Should We Pray Down Judgment on Dangerous Tyrants and Dictators

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Theology Tuesday Emphasis 86634Truth 8663487884. That's the number to call.

And I'm going to tell you how you can weigh in in a moment. Broadcasting from our studio at Christ for the Nations in Dallas as we're doing now once a month while you're teaching their wonderful students at this wonderful school. But everything as always same number to call and same friendly voice. And for those watching, friendly face. I was flying to Dallas yesterday sitting next to a gentleman.

We had our masks on. He was doing what he was doing. I was doing what I was doing. As we were right at the end of the flight, he said to me, Can I ask how it is that you're reading Hebrew?

What's your interest in that? We began to talk. I began to share my testimony. He said, Wait, I follow you all the time.

I know all your debates and all this. And he said, Don't you have? And I took the mask off. Yes, the mustache. It's just funny sitting next to each other with masks. He didn't recognize me. So we had some really good fellowship.

It was kind of fun. But for those watching, the same smiling face, the same mustache. For everyone listening, I remain by God's grace your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. If you listen regularly, you know Thursday is Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. And Friday, an idea I got many, many years ago from Rush Limbaugh.

People call him with anything. So Friday, you can call it Free for All Friday if you like. And over the years, sometimes we've leaned into different emphases on different days. And I thought, What about Theology Tuesday? There are many controversies that are outside the pale of Orthodoxy. If someone says, Well, the Bible is not the word of God, or Jesus is one of many ways to God, or he didn't really rise from the dead. Well, that is outside the pale of Orthodoxy. And we will divide over that. We will say, No, if you hold to those things, you are not part of the family of God.

You are not in the faith. We want to warn you. We want to help you.

We want to instruct you. But there are many other controversies we have within the body, as well as in the Bible. We are not brothers and sisters. And we may hold to our view very strongly.

You may be in a Pentecostal church, and you're deeply devoted to your Pentecostal beliefs, or in a Baptist church, or Presbyterian church, or Lutheran church, or whatever it might be, and you really believe in your doctrinal distinctives. And yet, they are not matters that we divide over. Rather, we seek to understand the conflict. So we're going to let sparks fly.

Okay. We're going to touch controversial issues. We may do this a few straight Tuesdays. We may keep doing it if we feel like we're really helping people, and it's really edifying, and we're really striking a corridor, in some cases hitting a nerve. But when I say we'll let the sparks fly, I may explain why I don't believe in once saved, always saved.

And you may want to tell me plainly why you think I'm wrong. Phone lines will be open. We may even have some special guests on to debate some issues. But my goal is that there'll be more light than heat. My goal is at the end of the day, there'll be better understanding. Maybe we can help some people come out of error. Maybe we can deliver some people from some misconceptions.

Maybe we can sharpen one another. But in the midst of it, we can say, hey, there are brothers and sisters with different views on this that are still part of the body. And then again, heretical issues, we will identify as heretical issues.

So the number to call to weigh in, 866-34-TRUTH. I was watching a video recently, and one of the gentlemen presenting on the video, a brother in the Lord, was talking about the sufficiency of Scripture, and said that he believed in the sufficiency of Scripture, and that the way that God speaks to us is through the Bible. And any claim of God speaking outside of the Bible is a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture. In other words, if you say, well, the Holy Spirit spoke to me today, or I received a prophecy yesterday, then that is a violation of the sufficiency of Scripture. Justin Peters, whom I've had really fruitful interaction with, honest, good interaction in the midst of our differences as brothers in the Lord, he's famously said, if you want to hear the voice of God, read the Bible. If you want to hear the audible voice of God, read the Bible out loud.

It's a cute little way of saying it, representing his position, and of course he means it quite seriously. With all respect to that, I differ with it. And I would say, according to the Bible, the Holy Spirit continues to speak today. According to the Bible, God continues to give prophetic words today.

According to the Bible, God continues to lead his people, speaking to our hearts, giving dreams, visions, speaking through prophecy. Now, again, phone lines are open, and if you differ with me, I'll ask you questions. I may get you to clarify your view, but my goal is not to shoot you down. Now, if you come up with some ridiculous unscriptural point, and you're presenting it in an arrogant, nasty way, I will do my best to lovingly put you in your place and put your view in your place. But my goal is not to insult you or humiliate you or control the mic in such a way that I make you look bad.

