Is the Bible Still Relevant?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. So what if someone says to you, well, why should I care about what's written in the Bible?

It's not relevant to me at all. 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. Do you remember American society at large where you could say, well, the Bible says, and it seemed to carry more authority with more people? Whereas today you might say, well, the Bible says, and people would say, well, why should I care about what the Bible says? Or why should I care about this primitive book, Bronze Age shepherds with their misogynistic genocidal God, why should I care about it?

Things have shifted. And the question we want to address today first is, is the Bible relevant? What can we tell this society, which by and large is not following scripture or honoring the Lord, what can we tell them that would be helpful to introduce them to God's Word? Hey, friends, welcome to the broadcast. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. I want to welcome all of our brand new listeners across America, and in particular in Dallas and Phoenix and, oh, Riverside, California, and elsewhere. I want to welcome you as you're listening to the broadcast, everyone that's just found us on podcast. Welcome to the broadcast, those who've just discovered us on Facebook, YouTube, and you're watching, greeting to all of you. All right, here's the phone number to call with any question you want to ask me on any subject, anything you want to pick my brain on, anything that you want to challenge me on, you don't agree, oh, I do enjoy debates, 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH.

That is the number. Also today, I want to give my thoughts on the SatanCon 2023 Conference. It just took place this past weekend in Boston, at a hotel in Boston. It was billed as the largest satanic gathering in history, many Christian groups outside preaching, protesting. What should we think of that? How should we respond to that?

What actually happened at the conference? We'll talk about that as well. And for everyone new to the broadcast, it is my goal to serve as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. If you tune in on a regular basis, I assure you, you will get regular doses of moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

You'll think, oh, that's it, that's it, because society can push us and twist us. And many times you think, am I the only one who feels this way? Am I the only one grieved? Am I the only one who has a different perspective? And I'm here to say, no, you're not the only one. And I can be your voice because here we've got this great platform on radio and intranet and through other means, articles and books, we've got this great platform to shout this message out to millions of listeners, so you're not alone.

We are in this together. Spiritual clarity is like, this is so muddled, this one's saying this, this, ah, we'll give you clarity through the Word. Hebrews 4-12, the Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any double-edged sword. It pierces even to the very division of soul and spirit.

Joints the marrow, it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That word in our hearts, in our minds, on our lips brings clarity. So we're here to do that every day to infuse you with faith and truth and courage. Some of you might have been Rush Limbaugh fans, some of you didn't listen at all, some of you didn't like him, but I want to tell you one thing that he would say that many of his listeners appreciate it, which was, I'll tell you when it's time to panic. In other words, people, you're looking at the headlines, you're looking at what's happening in the world and everything all around, it's like, oh, this is, everything's falling apart.

And Rush Limbaugh, for those who liked him and followed him, would say, hey, they would get some problems but it's not time to panic. Well, based on the Word, based on my relationship with God, based on what the Holy Spirit is saying, I want to be here to say, hey, there's some real problems, but don't worry, there's solutions. Yeah, things are dire, but God. I don't want to point constantly to what Satan's doing, even the SatanCon Conference, I want to come away with comments that will edify and bless and help you. My focus is not on a big bad devil, my focus is on a great big God. In fact, next week we want to air for you an interview I just did with Dr. Sam Storms on the question of Christians and demons. Can a Christian have a demon?

It should be Tuesday of next week, so the second week of May. But before we talk about other things happening around us, before we go to the phones, I want to start with this question, is the Bible relevant? I have a whole chapter in my newest book, Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith, that deals with this question. It's one thing when people say, ah, we can't trust the Bible. It's just a translation of a translation of a translation and we can't trust it. No, I and other biblical scholars can give you really solid information about the transmission of the text, about the reliability of the text in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, as to why we feel confident that the Bible that we have in our hands faithfully represents, which was passed down through the centuries. And we have translations from copies of texts, which would be copies of originals, but we have so many copies in different ways. And then we have other ancient translations. There's so much we have in abundance of material that we can really look at it and say, hey, you can be sure what you're reading here is faithful and accurate. And here and there, there's some verses with controversy or individual words with controversy or textual debates, but the overall message and verse after verse after verse, I can tell you as someone who's given my life to studying the scriptures and learning the original languages and so on, I can tell you when I sit and read my English Bible, I read with confidence.

