Dr. Brown Tackles Your Toughest Questions

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

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And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. What a joy to be with all of you today on the Line of Fire. Give us a call with your questions, Bible, theology, personal, spiritual growth, cultural, you name it if it ties in with the Line of Fire. Thrilled to take your calls. 866-34-87-884.

You may be listening for the very first time on KWRD live in Dallas. We just launched earlier this week and haven't called. Well, you can call in. You don't have to listen for a year before you call in. So by all means, any question you have that we can help you with in any way, 866-34-87-884.

If you think I'm wrong on a subject and want to challenge me on it, we welcome that also. All right, with that, let's go straight to the phone starting in Raleigh, North Carolina. Brian, welcome to the Line of Fire. Wow, I got in first. Hey, thank you. Yes, you did. Nice to talk to you.

It's an honor. Listen, real quick, I'm just noticing... What's his last name? His last name is Robertson. He's a gay, progressive Christian, I think you're calling it. Yeah, Brandon Robertson. Yeah, a lost young man for whom we pray. Yes, sir.

Absolutely lost. What I'm asking is, why don't I hear the word heretic heresy amongst the major apologists anymore? I don't know that I've ever heard it, but especially speaking about a person like that, it just seems to be textbook definition of what a heretic of heresy is. Is it mean-spirited, to use that word?

Well, it's mean-spirited, Brian, to use it wrongly. In other words, if I have a difference with you about end-time theology, you're pre-Trib rapture, I'm post-Trib rapture, and we call each other heretics, that's a wrong use of it. To be a heretic, as we've used it historically, would be something that takes you outside of the faith, that you deny something fundamental. You know, the Bible is not truly the word of God, or Jesus didn't truly rise from the dead, or there are other ways of salvation outside of Jesus, or God is not perfect, you know, whatever. That, you know, we could differ on many, many things within the body, and it's not a heresy issue.

You may say, I'm convicted to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, and someone else says, no, I believe it's the first day that we can celebrate. Those aren't heretical issues. But when you have someone like Brandon Robertson, for whom I pray and I spend time with him face-to-face, saying that you can be in an active homosexual relationship and follow Jesus at the same time, that's heretical.

That is a moral denial of scripture. Or if he would say, for example, that Jesus made a racist comment and had to repent of it, that's heretical. So, anyone that I know that dealt with Brandon would freely say that he was a heretic when he was on with Jeff Durbin and James White, I believe. So, my friend Dr. White and Jeff Durbin with Apologia Radio, they would absolutely brand him a heretic. So, when someone is clearly outside the faith with their scriptural stand, yes, that person is a heretic and should be marked as such and prayed for as such.

But sometimes we're too free to use the word just with differences within the body, and sometimes we're too hesitant. But that's a perfect case to say, yes, that's heresy. Now, there may be someone that's just part of another religion, so they're not a heretic, they're in another religion. But someone claiming to be a Christian and holding to one of these fundamentally flawed doctrines that will damn your soul to hell, yeah, that's heresy. Absolutely.

Okay. It was actually during that debate, at the end of it, they told him that he was lost and used a couple of other words to describe his position, but heresy wasn't one of them. So, I just was thinking, well, maybe we've gotten away from that, but anyway, I appreciate your answers. Yeah, yeah, I would say just knowing Jeff and James, that they could have even just said he's not a heretic because he's not holding to other Christian fundamentals, and therefore, you see, he's just lost. They may have even put it one category further over.

So, if they didn't use the word, that would have been why, in their mind, it's even one category further over. Hey, Brian, thank you for the call. By the way, you can see a debate that Dr. White and I did together, side by side, debating a gay and a lesbian pastor as to whether homosexual practice was consistent with New Testament obedience. So, if you just search on your S. Dr. Brown Ministries app or S. Dr. Brown.org, search for the word homosexual or even obedience, you should spot that debate and watch it. You'll find it really eye-opening and helpful. Let us go to Chandler in Ada, Oklahoma. Welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. I have been studying the Kamuyahanyam, and I haven't really been finding any good evidence that supports why it should be in the Bible, you know, 1 John 5 and 7. So, I was wondering what your thoughts, if you believe it should be in the Bible, or if it shouldn't be, and what resources you have in regards to it.

