Can These Dry Bones Live?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome friends to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday on the Line of Fire. Yes, for many years, one day a week, we have devoted specifically to a Jewish focus. In terms of our evangelism, in terms of our outreach work, it is to the Jew first. We are involved in missions all around the world. We support missionaries all around the world. This past weekend, we finished our 22nd annual missions conference. This is a missions movement that was birthed out of our ministry by God's grace that supports missionaries we've sent all around the world.

My heart beats for the nations. I've been to all the nations around the world far more than I've been to Israel. And yet, our evangelistic thrust, our outreach thrust, in harmony with God's Word and my calling is to the Jew first. And on this day, if you're a Jewish person listening, we'd love to share with you why we are convinced from Scripture that Jesus Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel. If you are a believer in Jesus, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, we hope this will be informative, eye-opening as we look at the Scriptures together. And if you have a Jewish related question of any kind, if it relates to the modern state of Israel, relates to the Hebrew language, relates to something in the Hebrew Bible or Messianic prophecy or Jewish background to the New Testament or rabbinic tradition, by all means, give us a call, 866-348-7884. If you're a Jewish person that does not believe in Jesus, you cannot believe that he's the Messiah, and you want to express why you feel that way and dialogue with me. Obviously, we can't take an entire hour to do it, but if you call in, I'd love to interact with you and you can tell me why you believe I am wrong.

866-348-7884. Before we dive in, I just had the joy of signing the first 200 plus pre-ordered copies of the hardcover edition of Revival or We Die. A Great Awakening is our only hope. I've been hearing from readers, just did a TV interview with a couple, their hearts bent on Revival, they're being used to stir Revival and evangelism around America.

They're reading the book and it's burning in their hearts as they're reading. As the book is just out this week, you can get the paperback or the ebook, wherever you order your books online. The hardcover, we did an exclusive printing of this, so if you want to get the hardcover, we've got a video download that goes with it as well. Just go to my website, askdrbrown.org. But if you pre-ordered, we finally got the books in, we immediately turned everything around, got the number, had the joy of signing them with a scripture verse for each of you, so those will be shipped out within a day or so.

So, can't wait to get those in your hands. I truly believe God's going to use this book to help spark the fires of Revival in the hearts of many, many believers. Okay, today I want to look at a familiar passage in Ezekiel.

I want to put in its historical context, and I want to ask what it means today and what it means for the future. Remember, prophecy is not just like a newspaper headline. Prophecy can function on multiple levels. Or think of a flashlight shining from here across the room, that there's that beam of light the whole way through, so wherever you're standing, you can intersect with that light.

So, historically, prophecy can have relevance 2,000 years ago, 1,000 years ago, today, and tomorrow. It is on its destination. It is going somewhere. That's why sometimes we talk about a double fulfillment. I don't like that term.

I understand what it means, and I've used it because people understand it. But a double fulfillment, in a sense, is an oxymoron, because if it's filled once, then it's not filled again. In other words, it is being fulfilled. There is lineal fulfillment.

There are phases and aspects of fulfillment. And you see this very clearly with Messianic prophecies, and you see this very clearly with the prophecies that God gave to the Jewish people in exile, in Babylonian exile. Ezekiel was one of the captives in Babylon, and I want to go with you to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36, beginning in verse 1. So, remember, Ezekiel is in Babylon, in captivity. Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. So, he's not in Israel.

He's in Babylon. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. The enemy said of you, Aha, the ancient heights have become our possession. Therefore, prophesy and say. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Now, remember, Assyria ravaged northern Israel, and Judah, and then God delivered Judah, and then Babylon further ravaged Judah, and northern Israel was already exiled in large numbers.

