Dr. Brown Tackles Your Best Questions

The following program is recorded content created by Truth Network. If you have a project that relates in any way to the Line of Fire broadcast, give me a call now. Phone lines are open. The earlier you call, the better chance we have of getting to your calls. 866-348-7884. We're broadcasting still from Texas this time in Fort Worth from the Mercy Culture Studios where I'm teaching today at the Spiritual Leadership School. We go straight to the phones starting with Sean in League City, Texas. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey Dr. Brown, how are you doing today?

Doing very well, thank you. Good, good. Hey, the first thing I had something interesting to tell you, I'll never forget April 14th. And that's because I was born on April 14th. Alright, so we'll be announcing starting next week why April 14th is significant, not just because Sean from League City, Texas was born on 4-14, not just because of Esther 4-14, but because of a special holiday we're going to be announcing.

So there's going to be a holiday on your birthday, man. Great, awesome. We'll share more next week.

Okay, thank you. So I was going to ask you a question about Isaiah 25, verses 6-8. Is there any connection between the marriage supper of the Lamb and Isaiah 25, 6-8?

Yes, I believe there is. I believe you can make a good case for the marriage supper being a feast that we have with Yeshua, with Jesus, when he returns and sets up his kingdom here on the earth. If you're a pre-tribber, then you believe that there's going to be a marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, and while all chaos and hell is breaking loose on the earth, tribulation, great tribulation, that we'll be feasting with the Lord and enjoying his presence in heaven. I don't see that taught that there's going to be a heavenly marriage supper. In fact, I don't see much about the marriage supper other than the animals feasting on the bodies of those that are killed and rebelling against the Lord at the end of the age. But Isaiah, I'm just going to read it from the new JPS. The Lord of hosts will make on this mount, speaking of Jerusalem, for all the peoples a banquet of rich viands, a banquet of choice wines, of rich viands seasoned with marrow, of choice wines well refined, and he will destroy on this mount the shroud that is drawn over the faces of all the peoples and the covering that is spread over all the nations.

He will destroy death forever. My Lord God will wipe the tears away from all faces and will put an end to the reproach of his people over all the earth for it is the Lord who has spoken. So as I see it, as the Lord returns, we're glorified with him and he sets up his kingdom on the earth, that's the time now when we will feast and sup together with him with his kingdom on the earth.

So I think you can make a good case for that, sir. Yeah, yeah, and because I was going to say, as I was reading it this morning, I got no indication that we would be in heaven when this takes place. Correct.

And that's, I don't believe in, I'll listen to Perry Stone to see what he'll, you know, to just basically sharpen myself because I don't agree with his position. So, and this is just one of them, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and so I was just wondering, because later on in Isaiah 26, 20, it says to hide from the coming judgment in the cave and so forth. Yeah, so you have 24 through 27, many call the apocalypse of Isaiah, it's the end time shaking as prophesied by Isaiah, and it's not that it goes in order for 24, 25, 26, 27. There's interest, it kind of goes back and forth, so this is after the wrath is poured out that we then enjoy this time with the Lord. What's interesting is that many of our friends who hold to a pre-trib rapture, they're really pushed, well, where's the marriage supper? Where's the marriage supper? And, you know, it's very important to them, but when you look to see where scripture talks about it, it doesn't talk about it much.

Sometimes we make a lot of noise in a positive way about something that the Bible doesn't talk about that much. Hey, thank you for the call. All right, 866-34-TRUTH, let us go to Tamara in Stafford, Texas. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Michael Brown, how are you today?

Doing very well, thank you. I have a question about Genesis 15, starting at verse 18. Okay. Yeah, when God is telling Abraham that unto your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt into the great river of the river Euphrates. So when I kind of look at that, and I understand that places back in Abraham's time may have been a different name than what we call it now, but it looks like that's the liver part of Egypt, and then all the way encompassing the entire Arabian Peninsula, all the way up. So my question is, from looking at when Joshua and them conquered the land, they didn't conquer all of that to establish where all the tribes were going to be given land. So my question with this verse is that, is God speaking specifically to Abraham's seed through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or just Israel? Or is he talking about Abraham's seed, period? Because I know later on in Scripture, God said he made a place for Esau's descendants in Mount Seir, which is west of Israel, but still in the same area mentioned. So is he talking about all of Abraham's descendants live in this huge area, or am I getting the geography wrong?

