Trump, Biden, and Canada, Russia, and China

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So, do you think that Donald Trump would be doing a better job with international affairs right now than President Biden? It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Our Line of Fire guarantee. You tune in daily and you will get a daily dose of moral sanity and spiritual clarity. You will get built up in faith and strengthened in the Lord.

866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. I have a question for you. I want you to weigh in on this. Then I'm going to give some perspective to explain exactly why I'm talking about this today. In your view, whether you voted for Donald Trump or Joe Biden or someone else or didn't vote at all, in your view, if Trump was president today, forget everything else in terms of domestic issues and domestic policy. But as far as international policy, as far as dealing with the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as far as dealing with Communist China, as far as dealing with the conflicts in Canada right now, if we're looking at those things, if we're focused on those things, as far as dealing with Iran in the Middle East, do you believe that Donald Trump would be doing a better job right now as president in terms of international affairs than Joe Biden? What's your view?

866-34-TRUTH. You say, well, he's not the president right now. Regardless of what happened to the elections, he's not in the White House right now. So why even bring this up? I'll tell you why I'm bringing it up. There is a narrative that is becoming increasingly codified by the media. When I say by the media, I mean primarily the left-leaning media that basically says this. If you voted for Donald Trump, then you are a gun-toting, if not gun-waving, white supremacist, violent Christian nationalist insurrectionist. And that's why you voted for Donald Trump, who was the chief white supremacist. In other words, there could be no valid reason for a God-fearing, Jesus-loving Christian to vote for Donald Trump because of this narrative that's being put forth. Everybody is being caricatured.

Everybody is being put in this particular box. And the narrative is getting more and more fixed. And of course, these accusations were coming during the Trump presidency. I addressed them numerous times during the Trump presidency to show the fallacy of this generalization. Of course, there were some people that fit that description, just like there were violent Black Panthers that voted for President Obama. That didn't mean that's why most people voted for President Obama, right?

Because they were black supremacists and violent, any more than the reason that most whites voted for Donald Trump was because they were violent white insurrectionists. But this narrative is getting more and more locked in. And of course, the events of January 6th, which I believe Trump was directly responsible for with his irresponsible rhetoric about the elections allegedly being stolen, where they were not, God knows. I'm saying allegedly, right?

Because nothing has been proven and demonstrated. But I felt this irresponsible rhetoric for months and then with throwing Mike Pence under the bus that day, that that led directly to the things that happened January 6th. Although I don't believe Trump wanted that. And I don't believe he was trying to primarily cater to the violent insurrectionists or those that that simply were out of control and going to storm the Capitol. But it was this irresponsible rhetoric that led to that.

And I said this. I said this is someone who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. And I do not want him to be the Republican candidate in 2024. I seriously doubt that I'd be able to vote for a Democrat candidate.

So the one with the best chance of winning would be a Republican candidate. I hope it's not Donald Trump having voted for him twice. However, however, many of us had very legitimate reasons for voting for Trump, which we could get alone in the presence of God and say, Lord, you know, I care about the slaughter of the unborn. And I believe Donald Trump will do a better job standing up for the unborn than Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. Lord, you know, I care about our religious freedoms that are so foundational to America's well-being. And I believe that Donald Trump will do a better job of standing up for our religious liberties than Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. And Lord, you know, I'm concerned about the situation of Israel in the Middle East and Iran's terror threats and the rising scepter of communist China.

And I believe that Donald Trump will do a better job pushing back against these foreign entities and standing up to the strong men than Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. So for reasons completely unrelated to Christian nationalism, for reasons that completely repudiate white supremacism, I believed that Trump would do a better job in these other areas. And many, many other Christians felt exactly like this.

And that's why we voted for Donald Trump. Yes, we had concerns about his character. Now, on the one hand, there's the positive characters of keeping his word and maintaining relations with with evangelical leaders, many of whom were anything but yes men in their relationship with him. That's to his credit. And that is to his character credit. But there were the irresponsible words that were spoken and words have tremendous power.

Proverbs 18 tells us that life and death are in the power of tongue actually says death and life are in the power of the tongue. So and we also know Proverbs tells us about what type of person should be leading a nation. So Trump's failures and flaws brought great division. And as much of the church followed in his footsteps, we became very, very carnal and we became better known as Trump followers than Jesus followers.

