Dr. Brown Answers All Your Questions

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We've got answers. Phone lines are open wide. 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. Thank you for joining us on the line of fire.

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Let us start with Mike in Burlington, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Michael. Happy Merry Christmas to you. Thank you.

Merry Christmas. Listen to 1 John, chapter 5. It talks about a sin under death. He says, I do not say to pray about that. What's your take on that?

It's a fascinating passage, Mike. And it's one that I wish I had more insight on. But I don't know for sure. And I'm not convinced that Bible interpreters know for sure. It's possible when it says sin unto death, there's two possible deaths.

There's a spiritual death or there's a physical death, right? Is he is he talking about someone that's and someone who has crossed a certain line and when they've crossed that line, there's no sense praying for them. So we don't know what exactly it is. And we don't have definitive church tradition that tells us exactly what it is. It could be if you knew someone blaspheme the spirit, if you knew that someone knowingly and willingly blaspheme the spirit and attributed the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan himself. And they cross that line where there is no forgiveness. There's no sense praying for them. But beyond that, we're supposed to pray for everybody that's fallen away. And at the end of James, Jacob, the fifth chapter, it says that if someone goes astray and another person brings them back, that you've saved the sinner from death and covered a multitude of sins.

So it seems there's a certain line crossed. I just don't know what it is for sure. I mean, it's obviously important in the Bible, but we just don't have more information to tell us. Yeah, I've looked at several commentaries and nobody really had a definitive answer. Yeah, so I was talking to my wife about it once. And just like I wish I could give you, OK, here are the best three answers. And this is why this one is the strongest.

It's just it's hard to say. Now, we know in First Corinthians 11 that people partook of the Lord's table unworthily. And because of that, many were sick and some had died. So that would be a sin unto death.

But if someone did that unworthily, my thought would be to pray for their repentance and their forgiveness if they were sick so that they wouldn't die. Right. So. Right. Yeah.

Beyond the blasphemy of the spirit, I don't know exactly what would qualify there. Hey, if I discover it, I will. If I find out somehow a definitive answer, I'll do my best to share it widely. All right. All right. Thank you.

Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. Let's go to Lawrence in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you for taking my call, Dr. Brown. How are you? I'm doing very well and you're very welcome. I first of all wanted to say I really enjoyed your visit to my church awake this past couple of years.

And I'm honored to be on the show. My question is about Zechariah eight, nineteen, a couple of months ago. I came across it and it says, I'm reading from the King James. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness and cheerful feast. Therefore, love the truth and peace.

And so I started looking into it. I wasn't aware that there are four prophecies in the Jewish calendar or facts in the Jewish calendar that commemorate the fall of Jerusalem and the murder of Gedaliah and the siege of Jerusalem, all having to do with the Babylonian captivity. And I thought, is there anything that needs to take place before this is fulfilled?

And I wonder, I'm calling to get your thoughts on this. If this is one of those prophecies that really only take the church or the nation of Israel to recognize that redemption has come and to commemorate these days as a time of rejoicing in the redemption of the Lord, rather than a mourning for the sins of a nation. Right. So first, you are exactly correct that there are fasts here that were not part of Torah law, that were developed in Jewish tradition, such as the fast because of the murder of Gedalia and fast over destruction of Jerusalem, things like that, that were not part of Torah law and the primary fast there, of course, is on the Day of Atonement, even though the scriptures doesn't explicitly speak of a fast, it speaks of afflicting oneself and seems to be a universal Jewish custom that there would be fasting at that time. So these are additional fast days that were added. The first immediate fulfillment of this was the return from exile, right? So the return from exile, there's now marriage, there's family, there's rejoicing where there was mourning.

So that's that's the short term temporary answer. But because the Jewish people have continued to suffer, the second temple was destroyed, remains destroyed because there has been the exile and scattering and pain of the Jewish people. There is a future fulfillment to come. So on the one hand, when someone comes into redemption through the Messiah, when their sins are forgiven and they now come into right relationship with God, yes, a fast day can become a day of celebration. But I believe the final fulfillment of this will be when the Messiah returns and establishes his kingdom on the earth and destroys the wicked and brings about a universal peace and blesses his people back in the land. At that point will be the final fulfillment of this, when they'll just be rejoicing and these fast days won't be needed. There's even there's even Jewish tradition that says that in the world to come, the only sacrifices that will exist will be sacrifices of thanksgiving because you won't be dealing with sin and atonement and death anymore. But bottom line, there was the temporary fulfillment, the short term with the return from exile. But because that led to another longer exile and destruction of another temple and Jewish suffering through history. So these things are still practiced in the Jewish community and that will not stop until the Messiah comes and sets up his kingdom.

