Dr. Brown Tackles Your Best Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Phone lines are wide open. 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 so much for joining us on the line of fire. Michael Brown is always delighted, thrilled to have this time with you from the heart. And it's not just something I say at the beginning of the show.

It is my joy to be with you. So the phone lines are open. Any question you have on a Bible subject, a theology subject, meaning of a Hebrew or Greek word in the Bible, something in Jewish tradition, political question today, moral, cultural issue, spiritual growth issue, something you're dealing with in your own church, give me a call 866-348-7884. If you differ with me on something, want to challenge me, want to probe, by all means, give me a call as long as it's appropriate for Christian radio, right? As long as it's something we can talk about in a public setting like this.

Then by all means, give a call. I would love to talk with you. I've got some questions I might answer on social media as well. If you're watching on YouTube and you have a question for me, we weren't able to do a YouTube chat this week just because of schedule and extra recording we had to do. But feel free to post your question in the YouTube chat. Just put at ask Dr. Brown first at ask Dr. Brown first, and our team will look for that and grab those and I'll answer some of those for you. I want to tell you a story first. I was thinking about this. I don't know why it came to mind today, but three times that the Lord used me to rebuke or exhort myself, yeah, three times that the Lord used me to exhort or rebuke myself.

So I don't know the exact chronological order, but I do know that the first two were in the mid-1980s and the last one was around 1990. Okay, so time number one, I'm doing a two-day fast. So it's a short fast, but sometimes those were the worst days, the opening days, and I was doing a two-day fast and I was going to eat the next day.

So I'm not eating all day, Monday, Tuesday, then I'll eat Wednesday, right? So I'm preaching at what was my home church on a Tuesday, and I lived about an hour away. We used to be part of that congregation, moved out to teach further on Long Island. So it was a bit of a commute, but I was speaking there on a Tuesday night and I was fasting, I was having a miserable time. And I thought, you know what, you know what, I, okay, not sure what's happening, friends, I'm looking at my board and not seeing any calls coming in, but as folks are trying to call, they're getting a busy signal.

So my apologies. That's why I'm telling you a story here, because I'm thinking, okay, well, normally when we start the show, all the phone lines are, most of them are lit up right when we start, and then it's a challenge to get through on a Friday. But let's, let's see what's going on. If somehow this problem persists, which I hope it doesn't, if somehow the problem persists, all right, maybe, I don't know, give us a call 866-348-784, or I'll have to say, it looks like phone lines are open. If you're getting a busy signal, my apologies.

I don't know why that would be all right. So I'm on my way driving to the church service and I'm thinking I got to eat tonight, I'm just, I'm going to eat and look, it's basically 48 hours from when I started, you know, I ate like Sunday night and now it's late, now it's Monday, Tuesday, it's Tuesday, it'll be 48 hours and it's like two days and then, oh, there's a pizza place I really liked and I was going to be on the way home and I knew they were going to be open when the service was over and Long Island, you know, good pizza and all that. And I knew exactly what I wanted, the slices I wanted. So I, I, I was ready. I made my plans.

I'm going to break my fast just a little, or what does it really matter? And I get up to preach. And before I start the message, the Holy Spirit, I get grabbed in my heart and I just say, God's looking for people when they make a commitment, stay with that commitment and they don't wimp out, they do what they're say they're going to do. I literally rebuked myself and I repented. Sorry, Lord, I won't need to tell tomorrow, but that was, that was one time when literally God used me to rebuke myself. Okay.

Okay. A second time was a little different, the same church and I was, I was speaking, I believe on a Sunday morning and I said, you know, some of you, some of you, you are, you ride the subways in New York city, you're on the trains and some of you God wants you to actually get up and preach. This was something that would happen.

People did this. I don't know if it's still the same now, but many, many years ago, different ones would get up, different faiths and things like that, and just would share a little while during the subway ride, right? In between stops and things like that. And, um, uh, I said, you know, some of you, you ride the subway and God's, God's been speaking to you that you get up and preach one day and, uh, I was safe for me to say that because I wasn't going into the city anymore.

