Dr. Brown Tackles All Your Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Full lines are open. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Let's do it. 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.

The phone lines are wide open. Any question of any kind that pertains in any way to anything we ever talk about on the Line of Fire or pertains in any way to anything I've ever said, written, had guests on, anything at all, you want to talk to me about 866-34-TRUTH. So if you'd like my prediction as to how Tiger Woods is going to do in the Masters, no, that's not our subject matter.

Or if you want my weather projection for the Northeast in the next 10 days, no, that's not my area of expertise. But there are a host of things we can talk to you about, especially those who differ, those who raise questions on intranet or challenge me on different things. I'd love to hear from you.

I'm not threatened or bothered by your questions in the least. We're broadcasting this day from our studio at Mercy Culture in Fort Worth, Texas. Great to be down there.

Had an awesome week in Texas. 866-348-7884. The earlier in the show you call, the better chance we have of getting to your call.

With that, we will start in Corpus Christi, Texas. David, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. Hey. I'm so glad to call in, and I'm enjoying your book on the fire.

Thank you. And I just wanted to bring up a topic, because it agrees with me, you know, these people who say, hey, look at my great face, right, wearing $3,000 shoes, or driving Bentleys, and such like that. And it agrees with me, this is what people brag in. When Paul bragged about his weakness and his infirmities, and this is such an epidemic in the body crisis, especially in America, so what would you say to all of us out here who want to say, hey, who are the leaders who really have faith, you know? The ones who, no matter what, they go to it. Because I think we really need some clarity from somebody like you on this issue.

Well, thanks for the question. So first, there is a carnal prosperity message that has spread from America to other nations that has caused tremendous destruction. David Wilkerson's words to me in the 90s, that the carnal prosperity message came from the pit of hell. And is this notion that the sign of spirituality is earthly riches, that Jesus died to make us rich, and that's what the Gospel is about.

Of course, that's a perversion of the Gospel. I believe in God's provision, I believe in God's abundance, I believe in a spirit of generosity, but that is very, very different from the carnal prosperity message, which makes earthly riches as a spiritual goal, as opposed to growing in Jesus and becoming more like him, and being a disciple, and making disciples, and glorifying the Lord as the goals for which we live. And yes, there is an instance that you referenced where there was a famous American preacher in India, and this was a little bit before 1993 or early 1993 when I first went there, and the brothers were grieved over it, and they said, here's a guy telling us about faith.

We know faith. We care for orphans. We reach out in areas where there's no funding, and God provides for us. And here he is boasting in India about his $3,000 custom-made shoes, whereas a laborer working the fields would make maybe a dollar a day. So they were offended by that, and there was the lack of cultural sensitivity on the part of the preacher even to recognize that. Again, it's not a sign of spirituality to be poor.

It's not a sign of spirituality to wear shoes with holes in them. It doesn't glorify the Lord where you can't help the poor and the needy because you have nothing yourself. So again, let God provide through us to touch the world, but the carnal prosperity message has been very destructive and has spread through much of the world, in Africa, India, other parts of the world that has been very destructive and has gotten people looking for the wrong things in the wrong direction. As for who are the people with faith, they're fine leaders all over America. They're godly pastors. They're evangelists reaching out to the lost. They're people caring for the poor, and I'm not here to list names of famous people who are fine Christian leaders, but rather to say, look for those in your communities that are reliable, that have a steady record of being Jesus' followers without scandal, whether the church is big, with all glitz with it, or small, or meeting in a house.

That's not the big issue. The issue is the quality of that person's life, the example that they set, the message that they bring, the fruit from their ministries. Look to that, and if those of us who have national or international platforms can be a blessing, again, look at our lives, look at the fruit that we've borne, see the impact we're having on people, and let that be a god, but thankfully, there are far, far more godly leaders, humble leaders, serious servants of the Lord out there than the flamboyant flakes, than the carnal prosperity superstars, but the bad apples give all the other apples a bad reputation.

A scandal in a megachurch or with a major ministry gets a whole lot more attention than your local pastor faithfully serving a flock for 20 or 30 years. They're far more faithfully serving than there are getting into all these kinds of serious errors I'm talking about on a major level, but it's best to know them through relationship and through track record over a period of years. Hey, David, I appreciate the call.