Yeah, so we're speaking about 1 John 5 and 7, there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is absolutely not part of the original Greek text. There is no ancient Greek manuscript that has that.

There's no hint of it existing. There's no quotation of it from the earliest church leaders that they were aware of it. They were clearly Trinitarian, and yet they didn't cite that as proof of Trinity. We've got plenty of other ways to prove God's triune nature in the Scriptures outside of that verse. The first evidence you have in it is centuries after the New Testament in a Latin manuscript, and as the story goes in this Textus Receptus, when it was said, okay, we don't have this in a Greek text, that someone had added it, came up, here's a Greek text where you have it.

That's how the story goes. But for sure, there is no evidence. If you want an academic work, a textual commentary on the New Testament by Bruce Metzger, M-E-T-Z-G-E-R, textual commentary, he will go through on every textual variant, major and minor, in the New Testament, and give you all the data, all the manuscript data, all the information. And it's absolutely not there. That's why you won't find it in any major translation, modern translation.

In fact, let me just show you how far it goes. I'm going to do something that anyone can do, which is go over to BibleGateway.com. Then I'm going to type in 1 John 5-7, and then as I scroll down, I'm going to click on 1 John 5-7 in all English translations.

So anybody can do this if you don't have any Bible software like Accordance that I use and some other software. So now let's scroll down, and let's look at the New King James. So the New King James does have it. The M-E-V does have it, in terms of as an option. But otherwise, you will not find it in any major English translation. M-E-V is also in the spirit of the King James.

So there's nothing to it, and if I was just to call up now, just take a second while we're on the air here. So I've got Metzger's textual commentary as part of my library. When you actually look it up there, you'll see many things.

Here's a debate. You've got X number of Greek manuscripts. Have this reading, X number of Greek manuscripts. With this, you just don't have any ancient Greek manuscripts.

So there's just no support for it. Okay, great. Thank you so much.

All right, you are very welcome. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go over to Azariah in Hillsboro, Oregon. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello, Azariah. Hello, Mr. Brown. Are you able to hear me?

Yes, if you're speaking right in the phone, I can hear you. Oh, okay. It's a little delayed. I had a question on the book of Psalms chapter 68, and I wanted to see, is this talking about the resurrection? Let me pull it up real quick. Psalms 68 and verse 22. That's speaking about the resurrection.

Just go ahead and read it from your translation. Okay, so it says, the Lord said, I will bring again from Saul. I will bring my people again from the depth of the sea. Yeah, so, and I'll just read, starting in verse, one verse before, God will smash the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks about in his guilt. The Lord said, I will retrieve from Bashan, I will retrieve from the depths of the sea, that your feet may wade through blood, that the tongue of your dogs may have its portion of your enemies. No, I don't see that as a resurrection verse. Whatever God is retrieving, it's not raising people from the dead, and that's not a metaphor for the grave. And to my knowledge, scholars don't look at that as hinting at the resurrection.

So when it says the depth of the sea, what do you take that to mean, the depth of the sea? Right, so we have to look, first the depths of the sea is never used as a metaphor for death and resurrection of the dead. It says in the book of Revelation, the sea gave up the dead that was hidden. That's because anyone that died anywhere all around the world is raised.

But that's not a normal way that you would describe it. So here, look at verse 20, God is first a God of deliverance, God the Lord provides an escape from death. So an escape from the depths of the sea, that's just deliverance from the powers of chaos and darkness, from the worst that's out there. The sea is awesome. Do you agree, Mr. Brown, that there are people that died in the sea?