All right. But does it matter? Is it relevant? You may be listening and you're not a follower of Jesus and you say, what is with you religious fundamentalists that think that you have the right to impose your values on us? What is with you that you think you can impose what the Bible says on us and make the whole world live by what's written in the Bible? Well, actually, we don't feel that way. You call us religious fundamentalists if you like, but that's not how we feel.

We live in a democratic republic in America. And that means we get to advocate for our views like everybody else, right? There are professing gay Christians and they stood in favor of redefining marriage. Well, that was their religious belief and they were articulated accordingly. There are atheists who say, hey, this is our worldview and we're going to advocate for that.

We're going to vote accordingly. That's what we get to do here in America. Oh, so we don't get to, followers of Jesus don't get to, those who believe the Bible don't get, everybody else gets to, but not us. No, of course we get to advocate for our views. And Christian friends, don't let anybody sound too well, separation of church and say, we are not imposing religion on the nation. We are not forcing everyone to be Christian. You say, you're forcing us to live by your values there with abortion. Well, I can say you're forcing us to live with your values with other things. In other words, we advocate for what we believe is right. We elect officials that hopefully will act on what they promised and argue for those things.

And then from there, judges will be appointed who will then adjudicate accordingly. And we, just like there are laws against murder and there are laws against stealing, but it's not illegal to commit adultery, right? Well, we believe there should be laws against abortion because it's the taking of human life. But we can't tell you if a guy's sleeping with his girlfriend, we can't say that's illegal, right?

Unless she's a minor or something like that. So, we're not trying to legislate everyone's behavior, but we are trying to save lives and we are trying to stand on what we believe is right. And if we believe marriage as intended by God and in terms of the best societal function is the union of one man, one woman, and not just two people, we advocate for that. And you feel differently, you advocate for that. That's the world we live in.

But I want to press this further. There is no book that has ever been written, and of course, the Bible is a compilation of numerous books that were written over a period of 1,500 years, roughly. There's no book that is more relevant to contemporary American life, there's no book ever written that is more relevant today to contemporary American life than the Bible, than the Word of God. He said, I don't believe it's the Word of God.

Okay, do you care about the issues of justice? Yeah, you better believe the Bible deals with this. Inside and out, upside down, from every angle, you better believe the Bible deals with it. That's why civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King based a lot of their beliefs on what was written in the Bible and some of their most famous quotes, let justice roll down like a river, come from biblical books, from the prophets of Israel.

All right? You want to get ethically challenged, you want to look at your life and get it called higher, you want to turn upside down the values of this world and see what really matters? Read the Sermon on the Mount.

I've never read it. Read it, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and see what it says to you. Starting off with truly happy, blessed are the poor in spirit, for this is the kingdom of heaven.

What? Truly happy, blessed are those who mourn, for there will be comfort. What's the, things could turn upside down.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. You say it's the same old, same old, though. Nothing ever changes.

It's just like, it's all a waste. It's like the sun rises, the sun sets. Everything's the same.

There's nothing new under the sun. Ah, you just quoted the Bible. There's a whole book that articulates that. The book of Ecclesiastes. And the book of Ecclesiastes ends up saying, in the end, the only thing that matters is fearing God and keeping His commandments, because everything else is just, vanity's worthless.

What is it? It's toil and it's empty and it's over. So, I got an issue with God. I don't like the way He runs His world. Ah, I can take you into verses of the Bible where the very same charges are brought. What do I just say? What Old Testament scholars said, if you want to lodge a complaint against God, there are forms already filled out for you in the Bible.

Just use those. So, it's in the Bible. And God wanted it in the Bible to say that often it doesn't seem fair and right.

You want a description of love that will transcend any description you have ever read in your entire life in just a few sentences. 1 Corinthians 13. Paul? Read what Paul writes. Paul? You're talking about that bigot, that homophobe, that sexist Paul?

Ah, read his words for yourself. 1 Corinthians 13. You'll never find a better, more beautiful, glorious, wonderful description of love. You're struggling with temptation, sexual sin, pull back into drugs, alcohol. I can take you to whole chapters in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 5, Proverbs 7, the end of Proverbs 23, and you go, that's me!