I used to commute in for grad school and teaching I was doing, but I wasn't doing that, so it was safe for me. And as I share it, I hear this little voice say, aren't you going into New York this week? I thought, Oh, come on. It was for them. That wasn't for me. That was for them. That was for everybody else. That wasn't for me. Yeah. Anyway, I, uh, this particular time I felt like terrified.

How am I going to do that? I mean, it's not like me to feel terrified, but it's, I remember before leaving, I asked Nancy pray for me, you know, lay hands and pray for me for boldness. I just, so I, I'm, I'm, I'm getting on the Long Island railroad, right? So getting on the Long Island railroad, I wasn't going to speak in there.

That wasn't an appropriate place, but subway, like I said, a lot more stuff actually happened in that setting. So, uh, before getting on Long Island railroad people, I'll just witness to somebody on the platform here and I go over to a guy. I got a little track I'm going to give him and I said, honor you looking guy. I went over to him. I said, Hey man, those are a cool cross earrings you got there. He goes, that's not a cross.

That's a dagger. So, okay, you have a nice day. And then I'm waiting for the subway. And I thought, you know, I gotta make sure I do this.

I believe the Lord wants me to do this. And, uh, I talked to a guy on the platform. I said, have you ever seen anybody get up on the subway and preach during one of the, during one of the rides?

He goes, Nope. I said, you're about to. I just want to make sure I committed to do it. And then got on and just shared the gospel.

A couple of people said they wanted to hear more, received the Lord, you know, whatever, but, but I did that. Third time I remember I was in, I was in Korea, 1990, they had me scheduled to do 25 meetings in a week, 25 meetings, some of them, two, three hours long, 25 meetings in a week, and I'm jet lagged, you know, 14 hour flight, 13 hour time differential, et cetera, 14 hour flight. That was the second flight. That was the long flight first we flew into Detroit, 14 hours from there. Now the, now in there exhausted, you know, jet lag the whole bit. I'm teaching them and first day. And, and I said, you know, some of you and Koreans fast a lot.

They're very prayerful, very, very fasting, devoted Christians. So I said, it was, I was teaching in the morning session. I said, you know, some of you need to fast lunch, just skip lunch and pray because God's speaking, God's dealing with you.

And I hear the spirit say to me, what a wonderful idea. No, Lord, Lord, that's for everybody else. Cause I'm tired and I need that meal and I got to eat.

I got to get food in my eye. I knew that was for them. That was for everybody else. That wasn't for me, but that was for me.

Also. So the first time I, I actually rebuked myself, I gave this word about being wimpy and not keeping commitments. And it was God speaking through me to me that other times they. What was that everybody? Okay. Everybody's ears. Okay.

Not sure what that was, but if you heard it, that was like, that was loud and intense. Oh my. All right. Everybody good.

So the other times it was the Lord just using me to give a friendly exhortation. Okay. Interesting day so far, our first Friday ever. We're going to see a single call on the board and now we have to reconnect. Look at that, but I'll just keep talking for those that are still here. I've got a question that was posted under the new covenant. Are we to intercede in prayer for some of the way Moses and Abraham interceded in the Old Testament for the fact that in the Old Testament judgment came immediately on some people.

Oh, we should absolutely intercede. Absolutely. And judgment still does come on people. It's just not announced in the same way as broadly and widely as it may have been. Right.

Right. But look there, I, I remember times when I was deeply gripped to pray for someone out of the blue and I knew it was urgent, it was life or death. I remember one young man in particular, he was married, he had struggled with alcohol before he was a believer and he started playing games and fell back. And his wife called one night in a panic, didn't know where he was.

He'd gotten drunk and a football game and just slept it off. Just didn't come home and she was in a panic over it. And God had me gripped in prayer for him, gripped in prayer. And then, then I went to, to, to warn him. I felt God gave me a clear prophetic word.

I went in, asked if I could just meet with him. I got down on one knee and I just said, man, if you don't, if you don't get this together, he had the discipline to, he was simply a matter of will. I said, if you don't get this together, you're going to lose your family.

You're going to destroy your life. And sure enough, he lost, lost his wife over his, his backsliding and things. So yeah, we intercede the same way. Those, those burdens are very, very real to this day. All right.

