might I'm weak yeah yeah be strong in the Lord and then the strength of his I don't have much straight right yeah yeah be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might look if it was financial right and I was a billionaire and I said hey you just know you go ahead on the center mindset I got you I got you covered here you use my account God saying use his spiritual account put on the whole armor of God metaphorically this is the armor God wears himself so spiritually we put this on put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil there's a real battle a real devil real attack for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood so our primary battle is not with people but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places that's where our great battle is therefore take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes for your feet having put the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and application to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the Saints and also for me that words may be given to me and open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which an ambassador in chains and I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak that's where we fight with different weapons that's where we are clothed with God's armor that's where if we rely on those things first and foremost and then with that doing good helping those around us with that living godly lives as families with that serving our communities with that preaching the gospel boldly without fear with that standing for what's right in our schools and our neighborhoods and our places of business with that voting right so that's that's in there but voting is not the same level as preaching the gospel or praying let's not ever put them on that same level ever it's a mistake it's a mistake both and not either or both and all right let's uh let's take some calls 8 6 6 3 4 truth we go to Kathy in Toronto welcome to the line of fire hey hey I just have like the question I worry I could need an unpardonable thing like I don't know why but like these I'm like the past 10 days I've been having decent truth to spot and I I think I called God's sake and I don't mean or believe it and I say that to the Holy Spirit I don't mean it I just had me to the truth of God and then I think sometimes I feel of compassion and worry I like I'm really afraid of sin against father every father's father he's not safe and he's opposite but I just sometimes expect but I don't know if I do it willingly or not all right well let's let's help sort that out all right Kathy just to put your your heart and mind at ease hey when did you come to to know Jesus for yourself to say that you have a personal relationship with the Lord well I committed my why did it when I was like a child and I thank you that I've been like away and it just like us it's us and data recommitted myself to God okay well good well listen welcome back that's the first thing I want to encourage you to look at the end of James the last two verses of James the fifth chapter just go to the end of that book it says if we can help a sinner turn back or help a brother that's that straight turn back that that a multitude of sins will be covered so when God forgives Luke 15 is another important passage he forgives and wipes the sake the slate clean and gives you a brand new start let me ask you this that that the way that you understand God to be the type of being that he is that the nature of the Father do you think that that if someone is sincerely trying to follow him but struggling in their thought life that God will destroy that person forever and say there's never any hope for you banished forever you think that's the kind of God that he is yeah all right so so if you look down what's if you look in mark three where that that passage also occurs you know why Jesus was talking about that he was talking about it because he was driving demons out of people by the Holy Spirit and the religious leaders who knew better rather than humbling themselves and listening to him and and saying hey you're you're right we need to follow you instead they willfully and knowingly attributed the works of the Spirit to demons they were saying he has a demon Jesus is demon possessed that's the unforgivable sin it's not to I have a bad thought or no I think I thought some ugly about God have you willfully knowingly attributed the work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus to demons no no of course not you that's what the unpardonable sin is in other words your heart has to be hardened on a certain level you have to have crossed a certain line to get to that point of hardness otherwise God forgives he's merciful he's forgives us all the time so be assured that God wants to shower you with his love as you've come back to him and and affirm you as his daughter and especially that encourage you Kathy to really read through Luke the 15th chapter read it through over and over and over again that's God's heart towards you and don't be troubled over this the devil will try to accuse you and if you have a sensitive conscience you'll try to accuse yourself all right but God wants you to set your heart on what Jesus did on the cross and the sins that he paid for and the father's desire to have you back and be in fellowship with you and as you do that then when you realize why I shouldn't be doing this or that then he shows you you you address it and you move forward that's that's the proper way the things work Lord I just pray for Kathy give her deep assurance remove these troubling thoughts Lord because she has not committed the unpardonable sin far from it bring blessing and grace to her heart in Jesus name amen all right thank you Kathy for the call I tell you what I have limited time before the break so David Franco if you can hang on we'll try to get your calls a little later in the broadcast otherwise tomorrow