Why Christian Leaders Must Address Cultural Issues

Friends, it is so important that as Christian leaders we deal with what is happening in the society today.

We cannot ignore the culture. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, Michael Brown delighted to be here with you serving as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. I want to welcome all of our new listeners on KPXQ, FaithTalk Radio in Phoenix. So thrilled to be coming your way every time at this day, Monday to Friday.

Delighted to be with you. Friends, it's my pledge that every day you will be infused with faith and truth and courage. We will bring together word and spirit. We will bring together grace and truth. We will tackle the controversies in the world around us, but not to get you all worked up and riled like the secular news does and partisan politics instead.

Well, look what's happening in the world to understand what God is doing and how we can bring a solution. As I've said many times, we will not get your blood boiling unless we also get your faith rising. So my joy to be with all of you, our new listeners in greater Phoenix and of course everyone that's been with us over the months, over the years.

Welcome back to the line of fire. I've got a lot of key content to cover with you today and I'm not going to be taking any calls, but I'm also not taking calls because it depends on when you hear this broadcast, but I will either be about to debate or having just debated a Muslim apologist in London on the subject of, Is Muhammad Prophesied in the Bible? So I want to give you a full report on that on the Wednesday broadcast, tell you about that debate, and then a very interesting debate scheduled for Thursday night. We'll talk to you about that on Thursday, on our Thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast. And for those of you that are new, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we go in all kinds of different directions.

We may just dig into the word for a whole show. We may get into what's happening in the news around us and then give wisdom. Tackle the difficult, controversial subjects, but always as we seek to do it, hearts of compassion, backbones of steel. That's how we seek to operate, grace and truth together.

So we may be looking at what's happening in the world around us. Many days we'll be taking live calls and just all your questions on all different subjects. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we go in lots of different directions. Thursday, as always, our Thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast with an Israel Jewish focus.

And then Friday, you've got questions, we've got answers where the phones are open or we'll just take social media questions for the entire broadcast. So today, I want to talk about cultural issues. And for pastors and leaders that are listening, my goal is not to burden you with yet another job. I'm not a pastor myself, but I've served briefly as a pastor, been an elder in churches for many, many years, and have worked day and night with pastors for decades around the world.

I know the burdens that you're often under. And if everyone listening that you're not a pastor or leader, it's so important to realize there are lots of weights and pressures that come on Christian leaders, especially in pastoral ministry. There's demands of the flock and the needs of people, real-life situations. Who do you go to? Who do you go to with some crisis? You go to the pastor. I was speaking at my home church. I just periodically will speak there. I was speaking at my home church and afterwards, or actually there for some of our missions meetings, and a couple comes up to me and the wife says something and then the husband says something.

They each have different stories, and I'm talking about a real crisis of a marriage. Well, I said, June, have you met with the pastor here? No, okay, you need to talk to the pastor. I didn't have to deal with that because I'm not the pastor. I'm not one of the elders functioning there on a daily basis. I don't have to deal with the church finances. I don't have to deal with planning the community outreaches. I don't have to deal with the thousand and one things that come the way of pastors and leaders.

So my goal is not to throw yet another bird on you and more to do. It's simply to say, look, we're not talking politics here. This is not about what party you're voting for, although those are important questions to address, how we vote, where we stand. We're not talking about that. We're not talking about an item in the news. We're talking about something in your church.

We're talking about something in the lives of your family. Here, I found this letter. I was just going through a couple of things from travel, and I found this letter here.

And we get these day and night. It's handwritten. I'm opening it right now as we're speaking. Dr. Brown, my daughter, I'm not going to mention the name, who is 26 now, was in a homosexual relationship for about four years after her high school boyfriend broke up with her. She then broke up with this girl and actually married a man.

I thought everything was good as she was raised in a Christian home. She has been married to this man for two or three years now, but has decided she is a he, not happy. I refuse to call her a he and has started taking testosterone to be a guy. By the way, her husband is fine with this.

I'm struggling. Can she be forgiven? And then here is the mother's name and phone number. This is what we hear day and night. These are the requests that come our way day and night in our ministry, in our organization. When I go out and travel and speak, there are lines of people that want to share similar stories. If I'm asked, if a church says, hey, Dr. Brown, could you come in and help address, we know you'll do it with compassion, with grace, but help address the question, can you be gay and Christian? People are wondering, should they attend the same-sex wedding ceremony of someone in the family?

