Richard Dreyfuss, Cultural Capitulation, and Cultural Sensitivity

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There's a big difference between cultural sensitivity and cultural capitulation. 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. Thanks for joining us, friends. We are going to help give you backbones of steel with hearts of compassion.

This is Michael Brown. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Remember to call to interact with the program today or to ask me any question of any kind that relates in any way to The Line of Fire. We'll try to get to calls later in the show.

866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. If you're able to call in early, then all the more we'll be able to get to your calls a little bit later in the broadcast. Yeah, news from around the world, the coronation of the king in England, we'll talk about that. Another shooting, another massacre here in America, talk about that as well. But first, let's talk about this question of cultural capitulation versus cultural sensitivity. When is it right to be sensitive to a culture, sensitive to people's sensitivities, sensitive to history, and say, I won't say certain things, I won't do certain things out of cultural sensitivity? For example, if you ever travel to another country, you might be told, okay, when you walk in the house, you take the shoes off, it's very rude to not take them off. You might be preaching in a certain culture, and when you walk up to the pulpit to speak, you take your shoes off or your sandals off, and that's normal, and you don't dare violate that cultural tradition. There are other things which we say that's just the latest politically correct thing to do, that's just some hypersensitivity, and no, we're not going to go in that direction when you draw the line between the two. I want to help you sort that out because by all means, as followers of Jesus, we do not want to offend unnecessarily. We do not want to push people away, we do not want to drive them away, we do not want to be controversial about non-controversial issues because of either our ignorance or our stubbornness, so by all means, where we can be culturally sensitive in order to get our message out so more people can hear it, we should do that. But then there's a capitulation to culture which is contrary to the gospel, because it's contrary to truth, or because it's capitulating to silencing, or because it's selling our soul so that we can be popular.

And those are very, very different things, and we have to draw really, really clear lines. You know, for example, we have said that if you're a kid in school and you're told to give your preferred gender pronouns, that it's good to not do it. Yeah, I know you don't want to be left out, put out, but it's right to say, I'm sorry, but you're imposing an ideology on me that I don't agree with. You're asking me to do something that's contrary to my belief, that say I could identify contrary to reality, and sorry, I can't do that.

Right? There are things that we don't bow down to. There are more and more athletes saying, say, when it comes to a male competing against female, that the female should say, we're not going to compete.

We're not going to go along with that. That is cultural capitulation. And when we bow down to those things, increasingly we become a slave to what people think. We become a slave to the latest opinions.

We become a slave to the popular culture. Politicians do that. Weak politicians or career politicians will do that. They'll go the way the polls are going, as opposed to saying, hey, this is where I stand. This is right. And I'd rather be unelected than be elected by compromise.

Right? Pastors can do that. Spiritual leaders can do it. Well, if I speak the truth here, I'm going to offend some of our big givers, so I'm going to hold back. Well, you've lost your very integrity in doing that. On the other hand, there is valid cultural sensitivity.

Where do we draw the line? All right. Why am I talking about this today? Richard Dreyfuss, famous actor, best known for Jaws, many other movies as well. What is he, about 75 now, I think. He does an interview on Fiery Line.

PBS is Fiery Line with Margaret Hoover. And he's asked a question. As the Oscars have now said, for a film to be considered to be best picture, you have to meet certain quotas in hiring for inclusivity and diversity, inclusion and diversity. So, for example, you have to have X number of people of color or whatever it be, or a certain ethnicity. And you're going to have to do that in your staffing and your hiring for a film in order to be considered for best picture. So, Dreyfuss is asked how he feels about that.

Let's listen to his response. Starting in 2024, films will be required to meet new inclusion standards, to be eligible for the Academy Awards for best picture. They'll have to have a certain percentage of actors or crew from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. What do you think of these new inclusion standards for films?

They make me vomit. Why? Because this is an art form. It's also a form of commerce and it makes money, but it's an art. And no one should be telling me telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. And what are we risking?

Are we really risking hurting people's feelings? You can't legislate that. And you have to let life be life. And I'm sorry, I don't think that there's a minority or a majority in the country that has to be catered to like that. Ah, all right.