Friday always good days to call and for those that struggle thinking I God will never have me back I think I'm Hebrew 6 I mentioned that I knew the Lord and I turned away and he'll never have me back remember the testimony almost the whole Bible is God calls back sliders home welcomes them back that the whole history of Israel welcome back turn back turn back and repent and Jesus tells us that if if our brothers sins against us 490 times in a day right 70 times seven and says hey forgive me I'm sorry forgive him how much more does God forgive us so Hebrews 6 the best way to understand that as someone who's gone back into Judaism and is rejecting Jesus no there is no sacrifice of sins for them as long as they are in that state of crucifying him afresh by rejecting him that's the context there everything through the word is saying turn back and God will welcome you back don't stay away condemned I know this is for someone listening don't stay oh I've committed to men it's too late no no that's the voice of the devil or the voice of your own mind God says turn back to me and I'll turn back to you God will abundantly pardon he delights and showing mercy we'll be right back with Alan Wright to talk about this new book it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get into the line of fire now by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown you know we get requests all the time from from authors publishers hey can you have this guest on that guest on and we we don't have a lot of guests on because we're jealous for a radio time and there's so much we want to cover and give time for our cause to call in but I see something I think will will be of value to you and edifying and a blessing we say yeah let's go ahead and do it in this case pastor Alan Wright pastor I've gotten to to know different contexts and settings he pastors in North Carolina but he's on hundreds of radio stations with his daily radio broadcast and he has a brand new book the power to bless and I thought it'd be good to take a few minutes to talk about it together hey Alan how you doing these days I'm doing good dr. Brown it's good good to see you hadn't seen you in a while and thank you for having me on the show especially in the context of of the spiritual battle that we're facing and how we've got some different tools than the world sure honor to be with you yeah thrilled to be with you and when I was thinking about which way I wanted to go on the show today I thought perfect let's let's tie it in with with your book why is it so important today of all times that we as God's people understand what it is to speak life and to bless you know I think that as you've been as you've been describing in today's show we're trying to fight the battle with the wrong tools the wrong weapon and this is something that is just unequivocal in the scripture it is what I really would say the power to bless is a fundamental that it may be not quite on the order of prayer but it's that fundamental it's a golden thread that runs all the way through God's Word starting with the very first thing God did with humanity was to bless Adam and Eve and then say be fruitful and multiply so we think about in today's world and both at our individual level how do we raise our kids how do we help one another grow and flourish what do you do with a wayward child how do you interact with someone you'd like to see them change but how do you do it without shaming them how do you do it without resorting to the wrong tool how do we do this well that the key the secret of this is the power of blessing and and we don't know that much about this in the body of Christ it's it's strange to me that I go and speak about the power of blessing and people so let's talk what do you mean by blessing and I think yeah we need to understand that but isn't that fascinating because we would never say that about prayer or scripture reading I mean we understand these things yet here's a fundamental it is essentially to say we can partner with God for transformation but it must be God's way and so when we bless we're never endorsing someone's lifestyle that may be in sin we're never endorsing someone's waywardness instead we're speaking life into a place where there would be otherwise death so every word out of our mouth is like a C and it's either sowing life or death that's how the Bible looks at our words and this mystery really a a mystical impartation that takes place when we bless is really what I have found over the last 30 years to be the most powerful weapon of all yes so so I want to pursue that mystical impartation aspect some years back I wrote a series of articles for a five volume theological dictionary exegetical theological dictionary of the Old Testament I wrote a number of the articles and the biggest one that I wrote was on the Hebrew word for bless and it was an eye-opener for me when I saw that the the power of it that when God spoke a blessing the power of it or when the patriarch spoke blessing you know the the battle to get the blessing so we've we've all had it with the empty words you know just a positive confession I'm just gonna speak reality and it's gonna happen and yet there is a truth that when we are as God's representatives speaking his words speaking by his spirit there is this mystical impartation so it expand on this and maybe just give me an example a real-life example of what this looks like okay so what I began to really understand blessing in it and it was thankfully early in my marriage and before I had kids so I was able to raise our kids in this make it the fundamental way that I interact with parishioners the primary way of proclamation is laced with blessing this partly began for me when like what you're saying dr. Brown when you look at the concept biblically it takes your breath away because stories like the intriguing story of Jacob and Esau who come into the narrative in this battle between