866-348-7884. Hopefully, we have everything, everything getting worked out. Yeah. I'm just reading our board. I really apologize. We've had a couple of glitches in recent weeks.

I'm not really sure why. Okay. Let's be spiritual. The devil is attacking the line of fire broadcast. What happens every day?

But he's just the devil and Jesus is Jesus. So we go on and devil's attacking all of us in different ways. All the time, but we march forward in Jesus' name, but maybe just some growing pains as we are improving and expanding some of our capabilities. And we work together with our station base in Winston-Salem and they too going through some growing pains. So thanks for your patience with us. Go ahead, give us a call, 866-348-7884. And we will come right back, take your calls, answer some of your questions that have been posted on social media and my daily reminder. Download the app.

Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R Brown Ministries on Apple or Android. We'll be right back. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire, 866-348-7884. I'm going to go over to some social media questions. Again, feel free if you're ever on YouTube to post your question, if you're having a hard time getting through to us today.

All right. Next week, next week, Monday's broadcast. We're going to give a checklist, a spiritual checklist to see what our spiritual health is leading up to the elections and kind of looking back to how we did in 2020. Then Tuesday, Wednesday, I've got some Ask Me Anything broadcast. We're going to have a blast with a ton of really interesting questions. And then Thursday, we want to take you into a debate that I have done over 10 years ago with Rabbi Shmueli, one of our classic debates on Isaiah 53, who really killed Jesus. We were able to squeeze in just about all of the opening comments and rebuttals, almost everything except for the closing comments and the Q&A. We're going to play the whole thing on the air.

So that's going to be an experience. And then Friday, as always, you've got questions. We've got answers.

Okay, let's see here, Jason asked this on social media, on Facebook. When speaking about your upcoming trip to Israel, you mentioned the husband and wife of a house apprentice where you call them key armor bearers. I'm not familiar with the term. Could you explain what it means and are there any resources about it? Thank you.

So I have to think, maybe during the break, I can find a book. I remember many, many years ago talking about it, recommending a book on it, but I've never read much about it and I've not written about it. So it is a spiritual lingo in certain circles and not everyone's familiar with it. So we know in the Bible what an armor bearer was, right? So you would have, let's say you're a soldier and you're a top soldier. You had someone that would carry your armor or that would assist you in battle so that you could do everything that you were called to do as a warrior, as a soldier for your people.

Let me give you a non-militaristic description here for a moment. Think of a golf caddy, all right? All right? So you're a world-class golfer, we'll mention the most famous Tiger Woods, right? You're a world-class golfer, but you don't carry your own golf clubs when you're an elite golfer. You have a caddy. The caddy carries the clubs for you and then hands you the club that you need so that you can play at your very, very best level and concentrate on what you need to concentrate on. But not only so, that golf caddy is also an astute student of the game and also knows your strengths and weaknesses.

And that golf caddy is going to talk with you about, yeah, I think we should use this club and approach it this way. So they are there to support you and they're there to carry some of the burdens so that you could do what you are called to do. So we often talk about someone as an armor bearer, as someone who carries some of the burdens for a leader so that leader doesn't have to carry those and that leader could do what they are called to do. And that person is also taking a certain spiritual responsibility. That person is doing things in a way that carries some of the spiritual load as well. So I have had over the years a number of different personal assistants, some of them served me faithfully for many, many years. And they've all had different graces and capacities, right? Some of them is just throw more, they just keep getting tasks done, tasks done, tasks done, tasks done, taking them off me, right?

Others always trying to be a step ahead so I didn't have to think about this and that. Others incredibly detail oriented, others just working on relational things, reaching out doing this, this, this, and keeping me on target and meetings and each one with different strengths, all carrying certain similar loads, each one with different strengths. But some were called to even be more prayer warriors for me in addition to that. And then some God has joined to me who are not personal assistants or do not work in the ministry, but they are prayer warriors. They are spiritual armor bearers. So they have a heart for the things I have a heart for. They are men of God themselves. They have their own calling and ministry and things that they do. But God has assigned them a task to fight in the trenches for me spiritually to help pray things through.