We're trying to sort this out or the whole transgender thing, we're trying to sort this out. Could you help and give guidance as I've written about it and God has called me to help minister in these ways over the years. Inevitably, when I do it, there's a long line of people afterwards and they're waiting to talk to me. They want to interact with me. They have questions because this is happening.

I don't even mean abstract theological questions. I mean, what happens on my job? My job requires me to do this, but it's against my conscience. I'm a nurse in the hospital.

I fill out medical forms when people come in. I'm required, if a man identifies as a woman, to list him as a biological female, but I know that that could lead to wrong treatment. What should I do? I'm a teacher in elementary school and I'm required, if a boy now identifies as a girl, to refer to him as she and to use the female name.

I have a problem with that. What should I do? My daughter is now getting married to another woman and, of course, I'm a parent expected to be at the wedding, but I have a problem with that. Is it unloving to go? Should I go? What should I do? My son says that he's gay and God made him gay and he loves Jesus and God's going to give him a male partner and together they're going to serve the Lord.

How do I respond? This is the world we live in today, friends, and I'm just talking about one area, difficult cultural area, but this is why we're here, to do our best to help equip, to say, hey, you don't have to stand alone here, but this is what I'm urging. This is what I'm urging. I'm urging you to recognize pastors, leaders. We must speak.

We must address the controversies. I hosted for American Family Association, American Family Studios, a great documentary called In His Image. I highly recommend that you watch it. Everyone listening, if you haven't watched it, it's absolutely free.

You just go to YouTube, In His Image, the movie, it's about an hour, 45 minutes long, or you can go to InHisImage.movie, InHisImage.movie, just put in your email address there and then you can watch it, but it's absolutely free. Churches have shown this and they get extra resources when they do, but everyone can watch it. It will give you an idea of what's happening in society today, but then it's so rich in scripture. It's so rich in the Word, and it is rich in powerful testimonies. I mean heart-wrenching, powerful testimonies that will really encourage you, and it's all bathed in love. So again, grace and truth together. In His Image, watch the movie, circulate it, and we are here to help equip it.

I want to encourage everyone that's listening, pray for your pastors and leaders because they're under attack and they're under assault. And you have to realize, the moment you cross certain lines, the moment you address certain taboo things, that's it. That's it. You're out. You're canceled.

You're rejected. For years I've been on lists now, major media lists and others, to boycott me to not have me on the air because I'm considered to be a dangerous voice because I'll speak about these things. I've been blacklisted in different organizations. I mean major national organizations have blacklisted me because I'm called anti-gay or anti-LGBT.

It doesn't matter how loving you are, how compassionate you are, how gracious you are, the moment you say I differ with this agenda, the moment you say I differ with your interpretation of the Bible, the moment you say no marriage despite what the Supreme Court said is still the union of a man and a woman, you're going to be blacklisted. A lot of people don't want the rejection, but rejection comes with following Jesus. Jesus said plainly, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He said blessed, meaning truly happy, are you when men revile you and speak all kinds of things against you falsely for my name's sake. He said rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for thus are the prophets who are persecuted before you. That's Matthew 5, 10 through 12.

This comes with the turf. Hebrews 13 says that we have to go outside the camp bearing the reproach he bore. So many times individually, oh, it's challenging. If I do the right thing, I'm going to be rejected. You know, young people at school, it's rough on you. I was talking to a young lady who came up, wanted to know, just wanted to share things with me and said, how do I reach my friends? She said, you know, I was in private Christian school most of my life, but then when I got to ninth, tenth grade, when I got to high school, she was in Canada. She said, so it's now in public school, she said every class started, you went across the room with your preferred gender pronouns. So I am Sally, I identify as they, them, and you'd go around the room with your preferred gender pronouns, my preferred gender pronouns are this, this, this, and everyone was required to do it.

And if you just, and everyone was required to now refer to others by their preferred gender pronouns. So if I said refer to me as Z, then you had to refer to me as Z or they, they, or if I'm a male, identify as a female, then she. And she said, I was asked directly, how do they feel about this? She said, I was asked directly, how do they feel about abortion? She said, I answered honestly and I got rejected. She said, how do I reach these kids?

I want to reach these other kids. I said, you know, the only thing I can tell you is of course you were asked, you had to answer truthfully and you did. I said, why not just reach out to them and say, hey, listen, I know we had some differences over other things, but I just want to get to know you better. And tell me why you think I was so wrong. Let them share their viewpoint. I don't want to argue with you.

