Dr. Brown Tackles Your Toughest Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Let's do it. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Phone lines are open. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks friends for joining us on the Line of Fire broadcast.

Michael Brown, delighted as always to be with you on this Friday like a kid in a candy shop. Can't wait to get to your calls. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-87-884. Any subject of any kind that relates in any way to anything in our own ministry work or anything we ever talk about on the Line of Fire, by all means give us a call. Those who differ with me, critics, skeptics, mockers, phone lines are open for you as well.

And those just with genuine questions, areas of disagreement, all good. 866-34-TRUTH. Really quickly, before we go to the phones, I just want to read a prayer request I just got from a pastor in Pakistan.

I can't give location any details, but he said, today I am so heartbroken. One more 16 years Christian girl is kidnapped early morning by Muslim guys to force conversion. But this time she is from our church and our choir member.

Today she came to early morning service at 5 30 a.m. with her aunt. Then she gets kidnapped by Muslims and forced to convert and married. This happens.

This happens. Would you pray that God would rescue this girl? God knows who she is, where she is, the circumstances they've gone to police with the hope. I mean, it's hope against hope that the police would do something about this. Pray that God would.

Pray that God would intervene and spare this 16 year old Christian girl from forced conversion to Islam. Thank you. All right, let us go to the phones and start with David in Lake Elsnore, California.

Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you. You're welcome.

And I will look up Emily and make sure you keep her in my prayers and we'll reach out to our brothers as well and pray for her. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so the question is about Deuteronomy 33 and Habibah 3, specifically in the Lord came from the Lord came from the Lord came from the Lord came from the man. Right.

Right. And I'm wondering about what would be translated as will come from or is it coming from from Sinai? Is this possibly talking about future return of Jesus? Oh, no.

No, certainly not. These are looking back to the Theophanies, the Sinai appearance, there's really no ambiguity in it. Yeah, I mean, see, here's where someone could potentially misread it, but you have to 100% twist it. The Hebrew that's used there is the perfect and it means he came from now if it was in a different context and you were saying he is coming or is about to it's not it's not future. It would be right there.

It's at the in other words. He's oh, he's coming down the hallway now as opposed to in the future. He will come that could not be ba ba in Hebrew means he came or it could mean presently right now.

He is coming in this process. Everything else is telling you in the context. It's past and it absolutely cannot be speaking of a future distant event does doesn't work. Yeah, and again, yeah, yeah, the context there is again looking back and yeah, okay, so sorry in in Habakkuk 3, so it's the exact opposite in Habakkuk 3. So Deuteronomy 33, I'm glad you asked me to separate the two. In Deuteronomy 33, it's the exact excuse me in Habakkuk 3, it's the exact opposite which is Yavo which is is coming or more specifically welcome. So that's the imperfect that would be used about the future.

So for example, the the the new JPS search traditional Jewish translation. God is coming from Taman the Holy One from Mount Peron His Majesty covers the skies to splendor. It's brilliant light which gives off so could this one be not just looking back but looking forward and referring to the second coming. Habakkuk 3 could, Deuteronomy 33 could not. Yeah, yeah, sure, and sorry for overgeneralizing when I answered both together because they must be answered separately. Yeah, go ahead.

Oh, totally, yeah, yeah, thank you for doing that. I just think it's really amazing how even in Deuteronomy 33, if you talk about God's word, I'm coming from 10,000 and it's holding one's right, and it's all quoted in a New Testament as well, for the return of Jesus when he appears with a name just like my choir, that he's here with like he's holding one's right, and judged the way that it is. I think that's really incredible how even Habakkuk kind of reinterpreted as Deuteronomy 33 point forward, or possibly point forward. Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, and no, it is, again, one is ba, he came, the other yavo, he will come. Even for a new JPS to say, is coming, it's more likely to say there, he will come. Right, and the Sinai manifestation of God and his power speaks of other times of God coming in judgment and power.

There are similar types of images that are used. You know, just like, for example, in Isaiah, the fourth chapter, the future glory in the messianic era will have the pillar by day and the fire by night. So a similar thing to what happened with Israel in the wilderness will now continue.