That's me! You want to talk about insights into human nature and our religious hypocrisy, and we condemn those for doing the very things that we do. You want to talk about not just being judged by what you do but what you think? How about the highest commandments? What does Jesus say? Love God, but though your heart's on mine strength, love your neighbor as yourself. Which of the 10 commandments should be cut out to make the world a better place?

Or perhaps if we live by them, the world would be a better place. The point is, the Bible is as relevant today as it will ever be, as it has ever been, and it has always been the most relevant book on the planet since the books were put together as the Bible, the Word of God. Discover it afresh. Read it for yourself. If a passage seems that's just ancient history, move over to something else.

You will be shocked by what you find. You better believe the Bible is relevant, especially more than ever, in the day and age in which we live, of complete uncertainty, knowing God and knowing how to be forgiven and come to relationship with God. You see, in eternal life, it's all in the Word and it's calling out to you. This is Michael Ellison, founder and CEO of TriVita Wellness. I'm thrilled to join with you as listeners and donors in supporting Dr. Brown and the Line of Fire broadcast. Truly, a voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity. I believe this voice must be heard across America.

We need the bold and the courageous voice of the Line of Fire broadcast. I founded TriVita to help people like you experience greater wellness. Wellness is to have the vitality and the energy to support the things that you love to do and God's purpose for your life. To each day experience positive emotions of love and forgiveness, gratitude and acceptance, and to develop a relationship with God and know His purpose for your life. This is a life worth living.

