Dr. Brown Tackles Your Best Bible Questions

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Phone lines are wide open. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Do you have a Bible question? Something you've been reading, wondering about? If you've heard the Hebrew says this or the Greek says that, you want to straighten that out. Maybe it's a theology question.

Maybe it's some spiritual conflict you're working out in your church or something you heard someone teach or preach that you're wondering about. Anything at all that relates in any way to The Line of Fire broadcast if you were unable to get through yesterday on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Those calls are welcomed as well. Michael Brown, welcome to the broadcast 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. And yeah, it was many, many years back when I would listen to Rush Limbaugh driving into my office in Maryland. So many years back, he did what was called Open Line Friday and people just call in and he'd start off probably with a monologue, but people just call in and he'd go whichever direction the calls went. And as we were looking at different subjects for different days or days that are wide open, I thought, yeah, that's a good day. Friday's a good day for us to do kind of a similar thing. So that's where the idea came from.

I think some others had done it as well, as well. But we've been doing this for many years. So the earlier you get through, the better chance we have of taking your call. And by the way, if you differ with me on something, or if you've seen some YouTube video about me and you have a concern and want to ask, that's fine. We're good.

We're used to questions and probing and all of that. 866-348-7884. Let us start over in—we'll go to Hawaii.

Derek, welcome to the Line of Fire. Awesome, thanks Dr. Brown for taking my call. I love your ministry and I consider access to a scholar like you a privilege, so thank you for all that you do. My question is, I believe in the Jewish people's rights, you know, to the biblical, to the land of Israel. My question is, on a larger scale, do you believe that an ethnostate for each country is something that belongs to the people of that country? Do you think it's exclusively for Israel, or do you think that every country kind of has a say as far as, you know, preserving an ethnic majority?

Okay, as far as a divine right, if God has given a specific promise to a people, like to the people of Israel, and if he did it unconditionally based on his love for the patriarchs, not on anything that they had done, and you have that statement where God says, for example, in Psalm 105 in the clearest possible terms, that he himself gave the land to Israel, and there are other passages, you know, many, many others where he promises that. All right, so we have that specifically. Do we have, for example, that God said to Moab, or Ammon, that these will always be your borders, or Edom, these will always be your borders? Not necessarily. In other words, there are nations that don't exist anymore, or the population just got subsumed by another population.

But what we do have is this. So, let's read in Acts, the 17th chapter, and this kind of gives the idea of how things were laid out. But in terms of an absolute permanence, the right for people to be in the land would be ethical, meaning if this is your ancestral homeland, and now someone for no good reason is trying to destroy you and wipe you out, that would be ethically a wrong thing.

Excuse me, ethically a wrong thing. Not so much because God gave you that land, or those have always been the borders. So, Paul says this, verse 24 of Acts 17, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. So, you could say that God established borders. They're the same in Deuteronomy 32.8, that there are borders God established, and we should hold to them. But we know that things have shifted over the centuries, and I don't know that you can lay out, okay, this is the original border of the, you know, America's borders expanded, right?

Different ones have expanded or contracted over the centuries. So, to me, once someone's in a homeland, once they've lived there, and they themselves did not take it over in a ruthless and destructive way, then for someone to displace them would be unethical. But you couldn't make the appeal to say, well, that's always the borders that God gave.

You know, I don't know how many nations on the earth that applies to, to this day, that these were the original borders and their origin, and they're still the same today. Got it, got it. Makes sense, I appreciate that. And, sorry, if I can slip in one more little question.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead, sure, sure. I love your debates, and I just wanted to do a debate check and see whether or not any rabbis of Mizrahi or any of them has recently stepped up to the plate. I always like to see your debates, and I know that the Jewish people turning to the Messiah and realizing him is going to usher in his return, so I think your debates is really going to help accelerate that, because I think you're undefeated with the debates of the rabbis, so just checking if you have anything on the agenda.

Yeah, first, thanks for the very kind words, and we each do our part, right, in living certain godly lives and reaching out to Jew and Gentile alike and thereby hastening the Lord's return, but for sure Israel's salvation is a critical component in all that. Rabbi Shmuley is always happy to debate me if we have the right setting and there's funding to set the thing up and bring him in, etc. He'll never step back from a debate with me, and, you know, of course we become dear friends along the way. We were unable to get any rabbis thus far on this new show that I'm doing on the Awakening TV network, that's debatable, so I did eight debates, we recorded them a few months back, and they're now starting to air, but none with any rabbis, and Rabbi Mizrachi, no, he's flat out refused.