I just want to understand. And hopefully if you can gain their trust a little and see that you're genuinely interested in their lives, they may open up and you may become their best friend and lead them to Jesus. But it's a price we pay today, isn't it? That when you do the right thing, you get rejected, you get misunderstood, you get hated, you get branded a hater or bigot or transphobe or a homophobe or whatever it is.

And you're just trying to live your life as a believer. So let's take a stand together and say, Jesus, we belong to you and we're going to do what's right, regardless of cost or consequence, because we love you and we honor you. Help us to do it alone. Give us courage. And pray for your pastors and leaders that God will give them wisdom and courage to stand. There's a lot of pressure, a lot of voices saying, don't speak, don't act, but we must. We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

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Call 1-800-771-5584, 800-771-5584. May you live with greater wellness. In a fast-paced digital world where we are constantly being bombarded with everything new and different, people are finding that the best things in life have been with us for a long time. These are the time-tested words of history's legendary Christian leaders. From Charles Spurgeon, in the book of Jonah, we see that Jonah ran from God when God wanted him to preach to Nineveh. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from duty, but what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God's love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers do, our God is with us. And though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, we are at sea without a pilot. Jonah could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways.

He was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah unless you wish to have all the waves rolling over your head. From legendary leader Charles Spurgeon, a message from the Truth Network. We are physically healthy, full of God, grounded in the Word, walking in the Spirit, loving Jesus, grounded in truth and grace, and just shining the light where we go. And then mentally, emotionally, our heart and mind set on the Lord so that we're whole on the inside and that there's grace in our lives to carry ourselves in such a way that we are not the bird weighing down society, but coming alongside the answer. We're mentally healthy. If you don't know my story, we'll share it in the days ahead, especially for our new listeners, but God helped me radically transform my own lifestyle.

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So I just wanted to give a shout out to our sponsor there. Okay, let me give an example of a leader in England. This is Reverend Calvin Robertson, who has now left the Church of England, as the Church of England has increasingly gone apostate. And he is speaking publicly in many different settings before the media here at an Oxford venue. But here is an example of a Christian leader saying, we have to speak. We can't not speak. To not speak, as Bonhoeffer said, is to speak. To not act is to act, not so much for political and cultural purposes, but for pastoral purposes. And you're listening saying, yeah, we need guidance, we need help here. Well, who's going to bring it if not for leadership within the Church?

Listen to Reverend Calvin Robertson. May the words from my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord. I was going to say thank you for the warm introduction, but I think instead I'll say thank you for the invitation.

That's far more charitable. It's a genuine pleasure to speak here this evening. It really is. I'm happy to be back at the Oxford Union. It wasn't too long ago that I was based here myself. And I'm very happy to be part of an organisation that is still standing up for free speech, still standing up for diversity of thought and opinion, going against the approved narrative of academia in the 21st century.

So well done to you all for that. Now, I genuinely struggled with this one. I've struggled sleeping this week, actually. I don't get stage fright.

I never get nervous when I go on television. I recently debated at the Cambridge Union and the Durham Union, no problem whatsoever. But this is something different about this one. It's been causing me anxiety. So someone kindly sent me Luke Chapter 12, verses 11 to 12, saying, and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself and what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

I know there's something a bit ironic about me coming here with a prepared speech after that, but why do I feel anxiety about this? Well, we are up against the authorities, three bishops from the established church. That means either I am wrong and Christians have been teaching incorrectly for the last two thousand years or Jews and Christians for the last four to six thousand years. Or we have church leaders attempting to drag the church into apostasy.

Neither way is good. The consequences are severe. This debate is not just happening in this chamber. This debate is happening in real time in the House of Bishops as we speak. There's a growing number of vocal bishops who want to change the church's teaching on marriage. The results being the spiritual neglect of Anglicans up and down this country. Now, I may have trained at the last remaining sound Anglican seminary up the road at St Stephen's House, but I am a newbie deacon.

So perhaps I am wrong on this. Let's consult people wiser than myself, starting with the church fathers. St Thomas Aquinas in his summer theological quite clearly identifies matrimony as being between one man and one woman, beneficial for begetting of children and for the good of offspring, for both educational and developmental purposes necessary for the perfection of the community and for the worship of God. St Paul describes marriage as therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife. And they become one flesh in which he is mirroring the language of Genesis, where God tells man and woman to be fruitful and multiply. Both Aquinas and Paul refer to matrimony as a sacrament, a holy mystery in which one man and one woman are joined together in conjugal union with the potential to be blessed by the grace of God with children.