I want you to be able, in short form, because it's live talk radio, to be able to tell me why you differ with me, or to give me reasons why you agree with me, or to even give personal testimony as to why you agree with me. So, again, I am convinced, according to the Scriptures, and then secondarily confirmed by experience, that God continues to speak to us outside of the Bible, never contrary to the Bible. Any voice claiming to be the voice of God that speaks something contrary to the Bible, we reject on its face, right then and there, as not being from God. If you say, the Holy Spirit told me that my adulterous affair is fine because he understands I'm not getting my needs met at home, that was not the voice of God. That was either the voice of that person's own mind, their flesh, or it was the voice of demons or the devil. It was not the voice of God.

However, if someone's really praying for guidance, and they're in the midst of a life-and-death situation, and someone calls them on the phone and says, God just laid it on my heart to call you, he told me you're in a real crisis, and he wanted you to know XYZ, and it's a life-giving word from the Lord, I would have every reason to say praise God for his love and kindness. And again, here's my point. According to the Scriptures, according to the Scriptures, God speaks today outside of the Bible itself. Let's look at the word in one moment. First, the concept of the sufficiency of Scripture. What does that even mean? Those words are not specifically found in the Bible, so we need to define what we mean by it.

Let's just think out loud for a moment. When we say we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, that doesn't mean that you don't need to be married because you have the Bible and the Bible is all sufficient. You don't need to work a job because you have the Bible and the Bible is all sufficient. When you're lonely, you don't need a friend because you have the Bible and the Bible is all sufficient. Nobody means that.

Nobody means that for a split second. What they mean is that everything God wanted to say, he said within the Bible, and therefore he will not speak outside of the Bible. That's what they would mean by the sufficiency of Scripture. My question is, doesn't the Bible tell us everything we need to know to be saved and for our fundamental lives in God, but because we have a relationship with God, because the Word of God brings us into a relationship with a living God, that out of a relationship we continue to hear his voice, we continue to be led by him, we continue to have intimacy with him and relationship with him. It is not, as many have said, the Father, Son, and Holy Bible, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So the Scriptures are 100% sufficient for what they are intended to do. They're intended to show us who God is, to show us what sin is, to show us how to live and please God, to show us what our mission is here on earth. All those foundations are found there, and we need nothing outside of the Bible as far as those basic foundations. That's why the Word of God is there. And through that, we come into relationship with God.

We don't worship the Bible, we worship the God of the Bible, and we have a living relationship with him, and his Word tells us that he will continue to speak. Let's take a look in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, and I want you to see something really interesting. This is Pentecost Shavuot. The Holy Spirit has come powerfully, and 120 filled with the Spirit, speaking in new languages to the astonishment of the hearers, to the mockery of other hearers. Some say, ah, they're just drunk. So Acts 2.14 says this, Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews, and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose.

It's only nine in the morning. No, this was spoken by the prophet Joel. So Peter is now tying in this outpouring of the Spirit with what Joel prophesied. Joel 2, beginning in verse 28.

And he adds in, in the last days. That's not found in the Hebrew, which is acharechen after this. It's not found in the Septuagint, the Greek translation. It simply says, this prophetic word of God speaking, Peter adds in the words, in the last days. Why, he's clarifying that this prophecy from Joel is now being fulfilled in this period called the last days, which is from Jesus' death and resurrection until his return. The New Testament very clearly calls that the last days. It's not the last days of the temple period, like preterists teach.

Absolutely not. The entire New Testament period in which we live today is called the last days. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams. This is God continuing to speak. Even in my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Okay, so, based on the Bible, we're not talking about false prophecies today, how about the failed Trump prophecies, the failed COVID prophecies, and I was in a flaky charismatic church.

We're not talking about experience right now. Nor are we listing all the true words and the true prophecies. We're just looking at Bible, Bible only to start. According to God's word, in this period in which we now live, the last days, God is continuing to pour out his Spirit and continuing to give people prophetically so that they hear God's words and speak them, and people are continuing to receive dreams and visions from God. According to the Bible, he continues to speak today.