OK. I wonder if this is, you know, a similar space to the prophecy in Hosea, which says the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters to the sea. We know that that will be completely fulfilled in the millennial kingdom. And but there's also this implicit mandate that we, as Jesus's disciples, in our way of following his example of bringing about the glories, you know, making the kingdom of God come to earth, you think it would be presumptuous then to say that the church or even messianic congregations or Jewish people can, as a kind of anticipation of the ultimate worldwide fulfillment, still take these former fasts as opportunities to celebrate.

Sure, sure. There's this absolute freedom to do that. So, look, I think of those passages, Isaiah 11 and Micah 4 about the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the seas. Yes, that's fulfilled in the millennial kingdom. And notice it's the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, because it really says in Isaiah six that his glory fills the whole the whole earth.

You know, God's glory in certain ways. So it's the knowledge of that, the revelation of that that comes in the messianic, the fullness of the messianic era, but we live in the already and not yet. The technical term is realized eschatology. But for those that that that term throws them a little, it means that we have stepped into the world to come while still living in this world, that we have stepped into eternal life while still living in physical bodies that die, that we already have received forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit dwells within us, but we haven't received our resurrected bodies yet. So a lot of what we do is in anticipation of what is to come. And certainly if a messianic congregation and the revelation of God that we are forgiven, that that the spiritual exile is over, that we are members of God's heavenly temple, etc.

Yeah, but you can certainly do it. Look for me, by do it, I mean say these are days to celebrate because of the redemption that's that's come. Others would say, but we're still in this world and the Jewish people are still suffering. It's just like Yom Kippur Day of Atonement for many messianic Jews. That's a time of special intercession for for their unsaved Jewish friends and family members and for Israel as a whole. For others, it's a time when they say, hey, I know I'm forgiven, but it's a time of self-examination before the Lord. And still others say this is the day when I especially celebrate forgiveness of sins through the cross.

So that that last aspect is what you're talking about. And again, it's going to be worked out personally, but I don't see any reason why in an anticipatory way and having received forgiveness and walking in the glory of the Lord now, we can't celebrate those days as as as days of celebration. The thing is, you don't want to do it in a way that seems insensitive to the Jewish community because the Jewish world still endures that kind of suffering. Hey, I appreciate the question. 866-348-7884. Steven, Alex, Randy, you are next on the other side of the break. I remind you to download our app. Be sure that you get our emails. If you say, how do I know if you get them? Well, if you don't know, you don't get them.

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All right. Right back with your calls. This is the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, get on the line of fire by calling 866-344. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome. Welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Michael Brown coming to you from our Fort Worth studio at Mercy Culture.

And so glad to be with you live on the air. Eight six six three four truth. You've got questions. We've got answers. If we don't have an answer, we'll get it for you. Let's go to Steven and Tampa, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown, how are you doing? Very well, thanks. Hey, my question is on Genesis nine. And my friends are doing a Bible study on verse sixteen. God seems to have spoken to himself in third person from twelve to sixteen. He uses the first person I a lot. But in verse sixteen, it seems like he's speaking third person.

And my friends and I kind of like pause it. Is that like a sign to the Trinity or is that just maybe something in the Hebrew is different than what we're reading in English? Just want to get your opinion on that specific verse. Yes, I'm just looking at it in Hebrew. So where it shifts and it says this is a brittle on the eternal covenant being Elohim, who vain call Nefers. So between God and all people first stylistically, it's not a problem in Hebrew to go from first to third person. It can it can happen, at least in the Hebrew Bible, more freely than we would normally do in English. But here it's definitely not a Trinitarian thing here.