No, you're not getting the geography wrong, and your question is totally legitimate. Israel never fully dwelt in the land that God promised. So we believe in the millennial kingdom, it will come to pass, and there are several different passages with little minor differences in geography and what's promised. But yes, it is a promise to the physical seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. In other words, the physical promise of the land that comes into the 12 tribes of Israel, not to other descendants of Abraham through others, be it through Ishmael, be it through Esau.

So they have their own inheritance in other parts of the world. And it certainly is not a promise to the spiritual seed, all believers in Jesus, that we were promised that geographical place. So the promise was made, and Abraham and his descendants through Isaac, Jacob, the tribes of Israel, never fully possessed that. No, under David and Solomon, they ruled as an empire over some of those different areas.

There was a kind of a small empire that Israel had then. But those promises have not yet been literally fulfilled. And because Psalm 105 reiterates that these are lasting promises that God gave. And it's not about the law. Under the law, you could be cursed and sent out of the land. But Galatians 3.17 says the promise that God gave, that was before the law was given, and the law does not stop that promise, doesn't abrogate it. So we expect it will still be fulfilled.

You could also say Israel was never fully obedient, that's why Israel never saw the fullness of the blessing. Hey, thank you for the question. I really appreciate it. 866-348-7884.

Let's go to our buddy Eddie in Madison, Connecticut. Hey man, how are you doing today? Hey, Dr. Brown, long time. How are you doing?

I'm doing great, thanks. Well, yeah, we're still going strong here, Dr. Brown, with the Bible study. And we actually had one of my friends, who's a Jewish guy, came, so I invited him. I said, okay, come on, listen, we're talking. So he said to me, Dr. Brown, which kind of school wrenches on our whole phrase, the Bible study, he said, what is it that I need that I don't have? So I said, well, you know, we're talking about Christ and the Messiah. He says, do you believe that the Torah is God's promise to His people? So I said, yeah. So he said, Chronicles says this, and he says, I wanted to hear your answer.

So I couldn't answer, that's what I'm called. And he said, God said to his people, if we turn from our wicked ways, and we humble ourselves, and you know the scripture, at the end he says, I'll be your God, and you, Adam, that was the guy's name, will be my people. So he said to me, what else do I need that I have a God? And I'm one of his children. So what more would I need? So I said, holy mackerel, I don't know how to answer it. So I said, well, so he said, if that's an eternal promise to me, that he's my father and I'm his son, what else do you want to add to it?

I don't need nothing else. Yeah, so first thing is he misquoted the scripture. He put a few different verses together in one.

So if he was doing it from memory, he misquoted it. That's the first thing. 2 Chronicles 7.14 doesn't say that. That's the first thing. The second thing is, if you say, okay, so you believe in the Torah. Yes, okay. So let's just go through things.

You are required to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Do you do that every day? Well, if he's honest, he has to say he falls short. Is he a religious Jew, by the way? Does he? I think he seems like a regular guy to me, doc.

Got it. Okay, so 99.9% sure he does not strictly observe the Sabbath, okay? And when you go through the other commandments, don't commit adultery, you can say, Jesus explained that if you commit adultery in your heart, if you listen in your heart, you're guilty of adultery. So based on the Torah, he's condemned to death. Based on the Torah, he should die and not live.

You say, well, what did Israel do? Well, God gave them an atonement system. God gave them an atonement system with blood atonement, with sacrifices, and with substitution that an innocent victim would take your place. Do we have an atonement system? No, so he is under a death sentence under the Torah and without an atonement system. So that's why he needs the Messiah. That's why the Messiah came because we needed forgiveness, we needed mercy.

You say, yeah, but what about 2 Chronicles 7? If my people who are called by my name will hum themselves and pray, it goes on there. Then I'll hear from heaven, forgive their sin. All right, that is with the temple standing. You start a couple of verses earlier where God says to Solomon, I've set this temple up as a Beit Zevach, as a house of sacrifice. So if you turn and you sin and pray towards this temple where sacrifices are being offered and an intercession is going up, then I'll hear, then I'll forgive. But if you sin, if you cross the line as a nation and rebel, then I will destroy this temple as a sign that the whole nation is under judgment. And the temple's been destroyed almost 2,000 years.

So something is terribly wrong. That's why we need a Savior. If all was good, we would not have been scattered all these years. The temple would have been functioning all these years. We wouldn't have had an atonement system in place. All that failed and God said, I have a better way and God sent the Messiah. So without him, we're guilty of sin under a death penalty without atonement.