By the way, I'll go back to the phones in a moment. We've got some lines open. Often early in the show, we don't, so we do have some lines open if you want to get hold of us now, but I saw a thread on Twitter the other day, and somehow my name came up, mentioned in it, and the thread was about some mocker, some mocker had made the comment that some gal said, if I want to get rich, I'm going to become a Christian apologist, and someone else commented and said, hey, here are all these well-known apologists. None of them are rich. It's like, well, they attack Robbie Zacharias and he's worth thus and such, and then someone put a list up and said, hey, these people are not in it for money, and then somehow my name came up, and then someone said, well, I just went online and searched, and Brown's has a net worth of $24 million. Well, I found another site that my net worth is $7 billion.

Would that it would be so, because we'd give it away to ministries around the world, but anyway, I mean, who knows where they come up with these things? I told somebody, when my net worth hurts a million, I'll tell the whole world. I'll announce it, but in any case, there's all kinds of misinformation about people online, and you want to get to the truth.

Don't just believe everything you read or see in a video. Do the research, but people should be known among you. So I'm known among the people with whom I've worked for decades, and we have these close relationships and track records. You know me from a distance, right? But ideally, you want to get to know the leaders that you really work with in terms of giving your life to a cause, serving together, and you do that through being part of community with them as much as possible. 866-348-7884. Let's go to Kevin in Wichita, Kansas. Welcome to The Line of Fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. I have a friend who has, he's kind of critical of Zionism. He says he's not anti-Semitic, but he's kind of anti-Zionist and anti a number of political things regarding Israel, and he's brought up that a number of rabbis feel that Israel isn't a legitimate state because it was established by men rather than by God, and that's not something I've quite heard of, and I don't know how to address it. Right, so before the founding of the modern state of Israel, the most prominent religious Jews, the ultra-orthodox rabbis leading their communities, were for the most part hostile to the idea of a modern state of Israel being birthed. Their feeling was that this is something the Messiah will do. When the Messiah comes, he will regather the exiles and bring them back to the land. When the Messiah comes, he will rebuild the temple.

This is the work of the Messiah. For people to do it, we'll be getting in the way of his work. That was one concern. A second concern was that it could be potentially a secular state, and if it was a secular state, that would be the exact opposite of God's ideal, which was to be a Torah-centered, God-centered state or nation.

And then there was a third concern. This was the least on the list, but that if you went ahead and set up a state of Israel before its time, it would just create more anti-Semitism, more hatred of the Jewish people worldwide. There is even a Talmudic reference of three vows that God had Israel live under. Again, it's just a rabbinic tradition, but one of those was that they would not regather en masse to the land. They would not all try to come up en masse to the land, so a regathering of exiles before the messianic era would violate that vow.

There are groups called naturae carta, which is literally the keepers of the city in Aramaic. By the way, for everyone listening on radio podcasts, everything's good, but all of you watching on live stream on Facebook and YouTube, I understand that what you have is moving lips without sound. We don't know why. I have no clue why, but our team is looking into it now, so hopefully soon enough we'll be able to do that. Maybe I could put up a sign. Hold up a sign. Yeah, in fact, folks, if you write up a sign for those watching on live stream, everybody's still there watching me move, all right, and we'll do that during the break.

I'll just put up a sign so you can still call. Unfortunately, I don't know sign language or I would tell you, but that also explains why, well, hardly any phone lines open, but anyway, naturae carta, these are ultra-orthodox Jews. To this day, they are immediately opposed to the modern state of Israel. They would rather work with Yasser Arafat than they would work with the prime minister of Israel in days past.

There are many religious Jews within Israel who are hostile to the state because it is more secular, because Jewish law is not enforced throughout the entire country, and that even though they live there, they are not Zionists. But what changed a lot of opinion was the Holocaust. The absolute horrors of the Holocaust, two out of every three Jews in Europe slaughtered. Some of these large ultra-orthodox communities that were anti-Zionist slaughtered.

Three million out of 3.3 million Polish Jews, nine out of every ten Polish Jews killed. That this changed some of the sentiment and other rabbis that were recognized, we do need a homeland. And others had been saying in advance, hey, this is part of the Messianic era. In other words, we begin to come back and then the Messiah kind of takes it from there and finishes the work.