So I acknowledge all that. But I bring these things up today to say, look, look, as much as I was concerned about his character flaws, and as much as I didn't like the way he treated other people, and the division that he brought and the chaos that he brought, as much as I didn't like that, I felt okay, as followers of Jesus, we can say we don't agree with that we separate from that we differ, we differ with that and we're going to show a better way. Tragically, often we didn't show a better way. We were just as divided and full of angry rhetoric and hate as the world was. But in my mind, it would be harder to fight against bad policies. And right now, right now, as we look at the world situation, we know that Prime Minister Trudeau for the first time in the nation's history invoked the Emergencies Act.

This is really to fight against terrorist attacks or some internal civil war that has to be put down. Even the New York Times called it a rare step. Well, according to published reports, I don't know the accuracy, but it said that he did this after conferring with the Biden administration, then decided to crack down. Now, maybe he would have done it anyway.

And we don't know how directly President Biden was involved. But if these reports are accurate, I personally have a hard time imagining that Donald Trump would have told Trudeau, oh, yeah, crack down on the freedom convoy. Yeah. And bring out the mounted police.

Yeah. And and and freeze bank accounts. I I personally have a hard time imagining that scenario. Let's think about Russia and Ukraine. Obviously, we want God's intervention. We don't want to see bloodshed.

People are even talking now. And they're they're saying, hey, this this could be the the bloodiest war since World War Two. I mean, things could explode in Europe. One of our missionary friends that's lived in Ukraine for, oh, probably close to 20 years, maybe over, just on our way back there and saying the people in the Ukraine don't seem quite as concerned that something imminent is about to happen.

But all the reports are indicating this could be terrible. So obviously, I'm hoping that President Biden does the right thing. I'm hoping that President Putin steps back. But when you look at this, you say, OK, who is perceived as stronger after our failed withdrawal from Afghanistan? The horrific acts there, which just showed weakness to much of the world, especially to the radical Muslim world, would would Trump be perceived as a strong leader? I'd love your input. I'd love to hear your thoughts, whether you voted for him or not.

866-348-7884. But let me let me read to you an article from the Jewish press July 24th, 2018, by Daniel Greenfield. Now, there are many who felt that Trump was was too cozy with with Putin. Some felt that that he admired Putin, was even intimidated by him.

But here's an article. Daniel Greenfield, Trump stood up to Putin. Obama appeased him. And he says the architects of Obama's appeasement of Putin have been some of the most militant voices denouncing Trump. Instead, President Trump has steadily reversed Obama's tide of concessions to Putin.

He said the media is outraged over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But when that happened, this is a few years back, Ukraine asked for weapons and the only aid that Obama offered their country was MREs. It took months for Obama to come through with boots and tires. Meanwhile, Trump has delivered actual weapons. Why did Obama refuse to provide Ukraine with weapons, according to senior officials, to avoid antagonizing Moscow?

Trump isn't afraid of Russia. Obama, however, was shaking his loafers while Trump approved anti-tank missiles for Ukraine. Obama slow-walked shipments of boots, putting them on trucks instead of planes so that they took months to arrive so as not to upset the Russians. Meanwhile, the Trump administration cut the red tape by dipping into its own European stockpiles. In the time it took Obama to ship boots to Ukraine, Trump shipped Javelin missiles.

And Greenfield closed with this article. Unlike Obama, President Trump sold weapons to Ukraine. Unlike Obama, he bombed Assad and took on Russian mercenaries. Unlike Obama, he provided Poland with working Patriot missiles. Unlike Obama, he didn't base his foreign policy around fearing to offend Moscow. Unlike Obama, he stood up to Russia.

Now, my point in reading that is not to bash President Obama, but it's to say that many felt that were the Democrats, the Democratic policies had failed and the leadership had failed. Trump finally stood up. And when I asked a Chinese driver, a Chinese national who was now an Australian citizen, early 2020, when I was in Australia right before the complete COVID travel crackdown, he picked me up from the airport. We were talking. I said, what do you think about President Xi? And he said, very dangerous. And he was very concerned for the well-being of his parents who still lived in China. I said, what do you think about President Trump?

