Dr. Brown Answers Your Best Questions

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I'm going to be back in my home studio after virtually two weeks on the road, home for 24 hours, then back to Fort Worth, Texas to speak at Mercy Culture. Two services Sunday morning. If you're anywhere near Fort Worth, join me for one of the services I speak about heaven and hell.

All right, you know the routine, you've got questions, we've got answers. Any question of any kind that relates in any way to the line of fire, give me a call. 866-348-7884. And for the hundredth time, thousandth time, God knows exactly what time, an invitation to those who differ, to critics, to those who bash us on social media. Call me.

Tell me why I'm so wrong, tell me why I'm so misinformed, and we'll have a friendly discussion. 866-348-7884. Okay, I'm going to the phones momentarily, but thank you for those who prayed during this recent trip. Left home two weeks ago Sunday, three days at Christ for the Nations, teaching there during radio in the afternoon, two days at Spiritual Leadership School in Fort Worth, so Dallas and Fort Worth, doing radio from the studios there.

Flew to San Francisco Friday night, a week ago, we didn't have to go Friday, no, a week ago Friday. Yeah, flew to San Francisco, spoke five times at a wonderful church, just getting to know the Rock Church in Danville, California, left there, flew to Kona, Hawaii, meetings, hours and hours of pouring into YWAM leaders from around the world, what a joy, Monday, Tuesday, did radio Wednesday, then flew through the night, Wednesday night into Thursday, 12, 13 hours travel, got into Lynchburg, Virginia yesterday afternoon, then radio of course, then had a wonderful time speaking at Liberty University, so appreciate the team setting things up there, and what a joy to see our granddaughter, Elliana, before she graduates next month, how amazing for us to walk the campus together. And then drove home this morning, and here we are, blessed, refreshed, strengthened, and ready to take your calls. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's start with Luke in Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome to the line of fire.

How you doing, Dr. Brown? This is Lewis, by the way, but anyways, I just wanted to ask you a question. I watch a lot of your videos, debates, and in your debates, you mentioned it's not for us to know the day or the hour, but the times or the seasons, but I was reading in Acts 1, verse 7, where Jesus said it's not for us to know the times or the seasons, so how do we get around that when we use that argument?

Because I'm a post-trib, and I, you know... Just look at it very specifically, that's not what I'm saying at all. Acts 1, 6, the apostles have just spent 40 days with Jesus after his resurrection, so they are in with him. He's obviously been talking to him about the kingdom of God.

The text tells us that. They say to him, is this the time now for you to restore the kingdom to Israel? It was a relevant question.

They must have talked about these things, and this was not some weird question. He doesn't rebuke them. He doesn't say, oh, you're crazy, you're out of your mind, the church is replacing Israel, God's through with Israel, don't you understand?

No, no. He says it's not for you to know the times and seasons that are appointed by the Father. In other words, when the kingdom is going to be restored to Israel, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes in you. In other words, rather than trying to figure out exactly when this is all going to be fulfilled and God's going to keep his promises to Israel, you concentrate on the Great Commission. So, that is our concentration.

That's what we're supposed to be doing. At the same time, Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians, the fifth chapter, he writes there, I don't need to write you about the times and seasons because you're not asleep. The day of the Lord is not going to come like a thief for you because you're not asleep, so you understand these things.

When people are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come. Jesus tells us in Luke 21, when you see certain things happen, lift your eyes then, because your redemption draws near. The same thing with signs that are given in Matthew 24. So, for sure, we're supposed to know the times and seasons in which we're living. Jesus rebukes the religious leaders in Matthew 16 because they can tell the weather, but they don't know the time of their visitation.

They don't understand the times and the seasons. 1 Chronicles 12 32, the sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do. They were an essential part of David's army. So, it's very important for us to understand when we live, what's happening, the situation in the world, and how we are to respond. But for the apostles, then 2,000 years ago, don't worry about when God restores the kingdom to Israel.