So yeah, the image of the exodus, the future deliverance is pictured on that, the future manifestation of God with resemblances back to Mount Sinai. Yes, you're definitely on the right track with that, so appreciate the questions. Thank you, Dr. Brown.

Yep, you're very welcome. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Sylvia in New Brownsville, Texas. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown.

Hey. God bless you. Bless you.

So my question was, and I only have two other people but I want to pick an answer. So in the Bible, where it says that Jesus was moved with compassion and healed, and also he said the multitude, and always says he was moved with compassion. So my question is, could it be that we don't see so many miracles now because we don't have the compassion of Jesus? There's no question that that's a factor, that if we were more moved with compassion, we would have more of God's heart and God's power working through us. Now, it doesn't say that in many of his miracles, it says that with some, right? Luke 7, raising the widow's only son from the dead, he's moved with compassion. Matthew 14, he raised the crowds, he heals them by compassion. And you referenced feeding the multitudes, moved with compassion. So certainly that is a factor. When people just try to say, well, that was a sign that he was the Messiah, that was proof that he was the Messiah.

Well, that's part of it. In other words, the miracles that God brought through him were part of his credentials. But they also reflected the heart of God. They reflected the manifestation of God's character and how he felt about sickness and disease and his compassion towards the suffering. Honestly, I think we'd see many differences in many areas if we were more moved with compassion.

Now, someone might say, man, you're judging me. I've wept and pleaded and moved with deep compassion and don't see healing. So fully understand that. No one's saying that this is the magic button that you push, and 100 times out of 100, if you have compassion, you'll see healing.

However, I fully agree with you. If we had more compassion, we'd see more healing. And one simple, logical reason is that we would be more moved to pursue God for healing. We would be more broken by someone else's pain and therefore taken on ourselves to really pray and break through on their behalf. The more we care, the more we'll serve, the more we'll give. It's interesting if you read things about, say, Heidi Baker in Mozambique and how she'll pray for the sick. Sometimes she meets a blind woman and just hugs her, just loves her, and the woman sees. So it's compassion that moves her and that compassion is the vehicle for healing. No question, more compassion would produce more results. I agree with you. Thank you, sir. And it's costly, isn't it?

Having compassion is costly, because otherwise we just kind of skip on with our day, but now compassion burdens us. Hey, thanks. Let's go to Cassie, somewhere in Canada. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi. Hey, are you on a regular phone? Are you connected okay? Yes, I'm on speaker. We don't turn it off.

Yeah, better to turn it off. Talk to you directly. Yeah, I'm worried about Hebrews 6 for to say, because I feel like I had the Holy Spirit, but I feel like He's not with me now. And like before I had like, when I tried to come back to God, I had like some like demonization and then I contacted some pastors and I even talked to a pastor from the Moody Institute in the U.S. and then I had this feeling like I don't want to follow God.

I keep getting these condemning feelings like that. I committed like the blasphemy and I can't follow God. And like I had like the pastors, people who prayed for me, like they had like demonic dreams and things. And I worry now, like I don't have the Holy Spirit with me, because I don't feel like the hatred is thin as I did before and I don't feel like God's with me. I worry like maybe I can't come back to God. Like when I pray to Him, I don't feel any response to anything. And sometimes I get these blandest shit spots in my head like saying to God and things. Right, so Cassie, I know that what you're going through is very real to you and others have gone through the very same thing and feel that they crossed the point of no return or God would never have them again or that they committed the unpardonable sin.

And what I always tell those who ask is that if that was the case, you wouldn't be on the phone with me. You would be completely away from God without any thought of Him, any desire, any desire you have for God that comes from Him. Any desire to be right with Him that comes from Him. Jesus said you can't come to Him unless the Father who sent Him draws you. The very fact that you want to come to God means that He's at work in your life. And what I would encourage you to do is to focus on what the Word of God says. I'm going to give you some key verses and to renew your mind to what the Word of God says and meditate on it until that reality strikes your heart.

And when you receive it first by faith, because it's written, and by looking to Jesus, then it's going to become real in the rest of your life. Stay right there, Cassie. We'll talk on the other side of the break. Please don't go anywhere. 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, friends, for joining us on this Friday broadcast. You've got questions. We've got answers.