I would say that's a pretty good reason that we need him. Gotcha, Dr. Brown. Good answer. I needed you here that night. I didn't do too good. Hey, well, that's fine though. That's why we're here. That's why I wrote five volumes on answering Jewish objections to Jesus. And look, a Hindu person could throw something at me I'm not used to or a Buddhist. But I've got good answers for Jewish objections. You may be good with Muslims, some are good with atheists. So that's why we need each other. We will be right back.

Remind me to tell you about our Jewish website that will help you with all these questions. Stay right here. 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. I got to tell you, I'm in regular contact with John Cooper from Skillet, so we're interacting on lots of things on a regular basis.

But I love hearing that music and the energy of it in my ears every show. 866-34-TRUTH. When you have a Jewish question, what about this? What about that? A Jewish objection? Don't you Christians worship three gods?

We don't need blood atonement. When the Messiah comes, there'll be peace on earth. And you don't know how to answer these questions, go to realmessiah.com. Realmessiah.com. You'll find answers to over 100 key questions. You'll find them in writing.

You'll find them in video. You'll find debates with rabbis, all kinds of resources, and it's free. And for those of you that love the Jewish people and want to help us with our outreach to the Jewish people, help us make these resources free to even more and more people with your generous giving. Why not become a monthly supporter, a torchbearer, a dollar a day or more per month, so $30 or more per month, and we pour back into you with all kinds of additional resources, new things every month, classes you get access to, discount our online bookstore. It's our way of pouring back into you as you help us reach more people. So go to askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org.

Click on donate and then monthly support and the website realmessiah.com. All right, we go back to the phones and let's go over to Sean in Akron, Pennsylvania. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hey, Doc. Thanks for taking my call. Good to hear from you again.

I miss being in Israel with you. Ah, okay. Got it, Sean. Yep. Yeah, yeah.

2006 graduate from fire there, so yep. Hey, real quick question. Why is it that the role of pastor is the most emphasized in the church today?

What's your thinking on that? Well, there's good and bad reason. The good reason is that pastors are shepherds and they're called to help gather the flock and strengthen the flock and minister to the flock and things like that and nurture and grow the body. That's good, that's positive, and the pastors I know feel called to do what they do.

They certainly don't do it for money. They work sacrificially to see God's people touched and blessed and helped. The negative is the very question you're asking, why just pastor? What happened to the evangelist?

What happened to the teacher? And of course, some would say, well, pastor and teacher go hand in hand, and many of us would say, what about apostles? What about prophets? So unfortunately, in many of our churches, everything comes down on the pastor and there's not really a team function. So you should have at the very least, unless it's just a brand new church plant with eight people in it, you should have elders and then the pastor is the senior elder. He's the chief among equals. And even there, the elders are doing pastor responsibility, taking pastor responsibility to help shepherd the flock.

Some are better teachers, some are better evangelists. So they work together with the senior leader. It's not a one man show.

And then you recognize the need for other gifts. And if you don't have them in your own midst, then you try to bring in others from the outside here and there to supplement. So it's, yes, the fact that you have one person primarily as the point person, that makes sense. And that's how teams function.

They have a team leader. But we really need to function as teams. And to the extent we do, then the body will be healthier. So Ephesians four explains that when you have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, then that will build the body up to a place of wholeness and strength. And then the people can go out and do the work of ministry. So we have kind of the sola pastor model that everything is the pastor. The pastor should be the team leader and there should be other expressions of gifts that come in as well for the health of the body. Yeah, I mean, I just remember reading like Corinthians where it says about, it kind of gives the list there, you know, kind of apostles and prophets and then like workers or what is it, helpers or administration and stuff like that and different placeholders there and kind of pastors kind of maybe comes down towards the bottom there.

So I just didn't know if we were doing it wrong or, you know, if there's just... No, it's just a matter of too much on one person, too central a focus in that way. So absolutely you know who the team leader is but here's the other thing, Sean. It could well be that the team leader is a tremendously gifted evangelist that feels called to plan a church. Well, the only way that that can possibly succeed is if that leader has others on the team with him that are really good shepherds and that are also good teachers. Otherwise, you'll have like an evangelistic center where all these people come in and get saved and then they end up in other churches to get nurtured. You may have another congregation where the senior leader is really a tremendously gifted teacher but doesn't have personal skills as well or doesn't have a burning heart for the lost. Well, you're going to get a very ingrown intellectual congregation unless you have people that are helping in a more practical way and others that have a burden to reach the lost more. So we need each other and that's why team ministry is important and again to the extent we can get the fullness of fivefold ministry in a church, maybe not every local church but in a region at least that's healthy and good. Hey, thank you for asking.