So far, so good. But very clear saying, well, it makes me vomit. Right now, some of us say, hey, look, do what you want to do, but it won't be considered for best picture.

Well, that would be the very thing he's saying. That's restricting art for certain reasons. And look, art can be offensive at times.

Art can be extreme at times. Or artistic expressions may stretch certain things to make points, just like comedians might do that very thing. They're comedians who are saying things are so woke. Now, I know in some cultures, woke is a positive word, but it's not. And in the broader American culture today, it does connote a certain PC mentality. There are many comedians saying that you can't crack jokes anymore because you're going to offend this one, offend that one, offend this one, as opposed to some of the jokes are meant to be offensive, but in a funny way.

And everybody laughs at them, especially if it's your own coming from your own culture. All right. So the others have said, hey, look, you can still have the cast. You want the want the main cast, but it's going to be other people within the staffing that you have to meet certain quotas.

But again, Dreyfus is saying, look, what if what if the people you want to hire were the best people to portray this artistic message that you want to get across in this particular film? What if they don't fit the quota, whatever that quota might be? Now that is restrictive. And now that's just trying to cater to whatever the latest morality is. You can't offend this group.

You can't offend that group. All right. So, so far, I appreciate him saying what he's saying. Part two.

Let's listen. You know, Lawrence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello and he did it in 1965 and he did it in blackface and he played a black man brilliantly. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a black man? Is someone else being told that if they're not Jewish, they shouldn't play The Merchant of Venice?

Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art? This is so patronizing. It's so it's so thoughtless and and and treating people like children.

All right. So his point then is, are you going to say then that a white actor can't do a blackface role, right? What's blackface?

You put shoe polish or something other, you know, cover you. So Al Jolson and the jazz singer famously did that. There are others. There are different examples through film history and we'll get into the racist elements of that in a moment.

All right. But he said, look, it's just here's the best actor, but he's the wrong color. So we'll change his appearance, right? Are you saying then that only a black man could play a black role or black woman could play a black role? Are you saying that only a Jew could play a Jewish role?

And on and on and on. So let's we'll come back to the blackface issue in a moment because here's where it gets murky in terms of, well, what you've got art, but then you do have cultural sensitivity where there really are issues that people need to be aware of it. It's not patronizing to say certain things are offensive. All right.

You can weigh in 866-348-7884. Are we getting too sensitive? Are we too insensitive? But let me let me back up and say this. Broadly speaking, it would be crazy to say that only a Jew could play the role of a Jew. Only a southerner could play the role of a southerner. Only a professor could play the role of a professor. Only a military man could play the role of a general. Who's going to play the role of a thief in a movie?

All right. Do we have a list of thieves that are not in jail right now? Who's going to play the role of a serial killer?

Right? I mean, who's going to play the role of an assassin? Do we have any assassins that we can bring on to play the role?

Any assassin actors? Obviously people are acting. They are pretending to be Abe Lincoln. They are pretending to be Cleopatra. They are pretending to be a thief.

They are pretending to be a soldier, etc. So we understand that. So his point is, why should it be any different then over the issue of Laurence Olivier playing Othello, a black man, and playing him as a black man in blackface?

Why should that be any different? So there's pushback to that, and we'll get to that pushback on the other side of the break. And for me, I wish he had used a different example. But let's listen to the last clip where he's pushed about this very issue. The question of representation and who is allowed to represent other groups.

For example, as you said, somebody representing the Merchant of Venice. And the case of blackface explicitly in this country, given the history of slavery and the sensitivities around black racism. Do you think there's a difference between the two?

Do you think there's a difference between those? There shouldn't be. Why? Because it's patronizing. Because it says that we're so fragile that we don't, can't have our feelings hurt. We have to anticipate having our feelings hurt, our children's feelings. We don't know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.

So is it a matter of bopping the bully in the face in all cases? What if David Duke, notorious anti-semite, former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, what if he was going to play the role of a Holocaust survivor? Would I have a problem with that?