So back to Cassie. I want to encourage... Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm just wondering because I have these compulsions or these glamourous thoughts, things like disgusting things to God, and I feel like I kind of have a weird conscience. Before I felt like, when I had the Holy Spirit, I felt more kind to people and everything, but now I feel afraid He won't come back. When I say those disgusting things of compulsion or some...

I said to God, I don't feel guilty or anything. I'm just worried that I'll die. Right, but you can't rely on feelings right now. That's what I'm trying to help you with, okay?

What you have to do is renew your mind according to what God's Word says and determine to believe that. Determine to hold on to that. If your mind is raging and your emotions are raging, hold on to what's written. I want to encourage you to read Psalm 103 out loud over and over again, okay? Are you jotting this down?

Can you do that? So Psalm 103, read it through over and over again out loud. Don't even tell God how you feel. Just read it. Another passage to read is Micah chapter 7 verses 18 and 19. Okay, sorry.

I just read it down quickly, sorry. Yeah, yeah, so Psalm 103, okay? Micah chapter 7, Micah chapter 7 verses 18 and 19. Okay.

And then Luke chapter 15. Okay. I'm just worried, sorry, the Pharisees, you know, they said, like, Jesus was possessed by demons, and I think, like, I had to Spanish his thoughts or sing to God, like, these swear words and things. I don't... Yeah, but look, people, all kinds of crazy thoughts can go through our minds, okay? There can be angry thoughts, lustful thoughts, sinful thoughts. Any of us can get hit with crazy thoughts.

I've had times where I'm about to stand up and preach, and the craziest thought goes in, so I just let it go in one ear and out the other. That's not me. That's not who you are. If that's who you are, you wouldn't be on the phone now.

If that's who you are, you wouldn't be concerned about this. And the passage in Hebrews 6 that I know you're concerned with is about someone who has willfully turned away and is rejecting Jesus, actually going back to Judaism in context, and thinking, well, I can just go back to the system there, the sacrifice, and say, no, no, if you're crucifying him by rejecting him, there is no other sacrifice. What you're doing is you're coming to him, and he is faithful and just to forgive your sins. Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

And he's not one that changes his mind back and forth in his fickle. When he died on the cross, that was once and for all. Unless you willfully, knowingly reject him, unless you willfully, knowingly, outwardly attribute it, the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan and harden your heart as opposed to had thoughts go through your mind, what you need to do is accept God's love. Don't worry about the feelings.

Those will come. The feelings will come back. But renew your mind according to God's word. If you have to read these over 100 times a day, Father, make this real to me.

Make this real to me. And he will. And you'll come out the other side.

Father, we pray for Cassie, that you would work in her life, that you would draw her to yourself, that your word would become true in her own life experience in Jesus' name. All right, you do that, all right? Over and over. Speak those out. Pray those out.

You'll see transformation come. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Bob in Damascus, Maryland. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. My question seems maybe a little frivolous after the last couple.

That's all right. I'm interested in the pilgrim road, paved pilgrim road that they're excavating in Jerusalem that leads up to the temple. I'm wondering if you can comment on how that relates to the Gospels and perhaps to the Jewish historical claim to the land.

So it relates to the Gospels in terms of the geography or archaeology or the message of the Gospels? Well, I guess just by the fact that there are places in the Gospel where Jesus went up to the temple, and maybe we can imagine that this is exactly where he walked. Yeah, so I haven't followed the details of the latest digs around the temple.

I can tell you that when we do a tour—the current one, we've had it postponed three times, but God willing, next year, late February, early March, we'll be taking everyone to Israel. But when we do a tour, we will stand outside of the old temple ruins, and I guess it's the southern steps to the temple, and the tour guide will always say, this is the one place we can say for sure in terms of this complex here that Jesus would have walked. And then you see around it these little areas where you've got these little baptismal pools for ritual immersion, because you'd have them all around because so many people would get richly washed before going into the temple. So you'll go through parts of the old city of Jerusalem, and to your shock you'll see, okay, they've now excavated this. This could go back to the time of Hezekiah or the city of David's being excavated. So there are quite a few places where you just go back in time thousands of years, and it's stunning.