I appreciate that. Look, let me just say this. When you go to India and work with the ministry we work with, they've planted over 7,000, 8,000 churches in tribal regions. So some of the churches may have 10 people, some 30 or 50, different numbers and some very, very poor outlying areas. So you clearly have a pastor and that pastor is the one, he's winning the lost, he's making disciples, he's caring for the people.

As it grows, then you get other mature men that are raised up that function in different ways and then you recognize people's giftings and release them in their giftings. All right, let us go over to Jared in Dallas, Texas. Welcome to the Line of Fire. How you doing, Dr. Brown? Doing very well, thank you. All right, well, thanks for taking my call.

I hope it's not too much. I had kind of a three-part question on idolatry. Is that okay if I spit it out real quick?

Yeah, go for it. Okay, so you know the Deuteronomy 32 kind of world view that Dr. Heiser has, and he even talks about Deuteronomy 4, kind of talks about God at Babel giving the nations over to maybe lesser spiritual beings. So that was kind of part one.

What do you think of that? Part two was, do you think there are any true worshipers of Yahweh at the time of Babel or before Abraham got the revelation of God, like Melchizedek? Like how did he hear about God in that time period? And then lastly, did God ever forbid or I guess condemn the nations for idolatry? Because I know Paul talks about in Acts that he kind of was patient in their ignorance, but like did he ever, you know, I guess judge them for that? So kind of a long question.

No, no, it's a great question and it's all related. So first thing, according to Romans 1, God gave people over to their sin. In other words, it's not that God said, okay, Israel, you're going to have the true God, everybody else gets idols. No, people turned away from the true God and followed idols. And certainly, when you read in Genesis the fifth chapter, you have someone like Enoch who walked with God and it was not for God took him, or the end of the fourth chapter, then people began to call on the name of the Lord. So there were people who were true worshipers who were crying out to God. Romans 1 indicates that they then fell away and worship created things rather than the creator. So God then gives the nations over to that.

That's what you want, fine, but I'm going to call out Israel and then Israel will be a light to the nations. Where did these other worshipers get their knowledge from? How could Melchizedek know about the most high God and things like that?

So it's one of two ways or one of several ways. One could be God's revelation through nature caused someone to seek after him. Another could be that they learned it from the righteous people that were on the earth, be it a Noah or someone like that because there were righteous people, God-fearing people, before God calls Abraham.

So for example, I mentioned the end of the fourth chapter, the same thing in the fifth chapter with Enoch's sixth chapter, Noah, end of the fifth beginning of the sixth with Noah. So these are all God-fearing people before Abraham. God now singles out Abraham and through his seed is now going to reveal himself. Now it's different.

Now we have something generational. It's also possible that you have in the ancient world what some missiologists have referred to as redemptive analogies, where God puts something in a religion or in a culture to ultimately draw attention to him and when people begin to have that opened up to them, then they get the full revelation. Did God ever approve of idolatry?

No, never. He held Israel to a higher place of accountability and yes, Acts 17, it does say that as time passed of ignorance, God winked at someone so that he didn't bring the full judgment for idolatry that he would have had it been his own people, Israel, who had more light. But certainly, God is constantly speaking against the idols. Read Isaiah 40 through 48 where God is speaking against the idols of Babylon and the other nations and saying they're nothing, they're nothing, they're nothing. Read Amos 1 into the beginning of the second chapter and you'll see there that the nations and their idols are being judged. So the nations were not held to the same level of accountability as Israel was. God did not carry out the full judgment that he could have as Paul says in Acts 17, but they were still guilty of idolatry in God's sight even then. It still was sinful and it was still contrary to God's revelation through nature. So appreciate the question very much.