It is not a destination, but a journey. And I invite you to go on a wellness journey with me. Visit us at trivita.com or call and receive a free consultation on how we can help you support your wellness goals with quality nutraceutical products and lifestyle recommendations. And TriVita will give 100% of your first order to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast and will give more than a tithe on every order thereafter. For a free consultation, call 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com to place your order for products to support your wellness goals. As a TriVita introductory offer, use promo code BROWN25 and receive a 25% discount on the products of your choice. That number again is 1-800-771-5584. May you live with greater wellness. shortly and then a little later in the broadcast give you my impressions on the satan con 23 conference again my focus is not on the devil or demons my focus is on the lord who he is what he's doing if you concentrate on shining the light the darkness will dissipate automatically but of course scripture tells us to be sober and vigilant because our advocacy adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom you may devour that's first peter the fifth chapter and of course in jacob james the fourth chapter as we submit ourselves to god we're called on to resist the devil and he will flee especially is that relevant if we've opened the door to the enemy and of course paul writes the corinthians that we are not ignorant of satan's devices so satan's definitely mentioned prominently and demons in the new testament but the far greater emphasis is on the lordship of jesus the authority that we have in him as believers and the calling for us to be lights in dark places and as as we go forward that will dispel demonic strongholds sometimes with direct confrontation sometimes just by truth replacing error so i want to encourage you don't be ashamed of the word of god don't be ashamed of the word of god you see you have there some passages i don't really know what to do with and like stuff that's a little troubling about like extermination of the kainanites or slavery no problem we have good answers solid answers not playing games with the text not sticking our head in the sand good solid answers and i want to encourage you with this then i'll take some calls so i came to faith 1971 heroin shooting lsd using long-haired 16 year old jewish hippie rock drummer radically dramatically saved and by the time i was in the lord for a year i would spend at least six or seven hours alone with god every day and i mean alone undistracted i would pray at least three hours a day i would read the word two hours a day i would memorize scripture one hour a day my brain had been fried by drugs it was crystal clear at this point you know take a few weeks to kind of clear my head and then then everything clear from there and god's grace was with me i used to memorize 20 verses a day did it every day for at least six months and had been memorizing a lot of verses before that uh so by the time i was saved about two years i'd read the bible cover to cover about five times had memorized more than 4 000 verses and just you know scriptures would scriptures would pour out of me that that's when a foundation was laid in my life that's when a foundation was laid in terms of of knowing the word and having the word my heart mind memorizing where verses were of course i built on that for almost 50 years since but that's when the foundation was laid but when i went to talk to the to the rabbis my local rabbi wanted me to talk to friends with dad of course brought me to meet the local rabbi after i came to faith and then he brought me to meet other rabbis and i i didn't know hebrew uh in fact i'm gonna take let's see not this thursday but a week from thursday god willing i'll just be answering hebrew questions on the broadcast and i'll share a bit more about my background there but what i want to say here is that i was confronted with solid questions from learned men very sincere very devout and i did not have full answers for them because some were based on hebrew which i i barely knew it all barely knew the letters others were based on other areas of study right i get bombarded by secular professors at university once i started going to college so i i didn't have answers well where did i go well i didn't know where to go it was the days before internet uh when i would turn to others jews for jesus they were really good with evangelism but they weren't so much into apologetics back then i didn't know old testament scholars who were believers so i i started to study and learn on my own and the more i studied the more i learned it's like wow there are answers not cheap ones that could easily be shot down i mean answers that that have stood the test of of centuries and in my case of of decades and ever since then if if i if i see something if i come across a problem an issue that i don't have an answer for i don't panic i know there's an answer and maybe i don't have it but someone else is a specialist they have it or someone else has insight they have it or we'll get it so it's not sticking our head in the sand it's that over decades and decades of studying and walking with the lord and centuries and centuries and centuries of the bible being attacked we have reason to believe what we believe so i want you to be confident even if you don't have all the information know that it's there know that it's accessible all right eight six six three four truth let's go to ashton and dallas texas welcome to the line of fire hey dr brown um i have a question regarding the etymology of god's name sure i ask because uh i've read articles and tor.com and other places which claim that god's name is dispelled and that the third letter in god's name should be evolved instead of a yod um if it's really a conjugation of the hebrew verb aya or to be um plus wouldn't observant jews constantly be casually dropping the divine name in conversation if it really means to be uh or he is i suppose and then the second reason i ask is uh because uh because of the shot suit yeah because of what all right wow we somehow just lost ashton there hey uh i'm not sure if ashton was listening on kwrd in dallas texas but we are live 2 to 3 p.m central time monday through friday so if you're listening 100.7 fm we just launched on your great station dfw area this past monday this is our third day okay so i can answer the first part of the question so in english the divine name is spelled y h w h in hebrew everyone agrees on that all right however if they're over a period of time the vov in certain cases so the the w you shift it to a y form all right so so for example if you go the end of genesis 11 it says about