And then the remains of Herod's villa here or things like that, it's stunning and striking. But this particular one, I have not followed what's being discovered, but you could almost be sure that there will be new things uncovered that give us more insight about life at the temple and where things were 2,000 years ago. So I'll follow up on this.

Sometimes I'll wait until there's more data and information, but I'll check, and if there's anything really rich, then I'll certainly talk about it on the air, maybe on a Thursday. So thanks for asking. I wish I had more info to give you, though. Thank you.

All right. 866-34-TRUTH. I mean, rather than just saying, I don't know, there is so much that is amazing when you go like, wow, this goes back this far, that far.

It's extraordinary. By the way, we've got a couple lines open, which we almost never have on a Friday, so if you've been trying to get through, now is the perfect time. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Ben in Montgomery County, Maryland. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, afternoon. How are you doing, Dr. Brown?

Doing well, thanks. Yeah, my question was direct relation with what is considered to be a Christian. In this context, I was wanting to refer to, does one necessarily have to believe in the Trinity to be considered a Christian, you know?

Got it. So what's your own view? Well, I guess you could technically call me a Unitarian, but the term Unitarian nowadays has more of a liberal stigma to it, so I just don't believe that Jesus is God, basically. I don't believe in the Trinity.

Right, so that to me is a salvation issue because you have a less-than-divine being dying for our sins. You have, do you worship Jesus? Worship?

Yeah. Jesus, I praise you. Jesus, I worship you. I mean, I guess you could say I acknowledge him that, you know, to get to the Father I need to get to the Son, right? Because only through the Son can you get to the Father, so I guess you could consider in that sense. No, but I mean, do you give him praise and worship?

I guess not in the typical sense then, no. Right, yes, so that's problematic, you know, because you have passages, like I'll just read this to you. Aside from explicit statements that you have to deny, like Hebrews 1 explicitly saying that the Son is God, so unless you worship more gods than one, right? Or, you know, in Revelation, the fifth chapter, I'm sure you're familiar with the passage there, when everyone says you're worthy to take the scroll, and then goes on, and in a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise, either you're giving that to him as Scripture requires, or you say you can't, in which case you're withholding. If you're giving that to him, then he's divine, the only one that God does not share his glory with anyone. So it's not just a theological doctrine, like you have to sign on this dotted line, but if you deny Jesus' deity, not only do you deny explicit parts of Scripture, you're denying prayer to him because he's prayed to in the Bible, even so come, Lord Jesus, that's a prayer to him. If Stephen says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, that's a prayer to him. So if he's not God, then who are you praying to? We only pray to God. And if he can receive all honor and glory and praise, then if we're giving that to him, is he God or not? Or every knee bowing to him, every tongue confessing that he's Lord, if he's not God, then that's idolatry.

We're giving that to a glorified man. So it's something I really encourage you to reconsider in terms of based on what Scripture says. Are you open to being wrong in your position? I guess that's the most rational position to hold, the ability to be considered wrong with enough sufficient evidence, right?

Got it. So Ben, have you watched the debate I did on this with Dr. Dale Tuggie? No, I only watched your debate with Dr. Bart Gernman. Okay, so tell you what, go to my internet channel, AskDrBrown, ASKDearBrown, or my website AskDrBrown.org, type in Brown and White, Brown and White, so you'll see a debate that James White and I did with Sir Anthony Buzzard and Mr. Joseph Good on this very subject. So just type in Brown and White, and you'll find that, or then type in Tuggie, Brown and Tuggie, T-U-G-G-Y.

This is a debate Dale Tuggie and I did on the deity of Jesus, and then the debate that Dr. James White and I did together against Joseph Good and Anthony Buzzard. So check those out with an open heart. I think it'll shift your view, sir, and then call me back once you've watched. God bless you. 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. Hey, friends. Welcome to the broadcast.