To me, it's just the nature of the language, right? So God's saying, I'm making this covenant and this covenant is between God and man, right? It's I don't take it so much as a shift in speech, as much as God being descriptive now. So this covenant I'm making is a covenant between God and man, as opposed to saying between me and man. He's saying this is God and human beings. That's what the nature of the covenant is.

So I just take it as descriptive. I wouldn't read anything into it in terms of like if you're looking at Isaiah forty eight, sixteen. And is that a Trinitarian reference? Because it mentions the Lord and then me and then the spirit. And this is the father, son and spirit. You know, people try to draw that out. But a passage like this. No, it's just just being God giving reference to the fact that this is a covenant between God and man. And that's the point there.

Nothing beyond that. OK, yeah, that makes sense, because we were thinking of, you know, if I said I'm going to get the trash or I'm going to go to the store, I'm I'm going to get gas and Steven's going to take out the trash. Well, nobody usually speaks like that. So we were kind of confused. But that makes sense. Yeah.

So if you were saying, look, I'm going to go there, I'm going to rent a car and this is going to be an agreement between the human being and the rental agency. Right. That's that's what's happening here. It's that same kind of thing.

It's just describing the nature of that relationship. Makes sense. Thank you. Yeah, you bet. Sure thing. I appreciate the question.

866-348-7884. By the way, less than an hour from now. So 4.15 Eastern Time. That's less than an hour from now. We're going to continue with our YouTube chat. I know it's been a few weeks.

I couldn't do it in India, obviously, last week. It's been really hectic, but we got our team to stay late here today. So we're going to be doing our YouTube chat. So everyone that's used to that, it's at the if you're not used to it, the Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel, A.S.K. D.R. Brown, just sign on there at 4.15 or get on a little early, start posting your questions and we'll fly through as many questions as we can.

That is really fast paced. So a little under an hour from now, 4.15 Eastern Time. So if you're unable to call in or it's just easier for you to post questions, that's your time to do it. All right. Let us go to Alex in Buffalo, New York. Hey, how's the weather there, Alex?

Are you there, sir? Alex and Alex is not that I want to ask, they didn't have like five feet of snow a few weeks ago, the Buffalo Bills football team had to play their go to another state to play their game because the snow was too bad even in Buffalo. All right. And one of one of our team members here in Fort Worth is from Alaska.

So he's going to compare notes with snowfall in Alaska to Buffalo. All right. Let's go to Randy in Colorado Springs. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, sir, can you hear me, Dr. Brown? Yes, I can. Perfect.

OK, so the question is. Did I ignorantly out of reaction commit the unforgivable sin by doing these things? I watched Alan Parr's video on tongues and he joked about people talking in tongues, speaking jibber jabber to make a point about how people can fake tongues. I laughed at it and verbally repeated it, but days later got convicted from Isaiah Saldivar's recent video about how we shouldn't even joke about tongues because it's dangerous grounds for blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

I've also made judgments out of zeal and ignorance to churches on whether they have the Spirit of God or not, based on their practices, for example, taking communion without bread and doing it during, I guess, in a formal way, like as doing it whenever we want, during worship. Since then, I've repented of my ignorance and wept over these things even, and since then been speaking the Lord. Did I commit this?

Oh, absolutely, categorically not. First, if you committed the unforgivable sin, you wouldn't be talking to me on the air, you wouldn't have repented of it, you would be a lost cause. You mentioned the word ignorance a few times. Let me read to you. I was just pulling the scripture up Paul's words in First Timothy Chapter one.

All right. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, whom I am the foremost, speaking clearly of his past life, but I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. And so he describes his lifestyle and what does he say? I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formally I was a blasphemer, persecutor, an insolent opponent. You haven't done that. You haven't only blasphemed the name of God. You haven't persecuted believers.

You haven't been an insolent opponent. But I receive mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. Let me read another passage to you. Acts, the third chapter. Peter is preaching to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem.

All right. And he says this, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for murder to be granted you. And you kill the author of life, whom God has raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

And his name by faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health, the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance. This isn't giving Jesus over to be crucified. My Jewish leadership, I know you acted in ignorance, as also did your rulers.

And then he calls him to repent. So the blasphemy of the spirit is not something easily committed. When Isaiah warns about it, you don't want to dance near it. You don't want to go near it.