You preach the Gospel. Now that Israel is in its 75th year, 75th anniversary next month, and that the Great Commission is massively beyond where it was in the first century, we should understand the times and seasons in which we live, but we still don't know the day or the hour. But we should absolutely know the times and the seasons. But think, 2,000 years ago, what's Jesus going to say? Yeah, well, at least 1,900 plus years from now, it still won't have happened. The kingdom still won't be restored to Israel.

No, that's irrelevant. I don't need to know if Jesus is not coming for 3,000 years or 2,000 years, you know, if that's the detail. It's like, just be busy doing the work of God today. And that's the ultimate lesson for all of us. Amen. Can I ask you just a Greek word real quick?

Sure. And just tell me what it means. The keeping you from passage in your argument, you know, John 17, 15 is Jesus showing the difference, keeping you from and taking you out. I was watching a video of a Greek guy teaching the other day, and he said if Paul wanted to relay that, keeping you through and from keeping you from, keeping you from is a different Greek word, and he said it was dia terreiro, t-e-r-o. He would use that word for keeping you from, not the one he used, which is keeping you through. Well, hang on, why was he referencing Paul?

Because he's saying he was addressing the argument about keeping you through in contrast to keeping you from. But Paul doesn't use… And he said the word… But Lewis, Lewis, Lewis, Lewis, Lewis, hang on. Paul doesn't use that argument. Paul doesn't say those words at all. Okay, Revelation 3, 10, there was a promise to the ancient church in Philadelphia, because you've been faithful, I will keep you from the hour of trial coming on the whole world. And then Jesus uses those exact words in Luke, in John 17, 15, and says, these are his words, Father, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, he's praying for the apostles, but to keep them from the evil one.

Right, so what does Paul have to do with this? No, no, no, I made a mistake. He meant Don. He said if it was protecting you, he would have used dia terreiro. D-I-A-P-E-R-T-R-O. Right, no, there's two separate words.

It's to keep, and then dia is the preposition. But Jesus is explicit. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, he's praying for his apostles.

Right, not even for us. I'm not praying for you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. So that means in this world, we are kept from the evil one. So it's not to be kept through, that's one thing, to be kept from is another. So in this world, we will be kept from what the evil one is trying to do. In this world, we'll be kept from the hour of trial. Right, exactly.

But here's the whole thing. What's so silly here is for someone to try to argue against this, right, the Greek preposition. Because Jesus, you don't have to parse words and get into a Greek battle. Jesus says, I am not praying that you take them out of the world. So that's pretty clear right there, Lewis.

We don't need to parse that and debate the Greek right there. Jesus makes it plain. So whatever he was praying for the apostles, that they would be kept from the evil one, that's the same promise that was to the church in Philadelphia, the ancient church in Philadelphia. So those Jews, there must be a rapture to be kept from. You can be kept from something right here in this world.

In fact, most of what God keeps us from, be it temptation or attack or whatever, is while we're here in this world. 866-348-7884, phone lines are open, so great time to call in. Let's go over to Tony in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown. So, I'm in full-time ministry, and I'm kind of just wanting to get some advice from you, because I know that you've served in a really well-known revival. You speak at pretty large churches on a regular basis, and so my context is someone who's in full-time ministry, and I have friends as well who serve as pastors or on pastoral staff.

And I'm in my early 30s, so that might be relevant as well. I'm trying not to grow cynical, but as I understand the parables of talent, Jesus appears to define quote-unquote success in the now and the not yet, in terms of what we're supposed to do for him, as just simply being faithful. And yet, I find myself in various ministry contexts, even my friends who are pastoral staff or even leading churches, we find ourselves in the constant tension of having to produce, produce, produce, produce. I have, you know, their senior pastor will actually get very, very, almost overly demanding, and if they can't produce disciples as fast, and the churches are growing, it just seems like, I don't want to leave ministry, but how do I remain in ministry when it seems that Jesus defines success as faithfulness? Not laziness, not lack of excellence, but simple faithfulness. But yet, it's very common in Western churches to be under the constant demand of produce, produce, grow, grow, grow, and if you can't do those things, you can't be in ministry or something like that.

What advice would you give a, you know... Absolutely, totally. Loud and clear.