He said, he's a hero. So there was a perception in China among Christians that Trump would stand up. He'd stand up for the protesters in Hong Kong. He pushed back against Communist China. And a colleague of mine who's lived most of his adult life in China and is very well connected to the underground church told me that all the Christians he knew were fervently praying for Trump's reelection and that when Trump lost, they wept.

So this was their perception from within China. So I bring these things up, not to be bashing President Biden. Come on, if you listen regularly or read my articles, how many times do I bash President Biden?

I'll bring him up when there's a major moral issue that I differ with or cultural issue that I differ with. Otherwise, this is not a bash Biden show. It's not what we're about. Nor is it a praise Trump show. Many of you are upset when I've said I don't want him to run in 2024. But the whole purpose is to say this, to say this. Many of us felt when it came to international policies which reflect hundreds of millions of people.

Trump would do better than Biden. That's not Christian nationalism or white supremacy. We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire. Here's another question. Should we have even participated in the Chinese Olympics in Beijing?

Should we have even done that? 866-348. By the way, a few of you called in earlier and our studio had to disconnect you because of some technical problems on our end. Feel free to call back and we'll do our best to get you to the front of the line. 866-348-784.

If you're on briefly and we were unable to take your call, you can try to reconnect now if you're able. I'm going to go to your phone calls in a moment. Check out this poll I did on Twitter. Let's see. It's still got a few hours left, but it's got 668 votes.

Here's what I asked on Twitter. Given Trump's relationship with Putin while he was president, for better or worse, do you believe that Trump would do a better job of standing up to Putin today than Biden is doing? Indicate whether you were a Trump voter in your answer.

Let's see. Little over 70% were Trump voters and slightly under 30% were not Trump voters. Out of those who were Trump voters, it's 66% to 5%. In other words, about 13 to 1 of Trump voters said that Trump would be doing a better job than Biden is. Among the not Trump voters, which was almost 30%, it's 17.2% to 11.5. It's about two out of three, just about two out of three saying, yes, we believe Trump would be doing a better job than Biden.

Overwhelmingly yes from the Trump voters, but even a strong majority for the non-Trump voters feeling that Trump would be doing a better job than Biden. Just when it comes to China, CNN has said, yeah, Trump did one thing outwardly, but privately. He was in bed with China.

Whatever. They're critical of his policies, but others have said, no, he was the man to stand up to China. So for example, I did a search on Bing yesterday, how Trump stood up to China and their pages of articles and videos with headlines like this. This was the Hill, December 6th, 2016. So as Trump is elected and about to be inaugurated, it takes a Trump to stand up to China.

This was an article on the Hill, which by the way is not a conservative political website. It takes a Trump to stand up to China and then town hall, August 28th, 2019. So two and a half years into the Trump presidency. Finally, a president stands up to China. Finally, a president stands up to China. Now our athletes were told to participate in Beijing and obviously you care about athletes that have spent years and years training and they want to represent the country and do well and achieve things for themselves. You want to be sympathetic to that, but there are times when conscience is you have to boycott, obviously. So athletes were told no public protests. So you're going to go, but no public protests. And then we had a diplomatic protest. We aired things saying that China was guilty of ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity.

That's a strong statement, but this is a strong statement if it doesn't have teeth. I'm just asking questions. I'm putting out questions. Some of you say, Mike, I just wish you would teach doctrine and just open them up. We do that constantly and part of the purpose of our radio show is to intersect Bible morality, cultural issues, spiritual issues, cause it's the world that we live in and to be your voice from all sanity and spiritual clarity. The fact of the matter is there's no shortage of, of radio stations, TV shows, internet sites, you name it, YouTube channels with just Bible teaching only. And we have thousands and thousands of messages for you to enjoy and tons of books and articles with just Bible teaching. But part of our calling and one reason that many tune in is because we intersect with culture, politics, the world around us. That's the world in which we live.

So a question for you, it's six, six, three, four truth. A question for you. If we believe that China is guilty of quote ongoing genocide and quote crimes against humanity, should we have participated in the games at all? Aren't we saying it's terrible that you're committing genocide and trying to wipe out a whole race of people or a whole ethnic group.

It's terrible that you're doing, that's what genocide is and, and it's terrible that, that you were guilty of crimes against humanity, but not that terrible. So the games are on, let's play. Just putting the question out for you. Okay. Let's go over to the phone starting with John in North Carolina.