To start a family for the worship of God. People will often argue in this debate. We know more about homosexuality now than we did then.

Maybe so. But are we really going to suggest that God knew less then than we know now? For either all of scripture is God breathed or it isn't. Either we believe Christ or we don't.

So this is how you tackle things in real life. This is how you get up with humility and brokenness and say we have to go with God and his truth. We're not hating people. We're not bashing people. We're not angry with people.

We're not prideful. We're simply saying God knows best and God's ways are best. Let me encourage you with a testimony. It's a well known person but I don't want to mention the person involved because then it would reveal the church that's involved.

I got this testimony from a friend. There's a girl that started coming to our church youth group and she got saved. But her mom was furious about it. Threatened to kick her out of the house if she quote stayed Christian. The girl has been asking for prayer at youth. My daughter is a youth support leader.

Both for her own faith to be strong and for her mom. Last week her mom watched the Grammys and was so bothered and offended by Sam Smith's sexual satanic performance she asked her daughter about it. So this was at the Grammys. The song Unholy. Sam Smith identifies as non-binary along with him. Someone else singing who identifies as transgender. Drag queens and bondage.

I just saw little snippets but read the description. You talk about unholy and then hell flames in the background, right? I've said for many years Satan's going to overplay his hand.

And the enemy always goes too far and then people begin to wake up when they see what's really going on. So her daughter explained that the devil hates us and wants to take us to hell. So yesterday the mom came to church with the girl and got born again. She was praying with one of our elders and the only thing holding her back was that she felt there was no way God would forgive her for attempting to kick her daughter out of the house due to her faith. They prayed and through tears and repentance she got born again.

Shows you that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. I believe that the enemy is becoming so blatantly evil that it's going to backfire and many are going to run towards the light. Friends, that is our hope right now. Don't say it's all over.

Hey friends, Michael Brown here. You know it seems the whole country now is talking about revival. Could it be that a fresh wave of revival is here? Friends, I've said for decades without a fresh wave of revival in the church and awakening in society it's over for America as we know it. And that's why I wrote the book Revival or We Die. A great awakening is our only hope. Friends, when you read this book it won't just give you a vision of what revival can do in society, in the church, but in your own heart, in your own life, in a light of fresh fire and it ignites something in you.

A hunger, a desire, a vision of what God can do through a yielded life. Revival or We Die, even have a whole chapter where I share intimate, open prayers I've prayed to God even in recent years to ignite a fresh, a first love in me I believe as you read it, something will be ignited within you as well. But you know, whenever revival comes, there's controversy. And that's why I wrote the Revival Answer book. I wrote it in the midst of the Brownsboro Revival answering the many honest questions. Is there too much emotion, what about shaking, what about falling, what about unusual things that happen in revival?

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Or go to AskDrBrown.org, just click on shop, and when you do, you'll see the special offer. The hardcover edition of Revival or We Die, A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope, along with the Revival Answer book is our free gift to you when you order. One more time, the number to call, 1-800-538-5275.

The time for revival is now. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks for joining us on The Line of Fire. Michael Brown, as always, delighted to be with you, not taking phone calls today, and a lot of content I'm going to pour into you. And again, I want to give you an update on the debate. Depending on when you're listening to this, either I've just had this debate or in the midst of or about to have a debate with a Muslim apologist in London on whether Muhammad is prophesied in the Bible.

So we're eager to give you an update on that. But hey, whenever you hear this, some of you listen later on, catch the broadcast later, whenever you're listening, just lift up a prayer because Muslims will be hearing or just have heard this message. And then many will be watching online, God willing, in the days ahead.

So let's really pray that God would use this to bring many Muslims to faith in Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. So I was interacting with a leading pastor at some length about some of these very subjects, the subjects we have to talk about but the subjects that are often taboo. And I remember, oh, I think probably over 20 years ago, if I'm correct, Focus on the Family, when it was led then by Dr. James Dobson, if they would talk about any of these moral cultural issues, say something having to do with homosexuality in this society or the definition of marriage that touched on that. When they were broadcasting that same show in Canada, they had to replace it with a different show because it could not air in Canada.