So the nations have been having a heyday, especially these others as well. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and the object of people's malicious talk and slander. Therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. So, you mountains, you've been taken over by others. Foreigners are in your land, but God's going to have the last say. So, this is relevant when Ezekiel prophesied this 2,500 years ago. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the rest of the nations around you. This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

Am I burning zeal? I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom. Because this is a brother, right? This is Israel's, Jacob's brother, Esau, Edom. Then, Edom becomes hostile. Spoken against the rest of the nations, against all of them, for with glee and with malice in their hearts, they made My land their own possession, so that they might plunder its pasture land. Therefore, prophesy, I consider the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, I speak in My jealous wrath, because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn. But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for My people, Israel, for they will soon come home. Now, the first application of that must be in Ezekiel's day with captives like Ezekiel and Daniel, and what Jeremiah prophesied, 70 years in exile. I'm concerned for you, and will look on you with favor, for you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you.

Yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you, as in the past, and make you prosper more than before.

Then you'll know that I'm the Lord. I will cause people, My people, Israel, to live on you. They'll possess you, and you'll be their inheritance. You will never again deprive them of their children. Now, there have been other deprivations after this.

There have been exiles after this, after this return. So there is a final word where there'll be no more deprivation. This is what the Sovereign Lord says, Because some say to you, You devour people and deprive your nation of its children. Therefore you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign Lord. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations. No longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples, or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign Lord. Again, the word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. So this is Israel as a whole, northern kingdom, southern kingdom.

Their conduct was like a woman's monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out my wrath on them, because they had shed blood in the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries. I judged them according to their conduct and their actions, and wherever they went among the nations, they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, These are the Lord's people, and yet they had to leave his land. So it makes God look bad, God's own people.

He can't even keep them in the land. I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. All right, verse 22, let's scroll down. Therefore say to the Israelites, this is what the Sovereign Lord said, It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things.

Remember, the Jewish exiles are called people of Israel, so the people of Judah, and all the tribes, people of Israel. But for the sake of my holy name, I am going to do these things, because you profaned my name among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them.

Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, but I have proved holy through you before their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give your heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people. I will be your God.

I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the fields so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Be ashamed and disgrace for your conduct, people of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says, On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, This land that was laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden, the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, and now fortified and inhabited. Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt, was destroyed, and have planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Once again, I will yield to Israel's plea and do this for them. I will make their people as numerous as sheep, as numerous as the flocks for offerings to Jerusalem during her appointed festivals. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people.

Then they will know that I'm the Lord. Okay, that's the end of chapter 36. A little later in the broadcast, we're going to look at chapter 37, the Valley of Dry Bones, the vision there. As I read that to say that much of what was prophesied did happen, that many Jewish people, several tens of thousands, maybe 40 something thousand, did return from exile in Babylon. The larger scattering under Assyria to many other nations, they did not return. The repopulating of the land, that happened.

The turning away from idols, that happened to a certain extent. The new heart to serve the Lord, well, have you read Ezra? Have you read Nehemiah?

Have you read Malachi? Those are all addressed to the exiles after they've returned, Malachi, say a century later. And there's all kind of sin in the camp, and all kinds of compromise. And then, Israel falls under the power of the Greek Empire.

And then after that, under the Romans. And then after that, further scattering, destruction, exiling, because of sin. So, there is yet fulfillment in this passage, and we are seeing it in front of our eyes today. As for a century plus, God has been regathering the Jewish people back to the land, not because of our sake or our good deeds, but for the sake of his holy name. Right?

That's first and foremost. And then back in the land, clean water is being poured on us. Hearts are being changed. The growing Messianic movement as more and more Jewish people are coming to faith in Jesus, Yeshua. And there's still more fulfillment to come.

This is how prophecy works, friends. 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. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown, 866-34-TRUTH.

All right, I'm gonna go to the phones momentarily, momentarily. But first, check out this headline from the Jerusalem Post. A colleague of mine just sent it to me moments ago. Look at this headline. It says, US Orthodox rabbis accused of secretly being evangelical Christians. The two rabbis reportedly performed marriages and divorces, wrote Torah scrolls and even officiated Orthodox conversions.

So I read the article. It mentions a father and son duo, both of them recognized as Orthodox rabbis, but allegedly secret believers. I've never heard of them.

I have no idea who they are. I know plenty of Messianic Jews that live lifestyles that are fairly observant. In other words, they believe it's pleasing in God's sight to observe the Seventh-day Sabbath.

