Dr. Brown Answers Your Questions

Phone lines are open. You've got questions. We've got answers. 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. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the broadcast. You know what we do to end the week together? Or if you're listening by podcast or watching on TV on another day, this is what we do on Fridays here on The Line of Fire. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Any question on any subject of any kind that relates in any way to anything that we ever cover on The Line of Fire broadcast, this is the day to call. 866-348-7884. As long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, right? You may want to talk about certain subjects.

We know we can't have that discussion in public. But if it's appropriate for Christian radio, then by all means, give us a call. 866-34-TRUTH. Normally, when we start our shows on Friday, most Fridays, our phone lines are pretty jammed right out of the gate. Sometimes it takes a few minutes and then our phone lines are totally jammed. And then it's just a matter of as soon as the phone line opens, if you're calling persistently, you get through.

But we've got some openings right now. So this is a perfect time to call because you'll be able to get through. And if we get your call at the beginning, then we'll be able to answer you for sure. So those that have been trying to call without success or wanting to, now's the perfect time.

866-348-7884. A few things first. Just programming update, we will be live on Memorial Day. So for those that normally listen or watch, we'll be live Memorial Day, God willing. So that's our plan. Not 100% sure which way we're going on the broadcast.

I've got a few things on my heart. But we will be live. And we do plan to open the phone lines. So that'll be a great day.

Maybe you've got holiday time, free time, great time for you to be able to call in. That's one thing. Second thing, we are scheduled to have Pastor Greg Locke joining me on Tuesday. You may know Pastor Locke for some very controversial comments recently made about no Christian can vote Democrat and get out of the church if you vote that way.

That may be controversial for some, not for others. He made clear if you want to wear a mask or get vaccinated, you didn't belong in his church. But he's also a very bold gospel preacher, unashamed gospel preacher. So some know him as America's pastor and one of the most bold men in the country. Others think he's a raving lunatic.

There's not much in between when it comes to Pastor Locke. He made comments, oh, week and a half ago, two weeks ago, that were widely played. He's got several million people that follow him online. And it sounded like he was warning about a violent uprising. So I call that out immediately. I wrote an article about it. He then posted on my Facebook page in response, we have mutual friends, you should have reached out to me and you sound more woke these days, et cetera. Of course, I'll come on your show because I'd invited him on the show in the article. So we've been in private communication. He's been as gracious as you could ask for in private communication.

He's made clear that he absolutely was not calling for a violent uprising. And we're going to have an honest talk. We're just going to have a candid, honest talk on Tuesday about some major issues. He guaranteed that Joe Biden would not sit in the White House, that Trump is the real president.

He still believes Trump is the real president and Biden is, quote, a fake president. There are many areas that we have in harmony. Other areas we'd have strong differences. So that's the plan. Not to have a debate, but to have an honest, candid conversation. And we'll probably take calls as well if time permits. So that's scheduled for Tuesday.

And then any other programming note? I'm working on some things that I think you'd be really excited to hear about that will be a blessing to you, but not quite time to announce them publicly. Also, it's hard not to be thinking all the time about the slaughter of the children in Rivaldi, Texas, and so many questions about keeping our kids safe, keeping our schools safe, the bigger problems in our society that lie behind these specific individual tragedies, the Master in Buffalo. It's hard not to have these things in your heart and mind. So as we take questions today on a wide range of subjects, we continue to have a heavy heart. We continue to pray. We continue to say it's revival or we die.

All right. Eight, six, six, three, four, truth. Let's go to Evan in Muncie, Indiana. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hi there. So my question is, you know, the world is looking dark, and I just feel like in the past I've grievously grieved the Holy Spirit, and I'm just wondering how can I get back to God's calling for my life? So Evan, let me ask you this. Do you think that when Jesus died on the cross for you, he paid for that sin? I do. Okay. Do you think there are men and women of God in the Bible that also grieved the Holy Spirit and then repented and God used them after that? I do.