We'll be right back. God still speaks today according to the Bible, according to the word of God. In this period of the last days, he pours out his Spirit. It's not talking about preaching when it says sons and daughters will prophesy, people receive dreams and visions. He continues to do that, and it's confirmed by him doing this beautifully, gloriously around the world. Our team in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, just shared a powerful testimony.

Number again to call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-87-884. They met a man as they were sharing the Gospel in different settings, in a mosque, on the streets. They were sharing the Gospel, and they met a Muslim man who, in a dream, heard the words of Jesus spoken.

If you save your life, you lose your life. Some of the basic Gospel words. He got up from the dream, remembered the sentences distinctly, typed them in online, and discovered, oh, these are the words of Jesus. And then subsequently had received, I think, Gospel of Luke, and then now a Bible, and they were sharing the Gospel with him in more depth.

God does those kinds of things. That's not adding to the Bible. He said, well, in this case, it was Scripture verses. Yes, it came by way of a dream, and then it drew him to people who were preaching the Gospel so he could hear the full Gospel message.

But if I just started telling stories of people that I know that have had very real prophetic dreams that were shockingly accurate, or leadings from the Lord in my own life where I heard the internal voice of the Lord, or times when I felt led to give a prophetic word to someone, these various things for years and years and years. We've seen them, but Scripture says they will be happening. Hey, let's take a look in John. John chapter 10. John chapter 10. And in verse 27. John 10, 27. Jesus is rebuking the religious leaders who are not among his sheep, but then he says this, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Now, I've heard people say, well, that's in salvation, that we know his voice calling us to salvation, and we follow him in salvation. The issue is here, though, the Greek is ongoing.

It is present continuous. My sheep hear my voice in an ongoing way, and they follow me. I would ask the question, where does the New Testament ever say that he stops speaking to us? Where is there a hint of that? Where is it even suggested? Once you have this Bible complete, the Holy Spirit will no longer speak to you directly.

I mean, where's even the logic? We're not talking about getting more of the Bible, adding more of the Bible. You say, no, anytime the Lord speaks, that's the Bible.

No, it's not. How many thousands of prophetic words did he give in Old Testament times that were true words but weren't part of the Bible? How many thousands of prophetic words did he give in New Testament times that were not part of the Bible, were not recorded as the Bible? So every time God speaks, it's not part of the Bible, clearly. And when you read church history, you will run into example after example after example after example, where very, very specifically the Holy Spirit led someone, a missionary, a non-Pentecostal, non-charismatic missionary, heard the voice of the Lord, leave this city, go to this city.

Only to find out they just escaped with their lives in doing that. When they got to this other place, this miracle of provision happened. I mean, this happened through church history.

Here, let's think of something else, all right? A couple more verses, and then we'll take your calls. Just want to be clear, I may get to your Bible-related questions later in the show, but specifically, I'm asking you to call in to interact with me on this subject. Okay, so those calls are the ones I'm taking first.

866-348-7884. If you think I'm wrong, if you think this is a dangerous position, I hope to, or if you want to give a short testimony verifying something God did in your own life where it was clearly the voice of God speaking, by all means, give us a call. Let's take a look in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, and let's go down to, oh, let's see here, we'll go down towards the end of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 14, verses 39 and 40. 1 Corinthians 14, 39 and 40. He says, so my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14, 39. Earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things should be done decently and in order. And for Paul, if you read earlier in the chapter, decently and in order means, in a small setting, one person has a prophecy, one person has a tongue, one person has a hand, one person has an interpretation. Just let it all be done in proper order.

If we were in service, I think that many of us would think, what in the world is this? But that was good order according to Paul. Bad order was while I'm giving a prophetic word, three other people jump up and start giving prophetic words or we're all speaking in tongues at the same time and some stranger comes and like, what are you doing? That was out of order according to Paul. But this one having a tongue, this one having an interpretation, this one having a prophecy, this one having a revelation, this one having a hymn, this one having a teaching, that was wonderful order.

Just let it all be done one after the other. But he wrote here, earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. Who changed that? Clearly 1 Corinthians 13 never changed. 1 Corinthians 13 plainly means that these things be with us until the second coming. To try to say they'll be with us until the canon is complete is one of the weakest biblical interpretations that's been out there and hardly known through church history.