If I'm correct, this goes back over 20 years. In other words, there has been growing pressure, the rising tide of society in countries like Canada, even ahead of America. Things have been increasing so it behooves us, as salt and light, to be the moral conscience of the society, to show that God's ways are best. Not to be bashing people over the Bible, you wicked, terrible sinner, I'm going to hit you over the head with the word of God. No, that's not God's way. Yes, God is a holy judge and one day we will stand before him, but our calling here is not to bash people over the head with the Bible in some mean, spirited way. And when they don't listen, we just quote it back to them in caps and in a louder voice. Now, our object is to be ambassadors of reconciliation, to call people to get right with God, to offer them mercy and grace through the cross while there's still time.

Well, warning of judgment to come, but come as ambassadors of mercy and grace and reconciliation, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, reflecting the love and goodness and kindness of God so that we do not have to suffer judgment at his hands. But we have to address controversy. How can we live in the year 2023 in America and not talk about abortion? How can we possibly do that?

How can we live in the year 2023? I'm talking about as Christians and I'm talking about as Christian leaders. How can we live in the year 2023 and not talk about porn? These are the elephants in the rooms wherever we go and many, many other issues. Let's say we had Christian radio during the days of slavery, but it's just too controversial and too divisive so we couldn't address slavery. Or certainly not from the pulpit. How would we look at people?

How do we look at people? We look back at society and say, why did pastors, why didn't you speak out then? Why did this denomination, why were you pro-slavery and carrying a Bible and quoting scripture?

How could that be? So how will future generations, if the Lord terrorists, how will future generations look at our silence? I know it's a heavy topic, but friends, this is the world we live in. So I pressed this leading pastor and I said, will you just give me a straight answer, a straight up answer? Is homosexual practice always sinful in God's sight?

And can same-sex relationships ever be blessed in God's sight? Can you just give me a straight answer? And here's an exact quote from him. He said to me, sometimes ministry preempts clarity. So in order to minister, I can't speak to this with clarity.

No, no, no. Quite the contrary. Quite the contrary. Ministry requires clarity. Ministry requires that we tell people what's right and what's wrong. Ministry requires people that we tell them the difference between good and evil. Ministry requires that we say this is of God and this is of the world. This is of God, this is of Satan. Ministry requires that. But ambiguity, as it's often been said, breeds anxiety and helps no one.

In a different context, in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is talking about proper use of tongues and proper order in a public service. But he says, even if a trumpet sounds with an uncertain sound, how do you know how to respond? Is it a call for battle? Is it bedtime?

Is it wake-up time? Let trumpets out. It's indistinct. So it is not good when people come to your church or talk to us as believers and we talk at length and they still don't know what we believe. They still don't know what we don't want to offend. Well, you just hurt everybody now.

You've offended God and you've hurt everybody. Here, here's a prayer request that we receive and we get these endlessly. Thank you, Dr. Brown, for your stand and information on LGBTQ issues. Please pray for my granddaughter who is caught up with a group of high school girls who believe they are trans or non-binary, etc. This seems to be epidemic with young girls.

Of course, Abigail Stryer has written on this in terms of irreparable damage. It is epidemic and more and more young people are, quote, detransitioning. So here's a 19-year-old girl at the age of 16 who had a full mastectomy and has been on hormones and now says, I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I was just a confused teenager and the medical profession went along with this. This is epidemic.

It is. Well, I don't want to be controversial. It's controversial not to speak. It's controversial not to help and not to reach out, not to be moved with compassion. Here's a story a friend of mine just said sent me to said, Dr. Brown, do you remember this?

And these kinds of things have been going on for quite a number of years now. But this is a story from November 2021. Male student at Rockbridge High School is crowned homecoming queen. There's a story dressed in a glittering golden floor length gown. Zachary Wilmore achieved a first for Rockbridge High School. So here is a guy, gay guy, who is awarded homecoming queen and everyone's celebrating.

Isn't this wonderful? What? It hurts me.

That's the young man that is confused and the young man who needs the Lord and now is being celebrated for his confusion. Hurts me for the others, hurts me for the school. It's a sad thing. All right.

I don't bash. It's a sad thing. Well, the reason my colleague sent this to me was because of an update. Here is Zach now. It's less than two years later. Here's an updated report.

Listen to what he has to say. It's Friday, February 17th. I'm 19 years old. And yesterday I found out that I got diagnosed with HIV. I'm not posting this until I feel completely ready because honestly, I'm worried about people looking at me as untouchable, but people keep giving me hugs.