Okay, so good. We're in harmony there, because I've certainly grieved the Spirit. Every one of us that's walked this earth, one way or another has grieved the Spirit. I know I've grieved the Spirit as a believer, as a child of God. And that's different than blaspheming the Spirit where we knowingly attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil.

It's a very, very different thing. So the first thing you have to do is go back to the cross, like you do for every other sin, and confess to God. I'm sure you've done it, but say, okay, I've confessed this. I've confessed my guilt.

I alone take responsibility, take full responsibility. Lord, I ask you to wash me, cleanse me with the blood of Jesus, and give me that deep assurance that I'm forgiven. Did you have any kind of a radical born-again experience?

I grew up in the church, believer. I will say that I kind of fell away and I did have a vision of Christ coming to my rescue and taking my cross. So you had a sense at a certain point in your life of really receiving forgiveness, right?

Yes. And the guilt was removed? Yes, the burden was taken.

Okay, so that's what you need now, and the only thing standing between you and receiving that is you. In other words, if you've truly repented and asked God for forgiveness, and you've truly gotten things right with him, now if it involves others, you have to get things right with them. We understand that, right? If somebody commits a crime, they murder someone and then ask God to forgive them, okay, God will forgive them, but they now have to go to the police and turn themselves in and suffer the consequences for their crime in this world. So we understand those things, but in terms of forgiveness, I would take all the verses that I know about forgiveness. The end of Micah 7, that he casts our sins into the sea and remembers them no more, and Jeremiah 31, the new covenant of forgiveness and not remembering our sins anymore, and 1 John 1 about him cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

I would take those, I would pray over them, I would confess them to God, I would thank God for forgiveness, mercy, and then I would do what my hand finds to do. In other words, whatever you can do today to honor the Lord, do it. Whatever you can do today to seek his face, do it. Whatever you can do to share the gospel, do it.

And as you walk in the light you have it in daily obedience, then whatever God's called you to do, he will be able to restore and rebuild from there. Okay, thank you. Does that help? Yes it does, thank you very much.

Sure, and I only ask if it helps, only because sometimes people say, well I did all that and I'm still in this rut, in which case we need to dig deeper, but sometimes it's just really taking hold of those things and having someone give us that assurance as well. 866-34-TRUTH, there is a question that was posted on YouTube by someone who couldn't call in, so guys if you could grab that from me again, I want to try to address that before going back to the phones. Aramis can't call right now, but my question if anyone can answer is why are some names capitalized in the Bible, many names for demons? Okay, capitalization is up to the translator, because in the original Hebrew and the original Greek you did not have separate capitalization. So it's simply a matter if something is a proper name, you capitalize it, whether it's a name for God, or a title for God, whether it's the name of an angel, the name of a demon, the name of a person, you capitalize it. So that's simply the custom, so you don't capitalize D in devil, the devil, that's just his title, when we say the Lord, because speaking about deity we capitalize that, but when it's a name like Satan, we capitalize that.

So it's simply a matter of recognizing it as a proper name, and proper names are capitalized, that simple. 866-34-TRUTH, let's go to Mark in Louisville, North Carolina, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you Dr. Brown, appreciate you taking my call again, obviously the question was, I believe Satan is bound, and I was calling in to ask her, and I know you don't believe that Satan is bound. Oh wait, hang on, hang on, is this continuing the discussion about Amillennialism? Yes, that's part of it, sure. Alright, didn't we just talk very recently?

No, I haven't talked to you in probably a month now I guess, probably been at least a month. Okay, alright, if you have a question, you can ask the question, it's not for you to give a teaching, but if you have a question, you can ask the question, alright? Okay, how would I ask this, how do you think Satan is not bound, I guess would be the way I would ask it. Right, so 1 Peter 5, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, resist him, steadfast in the faith. So obviously if he's walking around as a roaring lion, he's seeking to devour, and we're called to resist him, steadfast in the faith, he's not bound. Or, that's 1 Peter 5, or 2 Corinthians 11, Paul is concerned for the Corinthians, lest Satan deceives them, as Eve was deceived, he's obviously not bound. Or, Ephesians 6, that tells us that our warfare is with spiritual powers, principalities in the heavenlies, this is where our current battle is. Or, Jacob James the fourth chapter, that tells us to resist the devil, and he will flee. So these are all ongoing exhortations, telling us the devil is seeking to deceive, he's seeking to destroy, he's seeking to devour, we must resist him, we are doing war in the spirit. If Satan was bound so he could no longer deceive the nations, then all these verses would be completely irrelevant.