You don't want to play with it. But the blasphemy of the spirit is a very definite line that's crossed. The only time there's an explanation for it is in Mark, just the third chapter, where it says that Jesus said this about there's no forgiveness for blasphemy of the spirit, that Jesus said this because they were saying he has an unclean spirit. In other words, Jesus was performing the miracles he was performing. And the people were saying the religious leaders with their eyes wide open, knowing it was by the power of the spirit, saying he did it by the power of Satan. They knowingly and willfully attribute the power of the spirit to the power of Satan. And he said that was crossing a line that went too far. That was unforgivable.

But, you know, I just say this to you, Randy. Years ago, there was this move, this fad, where people would cut a video and post it online saying, I blaspheme the spirit. They even had kids doing it.

And it became this big fad, you know, watch. We're mocking this whole thing and we're blaspheming the spirit. And I remember watching it, saying, I wonder how many of these people in the years ahead will be putting out testimony videos of how lost they were and how deceived they were and how God forgave them. So it's a knowing, willful thing.

There are sincere believers who have mocked tongues. It's been foolish for them to do it. It's been irresponsible for them to do it. But they were in the flesh or they didn't know any better. They're not condemned to hell for that. We do a lot of things in our ignorance.

But the lesson is, let's just be careful. If I'm not sure whether something is God or not, let me step back and say, hey, I'm not sure that sounds strange to me or I don't get that. Or I question it rather than getting into the mockery end, because that's that's normally carnal anyway.

I don't know Alan Power, what he did or how he did it. But generally speaking, when we get into that mocking attitude, it tends to be very fleshly in many ways. But you've repented of it. Move on and just tell God you want everything he has for you. The fullness of the Spirit, you can best glorify him. All right.

Yes, sir, thank you so very much. That really helps me out, especially through through the mental battles. What advice would you give for, I guess, struggling against blasphemous thoughts?

Right. So you have to realize that's not me. Those thoughts are not who I am. Wherever they're coming from, it's my flesh or it's a demonic influence. In my heart, I honor God. So you spend quality time with God in his presence. You renew your mind by meditating on the word and filling your mind with those things, and you give no place to those thoughts.

You don't even think if it goes through your mind, it just passes through one ear and out the other. It's not who you are. It's not what you believe. It's not the essence of your being. So you renew your mind by the word. You spend quality time in God's presence, just being bathed in his character and his nature and his beauty.

You speak words of life. And if these thoughts come, you just ignore them. If it's tormenting and they keep battering you, then go to a solid spiritual leader and say, I need to be set free from this. There could be some demonic stronghold that needs to be broken. And then obviously don't cultivate it.

Don't watch stuff, read stuff, listen to stuff that cultivates that type of mocking, blasphemous attitude, but the quicker you don't give place to it, the quicker you give it no root or substance in your life, the quicker you'll see it becomes a thing of the past. Hey, God bless you. Right back to the phones on the other side of the break. By the way, we have some phone lines open, which many times we don't on Friday. So it's a perfect time to call. 866-348-7884. 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. Thank you for joining us. It is my true and profound joy. If you're listening, you can hear my smile.

If you're watching, you can see it. I love answering your questions, taking your calls. Let us go over to Marty in Nashville, Tennessee. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown, can you hear me? Yes. Ah, it is a blessing to talk to you. I appreciate you. Thank you. My question. Yes, sir. My question is, how come we as born again people that know Yeshua was never an angel?

How is it that we call the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament a pre-manifestation of Yeshua? Yeah. Can you help me with that?

Sure thing. Right. So first thing, the Hebrew malach can mean messenger or angel.

Right. The prophet Malachi, Malachi, this means my messenger in Hebrew. So the malach of the Lord is the angel of the Lord or simply messenger of the Lord. But the simple answer is in the same way that the Son of God came into our world as a human being, right, that he could also reveal himself in an angelic form. And the reason that we say in some cases, like Exodus three, where the Lord reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush. And it's the angel speaking. But then as it goes on, it's the Lord speaking quite directly. There are other passages where the malach seems to have divine qualities. So because of that, we see this was another way of God revealing himself in advance. So we're not saying that Jesus was ever a created angel, but rather either in the form of an angel or simply as the malach, the messenger of the Lord, that there were several times in the Old Testament where God spoke and revealed himself. And it's because we know the Father is hidden in his glory. Like John one eighteen, no one's ever seen God of First Timothy six, sixteen, that he dwells in unapproachable light, etc. But the Son is the one who makes him known.