Look at it like this. Let's say God has called me to be an arrow or even more specifically the tip of an arrow. Now, let's say that my calling is from my head to be the end of the battering ram that knocks down walls of opposition, right? Let's say my calling is to be a lightning rod that attracts all the hatred and the anger and the animosity and the venom and the junk, right?

And that's what that is. That's part of my calling. Those things are part of my calling. Well, if I'm going to be that tip of the arrow, I need someone or a group of people to pull that bow back and say, Oh, it's hard. I've never really shot a bow and arrow effectively, right? But to really learn to do it, right?

I mean, to do it well, and you get need strength to pull that back and then you got to aim and then shoot. So as we get more prayer support, as we get more people standing with us, then that arrow goes even further and it penetrates even deeper. Many of you pray for me daily. Thank you. If you're watching, I'm looking you in the eyes.

If you're listening, I'm looking you in the eyes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayer support. It means the world to me and you share in the reward and many, many lives are affected and changed by it. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. I am grateful, profoundly grateful. Nancy is grateful.

Our team is grateful for it. There are some who have a special intercessory call and God moves on them and stirs them and they have insight just like a golf caddy. They sense the Lord is saying this or have a word of encouragement or pray in a certain direction. So that's what I mean by a spiritual armor bearer.

I don't say it lightly. There are a few people that God has really raised up to do that along with a whole army of prayer warriors and others who add me into your prayers in the midst of other things on every level. Thank you. Thank you.

So that's what I mean by spiritual armor bearer. And even when it comes to, let's see, when it comes to even things that may seem trivial, those are often the straw that breaks the camel's back with me. Those are often the things like, oh, just, that is just one thing to fill out this form. And so it's like, come on, man, let me write a book instead. Let me go debate someone in the hostile territory instead. Let me get hated and reviled, but fill out a form. Everybody has grace to do certain things. I have a massive capacity to do what would crush many people. And then something else that's easy for somebody is like, I can't do that.

That's too much for me. We each have grace, but then those that are called to stand with me and spiritually, it makes a massive difference. All right.

Let me grab this question on YouTube. I'm struggling with quitting smoking has been the hardest thing I've ever done. I keep messing up. I was almost perfect for three weeks then I caved.

How do I allow grace to help me? That's a great question in dealing with addictions. And I'm sure there are websites you can go to with practical Christian help for fighting tobacco. I'd never struggled with that. One of my friends that had other vices is that was the hardest to give up for him.

My hardest was not drugs, but chocolate and bad diet habits. So one thing you cry out, you cry out, you cry out, you ask God for help. You say you confess your weakness, you tell him he's got to help you, right?

You tell him he's got to help you, right? Then a second thing is that you figure out why you mess up. Why do you go back? What is it that causes you to mess up? What's what was it? You got depressed one day, you came under emotional pressure. You convince yourself you need an outlet. Something good happened. You wanted to celebrate.

You felt lonely. Figure out why it is that you mess up and then you have to renew your mind there. And then you have to covenant with someone that if you're tempted to smoke before you like the cigarette, you call them that you make an agreement. And that just knowing that and calling the person, sometimes it breaks the spell, especially if you're free for three weeks, right? If you're free for three weeks, then that means that the addiction is gone, right? That whatever that it did, you know, you break an addiction and it may take several days, may take a week.

I'm no expert on nicotine addiction. But in my mind, I'm thinking you got to be free at that point. So it was it was all in your head. That's my take.

I could be wrong, but that's what I think. So that would mean that if you can break that spell, it's just like I got to watch that porn or I got to do this drug or I got to have a drink or I got to eat this food or whatever it is. You break the spell, it's like, oh, I don't have to.

I don't have to. So cry out, cry out for grace. That's one thing. Second, figure out why it is you mess up, why it is you fall back. And then you can work to reverse those patterns or find other things to meet that need. Third, covenant with a friend, with someone that can hold you accountable, right?

And they were a family member. Okay, I'm quitting again. I threw out all my cigarettes, et cetera. I don't have anything.