Again, to me that's the Achilles' heel of the amillennial position, Revelation 20 obviously has not happened yet. Hey, thank you for the call, I appreciate it. 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. So I was packing up my bags for a prayer retreat this weekend after finishing the show today. And yes, I've got my vitamin supplements with me, as you know, I eat only healthy food all the time by God's grace.

It's been the pattern now for just about 8 years, it's been wonderful, life changing. And then you add in some healthy supplements that push things even further. So we're working together with Dr. Mark Stengler, my personal physician as well, even though he's in California, that's how he functions, that's how we work together. And if you heard the ad, vitaminmission.com. He helps us do what we're doing, he generously donates to this broadcast to help us reach more people. And when you use our special code, you get a 10% discount.

So vitaminmission.com, go there, check things out, use the code. And by the way, it's not a secret. Tell your pastor, tell your whole church to use it. Benefit from it, everybody benefits. Alright, 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to Mike in Springfield, Illinois. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Yes, thanks for taking my call. I was wondering if, is it true that the Roman Catholic Church and also the Orthodox Church believe that salvation is a process? Yes, they would say it like that. In other words, it's not to say that they don't recognize people are saved and lost. We would say that works are the fruit of true salvation. That if someone is truly saved, it will be seen in their works. They would say that works are part of the ongoing salvation process.

That you believe and you act and you participate in things, say for a Roman Catholic like the mass. And these things are all part of the process of salvation. And then at death, there's further purging of sin to make one ready for God's eternal abode. So they would emphasize mercy through the cross. They would say there's no salvation outside of the blood of Jesus. But then they would see salvation as more of a process as opposed to a very specific, clear momentary conversion, which then leads to a process of sanctification for the rest of your life. Now, I'm not a spokesman for the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Church, obviously, and you might be a Catholic priest or Orthodox priest listening and you would say it differently than I'm saying it, but a Catholic would have no problem saying that we are saved by faith with accompanying works. Whereas... Can I ask you something?

Yeah, yeah. Well, the real reason I want to ask is, and that did help a lot, just basically, he asked me months ago, he said that the Orthodox believe that salvation is work space and I proved to him that that's not what they believe. And then he came back months later and said, oh, you know, he said, well, you believe it's a process. He said, you believe it's a process. So he's trying to get at that we don't believe in faith alone gets you salvation through Jesus.

So that's why he's really staying at him, I think. He's trying to pin us down. Yeah, I mean, look, the fact of the matter is that we preach that the moment someone puts their trust in the Lord for salvation, the moment, hang on there, the moment that we recognize our sin and truly cry out to God for mercy. Father, forgive me. Wash me clean. I've sinned. I'm guilty in your sight. I believe Jesus took my punishment. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me. I cry out to you for salvation. Forgive me through what he did. I believe he died on the cross and rose from the dead.

I ask you to save me, to forgive me, to make me your child so I can live for you the rest of my days. I believe at that moment, someone passes from death to life, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. At that moment they are born from a new and now the next step, and it should be a step that's taken upon true confession is baptism.

I know we have the custom of teaching and preparing and making sure someone's ready. But if there's real conversion to be followed by baptism, and that in a sense is the outward seal and the outward sign that we have now died to sin and risen a new life in Jesus. I experienced it in a moment of time. Others have experienced it in a moment of time, and now it's a lifetime of growing and growing closer to the Lord and growing in sanctification. But that is because we are saved, not in order to be saved. One other point is that the Greek verb sodzo, which is save, deliver, is used in different ways about us in the Bible. We have been saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. So we have been born from above and been made children of God. We are now being purified and sanctified. We will be raised forever to be with him.