It's really sweet. I just feel honestly so gross. I wish I could take like a big needle and drain all the blood out of my body. Now people keep telling me that I'm going to get through this. This honestly feels like the end of the world to me. All I can think about is how this disease is forever and I'm never going to be able to get rid of it. I just feel drained emotionally, physically, everything.

I was told people with HIV can live up to 70, but I don't even want to live past 20. You might be wondering why I haven't cried this video and it's because it's inevitable. I cried for 12 hours straight and it's not going to change anything.

I told everyone I flew back to Missouri to mourn the death of my cat, but I just need to be with friends and family right now. HIV positive. Oh, and he's putting makeup on in the videos. He's sharing that. Let's pray God save him.

God redeem him, forgive him, and heal him. I really believe we're going to see this happening in large numbers in the days ahead. Young people just like Zach having a glorious encounter with Jesus just like I did during the Jesus revolution in the late 60s, early 70s. There's so many others. Maybe you're listening now.

That was you. Hippie radical rebel got radically saved. I believe we're going to, and many have been believing this for years, we're going to see many people just like Zach come to Jesus and be wonderfully transformed and even healed.

Some have even healed by God's power. Why not? Why not? But this is, it's not just it's sad that he was recognized as homecoming queen. It's also a lifestyle that does have more peril with it. There are certain choices that we make that have often negative consequences. It's a terrible shame. Now, here's a report.

Zach Wilmore, TikTok's new HIV influencer. So this is now part of the cool story. It's a sad story, friends. That's why we speak up. That's why we speak out.

These are people's lives. So, friends, I want to commit to you. I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to shut up. I'm not going to back up from speaking the truth in love. I'm not going to get angry.

I'm not going to get in the flesh. I'm not going to be hateful. The word of God calls us to overcome evil with good. The word of God calls us to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who persecute us. The word of God says if your enemy's hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him some of the drinks. So Romans 12, quoting from Proverbs 25 and also quoted from Matthew 5. So the words of Jesus, the words of Paul, the words of Proverbs. This is how we're called to live. We're not going to overcome the world by being like the world. We're not going to change the world by politics alone. Again, politics has its place, but that's primarily not how it's going to happen.

It's going to happen by the church being the church. So I'm here to tell you, by God's grace, I'm not going to let you down or back down because we've been on the front lines for many, many years. I remember when we first felt led to do a series of lectures on homosexuality to church and society all the way back in 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I lived near there.

I have since 2003. And we rented out a major well-known facility in the heart of the city. Famous plays had gone on there and things like that. And a colleague of mine, a Christian attorney who was on the front lines of the culture said to me, Mike, have you considered what might happen? You should have police protection. Well, they required us to have a policeman there every night, although everything was peaceful. Everyone on all sides was gracious. And we had Q&A every night, and I made clear there's no gay bashing here. There's no hateful speech.

And so everyone could just speak freely and be in a safe environment so we can have our discussion. You'll know very clearly where I stand, but we can have our discussion. But this brother said to me, concerned, lifelong friend, he said to me, have you thought of the consequences? I said, what do you mean? He said, look, there's crazies in all groups, right?

Whoever you are, religious, non-religious, there are crazies in all groups. And you're tackling this and there may be some crazy person on the other side that tries to hurt you. I said, I don't know what you're asking. He said, well, have you considered what might happen? I said, well, I crossed that line when I got saved, right?

I thought we all did. My life's not my own. We belong to God. We're not here to do our will but his will, right? Colossians 3, you've died. Your life is now hidden with Christ and God. 1 Thessalonians 4, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. We live a holy life. 1 Corinthians 6, you're bought with a price.

You're not your own, right? We live to do the will of God, whether by life or by death. We all know Paul's words in Philippians 1.21, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. But what's it say in Philippians 1.20? I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to live as Christ, to die as gain. So here we are to do the will of God. I have friends and colleagues who are subject to persecution, people who've laid hands on, sent out, who've been martyred for the faith in other countries. At least we can do is suffer a little rejection.

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That's 800-811-9628. This is how we rise up. 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 back, friends, to the Line of Fire.

So glad to have this time together with you. Again, if you don't have our app, I'm always amazed. I'll run into somebody that's maybe in a class of mine that I'm teaching, and they'll ask me a question, and say, well, just look this up on the app. They said, oh, I didn't download it yet.