I didn't leave anything in the house. So in other words, you have to go somewhere to get them now. That's always it. You get rid of it where everything is that you're breaking. Get rid of all of it. Cut the tie.

Get rid of all of it, right? And then last thing, if you are about to smoke, you agree. I'm going to call a friend because remember, you got to go somewhere, get cigarettes, whatever, or take a cigarette from someone. I'm going to call someone before I do it. And hopefully right there and with that person, you can break the spell. God's grace in you, you can overcome.

There are millions of Christians used to be addicted cigarettes who no longer are. All right, we're going to be right back. I'll take a bunch more of your questions.

I'm looking at some very interesting ones that have posted. We'll be right back. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. Okay, so don't know what the issue is.

Phone lines are not working. So my profound apologies to all of you who've been trying to call and get through as the numbers posted multiple times. But my profound apologies. So I'm just going to take social media questions.

But for everyone listening, you get the same experience of me answering questions here. Okay, a YouTube question, biblical cosmology or NASA? Biblical cosmology or NASA? In other words, if the Bible lays out a certain picture of the universe, or it gives us a picture of the earth standing on pillars, if you want to take it literally, right? And it's got like a dome over the top.

And when the windows are open, the rain comes through. And that's how some biblical authors conceive the universe. Do we take that or NASA? No, it's not either or, because the biblical writers are not seeking to convey scientific descriptions when they're giving us poetic depictions of the earth standing on pillars and things like that. All right, either they're speaking in the language of the day, or they're giving us a spiritual picture. As I've said many times, I believe Genesis 1 is there to teach us about God and how He works and who He is and how He creates and how He orders things, as opposed to that it is there tells exactly how the world was created.

Now, some different with me, I understand that, that's fine. But to the extent NASA can see things accurately, that old earth, young earth creationists all agree, yes, science tells us this, then we agree with that. Where the Bible is intending to teach us science, if current science doesn't see it like that, well, current science will catch up and will.

But I don't see it as something where there's a conflict, just personally. Even if the data could be different, it's because the biblical authors, here, when the biblical authors talk about the sunrise and the sunsetting, that's what they probably believed, right? Like read Psalm 19, it means the sun is on its circuit and its chorus and so on.

It goes up, it goes down. And Ecclesiastes 1, it seems to be the same thing. So they probably actually thought that the sun went around the earth, as people in the ancient world would have. Is that contradict science? It wasn't meant as a scientific observation. It was meant as observational.

It's just what we see. And therefore, what we understand to be the case. It wasn't a matter of, well, no, God's going to tell them with every look. If God, I keep interrupting my sentences to go to another point, but if God gave accurate scientific information, by every detail, to the ancient Bible believers, right? Whatever they wrote would have been scorned and mocked by the entire world for centuries and centuries and centuries and centuries.

Why? Because science hadn't caught up with that yet, right? If all the biblical authors plainly said the earth goes around the sun, it would have been mocked by scientists and others in the ancient world and right up into the medieval era.

The Bible's obviously wrong, okay? And science keeps learning and getting things right. So at what point is the Bible supposed to be current with science? Because science is still learning. So if the Bible intends to convey scientific truth, it's truth. But I don't believe in the most part, that's what's going on with these observational descriptions. Okay.

This is a very interesting question. Should cessationism be considered heretical based on 2 Timothy 1, 13 through 15, and Romans 12, 6 through 8, knowing that East Asia in this context represented Rome and not Asia as we know it today. Okay. So let me read these passages to you. I don't believe that cessationism is heretical, but I believe it is a very, very seriously wrong doctrine, with all respect to my cessationist friends and colleagues and fellow believers. Now, think of this, all my cessationist friends, if in fact the gifts of the Spirit are for today as they were in the first century, if in fact healing is for today, if in fact prophecy is for today, if in fact praying in tongues is for today, if in fact gift of faith is for today, word of wisdom, word of knowledge.

If these things are for today, discerning of spirits, and we not only don't practice them, but deny them and speak against those who do practice them, isn't that serious? Not only so, on a practical level, isn't that seriously undercutting God's work in the earth today? So let me first read Romans chapter 12, the relevant verses 6 through 8. So no, I don't believe it's heretical, by which I mean, someone believing that is disqualified from heaven.