They observe the dietary laws. They use some of the rabbinic prayers that they feel are good. They may pray at certain times of the day what the traditional Jewish community does, but everybody knows they're Jewish believers in Jesus. In other words, yeah, they are Messianic Jews who are somewhat Orthodox in their practice. So I know plenty of folks like that, but actually Orthodox rabbis who are secret believers in America.

But intentionally, I know religious Jews in different parts of the world who are believers, but they haven't come out public, but none of them are functioning rabbis in their communities. So I have no clue about this whatsoever. I'd be interested to find out more, but I have no clue about it whatsoever. And the idea that we're going to deceive people into believing is that's not the gospel.

But again, I have no idea if there's any truth to this report, no idea who the people are. A little while also, as we looked at some more prophetic scriptures, I'm going to look at some comments by the Anglican leader J.C. Ryle, an older contemporary of Charles Spurgeon in the 1800s. I quote him in my book, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, and I'm going to get into that today as well. Fascinating comments from someone who lived well before the modern state of Israel existed and made these comments before the modern Zionist movement took full force, and he was not a dispensationalist.

It's fascinating to hear what he had to say about these scriptures. But let's go to the phones. We will start with Wesley in New Hampshire. Thanks for calling the line of fire. Hi. Hey. So I had a question. What is the Jewish opinion on LGBTQ members?

All right. I got a really simple answer for you. Among strong Bible believing evangelical Christians, you would say that there is strong opposition to LGBTQ activism and beliefs, correct? And then among so-called liberal progressive Christians, you would say there's strong support for LGBTQ beliefs and activism, right?

Exact same thing in the Jewish community that the religious Jews, the very Orthodox Jews, see this the same way we do. They don't recognize gay clergy. They don't recognize same sex, quote, marriage.

They do not support sex change, surgery, et cetera. Many of them would be very compassionate and want to help those who are same sex attracted find a home within the tradition without affirming their same sex attractions. But the most Orthodox Jews would be very similar to us, and they are less than 10% of the Jewish population in America, but growing very, very rapidly. The vast majority of American Jews are liberal, and they would be pro-gay, pro-trans.

They would see this as standing with minorities, standing with those who are marginalized, and they would be, quote, inclusive. They would not look at the authority of scripture the same way. They would not accept the authority of rabbinic tradition, which clearly forbids same sex, quote, marriage, et cetera. So the large majority of American Jews and Israeli Jews are not religious or observant, much more in America, less so in Israel. Maybe 70% are not observant in Israel, and maybe out of that, another 15% are not that observant. But at least 70% of the population would basically be pro-gay in Israel. And in America, probably 80 plus percent of the Jewish population would be pro-LGBT. Okay.

So would they support if I went... What's interesting is the complete lack of integrity for someone to call and raise something completely idiotic and ridiculous, and to use a word that's insulting to many, the F word. So may the Lord help Wesley. I thought it was actually a serious call. He was probably expecting a different answer.

But in any case, what an unfortunate call. Better to just be forthright and say, hey, I'm this and this, and I hold to this. But anyway, thanks for getting that call off, and may the Lord help Wesley to mature and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Well, wouldn't that be wonderful? 866-34-TRUTH.

We go to Samuel in Anchorage, Alaska. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, how are you doing, sir? Very well, thank you.

Thank you. So I recently converted to Judaism, and I was just wondering, how do I make a good matzah ball? Why did you convert to Judaism, Samuel? I converted from Christianity to Judaism, and I converted mainly because of my girlfriend. She is a Judaism.

So you don't really have any idea what you're doing, to be honest, right? No, but I converted for her, and I want to be with her, and I'm like, okay, I will convert to Judaism, and recently I'm going to be making food for her family, and I want to learn how to make good matzah balls. Okay, and you called this show because...?

Because I also want to learn how to be a good Jewish person, and how to make her family like me. And you're dead serious, Samuel. You're not just pulling our leg here. You're dead serious.

I'm dead serious, sir. All right, so here's the deal. I know nothing about cooking matzah balls, absolutely zero, but I would love for you and your girlfriend to take a different look at the Jewish Jesus.