No, when Jesus returns, we won't need these other things. We know in part, we'll know fully then. We prophesy in part, we'll have full understanding then.

But he said, earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. Who changed that? I'm a Bible guy. I believe in the authority of scripture. Who changed that?

Let me throw this out also. According to 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14. This is a benediction. This is a blessing that Paul speaks over the church in Corinth. 2 Corinthians 13, 14. His words are, may the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you. That word koinonia, fellowship, is a word we know in English, right?

We know that Greek word, koinonia, because we hear it a lot. That's the special fellowship we have in the Lord. It's a participation in one another's lives. So Paul says that we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. I've been led by the Spirit by knowing. I know that I know that I know this is God. It's going to happen.

I'm as sure as I am sitting here. And it happens just like that. And other times that tremendous lack of witness. No, no, that's not the Lord. Don't go in that direction.

And sure enough, it would have been a big mistake. And then other times there is this clear leading or this clear directive. And no, I can't just sit around and say, okay, I hear God saying this and this.

I can't just turn it on like that. There is the close relationship. He speaks when he speaks, how he speaks. And we don't rely on prophecies. Oh, I didn't get a prophecy for today.

Oh, I can't do this without four prophecies. No, that's just immaturity and lack of understanding of our relationship with God. But according to the Bible, prophecy is for today. According to the Bible, Jesus is still speaking to his sheep in an ongoing way. And we know his voice and we follow him. According to the Bible, we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Not only so, the pattern in Acts is not given as a one time only pattern. Oh, we're not all in the temple in Jerusalem being filled with the Spirit with tongues of fire and crowds are hearing us speaking foreign languages.

And that's the norm. That's how we just do evangelism. We don't learn the language.

We don't learn the culture. And there's no evidence the Holy Church did that either. This is something God did in the unique way of Pentecost. Praise God. But where does it say that the way Paul and his team were led in Acts 16 with internal leading, the Spirit of Jesus speaking or forbidding and then with a dream and a message in the dream, where does it say that stopped?

I'm a Bible guy. Show me where it says it stopped or we shouldn't expect it. And then in a secondary way, because it's Bible first to me, when you look at church history and you look at the writings of church leaders in the second and third, even fourth centuries, many are talking about the miracles, healings, exorcisms, prophecies. So obviously it hadn't stopped. And then through church history, it's documented. And we'll go to the phones momentarily.

But I may have mentioned this to you on the air the other day. One of my colleagues, a grad from our ministry school, was taking a new position at a ministry school in Florida. He was going to be leading the school, initially felt not to do it, prayed more, and a year later felt, OK, I'm going to take this position. And as he was driving to move his family from Texas to Florida, he got news that really changed everything. And he wondered, wow, was this the right decision or not?

And schools were going to be open one year later, et cetera. So he got to Texas, is about to move into his new house with his wife and two kids, and feels strongly, I'm not supposed to do this. I was trying to make the decision as best as I could, but I'm not supposed to do this based on this new information.

And he says, I can't take this position. So now what do you do? You just moved your family. You just sold your house. What, are you going to sell this house and move back? And one day later, he gets an invitation to take his position in Springfield, Missouri, kind of a dream position for him that was the dream of decades or many, many years, probably 20 years, burning in his heart.

Now, wow, what a dream come true. He gets then two texts from people who don't know him, don't know the situation at all. They don't know he's not taking the position in Florida. And one text says, I know you're just getting settled there, but don't get too settled because I don't believe you're staying there. I believe God's calling you to Springfield. This is immediately after the thing happens.

They have no clue about this. And then, sure thing, moments later, he gets another text. And this fellow says, I don't see you in Florida. I see you moving to Springfield, Missouri. In fact, I see you moving to a neighborhood right outside of Springfield.

Well, that's the neighborhood they were looking to buy a house. It's just sweet the way God does it. Why deny that?

That's not adding to the Bible, clearly. All right, back with your calls. 866-34-TRUTH. This is how we rise up. It's our resistance.

You can't resist us. This is how we rise up. 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, friends, for joining us on the Line of Fire 866-34-TRUTH. It's Theology Tuesday. We'll be doing that for some Tuesdays. And maybe just keep it here for a while. I solicited questions on Facebook and Twitter a couple weeks ago and said, hey, if we do a focus on theology, what are some of the controversial subjects you'd like us to discuss?