So there are these cases. Did Jacob wrestle with him in Genesis thirty two when he says, I've seen God face to face, it says he wrestled with the man. Hosea twelve says it was a malach, an angel. So it's based on the understanding, one, that malach can just be the messenger and two, that this is just the son appearing in this form. But he was never a created angel. He's not Michael, the archangel, as Jehovah's Witnesses teach.

That's that's why, because he has qualities. It seems like it's actually God speaking, not just through a messenger, but God himself speaking. And, you know, one rabbinic commentator noticed in Genesis twenty two, where the angel of the Lord says, because you didn't hold back your son from me. Right.

He doesn't say from the Lord, but from me as if it's it's him himself, he himself. So that's the basis for it. OK, that makes sense. That's very helpful. I appreciate it. Sure thing.

And go back and read Exodus three and see if that doesn't seem to be God directly speaking in a visible, tangible form to to Moses. All right. Thank you for the call. Eight, six, six, three, four, truth.

Let's go to Anna in North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, this is my first time calling you. What a pleasure. Well, how long have you been listening, Anna? Oh, gosh, I just started this summer. I just found your radio show over the summer. OK, so I feel like I've missed out on a lot for the past years.

That's all right. We've been on regularly in North Carolina since 2008. And every so often someone will call in, you know, a long time listener, first time caller. So for summer to now, that's good. That's that's not too long to take to to call.

But you got a lot of back shows to catch up and listen to, right? Yes. Yes. And I need to download your app.

Yes, please do. All right, so my question is, for the past two weeks at my church, we've been discussing the topic about divorce. And so I know it's complex and it's uncomfortable for some people to hear or talk about it, but I have a friend who's twenty five and unfortunately she's been married for four years and her husband has been unfaithful to her and he doesn't want to change his lifestyle.

He doesn't want to be with her. And so it's going to end up in a divorce, it looks like. But she wants to save her marriage, but her husband does not. And so in the past two weeks at our church, my pastor's wife has been teaching that according to 1 Corinthians 7, 10 to 11, my friend doesn't go to the same church as I do, but my pastors have been teaching that God says that if you divorce, you cannot marry again. And if you want to remarry again, you have to go back to your ex-spouse.

And as long as that person is still alive, like your ex-spouse, you cannot remarry. Right. So and if you marry someone else, if somebody marries, for example, my friend, they're an adultery.

Right. And so you cannot marry someone who's divorced because that's adultery. And then they also use Luke 16, 18, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. Whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. So someone, let's say, that is single and marries someone who was divorced, then you become adultery with that person who got divorced. So I just want to kind of hear from someone else.

What was your take on that? And if my friend can remarry or she cannot. Right.

So let me answer this very carefully, OK, because we are talking about people's lives here and important issues. First, whatever I say is secondary. Your friend has to be convinced of what scripture says before the Lord. Right. In other words, she can't act on what I'm saying because I say so and I'm a Bible scholar.

She has to know for sure that she's convinced as to what the word says. Right. So obviously the position that that you're hearing has been a standard position that's been taught through church history, especially in Catholic circles, but through much of church history, that there can be divorce and there can be legitimate reasons for divorce.

But as long as that original spouse is still living, that you you cannot remarry. Romans seven would be another passage. The opening verses of that with that would point in that direction. So I understand the case for that and I respect that. And if that is someone's conviction, then God bless them. He can bless them while they're single and and he can be merciful and help them even as they're single. However, I do believe and many others with me that there are grounds for remarriage and that many times in the gospels, you'll have part of a teaching here and the rest of the teaching over there. You know what I'm saying? That that Jesus said this, but now we have the rest of what he said reported here.

So we put all of the data together. And we do know that in Matthew five and Matthew 19, that Jesus does give the cause except for sexual immorality. So especially so your your your friend would theoretically have grounds to divorce based on that. Right. Although normally you fight for the marriage until the other person divorces you, but you say, well, where does it say anything about remarriage?