But that's not what this is talking about, sir. I understand. I just want to ask you, do you believe that people have died in the ocean? Yes, and they've died all over.

Okay. In the day of the resurrection, will they be resurrected from out of the ocean? Some will, which I just mentioned, Revelation 20.

But actually, it didn't seem like you're calling to get my input as much as to argue a point. So I just want to say plainly, the context of the Psalms, depths of the sea, it's not talking about the netherworld. And it wouldn't just mention that. What's the percentage of people who die in the sea compared to people who die in the land? One out of a million? One out of ten million?

Right? So that's not what it's referring to. Just go through the Psalms and look at sea, which is often referenced to chaos powers. Sea in Hebrew, yom, yom was a Canaanite deity that represented powers of chaos. So God's triumph over the sea, over the depths of the sea, or retrieving people, this is his victory over the powers of darkness and chaos.

It's not a reference to resurrection. So I appreciate you asking, and that is my input on your question. We will get right back to your calls on the other side of the break. 866-34-TRUTH. Hey, check out this word from our co-sponsor TriVita, and take advantage of these great health supplements. 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.

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Any question you want to ask me of any kind. And just going back to a previous caller about 1 John 5-7, I mentioned Bruce Metzger's textual commentary on the New Testament. So, pulling up Metzger, he says this, 1 John 5-7, there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The passage is absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight. And these contain the passage in what appears to be a translation from a late recension of the Latin Vulgate. Four of the eight manuscripts contain the passage as a variant reading written in the margin as a later addition to the manuscript and then lifts the eight manuscripts. So, you don't have any early Greek manuscripts and the late ones where you do have it seem to be translating from the Latin.

And some even say, hey, here, it's an addition. He also says the passage is quoted by none of the Greek church fathers, who had they known it would most certainly have employed it in the Trinitarian controversies. Its first appearance in Greek is a Greek version of the Latin Acts of the Lateran Council in 1215. 1215, yeah. The passage is absent from the manuscripts of all ancient versions, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Arabic, Slavonic, except the Latin, and it is not found in the Old Latin, et cetera, and he goes on. So, it's a later addition. It's that simple.

There's no debate about that textually. 866, three-fourth truth. Let's go to Chicago. Hey, Jim, a quick word. Beginning May 22nd, we are launching live on WYLL, massive station in Chicago. So, you'll be able to listen on your radio in the car. So, let your friends know that WYLL will be launching, I forget the call letters, but launching May 22nd. All right, over to your question, Jim.

Go ahead. Yeah, it's great news. Yeah, so I've listened to a radio preacher, Dr. Brown, for 30 years, and he's well-known. He was on 1,400 stations in 30 countries, and I know he's encouraged and blessed multitudes, I'm sure. He's blessed me, many times. But I do feel he does have some poisonous doctrine, and I don't say that lightly.

But I just wanted to bounce this off of you. Pertaining to, like, James, and I've heard a lot of different flavoring he's done over the Scriptures that's concerned me, but in particular, what does it profit my brother? Do a man say he has faith and have not works? Can faith save him?

So, that's one reference. And then also in James 1, lay aside all filthiness, superfluity, of naughtiness, to receive the meekness in grafted word, which is able to save your souls. Okay, so what he says, Dr. Brown, is this. He says that faith, in the context of James, has nothing to do with salvation in eternity. It only has to do with salvation in history, being victorious over sin in this life. But he said, and I'm quoting here, okay, Dr. Brown, Christians can be as defeated and live as perverted, I'm quoting, perverted as non-Christians.

But, if you're going to have victory in history, meaning the right here and now, then you're going to have to have works. Otherwise, your faith will atrophy and die. But that death has nothing to do with spiritual, and that really concerns me. I've got to say that, but I want to hear your thoughts on that.