Welcome to the line of fire. What are your thoughts, sir? Uh, you said John?

I said John, which would be you. Thank you. Yeah. Okay, great.

Uh, yeah. You asked about whether I, who, who we thought would be better Biden or Trump with the current foreign policy. And I'm pretty confident, I'm pretty confident that the answer, my answer is Biden is more confident handling the current global affairs. Okay. Uh, now did you vote for Biden or Trump? Uh, well I called cause you said that didn't matter.

No, it doesn't. I'm just, I'm just purely curious. Just purely curious. I did vote for Biden.

So it, and my purpose is not to argue with you, but to get perspective. So do you feel it's just, he has more experience or he's, he's not as erratic or what do you feel that, that he's doing a better job than Trump would be doing? Well both of those things fit. He also, uh, I think through the experience he knows and values our foreign, um, diplomats and diplomacy and history. He pays attention to the facts he gets from our diplomats and from other countries, um, leaders and diplomats.

So I think he, he does, I think he values real information in making foreign policy decisions and others as well. Got it. Hey John, thank you for weighing in. I appreciate it. I'm getting your opinions. I've laid out some of my thoughts. I'll give my final thoughts after, but, um, thank you for, for weighing in. Uh, let's go over to an anonymous caller from Raleigh, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, good afternoon, uh, doctor. And I appreciate what you do and that's like, and you're in your sweet, um, help with that answer the phone. Um, all those sounds like call.

It had to be frustrating for her. But anyway, I can't say definitely Trump. And in my heart of hearts, I think it was the, uh, the results that were, were really altered through Biden. I think, but I'm, I'm not happy with him. Um, I, who did you, who did you vote for by the way? Who did you vote for in 2020?

Oh, definitely Trump. Okay. Got it. Yeah. So, so go ahead. So the reason you think Trump would be doing a bit.

Yeah. I feel Biden is in bed with China, Russia, Iran. He's coming up for his son. And as far as him being able to, he's not, he's a puppet. Other people are running the country and I'm not, you know, like, Oh, Biden is, it should be his name.

All he will own. But I'm so, and as far as Olympics with China, definitely not. I thought that was, I thought it was strange. It really hit me creepy how far things have gone. So, but I love the Lord and I know I don't come up angry and say, I love the Lord. Cause that may be a turnoff to people that are not Christians, but um, I'm just, I'm sad and more than mad that our country has gotten in this shape in less than, well, yeah. Well, let's let you go. But thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for the call. All right, so you got, you got two very different views there and you can feel free to, to weigh in. We pray for whoever is president, right? And we honor the office of president. So you're, you're not going to hear me using demeaning names when I talk about president Biden or vice president Harris or president Trump or vice president Pence or president Obama, et cetera. You're vice president by Biden.

You're not going to hear me using mocking names, demeaning names because to me that is dishonoring of their authority and the position that they are in. And I don't believe that God is sitting in heaven. I'm quite sure he's not wringing his hands like, Oh no, what are we going to do? He is ultimately overseeing the affairs of men, letting us make choices, even disastrous choices, allowing us to reap what we sow. He set up the universe to work like that.

Set things up on our planet. We're sowing and reaping our real, real principles that will always work themselves out, barring repentance and mercy and intervention. We will reap what we sow so we can make decisions. We can elect different people and unless the elected official tells us to disobey God tells us to disobey our conscience before God, then we obey the authorities. And in fact, when we disobey, it's not out of rebellion.

Let me make this clear. We are not rebellious people. We are law abiding, submitted people. When the earthly laws and the earthly rulers tell us to disobey God, we say, no, we must obey God rather than that. It is obedience to the highest authority. I am never going to cultivate rebellion here.

I am never going to cultivate, shake your fist against the government and call people names. I'm going to cultivate obedience to God above all. That's how we rise up. That's how we stand. That's how we are unstoppable. That's how we will not be canceled or silenced.

Obedience at any cost to God and overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love. We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Friends, I just posted an article about the extreme hostility towards Christian conservatives on college campuses around America drawing on the research of Professor George Yancy. It's called the University Professor's Sobering Picture of Anti-Christian Bias in America Today.