We've given him every opportunity, reached out every different way we could. In fact, just a quick history of that, so he debated a very sincere Christian man, but one that would not have been prepared so much for Jewish debate, and of course Mizrachi used that as, look at this great victory, and we humiliated the Christian, etc., and so, you know, that kind of went viral. So someone said, hey, I know him, and I think he'd be willing to debate you. I said, great. So he put us in touch, so he writes to me and says, okay, before I'll debate you, you have to answer these questions.

This is like ABC kind of stuff. It's like, all right, so I have to prove something to you to debate, I don't even know who you are, but, you know, you're out there on internet, I've got to prove something to you. I said, well, actually, all the materials in my volumes, you want to read it? I've already written it. The whole reason I wrote all the volumes was to not answer the same questions over and over. I'm not going to buy your volumes.

I'll send them to you for free. Nope, nope, nope. So then he says, before I debate this guy on the video, he's got to answer the following questions. I thought, you know, I'll do a video.

I'll give the ABC answers on the video. No, why would I debate him? I already debated a Christian and won. Then friends in Israel, Eitan Barner, said, hey, let's do a debate in Hebrew in Israel.

No, he won't do it. So we make the effort, we keep reaching out. But I trust, as the days go on, that the Lord will open up more doors for debates, and more importantly, that there'll be more discussion within Israel.

I'll say this last thing. When I was in Israel a few years back with a tour group in Jerusalem, the old city of Jerusalem, and it was our last day, we're going to be flying out later that night, and we just had a little free time, kind of milling around, and a guy comes up to me, ultra-orthodox Jew, says, Dr. Brown, I watch your debates all the time. I love your debates.

I watched them with my friends. I said, hang on, you watch the debates? You're ultra-orthodox? He goes, yeah, yeah, love your debates, really appreciate them. So I really took an interest in him, but he did not look like a typical ultra-orthodox guy. And I said, so you were raised in this? He goes, no, no, to be candid, I was raised in a Christian home, but I was never really Christian. I converted to Judaism, and now, you know, living here, orthodox life, et cetera, and ultra-orthodox. And I said, what about your friends that watch?

Oh, you know, most of them all raised ultra-orthodox Jews. I said, well, great. I said, listen, man, you're on a journey.

You keep studying, you keep praying, you keep seeking God, seeking the truth. And he said, I can't believe I got to meet you. So he walks away.

So I got some of the folks from the tour group. I said, hey, let's pray for this young man. Let's pray that God would really get hold of him and reveal Yeshua to him. And we finished praying for him. I look up, he's walking back. He goes, they're not going to believe I saw you unless I take a picture with you.

So we took a picture. So that's the kind of stuff, Derek, happening behind the scenes. And we hear periodically, not all the time, but periodically from secret viewers, secret seekers, among the very, very religious. And some of them, they can't publicly say anything.

We can't even send the materials because they only have a home address and they couldn't let anything come in their home. So we keep praying that the Lord will open hearts and minds. And of course, there's so many other voices getting the message out. Hey, thanks again for the good word. 866-3-4-TRUTH.

Let's go to John in Pensacola, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, how are you doing, Dr. Brown? Doing well, thanks.

Good, man. I'm a big fan of yours. God bless you and your ministry.

You've watched all your debates as our brother just got done talking to you a second ago. And I pray for you all the time, and God bless you, and thanks for all that you do, sir. Well, thank you, especially thanks for praying. I really appreciate that. Yes, sir.

My question is, okay, so I wrote it down so if it sounds kind of robotic, forgive me, okay? Don't worry about it. It's about the gifts from the Holy Spirit, though. It's a gift from the Holy Spirit from Samson in the book of Judges 14.6. Yeah, so whenever he uses that gift of strength, that gift is not listed in 1 Corinthians 12.6-11, so my question is, is there a reason for that? Is there any other examples where that gift of strength for judgment used by another person in the Scripture?