So, I'm going to answer mainly on the other side of the break. The short answer is, the only pressure we should feel is the holy pressure of seeking to honor God and live lives that count and that are fruitful in His sight. The only pressure is the holy pressure of living to have the Father say to us on that day, well done, good and faithful servant. It may look big in the eyes of people, it may look like nothing in the eyes of people. And say the church in Corinth, when Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians 1, think of the mess that they were, and they had maybe between 50 and 75 people at that point.

That was Paul. So, we need to cast off carnal human pressure, especially the American bigger is better mentality, and live in obedience to what God's saying. Alright, I'll be right back with more of an answer. In a random double-blind placebo-controlled study, it showed a reduction of elevated at-risk C-reactive protein levels, resulting in an improvement in range of motion in the back, neck, and joints, and an overall improvement in the quality of life.

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Here again, it's Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us. Hey, shout out to our sponsor, Triveda. Thank you for your sponsorship, your participation, helping us reach so many more people with the Line of Fire broadcast. And thank you for the great products which accompany me wherever I go. Friends, the schedule that I keep, the life that I live, first, God's grace. Second, healthy eating, healthy diet. Oh, man, I'm telling you, a guy was talking to me last night. A young guy said, you're like Moses.

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You can also go online, triveda.com, but make sure you use the code BROWN25 to get your discount. All right, so back to Tony and Lake Charles. So I feel a holy pressure, which is life-giving, not life sapping. I feel a holy pressure to be more effective, to impact more people, because God has called me to. Whatever many people we reach now, whatever millions we've been able to reach over the years, my heart burns to reach more. My heart burns to make a greater impact, to see the nation shaken, to see the nation shaken, to see Israel saved. I burn with that day and night, but it's not oppressive to me, Tony. It drives me to be with the Lord more. It comes out of my intimate fellowship with Him. And nobody on my staff, nobody on my team, and nobody in any ministry I've ever led over the years, nobody in a church that I've been an active leadership part of, no one has ever had some kind of quota that they had to meet.

No one has ever had some, okay, this is our target, we want to do this, we want to do this. Our target is to be with the Lord, hear His voice, and do what He calls us to do, and do it with excellence in a way that glorifies Him, whether it looks big or small, in the eyes of men. There's a little quote that says, find out what God would have you do, and do that little well, for what is great and what is small, just only God can tell. There are people whose main calling is to labor in the prayer room, and they have small groups of people, and then their best friend is pastoring a church for 10,000, and they've got 30 or 40 in their house of prayer, and they're both doing what God called them to do.

A lot of what looks big, a lot of what glitters, is not gold, and is not lasting. 1 Corinthians 3 says that all of our work will be tested by fire, and the fire will determine the quality of that work. So, it may be being in the right fit. In other words, it's great to have a visionary leader, and God can speak to that leader, the Lord told us we're to plant 30 new home groups this year, so in order to do that, we have to get this, this, this in order, and now you give yourselves to that. It's another thing, like a salesman, that you have to go out and meet your quota, and produce. So, if it's a visionary leader, and they've heard from God, God spoke to me that we were to double our congregation in the next year, and that's only going to happen if we serve our community better, and do more outreach, so let's get the mind of God as to how to do that, and then you'll throw yourselves in together, and you run, that's one thing. But the idea of, if we don't have X number of new people, or X number of new dollars, or X number of new plants, or this and that, that we're not succeeding, who says that?

I mean, where is that written? Where is success determined by numerical growth alone? It could be that numerical growth is slower, while foundations are deeper, and people are maturing in the Lord, but ultimately, you'll see increase with souls coming, if there's health, things will grow. So, it may be that over time, Tony, that you find another church environment, where you don't feel that outward pressure, or else, you just have to say to the Lord, your yoke is easy, your burden is life, so whatever you're calling me to do, it should fit right, and I should be able to do it without strife.

So, one question for you, sir. Have you ever had a respectful, candid conversation with your pastor, about what feels to you like fleshly pressure to succeed, rather than kingdom growth? Yes, and on one hand, I feel like he has said, oh, no, no, no, just do the best you can, but yet, we'll sit in meetings, and it's just constantly about numbers, and I'm not the only one who's ongoingly experiencing this. It's like I said, I have friends in ministry as well, who have it far worse, where their pastor is putting the constant, constant demand to grow, because I guess if you don't grow, then you can't meet payroll or something, and again, I don't want to cultivate cynicism.