And got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of comments between our different pages with lots of really interesting topics to discuss that would keep us busy for years. And, again, my goal is not to be divisive but to be informative and to try to understand why different views can be held but then to separate truth from error or a difference between brothers and sisters to say, hey, here's how we approach it differently but we're still brothers and sisters in the Lord. And I see many people react against extremes. And they are grieved by extremes. And they see people hurt, say, by charismatic and flakiness, and they swing the other way. When I wrote my book, Authentic Fire, in response to Pastor John MacArthur's Strange Fire, people began to write to me or post reviews, and they said, you know, actually, you've convinced me by the Bible, by Scripture, that the gifts of the Spirit are still for today, tongues, prophecy, healing, things like that, are still for today. You've convinced me of that.

I have to admit I had bad experiences, and that's why I abandon it. But according to the Bible, you're right. I just don't know how to process it now. All right, we start there.

We start with Scripture, and we move out from there. Hey, we're going to the phones in a moment. Remember, visit vitaminmission.com. Check out these wonderful health supplements from my friend, Dr. Mark Stengler, my personal doctor as well, voted by the Association of Professionals Doctor of the Decade.

Not just bringing in a traditional medical approach, but an integrative medical approach that works with the body even more to heal these supplements are really excellent. So check it out. There's a special discount to use.

Take advantage of that for you and your family. And then with every order, Dr. Stengler turns around and blesses us with a donation. Okay, does God still speak today outside of the Bible?

Let's start with Christian in Lakeland, Florida. What's your take? Good afternoon, Dr. Brown. Thank you for having me.

Sure. So here's my take. I am a continuationist. I agree with you entirely that God does speak today outside the Bible, but never in contradiction to it. And I take that to be the plain teaching of the Bible.

What I wanted to add, if I may, is two things. Number one, there are those who, of the cessationist persuasion, who would say that, well, if we allow that God speaks outside the Bible, that threatens the sufficiency of the Bible, threatens sola scriptura or scripture alone. My rejoinder to that is, well, what is the scripture sufficient for? Yes, let's ask that question, what is scripture sufficient for?

And I go to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. That, to me, is the primary text which establishes the sufficiency of the Bible. I think that clearly teaches it, the Bible teaches its own sufficiency. But it says in verse 16, chapter 3, 2 Timothy, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, and righteousness, so that, there's the purpose clause, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Well, the Bible teaches about spiritual gifts, does it not? So what I take that to mean is to apply it specifically to the question of spiritual gifts and does God speak outside the Bible. It says that the scripture makes me adequate and equipped for every good work. Well, that would include the good work of understanding and applying the gift of prophecy, or speaking in tongues, or walking in healing. So the scripture is sufficient.

So the Bible gives us, right, the guidelines that we need so that we can walk these things out and that we can make wise decisions in life and so we can tell people who Jesus is. It is perfectly sufficient for what it intends to do. Yeah, absolutely.

What it intends to do. Yeah, absolutely. And so that's my rejoinder to that argument. So among the good works that scripture is sufficient to equip me for is how to understand prophecy, tongues, healing, miracles, and so on. So that to me is, that's kind of my understanding of how we can hold to a continuationist position and the sufficiency of scripture at the same time, and they're not contradictory, they're in fact complementary. Right, and as I said at the outset, the term sufficiency of scripture is not found explicitly in scripture, so we have to ask, what do we mean by it? And then we have to let scripture explain itself.

Oh yeah, so quickly, second point. Okay, so second point is, that said though, I am troubled by a lot of contemporary prophetic ministry that seems to major on world events. You know, of course there was the debacle of those many who prophesied that Donald Trump would be re-elected, and it put a lot of egg on their face, and rightly so.

You know, some of them were very contrite and humble and repentant, and others doubled down. I would suggest that in the New Testament we see very little of prophesying of world events. Most of the emphasis of prophecy in the New Testament, I would argue, is personal prophecy.

It's local, it's not meant to be applied globally. So the only possible exception to that might be in Acts chapter 11. Yeah, with Agabus prophesying a coming famine. Even that, though, was for a practical response, not just to give information.