And if not, then why not? Is it just for the historical means of that time, that God just wanted to display that with Samson only? So would that be more of a miracle, like the splitting of the Red Sea? So I know my question's kind of jumbled there, but I don't know how to articulate it.

No, no, that's perfectly clear. In other words, there are certain things that God does through his people and continues in the New Testament that are normal, that are typical. So for example, you had people prophesying in the Old Testament, you have people prophesying in the New Testament.

You had certain instances of the dead being raised in the Old Testament, dead being raised in the New Testament, the sick being healed in the Old Testament, the sick being healed in the New Testament. As far as Samson and that supernatural strength, that was a specific thing. God can do anything at any time through anyone, right? Jesus walks on water.

We have Peter trying to do it and starts to do it, then fails. We don't have records of anyone else doing it, but God can do anything through anyone that he chooses to, but it's not the norm. And with Samson, this was just something God did. Remember, he was the leader of the nation, which included being a military leader, being a fighter, and this was part of God demonstrating his power.

But it was a unique thing with Samson. But I want to get back to 1 Corinthians 12 on the other side of the break. Stay right here. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire.

Hey, we've got a rare line or two open or two open doesn't often happen on a Friday, so if you've been trying to get through, this is a perfect time to call 866-348-7884. So back to John in Pensacola. There are many scholars who look at 1 Corinthians 12 and say, this is a representative list of the different ways the Holy Spirit works through us, works in the church, but not an exhaustive list. Because if you go over to Romans 12, Paul says things a little differently there. So in Romans chapter 12, we read this.

Paul says, for by the grace given to me, starting verse 3, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. And he says, with one body, we all have different giftings, etc. And he says this, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. So those seem to be different types of gifts, but he has prophecy in there as well. So some would say that there are numerous gifts beyond nine listed in the New Testament in terms of supernatural ways that God works through us. But the specific thing as far as Samson, that was just something God did in covenant with him. He could do it through any of us at any time, right? If there was the need for physical supernatural strength to work a miracle to save a life or to glorify him, he could do it. But it's certainly nothing promised, nothing we should pray for. Oh God, give it to me like you gave it to Samson.

No, that would be inappropriate. It was just a specific thing he did for a specific purpose at a specific time. So hope that helps answer your question. It does, brother. Thank you so much, sir. God bless. Appreciate it. 866-344-TRUTH. Let's go to our friend Todd in Seagrove, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. I have a question about a couple of Hebrew idioms that are repeated in Psalms 60 and 108, and the two I'm speaking about are, Moab is my wash pot, and over Edom I will cast out my shoe. What does that signify? It's really not so much idiomatic. In other words, it's basically speaking of sovereignty over, dominion over, or the other side, speaking of them in a lesser, lower way, so not as exalted and high, but just in these lowly ways. Moab in Scripture is often associated with pride, and Edom, of course, an opponent of Israel and Judah over the centuries. So this is just a way of God speaking of his sovereignty power over them and of their loveliness.

I wouldn't take it as a specific, unique Hebrew idiom that we'd have to understand the life and culture to grasp. I think we get a general idea just by reading it in English. All right. I have one question on another subject really quickly.

Yeah, go ahead. I know it's been a while since you've spoken about him, but what is the ways about Rick Wilde? I don't know. I know that YouTube removed his channel. I know that I've never received any statement from him repenting of his anti-Semitic rhetoric with true news. We put out our book Christian Anti-Semitism. It came out in February.

I document things there in detail. There was never any contacting us after that or willingness to debate me publicly. Or come on the air with me or me on the air with him to debate the issues. So I don't know if he has repented, if he's taken a better turn in this regard. I'm not aware of it. If he's entrenched himself more deeply, I'm not aware of it. His ministry goes on, his organization goes on, but his YouTube channel was removed.

So I have no update beyond that, sir. But thanks for asking, and may the Lord's truth and grace prevail in Rick's heart. 866-3-4-TRUTH.

We go to Christian in Ohio. You are now on the line of fire. Thanks for calling. What's going on, Dr. Brown?

Hey, man. I've got two quick questions for you. One is Bible, the other one is just advice. But let me get to the Bible one first. The first one is 1 Corinthians 6-12, and it says that all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful, all things are lawful, you know, you get what I'm saying?