Oh, you better believe that I would. So that's the question. Where does one draw the line? And I want to speak, when we come back, in particular, to pastors, Christian leaders, educators. I want to speak as plainly as I can. Number to call to join in the conversation or to raise any question you want at the Bible Theology Culture, 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. This is Michael Ellis, 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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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. 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. I'm going to go back to my comments about cultural sensitivity versus cultural capitulation in a moment, but just wanted to talk to you for a split second, just briefly about your health. I've got this little issue I've got to deal with relating to a kidney stone and you know kidney stone when you actually look at the thing if it was just on the ground somewhere you wouldn't even find it right it's just like so tiny but God made the body a certain way right he made the body a certain way and when something just a little thing is off it can cause excruciating pain it could mess up the whole body and most of my life until a little under nine years ago I ate unhealthily I loved the Lord I was serious about the gospel I was disciplined in my unhealthy eating in other words I would only have a certain amount of unhealthy this every day and not everything I wanted to have every day still I was putting on weight I was obese and my blood pressure became high and other things were not right and God helped me make a radical lifestyle change a little under nine years ago and I've been reaping the benefits of it rejoicing in new life feeling like I'm getting younger every year just blessed mind sharp and able to serve the Lord even more effectively and serve all of you more effectively so I I just want to encourage you to take good care of the body God gave you I just want to encourage you to do that and to really think about it and you know ask yourself hey why don't we smoke cigarettes most christmas say we don't smoke cigarettes why well it's it's an it's an addictive habit and it's destructive to the body right well the unhealthy foods we eat are more destructive to the body than cigarettes and even more addictive in terms of because you have to have food every day it's so easy to have unhealthy food so just just give it some thought I don't want to lay a guilt trip on anybody the last thing I would do is body shame make you feel bad about yourselves in terms of you may feel bad already and discouraged already I don't want to heap anything on there in terms of negativity all right but but I do want to encourage you God made the body amazingly well and you you really want to treat it right and it will treat you right as as you do and then take advantage of these great wellness supplements with our friends at TriVita our co-sponsors uh call 800-771-5584 find out how these supplements can be a blessing in your own life and then in turn you'll bless our listeners because you'll help us get on new stations around America you can also go to trivita.com use the code BROWN25 for your discount and to ensure that 100% of your first order will be donated back to the line of fire all right 866-34-TRUTH uh let's go to the phones and then I'm going to share some more of my thoughts hey Jack where exactly are you in Texas sir Rockwell Rockwell all right so how close is that to Dallas uh about 20 miles 20 so are are you able to get us on on k-word 100.7 FM yes okay awesome well welcome sir to the broadcast good to talk to you what are your thoughts um I think that we have a risk of eventually segregating um different ethnicities uh I kind of I have an idea of like looking in the future the Oscars and the academy awards and having uh people roped off by ethnicity and it might seem kind of far-fetched but I thought I'd just throw that out there so so in in other words the more that we try to fix things the more problems we might create in the process by now making everything a matter of race and ethnicity that's correct yeah you know what's interesting Jack for sure we need to have difficult conversations about racial equality about history we have blind spots you know I've talked to many of my black American friends said look I've never been racially profiled as a white American and I didn't have to have a talk with my daughters as they became teenagers and started driving about being racially profiled and and how to treat police if you are racially profiled so they're blind spots in my own experience and my black American friends have helped explain things I've explained to non-Jewish friends about sensitivities and when you say a certain thing it can be perceived as as insulting on the other hand when we overemphasize things when we make everything a matter of race ethnicity that's all you're thinking about when everyone you see is like how are they viewing me how am I viewing them how are we and it becomes unnatural yeah so that's a concern we want we want equality of opportunity but but how far do things go hey jack I appreciate you weighing in thanks for the call sure thank you all right eight six six three four truth so let me let me say it again for sure we cannot be concerned about every last little if I say this someone's going to respond this is what if I said they're going to respond that way and I'm consciously thinking about things as I minister as I'm speaking to you on radio right because radio is going to be a much more diverse audience than say a church audience or a bible school audience or a seminary audience where I'm speaking right so I'm constantly thinking when I say this particular thing what does that mean in this particular culture when I say this particular thing what does it mean in this particular theological camp not to hamstring me but to do my best to communicate