So many, many religious Jews today do recognize the modern state of Israel as God birthed and part of the harbinger of the Messianic era, but there are many others who do not, and those are the reasons for it. Kevin, thank you for the call. 866-34-TRUTH.

We will 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. What's happening? Just six days from now, April 14th, what's happening?

Ah, that's it. Yes, National Not Ashamed of Jesus Day. It's all about you and me telling the world on this particular day, we're here. We're not ashamed. We love Jesus and we love you. We're not hiding in the shadows. We're not avoiding the truth.

We love you. We're here to share Jesus. Let your light shine on that day.

You say, well, what specifically can I do? Go to notashamedofjesus.org. Notashamedofjesus.org. It'll give you plenty of ideas. If you're a pastor or leader, it'll give you plenty of ideas. You can still share it with your congregation on Sunday.

Get the word out on social media. We've got lots of churches, lots of networks joining in to do this. We believe it's a great way to push back against the cancel culture, a great way to push back against the silencing of the lambs, a great way to push back against this attempt to marginalize us and muzzle us. This is a day in particular where we get the word out that we're here. You may find out there are many other believers in the workplace or in the school that you didn't know about. It may open a door for you to share the gospel with others.

So make sure you go to notashamedofjesus.org and post that on social media today. If you feel good about it, join us in doing that. All right. It seems that we are back with our video on the stream and our audio on live stream.

If it's not synchronized correctly, it's always a new challenge. It's amazing. But here we are. Hopefully everyone can hear me loudly and clearly. All right.

Let's go back to the phones with Jennifer in Colorado. Welcome to the line of fire. Yes. Hello. Hi.

Thank you so much. I have kind of a complicated question that I wrote down to ask more sufficiently. So I know that many people have kind of guesses of what was written in the sand with the woman that was to be stoned in John Chapter 8. And there is a verse in Jeremiah 17 that refers to those who reject the hope of Israel, their names will be written in the earth. But it goes on to say that they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. And that's kind of the reference that gets me questioning a little bit more because in John 738, which is just the previous chapter, it says, you know, that out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And my question is kind of twofold. Could this refer to also Jeremiah 2 13? It says for my people have committed two evils.

They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. And the real meat of my question is that, is it possible that that reference could be during the festivals to coat because the broken cisterns that hold no water refer to the water libation ceremony and the fact that that wasn't Torah? Or is it even possible that Jeremiah would be referring to that ceremony?

Okay, it's unlikely that Jeremiah is referring to the ceremony. The image of God being a fountain of living water is simply that it's an image. He presents himself, if you look in Jeremiah 2, in many, many different figures.

And he is a husband to Israel, which is a strained wife and just other ways he presents himself. So in a society where living water, which means just generically is running water, is free-flowing streams and things like that. So for God to be the source of that, the fountain of that, the imagery is very clearly understood. That's why in John 4, as Jesus is talking to them about living water, she doesn't get it initially because maim chayim would just mean running water somewhere, like as opposed to a stationary well, a stream. And he says, no, no, I'm talking about something spiritual. So in John 7, when he then says, if anyone's thirsty, let them come to me and drink, that's in conjunction with Sukkot tabernacles and the water procession that they'd have daily where the priests would be walking towards the temple with these massive jugs of water.

So that's contrasting. As for tying in the end of John 7 into John 8, that's as fascinating as it is in Jeremiah 17, perhaps, you know, tying in with the writing and the earth and all that, that would be the most speculative part because the earliest manuscripts of John do not have John 8, 1 through 11 there. That passage is in some, one early tradition is found in the Gospel of Luke and in others is just an independent tradition.

So it doesn't seem that in the earliest copies of John that John 8, 1 through 11 was actually there. We do believe it's scripture, but as to that exact location, it's debatable. As to the meaning of Jeremiah 17, it's interesting, the New Jewish Publication Society translation says, those in the land who turn from you shall be doomed. And then it explains it saying, literally inscribed, and the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain, but it reads it differently. It's those in the land who turn from you shall be doomed.

And I'm just looking at it. It doesn't talk about writing something in the dirt. So just the Hebrew does not speak of that. So I don't believe that whatever Jesus wrote in the dirt that it would tie in with Jeremiah 17, 13. The Hebrew is definitely speaking about something else being inscribed in the earth, your name is written or something like that.