You know, they said, okay, we've got to help out with a collection. And we have in the book of Revelation the 10th chapter, where John is told he's going to prophesy about nations and things like that, but that's not necessarily a paradigm for New Testament prophecy. So, you know, Christian, I absolutely agree with you, and obviously you've thought these things through in a clear-headed manner, so I appreciate your contribution. I wrote about this when the COVID prophecies failed, and I said, why does it have to be critics of the charismatic movement that are pointing this out?

We should be cleaning house ourselves. You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, COVID was relevant. Yeah, but this sitting around with a bunch of people, what's the Lord showing you about the future?

I don't see that as a New Testament function of the prophetic gift. And it's almost like we have access to all this special information, and you press the right button and get the answer. Because here's the thing, and again, thank you, sir, very much for the call and your articulate presentation of things.

866-34-TRUTH. I'm going right back to the phones in a moment, but let me say this first. If you look at this through the lens of a non-charismatic, and you see all these failed prophecies over the years, you know, this one's going to be elected and they're not, or this economy is going to go in this direction or that.

Aside from things that are so general, how can you even test them, right? But when the many prophecies that COVID would dissipate by mid-April 2020, that's almost two, four years ago, it would dissipate by then. Obviously, that didn't happen. And then all those guaranteeing Trump's election. You know, Christians said some were contrite and humble. Very few. Very few said we got it wrong and deeply repented.

The majority that prophesied it just went on or justified it or spiritualized it or whatever. So from the viewpoint of a non-charismatic, we're a bunch of loonies. Crazy.

What is this? Well, you guys take this seriously. How can you be so naive? But at the same time, some of these people who got the Trump thing wrong and COVID wrong, you could sit in a room with them and pray with them and they'd just begin to speak to you and you'd be shocked. You know, how'd you know that?

Who told you that? Because the Holy Spirit was revealing it. It was a very real gift. You think, well, how could it work so well here or in a local church context?

Right? It works so well here. And in another context, it doesn't. Well, maybe God intends the gift for one thing and not for another. Maybe it's a matter of getting out of our proper lanes.

Isn't that an issue to consider? All right, let's go over to Milwaukee, Kane. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. It's nice to hear you.

Hey. My question is concerning the practicality of hearing God's voice and with the culture of my church. So on paper, my church is a continuationist, but a practical sensationist. I'm about to start my ministry, I got accredited, but I want to practice the prophetic, and I want to hear God's voice. But my question is, if my church are practical sensations and they shy away from hearing God's voice, would God not speak to the outcast who wants to hear his voice, like me? So Kane, in God's sight, you're just one of his sheep, right? The others in the church are sheep, you're one of his sheep, so you're not an outcast, you're his child. And certainly he wants to communicate with us, he wants to lead us, he wants to guide us, he wants to commune with us in different ways. So even if you're not in a culture that believes in that, it's still your own walk with the Lord. And there's no reason why you can't be in a church that has some different views and cultivate your own intimacy with the Lord and your own growth in the Lord.

So that can happen in any environment. When you're around others that are flowing in these things and believe in that, it can be encouraging and reinforcing. But that being said, you can still be led by the Spirit and hear his voice. What I would encourage you to do is this, Kane. Start here. Don't be looking to hear, And the Lord says to you today. Or hear an audible voice, or the room starts shaking.

Start with what you know. How do you know that you know that you're born again? Well, one of the great things that tells us that is the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, right? Romans 8 16. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And I find that the first way of intimacy with God is recognizing the witness of the Holy Spirit in my life. And from there, I then have that sense of this is how he's leading. This is how he's guiding.

This is how he's confirming. And when I quote, hear the voice of God, I've never heard the voice of God audibly. That's never happened to me.

And I'm not looking to or expecting to. And I don't get alone and just shut my eyes and say, I'm just going to listen. I'm going to listen. Some people say, pray, get quiet, and the first voice that you hear is the voice of God.

Well, that's never worked for me. I get alone and pray and just get quiet. Now, Lord, you want me to go? Go! Go! No!

No! It's like, okay, I'm not hearing. And maybe you're a mom busy with kids at home. Okay, I got a few minutes quiet. I'm just going to get quiet. And the first voice I hear is the voice of God. The first voice you hear is, Mommy!