So in believing that is outside of the faith, no, absolutely not. Fine Christians through the centuries have been cessationists. Fine Christians today are cessationists. Friends and colleagues of mine are cessationists and they love Jesus. But I believe they are seriously wrong on that score.

Now, conversely, many cessationists would say, yeah, well, Dr. Brown, or many of them would prefer to be like that. Brown, you're in serious error. You're in serious error, I mean, the hyper-critics, right?

They don't like me. So we each think the other is in serious error, either in embracing these things or in rejecting them. Paul writes in Romans 12, 6, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them if prophecy and proportion to our faith, if service and are serving the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation only contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. So this is just part of Paul's list of gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 is the one that's primarily more controversial. And then 2 Timothy 1, 13 through 15. 2 Timothy 1, 13 to 15.

And let's see. All right. Follow the pattern of sound words that you've heard from me and the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Guard the good deposited and trusted to you. You're aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. Now, I don't believe he's labeling these two, Phygellus and Hermogenes, as turning away from the Spirit becoming sensationalist, but turning away from him. And then whatever heresy they would have embraced or might have embraced is not that. So I don't see these texts playing out.

I want to just read them because in my mind, I didn't see how they tied in. But for sure, it's a serious error. Just read through the New Testament and look at the constant emphasis on the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit, not just healings and miracles, but the work of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit. Go through the book of Acts.

Notice it's about 60, 6-0, about 60 times that the work of the Spirit is mentioned in the book of Acts. Take that out. It's massively different. Take that out of the earth today.

It's massively different. Where the Church is growing most rapidly all around the world for decades now has been where the Gospel has been preached in the power of the Spirit and people believe in these things. And yeah, there needs to be a lot of discipling, like in any case where there's so many new believers and they're going to be excesses and extremes, just like at Corinth in the early Church. But to deny that the gifts and power of the Spirit is a serious error. And I believe in these things because of the Bible.

As I've written, Sola Scriptura and therefore Charismatic. All right, let's just see. Okay, so truth, are you telling me we can take calls now? Not sure. So just let me know if we can take calls.

Just give me a yes or a no. Okay, I'm going to go back over to Facebook. Yeah, but it bums me that I'm… No, calls, still not working. Sorry about that.

It bums me that although I've been waiting the call, I haven't been able. So again, I apologize. Let's just see here and scroll back down to these other questions. All right, there's a question about the Garden of Eden, which is really interesting. So I want to read it to you.

And then there's some interesting responses. So I'm actually going to read through the dialogue there about the Garden of Eden. And hang on. I'm going to come to this in one second. Okay, hang on.

Here we go. What happened to the Garden of Eden? Where is it now? The Bible doesn't tell us it was moved, but being guarded.

Where did it go? Why can we not see the garden being guarded to this day? Pierre commented, Ezekiel 31, they provide insight, whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You should be brought down with the trees of Eden for the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised with those who were slain by the sword.

This is Pharaoh and all his multitude declares the Lord. Okay, so I don't know where the original location of the Garden of Eden was. That's number one. Number two, I have never done a major study of it, so I want to make that clear. Those of you who have been studying it for years, you'll have a strong opinion.

I don't. Number three, it's number one, I don't know where the original location was. Number two, I have not studied it in depth. Number three, where I have studied it, so not in depth, but where I have looked at it and looked at scholarly consensus based on the rivers that are listed there in Genesis 2. Somewhere in modern-day Iraq has often seemed to be a plausible theory. Either way, there are questions about some of the rivers. Some claim that the rivers had different names early on and that the names of the rivers shifted. For example, Kush in the Bible, which is normally Ethiopia. There are other references early on where it seems to be speaking of another location. And scholars recognize this because it doesn't fit in with the other rivers. So, I don't know where it was originally located. However, colleagues of mine recently said to me, Jerusalem, the Garden of Eden was in Jerusalem. And if you'll study the spiritual imagery and recognize that the river names could have changed over the centuries, you'll see that it fits. Now, I have not studied it, but two people in the last month or two brought that up to me.