Wouldn't that be the issue? So what's interesting is in First Corinthians chapter seven, I'm going to start reading from the very verses you mentioned. OK, so to the married, I give this charge that I but the Lord, the wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she will remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And the husband should not divorce his wife. So he's talking to believers here.

Right. And if you're both believers pursuing the Lord and well, we're incompatible, sorry, it's not grounds for divorce. Well, I think we made a mistake getting married. Sorry, that's not grounds for divorce. A marriage is a sacred, lifelong commitment.

So he's reinforcing that to the rest. I say I not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever. So now he's talking about a situation with an unbeliever and she can sense to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he can sense to live with her, she should not divorce him for the unbelieving husband is made holy because his wife, the unbelieving wife is made holy because her husband, otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they're holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved, is not bound. God has called you to peace.

So I understand this. And there are other teachers and Bible scholars who understand this to say that if the unbeliever divorces you, that you are not enslaved, that you are free and that would mean free to remarry. So I do believe there are grounds for remarriage in a case like you described here, if it is as you described it and the husband commits adultery, is determined to continue to live in adultery and divorces the wife, then she would be free to remarry, as I understand scripture. But she needs to take that to the Lord and be sure herself. She needs to to really ask the Lord, study the passages and be convinced because whatever you do, you want to do in full faith and with a clean conscience. So I fully respect what your pastors are saying and why they're saying it. And they would have much of church history on their side. Others would say if you knew the Jewish culture and background of the New Testament, you would know that there are grounds for remarriage.

So you just have to really, she's just got to be sure before the Lord and whatever she does. Yeah, because they said, you know, you can divorce. That's what the church, my church is teaching you can because you're not under bondage, but they were saying that the scripture does not say or it doesn't add on and say at the end, you're free to remarry. Well, that would be that would be the argument.

Right. That would be the argument about First Corinthians seven, that that's what it is saying as as as you read through. That is making that statement that you're not bound and that there is freedom to remarry. Check out this book or have your friend read it, OK? Craig Keener, K-E-E-N-E-R, one of the world's leading New Testament scholars, very solid believer, dear friend of mine, Craig Keener, K-E-E-N-E-R, Paul, Women and Wives, Marriage and Women's Ministry in the letters of Paul. So it's called Paul, Women and Wives, just the rest of it's the subtitle. But he'll get into marriage, he'll get into these passages.

So your friend has to study it, be convinced. And I have colleagues of mine that one of my dear friends, his wife divorced him. They've been in ministry together for years, missionaries. She just took off with somebody else and then divorced him. So it's his conviction that you can't remarry. So he's remained single all these years. And that's to him been the only option.

I have others that have been the unbeliever left, abandoned the home, divorced and the person is remarried and seems to be living under the blessing of God, but she just wants to be sure whatever she does to do it with a clear conscience before the Lord, not driven by a desire for companionship or financial stability, that she just has to be sure about what she's doing. So Craig Keener, K-E-E-N-E-R, Paul, Women and Wives. All right. Thank you for the call. And may the Lord intervene.

Work the miracle, Lord, for this marriage. Amen. All right. We'll be right back. Angela, you are next. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. So less than 30 minutes from now, 4.15 Eastern Time, we'll be resuming Q&A on our YouTube channel.

Ask Dr. Brown, Ask Dr. Brown. A few minutes ago, I posted on Twitter and I said, hey, I'm going to answer some Twitter questions now. And nothing came up on my screen. I refreshed and suddenly a bunch of questions came up.

So I just saw them now. I'm going to take another call and then try to get to a bunch of Twitter questions that were just posted. So we go to Angela in Alexandria, Virginia. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi. Good afternoon, Dr. Brown. Thank you so much for taking my call.

You're welcome. OK, so my question deals with, I guess it's kind of piggybacking off of a question you posed about two weeks ago in regards to Christians attending a gay wedding. Yeah. So I want to I want to flip that to where would a Christian be condoning a wedding of a believer that's being married or engaged to an unbeliever, you know, to be married? And as far as how should we address that as far as attending?

Got it. And also the fact that when asked about the I guess you could say the fiancé now, his spiritual state, that he's not an atheist. So it's like they're acknowledging that he's not a believer. And also the fact that they are living together. So they had an engagement party that was blessed by, you know, a pastor and all that kind of stuff, though. But anyway. OK, so they're living together and the pastor blessed an engagement party?