clearly at the same time I understand that when I just speak my convictions people will be offended and by the way you may be listening on on one of our many great stations that we're on and before me after me in the course of the day someone with a very different emphasis well don't flip out over it if we're all within the body that's okay and you can say wow I think dr brown's really right here and I definitely disagree with this other guy or I think this lady's terrific and I think dr brown has it wrong there that's okay we don't have to like flip out because we're all part of the same family I'm saying if the fundamentals of the gospel are there but again when it comes to an acting role all right and I want to get back to sharing something very specific with Christian leaders educators and we'll take some more calls as well at eight six six three four truth but what I what I want to say again is this it is one thing to recognize that artistic expression is going to involve all kinds of different people playing all kinds of different roles and they are acting all right and and that's appropriate it's understood there are other things that in and of themselves would be offensive and many historians of art and and and movies would say that the history of blackface in America is explicitly racist so even if you have a role where it's just a for fun thing in a particular movie like Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy something and I didn't know these scenes just was researching for an article and for the show to look at some of this you you have things in history you know where the jazz singer fits is debated in terms of of racism etc but without question blackface has had a very specific racist history in America and therefore it is not hypersensitive to say you know if we can cast a black actor in this role rather than a white actor in blackface let's do that because there is a negative history here and it's not being hypersensitive it's not patronizing as Richard Dreyfuss would say and and and in point of fact most of the pushback to his comments and and Dreyfuss is not commenting as a conservative bible-believing christian either just for the record but most of the pushback to his comments is about the blackface issue if he had just used different illustrations for example do you have to be a jew to play the merchant in Venice do you have to have to be Italian to play Christopher or Spanish to play Christopher Columbus do you have to be American to play George Washington but some of the your favorite actors or actresses you think they're American they're actually British or Australian but they just speak with a good American accent okay that's one thing and then to say you have to meet this certain quota okay that's that's overboard on the other hand there is cultural sensitivity we should have that's why again what we emphasize here in the broadcast is grace and truth together hearts of compassion and backbones of steel together we will not bow to that which is politically correct if it means compromising the gospel but we'll sacrifice things that we'd rather do for the sake of others in order to reach them with the good news eight six six three four truths back with your calls and then some clear words to my friends in Christian ministry mom's dad's parents students on the front lines got some words for you when we come back 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 brown i used to be a practicing homosexual i listened to i heard grace and truth together i was changed we hear 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sensitivity in hollywood etc hey dr brown thanks um for having really fun i'm going to give an observation and a perspective really really briefly if that's okay that lets you take over sure so my observation is you know like we're talking about the academy awards i think what you'll see is they're going to make themselves kind of obsolete um you remember i mean the faith-based movies they were killing it in the box office making plenty of money they whether they got awards or not they were doing great i think i'm not really even know much about the movie business but i think you're gonna they're gonna make money and if they're going to be able to make um they may not get the awards and maybe the perspective of that change it's kind of like when you saw the nobel peace prize and we've come in kind of blatantly partisan where people really kind of changed their idea of what it meant to get a nobel peace prize i think they're going to come and consult uh eventually obviously that's my observation the other perspective is i think from um the christian messages that's the messages that's why um it's so important to have that's why the christians and god is the one that is the only one that has the authority and the right to make moral law it doesn't have to change or grow from the beginning but also you can look at all these different ever change in moral standards and they're contradicting they never seem to stop changing but the christian uh message and the moral law that comes from god doesn't need to change because it's perfect and it's also not contradicting some other perspectives so it's really a kind of a great talking point um to other fellow christians about why the moral law that comes from god is so perfect yeah you know what's what's interesting jess if you look at uh films it over the years that have been really dynamic money makers many times it's it's the g-rated films and the pg-rated films you know the animated ones or the family ones and they do really really well and then you'll have this exotic r-rated movie with some esoteric message that some hollywood elite wants to get across and it's a flop monetarily well it's fine i mean let people be artistic you know what i'm saying not everything has to be okay this just sells well obviously especially as followers of jesus we we understand it's not a matter of