Just a quick word. If you have not yet preordered your copy of Has God Failed You, they have arrived early. The book doesn't come out until May 11th, but we got our shipment in. Next week, we'll be signing, sending them out, and we have a special additional gift that we're giving you with a teaching that I think is really going to bless you richly, just an extra gift. So you can preorder the signed numbered copies on our website, AskDrBrown.org.

You can still do that. I highly recommend the book for anyone struggling in their faith, having questions maybe if they've lost their faith but they're still open to the reality of God, the possibility of God, you or a friend or loved one. I think you'll find the book super helpful. I really wrote it with a deep sense of dependence on God, leaning on Him as I wrote because of the life and death nature of the material in the book.

So Has God Failed You? You can find out more on our website AskDrBrown.org. You'll find it right on the home page.

If you just want to preorder just a regular copy anywhere else, Christian book or Amazon, it's out there and of course e-book is available and at a certain point, not too distant future, hopefully the audio book. All right, 866-3-4-TRUTH. You've got questions, we've got answers.

We go to Hunter in Campbell, California. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Hello. Can you hear me? Yeah, go ahead. All right, so I just had a question about number 14.

Okay. Moses is praying to God and he says, he basically says, like, then the Egyptians will hear it and you might be brought. Then, like, I guess my question is, why did Moses reason with the Lord about why he shouldn't destroy the children of Israel? Like, wouldn't the Lord already know why he shouldn't already kill? Yeah, well, there's a lot of intercession where Moses appeals to the Lord and appeals to his promises and then God relents after that.

You don't just have it with Moses, you have it in other examples, other prophetic books and things. So the way it works, number one, is that God is working with us. In other words, that he is giving us an opportunity to respond and give a reason for him to be even more long-suffering and have mercy. You'll do the same thing with your children, that they do something that's wrong, but based on their response, you determine, okay, they're really contrite. Okay, they recognize the wrongness of what they did and really want to make it right or they don't even care at all. So you respond according to their response.

So you're giving them the opportunity. Why doesn't God just save people without us preaching? Why doesn't he just do things without us asking him to do them?

Because he's working in relationship with us, he's working in conjunction with us. So that's why he is often looking for a valid reason to pardon or to have mercy, but there must be the right response in order for him to do that. And in terms of Moses' intercession, he knew that God's reputation was important.

If people didn't know who he was, they couldn't believe in him, they would believe in false gods. And therefore, if it seemed that he was powerless, he brought them out of Egypt but didn't have the power to bring them into the Promised Land, it would bring reproach to his name and therefore drive people away from him. So God's looking for us to pray and to act, and if we don't, you know, 1 Thessalonians 5, if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat, or 2 Thessalonians 3, if he doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. In other words, hey, you can just stay home and pray for food, but God set it up where you go work. So that's the way he set things up, and if we don't participate, then we lose out and others lose out. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, you know, one leader, actually a couple of leaders have said it over the centuries, whether we like it or not, asking is the law of the kingdom. And think of this other part, Hunter, not just in terms of God wanting to give us an opportunity to receive mercy or pray for mercy for someone else, but in our own development, you know, after the broadcast today, get home and we'll work out with a friend, if I could be in perfect cardio shape and my body the fittest it could possibly be, by my just pushing a button on my bedside before I went to sleep, it's unlikely I'd push hard in workouts. If I could see the full manifestation of God's power by praying a 30-second prayer once a month as much as I love the Lord and love spending time with him, I probably wouldn't be pushed to pray in the same way.