It's like, come on, I told everyone in the class, take your cell phone, download it. So you'll find tons of great info there. Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASKDR Brown Ministries.

Download the app. You can search. We've got thousands of articles and videos waiting for you. Absolutely free. We've got our Jewish outreach website. We've got our animated videos, short teaching videos, all kinds of resources for you. So download the app, and this way you can take me with you 24-7.

24-7, right? Wherever you go, you've got a question, boom, plug it in there, and we've probably got a free resource that addresses that. All right, I want to play one more clip from England. This is Ian Paul. This is another voice speaking to the controversies of the ongoing apostasy of the Church of England. So the established Church of the nation saying, we are differing with you. We are differing with the stance that you're taking. We are differing with your direction to say that, even though clergy cannot perform the wedding, you can bless same-sex couples now and actually perform a blessing ceremony over them, acknowledging the legitimacy of their relationship, man with man, woman with woman. But if you're not at home with that, you don't want to participate, Church leaders are saying, no, no, no, this is apostasy.

This is not love. This is the worst thing that we could do. So here's another voice, recent voice in England, speaking out grace and truth together. Let's listen. The arguments have been made. Well, they haven't been made yet. We've had a lot of bluster.

No actual arguments yet. Perhaps they'll come. The time is right. Natural justice demands it. Vote for this motion.

Actually, before you do vote for this motion, perhaps we ought to think about what you're calling for. If you do, you'll be voting for a church which detaches itself from the clear and the consistent teaching of Jesus. When challenged about divorce, Jesus refused to answer the question but instead goes back not just to the creation of marriage in Genesis 2 but the creation of humanity in Genesis 1. His central affirmation is that humanity is created male and female and this is the basis of marriage and sexual intimacy. All other sexual relations he describes as porneia and calls those who follow him to repent of him.

This is not small print. This is central to biblical anthropology and the vision of what it means to be made human, bodily and sexed in the image of God. It's not an outdated cultural norm. It's the consistent view of scripture and of the church.

So vote for this motion. If you're happy to demand that the church separates itself from the teaching of Jesus. Not only Jesus but that the church detaches itself from the teaching of the church down the ages. Mennonite scholar Darren Berlusa comments, the creation of covenant pattern of marriage is a consensus doctrine of the church Catholic. Whatever other social arrangements have been involved, until the present generation, all Christians everywhere have believed and every branch of the Christian tradition has taught that marriage is man-woman monogamy. So not only if you vote for this are you demanding we detach from the teaching of Jesus and the church Catholic, you'll also be buying into a long tradition of anti-semitic readings of the Bible. You know the ones I know. Nasty Jewish law, loving inclusive Jesus.

Thank goodness we've got the second and not the first. Entirely contrary to the views of the early church who radically adopted this Jewish ethic and that was key to the liberation of women and the protection of children. You just have to look at the numbers. Leading biblical scholar of a previous generation E.P. Sanders notes, homosexual activity was a subject on which there was a severe clash not just today but between Greco-Roman and Jewish views.

Christianity which accepted many aspects of Greco-Roman culture in this case accepted the Jewish view totally. Paul II in Romans 1 articulates a standard Jewish critique of pagan approaches to sex. Bill Loder, an expert on this and someone who would vote for your motion, notes if Paul knew of homosexual orientation like other Jews he would have rejected them out of hand under the influence of the Jewish creation tradition which declares human beings male and female. Again, another articulate voice speaking out plainly that these are massive issues and when the church shifts, you just watch, you watch friends, you watch your church shift and move away from scripture on one issue, move away from the plain teaching of the Bible on one issue, it won't take long before it moves away from the plain teaching of the Bible on other issues. It's one thing to be a narrow-minded religious fundamentalist that kind of quotes, I alone have the truth and everybody else, they're just going to hell and they're going to burn and they deserve it. That kind of self-righteousness, that kind of lack of compassion is very much contrary to the heart of God. It's one thing to say, God, you're so gracious and I'm just blown away that you had mercy on me and saved me and I know that outside of Jesus there is no salvation so my heart breaks for a lost world, my heart breaks for those who don't know you. That's one thing, that's gratitude and recognizing that the cross is the only way to redemption. It's another thing to be small-minded, self-righteous, your sins are the bad ones, my sins are not so bad. No, that's what Paul says in Romans 2, that when you judge others for all their sins, you're guilty yourself because you're committing similar sins, you're committing the same sins, you're committing worse sins. So we're not here pointing a self-righteous finger at a sinning world, you're so bad and we're so good. We're saying, no, we are the recipients of mercy because without that mercy we're damned and we're doomed and you need that mercy otherwise you are lost outside of Him.