If I sent you a book about this, The Real Kosher Jesus, to find out about his Jewishness and things perhaps that neither of you knew, is there a chance that either you or your girlfriend will take a look at it? Yes, I can actually give you her address because I actually don't live in Anchorage. I'm just here for work.

I actually live in Missouri. All right, so tell you what, Samuel, stay right there, okay? And we're not going to do this on the air. We don't want everyone to know the address. We're not going to give this address out to anyone else, but give us the name and address that we should send the book to. All right, Grace is going to come on.

Grace is going to come on and get that address. The book's called The Real Kosher Jesus. I'm also going to include a debate I did with a rabbi that you'll find really interesting. A friend of mine, we debated some of these issues. So check these out together and we're off to, may the Lord use this to touch Samuel and his girlfriend. Okay, do we dare? Do we dare take another call? Let's do it. Let's go to Morris in New York City. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Morris. Are you there?

Morris is gone. Well, hello, hello. Oh, you are. Hello. All right, go ahead. You're here.

You're here. Hi there, Dr. Brown. My name is Rabbi Morris Levi Berg, pronouns he, her, they, them. And I overheard what you were saying a little bit about Judaism and liberal Jews and Orthodox Jews. And I would have to disagree here. I would say that 90% of Orthodox Jews are actually liberal Jews and that the 10% or what we call the heredity are very ultra conservative and even hate the state of Israel. So to compare the ultra Orthodox, the bigots and, you know, people that hate LGBTQ and queer colored bodies, it's just very upsetting to me as a Jewish queer person of color. All right. Well, Morris, let me ask you something.

What stats did I give? Did I say 10% of... Well, you said that Orthodox Jews made up of 10%, but growing part of the Jewish community. Even America. Yeah, that's very, very well documented.

That's incredibly well documented. I'm not agreeing. I'm agreeing with you on that. But what I'm saying is it frames like most of these people that hate, that they hate queers and minorities and all that, like they're very conservative and trans, trans and all that.

It's upsetting. There's like a good 10% of the Orthodox that do believe in that stuff. And they're like the very hardcore Haredim, rabbinic Jews, right?

Right, right. Some would be called Haredi, some are pro-Israel, some are not. For example, the Babichurs are not anti-Israel, the Satmar are anti-Israel. But in any case, I said roughly 10% of American Jews that would hold to these views. So they're very Orthodox, they're very observant, not even the modern Orthodox so much. Although if yeshiva university would certainly hold to these principles. But if you can stick on the line with me for a moment, sir, I just want to talk to you as a Jew to find out what your authority system is. So we basically agree that it's 10% of the American Jewish population that would be in this strongly Orthodox, so you might call them ultra-Orthodox or Haredi.

But I'd like to find out how you can reconcile being a Jew identifying as queer and holding to the authority of Torah. So if you stay there, I'd love to speak with you. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks for joining us, friends, on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday on the Line of Fire. Oh, just 45 minutes from now, a little less than that, we'll be back on our YouTube channel, Ask Dr. Brown, A.S.K., D.R. Brown, with our exclusive weekly Q&A YouTube chat.

So eager to get your questions on YouTube on all matters of subjects, so that'll be 45 minutes from now, 4.15 Eastern Time on Ask Dr. Brown channel on YouTube. All right, I want to go back to the phones with Morris in New York City. Would you mind letting me know by which organization you were ordained a rabbi? Yes, I was ordained as a rabbi in the synagogue of Buhruk. That's just a little synagogue. It's a progressive synagogue in the middle, in the heart of Brooklyn in New York City.

Got it. And what type of training did you have to go through for your ordination? Well, of course, I had to go to the yeshivas a lot. Well, I went to the yeshivas in New York and a lot in Israel, and I had to take a lot of religious training. And then in Israel, I had to go to a rabbinic school or a religious school and train how to be a rabbi, of course, and you have to learn how to speak Hebrew and Yiddish.