866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Eric in Winston-Salem. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. Thanks for taking my call. I am a person who, I've been a Christian for a number of years. I can't even tell you the exact point I was, but there came a point where I believed that it was Christ and Christ alone for my salvation and works and things like that.

I also have a recipe, and I have a form for OCD called scrupulosity. And I worry very much about the unpardonable sin. I've had the most blasphemous thoughts run through my mind, and if anybody has had scrupulosity, basically it's these uncontrollable, intrusive thoughts that you can't stop. And there's been things that have gone through my mind, stuff like the Pharisees said, stuff even worse if you can imagine that.

Things sometimes, it just got so overwhelming that it was starting to come out of my mouth. And I've heard people say that the unpardonable sin was only when the leaders of Israel at the time did what they did. They rejected the judge of Christ, and when they said what they said in the presence of Christ, either personally, it was them basically rejecting the kingdom. People say it can't be committed today, some people say it can't. I don't know. So Eric, let's say it can be committed today, and let's say that it is to knowingly and willfully attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan.

So here's a question for you. Eric, why do you think Jesus said every sin can be forgiven except that one? Would that indicate to you that it's an especially severe sin? It's crossing the point of no return, because we know God forgives us forever. God can forgive a serial killer, a serial rapist, the most evil person on the planet if they truly cry out for mercy. They may have consequences in this world, they suffer, but even they can be forgiven. And we know people sin terribly in the Bible, and we're forgiven.

So it's got to be crossing a certain line. Eric, in your heart of hearts, do you desire to please God, or do you hate him? I desire to please him. I love him. Right, so God knows that.

God knows that. And I'm not at all familiar with the condition that you described. It sounds miserable. But if it is a known condition, is it any different than having a physical condition, like you get in a car accident, your spine is severed, and you can't walk. So you want to walk, but you can't walk. In your experience, is this any different than a physical disability?

I would say no. I guess part of it is that it seems like it's so much from us. It's like literally having your mind taken over. And there are people who have different forms supposed to be, where they fear they're going to harm somebody or something like that. Basically the way it works, a good way of explaining how it works is, when you come across the verses on the blast of the Holy Spirit, it's like, hey, don't think of red elephants. Right, right, jumping in your head. So this is Eric. I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist. So I'm a minister of the gospel, a student of the word.

But I want to say a few things. The fact that you are concerned about this, the fact that in your heart of hearts you want to please God, means that you're not in danger of blaspheming the Spirit. It is only when someone crosses many lines and gets to a point where they pass the point of no return that they commit a sin like this, because it is passing the point of no return. And it can never happen to anyone unless they have willfully, absolutely, with determination, set themselves against God.

You don't do this by accident, you know. Many people say, oh, I used to think tongues was of the devil. Does that mean I blaspheme the Spirit? No, you just didn't understand.

It's completely different worlds. So start there and ask God to help you make that real in your heart. That's the first thing. The second thing is, keep asking for healing of this condition, or for a way to treat it medically, or for God to miraculously work that your mind can be supernaturally renewed. Certainly this is not his desire for you, to have these kind of thoughts running through your system, and running through your mind, or even coming to your lips. So either miraculous healing, or a viable treatment that addresses these issues, or some type of counseling that addresses these issues.

Again, these are areas outside of my knowledge, so I'm simply saying what the goal would be. And with that, the supernatural renewing of your mind, so that your mind comes under divine control by the Word of God, and by the Spirit of God. So let's just pray for Eric. Lord, help our brother. Work a miracle in him with whatever means you see fit, and help him to supernaturally renew his mind with the help of your spirit, so that these will just be distant memories, absolutely not connected to who he really is. And give him that assurance that he's your child and forgiven, in Jesus' name.

Yeah, Eric, I can't relate personally, but I relate to God, who can do everything, everything to help us with life and Godliness. And I trust, as you lean on him, he'll help you. Hey, thank you for calling, sir.