Right. Well, Tony, sometimes it's as simple as, we're living in a neighborhood, it's 99% non-believers, and we want to see people saved, so we're burning to see people saved. Look, if a church, let's say you've got a church of 200 people, you go a whole year without seeing a single person born again, a single baptism, something's wrong, something with that many people, and that many people sharing the gospel, the community, something's wrong somewhere, it should at least drive you to your knees to say, God, why aren't we reaching people? But a church of 200 in God's sight may be more successful than a church of 10,000. Depends on the quality of spiritual life and disciples being made.

So again, we can't measure by that model. So this is my counsel to you, Tony, and I'm a very driven person, but like I said, in a good way, and when I get driven in a wrong way, it's because I put something on myself that I have to do this, that I have to write this much or cheese this much or travel this much or produce this much, and that's when it feels fleshly and is not life-giving at all. So here's what I'd encourage you to do, Tony. First, pray daily beautiful, wonderful prayers for your pastor, prayers that you would love someone to pray for you. And all of you who are on church staffs and settings or just whatever your setting is where you have someone over you that you feel their leadership can be harmful or oppressive or unhelpful at the least, pray beautiful prayers for them, not prayers that they would, Lord, change them in this way.

No, no. Lord, bless your son. Bless your daughter. Draw them so close to you. May they be intimate with you. May they hear your voice more clearly than ever. May they know you more deeply. Just pray good, beautiful prayers for your pastor, for your leaders. I'm not saying you're not, but pray even more. God may just do a deeper work in their heart, and as a result of which, things begin to change.

That's one thing. Second thing is go to the Lord daily and say, Lord, I need my assignment from you. You know I'm going to put my hours in at church or ministry, whatever I'm asked to do, but what would please you today? How can I best honor you today?

I'm leading an outreach team. How can we best honor you? Because you can't guarantee that a soul will get saved, but how can we best honor you and glorify you?

What would bring you joy? And make sure that you exchange the human yoke, which can be oppressive and driven in an unhealthy way for the heavenly yoke, which even though my schedule to a lot of people, half my age, would put them under the ground in terms of wear them out, I'm thriving. Why? Because it's my calling. It's because what the Lord gave me to do, it's my assignment, and therefore that yoke is life, or the burden is life. The yoke fits just right. I go do what someone else has called, and how in the world? I can't handle that for ten seconds. How do you carry that?

Because it's their assignment. So, in the midst of your job responsibilities, hold that up, don't be irresponsible, but then say, Lord, I need your yoke, which fits right. I need your burden, which is life. And if ultimately it's just not a healthy setting, then ask the Lord at the right time to transition you somewhere else where you can serve fully, and where there isn't that carnal pressure based on outward numbers or perception. Hey, Tony, thank you for the call.

May God give you grace and lead you. We come back on the other side of the break. We'll go over to Lisa in Illinois, and I want to answer a question. It was posted yesterday. I didn't see it, but my new friend, Zakir Hussain, we had a debate in London March 20th, and a colleague and friend now, and debating opponent.

Oh, yeah, we are passionately against one of those positions and what we believe. He asked an interesting question. I'll answer that, too. Hey, friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown. I want to invite you to join our support team.

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I was so blessed after speaking at Liberty University last night just to talk to a bunch of young people that were there and to hear the testimony of how we've been a blessing. And it's not me, it's joint. It's us together making this impact. So thank you. All right, let us go to Lisa in Illinois. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. Thank you for your ministry. My question is regarding Colossians 2, 11 and 12. It's talking about circumcision in Christ and being buried with Him in baptism. So is this saying that baptism is now replacing the Jewish tradition of circumcision? And if so, that is why we can baptize babies and children versus a believer's baptism?