Yep. And so I've heard people try to use this and try to say that, look, when you become a Christian, we could do all things, even if it's a little bit sinful, because it's stated right here, like, it's okay, all things are lawful for us. What do you think about that? Yeah, most translators and interpreters understand that Paul is quoting the Corinthians there and responding to them. They say, oh, all things are lawful, yeah, yeah, but not everything is helpful, all things are lawful, yeah, but I'm not going to come under the power of any of them. So that's Paul's response to their quotes, and you'll find most modern translations will put those words in quotes, all things are lawful, and Paul's like, nope, you may say that, I mean, technically, you could argue this, but it's not helpful. So he's rebutting that mindset. All right, good, yeah, I agree with that.

I just had to hear from you. The second one is, I got a friend, and, you know, he was going to church and everything, young dude, he was like 17, and he was trying to get in touch with his pastor for, like, over a year to baptize him and all these different things, right? And his pastor kept putting him off, kept leaving him on the scene in red and everything, and then about a year later, his pastor never got in touch with him, and he see on Instagram that his pastor was baptizing, like, 50 to 100 men, and it kind of broke his heart, because he was like, I was begging you for over a year to baptize me, but then you go and baptize a group of men at your church, and you didn't ever tell me about it. So he felt kind of betrayed from that, and then his pastor got the, you know, the vaccine or whatever, so he just kind of confused, and if he should stay with his church, he feel betrayed, so what would be your advice to him for that? Yeah, I would do my best.

I'd make one last effort to reach out and to sit down. How big a church is it? It's pretty big. It's a big church. He lives in a different state. He lives in Texas. He tells me it's a big church.

Got it. Okay, so obviously, you know, the larger the church, the harder it is to meet directly with the pastor, for obvious reasons. You know, if you've got 15,000 people in the church, everyone wants to meet with you, you know, you'll never, you know, you'll never, you'll never, never leave, leave your house.

I mean, you'll be meeting with people 24-7. I would just, what I would do is I would ask to, to meet with someone on pastoral staff there and tell them what happened, and if they have some kind of, oh, we are so sorry. We have no clue. That is absolutely terrible, and we, we won't reach out and fix this. Please forgive us. There was a miscommunication, etc.

I've had something. I was dealing with a major publisher, and they said, I was dealing with a major publisher about something over a period of a few months, and when I never heard back from them, I thought they just dropped the project only to find out that there was a miscommunication, and someone thought I was going to be reaching out to them, so they were waiting to hear from me, so we're back in touch. If they don't respond in that way, if they just like, well, whatever, you know, or we can't, we can't track every person or etc., then it's just not the place we was going to get cared for. So I, I would give it one last shot to see was it some misunderstanding, some miscommunication, if otherwise he likes the church and enjoys being there.

If, if they don't respond in a humble and gracious way and make him feel welcome and that his life matters to them, then I, I'd move on, you know, and ask the Lord to, to bring me into another place where there could be better relationships and, you know, you won't feel like you're neglected. That would be my counsel. All right. You bet, man.

God bless you. 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go to Michael in Puerto Rico. Welcome to the line of fire.

Yes sir, Dr. Brown. I'm not sure what your opinion is concerning U.S. policy towards Iran, but you know, Iran has a new president, and back in the 80s, he used to be a judge, and he sentenced hundreds of people to death when he was a judge. And not only that, but you know, there's terrorist attacks against in Iraq and Syria that Iran is, is attacking U.S. troops.

And not only that, but you have the potential of nuclear weapons being developed. So I just want to, in my opinion, Dr. Brown, if Joe Biden is serious about sending a message to China concerning democracy and human rights, he should start liberating the Iranian people and restoring the Pahlavi dynasty with checks and balances. You know, that's my opinion, that Joe Biden should liberate the Iranians. And what is your opinion on this issue?

Right. I believe that the nuclear treaty was terrible. I believe that Donald Trump did the right thing in revoking that, that the policy of trying to bring down the regime through sanctions and to work behind the scenes with reformer parties is the right thing to do, that the current government is one of the world's leaders exporting terrorism, that it was horrifically misguided to give them hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen assets, which then not, not only went to the Iranian people, but a lot of it went right back to terrorism. So they are a destructive, dangerous regime. I do not believe that it's our business to go in and overthrow the government. I do not believe that the key is to restore the Pahlavi dynasty. This is for the Iranian people to work out.