what sells it's a matter of what's right and true uh so in arts let people have their expression but if they're if they want to get their finger on the pulse of what's happening say okay the people you want to reach are really not into this or this or this you know disney is learning that a lot when disney decides well a major purpose of what we're going to do is is to educate kids about lgbtq sensitivities they're going to turn off a whole lot of people you know or budweiser just reeling after you say okay we're going to have as our as our new spokes as a key spokesperson for us a man who identifies as a woman it's like we don't we don't want that you know your average beer drinker it's like hey we want to be politically correct as we're drinking beer no that's that's the last thing on most of their minds so it is interesting and then when you you mention uh eternal truths those remain true and you can make a movie that doesn't have to be overtly christian in every respect some should be and that's their message like jesus revolution movie but there are others where you can get a point across morally you can you can make a movie about courage you can make a movie about virtues that are virtues in every generation and they do have an impact and they can be used as part of the larger influencing of hearts and minds hey jess thanks for weighing in i appreciate it thank you all right eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four so i i would be offended if richard spencer who is a known white supremacist was can't let's say he was an actor and was cast in the role of a christian abolitionist fighting slavery in the 1800s in america that that would be offensive to me all right but if someone else was was playing it in their you know what whatever they're just they're not necessarily born again christian but they're playing the role of a born again christian they're playing the role say of harriet beecher stowe who wrote uncle tom's cabin whatever right you're not a jew but you're playing the role of a holocaust survivor but you're not an anti-semite okay whatever that's that's not an issue but uh history.com says this about blackface the portrayal of blackface when people darken their skin with shoe polish grease paint or burnt cork and paint on large lips and other exaggerated features is steeped in centuries of racism it peaked in popularity during an era in the united states when demands for civil rights by recently emancipated slaves triggered racial hostility and today because of blackface's historic use to denigrate people of african descent its continued use is still considered racist so when richard dreyfus says we're so fragile that we can't have our feelings hurt in general i agree with what he's saying that we have become like that no no there's my feelings you can't well sorry you're not doing well in the job that hurts my feelings feelings as opposed to thank you for the input i'll do better or why do you say that i thought i was doing great no we we have raised people everyone has to win you have kids sports games where it has to be a tie at the end because everybody has to win you can't have any loses that's not real life that's not the way things work out in real life and you're not preparing kids for real life in that respect all right at the same time there are lines that should not be crossed because they there are sensitivities all right and that's where we have to say okay i'm going to do what's right regardless of popular opinion let me say this plainly to to those on the front lines of ministry those on the front lines of the culture awards those on the front lines of raising your kids in a hostile culture those on the front lines of being students on campuses with hostile professors or hostile environments you have to do what's right because it's right not because of popularity you have to stand for truth because it's true not because it's going to gain you friends or or or increase your budget or anything else the principle is if you save your soul you lose it if you lose your your soul for the gospel you find it so what does that mean in practical speech it means let's say i'm a i'm a pastor and i i know it's really important to preach a series of messages about the purpose of marriage what the bible says about divorce what the bible says about remarriage what the bible says about sexual ethics etc you know it's really important you're going to you're going to dig deep you're going to talk about the wrongness of no fault divorce you're going to talk about the negative effect that that's had on on on in the church and on the culture as a whole you're going to talk about porn and the destructive effect of porn and talk about plainly about hey probably a lot of folks in the church are struggling and here's how we're going to help you etc you're going to lay all these things out but you know if you do it's important because people are hurting and there's confusion and and you're seeing now people just say well we don't get along anymore i think i married the wrong person i want to get a divorce you're seeing all that happening and you say okay i need to start teaching preaching on this but if i do i i know that board member is going to be really sensitive because there's questions about the validity of his remarriage you know didn't he commit adultery and isn't that the marriage that came out of adultery and you know this other one you know his his his son is is a porn addict and and says hey i love jesus that's just my little weakness here and and if if you heat on that he's going to get upset he's a big giver he underwrites a lot of the ministry and that's how you're you're you're feeding orphans overseas and and meeting the needs of missionaries on the front lines you lose that money you hurt them there are millions there are a million reasons you can have but the moment you back away from speaking the truth and doing what's right for for any other