sarah in love allah as she had no child valad that later becomes yellad so in certain cases an original vov or wow as someone pronounced it became a y so that would be the assumption here that the earlier form was with the with the vov in terms of a verb to be and then later shift it you say have the same thing with with khabah right the name of eve so uh she's the mother of all living but then that vov eventually shifts to a yud so if you have lechaim in hebrew so that's that's that's no surprise there so to life that's that's no surprise there but it is a certain form that is a a causative form and we have no examples in the hebrew of the verb to be in a causative form what's called hifil in hebrew so people have that's why some question rejected but there is no way that in casual speech you would say the one who causes things to be because that form yahweh if that's how it was originally pronounced would only have one particular meaning and would not be used in colloquial speech so uh sorry i can't go back and forth further as we lost connection there for whatever reason but um yeah the divine name would have been unique and would not have been a regular form of speech but would have been understandable as the one who causes things to be the one who brings things into existence we can always debate in the pronunciation or even grammatical significance the key thing is to understand who he is israel's covenant covenantal god the creator of all things who brings his will to pass on the earth and if you look in exodus 3 where there's the revelation of who he is it's clearly tying in with hayah to be even ahiyeh asher ahiyeh i am that i am or i am who i am or someone translate i will be who i will be in context in exodus 3 what's being said i will do this i will do this i will do this i will this i will keep my covenant i will deliver you out of egypt i will bring you into the promised land i will do all of these things and i'm the one who brings everything into existence and causes things to be all right back with more of your calls and also my thoughts on the satan con 2023 conference remember to call 800-771-5584 get your free wellness consultation use some of these great supplements that i've been finding health that are substitute for healthy living for healthy eating but they are great really useful health building wellness building supplements 800-771-5584 tell them dr brown sent you or trivita.com t-r-i-v-i-t-a trivita.com use the code brown25 to get your discount and to get your money donated right over here to the line of fire hey friends this is dr michael brown i want to invite you to join our support team make an investment of one dollar a day that will absolutely last forever you know the lord has given us a holy mandate to blanket america with the line of fire broadcast and on a regular basis we hear from folks writing in dr 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life glad to take some more calls okay let's um get over to this conference that took place in boston this past weekend they targeted boston the satanic temple because they could not display their flag there like other groups religious groups so they're they're going to target boston because of that it's interesting boston being a very liberal city in a very liberal state you don't think of it as a bastion for religious fundamentalism nonetheless they targeted boston and said that it would be the largest satanic gathering in history so how many people were there well it was sold out but how many people are actually there 800 now let me just say this if you're expecting 50 000 right you're going to have a stadium conference you're expecting 50 000 uh you don't sell out at 800 in other words that's they were looking for a crowd of that size that they could host in a particular venue uh so that's allegedly the largest satanic gathering of all time first it's like come on yes it gets publicity and they can say it the way they want to say it but 800 something people that's the largest satanic gathering in history the fact of the matter is there are all kinds of satanic gatherings taking place all over the world all the time that are far bigger than that but as far as some big event how many thousands of churches in america have at least 800 a thousand people on a sunday morning and it's no big deal and it happens all the time so the event has got a lot of attention but cons just it's a little thing overall yeah it's overt and all that we'll talk about that in the moment but in itself it's a little thing and i personally feel bad for people that do these things this is the first feeling it's like oh these poor lost souls now they of course they look at me as as lost but that's that's fine in a different way but that's the first thing it's like what are they doing they're spitting in the wind i remember the atheist gathering is going to be this massive event in dc and maybe through 15 000 i don't even think it drew 20 000 but it's gonna be this massive historic event it was a beautiful day and i remember thinking who can they thank this happened to be a beautiful day it could have been thunderstorm could have been hail it could have been anything it could have been an earthquake right i mean believers you gather and it's thank god it's supposed to rain and it didn't rain you appreciate the sunshine etc but i thought they can't even thank anybody because just that just happens right from their viewpoint but on the on the one hand there are satanists who really believe in a devil and who worship this devil consciously right first john 5 19 says we know we're of god little children and the whole world lies into the power of the evil one so in that sense the whole world outside of jesus is under satan's power in one way or another how do you say that well that's what we believe that's what we believe scripturally in one way or another people are outside of god and blind it in one way that doesn't mean they're all doing terrible evil things day and night or killing people or or wanting to sacrifice children or stuff like that it just means that they're under his power one way or another second corinthians 4 4 says the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so that's what we were efficience 2 says that that's who we used to be we were by nature children of wrath we were fulfilling desires of the flesh of the mind and and living under the power of the prince of the air satan so in that sense every day of the week they're gathering satanic gatherings bigger than what happened there but many of these people say no we don't believe in any spiritual realm we don't believe in a god or a devil this is a metaphor for us in fact let me read to you what dextre jardin said a spokesman for the satanic temple which sponsored the