these two twins and it's a struggle because Jacob wants the blessing but he's the second born and the first born gets all the attention the double inheritance and a very special blessing is gonna be spoken by Isaac and the dying father wrongly blesses Jacob who's pretending to be Esau not one shred of fairness in this story right and and and it's looking at through Western eyes and you see Isaac blesses the wrong kid when Esau comes in and says where's my blessing in the West we might just say well no big deal bless the wrong one let me just repeat the blessing to you and that's not what the text says the text says that he Isaac when he discovered he blessed the wrong son he trembled violently and he said I have blessed him and indeed he will be blessed and when I first really began to wrap my mind around that that there is something that's imparted here there's something that's of irrevocable power and so you know I was just thinking I was listening talking about spiritual warfare and I was thinking about the instance of a beautiful wonderful teenage girl in our church some years ago I'll call her Susan who came under such depression and really demonic oppression that it came to a point that she couldn't even eat anymore and she wouldn't speak to anyone and she was hospitalized and she was catatonic and a tube was keeping her alive and I went to the hospital to see her security guards in the room she hasn't spoken to a psychiatrist a doctor or anyone and as I'm walking and I think Lord what do I do and the spirits just like just bless her and I walk in I said I've come to bless you in the name of the living God you are a child of God and it's like I was Michael I'm like looking beyond the natural and and speaking to her spirit speaking to her speaking life right in now you know people might think well that just sounds strange whatever but I really just through the eyes of faith I began to speak and for the first time in in nearly a week she turned she said in the name of the living God and it began a year-long process with her of healing and deliverance and transformation but it came by the speaking of identity statements and blessing over and over and over I think the thing that's so important to realize is that we get lost into thinking that if we withhold the blessing we're going to motivate change well really that's just a form of shame it's not God's way the way of hell is to religiously dangle rewards as some means to make you think you can merit God's love but what God does he doesn't withhold the blessing he blesses and then he says be fruitful and multiply so the blessing has this this beautiful quality of helping release God given destiny it forms our identity and we live out of our identity and so we'll never ever help someone who is heading in the wrong direction by just cursing them and telling them more and more about how wrong everything is in their life instead we have to learn how to paint a picture partnering with God about what can be in their lives mm-hmm I mean so much in our culture it goes in the opposite direction of that and so much of the news that we take in as I was saying earlier in the show goes in the opposite direction just produces anger and the demonizing of our opponents we're when we have the attitude of blessing we're supposed to be the ones bringing life and instead we often make things darker if we could understand this it's it is so life-giving and you know what's interesting I remember when when you were going on the air and expanding your broadcast which is now on 400 stations amazingly obviously life is being important I checked on Amazon to see your book just came out a few weeks back 97% of the ratings are five star and and the others are four star in other words life is being imparted by your words and people are drawn to life and they'll be drawn to us I mean the sinners were drawn to Jesus even though he's telling to repent so in the book and friends get the book the power to bless and and give the book out to some friends get some extra copies because this is the kind of book especially with kovat with the fears with with the crisis of election with so much shaking in the country people people need blessing these are not empty words these are God filled words but but take a couple minutes and talk about in our own lives that we can be so negative and hateful and down on ourselves that that we don't even understand how to bring blessing into our lives can this be applied to me personally and not just to others we are blessed to be a blessing which means that the first thing is to really look at God's Word through the lens that the whole narrative of Scripture really is will God's people believe themselves blessed will will Abraham believe himself blessed to be a father of a nation will the people believe that the promised land is theirs or will they feel like grasshoppers will the people of God ever come to a place where they can understand what Paul says you're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ so this is a narrative it's running through and so I think that blessing others starts with receiving blessing you know I I grew up and I'm sure many of our listeners right now just I didn't grow up under the sound of blessing my dad left home when I was in fourth grade his struggle was with alcohol he was in that generation where dad didn't readily tell their kids they were proud of them and I just think back over how much I craved in your just for him to look at my life and say I see these virtues and I believe it's going to release you into a wonderful destiny here's what I see God doing in your life that sort of sound of blessing that comes from outside of us is the thing we're missing so much and people are craving and that's why people keep writing me and say I'm reading the opening chapter of your book and I got to stop because I'm weeping because it touches this dry place within us the soul of a nation