I drew on some of his research from a few years ago to say how much worse has it gotten today. And all this is excerpted from my book, The Silencing of the Lambs, which is due out in about a week now. Normally, you know exactly when it's coming out. We know when the e-book and the audio book will be out.

But printing has been a little funky these days because of COVID. We've had publishers announce books on certain days, and it's a few days later when they're printed. So as soon as we get our copies in, we'll be signing them, sending them out. If you'd like to order, just go to drbrownbooks.com, order wherever you order online. Or if you'd like a signed, numbered copy, you can still get that only on our website. There's a beautiful hardcover.

So go to askdrbrown.org. Not only will this book open your eyes, The Silencing of the Lambs, open your eyes to what's happening in the world around us. And it's sobering. And listen, I'm not a conspiracy theorist and I am not Chicken Little saying, this guy's falling. It's all over.

What are we going to do? But be assured the battle is real. Be assured the censoring is real. I mean, when you read Silencing of the Lambs, the opening chapters, you'll be, you'll say, I knew some of this, but oh, I had no idea.

I had no, oh, I had no idea. But then throughout the call to courage and then strategy after strategy where everybody, moms, dads, kids in school, business people, preachers beyond pulpits, every one of us can rise up and make a difference and overcome cancel culture and the sensorial spirit of the world with the truth of the gospel. Oh yeah, that's ultimately where the battle is going to be fought. So go ahead, go to askdrbrown.org.

You can still pre-order your signed, numbered copy. I'm going to stay a couple more minutes in the political realm and then shift gears. So any question of any kind that you want to bring up to me, anything you want to probe about, anything biblical, theological, we'll get to some other calls as well. My own view that I'm going, taking your, your calls, my own view is that President Trump would be a stronger figure in the White House now than President Biden, which is another reason that I voted for Trump, although I do not want him to run in 2024 and I do not believe I could vote for him again unless he really was a different person. There's just too much collateral damage. When it comes to international policy, I believe that he would be perceived as a stronger leader. He called out China in ways that other leaders have not. Yes, there was a policy to withdraw from Afghanistan, but the way it was done under the Biden administration was absolutely tragic. So for many reasons, I believe Trump would be doing a better job. Certainly when it comes to Iran, he ripped up our policy, nuclear policy with Iran.

There's continued talk of the Biden administration renewing it and on and on the list goes. So yeah, I could sit here and give all the criticisms of Trump understood, but just asking because we're in the midst of critical situations in Canada, one way in Canada and Russia, Ukraine, which would affect Europe in the world, China, Iran, there's a whole lot going on. And obviously there's always a whole lot going on. The world is always shaking. The world is always in some level of disruption because of human sin in the fall and Jesus is Lord period. And every generation has had its challenges.

But right now we're in a very volatile season. The best thing for us to do is pray God, your will be done. Lord, your best in each situation intervene. May lives be spirit and may people turn to you. All right, I'm going to take one more call on the political realm. We'll go to Lauren in Charleston, South Carolina. What's your take?

Hi, I'm really glad I got to be on. Um, I'm calling because I actually lived in China for about a year, about 10 years ago. Um, and of course it's, I think it's gotten much worse since then, especially under Xi Jinping.

Yes, absolutely. But, but I just had two points that I was curious about. Um, the first one is that I'm, you know, I'm not entirely sure that the Christians in China are very concerned about politics. I very much feel that they, they pray for more persecution to come upon them and maybe they pray for Americans to have it as well so that Christ is glorified all the more. Maybe their focus is not so much on affairs of the world as politics. Um, just because maybe they're so used to it and they just, they want, they know that the Lord intervenes supernaturally, I think, um, to help his church and that he wants, they want the Lord to be glorified over there.

Not so much maybe earthly, political or prophetic events. That was maybe my impression. Um, and then also something that I am curious about, I'm a little bit troubled is, you know, surely Trump knew that China has been growing and growing her belt and ways initiative, per se, pearls in the Indian ocean on the coast of Africa.

Um, I just think it would have been smart if he wanted to keep America's military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan to kind of buffer against China, kind of put her between our presence in Japan and South Korea and then in Afghanistan. I, I'm curious why he did not want to do that. Right. As to your second point, I can't comment simply because of lack of expertise. Uh, I don't know the details. I don't know the thinking. I don't know the larger strategies. So my comment would be utterly worthless. The first point I can definitely interact with. There's no question.