Yeah, you should be concerned 100%. I'm shaking my head listening. Now, first, this is a public ministry that you're talking about, widely listened to, widely heard. So, you would have been perfectly in your bounds to say, hey, I heard this said from so and so on the air. However, the fact that you just are addressing the doctrine and not even the person gives us more freedom, allows me to comment more freely so people understand about attacking a person. So, thank you for doing it like that. I always tell people, if you're having a problem in your local church, don't say I go to such and such a church, we're having these issues. Just say, hey, I'm having a problem in my church, and you can speak freely.

So, that's a great way that you just did it. I absolutely, categorically, exegetically and theologically, completely reject that position and find it absolutely contrary to the plain text of Scripture there and contrary to the entire teaching of the New Testament. Let's start with the second point, the entire teaching of the New Testament.

The only proof of the new birth is the new life, as James Edwin Orr said. Matthew 7 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus speaking, but only those who do the will of my Father. 2 Timothy 2 19, the foundation of God's house stands firm having this foundation, the Lord knows those who are his and let all who call in the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 9-11, it says, don't be deceived, the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God, neither fornicators nor idolaters or adulterates, goes through the whole list, men who practice homosexuality, drunkards, those who practice extortion. They will not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11, and that's what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.

So, it used to be like that. It's the entire testimony of the New Testament that we are changed, that we are born again. 2 Corinthians 5 17, if anyone's in Christ, he is a new creation. So this is not a matter of us doing works in order to be saved. It's what James, Jacob, is saying, if you're truly saved, it'll be shown by your works. Don't go around saying, I believe, I believe. Show me. Someone that is truly, think about Abraham.

He's quite explicit. Abraham wasn't saved by faith alone, meaning just by some faith that didn't issue out and it changed life, but it was a real faith. He also says, James also says, look, the demons believe and they tremble. You know, they believe there's one God also, but that's not saving faith. Saving faith is the faith that acts. Saving faith will be proven by works. Paul tells Agrippa in Acts 26 20, his message, he said, I preach that people should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.

It's explicit New Testament testimony. So we're not saved by works. We're not saved meaning, well, I'll observe the Sabbath every Saturday for a year and I'll be saved or I'll get up at 6 a.m. in prayer every morning for a year and I'll be saved if I do that. Or if I fast enough, I'll be saved. Or if I, okay, I gave up drugs and I have to give up cigarettes.

No, I have to also give up wrong thought. And when you give up enough, you're saved. No, you're saved by what Jesus did on the cross, but you're actually saved.

In other words, saved means changed. It means you've been taken from death to life from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. So you just see the contrast, you know, in Galatians 5, starting in verse 17, these are the works of the flesh, right? And those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God and this is the fruit of the Spirit. And then he goes on to say in verse 24 of Galatians 5, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. So there is a changed life that we have to consider ourselves dead to sin, Romans 6. We have to renew our minds, Romans 12. But Colossians 3 says, if you are risen with Christ, then put to death the deeds of the body. So, none of us will live a perfect day until we see Jesus face to face.

In other words, we'll always fall short in one way or another, even if we're not conscious of it. Even if we didn't consciously sin, we still fail to love God perfectly with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, love our neighbor as ourself. However, we are saved by God's grace, meaning God pronounces us forgiven and then changes us so we are not who we used to be. And you talked to Paul about this in the New Testament. Here's someone claiming to be a follower of Jesus and living an ongoing perversion, unrepentant, ongoing perversion.

What does Paul say, 1 Corinthians 5? Put that person out. Put that person out of the body for their own soul's sake. The hope that they're coming under attack from Satan, they'll wake up, that their flesh may be destroyed, their body may be destroyed, but their spirit's saved on that day.

That's the hopeful outcome. Read through Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 1 through verse 16. Read through that and tell me that Paul would accept the idea that you can be truly saved and living an ongoing, unrepentant perversion, not a possibility. If you're truly saved, you will be granted repentance. You will change. The new life in you will chase out the old ways. It is a true birth from above, not by our works, but demonstrated by our works, which Paul writes in Ephesians 2. God has preordained that we walk in.