Some signification of doom and judgment. All right, back to the phones. 866-3-4, truth. Let's hang on.

Let's go to Michael in Boston, Massachusetts. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey Dr. Brown, how are you?

Doing very well, thank you. So I just have a quick question. So recently I was baptized and I was praying silently to myself while the pastor was talking. So firstly, I didn't hear him say in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So I don't know if it was said at all. And secondly, I didn't verbally confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, just because I wasn't asked and I also didn't know I was supposed to. Is the baptism valid or I couldn't find anywhere scripturally where people were ever re-baptized. Right, so when you were baptized, was it understood that you were doing this to make a public profession of your faith?

Yes. Right, so the purpose of your baptism, there were other people there as witnesses? Yes, the whole church.

Right, so the whole church knew that you, Michael, were making a public profession of your faith, that you are a follower of Jesus and your life belongs to him, correct? Yes, I would assume that's what they thought, yeah. Right, okay. Well then, mission accomplished.

Mission accomplished. All right, thank you so much. Yeah, yeah. Don't question?

Yeah, go ahead. Does it matter if people are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or if it's in the name of Jesus Christ? There are people who try to claim, Jesus only people, who try to claim if you are not baptized in the name of Jesus it's not valid.

That position is to be rejected. The clear teaching in Matthew 28, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in the earliest traditions we have of the Bible, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in the earliest traditions we have in the church, that's how it was done. You say, well, is it invalid if I was baptized in Jesus' name? No, I don't believe it was invalid if the understanding was the same, that this is a public profession, I've died to sin, I now live to God, I go under the water, and I come up in newness of life. That's what baptism is symbolizing.

And people would point to the book of Acts. You believe that the book of Acts should be understood in the light of Matthew 28, and that people, the Greek prepositions are different, being baptized into Jesus, or into the name of Jesus, or upon the name of Jesus. Some say the person being baptized was calling out in the name of Jesus, and they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Some say it means being baptized into Jesus, into the body of Christ. But if someone said, hey, I was baptized in Jesus' name, do I need to be re-baptized? I would tell them no. And all the more would I tell them no, if they say, well, I was told I had to be baptized in Jesus' name, I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, should I be baptized again?

Absolutely not. However, if you were baptized as a baby, and then came to faith later in life, I would say absolutely get baptized, because what happened to you as a baby was not determinative, it was not based on your profession of faith, and the New Testament is clear, repent and believe, excuse me, repent and be baptized, believe and be baptized. So in that case, I would say the first baptism doesn't count, because it's for an infant. You should be baptized once you come to faith. But be at peace, Michael. If you were asked, if you were asked to make a public profession and refused, no, I'm ashamed, then it wouldn't be valid, and you wouldn't have been baptized.

But you just went along with the right as best as you understood it. Hey, Michael, thank you for the call. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Taylor in somewhere. I just noticed I don't have a location. Where are you calling from, Taylor?

Woodland Park, Colorado. All right, well, welcome to the broadcast in Woodland Park, Colorado. Thanks for the call.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Dr. Michael Brown. I appreciate you taking my call, and I just appreciate your ministry, everything that you're doing.

And about three weeks ago, you actually had this on the broadcast. You were talking about just what it takes, I guess, for people to be born again, or like, how do you know you're saved? And I know you've touched on these related issues of, like, somebody who submits to JDS, which is Jesus died spiritually and born again Jesus' views.

So my question is, would that person be saved if they, you know, believed something like that? It's like, I guess I come to, like, the verse that's found in Acts 13. It's like verses 30 through 36, where Paul was concerning Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and then he quotes Psalm 2, you are my son, today I have begotten you. If you could touch on that just a little bit. Right, so there are a couple different subjects there, but the second one, I know you're relating them as one, but they're really separate. The idea of, quote, Jesus dying spiritually in hell, or being born again in hell, and then being proclaimed as God's son, this is a public proclamation. Romans 1 is indicating to us that the resurrection is God's public proclamation of Jesus as his son, and Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm.

It's not saying he became the son of God there because he was born again in hell, but I'll come back to your question on the other side of the break. 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. Thanks so much for joining us on The Line of Fire. Phone lines are wide open, 866-348-7884. 866-34-TRUTH is the number to call any question of any kind that relates to anything we ever discuss on The Line of Fire broadcast.