It's a very, very different attitude. And in the midst of that we must speak with clarity. And I wrote an article recently about the subject of ambiguity breeding anxiety and talked about the young generation that's raised with so much uncertainty. Is the world going to end? Is global warming going to destroy the world or will human beings just blow each other up? And living through COVID and what's next and who's going to die and who's going to get sick and do the vaccines work or not and when we go back to school will there be a job? How do we live?

What do we do? And so much uncertainty about the future and then with so many broken homes there breeds further anxiety and uncertainty and many young people are more depressed than ever. I'm not saying this to criticize. I'm saying they've grown up in a difficult situation.

And then with the influence of social media and all the negative effects they can have, we've got people with a lot of anxiety and society in general more worried, more concerned. We need to be the ones who stand up and speak with clarity and speak with certainty and speak with affirmness that says we know that we know. Years back I remember as the, quote, emergent church was coming to life and this was kind of the new saying, hey, we're emergent and we're in touch with the times. We're scriptural but we're in touch with the times.

And I remember hearing Christian leaders get up and say, hey, I don't know, I'm not sure what this says either. I can't give you an answer. I'm not sure. And people say, oh, that's great, he's not sure. Well, then why are you leading? If you're not sure, sit down and let someone who's sure stand up. I'm not talking about some obscure interpretation of a verse somewhere where there's a debate on the Hebrew or the Greek and a minor, minor issue. I'm talking about fundamental issues. Hey, we can't really help.

Well, then sit down and let people who do know lead the way. I remember hearing this statement a lot. Hey, it's not the destination that's important, it's the journey. It's the journey that's important. Well, I would rather have a bad journey to heaven than a great journey to hell. You better believe the destination is important. Oh, I want to learn from the journey and experience the journey but you better believe the final destination is what really matters. The journey is secondary to that. So you have a religious setting that is more and more ambiguity and more and more uncertainty and less and less clear boundaries and that produces anxiety in a generation. We now have the good news not with religious dogmatism or small-mindedness but based on eternal truth to say Jesus really does save.

There really is hope. There really is a place of peace and rest. You can be in right relationship with God. You can know that your sins are forgiven. You can know that if you were to die, you'd be in his presence.

These are things we can be certain of, we can stake our lives on. Just looking at a note that someone had sent in to us, Dr. Brown, you are our compass. Keep pointing us in the right direction. At God's speed, may he bless you and keep you here for a very long time. Pastors, leaders, so many of you, you're a compass to your people. You're a guide to your people. But everything's going crazy.

People are like, what do we do? You may not have all the answers yet but you know God. And you stand up in front of your people and you say, hey, God's going to get us through this. There's that calming influence. Moms and dads in the home, you know the Lord and you understand the same thing that when your kids are agitated and upset, you bring that calming influence.

Maybe there's a bad storm. You're driving in the car and there's a bad storm and the kids start crying. You say, hey, we'll be all right. We'll be okay. We know how to drive safely and the Lord's with us.

We'll be okay. And hey, let's just play a happy game or something. So I'm not saying to be unrealistic. I'm saying to be deeply realistic. I'm urging, I'm appealing Christian leaders, brothers and sisters, let us commit to speaking the truth in love. Thomas Sowell said this and it may be an exact quote or a slight paraphrase. When you care about other people, you tell them the truth.

When you care about yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. Let's not do that. Let's care about other people. Let's determine I'm going to tackle the controversies. I'm going to touch on the difficult issues. And friends, let us be a resource to you. We've got thousands of hours of free materials on our website, AskDrBrown.org. Let us be a resource to you and help you and equip you. And then all the books we've written, other materials, and that's why we're here again five days a week on the air.

To serve you, to equip you, to help you, to build you up, to strengthen you, and encourage you. We'll face the facts. We'll look at the difficult, difficult situations. We will not put our head in the sand and just give you some good spiritual answers. But we know that in God and in his word is eternal hope and that he is an ever-present help in time of trouble. Even when Sam Oden is found exceedingly, he is an ever-present help in time of trouble. He is our refuge, he is our strength, he is our guide. Let us, his strength, shout out a message to the world. You can know the truth and the truth is found in Jesus. Back with you tomorrow.