The fact, by the way, that there's reference to a most high God, even in the New Testament, the demons recognize you're the son of the most high God indicates that there were other so-called gods, other deities that people worshiped, but no, Yahweh is the one true and he is the most high and then, as we understand, the only one who is eternal, the only one worthy of being called God. Hey, thank you for the questions. We'll be right back on the other side of this break and we're going to do our best to get to as many of your calls as possible. Stay right here. 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. Welcome, welcome to the Line of Fire broadcast. Yes, you've got questions. We've got answers. We've got one phone line open.

It doesn't often happen on a Friday, 866-348-7884. And hey, if you have a hard time getting through, keep trying. We'll get to as many calls as we can. Let's go over to Jason in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown.

Hey. I've got a question about the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22. Okay. The servants of the king go out into the highways and bring in all the guests, whether good or bad. But when it gets to the part I had a question about was the wedding guests who did not have wedding clothes that was thrown out of the wedding and what exactly does he represent?

Right. And that's one of the most interesting parts of the parable, so you do well to draw attention to it. So you have the people that are invited and don't come, and those would be likened to the non-believer. They hear the gospel, they receive the invitation, and they ignore it and they neglect it. So these other people come in, they do respond when they're invited more forcefully.

Come on, everybody, just come on in. But it would seem to be someone who's in the body but is not a true believer. Now, it could point to someone who's a believer and is not walking worthy of the Lord, but the fact that they're cast out, the fact that it's so extreme, would indicate that this person was not a true believer. So again, there's debate about exactly what this means. But as I've read it, what seems most natural to me is this is someone who's in the church, this is someone who's around the believers, this is someone who has outwardly responded, but they're not really a believer. They're not really walking with the Lord.

And when the rubber meets the road, they're exposed as such. That would be the most logical reading of it to me. That's kind of what I was thinking, too. I was thinking maybe it was someone who had, you know, like, you hear people say sometimes that Jesus is their Savior, but they're not quite there on the Lord thing. So maybe they've responded in some way, but they're not truly repentant. Would that be similar to the parable of the soil, those who receive but are choked out or washed away?

So that's the debatable part. In other words, the parable of the sower, Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8. So you've got those, the seed just falls on the wayside. They don't receive it. Their hearts are just hard, and Satan pulls that up. So they're non-believers. Then you have those that, it's shallow ground, right? The seed falls on the shallow ground.

Instantly, the plant grows up, but then when sun comes out, it withers, because it has no root. That's those who hear the word, receive it with joy, but when persecution and trouble come because of the word, they quickly fall away. Were they saved or not? Were they ever saved, and now they fall away in testing, or this proves they weren't truly saved. So it could refer to people like that, and again, there's the debate, were they truly saved or not? And then the other, it falls among thorns, and because the thorns choke it, it doesn't bring forth fruit to perfection. So this seems to be believers, but believers who don't really grow.

So you could make a parallel application from the parable of the sower. That could well be the case, or you could look at this as coming from a little different angle, and look, there are plenty of people that are in churches that think they're right with God that have no idea who he is. And when you probe and test a little bit, you find out what their lives are really like, and we don't have as many people in America today saying they're Christian.

It numbers down a little. It's still around 75%, but a decade ago it was like 85%, and we know for sure that a whole lot of those people could not possibly, if America was 85% truly Christian, our country would look very, very different. Now, that being said, is there something for all of us to look at in our lives?

And that would be yes. Look at your own life. Test yourself to see whether you're in the faith. 2 Corinthians 13. Be sure that you're in right relationship with God and that you are clothed with his righteousness and are living in harmony with him.

That's a good application for our own lives. Hey, thank you, sir, for the call. 866-34-TRUTH. Hang on. Let me go over to Joe in Fresno, California.

Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure thing. I have a question. Somebody called last week speaking of Daniel and Jeremiah in the books of Nehemiah. Oh, right, right. He was going through the list of exiles returning from Babylon, and so there was a Daniel, so there was a Jeremiah, and I pointed out you've got other names there.

You've got Baruch. You've got a whole bunch of names, and some you know for a fact could not have been the same people as in the Bible, and some it could have been. Yeah. Right. Well, I found Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in Nehemiah 8 through Nehemiah 12, and the question I had, could I take Jeremiah 24, verse 6, and it says, I'm quoting the verse now.

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to the land. Right. So the question is, how old could they have been?

In other words, the same with Daniel. They were taken as youths over to Babylon. So you have the major exile in 586.