By all means, give us a call. Okay, so we did a teaching a couple of weeks ago and asked, what must we believe about Jesus in order to be saved? In other words, can we just say, well, I think he's a good moral example, a human being like everybody else, but a good moral example? No, obviously not. Well, I believe he's the last of the great prophets, but clearly not the son of God. Can you be saved and believe that?

Obviously not. How can you confess him as Lord if that's what you believe about him? So we tried to lay out the minimum foundation for what must be believed for someone to be saved. So what about this teaching that Jesus went to hell, right? So not only died on the cross, but went to hell. Well, there is discussion about Jesus going into the netherworld for various reasons. The New Testament talks about him proclaiming to the spirits in prison. There are ancient church confessions that speak about him going to hell. So that, to me, is not a disqualifying issue to say that between his death and his resurrection that he descended into the netherworld. What if someone said, we believe he suffered in the netherworld, as opposed to he simply took the wrath of God on the cross, but he suffered in the netherworld?

That, to me, is going to be much more debatable. Someone say, well, Psalm says that the pains of death couldn't hold him, so he was suffering on some level. In the netherworld, okay, that is not going to be more controversial. And someone said, well, that's all part of the cross.

That's all part of him dying for us. So do we draw the line there? If someone says, and this is some of those bizarre teaching I've ever heard, and I've heard it in some extreme word or faith circles, that Jesus died in hell died in hell and became a demonized human being and was resurrected as the son of God, that's heresy. That is outright heresy. Now, if someone says, oh, no, no, he paid for our sins on the cross, this is just what happened in the netherworld, it's still heresy.

You're teaching something false. Can someone who holds to that be saved? To me, it's heresy. It's very plainly heresy and a denial of his eternal deity, that at some point he ceased to be God and was now born again as a glorified man, that's heresy. If someone is confused about that, but says, oh, I believe he died for my sins, and that's the heart and soul of it, he died for my sins, rose from the dead, but this is what I think happened in the netherworld, okay, throw that out, okay, it's dangerous, throw it out. I'm not going to say you're not saved if you're confused about that, but if you think that that's fundamental to the atonement, and in particular, if you teach that at any point Jesus ceased to be God, that's heresy. Rank heresy.

That's simple and must be categorically rejected in the clearest possible term. Hey, thank you, Taylor, for raising that question. 866-34-TRUTH is the number to call. Let's go to Bill in Cape Coral, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Cape Coral, sorry, Florida.

Welcome to the line of fire. No, actually, Dr. Brown, you had it right the first time. Cape Coral. All right, so I grew up here in Cape Coral.

That was just our New York mispronunciation. He has only one R instead of two, but it's just west of Fort Myers in Cape Coral. You know where that is. Yeah, yeah, Fort Myers. I've been there many a time to minister. Good friend there, yes. Okay, all right, well, my wife and I just moved here as part of our retirement. We've been following you for several years now in our torchbearers. Thank you.

And really thrilled to make use of the resources you have made available to us. What my question is now is, in the church that we've affiliated with, I just learned that they don't make members of anybody who comes here. There's no differentiate between being an attendee or a member of the congregation, and there's no member policy, and they said, because it's not biblical. So I'm wondering, based on your expertise with the ancient Greek, is that biblical or not?

Okay, I understand arguments for and against. One of my closest friends says church membership is not biblical. It's not a matter of the nuances of the Greek.

In other words, you can get the exact same understanding just reading the English. The argument would be that to have a membership that is based on, okay, you tithe or you do this, you attend this number, you know, all of these other requirements, that's not in the Bible. What's in the Bible is you become joined to a fellowship of believers. In other words, the standard of commitment and fellowship in the New Testament is very high, and people can attend and just go there, but if they are really organically part of the body, they are organically part.

They are deeply joined together. Now, personally, I find church membership practical because you are saying to people, hey, we would love to make a deeper commitment to you as leaders if you feel to make a deeper commitment to us. In other words, if this is your home, then we feel the sacred responsibility to care for you.