Yeah. There's no question that the, the way that there's a Christian nationalism in America and the conflating of the gospel with the flag, you're not going to have that in China where the Christians have been so oppressed and yeah, things have gotten much worse under president. She even in, in the last five years, things have shifted. In fact, many of the Christians were, were, were seeing the, the government saying, Hey, we're changing policy and we want to work with you. And, and major three self churches were hosting underground churches. I was there with, with a 40 leaders, Protestant leaders from America with a delegation with Franklin Graham. And we spent several days just meeting with leaders, three self church leaders, government religious leaders, and trying to sift through propaganda and reality. And I asked endless questions and then came back and interacted with, we've had, we've had colleagues there sent out from our ministry school years past, but colleagues who've been working in various ways in business and education in China for 20 years and have some of them are incredibly well connected. I mean they know virtually all of the major underground church leaders in the hottest places in the country and are in constant interaction and some still there. So I mean they are incredibly well informed and, and, and went out of their way to get informed while being involved.

So this is, is on the ground even longer experience. So I listened to a lot of what they have to say and for sure over the years the Chinese church has been concerned about the state of much of the American church because of more materialism and worldliness. And, and even though many American leaders have helped the Chinese church through the decades and, and until now, yeah, I have heard those same anecdotes about they were not, they were praying for persecution to come to us to make us better Christians.

And yes, it's true that, that they have embraced suffering for the gospel in a New Testament way and that the church in China has, has been through living hell on this earth and continues to grow and, and thrive in, in extraordinary ways. At the same time, they understand where things are going under President Xi and many of them really appreciated the stance that Trump took. Look, he stood with the Hong Kong protesters, you know, and, and that's why my colleague who is with me a few months back, he has spent most of his adult life living in China. So went over there, maybe 20 ish, has been there about 20 years and incredibly, incredibly well connected with Chinese house church leaders and Chinese house church historians. And I mean the key people in the know, I was, I've been impressed by how well connected he's been. And he told me to a person, every Chinese Christian he knew was fervently praying for Trump to be reelected and wept when he lost.

He said it was, it was across the board. So I guess they just realized where things are going under Xi, the, the potential crackdown, the, the persecution, not just for them, but hardship for others, that they really saw Trump as someone who could stand up to them. So I agree that there is not the politicization, the politicization of the gospel in China, the way there is in America, there's not a platform for it. There's certainly a love for the country of China. And my friend was telling me, if you just want to get national sympathy, just yell Taiwan.

And everyone's, they're outraged, you know, and everybody gathers together, you know, and, and there is the social harmony as, as you were there. You can tell me if you agree with this, but America, our greatest value, national value is freedom. We're an independent people. We want our freedom. We want our rights in a massive country, an ancient country like China. It seems that social harmony is the greatest, the greatest value.

And, and therefore the, the blade of grass that grows too high gets, gets cut down. So when you are going against the grain or looked at as the centers, then you can easily be demonized and vilified. So I agree with much of what you're saying in terms of the Chinese Christians don't, don't confuse the gospel with politics the way we often do in America and are not Christian nationalists in that sense. You know, they don't have, well, this is a Christian country. We have Christian origins, you know, those kinds of lines at the same time.

From what I understand, they really thought that Trump would, would be a much better figure than, than Biden. And again, this is just from a very well informed source. God knows ultimately, but thank you. Thank you for the call. Thank you for weighing in. I appreciate it. All right.

It's six, six, three, four truth. Tell you what, so as not to cut anybody off with a question, cause we've got a break coming back coming up. I'm going to go to your calls right on the other side of the break. And yeah, if if we have time, I'm glad they take calls with folks who have a very different perspective with me about Trump versus Biden. And by the way, to say it again, in case you just tuned in, I'm not bringing this up to bash Joe Biden or to praise Donald Trump.

Not, not at all. I'm bringing it up to say that this whole narrative, well, everybody who voted for Trump, they're just angry white supremacists, Christian nationalists, insurrectionists, gun toting bigots, that false narrative that's being put forward ignores the primary reasons why most of us who voted for Trump voted for him. And international affairs was one of the reasons. Abortion, top of the list, religious freedoms, high on the list.