May God's grace be yours. We'll get right back to your calls 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. Welcome, welcome to the broadcast. 866-34-TRUTH.

You've got questions, we've got answers. Hey, one last announcement to all our friends on KDKR. There's some schedule changes in the DFW area, the station where you're listening. So, you can catch our broadcast in full two to three central time by getting The Line of Fire app on your phone or by going to our website, AskDrBrown.org. There's a link there, you can just watch the whole show live or you can catch it on KDKR if you're a late night person.

The whole hour, 11 to 12 p.m. That'll be starting next week. All right, we go back to the phones starting in New Liberia, Louisiana. Richard, welcome to The Line of Fire. Yes, I was listening to the last caller and I have similar issues with OCD, I guess. I was wondering what your views were on exorcisms and baptism as maybe a form of exorcism.

Richard, I'm sorry to hear about your struggles and again, don't claim to be in your shoes or understand what you've been through. Generally speaking, baptism is not associated with exorcism. There have been some powerful moves of the Spirit. There's one taking place in Georgia now where people are being baptized and getting healed and getting delivered. But normally, exorcism driving demons out takes place outside of the context of baptism. It's just something that happens in our ministry one-on-one or in church ministry or specialized counseling.

So, here's the thing. I remember hearing one pastor talk about two people he had prayed for with epilepsy in a short period of time. One of them had lesions on the brain which is commonly associated with epilepsy and he prayed for the person and got healed the epilepsy and the lesions either disappeared or diminished. He said the other, it was demonic and when he drove the demon out, the epilepsy disappeared. It's often been said you can't drive out the flesh and you can't crucify a demon. So, we have to understand what we're dealing with. There are people with chemical imbalances or some brain dysfunction of some kind and that's what we're dealing with as opposed to a demon.

We know there are people, for example, that have a spinal injury and are crippled because of it. Then we have Luke 13, a woman bound by a spirit, bound by Satan for 18 years and she's bent over because of that. That's why we need discernment of the spirits, 1 Corinthians 12.

So, Richard, I would look for people that truly believe in deliverance ministry that are sound in the gospel in your community and reach out to them. Is this demonic? Is this a demonic stronghold in your life?

Are there roots to it that could be uncovered? Perhaps dealing with those would bring healing or dealing with those would open the door to deliverance. And then in other cases, it's a matter of, it's not a specific demonic assault. It's a matter of counseling and putting biblical principles in play. Sometimes there is an imbalance of some kind and there are chemical issues going on. So, may the Lord give discernment and wisdom to those who help minister to you so that you can find true freedom.

That's all I can say, sir, from a distance. But I've seen examples of each. I've seen people through counseling, learning godly principles and by putting those in place, they received new discipline and were changed. I've seen people that got on medication and their lives changed for the better because they did have a chemical imbalance.

And I've seen people supernaturally delivered from demonic power and they were changed thereafter. So, may the Lord give wisdom to you and to those that minister to you so you can find the full freedom that the Lord wants you to experience in him. Hey, thank you for the call. Appreciate it. Let's go to Rodney in Delray, Florida.

You are on the line of fire. Dr. Brown, how are you doing today? Doing great, thank you. I met with you a while back. Our friend Steve Hill was my best man. Remember when we met? Alright, got it, got it. That Rodney. Okay, yes sir, yes sir.

Yeah, first time calling and I don't think we'll be the last. Alright. The reason why I was calling was for your expertise in your Hebrew and dealing with the book of Genesis in the beginning and then in the days, people that hold to the 24 hour only or, you know, the young earth position of the earth predicated on the day being a 24 hour period. And that's confusing sometimes. Could it be anything else? Sure, of course it could.

Here's the deal. The Hebrew word yom is not much different than the English word day, right? So when we speak about during daytime hours, we mean while it's light, right? Then we could speak about a 24 hour day that's the whole period, light and dark, right? Or look, hey, we'll play some ball during the day, what we mean during the light hours, right?