And one of whom, who is very sharp, very astute, very learned, said, Mike, I believe it's true. So, now another little question is raised. But why is it that we can't see it today and the angels guarding it?

In other words, it was a physical location. Well, you wouldn't necessarily see the crevium, the cherubim. They could be guarding it with the flaming sword to keep people away without anyone seeing it, but you just couldn't get near it. Maybe God has just uniquely hidden it. There are hidden, now, Jerusalem, I don't know how that would work, but I'm sure people have answers for it. But it was somewhere, could it have just become overgrown?

And in terms of any type of access to the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, understanding that, if we understand that there were originally actual trees there and not just symbolic truths that are being conveyed, could be the angel just keeps anyone from seeing it or getting near it. It's a fascinating subject, but I don't have more information. We'll be right back. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. The day when phone lines are open, phone lines have been down, but we're answering your social media questions. Plus, I got to tell you a fun story at the outset of the broadcast. Okay, I'm going to nail a few more of these questions on Facebook.

They were posted a few days ago. You can still post a question on YouTube, and I still got time to get to it, all right? Cindy, our church is having a disagreement about who Melchizedek was. Was he Jesus? King of righteousness? Was he a son of God? Jesus is the only son of God?

How could he have had an indestructible life? My understanding is that Melchizedek was a human being who serves as a type and symbol of Jesus the Messiah. He is a priestly king, so he served as priest and king of Shalem, which some associate with Jerusalem, but it's not certain in that regard.

His name, Melchizedek, which we say Melchizedek normally, but in Hebrew, Melchizedek is king of righteousness. And, again, he was a priestly king, and there's no mention of his genealogy, of his parents. There's no mention of his birth.

There's no mention of his death. So he appears and he disappears as if he lives on. So I understand Hebrews 7 to say that he is a type and sign of the Messiah, right? That he, and of course we have a genealogy for Jesus, but in his heavenly origins, he's the son of God coming down to earth. So I see him as a type and sign of the Messiah, and that's how I read Hebrews 7. Others believe that he was Jesus incarnate, that when Melchizedek spoke with Abraham, it was actually, or it was called Abram then in Genesis 14, that it was actually a theophany or a Christophany. Just like, for example, Exodus, the third chapter where the angel of the Lord appearing and the burning bush, we believe was the Messiah appearing, the son of God appearing in the burning bush.

Or in Genesis 18, when the Lord with two angels comes and speaks to Abraham, we believe that one of them was the Lord himself, namely the son of God in human form. So some believe that about Melchizedek. And in fact, in Qur'an and the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is a psalm, a hymn about Melchizedek that paints him in very highly exalted terms, not fully God, but divine like, God-like terms. So that was in the air at that time, this exalted belief in Melchizedek. But my view is that he was a type and sign of the Messiah. Others believe he was actually the Messiah in human form, the son of God in human form. That disagreement remains among scholars based on the wording in Hebrews the seventh chapter.

So let me just read it so everybody's clear on that. In Hebrews chapter 7, this way you can understand the controversy. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. And to him, Abraham apportioned the tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, then he is also king of Salem, that is king of peace, shalom, shalom. He is without father or mother a genealogy, having either beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the son of God, he continues a priest forever. So that then ties in with Psalm 110, where the Lord says to David slash the Messiah, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So because Melchizedek just appears, now there's an eternal priesthood associated with him. He is looked at as having an endless priesthood like Jesus the Messiah. So some say, again, it was the son of God in human form as Melchizedek. It's not my view, I believe he was a human being who came, who lived and died. And he's a type inside of the Messiah.

Jewish tradition claims there's actually Shem living hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And you wonder if that was actually a pushback to try to argue against what's in Hebrews. That's a whole other subject. Okay, let me go back over to your questions.

L.A.L. asks, do you think tattoos are acceptable for a Christian? I could not get a tattoo in good conscience myself. We're talking about as a believer, not you had them before you were saved.