Yes. Yikes. OK, so the right posture would be that if this is a sister in the Lord and she's claiming to follow Jesus and she's living with her boyfriend or fiancé or whatever that she's spoken to one on one, she's confronted over it. If she doesn't repent, you bring two or three witnesses. She still doesn't repent that you excommunicate her. In other words, if someone is claiming to be a believer and fornicating in an open way or committing adultery in an open way or stealing money in an open way, I mean, it's the the sin is known. It's not a secret sin.

Then you can't have fellowship with them, according to the Bible. So that's quite bizarre that they're living together out of wedlock. So that's the sin of fornication in God's sight.

And you have an engagement party. I don't I don't get that. If it's what you're saying, then that's just a compromised church, plain and simple and a compromised pastor. So to compound it now, the guy may be a really nice guy. But if he's not a believer, it is it is an unequal yoking. It's not like in a country like India, we have an arranged marriage.

You may not have a choice. You know, you may be a Christian and you're and you're married to a Hindu. You just have to accept it and pray for them. But in this setting, I mean, I know endless stories over the years of of the person that married the nonbeliever. And instead of bringing the nonbeliever to the Lord, it ended up with conflict in the marriage and even the believer ended up damaged or falling away or something. So if if it was if it was someone I was close to and I talked to them about it and said, look, wait, if it's God, then wait till they get saved, wait till they're genuinely born again and then go ahead with it, if they were doing it anyway.

I would personally struggle with attending, just to be honest. I don't want to be legalistic or sound and self-righteous or condemning, but I would really struggle with it, to be honest with you, because I couldn't be rejoicing with them and celebrating because I'm grieved, I'm concerned. You know, it is an unequal yoking. You know, it's one thing, even if they were together for many years and now engaged and now someone gets saved, you know, the husband, the fiance gets saved along the way.

And it's like, well, we've gone this far. I'm just going to pray them into the kingdom. You know, even that I'd still be leery about. But to have the relationship, to form it with someone who's not a believer, how much depth of commonality can you have when you bring kids into the world? What happens when the wife wants to go to church and the husband doesn't?

When the husband wants to watch certain entertainment, the wife doesn't. When she wants to do Bible study and he wants to, you know, get high or whatever, you know, whatever the thing is, even if he's a nice guy. So I take it to the Lord. But I would really struggle going myself, to be honest. So I agree, I mean, that's why I call, because I am struggling. So thank you so much.

Yeah, sure thing. If it was me, I'd risk the friendship, but I just like I can't do this. I'm going to pray for something better. But I'm going to sit there. Would you like me to sit there grieving and thinking it's wrong?

Would you know, would you rather I'm not there and we just remain friends? And I pray for you. So may the Lord give you wisdom, Angela. Thanks. Thank you. All right.

Let me grab a couple of Twitter questions and go back to the phones. Jason, hi, Dr. Brown, we know that God predestined good things for us. Does he predestined bad things for us as well? So first, I understand God's predestination is the general path that he has us on as believers from salvation to to glory, as opposed to he predestines everything in our lives. Does he predestined bad? I'm sure in the plan of God that he predestines, he plans to put us through certain difficult situations for our growth, but does he ever do anything contrary to his nature? No, God will not do anything that is contrary to his nature as revealed in the word. So he will never do something that is intrinsically bad to us.

But he may he may point us on a path that will have us go through difficult times so that we grow in grace. Tom, I've attended meetings at the MJA Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, where you spoke quite a few black folks there, given that they aren't part of the organization led by ethnic equals white Jews. They are part. What is their relationship to black Hebrew Israelites, if any? So obviously, I don't know all the people that go, but there are many Gentile believers, Hispanic, black, Asian, different backgrounds that are drawn to the Messianic movement. It's a way for them to connect with Jewish roots. It's a way for them to celebrate biblical heritage. Is it possible that some of them actually have Jewish roots, that they are black Jews? It's possible. Others are just black Gentile Christians that love worshiping with their Jewish brothers and sisters.

And that's why they do it. Stephen, have you read Metaxas's letter to the American church? And if so, would you say it reflects the biblical instruction on what the church is or what does this do? I haven't read it.