Or I'll see you in three days, that means three 24 hour periods, right? Or the day of the Lord could be a period of many days or weeks or months or years. So our English word day is no different than the Hebrew word day. So if you're looking, for example, in Genesis chapter 1 verse 5, God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. So right there in verse 5, day is used in two different ways.

Day is used for the daytime, day is used for day and night. My only point is that it's not like there's something magical about the Hebrew word yom where it must mean 24 hour period. Now some say, well, whenever you have day and night, that means 24 hour period. Well, every time after Genesis 1, it's always in this world. That's why day and night is 24 hour period.

So to me, it could well be 24 hour periods or it could well be periods of time. The Hebrew can go either way in my view. So I've had young earth creationists on my broadcast and old earth creationists on the broadcast and I gladly have them debate these issues. In my view, though, the Hebrew could go either way. You even have the expression beyom, which means, just simply means when. So Genesis 2, beyom, doesn't mean in the 24 hour period, but just when a certain thing happened. So I do not base my views on whether it's a 24 hour period or not. I base my views on what is the purpose of Genesis 1 and it's to teach us about God the creator. So I leave the scientific debate to the scientists to discuss it and for them to argue back and forth about what the text says and how it applies. And I simply say, okay, why did God put it here? And he put it there to teach us who he is and how he operates in this world and how we are to live. Now you might say, come on, man, it says elsewhere, you know, in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth. Right, so it's God six days, now it's applying to our six days. And either way, the application is the same.

He rested the seventh day, we rest the seventh day. So I'm not too pragmatic on it. Young earth creationists, to me, can make a good case just using the Bible. They have a lot of scientific challenges.

Old earth creationists may have less scientific challenges, but then they can have various challenges with genealogies and things like that in the Bible. So to me, it's a healthy debate that we can have without dividing over it. Hey, appreciate the call, man. Okay. All right, sure thing. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to Jim in Chicago, Illinois. Welcome to the broadcast. Thank you, Dr. Michael.

Appreciate you, man, and I really appreciate the way you answered Eric's question there. He's tormented, but I believe God's going to help him. John 4.21. So this is like, or 4.23, my apologies. Let me read it. But to our cometh, and now is, when the two worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. So this is my question on that. He says, now is, to our cometh and now is, I understand that the veil was rent and the priesthood was abolished. I also understand that we've got the prophecy in Joel, I'll pour out my Spirit on all flesh, that you know that better than I do. Okay, but what I'm trying to figure out here is, is he saying that before that, that they didn't worship the Father in spirit and in truth?

Because it seems like they did. And I'm just trying to figure out if there's a way to distinguish that. So what's the context of the passage?

What goes before it? Well, the context is the woman at the well. Samaritan. Yeah, the Samaritan woman at the well and worshipping in this mountain. Right, so they had their own tradition with Mount Gerizim, and the Jews had their tradition in Jerusalem, right? So they had a conflict over that, and Jesus is saying, okay, here's the deal. The day is coming when the focus is not going to be on a temple or on a location in a specific place. Now, it's not to say that when the people of Israel came to the temple to worship, that they were not worshipping in spirit and in truth, but rather to say it was tied in with a specific location.

And now, starting now, and in this age in which we live, it is universal. It is anywhere in the world that regardless of location, you could be in a prison cell, you could be in a subway sewer, you could be in an airplane, you could be in Jerusalem, you could be in New York, you can worship God because we worship in spirit as opposed to in a physical location and in truth based on who he is. So that's the emphasis there, and it's not saying that the location was unimportant in the past because God was very, very clear about you only worship here in this mountain. I mean, that was dogmatically laid out, and God's gonna point to places, this is in Deuteronomy, and you go to that place, and that's where you worship him. And in the millennial kingdom here, when Jesus returns, he's returning to Jerusalem, and in the millennial kingdom, the word will go out from Jerusalem. So God still has purposes for places, but the emphasis is not on a place, but on a person. The emphasis is not on location, but relationship, and that's by the power and life of the spirit and based on God's truth. And that's then for everybody, everywhere, at any time of the day or night, in any location on the planet, we can now worship in spirit and in truth. Hey, thank you, Jim. I appreciate the question. 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. Hey, friends. Just another reminder. Make sure you get our updates. You know, we're writing articles on really important, difficult issues dealing with problems in our society, the agony that we're living with right now, biblical perspectives. We don't want you to miss a single article. We're putting out cutting-edge video commentaries. We'd love to get in your hands. So the simplest way to be sure you don't miss anything is by going to our website now.