reason than the will of god right and the will of god is that we never back down from what's true and right so when you back away from it you lose your soul or you may have quote saved the ministry save the church save the budget well you've really lost your soul and you're hurting everyone in the process you lose your soul in terms of eternal damnation you've lost your soul in terms of your integrity in terms of your courage in terms of your faith in terms of your fire you have and it's it's a plague it's a plague and worse still you have christian leaders that say yeah you do it like this you do it like this you kind of you know as one christian leader said to me when i was pressing him about his views on homosexual practice sometimes ministry preempts clarity that's what he said his exact quote to me sometimes ministry preempts clarity no ministry requires clarity the more ambiguous we are the less we help people and they're going to find out soon enough sooner or later what we actually believe where we actually stand it's going to come out sooner or later might as well let it be sooner i don't mean in an offensive obnoxious self-righteous way nasty way but speak the truth in love so we don't bow down if we lose our lives we find them meaning i'm going to do what's right i may get cast out i may get put out of the denomination i i may have to resign i'll be asked for my resignation i may not be accepted into this program in the university i might be kicked out of this country club i have to do what's right if you lose your soul you're fine now you're free and here's the best thing you're with god and if you're with god that's all you need to know and if he's with you that's all you need to know and and i i can testify friends 51 years in the lord now i've been far from perfect i live by the mercy of god every day of my life but i can tell you that he's helped me to stand for truth over the years he's helped me to stand for things that i knew were right and it's cost a lot number one it's been absolutely worth it and number two god's opened more doors god's brought in more supplies that even though i lost a lot in certain ways painfully the favor and blessing of god poured in and not only that my wife nancy as immovable as i am she's even more immovable when it comes to truth and righteousness and that's helped even further steal my steely backbone already and further deepen my heart of compassion so friends let that be your goal hearts of compassion backbones of steel cultural sensitivity wisdom by all means listen let blind spots be filled in when certain speech means a certain thing to large numbers of people you want to reach okay i didn't know that thank you for thank you for that you're gonna be more sensitive but we never compromise our convictions for the sake of the crowd 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 myo 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 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 This is how we rise up It's the line of fire with your host Dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is Dr. Michael Brown all right i am gonna give you some words of encouragement about our shepherd our good shepherd our great shepherd this is Michael Brown you are listening to the line of fire i still have time to take some random calls on any random subject that relates to the broadcast so give me a call 866-348-7884 i may get to some calls before this hour is out so over the weekend while praying i was meditating on psalm 23 memorized it decades ago in hebrew just meditating on the words most all of us are familiar with it many of us could quote it some of you in the church decades ago been out of church but you could still quote it i was just meditating on the words the lord is my shepherd i lack nothing and just going through it in hebrew verse by verse by verse thinking about it praying about it and i was struck again by realities of god being the shepherd and i just want to share a little insight with you that i found super helpful to me over the decades in my walk with the lord and it is this it is the shepherd who is smart not the sheep in other words the the whole goal is to follow the voice of the shepherd that's that's what sheep do so have you ever heard someone say yeah my my son he's as smart as a sheep never heard that said in fact let's let's throw this b-roll up for b-roll up for those that are watching i saw this video and it's get ready to beat this sheep billy and this is the the smartest sheep in the world and tell you what yeah i would not go i go to a circus to watch billy perform the things that he's performing on this little video i guess for sheep it's pretty impressive but you know you have trained lions tigers all right well how about how about a trained dog have you ever seen you know what trained dogs you do or some of you train your dog to do all kinds of other things and respond to lots and lots of different words and obviously cats are smart but they're like ah don't bother me i'm gonna learn to do tricks but you know really you never hear someone say wow that's that kid's as smart as a sheep but and and what can sheep do say with predators what can sheep do with with wolves what what can nothing they they can't they're gonna tear you up with their teeth they're gonna maw you with their claws no they they can't do any of that because they're just sheep that's why they have a shepherd and they're dependent on their shepherd and many and psalm 23 so the lord is our shepherd john 10 jesus says i'm the good shepherd hebrews 13 said he's the great shepherd so all my confidence is put in the shepherd of the sheep all my confidence is put in him and and i know as his sheep that he says that his sheep know him and hear his voice so it's through the word that he speaks and by the spirit that he speaks it's ongoing in greek it's not just about salvation that he knows how to communicate with us and many times