You have a previous one in 597 B.C., right? So let's say they were in that previous one or even have some select exiles a few years before that. Could they have still been alive when the exiles returned in the 530s? Yeah, they could have been, theoretically. In other words, they could have been in their 80s or 90s, so they could have been very old men, but they could have survived that, and for sure, what you do read in Jeremiah 24 is that the good ones went into exile and God's going to bring them back, right? You kind of look at it the opposite way.

That's the point you're making. So it's definitely possible. The chronology would work.

They would be old men, but the chronology would work. Okay. You answered my question. All right. Well, I appreciate the question and the clear question that you raised. 866, three, four, truth. Let us go over to Todd in Pecan, Mississippi. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown, and thank you so much for your magnificent ministry, sir. I've got two questions about the tribe of Simeon that are connected. First is in Deuteronomy 33. Moses blesses all the tribes of Israel, but Simeon's not mentioned among them. I was wondering if you had any idea why Simeon was omitted.

And then the other just has to do with the geographic laydown of their boundaries. They're kind of inserted in the middle of Judah, but then after King Solomon passes, Israel splits, and the northern tribes are ten tribes, but geographically, Simeon, purportedly one of those ten tribes, is actually well south, south of Judah. And especially when Israel gets taken by the Assyrians, what happens with the tribe of Simeon? Does it become part of Judah, or do we know?

So let's start with the second question first. I was speaking at a conference, and my dear friend from Israel, Avner Boski, Avner and his wife Rachel, dear friends, they were at the conference, and I mentioned the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, right? So the ten northern tribes, and the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, they are frequently mentioned in the Bible as the southern tribes and part of the southern kingdom. In other words, the Bible does explicitly say that. And Avner said, no, no, the two tribes are Judah and Simeon, and people always get that wrong and look at it geographically.

I had never looked at it in that way before. So the general listing that you see, right, when you see the tribes listed, it's Judah and Benjamin, Judah and Benjamin. You've got the ten northern tribes, Judah and Benjamin. And yet, you're right, Simeon geographically would have logically been included.

So to my knowledge, we do not have a specific narrative that tells us exactly what happened to Simeon and to the degree that how much of Simeon was incorporated into the southern kingdom, how much was incorporated into the northern kingdom, how that would have worked itself out. We don't have clear data in scripture that I'm aware of or in history. So put it as a big question, just like why they're not mentioned in Deuteronomy 33. In the same way, you can ask why the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in Revelation 7 or Revelation 14 with the 12 tribes of Israel that are mentioned.

We don't know. Now, in certain cases, we do know why the numbering is different, right? Do you have the tribe of Joseph or do you have two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh? Okay, so you have Ephraim and Manasseh. Well, then who doesn't get listed? Well, maybe Levi doesn't get listed because they don't have an inheritance with the other tribes because you actually have 13. If instead of Joseph, you have Ephraim and Manasseh, now you have 13. So it's understandable that somebody gets bumped out, but why one in one place, one in another, I don't have a good answer for you.

Those are great questions, but I don't know that anyone has a definitive answer for it. Now, here's what happens. I'll be honest with you. When I get off a call like this, when it's something that I've discussed with others in the past and we just don't have an answer, I always look again. I dig in again. And it could be that I discover something I wasn't aware of before, in which case I'll come back on the air, try to time it for that next Friday. That's when the person was listening previously, right?

Whatever they call, try to time it for that day the next week. If I discover something, it's like, hey, this makes sense to me. But right now, your questions are great questions and I don't know that there are definitive answers for them. But I'm gonna look again and if I come up with anything, maybe next Friday, God willing, I'll bring it up, okay? Yes, sir. Oh, thank you so much, sir, and God bless you again. Thank you for all that you do for the body of Christ. Well, thanks, and you were gracious to speak of my magnificent ministry in here.

I can't answer your questions, but I don't know that anyone has a definitive answer. But anyway, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And let us go to Caden in Delaware, Ohio.

Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Actually, it is Delaware. It is Delaware, okay.

Delaware, Ohio. All right. Yeah. So my question's kind of twofold because the follow-up kind of hinges on your answer to the first, but bear with me. The first is when I listen to or read through the Bible, it seems that genealogies are patrilineal. They go through the Father's line. Right. But I hear modern Jews, the halakhah, say that it's supposed to be traced through the Mother's line.

Ah, no, not genealogy, Jewishness. Oh. Yeah, yeah.

But I don't agree with that. Stay right there. Stay right there, and I'll respond on the other side of the break.