I never really knew Hebrew that much, but they had to teach me that in Yiddish as well, reading the Torah and the Talmud and all that. So what level of proficiency did you have to get to in Mishnah and Talmud? How much study was devoted for your ordination? I had to spend a lot. I had to spend, well, for a good few years, I would say three to five years, I had to spend all my days eating, sleeping, drinking, reading the Torah, reciting the Torah, so I could learn it from heart. I had to remember the Atayat Torah and a bit of the Talmud by heart. I couldn't just remember it from reading. I had to know it in my mind.

Got it. And were you openly identifying as queer at that time, sir? No, I found out, well, I was struggling with my queerness as a Jewish person while I was at the yeshiva, but until when I was starting as a rabbi, I found that a couple of Jewish queer youth came up to me and told me the frustration, right? And I felt very relatable in a way, and I kind of did a little bit of praying to it, and I found out that I was actually queer myself. And so, you know, I was actually in an ultra-Orthodox family, and I was shunned because it was part of the Haredi, it was one of the Haredi branches that do not support queer Jewish people.

Right, of course you'd be shunned in that atmosphere. And why do you use the word that you identify as queer rather than gay? Is there a difference or a nuance in the way you say it? Well, I identify as queer because I think queer is a universal separation that you are indeed homosexual, or you have homosexual tendencies. That's what they said earlier, like when I was a child, you weren't gay, lesbian, you were just queer, if you get what I'm saying. Right, and then, what if you were convinced that God was not in favor of this, that whether you were born this way or it was just part of the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, or something that developed in you over the years, that God did not want you living in gay relationships and that it was contrary to his holiness and his ways, what would you do then? Well, as a Jewish queer rabbi, I have done a lot of reflecting and I've talked to other rabbis, both progressive, orthodox, and you know, just secular, right? And the main consensus is that although Yahweh, the great Yahweh, does not set in the town or at the town mood that gay marriage is wrong, there is nothing that says it is right either. So what I feel is that God, if God wanted me, a queer Jewish man, to be a rabbi, he made me a rabbi.

It was his will that I pass the yeshiva and memorize the Torah and the town mood by heart to become a rabbi, if you get what I'm saying. Yeah, so with all respect, you know, you're calling in a gentle way, I don't want to be harsh, you've been shunned, you've been through that, but with all respect, the Torah really does speak clearly against a man having sex with another man in the same way that he would with a woman, a man lying with a man, a penetration with another male, you know, quite explicitly and in very, very strong terms, in the same way it speaks against adultery and it speaks against incest, even bestiality, it's just, it's contrary to God's design. You know, there are even Midrashim that talk about this was one of the sins because of which God destroyed the earth in Noah's day, that they were issuing same-sex marriage certificates.

Then of course the Shulchan Aruch explicitly condemns sexual relationships between men and men or women and women, which is why traditional Judaism has never, for a split second, countenanced gay relationships. So, look, there are ministers of the gospel that are called to the ministry, but they struggle with pornography. It doesn't mean God wants them to struggle with pornography, it means it's a weakness.

I mean, heterosexual and they struggle with porn, they can't say, well, because God called me to be in the ministry and I find an outlet through porn, it's therefore right. Everything has to be submitted to God's word. And that's where I would challenge the progressive traditions that say, well, we know better than God's word and our traditions do. So, again, that's where I struggle. You may be a very decent, nice person in many ways and kind-hearted and compassionate towards the marginalized, but you're living in defiance of God's revealed word. And I'm not saying this just based on believing in the New Testament, I'm saying this just based on believing the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.

Well, can I add something here real quick? I actually, there have been some, well, religious scholars, like, for example, Rabbi Shekel Goldstein, he's a Jewish rabbi, one of the top rabbis in the West Coast area, and a pastor known as Pastor Peter Griffith. They have come out and claimed or have tried to argue that the man does not actually mean homosexual. And there's a difference between homosexual and porn addiction, if I may say so. Porn is a very bad thing. You can get addicted to it while being a homosexual is in me. I've been born like this. You know, this is who I am. Well, you know, you choose to do porn or you choose to watch it.

That's how you go down the rabbit hole. But you do choose to act on homosexual desires, right? You choose to act on those. I wasn't comparing porn to homosexuality. I was comparing your argument that it must be God's will because you're a rabbi and this is who you are.