Know the tree by the fruit that it bears. No question about it. Jim, thank you for the call. This is how we rise up.

Harder speed and faster. Feels like thunder. Magic static. Call me a fanatic. It's our world. They can never have it. This is how we rise up. It's our resistance.

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We go to Sarah in Champaign, Illinois. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi Dr. Brown, thanks so much for taking my call.

You bet. Giving context to my question, I was a oneness Pentecostal for many years, meaning that Jesus is the Father, or sorry, that there's a distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Until four years ago, when I started to see gaps in the doctrine, and just went to my Bible, and it was beautiful how the Holy Spirit just took the scales off my eyes, and I was able to see there is a distinction, but it was beautiful. And my appreciation for the Word of God and God Himself has just flourished. And of course it caused a lot of friction with family and friends.

My honesty has not been well received at every point. And one of the main arguments for oneness is in Isaiah 96, where it's a missing and a prophecy, He shall be called Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And the New Testament is overwhelming the evidence. But what would you say to somebody when they say, well there, He's Everlasting Father. What would you say to that verse specifically? My other question is, how would you handle these conversations that we kind of dance around each other, and they can sometimes get heated, because with all due respect to my oneness, brothers and sisters, it's almost like they're God.

The oneness doctrine is so ingrained, it is almost like they're God, and to deny that is blasphemous. Yeah, fully understood. So the second part is, you have to remember how you saw things, right? And how you would have reacted to a family member or friend who no longer believed these things.

And always keep that in mind. So you pray that the Holy Spirit would open their hearts, the same as He opened yours. You know that many of them are sincere and devoted in their faith and want to follow the truth. So in that case, as the truth is presented to them, they will follow the truth, they will leave their error behind, and they will follow the truth. So you pray for them, and then you don't initiate a conversation unless prompted to by the Lord, or it's a clear time to do it. You let them initiate the conversation with you.

If they want to get in an argument or raise things, fine. So unless the Lord really burdens you, reach out to this one and raise the subject, let them come to you with it, in which case you say, hey, I'm not knocking on your door harassing you. I'm sure of this by the word, I'm sure of this by the Spirit.

Talk in language that they can relate to, words that would make sense in their old way of thinking, and then just say, look, number one, I'm sure the word says this, but number two, my life has been changed. And that's not the work of the devil, that's not the work of the flesh. I'm closer to the Lord than I've ever been. I love Jesus more than I've ever loved Him.

I know God in a way I never have before. I assume you could say all that, correct? Yes, I agree 100%.

Right, so do it from that level, and let it be seen that there's a difference in you, that that becomes evident when someone's getting angry and short and you're not. So, that's the one thing. As for the verse itself, it's simply explained. The Hebrew is aviad, which can mean one of two things. It can mean father forever. So, the anointed king, the Messiah was king over the people and a father for the nation. Think back to the end of Genesis where Pharaoh tells Joseph, I've made you as a father for the nation. So, a national leader would be a father for the nation. You know, when Elisha the prophet was dying, the king said to him, you know, the chariots of Israel, and looked at him as a spiritual father as well, or father of the nation.

So, these, the second Kings 13, that kind of thinking is very simple. So, for the Messiah to be father forever, so as the king over the nation, the father of the people, yeah, absolutely, that fits. It's also possible to translate aviad as possessor of eternity, which would then completely remove that. Sometimes av can refer to a possessor of something in Hebrew. The father of something is the progenitor or the possessor of.

So, it's also possible to render it in that way. But to me, it's very simple that the son that is born is the father of the people. Because it's already said that he's the son, and Psalm 2, Yahweh, says you are my son, today I've given you birth, right? So, clearly he's identified as the son, and even a oneness person would agree that Jesus is identified and emphasized as the son, right? That this one, the Messiah walking on the earth, is clearly identified as the son throughout the entire New Testament. So, why would he be called the father of the earth? Because he's the father of the people, he's the father of the nation as the Messiah.