Genealogy is still traced through the man, but whether you're Jewish or not in traditional Judaism is traced through your mother. Why is that? Is it accurate? We'll pick it up on the other side of the break. 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. Just a quick follow-up to the question before the current question about Simeon and Levi. Just looking at a few things, I was reminded of this. So, of course, in Genesis 49, because of Simeon and Levi's role in Genesis 34 with the killing of the men of Shechem, Jacob speaks against them in Genesis 49. And the curse be their anger, it's so fierce they're furious and cruel. I'll scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. So then Simeon's territory gets included in Judah, which is why it's not mentioned separately. And Levi also has its territory scattered throughout the nation, which would then be a fulfillment of Genesis 49 and would explain why Simeon's not mentioned in Deuteronomy 33, although Levi is mentioned. But that at least gets us partway to an answer there.

Okay, let's go back to Caden. So, Caden, according to traditional Judaism, Jewishness is determined through the mother, not through the father. You wouldn't know that reading the Bible.

You wouldn't come to that conclusion. And the rabbis deduced this from Ezra and Nehemiah when the men of Israel, men of Judah, had to divorce the wives they had married. They had married pagan wives, and they divorced the wives and sent away the children. So the rabbis deduced from that that the children were therefore not looked at as truly Israelite. Arguments can be made against that. It could be they sent the children away because the children need to be with the mother.

The dad's out working. It's not like someone's going to care for the kids. It's just a logical thing of the kids being with the mother. But, yeah, that's the traditional Jewish view. Most Messianic Jews do not accept that and would say if you can trace your Jewishness through mother or father and have been raised with Jewish identification, then you're Jewish. And liberal Jews, reformed Jews, also say it could be patrilineal or matrilineal.

So anyway, back to you. Okay, so yeah, that hinges perfectly into my follow-up question. And so I took a DNA test, you know, those 23andMe type things, and came back mostly like Northwest European, whatever, but 1.6% Ashkenazi. And the same, similar stuff popped up on my mother's sister and one of my cousins who also did that test, which means, at least on my mother's side, but I can't, I don't know yet whether it's through like my grandmother's, like mother's, mother's, mother's line, et cetera.

So, and I was not raised with this type of knowledge. So would I be able to, at least in maybe Jewish circles, identify as such, or would it be safer not to? Oh, no, there's no way you could identify as Jewish if you're 1% Ashkenazi. No, that would mean that there's some, some relative intermarried somewhere generations back, but under no circumstances would any Jewish group, liberal or traditional, recognize that as Jewish descent. The good news is, in the Messiah, it doesn't matter in terms of our standing with him, our status is unique, there's no caste system or class system, and males that are higher than female or Jew than Gentile, et cetera. But no, that would just indicate somewhere, somewhere down the line, generations back, somebody intermarried with somebody, and that could happen, and that person could have been separated from their Jewish tradition by generations at that point as well. So you definitely wouldn't want to identify as Jewish, it would be misleading to people. All right, thank you for that.

You bet, yep, just telling it like it is, man. But it's always very curious, interesting to see. When we did our test, my wife Nancy was basically entirely Ashkenazi.

I think I was 90% Ashkenazi, 10% Sephardic, so somewhere Sephardic Jews intermarried with Ashkenazi Jews, don't know how many generations back. All right, let us go over to Jeannie in Jackson County, Ohio. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello.

Hello. Hey, my question is, I have a relative that believes that it's wrong for a Christian to take anxiety meds or, you know, any kind of meds like that. They say their mind's altering, and therefore you're pretty much going to go to hell because the same as being a drunkard.

Right, well it's certainly not a biblical approach. In other words, a drunkard is drinking in a way that they are addicted, that it is destroying their body, and it is, people are initially drinking for pleasure, et cetera. It's the difference between that and a prescription pill, right? Let's say you have migraine headaches and you have a prescription pill for it. In other words, one thing is medicinal and the other is purely destructive.

And the drunkard is unrepentant, whereas someone with anxiety, they want help, they're looking for help, and this is how they get it. I would say that anything that we take that can alter our mood, that can do things to our mind, is not ideal, right? It's best to not have that, and it's best to just be leaning on the Lord and be at peace.

However, let's just say that I had panic attacks every time before I flew, and the only way I could fly is by taking Dramamine. Well, it's not ideal, but I'm not gonna go to hell for that, you know, if I'm getting on the plane to go feed starving children, you know, the only way I can do it, get on the flight is with Dramamine. It's not ideal, but it's where we are. You know, the same thing if you break your arm.