But let me ask this then. There are people that struggle with other things that every one of us would say are wrong. For example, an adult male who's only attracted to children, right? We universally say that's wrong. That's sinful. You can't act on that. That's child abuse.

That's pedophilia. But they would say, I was born this way. I've always been this way.

This is who I am. And we would say, regardless of whether you're born this way or not, Yeshua, Jesus says you must be born again. In other words, the fact that something may be real to the core of someone's being and as long as they can remember, that's how they've always felt. That certainly doesn't make it right or justifiable, does it?

Yes. But for example, though, I have to say this. There are stuff in the Talmud. There are some things in the Talmud that do, I hate to say it, do describe the pedophilia. And there are some Jewish branches, like mainly ultra-conservative Talmud, they strictly obey the Talmud and Torah, you know, Orthodox, that do practice that.

You do see that in some Jerusalem neighborhoods and you see that in some neighborhoods in Brooklyn, unfortunately. But it's called child abuse, though. In other words, it's a sin, but it's called child abuse. Right. Right.

Yes, I agree with you. But that's what some, that's what the Talmud says. But I don't agree with that part of the Talmud.

Yeah. Well, I would read those passages very differently. I would not read those as sanctioning that.

It's like what you said with the man and the man thing. There are people that agree with it, right? There are people that think that's how it's taken, literally, right? And then there are like, like, for example, like what's said in the Talmud about pedophilia. People take that literally, unfortunately, and people do follow that, unfortunately. Right. But Jewish law, right, but Jewish law, Rambam and others, Jewish law explicitly forbids pedophilia.

I mean, explicitly, categorically. But the point is, does it give you pause for thought that no Jewish scholars in history, until after the sexual revolution, no religious Jews, rabbis, ever questioned the prohibition on homosexual practice, the text was clear enough to them through all those years, that it was never, it was never questioned until after the sexual revolution, when so much of the culture shifted in negative and destructive ways? Don't you think someone would have seen it somewhere, somewhere along the lines? Well, of course, of course, I'm saying that, but it's been some orthodox branches have been practicing this for a very long time, even before the sexual revolution. And, you know, sometimes we have to adapt to the times, you know, we have Judaism needs to be more queer, accepting of queer bodies, and Christianity needs to be more accepting. I mean, you don't have to have like gay, like clergy or whatever, but you have to be accepting and not, you know, turn them away and just be respectful to people. Yeah, I would agree with being respectful. I mean, I hope you find me being respectful to you as we're interacting. If I find you, you're a very nice person. I appreciate how kind and considerate you have been to me while we are talking about these issues. Well, I appreciate that.

And of course, you've been very gentle and gracious on your end. I would only ask you to reconsider, and you may have done this before, but to just ask God, if you want to be pleasing in His sight, God is my life pleasing in your sight. And remember in Judaism, with the Yitzchar Atov and the Yitzchar Ahr, so the good inclination and the evil inclination, which I explained for others that aren't rabbis or religious Jews, that it's understood that there's a battle, you know, going all the way back to Cain, who kills Abel in Genesis 4, where God says sin's crouching at the door. It wants to have you, but you must overcome it. And sometimes, you know, the very deep, deep things within us are human identity.

They're corrupted and fallen. And, you know, there's a book I wrote, Can You Be Gay and Christian? But it touches on a lot of related things. I don't know if you might want to take a look at it, if you have any interest in, well, tell you what, tell you what, I would love to send you a debate that I did with Rabbi Shmueli about homosexuality. And just to ask you to watch it, I think you'll find it interesting because there's no bashing, there's no attacking, I have nothing but love for those who identify as LGBTQ and beyond. But listen, so you don't have to say anything on the air, if you would like me to send you a free copy of this debate that I did with Rabbi Shmueli about homosexuality, I'd love to send it to you as a gift, no obligation. Grayson's going to come on and ask if you'd like to get a copy. If so, we'll send it to you, our gift.

If not, feel free to call again, and thanks for the conversation. 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.