For example, if you have an emergency within your own family, somebody needs to be rushed to the hospital in your own family, and there's someone down the street that you met one time that needs a ride somewhere, it's like, hey, I'd love to help you, but I got to get my family to the hospital. Paul says if you don't care for your own, meaning your own family, you're worse than an infidel. So many times people say, leaders say, hey, look, you're welcome to come here the rest of your life, take in all the services, listen to the messages, send your kids to Sunday school, but if you want a deeper commitment here where we can be more involved in your lives, where you're financially helping with the work here and we're working together for the gospel of the community, then church membership in that sense can be super practical. Those who say it's not biblical basically say that should be happening organically.

It's not written on a piece of paper where you have a role. It's basically a spiritual thing in God's sight. So if this is where you go, this is where you give, this is where you serve, this is where you grow, just do it organically. And in churches that have that philosophy, there normally is that deeper place. In other words, it just happens naturally, like a couple dating that gets close and falls in love.

It just happens naturally. So it wouldn't concern me. If they hammer it, church membership is unbiblical and this is a major thing they hammer it, now that can be okay.

Why do you need to do that? But if they just say, hey, just become part of our family. We don't have a paper to sign, but we'll get to know you, you'll get to know us, we participate together. Then that can be great, that can be fine, as long as there's that ability to go deeper together. That's the key thing. Yeah, I look at your involvement in a church with three levels. You've got the person who's involved, you've got the one who's committed, and then the third level, which is the most intense, is truly engaged. And I often use the ham and egg omelet example, is that when you think of a ham and egg omelet, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. And when both of them come to you and say, I want to be part of your breakfast, that's engaged. Got it, got it. Yeah, so the thing is, those are great analogies, and the ham and egg omelet, I'll have to remember that. I don't only think in terms of ham and egg omelet, so I'll have to remember that. But in point of fact, sir, as long as the church functions in such a way that those that really become engaged are engaged and the leaders are engaged with you, that there is that deeper place of commitment, you can't find that, those levels that you mentioned, you can't find that explicitly written out in the Bible, right, in the Greek or in the English, etc.

But on a practical level, there are those different aspects of being part of our body. So, no, I do not find the concept of, quote, become a member of a local church as something explicitly taught in Scripture. But I absolutely find the call to be organically closely connected to a group of believers involved in their lives, under leadership, working together for God's purposes in that community.

So hopefully that'll work out where you are. God bless you, Bill, appreciate it. 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go to Dominic in Australia. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hi, Dr. Michael Brown. I just had a question about what, like, forms of entertainment should we avoid watching? Like, is it okay for a Christian to watch Harry Potter or a trashy reality TV show?

Like, how should we go about what to avoid in the entertainment industry? Yes, it's a very good question. There are certain things that are personal choices, because the Bible does not explicitly address it. There are other things where the Bible does give us very, very clear guidelines. Anything that pollutes us, anything that defiles us, anything that is displeasing in the Lord's sight, in other words, if I'm willfully taking in something that is destructive, sinful, obviously I've got to avoid that. I would encourage you to read through Ephesians 5, 1-16, and meditate on that.

Ephesians 5, 1-16. Harry Potter people will debate. Others say, no way, absolutely not, stay away from them. That's sorcery, that's witchcraft, that's glorifying demonic things. Others would say, no, it's no different than, like, a C.S.

Lewis book or Lord of the Rings with Tolkien or their spiritual images and their lessons to learn from it. So let's just say there's a difference of opinion about that. There could be no difference of opinion about watching some X-rated movie or something that glorifies gratuitous violence or that uses profanity for entertainment and things like that. Those are defiling unclean. Now, I may be watching a documentary learning in history, and it's got unsafe people, and they're using profanity. I don't like it, but I'm trying to learn something, and that's the accessible information. But to be entertained by it would be sinful and wrong. You can ask the larger question, does this enhance my walk with the Lord or take me away from the Lord? You could ask the larger question, is this light or is this darkness? Certain things are very blatant.

Others make those personal choices. I couldn't imagine watching trashy reality TV unless I was trying to learn what was happening in the culture, and I'd be repulsed and grieved the whole time. 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 today on The Line of Fire. Remember, April 14, six days from now, if you're watching, listening live, National Not Ashamed of Jesus Day. Go to notashamedofjesus.org. Spread the word. We've just got six days to get this out.