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We may grab a couple of YouTube questions before we are done today. All right, let's go over to Waxahachie, Texas. Joshua, welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown. I've just read your article on Pastor Greg Locke, and I agree with what you're saying. I have kind of a two-question thing. Ultimately, the first question is, I guess I've asked the question before looking at the left, the Democrat Party, the LGBT rhetoric, the indoctrination of kids and abortion. And I guess I've asked the question before, like, man, how can you vote Democrat and be aligned with that? And I agree with your article. I want to just come out and say I agree with what you've written. But when I watched this video, ultimately, it's like, man, it just looks bad.

It's not out of love. But a part of me is like, God, we kind of agree with a little bit what he's saying. I just call in to ask you to try to help me with that. And the second question is, you know, we have the Revolutionary War that's happened, the Civil War, and there's been different things that's happened in our history that a war has happened. I think of like Romans 13 of, you know, the ban of governments and, you know, sell your clothes, pick up a sword.

At what point in our country would like war need to happen? I guess is my question. I'm not trying to advocate for war. No, no. Understood.

Understood. Some of Pastor Locke's supporters on social media said this is absolutely like the time of the Revolutionary War. And you better believe the Founding Fathers would be proud of Pastor Locke and it's time to take up arms. He has been very clear saying he did not mean that.

And he was not saying that. So we'll play the clip on Tuesday, God willing, and let him answer for himself as he's on the air with us and speak to these things directly. As for a Christian voting Democrat, here's been my question the whole time. If you know that this candidate supports abortion, which is the shedding of innocent blood in the womb, how can you vote for him?

I've asked that question in conscience. I could not. I very strongly challenged a bunch of leaders, some of whom were fine men, who said they were pro-life evangelicals for Joe Biden.

They said, cannot be, cannot be, cannot be, cannot be. And when they said, wow, they're disappointed with the positions he's taking, I said, shame on you. Because he always said those were his positions. And you had no business ever believing anything differently. And why not just say we don't like Donald Trump and that's why we're voting for Joe Biden? If you don't like Donald Trump, then then vote for somebody else, but not for Joe Biden or not for Hillary Clinton.

That's been my view. At the same time, I've sat with Christian believers who say, I absolutely oppose abortion. I absolutely oppose homosexuality. I'm working on the grassroots against those things. But I don't think voting is going to change that. And the Democrats are much more responsive to the issues that are important to me and my home community with education and with fair sentencing and things like that.

That's why I vote Democrat. I still differ with them, but I don't damn them to hell. I don't say they're not saved. And in fact, should be early June, I'm scheduled to have a conversation with a black brother who has, we've had some really good interaction.

I just say black brother because it's white, black perspectives from different angles that we want to bring to some of these subjects in a way that I think will be really, really helpful to move us forward in a united front for the Lord. So is there a time for just war? Yes, I believe there is. I believe there are certain wars that are justified. You know, a Catholic church in particular has had teaching on the just war concept.

Others, many Christian ethicists have commented on this. But for example, during World War II, was it right and righteous for the United States to join in with European allies to stop the Nazis and to fight against Japan? Absolutely. Japan bombed us.

The Nazis were trying to commit genocide, exterminate a whole race of people. Yes, that was just, that was right. So did the Revolutionary War in America, was that merited? Did it cross that certain line? Obviously, our founding fathers would say yes, and most of American history we would say yes. I don't see any connection between that and where we are today because things that are happening today are happening because we let them happen.