But there's enough of an undercurrent growing. And even though the sanctions are very painful and hurt the nation as a whole, it's that very thing that gets the populace to rise up and push out the current government, which is so oppressive. And of course, there's been a pushback for years against the Islamic extremism and things like that. So I differed strongly with President Obama's policy. I agree with President Trump's.

I disagree with President Biden. I believe on that side, the Democrats have really missed it in dealing with Iran and its right to treat their leadership as hostile, dangerous, terroristic, but to really recognize that the people need our help. And that's what we have to figure out is to help get to those that want to bring reform to Iran and to help empower and strengthen them. And when they cry out for help, say, hey, we're here, we're here and we're standing with you. Thank you for the call.

Is Dr. Michael Brown. Any area of expertise I have, I'd love to hear from you. And we welcome controversial questions. And to those who will not call in, but will post hostile posts or tell me what I'm wrong or a heretic or misguided or misled, et cetera. Hey, the offer stands, call in, tell everybody why you feel that way, and then we'll have an honest discussion, right? We'll enlighten one another.

866-344-TRUTH. One thing before we go to the phones, do you get my emails? If you're not sure, then you probably don't. So take a moment. If you're driving, wait till you have a second to do it. You probably do it just at a stoplight.

It's that quick. Go to AskDrBrown.org, A-S-K-D-R Brown.org. Sign up for the emails. The moment you do, we will send you a free mini book, Seven Secrets of the Real Messiah. In fact, it's condensed from the real coaster, Jesus, which has just come out in Hebrew. So you'll be reading in English some of what readers now are discovering in Hebrew as well. And then we'll tell you a bit more about my background from LSD to PhD, the three main R's of our ministry, what those are about, and then how we can best serve you, the resources we have. And then every week we'll let you know, hey, here are the latest articles, here are the latest videos, here are the special resource packages.

We've put together new books coming out, things like that. So make sure you take a minute to sign up, AskDrBrown.org. Okay, with that, we go back to the phones.

Let's go to Steven in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, how are you?

Doing well, thanks. Hey, I have a question about my favorite verse in the Bible. Psalm 61, 1-4, that helped me during a time when I lost my dad back in 2018. And, you know, when I read that verse and I see David say, lead me to the rock that's higher than I, I think, oh yeah, Christ, you know, like in today's world.

But I'm actually kind of curious what David would have thought. I know that in the Bible, visual stuff from the earth is very common, but what kind of came to mind was Moses being led up on the mountain. I'm not saying they're similar, but just kind of want to get your thoughts of that verse, and I kind of wanted to hear it in Hebrew, too, if you don't mind.

Oh, sure, glad to do it. So in verse 3, mikseha arets elecha echra, batof libi b'tzur yarum imeni tancheni. So as it is in English, so from the ends of the earth, from the end of the land, I call to you and my heart is faint, you lead me to a rock that is higher than me or high above me. So I think two things are involved here, and I'm glad this passage has been of comfort to you as it has to so many. On the one hand, there's a physical image, right, that God brings you to a rock of safety, and that's why in Scripture he's referred to as our rock. In other words, it starts with a physical image, so he's the one in whom we take refuge. We climb up on this rock and are safe, or we hide behind this rock, or or that he provides the refuge for us, the place to which we flee.

And now we're higher up, you know, we kind of change our perspective and can take a breath. At the same time, God was known as the rock of Israel, and this word tzur to this day is used in Hebrew prayer books to speak of God as our rock, tzureinu, our rock. So I don't think there's any way that David would reference this without also thinking of God himself as that rock. So it's a two-fold meaning that the imagery is being lifted up to a rock higher than us, but ultimately, yes, that rock is God himself, or as you would say with 1 Corinthians, the 10th chapter, Christ himself, the rock that followed Israel in the wilderness. So it's certainly a right way to interpret it, and it's not wrenching anything out of context or reading something into it that would be inappropriate. That's beautiful.

Thank you for that explanation. Yeah, and how old was your dad when you lost him? Well, he was 67 and I was 20, 23.