Welcome, welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Don't forget to visit vitaminmission.com. Find out how you can save 10% on all of your health supplement orders from Dr. Mark Stengler.

And with every order, a generous donation is made to our ministry as well to help us reach out even more. So you get great healthy supplements, you get a discount, and you get to help us all at the same time. And I'm so excited to recommend these because I know they'll help. And they're great supplements and I use them myself. Hey, some fascinating calls today.

Some very interesting calls, including how to make matzo ball soup. Anyway, 866-34-TRUTH. In Ezekiel 37, which follows naturally after Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones. And God asks him, can these bones live? And he does the right thing. God, you know.

You know, you're God. And then it's a picture of the Jewish people returning from exile, coming back together limb by limb, and then breath being breathed into them, spirit, ruach, breath, spirit, wind, the same word. So being breathed back into them and they live and thrive. And that's a picture that was partly fulfilled with the Jewish return from Babylonian exile, and then partly fulfilled out of the ashes of the Holocaust with piles of human remains and bones, the horror of that. And just a few years after that, the rebirth of the modern state of Israel, and the final fulfillment will be Israel's salvation, Israel turning to the Lord.

I live and breathe for that every day of my life. Bishop J.C. Ryle, Anglican leader, older contemporary of Charles Spurgeon, saw these things as literal predictions. And I quote him in my book, Our Hands Are Staying with Blood. So I want to go over there and read what he had to say.

Okay. So Bishop J.C. Ryle, older contemporary of Spurgeon, also taught strongly on the restoration of the Jewish people to their land and to their messiahs. This is in the mid to late 1800s, completely rejecting the idea that the church had supplanted the Jewish people. He wrote this imagining the conversation between a Christian and a Jew who did not believe in Jesus, with the Christian believing that Jesus literally fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about his first coming. So he goes on, but suppose the Jew asks you if you take all the prophecies of the Old Testament in their simple literal meaning. Suppose he asks you if you believe in a literal personal advent of Messiah to reign over the earth in glory, a literal restoration of Judah and Israel to Palestine, a literal rebuilding and restoration of Zion and Jerusalem.

Suppose the unconverted and non-believing Jew puts these questions to you, what answers are you prepared to make? Will you dare to tell him that the Old Testament prophecies of this kind are not to be taken in their plain literal sense? Will you dare to tell him that the words Zion, Jerusalem, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim, Israel do not mean what they seem to mean but mean the church of Christ? Will you dare to tell him that the glorious kingdom and future blessedness of Zion so often dwelt upon in prophecy mean nothing more than the gradual Christianizing of the world by missionaries and gospel preaching? Will you dare to tell him that you think it carnal to expect a literal rebuilding of Jerusalem, carnal to expect a literal coming of Messiah to reign?

Oh, reader, if you're a man of this mind, take care what you are doing. I say again take care, because remember you're going to say Jesus literally fulfilled the prophecies of his first coming and all that. Oh, but all the future ones, they're metaphorical and spiritual.

So, again, he lives 1816 to 1900. He says, time would fail me if I attempted to quote all the passages of Scripture in which the future history of Israel is revealed. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, all declare the same thing. All predict, with more or less particularity, that in the end of this dispensation the Jews are to be restored to their own land and to the favor of God. I lay no claim to infallibility in the interpretation of Scripture in this matter. I am well aware that many excellent Christians cannot see the subject as I do. I can only say that to my eyes, the future salvation of Israel as a people, their return to Palestine, which is what it was called then, and their national conversion to God appear as clearly and plainly revealed as any prophecy in God's Word. And to that I say absolutely yes and amen. No question about it. As clear as any prophecy in Scripture.

Absolutely. Now, there are some Christian Zionists today who hold to a bizarre and dangerous view that we are not to share the Gospel with Jewish people now, that at the end of the age there will be a miraculous turning, but right now Christians just stand with Israel and show their support of Israel. That's dangerous and it's unbiblical. Remember the Gospel, Paul said, is to the Jew first. Remember his heart was broken, he was in continual pain because his own Jewish people, his own people were not saved. If Christians did not share the Gospel with me, I would be lost.