Israel, international affairs, those are high on the list as well. So that's why I bring these things up. Not to say, oh, praise Donald Trump and oh, terrible Joe Biden. No, no, no. They're both flawed men who need the Lord and keep a ways in their lives. And I would not want to be in either their shoes as president.

Couldn't even dream of it, but we had our reasons for voting. We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on the line of fire. 866-34-TRUTH, going straight to the phones. We'll start with Barry in Whiting, New York. You are on the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, this is Barry from Whiting, New Jersey.

New Jersey? Ah, we were close. We were close. Okay. Yes, sir. Don't worry. It happened. At least you got the right answer. All right.

I'll make the question simple because I know you have brief time. Back in the 90s, I ran into a lot of things what you would call bad apologetics, where people would tell me, oh, don't believe this or whatever. Now I'm kind of wondering, after watching you and Andrew Rappaport, I know you're both not exactly the same. You're telling good apologetics, and I'm wondering what's the difference between good apologetics and bad apologetics? So I can at least have a better idea of what I'm looking at.

Sure. So it's a broad question, but to answer it simply, when it comes to apologetics, one, you have to really understand the issues you're dealing with. In other words, we can so easily set up these straw men where we superficially understand the objection or the issue that someone is raising and just smash it down. You need to present the other side fairly. You need to understand what a Muslim believes, what a Jewish person believes, what a Catholic believes, what a charismatic believes, what an evangelical believes. Whatever subject you're dealing with to argue for or against, you need to understand it rightly and fairly so that if someone else heard you, if a Mormon or a Muslim or a rabbi heard you presenting things, they'd say, yeah, that's accurate.

That's what I believe. So that's the first thing. Then the second thing is no cheap answers. Issues of substance, not just a quick soundbite answer that deflects the person, right? So you say something to me and I say something to you, ha ha ha, I got the upper hand, but I didn't really deal with the substance of it. So number one, be well informed about the subjects you are differing with, whether it's Darwinian evolution, whether it's something else philosophically, whether it's a Jehovah's Witness issue with a cult, be well informed, understand what they really believe, then give answers of substance, not just cheap soundbite. You may reduce an answer of substance into a really good soundbite, right?

My friend Dr. Frank Turek is great at doing that. When someone says, well, there is no absolute truth, he said, is that true? It just kind of throws it back on the person. But then the last thing would be do solid research so that when someone pushes back against your point, you've already dealt with that. You've already covered that. When you quote a scripture verse, you know what the Hebrew says, you know what the Greek says, you know what the different interpretations are. So one, present the other side fairly and accurately. Two, give answers of substance. Three, do the research well to back up your position.

That would separate good apologetics from bad. Hey, Barry, appreciate that New Jersey spirit. Let's go over to Gene in North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire.

How are you doing Dr. Brown? Thanks for protecting my call. Sure thing. My comment is, there are two things I really want to sort of bring out. First of all, you said that you don't have anything in common with neo-Nazis and skinheads, even though you both vote for Trump.

Just like there were extreme Black Panthers and violent Black supremacists that voted for Obama. Yeah. Right.

Let me finish. So, you- We're talking international policy. Gene, just one thing. We're talking international policy. It's the only thing we're discussing about Trump today. International policy. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I understand that. So, you said earlier that you can stand before the Lord and you have a checklist of things that you think the Lord would approve of, things like abortion and things like that. You say, well, you know, Trump, I voted for Trump and these are the reasons why. But do you think those are the only things that the Lord will ask you in your life?

But maybe he'll ask you, what did the Republicans do for the poor and the needy? Because I think- All right. But hang on. So, we're getting off topic here. That's not the issue, sir. We're not talking about American policy or why I voted for Trump.

I was very, very specific. And I want to be fair because I'm thinking back to a previous conversation we had. I'm not saying it's the only thing that matters.

I never said that. Of course, I'm concerned about the poor. The folks that have gone out from our school and are ministering around the world spend an incredible amount of time caring for the poor, caring for the needy, taking in orphans, feeding the hungry.

Incredible amount of time. One of my closest friends in the world, Yisupatam, does more humanitarian work and then has raised up more people who do more humanitarian work than any human that I know on the planet in terms of just directly doing it. And we pour into that.