event quote we do not believe in or worship a literal satan we do not believe in in or worship symbolic evil we believe that unnecessary suffering is bad that things which reduce unnecessary suffering are good he added that for members satan is quote a central metaphor represented the pursuit of knowledge personal liberation and rebellion against arbitrary authority that being said the event started with them tearing up a bible yep and tearing up a thin blue lined uh flag in other words a blue lives matter right it's called thin blue line the thin blue line flag which to them is standing with oppressive police force and against blm so that's interesting oh and i was going to play it on the air i thought wait a second i'm not going to play this on the air they do start off with you know hail satan and stuff like that so regardless of whether from most of them this is just some type of metaphor this is just something representing what they you know they getting away from these puritanical oppressive beliefs in the bible and witch hunts and things like that and just standing for equality the fact is on the satanic temple home page they have a fundraiser for their online abortion clinic where they want to help people that that can't get abortions and things like that and let me just scroll down to some of the things some of the seminars that they had there oh one of them was sins of the flesh satanism and self-pleasure another was reclaiming the trans body atheistic strategies for self-determining self-determination and empowerment the abortion clinic fundraiser says the satanic temple's health temple health online clinic was launched to protect the bodily autonomy of our members as part of our commitment to protecting our members civil rights and ensuring that our religious rituals can be performed without government interference the clinic represents one of the most important steps we have taken while abortion clinics are shutting down everywhere satanic temple is striking back please support the satanic temple health to ensure the clinic's success and to help expand operations to other states which is the perfect example of what the bible calls calling evil good and good evil and putting light for darkness and darkness for light and as the perfect example of turning things upside down in terms of what matters so even if there is not active belief in a personal devil in a real spiritual being called satan right that even if they're just completely materialistic and atheistic there is certainly a clear line being drawn here in terms of what side they're on interesting blm to me has nothing to do with racial justice racial equality civil rights zero it may intersect with some of the things but that's a movement that i absolutely reject i absolutely shout from the rooftop that every black life matters every black life matters and whatever remains in our american society that does not affirm that needs to be addressed and confronted absolutely blm that's a totally different thing totally different thing and with some very clear demonic and queer and communist roots marxist roots put that aside but put that in the same category with transgender activism put that in the same category with pro-abortion activism put that in the same category of rejection of god and the word and you see what's going on here we don't want your god we don't want your authority over us let's quote the personal autonomy they're talking about in other words they reject the lordship of jesus they reject the authority of god and that's what they're casting off so to do it so publicly and overtly does say that we are in a different season in america now than in past generations where something like that might not have happened at all you might not have found a place or hotel or convention center that we'd even sponsored and that they have the right to do that right they have the legal right to do this they want at the same time whenever i see things like that i wonder how many of these people that were there of the 800 in the next year two five ten will be sharing their testimonies as to how god transformed them because there is no eternal life there there is no eternal hope there there is no reconciliation and forgiveness there i don't mean that friends can't reconcile if they got out of sorts for each other but i mean there there is nothing of eternal significance for good that will take place in that setting and all the things that we have in god that we've experienced they don't they can't so i always wonder how many of these people in the years ahead will be one of those maybe you're a former satanist yourself and came to the lord love to hear from you can always call in eight six six three four truth or shoot us a note at the website ask dr brown askdrbrown.org in that light don't forget our special resource offer this month jezebel's war with america a book that will grip you you'll have a hard time putting it down it will be eye-opening as you read it and not just that it'll tell you how we deal with these demonic strongholds at work in america and even in some of our families and lives when you order the book you get absolutely free totally free a download of a 12-hour teaching series i did years back on spiritual warfare the best i ever taught it it's a free download that you'll get when you order jezebel's war with america and there's a different number for that and i have intentionally not memorized the other numbers so that i don't actually throw those out when we're giving our phone number to call but to get jezebel's war with america and the free download spiritual warfare source trust me you'll be stirred you'll be edified you'll be helped you'll be equipped 800-538-5275 800-538-5275 or go to askdrbrown.org and click on shop with that let's go back to the phones and we will go phones and we will go to makai in fayetteville north carolina welcome to the line of fire hey dr brown so i've heard this saying a lot and i don't know how to feel about it it sounds good but i'm not sure so the thing is everything that happens god allows it and i don't know how to feel about it because uh like does god quote unquote allow people to rape some people and then why doesn't he stop or if he's allowing it why doesn't he why does he stop some other people from getting raped right there's enough partiality right right and i know some great questions like don't and god allowing that to happen and he could stop it but why does he stop it for other people right okay so let me answer on a few levels first anything that happened god allowed here i just picked up a piece of paper god allowed me to do it i dropped it he allowed it to fall to the ground he allowed makai to call he allowed me to be on the air he allowed you to be listening he's