Okay, thank you so much. You are very welcome. And by the way, it's not like splitting hairs or turning the text upside down, it's a pretty simple thing once you step back and think about this one who throughout the New Testament is revealed as the son, as the son, you know all the verses about that, it's one after another after another, is the father of the nation. He's the king, he's the father of the nation.

And again, it's even possible to translate possessor of eternity, but we don't even have to go that way to make sense of it. Hey Sarah, may the Lord use you as a spiritual pied piper to lead many others into the fullness of the truth. I appreciate the call. Thanks, Dr. Brown. Alright, 866-344-TRUTH.

Let's go to Travis, is it Greer's Ferry, Arkansas, is that right? Yes, sir. Alright, welcome to the broadcast.

Thank you. So I've got a question for you about missions. I'm going into the mission field to work under Joe Oden.

My buddy! Yeah, I was wondering what general advice you would give the new missionaries. Okay, so Joe Oden is a grad from the Brownsboro Revival School of Ministry.

In fact, I just pre-recorded a show that I'll air in Israel talking about revival, and happened to mention his conversion as one among many, but actually, without mentioning his name, told his conversion story, which is really neat. So, in what way will you be serving? What kind of missionary work will you be doing? So, we're going to be, first off, prayer missionaries, and then we're going to be traveling around the country and just preaching the Gospel, holding crusade-type meetings here, and that's pretty much our job. Got it, got it. And how will you be supported in doing that? So I'll be going—I'm an assembly-of-God licensed minister, so I'll be going to church around here and raising funds that way.

Got it. All right, so the big thing is to always keep in front of you what God has called you to do, because along the way, there'll be many distractions from the real thing He's called you to do, which is to be a prayer missionary, and that requires real discipline to say, okay, we will spend quality hours with God. I will give myself to intercession, because you get busy, other things come up, you get distracted, and the devil always wants to keep you from prayer, right? Definitely. So that always—that can't be in name.

That has to be in reality. And then, in your ministry, keep the main thing the main thing. Why are you out preaching? It could be that God's called you to preach to the lost, to win the lost, to stir the church to revival, right? And as you're out, you start getting invitations to minister in different ways, and then that brings in more funds, so you give yourself to more of that.

It's like, well, hang on, you're getting funded, but you're not doing the stuff that you were supposed to be doing. Or, you know, just help people begin to hear things and, oh, you got a good testimony, let's get a podcast, and then next thing you're doing endless interviews and it's taking you out of the prayer room. So, it's always a challenge to give yourself to what God has really called you to give yourself to.

So, just look at that periodically, check that, make sure that the main thing is the main thing, that you are like the tip of the arrow that's being shot towards the target. And then, have a servant's heart and get low. That you're no superstar, you're no anybody, nobody's anybody except the Lord that we glorify. Get your hands dirty, do the lowly things, don't think of yourself, if God gives you more success, don't get kind of a prima donna mentality.

Again, you said, that would never happen, but these things happen to human beings, you know? So, don't let success distract you from the main thing God's called you to do. And if you know that you know He's called you, He will make a way. He may bring you through many faith challenges, He may bring you through things you think, I never want to go through this again, but look at each thing as an opportunity, as an adventure. As, okay, I'm going to write a chapter about this in a book one day and I want it to have a good outcome.

So, go on the adventure with the Lord, dream dreams, dream big dreams and then give yourself to the tedious little things day by day and you will see a lot of lasting fruit. Awesome. Thank you. You are very welcome, sir. 866-348-7884.

Let's go to Tate in Richmond, Virginia. Welcome to the line of fire. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Yes. I was calling to, first of all, thank you for your book on the political and Christian church seduction, and that was such a measured approach, so thank you so much for that. And I also wanted to ask you a question, and the question is, in the Christian community, we have two different, well, it's many different, but one side seems to think that the Holy Spirit brings salvation, of course. And pretty much all of the things that have happened in the New Testament, that has ceased, that is over with.