Sorry, I haven't read it. Caleb, do you think when Jesus said, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect, he was simply preaching the law to show that man needed a savior and couldn't do it or he really wants people to be perfect? No, no, that that's a that's a calling to us. And in other words, that is what we strive for. And it's not perfection in terms of sinlessness, but the wholeness that is in God, the the the way that he treats the righteous and the unrighteous, that his son shines on both of them.

It is loving our enemies. It is forgiveness for those who are hostile towards us. Yes, so we can only do these things by his grace. But yes, and remember, in, you know, the Hebrew speaks of Noah being perfect in his generations.

It's a different meaning to the word as opposed to absolute perfection. And it's rather this this standard of completely holy living for God. Let's see, we go to Jamie in Utah. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Dr. Brown. Hey.

How are you? Doing good, doing good. Good. My question, my question is, what would your advice be to a believer who had a vision and a word from the Lord? Right. So if you really have heard something from God and he's put something in your heart and you know that you know it's from him, then you are responsible to act on it.

Right. It sounds like, was that dream really from God or not? Or someone prophesied this. I don't know if it's real or not, but if you have a proven track record, Jamie, where God's spoken to you before God showed you things before and you know that you know that it's the Lord, then you say, OK, Lord, what do I do with this? If you have friends that are trusted and that believe that God can speak to you, you say, hey, the Lord's really dealt with me about this. Can I get your counsel or input? But first and foremost, OK, Lord, what do you want me to do with this? Do I act on it now? How do I act on it? So you take it back to him.

If he's the one who gave it to you, you take it back to him. OK, Lord, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to go about doing this?

In what way can I please you? And then if you need wisdom, counsel, you get it from others. But ultimately, you got to do what God's called you to do. But you have to be someone that's submitted to authority, someone that's connected with the body. You don't just want to be independent. But if you are, you are a team player. You've humbled yourself before the Lord, and you honor authority and he gives you a calling, you're responsible to obey what God gives you and you take it back to him.

Lord, here I am ready to serve and obey. Hey, thank you, Jamie, for the call question on Twitter. Natalie, this is something posted on the Washington Post. So your Web designer, someone wants you to design something for their same sex site.

Sorry, I can't do that. Well, what about, you know, second or third marriages or things like that? Well, when someone comes in and says, hey, we'd like a wedding cake. So here it's Joe and Sally. They want a wedding cake. That's all you know. You don't know if it's their second or third marriage. It's not for you to scrutinize it. But if Joe and James come in and say, like a wedding cake, I can't do that in good conscience.

Right. What if someone came in and said, I'm getting a divorce and I want to celebrate my divorce. You know, I found somebody better than my husband.

I'm leaving, you know, he's a good man, but I found somebody better. I want to celebrate. It's like, sorry, I can't do that. That's perfectly acceptable. Hey, we want you to do this Halloween cake.

Satan lives. Sorry, I can't do that. This is this is standard. The courts are consistently recognizing that this is part of our freedom and that no one can impose and make you do something in this sense, contrary to your creative expressions and your biblical beliefs. But hey, 15 minutes from now, join us on YouTube on the Ask Dr. Brown channel. God bless.

Sorry, I can't do that. Well, what about, you know, second or third marriages or things like that? Well, when someone comes in and says, hey, we'd like a wedding cake. So here it's Joe and Sally. They want a wedding cake. That's all you know. You don't know if it's their second or third marriage. It's not for you to scrutinize it. But if Joe and James come in and say like a wedding cake, I can't do that in good conscience.

Right. What if someone came in and said, I'm getting a divorce and I want to celebrate my divorce. You know, I found somebody better than my husband.

I'm leaving, you know, he's a good man, but I found somebody better. I want to celebrate. It's like, sorry, I can't do that. That's perfectly acceptable. Hey, we want you to do this Halloween cake. Satan lives. Sorry, I can't do that.

This is this is standard that the courts are consistently recognizing that this is part of our freedom and that no one can impose and make you do something in this sense, contrary to your creative expressions and your biblical beliefs. Hey, 15 minutes from now. Join us on YouTube on the Ask Dr. Brown channel. God bless. Another program powered by the Truth Network.