Got it. Yeah, at such a young age. My dad died suddenly at 63, and I was about 21 when that happened. Can I say a prayer request too? Yeah, go ahead, sure. Yeah, well, my life is very busy, and we're just about to launch our in-person services on our church. I'm getting married in November, and then I graduate seminary in December.

So a whole lot going on. All right, well, yeah, let's just agree, everyone, we normally don't take prayer requests on the show, but of course, situations like this, we're very glad to. So let's pray, Lord, lift Stephen up to that rock that is higher than him. Give him your perspective, your wisdom, your grace. May everything fall into place as he leans on you. In Jesus' name, hey, God bless, and thank you for the call. 866-34-TRUTH, we go to Kathy in St. Louis, Missouri. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Oh, hi, Dr. Brown. It's so wonderful that we can call into your ministry and you take on all our questions. Glad to do it. I have a question about a phrase that's at least in three verses in Revelation, in some other places, the seven spirits of God. And you don't find an expansion there of the individual names of them, except that I know of one teacher, I've heard one teacher say it's in Isaiah 11 2 and 3, and they're spelled out, there's seven of them. I was wondering why more Bible teachers don't tell you more about those, or why the Holy Spirit and John that wrote Revelation doesn't have them right there in parentheses behind where it mentions them in Revelation. Maybe I haven't read enough Bible studies.

No, no, it's not that, no, you haven't missed anything, you haven't missed anything. So some simply understand it to mean the sevenfold spirit of God, because there is only one Holy Spirit, right? There's not seven Holy Spirits, there's only one Holy Spirit. So some take seven spirits of God to just be a way of saying the sevenfold spirit of God, and then some, as you mentioned, point to Isaiah the 11th chapter, the spirit that's on the Messiah, and it basically lists seven different aspects of that, including the the fear of the Lord. So it's possible that it means seven different aspects of the Holy Spirit, or seven manifestations or workings of the Holy Spirit. There's certainly not seven different spirits, but it also, seven of course, being the number of perfection and completion, can be speaking of the Holy Spirit in that regard.

But simply stated, there is not more information. In other words, there's not more to be taught, because there's not more information about it, and it is something we see especially in the book of Revelation. So either it refers to the Holy Spirit in his sevenfold manifestations or dimensions, or as listed, these seven different aspects of the Holy Spirit, kind of saying the same thing, different way. Or the Holy Spirit, seen in his fullness and completeness, has seven different spirits, but certainly there is only one Holy Spirit, not seven spirits. And when it speaks of the seven spirits before the throne, we take it to mean the Holy Spirit. Hey, thank you for the question, Kathy, and maybe in the eternal age we'll get to find out more, right? But there's not more to be said.

It's really speculation beyond that, as far as I could tell. 86634. Truth, let us go to Orlando in High Point, North Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Thanks, Dr. Brown. Hey. My question deals with calendars.

Yeah. Jewish calendar, Gregorian calendar. It seems to me like all the calendars are off. I mean, we can say it's 2021 now, but according to different people, they say, well, Jesus was born 4 BC. So then that's all four years right there. Right, right.

Yeah, yes. So in point of fact, we all understand that there was a miscalculation in terms of, in other words, at a certain point in time, in other words, at a certain point in time, the Christian world said we're gonna divide things with before Christ and the year of our Lord. So before Jesus' birth and after Jesus' birth, right? And they calculated what they thought the year of his birth was and made that the zero year, right? So there is no really zeros there. You go from 1 BC to 1 AD, but they were off by a few years. Right.

So everything is a calculation. Now, what about the Jewish year? They say it's 5781.

Right. That's also a calculation based on a reading of, a literal reading of creation, which is also not the way the Bible laid it out, that we can get the precise year that Adam was created. What year do you think we're living?

I don't know. 2021 simply means 2021 years since Jesus was born. That's off probably by about four years. So we're living probably about 2025 years from when Jesus was born. As far as from when Adam was created, I don't know.

We have to debate. Is there anything in the Talmud or anything? Because according to some things that I go on the internet to check on Jewish stuff, they said that they're off 210 years.

So that will make it 59, 90 some right now. No, they would not say that. Right. So there is, in Jewish chronology, the work is called Seder Al-Amroba. They have a compressed period of time from the destruction of the first temple to the destruction of the second temple.