Yes, Lisa. There are Christians who use the text to say that, but I don't believe it has anything to do with that whatsoever. I don't believe there's any connection whatsoever. And we do know that Jewish believers did continue to circumcise their sons in New Testament times. That Paul explicitly in Acts 21 says that he goes out of his way after the counsel of James, Jacob, to show that he was not teaching Jewish followers of Jesus to not circumcise their sons. He opposed trying to get Gentile Christians to be circumcised or circumcise their sons. In Galatians 2, he plainly rebukes that. And that Titus, who was a Gentile, he opposed to being circumcised.

In Acts 16, Timothy, whose mother was Jewish, father was Gentile, so is he Jewish or Gentile? There's ambiguity. So he had Timothy circumcised to remove the ambiguity that he was really Jewish.

But no, this is absolutely not saying it alone. Let me just read the verses. In him, verse 11, you are also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So what he's saying there is that just as there is a circumcision of the heart, remember Israel which was circumcised in the flesh was also called to circumcision of the heart, that when you're baptized, it's a circumcision of the heart as well. But in the New Testament context, the only ones who were baptized were believers. Even in Acts 16 where it says that the jailer and his household were all baptized, it also says that Paul preached to the jailer and his household.

So they all heard the message, received the message, and were all baptized. So the idea of circumcision being a right performed at birth or after birth, shortly after birth, to dedicate a baby to the Lord is just not found in the New Testament. With all respect to my friends who believe in infant baptism, it's not found there. Nor does this text teach it.

It's simply not what's being said. And even if you are arguing that baptism is a circumcision, what does that have to do with the sign of circumcision? This is not a spiritual act of putting away sin. What does that have to do with the physical sign of circumcision that God gave Abraham for his descendants as a sign of the covenant?

It's unrelated. So yes, baptism is a sort of spiritual circumcision, but it doesn't take the place of circumcision, nor is that taught anywhere in the New Testament. Just think of this, all the circumcised Jews that were baptized in the book of Acts, they're two separate things. You're circumcised as a Jew, set apart for the covenant, and in connection with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you're baptized in response to a message of repentance.

Two separate animals. Alright, thank you very much, Dr. Brown. You are very welcome. Thanks for the question.

866-348-7884. Before I go back to the phone, so Zakir Hussain, a Muslim apologist, asked a question about matrilineal descent. When was that taught in Judaism that you are Jewish if your mother is Jewish? When I debated Guerrilla Hebrew on the question of who were the legitimate children of Israel, I said, I have no problem going with patrilineal descent.

In other words, that was not going to affect my argument. And you can make a biblical case for patrilineal descent, namely that descent is traced through the Father. For example, Solomon has foreign wives, right? Wouldn't that mean that the children of Solomon and a foreign wife, therefore the children were foreigners? The traditional Jewish argument would be, well, they obviously converted to Judaism in order to marry Solomon.

Of course, that's not there in the text. The text says that they turned his heart away from God to worship other gods. But first, where does traditional Judaism get the idea that descent is through the mother? It mainly comes from texts like Ezra the Ninth Chapter, not only, but largely, where the priests and the Israelites intermarried with pagan women, and what happened was God said they had to divorce because these were illegitimate marriages. These were not women like Ruth that became part of the children of Israel and converted to worship the god of Israel, but rather these were foreign pagan wives that they intermarried with, and when Ezra had them divorced, he had them send the women and children away. So the understanding in traditional Judaism is that the children were also considered unclean because they were part of that unclean marriage, and therefore, if it had been through the father, they would have been legitimate descendants, but it obviously comes through the mother. They might also point to the daughters of Tzolovchad in the Book of Numbers, where here's a man, Tzolovchad has no sons, and they say, what about the inheritance? So they have to marry within the tribe, but the inheritance then comes through the daughters. That's not a primary argument that's used, but theoretically could be used. I don't use those arguments myself.

So that's some of the why. The question is when. It seems to be debatable. There's a good article by Shia Cohen on this, where he deals with Paul circumcising Timothy in Acts 16 that I happened to reference a few minutes ago, and says that it seems apparent that in the first century, there was still debate about this. If your mother's Jewish, your father's Gentile, are you Jewish or not? There was debate over it, and so as to remove debate, Paul goes ahead and circumcises Timothy, right?