Every month, the first fruits of money that comes into our ministry, we give out to that. And by the way, in many ways, I think Republican policies, if worked out in city after city, would help the poor more. But that's a complete misrepresentation of what I was saying, sir. A complete misrepresentation and completely off the topic of what we were talking about internationally. So, again, I'm thinking back to a previous lengthy conversation that we had. And this is not what I was talking about.

So we've got to stay on topic. But thank you for the call. I appreciate it. Let's go over to Jeff in Ohio.

Welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown, a privilege to talk to you, sir. I had a question and I'm sorry, but this is on healing.

No, that's fine. We've shifted and opened the phone, so we're good. I appreciate it, Dr. Brown.

Maybe it's Providence because I'm off today and I've been wanting to call and ask you your thoughts on this because I respect you. Dr. Brown, when I hear some of the Bible teachers, I think it's Mark chapter 6, I believe. Sometimes they joke and they'll say it's the verse that Kenneth Hagin wrote about speaking to the mountain.

I mean, Dr. Brown, is that for everybody? Is that scriptural, the way they present that? Well, so you're talking about best known in Mark 11, but you also have it in Matthew's gospel. So, yeah, let's read the actual verses. And these are for everybody.

These are not just for the apostles. All right. So I'll go over to Mark 11. And some people say, yeah, that's, you know, because Kenneth Hagin so quoted the verse that they joke, you know, he didn't write it. Jesus said, in fact, let me just get to a different screen here. There we go.

And yeah, I'll read it to you. And then we'll look over in Matthew the 17th chapter. So Jesus is teaching as they pass by. In the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. This is Jesus had just cursed the day before.

And Peter remembered and said, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed is withered. Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart that believes that what he says will come to pass will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And then the call to forgive those that we have anything against.

So this is for anybody. And it's not talking about a literal mountain. And there's no example in scripture where Jesus actually caused a mountain to physically move or Moses caused a mountain to physically move.

So there's no example of that. It's obviously metaphorical speech. Jesus often engaged in these very vivid metaphors and analogies. But there are all kinds of mountains that stand in our way.

They can be endless, endless number of possibilities. Financial mountains, relational mountains, doors that need to open, gifts that we don't have. And we believe God's calling us to do a particular thing or there's something standing in the way of of of healing or something, some mountain of some kind.

We all face them. And Jesus is saying, if we can take hold of faith, if we know God's will is to remove that mountain and we can take hold of that faith, we can order that mountain to move in Jesus name. You see in the gospels and even in acts that healing often came just through a word being spoken as opposed to saying, Father, we're asking you to heal this person, which of course is valid and something we do. But sometimes it's a matter of ordering demons to leave or sickness to leave or a mountain to move in Jesus name.

And when we know in our heart that it's done, then it's done. We can't manufacture that. And we're just saying the words doesn't manufacture that. But when we are in harmony with God's will and speaking forth his truth according to his will, yes, we can say this mountain of resistance, I order you to move in Jesus name and it will move and we'll know that we have it in our heart. So again, you can't manufacture that. You can't just say, well, I did it, therefore it's done.

And the mountain doesn't exist anymore. That's just denial and spiritual fantasy. But when we know we're in harmony with God.

Yeah, go ahead. May I ask you, Dr. Brown, I've heard some of those teachers, and I believe that these are genuine born-again brothers in Christ. I don't think there are false teaching here, but maybe they have something wrong. But they also say to call things a be not as though they were. So Dr. Brown, let's say I'm battling an autoimmune disease here. Can I speak to that disease to be gone? And can I say, can I call things a be not?

Okay, I'm going to jump in just because we're coming up to the end, and this is very important. This teaching is abused a lot, and many people have been hurt by just saying, okay, whatever I say, it just is, and they deny reality. So there is a dangerous abuse of this. Here's the key. If I know that I know that I know that God has spoken something in his word, I am sure it belongs to me, and faith rises, I can speak it, and it will be, and that autoimmune disease will disappear. But to simply deny it is like me saying, I'm speaking that my hair is black. I'm speaking that my nose is small. I'm speaking that, no, that's not true. That's not reality. But if God has written it and spoken it in his word, I take hold of it in faith and speak it, it will come to pass.

If it doesn't come to pass, it means either he didn't say it in his word, or I'm not in faith, or I'm just speaking to the air. It's not reality. It's not truth. It's not reality. It's not truth. It's not reality.