It's not ideal to wear a cast, but that's reality. That's the world in which we live. Also, where does it say in the Bible that if I commit a particular sin, you know, if I'm on anxiety meds, I really shouldn't be, I'm gonna go to hell for that. You know, there are plenty of believers, and we don't pray enough, or we don't share the gospel enough, or we're judgmental, or we're arrogant, or we're greedy, or, you know, we're addicted to sweets. We're not going to hell for that we're saved by the blood of Jesus.

We go to hell when we willfully reject God's grace or willfully cast off his lordship and say I'm gonna do what I want to do. The same way someone's struggling with alcohol, saying God help me, I want help, and they're struggling. They're not condemned for their struggle. So the person with anxiety, what you want to do ideally is through prayer and through godly counseling help to get to the root of the anxiety and then find ways without meds to overcome that. But if you need the meds, God would rather have you at peace than suicidal. God would rather have you coping and now try to deal with this issue rather than think, okay, I have to go off all my meds if I want to be right with God.

That's just a wrong way of looking at things. And there's also mind-altering in a way that's destructive. When I used to take LSD as a teenager, that's destructive mind-altering. But you may take something that just kind of knocks you out. You take an antihistamine because you're sneezing, it knocks you out, you get drowsy. Your mind's not thinking as clearly, but that's not mind-altering in a sinful way. So your relative may mean well, but you lay that on people that are already struggling.

That could really hurt them. So let's meet people where they are. And look, the brain is part of the body too. Sometimes they're imbalances.

Sometimes they're things that are not functioning rightly and until we can deal with them more holistically and spiritually, tackle them as you can medically. Not ideal, but certainly nothing to be condemned over whatsoever, and it may be the help that somebody really needs at a given time in their lives. All right, let's just see here. Let's go to Peter in Cleveland, Ohio, but time is really short, so dive in.

Okay, really fast, Dr. Brown. I'm in the middle of a sermon series on spiritual warfare, and I'm just wondering if the fact that Satan is not omniscient has perhaps wrongly over-influenced the prevailing theological position that the demoniac can never read our thought. Right, so Satan's not omniscient, but of course he works through demons and who knows how much access to information demons have. So the question is, more broadly, can Satan read our mind?

And I don't think the Bible addresses it directly. I have wondered myself that if you're going through a spiritual battle sometimes and you're almost having, it seems like a dialogue with the enemy in your own mind, then how is that happening? Some have suggested this, that Satan sees how we react. Remember, he sees in the spiritual realm. He sees how we respond to certain things that he does or temptations or lies that are spoken to us, and based on that, or the way that we respond, what our mind's thinking, it may have an outward effect that can be seen in the spiritual realm. So to be perfectly honest, in my own practical life, whether Satan could read my mind the way God knows our minds or whether he could, quote, read my mind by reading me, it doesn't matter.

There's no real difference there. You know, I heard someone teach, well, we should pray in tongues because Satan can't understand tongues. I don't care what Satan can understand. I'm praying to God. I'm not concerned, oh, Satan's gonna listen in and figure it out.

No, I pray in tongues for other reasons, not to hide things from the devil, nor do I think if I keep something to myself, like, okay, I got this vision to minister, I'm not gonna tell anybody, Satan won't know about it. I think he has tremendous access to information, and because he sees in the spiritual realm, he sees and knows a lot about us. So to me, honestly, I don't think it matters whether Satan could read our minds or not. We live the same way we lived before God. The big thing is, to me, God knows. God knows. God knows the cry of your heart right now. God knows when you pray, and I'm not worried about Satan intercepting the prayers as they go up to God. So let God be glorified, and you can preach that with absolute authority.

Again, to me, it doesn't change the equation, the way I live, the way I function, the way I do spiritual warfare. So if you're leaning in that direction, I'm with you on that, sir. Hey, thank you for the call. I wish I had more time, but we are out of time. I can just remind you, stop by Dr. Mark Stengler's site, vitaminmission.com. Use these great supplements that I've used for years. They will help with your overall healthy lifestyle or help you get to a healthier lifestyle. Remember, there's a special code to use. When you use it, you get a 10% discount, and Dr. Stengler makes a donation to our ministry to help us do the very thing we're doing today. May the Lord bless you richly.