So these things develop change in us as well. But thank you, thank you for the question. I appreciate it. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to John in—we're going to Delaware—let's go to Michael in Puerto Rico. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Yes sir, Dr. Brown. I recently read a book by Adrian Zins and Marlon Zayas called Worthy to Escape, and they talk about, they resolved a debate about the secret rapture, a secret pre-trib rapture versus a public post-trib rapture by correlating the Jewish feast. And basically what they say in the book is that the secret pre-trib rapture of the five wise virgins like a thief in the night correlates to the first fruit harvest on the day of Pentecost of sanctified Christians that are watching for the rapture, and the public post-trib Matthew 24 in gathering of the elect at the last trump correlates to the late autumn festival of trumpets or tabernacles, and after the summer of tribulation. So these are outlined in Revelation chapter 14 verse 4 and verse 16 where it talks about the first fruits unto the God of the 144,000 first fruits, and then verse 16 talks about the harvest of the earth. And so I was wondering, have you heard of this, and what's your opinion of a secret harvest on the day of Pentecost? Yeah, so first I'm not familiar with the book itself. I've heard different arguments based on different reasoning and different verses over the years, so I'm not familiar with this book itself, and the authors may love the Lord and may be very serious students of scripture, so the fact that I'm about to completely dismiss this idea categorically does not mean that they don't love the Lord or they haven't studied scripture or don't have many arguments to bring, so I don't mean to be dismissive of them in any way, but the reason, having studied this and written on it myself of course with Craig Keener, a book not afraid of the antichrist while we don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, is because the very thing that we are told to look forward to, the very thing that we are told is when we are transformed, it's a public event.

It's not a secret event. We are longing for his what? Appearing. That's what Paul was longing for. We long for his appearing. We will be changed when he appears. And when is it that we experience transformation and are caught up in the twinkling of an eye and receive our resurrected bodies? It's at the last trumpet, 1 Corinthians the 15th chapter.

The question is if that's the last trumpet, then why is there another trumpet or series of trumpets after that? The very words that are described that, for example, are used in Matthew 24, that public event that they referred to which they claim is this later event as opposed to this secret rapture, the same words are used. It's his parousia. It's his coming. So if the parousia is an arrival, in other words, if you're in an airport and they say, okay, flight so-and-so is within landing distance and should be touching down slowly, okay, it hasn't arrived yet.

Flight so-and-so has just arrived and will be making its way over to the gate and will be boarding in a half hour after that. So the parousia is an actual arrival and we are raptured to be with him at his parousia, at his apokalipsis, which is his revelation, at his epiphania, which is his shining forth. So all the vocabulary of what we're looking forward to and when we who love the Lord and are devoted to him will be caught up to meet him.

It's all a public event that is seen, visible, it's audible, trumpet blasts and all that. So, you know, I just don't see any possible basis for that view. Well, just for your listeners that believe in a pre-trib rapture, you know, they don't want to read the book, at least we should be watching and waiting on these feasts, the Jewish feast days, we should be using them as the watch services at the very least. You know, we should be ready every day, but especially on feast days. So thank you for your comment and I read your book, but I'm not sure I agree 100%, but thanks for your comment.

That's fine, man, we can have differences. This much I would say, though, I don't agree with their reading of the feasts either, obviously. So Passover, pointing to Messiah's death and resurrection, excuse me, death on the cross, first roots within the Passover season, his resurrection, Shavuot, the outpouring of the Spirit, so the Feast of Weeks, outpouring of the Spirit, and then after this substantial gap between his first and second coming, trumpets, speaking of his coming, atonement, national cleansing for Israel, and tabernacles, then is the final ingathering. Hey, thank you, Michael, for the call and for studying these issues. And, yes, let us be eagerly looking to the Lord, watching, waiting. Jeremiah, no, Jeremiah's gone.

No, it wasn't the Jeremiah from the Bible. You can read his words every day. 866-34-TRUTH. And again, with a couple of folks just dropped out, gone, got phone lines, one or two phone lines open again. It's like a jewel on a Friday, so great time to call in now. We go to Orlando in High Point. In fact, the caller right next to you is also in High Point, unless you're in the same house there.

Welcome to the fire. No, I know. All right. So, Lisa, you're next, also in High Point. Maybe you know Orlando.

But anyway, go ahead, sir. Mr. Brown, I have a question about 1st Adam, 2nd Adam. Yeah. When he talks about how—is there anything in the Talmud or any other place that talks about how long was Adam with no sin in the Garden of Eden? Was it 33 years just like Jesus came over? Is that why he had to live?

33 years and a half years? No, it's a great question because you have the 1st Adam and the last Adam and the first, you know, earthly, the second heavenly, so you have those contrasts laid out. But no, there's nothing—you have all kinds of interesting traditions, but nothing in terms of any definitive information as to how long Adam lived. However, there are rabbinic traditions, homiletical traditions that talk of Adam being so glorious, like face like brighter than the sun, and so massive that he could stride over the entire earth with just a few footsteps. So you have these pictures of Adam like super glorified and super exaggerated. But no, no correspondence, which is a great question that Adam lived X number of years without sinning.