It's our very first year doing it, so it's just getting started, but we believe this is something that could be greatly encouraging and lead to a lot of great evangelism on that day. notashamedofjesus.org. All right, we go back to the phones.

Marion in Detroit, Michigan, welcome to The Line of Fire. Dr. Brown, how you doing? This is actually Marilyn, but how are you? I'm doing great. Yeah, I apologize. It's probably typewriting, but my eyesight missed it. Thanks, Marlin.

Yeah, no problem at all. Dr. Brown, what do you think of the Bible project? And secondly, I saw a video pop up that was criticizing it, and I was thinking, what's a biblical approach to, if you disagree with someone, do you put out a video against their video?

What's the approach? But the first one is, what do you think about the Bible project? I just wanted to get to our opinion. Right, so it's become mega popular, got millions of downloads and views online, from what I understand. And as far as I can tell, the few clips that I've watched, it's only a few, unfortunately I haven't followed it more closely, we're pretty mainstream in their teaching. You know, I might have differed with a nuanced viewer there, but from what I could tell, it seemed to be fairly mainstream.

I remember hearing some criticism, a friend was filling me in on it, and they were, I don't know, considered to have a wrong view on a certain subject, or liberal, or whatever that was. The few videos that I watched were just basic Bible stuff, in a good animated way, and in a simplified way, presenting overviews of books, or key themes, et cetera. But I have not dug into it, so if there's more to it, if there are legitimate questions, I'm not aware of that, all right?

From what I saw, it was pretty much meat and potatoes kind of stuff. So let's just say though, that here's the Bible project, and video comes out on a particular theological subject, and it gets a half million views in three months, and you're a pastor and you're watching it, and you think, well, that's wrong, that's terribly wrong. Okay, what's the right approach? You think, wow, a lot of people are watching it, or one of my videos, and it gets 50,000 views. They're like, wow, Dr. Brown's wrong on this, and he's misleading people. That's what you believe. Okay, so if you have any connection to the people, if you know the people, if someone knew me, the right thing is to contact me.

If you know someone in the Bible project, you reach out to them. However, you are not obligated when someone puts out a public position to go to them privately before you address it publicly. They didn't ask for your permission when they put it out, right? So in other words, if it's public information, let's just say Rick Warren is on MSNBC doing an interview, right? And he says something that is very controversial, and someone calls my show and says, hey, I saw Rick Warren say that, what do you think of it? Well, it's a public statement made in a public setting, so would a gracious way I'll interact. Boy, I think it was great. No, here's why I differ with it. Now, if I knew him, right, and I heard about it, I would immediately reach out to him.

Hey, Rick, what's going on here, man? You said such and such, right? But when I write a book and I put out a position, people can write a whole book differing with me. That's fine. Have at it.

It's public, right? So it's different than Matthew 18, if your brother sins against him, go tell him in private. This is not you sinned against me, I have to go tell you in private. This is you said something to a million people that I differ with, and now I want to protect my flock with that. So you want to do things with the right spirit.

That's the key thing. You want to be fair in what you represent. You don't want to draw conclusions beyond what you're dealing with. In other words, this may just be one teaching that's aberrant. I'm not going to make a judgment on the larger thing.

I'm not going to gauge character assassination. But if someone says something blatantly false, then as a as a steward, as a teacher, you want to fix that. You want to correct it.

So it's perfectly fine, especially if you don't have access to people. I'm a leader with international connections, but there are people I've tried to get to it that they won't talk to me. I've tried to reach out to them privately, and be gracious to do it before correcting them publicly, but they won't talk to me. All right, well, I've got to deal with this publicly. I'm burdened to do it. It's an issue.

I've got to help the people involved. Other times, there's another way to do it, which is just address the issue, right? There's controversy over this issue.

I want to do a teaching on it, without saying, brother so-and-so said it, or it was this or it was this project. That's the other way to do it, is just to correct the issue and deal with the facts. But by all means, it's out in the public, public square. Address it.

It's a fair game, totally fair game, all right? Thanks, Dr. Brown. You are very welcome, sir. All right, 866-34-TRUTH, and we go to John in Cincinnati, Ohio. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. How are you doing? Doing well, thank you. Hey, I've got a question, because I was listening to you talk about church membership earlier.