Kids need you. For me, it's as I feel moved on by the Lord. I feel stirred. I feel the strength of that witness. And then out of that, something rises with information, with truth.

It's like, okay, God's really speaking this. It stays there. I'll give you a couple of book recommendations on the other side of the break. So stay right here.

We'll get to more calls. The Silencing of the Lambs that came out last week. If you've read the book and been blessed by it, hey, post on social media. Post a picture of the book.

Are you holding the book? Encourage others to get it. Head over to Amazon, which is the most used book website, and post a review there or a rating. Or my previous book, Revival or We Die, that came out in October, if you've been blessed by that.

Share it with others. We pour a lot into these books. I feel tremendously gripped in writing these books.

I really pray about what to write and work on next. And with a whole team of publishers, publicists, everyone does their best to get it out. But books ultimately spread by word of mouth.

So if you've been blessed, share it with others, because we know the messages in these books can be life-changing. 866-34-TRUTH. So Cain in Milwaukee. Jack Deere's story remains really fascinating. And D-E-R-E. And he's very candid.

He's had many ups and downs, challenges. It's not just like dancing through life because you have the gifts of the Spirit. Jack Deere, D-E-E-R-E. You can get Why I am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit.

Why I am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. That's a recommended read. And then The Beginner's Guide to the Gift of Prophecy by Jack Deere. You'll find these things solid scripturally. Jack was an Old Testament scholar teaching at Dallas Theological Seminary in very proficient and biblical languages.

So those books will be helpful. All right. As we talk about hearing the voice of God today, let's go over to Clyde in New York. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello, Dr. Brown.

This is your buddy, Clyde Clymer. Hey, man. Good to hear from you, friend. And, man, you are one of the greatest generals in the body of Christ, and I mean that with all of my heart.

I have an awful lot of testimonies, but I'm only going to give you one in support of what you believe in. Years ago, I was invited to go. This has to do with the word of knowledge, which is hearing from God, I would surmise. So what has taken place, I was invited to go to a church and preach. So we did our worship and had a wonderful time, and it was time for me to get up and preach. But I felt an extreme heaviness on me, and I finally just vocalized what I was feeling, and I said, something is wrong in this church right now, and I can't go on until it's taken care of. So I waited a couple of minutes and waited a couple of minutes, and then the Holy Spirit, I believe, impressed very strongly on me that the pastor, his wife, and himself were sitting to my right. I looked at them and I said, I can't go on to preach because there's a problem here, and you, too, are the problem.

You should have saw their faces. He said, Clyde, you just heard from God, and you have a gift. He said, my wife and I had such a huge argument before we came to church, and that's what God impressed upon you. So I believe that God still talks to his people, even apart from Scripture. Yeah, and that would be very much, I mean, thankfully it wasn't that they were both in adultery or stealing money from the church. It's something they could immediately publicly say, yes, we blew it. But it set the atmosphere, and obviously you sensed it because of the Spirit. Yeah, and that's not adding to the Bible.

It's not adding another book to the Bible or anything. But yeah, that's, by the way, not the easiest thing to do what you did, but when you feel overwhelmed, what are you going to do? I was ready to go and hide and duck somewhere.

They wouldn't throw anything at me. Well, thank God that you had that outcome. Hey, Clyde, thanks for your faithfulness and prayer. I really appreciate it. Dot, Dot, as I call you, Dot, you are one of the most generous, merciful, kind, gracious individuals I have ever met in my life, and I said this before. There is not another man of God presently that I know of that I respect more than you. The only other person that was in my heart at that level was David Wilkerson, and that's what you really mean to me, and I mean that with all of my heart, brother. Thank you for what you're doing, and thank you so very much for standing up to those individuals that prophesied false words. I've been still fighting with those individuals, but I'm so glad that someone of your caliber has come forth to deal with those individuals. Thank you, Dr. Brown, for your faithfulness, and God bless you.

Well, bless you, Clyde. Thank you for your very gracious words. Let me just say this to leaders out there, pastors, Christian leaders. We have a lot of weight on our shoulders because we represent the Lord to people, and obviously we want to teach people to look to the Lord, not to look to us, but we are to be examples as well. We are to be able to say to others, follow me as I follow the Messiah. And because of that, if we fall and we mess up, it brings disrepute and dishonor to the name of the Lord, but it hurts believers as well. You know, parents, it's the same with your kids.