I could not do it in good conscience myself. My association with tattoos over the years has been that they were something done by worldly people. Or if I saw someone covered in tattoos, they were normally worldly people doing it. The tattoos often had worldly images or demonic images and things like that. So that's just as I grew up. And that was the culture for most of us growing up, right? The tattooed people were kind of world, you know, that wasn't your pastor that was all tattooed, unless he'd been like that before he was saved, right? That was the kind of out there radical extreme or different or worldly, whatever.

So that's the first thing. Okay, the second thing is in the holding this code Leviticus 19, the Israelites were told not to do this, not to mark their body. Now, part of it was the Canaanites practice things like this.

And it was associated with mourning for the dead and paganism and things like that. But Israel couldn't eat certain foods. Israel couldn't do many things. Couldn't sow two different kinds of seeds in the same field. Couldn't wear mixed fabrics in their garment. This is part of a separation code that does not necessarily apply to everyone. However, however, for me, it does speak of something of the sacredness of the body and not tampering with it.

So I would not do it for those reasons. However, because there is not an explicit eternal command against it, Leviticus 19 was part of a specific separation code for the people of Israel, some of which applies to all of us. Like, you know, love your neighbors yourself is in there, right?

It's part of it that applies to all of us, some very specifically for Israel and separation. So I don't judge other Christians who love the Lord and feel it's been fine for them to do this before God, as long as it's not satanic and fleshly imagery and things like that. I couldn't do it, but I'm not the judge of others. Now, if you say, well, what about something like committing adultery? Wrong for everybody, period. What about stealing? Wrong for everybody, period. What about bearing false witness against your neighbor? Wrong for everybody, period. What about eating shellfish? That's in a separate category. So I put tattoo in that separate category, although for me, I couldn't do it in good conscience before God. Let's see.

All right, I think I answered that. Ron, is there any scientific evidence for the existence of God? It depends on what you mean by scientific evidence, right? If you mean, can you do an experiment and by doing this experiment, prove the existence of God?

No, of course not. That's outside of the sphere of science. For example, if I said to you, okay, scientifically, is this person attractive or not? Well, that's something that science can determine.

In one culture, something is attractive, and in another culture, it's repulsive, and something's pretty, something's ugly, something's positive, something's negative, right? So that science can't tell us that. That's outside the realm of science. Science cannot do an experiment to prove that is love real.

Show me love. Science can't do that, okay? Science can't determine morality. However, is there scientific evidence that God exists, meaning, are there scientific things that we can look at factually that only have an explanation with an intelligent creator or God? Yes, of course, of course. If you just look at DNA, there is no rational explanation for the massive, detailed computer programming within us, where it came from without clear intelligent design.

There is no acceptable evolutionary explanation that I've heard for that. So it's not the God of the gaps. It's saying, what does that evidence point to, right? So, you know, here, let me grab my cell phone. This just happened. Isn't this remarkable? The cell phone just happened.

It's incredible. It just happened. No, it didn't just happen. You know, it didn't just happen because it's been made carefully, and it's been designed, and it's got thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of programming and research and development, all that.

That we know. Now, we don't know who exactly did it. We don't know which company came up with certain aspects of it, elements of it, but we know it was designed with intelligence. So the human cell, I mean, there is no evolutionary explanation that works. And the further you dig into things, the further you get into them, the fine tuning of the universe, the fact that it operates mathematically, that all of these things explicitly point to intelligence, and the fact that we know the universe had a beginning, whether we call it the Big Bang or whatever, then from what did it begin? There had to be a first cause, but the first cause has to be causeless. Otherwise, who created God? So there has to be a first cause that is beyond anything in this universe that is intelligent, that goes back in eternity. That is what we describe as God, and that's why there are more and more scientists abandoning Darwinian evolution, because it doesn't work, it doesn't answer the questions. You get online and see the list of PhDs, scientists, biologists, geologists, astronomers, and on and on and on, chemists, and so on and all, saying, yeah, this naturalism doesn't work, naturalism doesn't work, and saying yes, intelligent design, go to Discovery Institute, just this one place to go, but there's so many places, yes, yes, yes, absolutely scientific evidence for God will be understand the question rightly. All right friends, be blessed again, my profound apologies for our inability to take your calls today, look forward to a great week next week. Bye-bye. Another program powered by the Truth Network.