Yeah. And I disagree to a certain degree. I'm Catholic, and I've never listened to you before, but I was curious to, you know, we read the Bible, it talks about Jesus founding a church, the gates of hell will not prevail against this church. Jesus is fully human, fully God, so he's physical, you know, so the church is physical and spiritual. So as a Protestant, and like I said, it's the first time listening to you, what's the reasoning for, say, being Protestant versus being Catholic? Because I think, you know, the Catholic Church is the church that Jesus founded 2,000 years later, you know, the church is the church is the church. There may be a little disagreement, but the truth is the truth. So I was just curious, your take on that and your position as a Protestant. Yeah, yeah, sure.

Very, very easy to answer. First, I was raised in a Jewish home. We were not religious Jews, but I was raised in a Jewish home in Bar Mitzvah. And Judaism teaches that we have the Bible, but then we have the authority of the rabbis, and that they are the true expositors of Scripture. So you have the Bible plus tradition. That's how you understand the Bible. It's similar to Catholicism in that you have the Bible plus church tradition, and the church is seen as the rightful interpreter of the Bible. We both agree the Bible is God's word, correct?

Yeah. All right, so when I see church tradition violate the word, or add to the word, or take away from the word, then I have to reject that tradition. So that's why I'm not Catholic, because I find many of the traditions to be contrary to the Bible, or adding to the Bible, or taking away from the Bible, and, you know, even forbidding priests to marry. I find that as utterly unscriptural and even contrary to God's principles and what's best. And that's one reason I believe you have as many scandals as you do in the Catholic Church, is because that unbiblical teaching about priests, nuns have to be unmarried.

That opens the door for all kinds of disaster. Or the exaltation of Mary, which I find very contrary to Scripture, or doctrines like the infallibility of the Pope, or other aspects, you know, the nature of mass, purgatory and things, I don't find is scriptural. So I have friends of mine who were Catholic and love the Lord, and as far as I know are born again, and we agree on many fundamentals. But the church that Jesus is building, if you're right, then all the Greek and Russian Orthodox in the world, they're not part of the real church. And the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of Protestants are not part of the real church. I see the church that Jesus is building as far bigger than the walls of a Catholic Church, or the walls of a Greek Orthodox Church, or the walls of a Protestant Church, or anything like that.

I see them as far, far bigger than that. And it is a real body that he knows, and he can identify those that are truly his. In fact, it says in 2 Timothy that the foundation God is building is secure, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, so he knows his true church. And let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, so it's our turning away from sin. So what I'd encourage you to do is read the Bible afresh, and as you're reading it, just see if there's something that it teaches that the Catholic Church doesn't teach, put a question mark, ask why, or conversely, if the church is teaching something and you're reading a verse that seems to be contrary to that verse, mark that down. And then ask yourself the question, what has the greatest authority?

Does church tradition have the ability to rewrite scripture, to add to scripture, to take away from scripture, to reinterpret scripture, or must the traditions of the church be tested by the word? Hey, thank you, John, for the call. Glad you're listening and tuning in, and let's get to know each other better through the show.

I'm sure there'll be a ton that we do agree on. Appreciate the call. Do I have time for one more?

All right, I'm going to try quickly. Joseph in Washington State, time is short. Dive right into your question, please. Hi, Michael. Hey. Hey, I want to share that, and I want to see how you feel. Every morning when I wake up, I practice self-discipline. I say to myself, when I leave my house this morning, I will do a selfless act for another human being, for an animal, or for the earth. And so if I see a piece of litter on the ground, I pick it up, and I throw it in the trash, and I show mercy to the one that threw it on the ground. And these are the things I do, and before I drink coffee, I thank my Heavenly Father for creating coffee beans. Then I drink my coffee before I drink my water, and we have two dogs, or calavine, and I feed them before we, my wife and I, eat.

So that way they know they're getting food. So this is how I walk in my life every day, and even when I go outside and walk the dogs, and I see a squirrel, or a bird, or a deer, or a bunny, I say... Tell Joseph, you're on a run there, but I got to catch you off. I wanted to get to your question, but let us glorify Jesus, and above all, let us share the good news. The greatest act of kindness we could do for someone is introduce them to Jesus. All right, friends, notashamedofjesus.org. We just got six days. notashamedofjesus.org. Another program powered by the Truth Network.