that's crying out daddy where's my blessing where is it and it doesn't help and he does it Michael that we come into the spirit of an age that says all you need to do is look inside yourself and follow your inner guide and don't let anybody tell you who you're supposed to be what this this spirit of the age of all those lies is making us think that we we don't need a voice of affirmation from outside ourselves and we desperately do we need it to be a godly voice a voice that is in sync with what God has to say about us and it's intensely personal and you know the other thing it's just really not that difficult these these the weapons we have in our warfare they're not for the spiritually elite and the and the prophets and the priests of all this is just for all of it you know I just I think you know it yeah I just I got to jump in we've got to continue this this conversation another day I think it's really important we do it what we'll set aside time maybe just unfold this over a whole broadcast so I want to reach out and do that and friends I don't make a dime telling you to get these books these you get them wherever you get them the power to bless it's by Alan Wright wr I gh T my brother will reach out to you and we will continue this conversation fair enough I will look forward to it and God bless you my friend all right God bless thanks 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 eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown thanks for joining us on the line of fire yeah I really do want to finish that conversation take it deeper with pastor Alan Wright absolutely and it's just so important the it's not just speaking empty words I say you are a millionaire I say you are amazing I know it is getting God's heart mind being in harmony with his word and then speaking his life giving truth it's it's it is life transformative and anyway more on that another day so the Vatican has officially said that their priests their leaders cannot pronounce blessings on same-sex unions of course that should have been self-evident forever but it's come up as an issue even the Pope has suggested that is our official position so in response to that CNN's Don Lemon who is obviously himself not a Christian leader or minister but is a TV journalist and himself openly proudly gay listen to what he had to say listen I respect people's right to believe in whatever they want to believe in their God but if you believe in something that hurts another person that are that does not give someone the same rights or freedoms not necessarily under the Constitution because this is under God I think that that's wrong and I think that the the Catholic Church and many other churches really need to re-examine themselves and their teachings because that is not what God is about God is not about hindering people or even judging people and to put it in the context of race I find that you know dr. Martin Luther King jr. said the most segregated place on earth time on earth was 11 a.m. on a Sunday morning so I think that religion and the pew keeps us from actually their barriers from people actually getting to know each other so I would say to the Pope in the Vatican and all the Christians or Catholics or whomever whatever religion you believe about you you happen to belong to out there go out and meet people and try to understand people and do what the Bible and what would Jesus actually said if you believe in Jesus and that is to love your fellow man and judge not lest you be not judged of course Don Lemon has no spiritual authority in what he's saying but I want to reach out to Don Lemon as a fellow human being and say here's what I encourage you to do sir really get to know God really get to know the God of the Bible really get to know what Jesus is about even if it means radical dramatic change in your own life now as to dr. King's quote about segregated services will come to that in fact we'll play his actual clip and come to that in a moment but here's here's what I'd like to say to Don Lemon or to those who agree with Don Lemon the idea that God is that about hindering people who's about hindering people from sin do we agree on the Ten Commandments is something that God spoke do we agree he starts with saying don't worship idols isn't that hindering someone isn't that telling someone if you want to be in right relationship with me you cannot do that what about don't commit adultery what about don't murder what about don't steal are not those all things designed to hinder people from doing bad the idea that God doesn't put limits and just whatever you want to do we all agree that's not right every one of every human being agrees there should be limits on what others do and we just simply believe that God's limits are best when God says don't commit adultery yes he's he wants to hinder a married man or woman from having a relationship with another married man or woman why because it is ultimately destructive and contrary to his will and contrary to what is best for us boundaries are good things that God puts in place as for hurting someone we can hurt someone by being malicious and nasty but God's ways are ways of life when he says turn away from this even if it hurts my feelings it's for good when he when a parent tells children certain things there are reasons for it you think that children four-year-old kid understands every reason that mom and dad say no but the fact is mom and dad know better than the four-year-old and the distance between God and us is a whole lot bigger than the distance between a four-year-old and a mom and dad and for those who say no we're talking about love forget your examples we're talking about love and love is love you have the right to be with the one you love well would you say that it's fine then for two adult brothers who love each other they're examples of these kinds of things so they can't even reproduce and therefore have children that could