And then there's the other side that says that tongues, healings, mighty works, all these things are still happening. Yes, sir. And so, I'm wondering, and I'm sort of floating between those, I'm like the church that lay on the sea, I'm floating between that. I'm wondering if the people, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

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Hi. We go back to Tate in Richmond. So, your specific question.

Go ahead, sir. Okay, specific question is, the people that are saying that the Holy Spirit has ceased in all of these tongues and mighty works and healings, doesn't that leave people open more to begin to tamper with or experiment with things that are not godly, such as tarot cards and other things, so that they might be able to get something or feel something that is real and end up in error? That's an interesting perspective, Tate.

No, I don't think so. Let me make clear that I am 100% sure based on scripture that tongues, prophecy, healing, these things are operative as gifts to the Spirit until today. I've been speaking in tongues regularly since January 24th of 1972, and it's enriched my own life and helped me minister to many others. I do not believe there's a single text in the New Testament that says that these gifts have ceased in operation. I believe the whole testimony of the New Testament makes clear that they are from now until Jesus returns, and we have a command in 1 Corinthians 14, 1, to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that we may prophesy, and that command is never rescinded.

And Jesus says in Luke 11, 13, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So, I have no question whatsoever based on scripture that these things are for today, although in the late 70s, early 80s, I tried to argue against them. I tried to get away from this view, but the word was just too clear to me.

I couldn't. So, those who say these things are not for today, I don't believe they're opening themselves up to now look to other forms of spirituality, because they would still say, hey, we have a relationship with God through Jesus, we're saved, we know the Lord, and these things of power, you know, the healings, miracles, God may do something, but it's not the norm, but the Holy Spirit is still power from saving and working in our lives. So, in their minds, because these other things are not for today, I don't think they'd go looking for other things, because they've kind of said this is as far as the experience goes. Now, what about people who are looking for an experience? Well, if you're just looking for an experience, that's trouble.

That's a mistake. If you're looking for God to give you everything He has, so you can glorify Jesus and live a holy life, that's a good thing. And again, Jesus says, if a man is there of you, if his son asks for bread, we'll give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake. So, if I say, Father, I want everything you have for me by your Spirit, I want everything that is promised for today so that I can better serve you and glorify your name before this world, you're not going to get a demon in doing that. And for those who say it's not for today, or those speaking tongues, it's just gibberish, they're not blaspheming the Spirit, they're just ignorant of these things.

To blaspheme the Spirit, you have to knowingly attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan, and no true believer would do that. By the way, since you enjoyed Political Seduction, which I appreciate, do you know my book, Authentic Fire? Have you heard of that?

No, I don't. All right, you might really enjoy that, Authentic Fire, a response to John MacArthur, Strange Fire. In fact, Tate, stay right here, and our call screener is going to get your contact info. I want to send you this as a free gift. You're a reader, I want to send you this, Authentic Fire, and it is my response, gracious response to John MacArthur's Strange Fire, and I lay out the case that these things are for today in that book. So, Tate, we're going to get your name and address, and send you Authentic Fire as a gift to make a further deposit in your life. All right, let us go to Jamir in Newark, New Jersey.

Welcome to the line of fire. Good afternoon, Dr. Brown, how are you? Doing great, thanks. I would like to know if I can ask you two questions, if that's all right? Sure thing.

Thank you. So my first question regarding to Revelation 16 and 15, the Lord said, you know, look, I come like a thief, blessed is the one who stays awake and remains and does not go naked, you know, shall not walk around naked and be ashamed. So I just want to ask you, you know, what does that first name in you, you know, what does it look like to not go naked?