If they've known you to be godly moms and dads, and they grow up and find out that you were hypocrites, it could shatter their overall faith, so there's a responsibility that we have, and when I hear someone speak words like that, it's a reminder to each of us, let's walk worthy of our high calling in God. Let me ask you one question and then go back to the phones. How would you explain this if you say that the Holy Spirit's not speaking today? There's a young man I knew for some years. He helped administrate a prayer ministry, had large prayer gatherings, and he was always very laid-back, casual. He interacted with all kinds of major Christian leaders, but very laid-back, casual in his dress, and I run into him a few years later. He's suit and tie.

I've never seen him in a suit and tie. He's interacting with government leaders. What happened? I mean, major government leaders, national leaders in America, and major connections, and on the phone with different ones.

What happened? A woman had a prophetic word for him, had a word about him shifting into a—and I've used some examples several times. There are hundreds, thousands of examples, but these have just been ones I was writing or documenting the other day or looking into, confirming details. So he gets this word from her, God's going to transition your ministry, you're going to be working in politics, government with major leaders, et cetera, and you're going to need three suits. A few days after that, within a week after that, a man with no knowledge of this whatsoever called him and said, God told me to buy you three suits, and then the rest is history. Was that all just coincidence?

I mean, you have one example after another example. No, the living God is in our midst, and he continues to communicate with us today, and rather than rejecting it, really, it's a beautiful thing. It's something we should say, praise God, he's still speaking. That's wonderful. All right, let's go over to Jesse in Twin Cities, Minnesota.

Thanks for holding through the show. What's on your mind? Okay, so first of all, I want to say I'm pretty much on board with where you are with prophetic gifts and everything like that.

So this is a separate question from that. But my question is surrounding things like Proverbs 21, one where it says, the king's heart is a stream of waters in the hands of the Lord, he turns it wherever he will. And then you see examples of God turning the heart of this king or that king in favor of and against Israel in some senses. And I'm wondering, what is your perspective on those things? Because from what I understand, it creates a really big problem for things like libertarian free will, which is basically the ability to do otherwise, in terms of everything's the same, even your mood is the same, but you still have the ability to do something different. So that's my problem, because I see these examples where God has control over kings, he has providence over what these kings do.

I'm just going to try to jump in, not to interrupt, but just to make sure I can answer in the limited time that we have. Number one, that verse is not saying every decision a king makes is ordered by the Lord. Right, because we have many times where God rebukes kings for sinning against him, for doing things contrary to his will, and he's displeased with them.

So that's the first thing. The second thing is, God also knows who he's dealing with. It's been pointed out that the same sun that melts the wax bakes the clay. So God can simply move in a certain way, knowing that a person will respond a certain way. When it comes to, say, Pharaoh and the hardening of his heart, and I've got a whole video on that, actually two, a longer one and a shorter one.

So if you go to AskDrBrown.org and type in Pharaoh, you should come up with those videos. But when you break it down, initially it says God strengthened his heart. That's the Hebrew that's used, lechazek, to strengthen. And then the next is to make heavy, lechabed. And then the final one, to hard lachshot, that's now the giving over of Pharaoh to sin.

In other words, there's a reaping and sowing. Here you've got a man who's resistant, sinful. God raises up for that purpose. And when he's going to resist, God says, fine, you want to resist, I'm going to help you resist.

You want to be obstinate, I'm going to help you be obstinate, and then gives him over to his sin. So the big thing to me, though, is even apart from this, Jesse, God is God and he is sovereign. And there may be times in his will where he overrules our liberty for a purpose. That does not take away from our human responsibility all the rest of the time, and it doesn't take away from our ultimate responsibility in terms of rejecting his grace or receiving his grace. But he is God, and he can intervene when he chooses to, however he wants, but ultimately the direction and course of our lives will be set by the choices that we make. Ultimately, the direction and course of our lives, whether we know him or we reject him, whether we receive his grace or reject it, that falls on us. He is not going to preordain that or overrule our will. Hey friends, we'll be back tomorrow. If you do not believe the Shroud of Turin is real, be ready to call in, because my guests say it is.