potentially be harmed by incestuous relationship and have some type of birth defect two brothers should they not be allowed to have a relationship are the laws against incest necessary should they not have their love recognized by marriage and what if it's three or four the the trouble this the three men that have legally gotten their names on the birth certificate for their daughter should we just embrace are there any limits that we should put on love most people of conscience most people who have a an understanding of societal well-being would say yeah we put limits please understand the limits that God puts the the prohibition of a man being with a man or woman being with a woman it is ultimately for the good of the human race but we have to get low what do I know what do you know what matters is what God says and who he is read the word through fresh eyes done if you've not read through the entire Bible cover to cover even the New Testament cover to cover just say God give me eyes to see the truth here in fact I'll pray a Hebrew prayer for you from Psalm 119 Gal in I have beaten the floor of the tartecha open my eyes that I may behold wonders from your law from your teaching if you do that sir and you humble yourself before God your life will be changed what about Martin Luther King can we apply his quote to issues having to do with sexuality let's listen to what he said I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation one of the shameful tragedies at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours is not the most segregated hours in Christian America I definitely think the Christian Church should be integrated and any church that stands against integration and that has a segregated body is standing against the spirit and the teachings of Jesus Christ and it fails to be a true witness but this is something that the church will have to do itself I don't think church integration will come through legal processes I might say that my church is not a segregating church is segregated but not segregating it would welcome white members yeah so nothing whatsoever to do with sexuality and by the way Martin Luther King's own statements on homosexuality would reflect standard Christian beliefs than that just for the record but in point of fact nothing that he said relates in any way to Don Lemon's point and and here skin color skin color is different than sexual desire romantic attraction skin color if you're white if you're black if you're yellow if you're red there is no behavior associated with that there is no morality associated with that there there there is nothing in terms of one's behavior associated with that sexually romantically or anything else so you cannot make the comparison in any case let's pray for Don Lemon rather than lash out mock and let's pray for him to really come to know God that's my prayer really come to know him and find repentance and new life all right let's uh let's grab one more call David in Manitoba Canada thanks for holding if you could dive right in with your question we'll try to answer are you there dr. Brown yeah go ahead go ahead oh hi it's Dave I'd called a little about a month ago I guess regarding the height of Neb statue being 666 years tall I don't know if you recall that right what it is it's it's 60 cubits would be 90 feet tall and six cubits wide nine feet wide so 90 by nine no but what I mean is Babylon is yeah from Babylon all the way to Rome is 666 years yeah and I had right I said I hadn't thought about those specific things and didn't didn't see that as inherent in the text within Daniel when we talked okay but I seem to have more information here a little bit or I think anyway I took 666 years and I went back another 666 years and that's the time of the kings and judges and then I went back another 666 years I landed right on Abraham so I guess what I have is three times 666 years which is all right so where's your where's your starting point for your 666 going backwards just give me your date again okay so basically I've got one of these books that have a timeline right and you know I just cut back like 666 years three times and I write right now but what what date are you starting at going backwards I don't have the dates to be quite honest I'd have to look at my book I got it right Pete because right I would first thing if if you go back I don't know where you're going back are you saying from the rise of the Babylonian Empire to the fall of the Babylonian Empire to what period of time where is that first date even if you don't remember the number where's that first date coming from okay from 70 AD I believe the end of the age was at 70 AD okay right man right so sorry back okay got it right so the end of the age hasn't happened yet that's the first the entity hasn't happened yet but if you work back 666 years from that right so you get to 5 not my 596 BC so that's in the midst that's not as a sacred date in the Babylonian Empire that's like the date so the first thing that doesn't work you bump it back 666 years but you just get in the middle of time of the judges nothing significant there whatsoever zero just something in the middle of a bunch of stuff going on and then 666 years back from there is probably too early for Abraham or certainly not any significant point in his in his life or too late I should say for Abraham so I would drop the line of pursuit as interesting as it may be these sir with all respect I would drop that line of pursuit in terms of finding something special or unique with it and I say that with all respect to someone who's always digging and always learning from scripture hey thank you sir for the call my friends there are the Jewish Thursday coming tomorrow make sure you get our emails if you don't ask dr. Brown a skdr Brown dot org be sure you go there check out the emails check out what we can send out and bless you with another program powered by the truth Network