What does it look like to be clothed? And my second question is, do you believe it's possible for us as believers to live down here, you know, having godly thoughts all the time, having in mind the things of God? And I'll emphasize more what I mean. There's moments, Dr. Brown, where, you know, I would have an accountant with my neighbor and I don't have a problem loving my neighbor at all. You know, I don't have a problem showing love to my neighbor. And I don't have moments where I'll notice, let's say someone is cursing me out, you know, my response as a born again believer is to show this individual love. But I will notice, like, on the inside, you know, in my mind, I will at times have ungodly thoughts, you know, towards the individual. And it would disturb me, like, to the point where I will have to rebuke it. In my mind, I will rebuke it, you know. Yes, sir.

I got it. And I'll talk to God about it. Is it possible to continue living here on Earth, right, and not have those thoughts? Like, what should people know? Yeah.

So, I'll start with your second question. The fact that it bothers you is another sign that you're born again and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. You know, it reminds me of someone had come to me, Dr. Brown, I messed up. I downloaded porn last night. Man, I've been weeping over it. I used to be a porn addict, but, man, I've been free and I messed up.

Well, the fact they were weeping is a good sign because when they were porn addicts, they just did it by the hour and it was part of their lives. Now, because they're born again and love the Lord, the fact they messed up causes them deep grief. If we say we have no sin, 1 John 1, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So, none of us will live a perfect life in this world, but, for sure, we can grow in sanctification. 2 Corinthians 7, 1, speaking of the promises that God will dwell on us and be our Father, it says, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness and the fear of God. So, we continue to grow and over the years, God will give you more love. And then maybe that's just something we have really great, tremendous grace, but here's another area to deal with, you know. It could be a fleshly discipline in something else or a greater consecration in prayer or a greater heart for the lost. So, we're going to keep growing until we see Jesus face to face and none of us will live in such a way that we never have to ask God forgiveness for a wrong thought, but it doesn't stay there. It doesn't become who we are because we're his children.

You know, so a guy is distracted by some good looking gal and he looks at her for a second, okay, but he's not chasing her down, he's not trying to get her in bed. He says, sorry, and he keeps moving because he's a born again man, he's a changed person. So, the fruit of the new life will be seen as we live differently. As for Revelation 16, 15, it's similar to the parable of Jesus about the ten bridesmaids and five of them have oil in their lamps and five don't. So, he's saying live as people ready to meet the Lord.

It's not so much the timing because coming like a thief, that's more on the ungodly and there's judgment there because 1 Thessalonians 5 says, thief comes in the night and we're children of the day. So, we're not sleeping like in the light, we're walking in the light of day. So, this means living a godly life full of the Spirit and clothed with righteousness. It means that we are living lives in anticipation of one day standing before the Lord and being resurrected and becoming like him. To be naked would be to be exposed that we're living in compromise and sin and disobedience. To be naked reminds me of Revelation 3 where Jesus says to Laodicea, you say I'm rich, increased in wealth, have need of nothing. You don't realize you're rich, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

So, it is to cast off what God has given us and live just like the world lives and when he returns that would expose us as not being with him, not being of him and being in this world and those who love the Lord will not be naked and unclothed. Does that help? Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you so much. I don't know if you remember, but I called you a few times. Thank you so much, Dr. Bowne. God bless you. It's always a pleasure to tone in.

Yeah, I do remember the name and the Newark, New Jersey, the New York connection. So, great. It's always good to hear from you. Thanks for the call. All right, friends, we are out of time.

If I bring someone on the air by the time they finish asking their question, I'm signing off. But you can always reach out to us online if there's something you need our input. You can always check out our videos and articles which are total probably over 5,000.

Maybe more than that, maybe close to 6,000 videos, articles on wide ranges of subjects that you'll find helpful. And again, you can always call on other days of the week as well. So, it is a joy to serve you and be with you. And just an encouragement, as we're always trying to make wellness deposits in your life and help you thrive, spirit, soul, body. So, the whole broadcast every day is helping you thrive in spirit and also helping with your state of mind. But take care of that body as well.

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