I would be alive today, probably wouldn't have even made it to be 18 years old with the crazy lifestyle I had. If I didn't share the Gospel with my wife Nancy and others didn't share it with her, she would be lost, could still be an atheist today. And on and on it goes. All of us around the world, Jewish believers in Jesus who've come to faith are so grateful someone shared the Gospel with us. And yet there are Christian Zionists saying, no, no, no, no.

It'll just happen in the future. One says Jews won't get saved by revelation, not by proclamation. Well, some may have special revelation where God opens their eyes supernaturally and sovereignly, but the pattern is through proclamation, through the preaching of the Word. Even Romans 10, how will they hear without a preacher? That's about Israel there in context.

So J.C. Rall is absolutely right. These things are prophesied. We are living in days of fulfillment every single day with the Jewish people back in the land and so many other things that have been a reality now for over 70 years and more and more Jewish hearts turning to Jesus the Messiah. And I encourage you, friends, stand with us. We are on the front lines. Let us be your voice. Let us be your your arms and legs and messengers bringing the good news to Jewish people around the world. We do it every day in Hebrew and Russian and English and Spanish and Portuguese and other ways. The message is getting out and you're helping us do that.

All right, let's see if we have time. Yeah, so I would imagine, based on a few people of gross immaturity who've called in today, earlier on, either the same person calling from different numbers, but the nature of the calls that came in today, I would imagine that somebody somewhere on some social media page encouraged people to call in. It's obviously not just coincidence that that happens, but you have to understand aside from us having a question mark about whether even to take the last caller on, that this person was really wanting to come on the air and came up with a false question. So listen, here's the deal. All right, let me talk straight to you. Don't be a jerk.

Don't be an idiot. I welcome calls from people who differ with me. I do. I welcome calls from people who think I'm completely wrong on subjects. In fact, we encourage those calls. In fact, if I see my phone lines are lit up and one of the callers says they disagree with me on a subject, I'll do my best to bump them up as a priority. If I see the other calls are not urgent, time sensitive, I'll do my best to bump them up to give them time to differ with me. So we're paying for airtime so that others can, yeah, got it. Okay. Thanks.

Yeah. So our team was working to dump the prank calls today, but you just, whatever your point is, you make an idiot out of yourself and you demean yourself and you make whatever point you're trying to make sound completely idiotic. Don't. So, so don't call him with a false question. Tell her a call screener, this is what it's about. And then come on with some kind of prank call it.

And what I noticed was the sound of the voice of the callers. They weren't three years old. There's one thing is three year old kid doesn't know any better, but Hey, this is one reason when people say, well, how do you deal with criticism? I feel bad for critics. I feel bad for those attacking because I know they're wrong.

All the more do I feel bad for people who make fools of themselves in public and somehow think that this is a constructive thing to do. So may the Lord help. May the Lord help people to grow in truth.

And you know, it's, it's an interesting thing. Somebody was asking me over lunch today about the criticism and the attack from those often in the, in the, they would identify as LGBTQ et cetera. And I said, you know, behind a lot of the anger is often pain.

And also from their point of view, if I say I don't recognize this as marriage to men or to women, I don't recognize that as marriage or God has a better way for someone struggling with, with gender identity. God has a better way and it's to help you from the inside out and say, I've been through that torment. You don't understand. You have no clue. The only outlet for me to be healthy and whole and avoid suicide is sex change surgery.

I understand these are weighty things. I understand when I don't celebrate that Richard quote Rachel Levine, President Biden's appointee as assistant secretary for health and human services just named a four star admiral. And the press is swooning over this. How amazing the first female, this is a man, this is a biological man. All the, all the females who are biological females, who are legitimate females, they've never been promoted there.

A man is now this is celebrating for females. No, I'm not going to celebrate that. So I understand people get mad at me and hate me, but my heart goes out to them. I, all the more do I want to see them come to the Lord. So the prank callers and the trolls, may the Lord help you. May the Lord open your heart and mind because to know him is to know life. May he have mercy on you if you reject him because to reject him is to choose death.