What do I mean? How many Christians are actually involved in pro-life work? I mean, not just an occasional vote every two years or four years, but actually involved working with those on the front lines, supporting them financially, helping with pregnancy, crisis centers, standing in front of abortion clinics, adopting, working foster care.

The tiniest, tiniest, tiniest percent. If 10% of the church got mobilized on that, the tide would turn almost overnight. And I could go through the list of things where we're basically participants. Look, if we all used our rights to vote and vote it in the best way that we could, America would look different. Some of us don't even vote. And then boil it down even more, what if we gave ourselves to serious prayer? Here, I'll make it like baby level. What if every born-again Christian in America spent 15 solid minutes in prayer really communing with the Lord and offering their lives to the Lord, saying, Lord, here I am, use me, praying for their families, their neighborhoods, whatever.

Just 15 minutes a day, or average out to 15 minutes over the course of a week. America would look very different. So to me, that's the big issue. If something happened where the government literally turned against us and said, we're taking your kids from you and going to put them in indoctrination camp where they don't learn about God or the Bible or they learn what we want them to learn. Obviously a line's crossed, you know? Or if, okay, the elderly, we don't think they're useful, so we're going to take them to extermination camps.

Obviously a line is crossed there. And Americans are going to say, no, no, we are going to fight for our rights, we're going to fight for our families. But we're not there. And the only way we could be anywhere near there is because of our own inaction, our own prayerlessness, our own sin, our own compromise. Let's get that fixed and America will look very different. Oh, we're in a perilous moment.

Very, very precarious state in America right now. But let's get our act together first, then we can talk about other issues. Hey Joshua, thank you for the call and the questions.

All right, I've got a couple minutes, let's do this. Jonathan on YouTube, my brother believes a modified version of the JEDP theory. What would you tell them and do you have any book recommendations on the subject? Yeah, so this is the authorship of the Pentateuch. I have not engaged in JEDP issues for so many years, just because I was never convinced of it. Look at some of the writings of Kenneth Kitchen. They're a little bit older now, but Kenneth Kitchen really demolished a lot of this a long time ago.

And let's just, let's just even see. I mean, there were old classics when I was first in college and getting into these things. I just want to see if this is still available. Umberto Cassuto commentary on Genesis. Yeah, there's, there's a, you can get it for $2.99 on Kindle right now. The documentary hypothesis by Umberto Cassuto. It came out decades ago.

There's a new edition in 2011. Check that out. I just never found it convincing. And if you just look at some of the good commentaries on books of the Pentateuch that address a lot of issues as far as dating, or some of the good Old Testament introductions. But when I was in college, grad school, and the professors I studied with largely believed in the so-called documentary hypothesis of the authorship of the Pentateuch, it just never convinced me. There were other objections and issues they raised or other ways of reading scripture that to me were more powerful and presented things I needed to address. But way back then, you know, I got Oswald T. Alice's book against this and Benno Yaakov's German commentary on Genesis.

You know, this big fat commentary in which he did a lot of demolition work on JEDP and that was way early. So, you know, I looked at it a lot more back then than I have since. But Kenneth Kitchen, his books on ancient orient and Old Testament, and just basically saying there's no pattern of literature being written like this in the ancient world. And of course, we never have any evidence pointing to it ever in history in terms of here's where we had this, then this was added, this was added. So there are brilliant scholars who hold to it. It's just never been convincing to me at all. But some of these sources you'll find interesting.

Kitchen's larger book on the reliability of the Old Testament I find really helpful. Friends, I tweeted something out in 2020. I just retweeted it today. I truly believe that if more preachers were on fire, then more believers would be on fire and less of our cities would be on fire. So let the work start with us. Let the repentance start with us. Let the turning to God start with us. Let the fervent prayer start with us. If we cry out to God, we'll see many in the nation turning to Him to cry out as well. May God have mercy on our land. Hey, friends, we'll be live Memorial Day, so feel free to join us and we'll open the phone lines as well.