The impression you get is pretty quickly the age of the Forbidden Tree. Hey, thank you for the question. We'll be right back to 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. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire. All right, we had a drop caller that we've reconnected with, so John in Delaware, welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, welcome.

I've called before, and I want to thank you for taking my call. I attended the Times Square Church about a decade ago, and I did it for about ten and a half years I was there. And now I'm in Delaware, and I'm attending a church that was planted by John MacArthur. I know the love of the Lord, the pastors, the men of God, the people are great, but they believe, you know, this sessionism, and my brother is also into this type of line, John MacArthur line as I called it, and I'm very confused right now because I don't know where to stay or not because I disagree with the way they see things, many things, and I'm confused.

I feel like sometimes they just want to argue about stuff that are not necessary. So John, let me just ask you a couple other questions, okay? The way you encountered God in worship at Times Square Church, did you encounter God the same way in worship at this church?

No, not at all. They love people, they choose their songs very wisely, you know, so when you sing their songs are very, you know, correct, but they don't raise their hands, they don't praise the Lord. Right, so the encounter, right, so let me just say this, I respect and honor John MacArthur and thank God for the example he set and the unflinching testimony that he's given, unashamed of the Lord all these years, and then of course very, very strongly differ with him on the things of the Spirit and the place of encountering God and intimate fellowship with God, so I have very, very strong differences with him in that respect, and if I was in his church, let's just say I was, you know, nobody knew me and I was there, I'm sure I'd learn a lot, I'd grow from the teaching, but I'd be very, very frustrated. I would be constantly frustrated because of lack of ability for the Holy Spirit to move. You think of everything at birth, David Wilkerson, Don Wilkerson's ministry with Teen Challenge, is the Holy Spirit working, and the Holy Spirit visiting lives and changing lives, and as I had the privilege of preaching at Times Square Church somewhere between 40 and 50 times from 91 to 95, the worship was wonderful, and you could just be changed by being in God's presence and worship, and then very, very serious preaching, strong teaching, preaching for the word of God.

I mean, there was no pulpit I preached in America that honored the word any more than Times Square Church did, so I would encourage you, rather than be frustrated, bless the people, thank God for the good they're doing, pray for them, but get in a place where there's freedom for the Holy Spirit to move, where there is liberty to have an expression and an encounter with God, and where you don't feel the same type of contention coming from the pulpit, because, you know, many times in those circles, there'll be a strong emphasis on, you know, this one's wrong, this one's wrong, this one's wrong, and not always as much of a glorifying Jesus, fire burning in your heart, let's go out and pour ourselves into a dying world. Do you have my book, Authentic Fire? I do not, no. All right, are you able to purchase it? Sure, I do, I can, but I want to say also, where can I go?

I've been here a few years from New York. There are no churches out there. I'm not looking for a perfect church, I understand. Yeah, go ahead.

Right, so I just have to jump in, I apologize. Number one, I don't know Delaware well in terms of churches and locations, even if you tell me what city you live in, I don't know the area well, but I'm unable to give specific recommendations. You know, we get questions all the time, could you recommend a church in our area? We're unable to do that for a few reasons, but let's believe that God will bring you into a fruitful place while you're looking, visiting, praying. Sometimes there are groups that meet in homes that are dynamic and there may be something you have to travel.

I mean, many people would drive an hour or longer to get into a service at Times Square Church. Of course, when I'd come in to preach, it was a four or five-hour commute each direction just to get in to speak, but check out my book, Authentic Fire. It's my response to John MacArthur's Strange Fire, and see if your brother will read it too. I think you'll find it really, really helpful.

Authentic Fire. And let's just pray, ask the Lord to lead you, connect you in a place where there's gotta be other churches in the area that are open to the Holy Spirit, that honor the Word of God, where you'd feel more at home. So may the Lord lead you there. And again, I don't know personally the area there well, even if I wanted to help in that regard, but check out the book, Authentic Fire.