allowing hair to grow on my well not grow in where i don't have it but hair to grow as you know just he's allowing the body to function he's allowing everybody to do it if he didn't allow it it couldn't happen all right so in that sense yeah anything that happens he allowed the bigger question is why didn't he stop certain things the simple answer is because he chose to give us to give us free will that in order for him to have a people who would love him freely who would who would not be coerced would not be automatons or robots but who would love him freely and be part of his family forever in response to his grace and goodness he gave us existence now think how many of us don't want to exist well there'd be suicide every day all over the the planet with millions billions of people if we just said life's hard i don't want to exist no we all want to exist that's why people cling to life and fight even for extra days we want to exist well what if we existed but we had no freedom everything was pre-programmed you'll be happy all the time but you can't make a single choice we'd say no to that so in order to give us freedom and in order to give us existence this is how god set things up but he doesn't just abandon the world he works in the midst of it and sometimes he's answering someone's prayer for protection and deliverance and that's why he is involved and it's a larger plan he's executing in the midst of our free choices i'm going to refer you to a video we come back have you had a setback from an injury accident or surgery that left you feeling weaker and a loss of strength or are you feeling the effects of aging and just don't feel like you have the stamina or energy you used to then myo health might be an answer to your prayers backed by 24 human clinical studies and over 20 million dollars in government-funded research myo health contains a perfect balance of all nine essential amino acids with myo health you can rebuild your strength improve your balance and mobility have more energy while restoring your health and vitality and start building new lean stronger muscle in as little as 30 days by combining myo health with a healthy diet and regular exercise you can feel stronger at any age have more energy and live a life with vitality put the power of myo health to work for you i started working out consistently for the first time in years and i've lost 50 pounds i've been lifting weights i've been swimming and then the muscle mass that's what really surprises me i can't believe at my age i'll be 73 this fall my life has changed i'm not the same anymore myo health changed my life definitely and i just thank god for it i would definitely recommend myo health i'm sold on my health my health tastes great and it helps me in the gym i feel like i've got my strength back my upper arms are tighter i have a have a great deal more energy encourage anybody try myo health it really works call 1-800-771-5584 or online at triveda.com to place your order for products to support your wellness goals as a triveda introductory offer use promo code brown25 and receive a 25 discount on the products of your choice call 1-800-771-5584 800-771-5584 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 okay so just one more word to makai because this is a subject that's massive but i've addressed it a lot as well so i did a debate with professor bart erman over 10 years ago on the question does the bible provide an adequate answer to human suffering so bart erman well-known new testament scholar and agnostic slash atheist not exactly sure where he categorized himself today so ermine e h r m a n if you search on my website or app for ermine you'll find the debate or on our youtube channel ask dr brown on youtube i think if you watch it makai it will it will be really helpful and really answer some difficult painful questions which we don't run from we really focus on head on in that debate and of course he challenges me in that regard so i think you'll find that to be really really helpful everyone ermine e h r m a n my debate with professor bart ermine if you have the app ask dr brown ministries ask your brown ministries you search for it there or online askdrbrown.org all right we go back to the phones let's go to bob in chattanooga tennessee thanks for holding welcome to the line of fire hey thank you michael the question i had concerned second chronicles 13 but if we have time i'd like to just make a brief comment on yesterday's program about predestination but in second conference 13 talks about this war between israel and juda i guess it would be the war of mount zimmerin or something like that and michael i my story's not the same as yours i'm younger in the lord but i'm older in age i'm 75 but i started studying the bible at 31 and i read through the entire bible at least a dozen maybe more times along with the bible knowledge commentary and all these things with it and i never heard anybody talk about this war and i look on the internet and it says this is was the largest war israel and judah ever lost in fact there was 500 000 people killed from abu jay uh he was the uh the king of uh what israel and he went against jared bohem the king of uh judah it's the reverse abhiya was okay it's the reverse aviel was king of juda and king of israel yeah okay one of them started out with i think judah started out with a 400 000 and israel eight and when it was over 500 000 israelis were killed doesn't say how many juden juden's were killed but do you think this is a what's the word gematria numbers do you think this is maybe an exaggeration of numbers i know when at least i heard in hebrew there were no numbers they used letters for numbers and sometimes these things could get kind of out of hand do you think that's the 500 000 people actually died on this one tribe and and right so bob you're asking a question it's actually much bigger and thank you for raising it there are many many accounts of wars and battles in the old testament with tens of thousands of casualties or in some cases hundreds of thousands of people casualties or just numbers given for israel that many historians say was completely impossible the countries weren't that large the the people living there weren't that numerous some tried to argue that the hebrew word for lf and and by the way the words were spelled out so it wasn't just that numbers were used just like in english we can use the number one or we can spell o-n-e so you had the same thing words were spelled out some argued that the hebrew word lf thousand was confused with the hebrew word aloof which meant simply a leader and that but then you try to break it down okay it mentions hundreds it mentions other things so there are large studies that have been done on the on the large numbers in the