They have some of the time greatly condensed. So you have what most scholars say is a period of 400, 500 years as the thing expands, or from one to the other, literally over 600 years. And in Jewish tradition, it comes out to be 400 something. No one can still calculate the exact time from Adam to now. There's debate about that and how consecutive genealogies are and things like that. But the traditional Jewish chronology that you read about in the Talmud is almost certainly wrong. In other words, where they cut things in their chronology and you end up with 160, 170 years, you said 210, but that's almost certainly wrong. That chronology there, that's reflected. But basically, these are years. In other words, the years don't mean anything. Jewish calendar 5781 is not, that doesn't mean 100% that it's from Adam to now.

And 2021, that was just a miscalculation. We're about 20, 25 out from when Jesus was born. Hey, thank you for the questions. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the Line of Fire 866-34-TRUTH.

We go back to the phones with our friend Eddie from Madison, Connecticut. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, how you doing today? Doing good, man. How about you? Good.

Dr. Brown, I think we're gonna have our Bible studies in like a cage, like in the MMA, because they're getting crazy. But anyways, the question I posed this week was, it says in Adam, we all die, but in Christ, we're all made alive. So I said to them, did anybody here pick Adam? I didn't pick him.

Did you pick him? I never picked him, but yet we're all dead. So why aren't we all made alive in Christ?

We gotta choose Christ. It doesn't say that. It says we're all made alive in Christ, and we're all dead in Adam. I don't remember picking Adam.

Right. So what you've raised would be the possibility that somehow all humanity is saved by what Jesus did, called universalism. And actually, that's one of the verses that people will use to make that argument.

Well, the entire human race died in Adam. The entire human race will be made alive in Christ. The problem is, Eddie, you know throughout the entire New Testament, we're called to repent and believe, repent and believe, and we're warned that if we refuse him, that will be judged. And Jesus himself talks about those will come out of the graves, some to life and some to judgment. And we have, you know, right through the whole New Testament, the final separation, some will be with the Lord forever, some will be judged and destroyed or cast into the fire. So the whole New Testament tells us that the whole human race will not be made alive in Christ.

So it's not a crazy question. Other scholars have tried to point to that to argue the same thing, but the reality is that we were born, the entire human race, born as descendants of Adam. So we die, we get sick, we sin, right, that's our lot.

He like fell off the cliff and we're all born in the valley, so to say. But we have to receive him. As many as received him, speaking of Jesus, get eternal life. So whereas Adam wasn't our choice, Christ is. Whereas being born in Adam, that was just our ancestry.

Now he comes to rescue whosoever will. So all those who are in Christ, which is those who put their trust and faith in him, those are the ones that live. So it's not an illogical question, you shouldn't have to get to MMA rules for this one, because scholars have raised it, but you just have to look at the rest, just read the rest of Romans, you know, where it's those who believe and those who don't believe, those who are in the Messiah, those who are outside of the Messiah, etc. So the rest of the Bible is working against this idea that everybody gets in because of what Jesus did. So in short, we were born in sin because we're human beings, then by our own choice we continue to do wrong things and thereby we follow in Adam's footsteps. But we were born to die, that's the reality, and we were born in sin and none of us in ourselves can escape our sinful nature. Through faith we can now be in Christ and all who are in him will live.

So tell you what though, just one thing, if you do with the cage deal, you have to set the rules first and have a ref, because otherwise it'd get messy. All right, just having a little fun there. I thank you for the call, as always. Let's go to Chris in Clayton, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown, you're one of my heroes and I appreciate your dedication to what you do, it means a lot to me. My question dovetails perfectly with your last caller there. Within my Christian circles, through my profession of faith, accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I believe I'm saved and I'm going to receive salvation. There seems to be a very lax perception of sin, to repent from our sins, to turn our ways, and I'm not really sure how to answer that.

They think, well I'm saved by grace. You know, what is the effort of, you know, turning towards the things Christ is asking us to do? Is there any bearing, I'm not sure, you know, other than to go, well that's what he told us to do.

Yeah, so here's how we bottom line it, soundbite it, all right? Say, what is Jesus saving us from? Simple question. What's he saving us from? Eternal damnation.