But that would also indicate something interesting. That would indicate, potentially then, that Paul understood Jewishness as coming through the mother, right? Paul came to Derby, then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but his father was a Greek.

The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, for his Jewish mission and beyond, for his Gentile mission, but starting with Jews. So he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in the area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. You could say, no, it's the other way, because the father being a Greek, therefore it's not legitimately Jewish, has to be circumcised. Either way, there seems to be debate about this still in the first century. So it wouldn't be until the second century and after that this became more fully codified in Judaism.

You could make that argument, that matrilineal descent became more fully codified in Judaism, second century beyond, whereas in the first century there was still debate about it. 866-348-7884. Let's go to Doug in Raleigh, North Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hello, Doug. That was an interesting question I was going to answer about being a pro-choice conservative. I don't think that's possible. Not if you're a biblically-based conservative, you can't be pro-abortion. If you are a conservative economically or other ways like that, that's one thing.

But to be a biblically-based conservative, of course you can't be pro-abortion. Alright, 866-344-truth. Let's go to Shalimar in New Jersey. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello, Dr. Brown. It's an honor.

Well, thank you. So, Dr. Brown, I had a question about dreams and how we should approach dream interpretation. I recently had a dream that was very disturbing.

I saw some numbers and letters that I looked up, and it was actually referencing an illness that displays symptoms that I currently have. And all I could do was freak out and pray, but I don't know how to approach this deep dream. And what's funny about it is that before I went to bed, I asked God to speak to me in dreams, and so I battled with just wanting to approach it correctly, and how I should be perceiving that kind of experience, and, you know, yes. Right, so, Shalimar, first it is biblical for God to speak to his people in dreams, even in the New Testament. Right, so in Acts 2, the last days outpouring, so we've been in the last days from that time until now, that your old men will see visions, your young men will dream dreams, your sons and daughters will prophesy. So, it's a common way God spoke in the Old Testament, and Paul has a dream, God speaks to him in that way in Acts 16, you know, dream vision, etc., young men dreaming dreams.

So, this is certainly a way that God continues to speak. The challenge with it is dreams are often very symbolic or surreal in certain ways, right? You know, it's one thing if you're in prayer and you sense the Lord saying to you, the medication you're taking is actually the problem, go off the medication.

When you do, it's like, wow, this was hurting my body, that's why I was having these problems, and then the doctors confirm it. It's another thing when you have a dream, it's like, okay, what does the dream mean? It's almost never that God has spoken to me in a dream that I'm aware of. The few dreams I've had that seem to be prophetic could have just well been reflections of what I'm thinking about a lot and have on my mind, and that's why I'm dreaming about it in a way that seems prophetic. I know others where God speaks to them in dreams all the time, and some with shocking, scary accuracy.

I'm talking about uncanny accuracy, but here's the general principle. Unless you know someone that the Lord has really gifted with interpretation of dreams, that on a consistent basis, someone can come to them, like a Joseph or a Daniel in the Bible, and say, I dreamed this, what does it mean, what does it symbolize, right? Because the dream might be animals, or stars in the sky, or like you said, words or numbers, like what does it mean? So, unless you know someone that's really gifted in dream interpretation, I'm not. I've had people say, I had this dream, and I'm trying to sort it out, and I was like, I have no clue. So, unless that happens, you ask the Lord, if you're giving me this dream, you have to show me what it means. If you're speaking to me through a dream, Lord, then show me what it means. Either you'll give another word that will unlock it, or another dream, or an interpretation, Lord. If you send me the dream, send me the interpretation.

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Thanks for joining us, friends. So just to say this again for Shalimar, if God gives you the dream, don't get spooked or freaked over it. If it's like, wow, this is weird or scary or what does God say? Just say, Lord, if you send me a dream, then give me the interpretation or the understanding. You may get another dream that clarifies things. The Word may open up to you. The Holy Spirit may show you something. Someone out of the blue may come and give you another word. It's like, oh, that unlocks it.

Now I get it. But until then, don't struggle or try to figure it out because most likely you'll end up just with all kinds of speculation. Instead, throw it back on the Lord, all right? And just say, Lord, if you're trying to say something to me, want to give me insight, then give me the insight.