old testament with many scholars saying they must represent something they obviously represent cataclysmic battles and costly battles and things like that but it would almost be like saying in the civil war that 50 million americans died instead of a half million or whatever the tragic number was you think how could it be possible that wasn't even the population of america or was you know barely that etc so the problem is that no one has come out with a system that explains what the numbers actually mean in other words they would say to the ancient reader they all knew what these numbers meant but when we read it we take it differently but we just don't have data to support that bob in other words you could make an argument for it based on what you're saying and based on other texts and archaeological finds for example i grew up in a little neighborhood called harbor isle which had about 300 families and that was part of the town of island park which maybe had 3 000 families but if you said oh no we can prove that 3 million people live there's like you couldn't put 3 million people there it's too small so a lot of people question these we just we don't have an answer as to how how to read it any differently so i read it and think wow that's intense and maybe the numbers were smaller but as the text stands it does speak it does speak of something larger so um it's it's a bit of a mystery ultimately do you know of any other wars where there were more people killed either for juda or where they were combined or where they were separated it'd be casualties uh no not off the top of my head i have i haven't given a systematic study but off the top of my head i can't think of any and this remember is brothers fighting each other which makes it all the more tragic i mean it's a massive massive gut-wrenching loss within the what was supposed to be the 12 tribes of israel now separated into the kingdom of juda and the kingdom of israel so it's it's a it's an ugly ugly battle no you have casualties with with other foreign nations we can put the numbers really really high but within but within israel no i don't know of any any that are higher than this off the top of my head yeah i just saw that in a daily devotional uh that i was reading i'd never seen it before and i read the bow to a lot let me just can i address the predestination just very briefly yeah go ahead slow us free sure thing uh irvin lutzer had the best answer i've ever heard for it uh he said that talking about predestination versus either self-will or free will he said let us believe both and deny neither because they're both talked and someone says well no no you got a buddy that i listen to and i won't name him but he says no no no no no it can't be but one way and i'm saying god it's not an oxymoron to god it's it's not uh uh something that he can't figure out if jesus can be a hundred percent god and a hundred percent man if the bible can be written by men a hundred percent men but it was dictated or not maybe dictated but given by god then i don't see any problem with god even though we can't understand how they both can work there's plenty of verses you look at romans 10 verses ephesians 3 predestinated before the you were ever born in romans 10 says you must believe with your heart confess with your mouth jesus christ is lord so they're both talked we just can't figure out with our right and and certainly yes certainly bob as i emphasized yesterday predestination is clearly taught in scripture the question is what does it mean right and and responsibility human responsibility is clearly taught um but how much does god orchestrate move all these things so to me my conclusion practically speaking would be similar to dr lutzer's even though i i i land on the non calvinist side of the debate uh that ultimately god knows what predestination means exactly but as far as my life what i need to know is god is god and he is working out things for his plan and i can absolutely trust him and i'm fully responsible for the decisions that i make and how i respond to the lord and that's how we have to live ultimately hey thank you sir for the call and i've got time for another call we'll go to juan in euston texas welcome to the line of fire how you doing dr brown very well thank you sir yeah big fan too thanks um my question uh will be like dealing with uh with uh hebrew roots movement and black hebrew isolite uh what is the best way to uh well what is the best way to show them that christians are not under the mosaic covenant the reason i say this is because i can i can see how whenever they use uh torah they mean uh mosaic coming in they don't mean like god's instructions in general yeah so i yeah exactly which torah can have that that meaning uh divine teaching so it's it's a challenging subject because you have people who are often very blind uh and they maybe they have a hatred for others or they have been in the truth and rejected it so many times there's a lot of deception so of course really praying for everybody that's always the key thing for folks i've dialogue with in black hebrew israelite movement that are so lost just praying that god will open their hearts and minds and that we can overcome evil with good and hatred with love but as as far as specifically i would work someone through the book of galatians verse for verse however they push back i would i would just slowly work through that verse after verse after verse after verse to demonstrate you get into the third chapter now that the messiahs come we are no longer under the supervision of the law i would also get into hebrews so galatians written two gentile believers where paul is telling them do not become circumcised and if you do you're obligated to keep the law and that is not what you're under you're not under the sinai covenant explicitly and then hebrews which is written to jews jewish believers showing that we are under a new and better covenant so it's not the sinai covenant it's a new and better covenant which is now expressed in the pages of the new testament but the best thing one is to not let them go roll versus a million verses just go through this one ver and hold them hold them to it and hold them to it now they'll have their answers but the answers of course break down because they're based on error anyone teach you that christians are obligated to keep the mosaic covenant or under the sinai covenant that person themselves they're under serious error and deception so walk in a beautiful grace if they can see the difference in you pray and then stay with one subject work through the verses and perhaps you can plant a seed of doubt that will make them question their error and turn to the truth may god use you my brother to win another program powered by the truth network