Is that the only thing he's saving us from? What's written in Matthew 1 21, you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1 21, he saves us from sin. So salvation is salvation from sin, and that's why the first word of the Gospel is repent. So what you do is just get a concordance, and you'll see if you go to Matthew 3, Matthew 4, you go to Mark 1, you go to Luke 5, go to Luke 13, go to Luke 24, go to Acts 2, Acts 3, Acts 5, Acts 11, Acts 17, Acts 20, Acts 26, these verses off the top of my head, all of which put repentance first. And say, hey, do you believe Paul? Well yeah, well what did Paul say in Acts 16?

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. What does he say in Acts 17? God commands all men everywhere to repent. What does Paul say he preached in Acts 20 21? He says that he preached that people should repent towards God and put their faith in Jesus. What did he preach in Acts 26 20?

What does he tell Agrippa? He said I preached that people should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. What does Peter say in Acts 2 38? Repent and be baptized.

Doesn't even mention belief. What does he say in Acts 3 19? Repent and turn to God that your sins may be blotted out. What does he say in Acts 5 31? That God gave repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel through Jesus.

So you have to say it's two sides of the same coin. You can't truly believe without repenting, you can't truly repent without believing. If you just say Jesus saved me from hell. So ask someone, so say okay, so is this, just tell me if this works, if this is salvation in God's sight.

There's a man living in adultery, he is also a serial rapist, he steals from his job, and and he's picked five other sins, whatever, right? And he says Jesus I don't want to go to hell so free I believe he died for my sins rose for the dead forgive me so I won't go to hell and bless me as I go on in my life as a serial rapist living in adultery blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. That's not salvation!

No one in their right mind could think that's salvation. Matthew 7 21, not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of my father. John 1 29, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

2nd Peter 3 9, God's not slack in his promises, some count slackness, but he's long suffering towards us not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. So just do a little search, you know, whatever software you have, put in the word repent with an asterisk after it, that'll get all the, you know, repent, repentance. And you'll see it's the constant first theme, it's what Jesus preaches when he starts his ministry, he takes the words of John the Immerser, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. So it's not a matter of becoming holier or becoming better, it's it's it's a matter of God saved me from my sins. That's repentance. God, I hate my sin, I recognize it, I want to live for you, forgive me, wash me, cleanse me by what Jesus did, save me from my sins. If it's not a salvation from sin, it's not real salvation, it's forgiveness of sin and it's being saved from sin so that we now live for God where we fall short, we're continually cleansed and washed in the blood of Jesus. But that's that's where you start, just what's he saving us from, not just from hell, but from our sins. And we're saying God saved me from my sin. The lack of the repentance message is one of the great great plagues in the modern Western Church, truth be told. Hey, thank you for the call, thanks for the kind words, appreciate it.

Let's go to Jamel, all right, not there, why don't you try to get to one more call before we were done, but tell you what, let me just speak to you for a moment. Frank Bartleman, greatly used in the Azusa Street revival, the journalist that helped publicize what God was doing through that outpouring, he said the depth of any revival will be determined by the spirit of repentance that is obtained. So the question is how deeply do you want God to work in your own life? How serious are you about following the Lord? I could go into a church and just do a teaching, you know, just nice teaching on a nice subject and everyone's blessed and wow that was really terrific and I'm really edified and encouraged and helped by and sometimes that may be what God wants me to do, but I know if God really wants to move in a place that the message of repentance is going to come up sooner versus than later.

Why? Because repentance makes room, repentance prepares the way for the coming of the Lord, it levels out the rough places, it straightens out the crooked places, it is God's way of making room where we turn away from sin and turn away from uncleanness and turn away from the ugliness of our lives and say, God, I want you. I recognize my sin, I recognize my flaw, I recognize my guilt, work in my life, work afresh, do something new. I know when I preach that, that when I go back to my room afterwards or fly home afterwards, that that message is going to be reverberating in me as well. Where does repentance need to take place in my life so I can draw nearer to the Lord? Repent is a turnabout, we turn away from sin, we turn towards God. In the Old Testament, the way it was articulated, God would turn away from his wrath and turn towards us, so we say, man repents, God relents. May he grant us a deeper spirit of repentance. Hey, be blessed.