Help me to know what I need to know and take the pressure off of yourself. All right, let's go over to Canada. Jeremy, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown, thanks for having me.

Sure thing. So my question is, it seems that there's been a little bit of a twisting, a lot of famous love passages in the Bible when it comes to debates on homosexuality, and I was really wondering about, like, I'm not as confused when it's maybe a believer talking to an unbeliever, let's say, right? But I watched your debate with, well, you were debating with James White against two other folks, a woman and a man, and they were... A pastor, a lesbian pastor, yeah.

Yes, yes. They were professing believers as well, and then often when they bring up these love passages, it just, to me, seems like it's twisting the word love to just be what they want it to be, and it kind of, to kind of try to cover over all sorts of immorality. So I guess my question would be, have you seen a twisting of these passages, and how can we respond biblically, like, with a biblical definition of love? Like, would you have any verse recommendation for that? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, of course we've seen it. I mean, first the larger culture, love wins, love is love, I have the right to marry the one I love, so that's the argument. Even a pastor, just absolutely ridiculous, idiotic, profane statement. A pastor in Texas makes the statement that if the one thing Jesus said, you know, don't speak against love, and if in blasphemy of the Spirit is to speak against love, so if you don't sanction same-sex couples, you're blaspheming the Spirit. I mean, that's one of the most idiotic, ridiculous things I've heard from a pastor or a leader. But, you know, Romans 13 is commonly quoted, love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law, and when I thought that I couldn't be in a same-sex relationship, I was miserable, and that was harming me, and once I realized that God was good with it, that I'd been liberated, so you were harming me, and love does no harm, so you're not walking in love, etc.

So, a simple question to start with, just ask a real simple question, and this is not just theoretical, these things have actually happened. Say so, like two brothers who love each other, or a father and daughter who love each other, is that okay? Can they get married? You know, the father, his wife has died, father and daughter, can they get married? Is that okay, if they love each other? Well, no, no, that's against the law. Well, we're not talking about against the law, because homosexual practice has been against the law for centuries.

So, right, what's the matter? Well, there could be genetic issues. Alright, well, two brothers, two brothers, is that okay, if they love each other? 24 years old, 22 years old, consenting adults, can they be together sexually, can they marry, since you can marry someone of the same sex today, in Canada, in America?

Well, overwhelmingly, someone's going to say, of course not. If the moment they say, of course they can, now they've disqualified themselves. In other words, now they're even saying that incest is okay, and they're saying that because they want to justify what they're doing. So, everybody draws the line somewhere, right? And, in other words, everyone says a certain thing is wrong. What about a throuple?

I mean, this is increasingly common. Three people, three men, three women, or whatever the mix is, in an ongoing, committed, loving relationship. Is that okay? What about the man who no longer loves his wife, but loves another woman that he's married? Well, no, he made a covenant, but he loves the other woman, he doesn't love his wife, but he made a covenant.

So, everybody realized there have to be parameters. It's not just how you feel, it's what's right and wrong in God's sight. It's what's prohibited, forbidden, what's healthy, what's not healthy, in the sight of God. Not just the feeling of love. We all realize and agree, virtually everyone, there have to be certain lines drawn. Otherwise, you're going to have all kinds of abusive relationships in the name of, quote, love. The other thing, I would go to other passages, like Proverbs 27, 5, open rebuke is better than secret love. In other words, to say, oh, I love that person, but I'm not going to say anything.

No, no, if you really love him, you're going to rebuke him for doing wrong. Proverbs 28, 23, a man who rebukes someone, in the end, will have more favor than the one who speaks with a flattering tongue. That love tells the truth, and love corrects. And because I love you, I'm going to tell you the truth. Because I love you, I'm going to tell you what you need to hear. Paul writes to the Galatians and said, if I become your enemy by telling you the truth, right?

So, that's how I turned around and asked them. I said, well, isn't it a loving thing for you to warn you? I know it doesn't make you feel good. When you go see the doctor, right?