I think it'll really help you. All right, God bless, man. Thanks, and may the Lord guide you on your journey here. And by the way, if you were non-charismatic or even anti-charismatic and in a charismatic church and frustrated every week and not agreeing with the leaders, I would tell you to go somewhere else. I would say, hey, even though I believe in these things, if you personally don't and you're struggling and you don't like what the leaders of teaching preach, then you should be somewhere else. You need to be in a place where you can fully submit to the major teaching and emphasis of the leaders. Otherwise, you're gonna be frustrated.

They're gonna be frustrated. Okay, back to High Point, Maryland. Lisa, excuse me, High Point, North Carolina. Lisa, thanks for calling the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown, for taking my call. And I appreciate your ministry and your obedience to the Lord. Dr. Brown, I've been struggling lately. I work in a ministry called Celebrate Recovery. Are you familiar?

I know you may be familiar with that, because you just mentioned Teen Challenge, and we get a lot of people from the Teen Challenge, and I think that's great. But I've been struggling. I've been feeling a lot of, I don't know, I've not really been feeling the Lord's presence like I would like to. I don't know if what I'm feeling is conviction or I'm being judgmental. And what is going on is that a lot of the ladies, they kind of separate us into small groups after the, I guess, you kind of sort of like, I don't know what you'd call it.

We have like an hour thing that we do, and then after that we go off into small groups. But anyway, a lot of the ladies there, they don't seem to be, they're living in a way that the Lord, that you can't live. I mean, the Lord says you can't live like that.

And it's been years that they've been living like this. And I know God moves people different ways, you know, in different time periods. But I can tell that they're bitter because of sin, living openly in sin before God and trying to live a relationship with the Lord, and you'll become bitter. You have to put away the sin.

And we're limited in what we can say, you know. It's a thing that's sort of like, we're not here to change one another, we're here to support one another. But as a Christian, as a professing Christian who loves my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I owe everything to Him, and I just don't feel like I'm doing them what I need to do, and I don't feel like I'm doing Him what I need to do.

So two things, Lisa, in response. Number one, this is what has to drive you deeper in prayer than you've ever gone, to pray for these women that God would really do a work in their lives, that He would turn up the heat of conviction, that He would bring a greater revelation of His love, that He would shine through you like He's never shined through you, that you'd be different in example. So the problems are real, but the frustration is often what drives us to God. And these are when the great breakthroughs come, when we really pursue Him, when we're determined, okay, I don't care what it takes, I have to break through because I'm not seeing the results I want to see, or Jesus is not shining through me in such a way that others are being changed. So let this frustration drive you to seeking God more. As you do that, you may get some insight in terms of ways where the program can address things differently.

In other words, like if you went to a teen challenge, then you're in a very set environment like 10 months or for a year or something like that, and everyone has to live a certain way, do it, participate, et cetera, and you're not allowed to break the rules or you leave, then there are other places where the settings are different. But pray for God's wisdom in that, that Lord, other leaders, Lord, the national movement, Lord, give wisdom, maybe see the greatest fruit. And then if you just feel, you talk to others like, yeah, we're not seeing people change, then as a ministry, then you have to come together. And the leaders, the women have to come together in leadership and seek God and call for fasting and prayer for the breakthrough to come. God will answer, God will meet you. So let this frustration turn into something that's going to be beautiful and powerful. May the Lord do it, Lisa. We come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of His grace.

And friends, let me end the broadcast as I started it. I just got an email today from a pastor in Pakistan, a young woman from his own church, choir member, 16 years old. She was at their service this morning at 5 30 a.m., has been kidnapped by Muslims, and then they will force marriage and conversion on her. In many ways, there's nothing they could do.

He's gone to the police about this, but certain ways, find an excuse for it, look the other way. So let's pray for the deliverance of this girl that quickly, quickly, that she will be out of the hands of her kidnappers, that for whatever reason, they'll have a change of heart and that she'll be back home, safe and sound. May it be so in Jesus' name. Would you pray for her, 16 years old in Pakistan. Another program powered by the Truth Network.