And the doctor says, unless you change your diet and change your life so you're going to be dead in six months, well, it makes me feel miserable. I thought you loved me. Well, because I love you, I'm telling you the truth. So, love does no harm to its neighbor. That means if I have to warn you, if I have to stand against what you're doing, if I have to make you uncomfortable, I'll do it because I love you and I care for you and I want to see what's best. I've quoted, since I heard the quote from my friend Frank Turek, what Thomas Sowell said, that when you care about others, you tell them the truth. When you care about yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. So, because I care about others, Proverbs 27, 6, I quoted 27, 5, 27, 6, the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

Oh, man, I love you. I love all your special, wonderful, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. Because I love you, I'm going to say something that may wound you, but it's for your good.

And we just have to take that posture. Let's make sure we do it with a tone that's gracious. Let's make sure if you cut us, we bleed love, right? We'll be long-suffering and caring, but because we love you, we're going to tell you the truth.

It would be much easier for me to say, go ahead, do it, have that relationship, God bless you, but that would only be hurting you in the long run. Right on, thank you so much. You are very welcome, Jeremy.

866-34-TRUTH, let's go over to our friend Christian in Toledo, Ohio. Welcome to the line of fire. How you doing, brother? I'm doing great, thank you. That's good.

So, you know, quick questions. I was talking to some Mormons and a couple of brothers in Christ as well, and I was showing scripture, I think it's 4 verse 11, and it says that Yahweh says that I overthrew some of you as God, I was showing that God is not just one person, he's three persons, right? And I look in newer versions of the Bible and that's literally, it doesn't say the same thing at all, it doesn't say, you know, that they changed it, right? And then I go to Acts, and Mormons told me that in Acts, Paul says that the man that was with him heard the voice of God, but then later on, he said the same story, he said they didn't hear the voice. And then, I look at newer versions, and it says that, it's like they changed it a little bit to make it seem like Paul wasn't really saying what he said, you know, in the KJV.

So, I'm just wondering, what did you think about that? It's just a little confusing to me. Yeah, so, you mentioned 4-11, you're obviously speaking about Amos 4-11, yeah, in Hebrew, so, it's I, just singular I, I overthrew some of you as, okay, so, if you say it literally, I overthrew some of you as God overthrew, or as the overthrowing of God, Sodom and Gomorrah. The, the Hebrew term here, sekamach bechat Elohim, is literally as the overthrowing of God, of these things. God can say that, in other words, it's not, I understand how you're reading it as if God is saying God overthrew, so it would mean there's more than one person.

Really, that's not a good example there. The Hebrew is really saying, it's God saying, when I overthrew with a divine overthrow, Sodom and Gomorrah, that's really what the idiom is, so, I have wrought destruction among you, as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, you've become like a brand plucked from the burning, you've not turned back to me. You could argue for different persons there, but to me, that's pushing it, honestly, I've never used that as a Trinitarian argument, and again, as you say, if you look at other translations, let's just see here an IV of that, but again, reading the Hebrew, I just understand that it's idiomatic for the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, it's almost like a stock phrase or a stock concept. Let's just see, NIV, if I typed it in correctly, that would help.

All right, third time. There we go, I overthrew some of you as I overthrew. Right, so, the NIV saying as I overthrew is now paraphrasing to get rid of that idiomatic difference. I would translate, I overthrew some of you as the divine overthrowing of Sodom and Gomorrah, et cetera, but as for the difference in acts, there is a slight nuanced difference in the Greek, and the new translations are rightly bringing that out. In other words, they're not trying to hide something, they are rightly bringing out that there is no contradiction between the texts, whether they heard the voice or didn't hear the voice. It's the King James would give you the impression that there was a contradiction in the accounts, which would be odd that Luke would repeat, because you have the account as it happens in Acts 9, then repeat it in Acts 22 and Acts 26, it would be odd if Luke just has the contradictory accounts in the same thing. The way modern translations render it, it's hearing the voice but not understanding, that is accurately opening up the nuance of the Greek there.

So, nothing's being changed, it's just a matter of translations trying to bring things out in a smoother or easier way. Great questions though, I appreciate it. All right friends, have an awesome weekend. If you don't have my app, you need to download it. Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK, Dear Brown Ministries. Thank you.