when i'm in difficult situations i really don't know what to do it's a crisis it's a massive ministry decision to make it's it's a dangerous situation to do i walk into it or not uh when i'm in over my head in a certain thing god's called me to do it's like i i don't have the resources or the capability of doing this i'll remind them i'm just a dumb sheep oh yeah we grow in knowledge in the word and we should be wise in that respect but compared to everything there is to know and all the uncertainties of of the future and what god knows i'm just a dumb sheep what do i know my whole hope my whole confidence is in the shepherd so one website i found it says despite the popular belief that sheep are stupid you can read this on my website askdartobrown.org or on the app askdartobrown ministries ask dear brown ministries just read latest article one website claims despite the popular belief that sheep are stupid they're actually incredibly intelligent they're very impressive cognitive ability and just like humans they form deep and lasting bonds with each other they stick up for one another in fights and they grieve when they lose a friend they experience all the same emotions that we do including fear joy boredom anger and happiness to name a few in addition to being incredibly smart they also have wonderful memories they can remember approximately 50 individuals sheep and human for years at a time all right so they have the same emotions we do maybe this is a little bit too pro sheep this website another site says this a sheep is about as intelligent as a cow whoever said wow you're as smart as a cow or or other farm animals that have not got complex survival skills but can still navigate their surroundings using cognition sheep are not intelligent animals like wolves or dolphins this is because they are overly reliant on shepherds for protection after millennia of domestication not overly reliant entirely reliant that's us so that's what i remind the lord all the time lord i'm just the sheep you're the shepherd you guide you i'll follow doesn't matter what the path difficult seems dangerous if you say do it i'm in lord i know your voice i'll follow and if you say i don't know the voice of god i throw that back on the lord too lord it's your responsibility to communicate in the way that i understand i'm not talking about if i never spend time with him i'm not talking about if i'm never in the word i'm not talking about if i'm living in willful rebellion rejecting the written word rejecting the voice of the spirit and thinking well he's obligated to speak to me no he's not but i'm telling that if you love the lord and you're trying to honor him and serve him and you're spending time with him lord i i'll follow i'm just asking you to speak clearly and sometimes and sometimes it's like i hear that gentle whisper he might be shouting to us right so to say but i hear that gentle whisper my trust is in the shepherd the good shepherd the great shepherd that's my trust let me just read these words to you from jesus yeshua i am the good shepherd from john 10 the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it the man runs away because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep i am the good shepherd i know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the father knows me and i know the father and i lay down my life for the sheep that's the one that's the one we follow and as you follow him you'll be blessed you may go through challenging times but he'll be with you during them and in the end you will be blessed all right um let me go to susan in orlando florida you are on the line of fire hi dr brown thank you so much for taking my call i have a question for you i've researched your whole site and all your videos and it's been since about 2017 since i noticed that you what version of the bible you recommend and if you recommend a study bible ah okay so in terms of versions of the bible the major contemporary christian versions be it the niv or the esv or the nasb the major ones if if you want jewish roots tree of life the they're they're all excellent translations i could critique every one in different ways right uh okay you know in in other words every scholar is going to have a gripe with a verse or an expression or find one is better than another in certain ways but the the major if someone loves the king james either the new king james or the mev uh any of these are are good if someone has maybe english as a second language and they need something just a little bit more readable than the nlt but the nlt is a mild paraphrase it conveys things beautifully but i would not recommend that as the first bible except for someone that maybe english is the second language or their own english level is is not quite as as good um and there's a major project i'm working on i can't talk about it yet hopefully in a year now from now i'll be able to talk about it more is there a particular study bible i recommend no the all the major ones have you know just the esv study bible the niv study bible the nasp study bible where they have their own particular sets of notes you know open bible is another one they're they're all valuable if someone's looking for a particular aspect of things like say i know i'm like really interested in cultural background well there's the cultural backgrounds study bible or i i'm looking like for looking like for objections to the faith but there's an apologetic study bible right i'm looking for charismatic emphasis there's the spirit filled life bible so there what i found though as i've looked at these they're they're all good in their own way you know what i'm saying yes that each of them has a particular purpose the key thing with any study bible is always to remember that the notes are not inspired the way the text is and right you want to wrestle with the text first and then look at the notes secondarily now if you if you want something online to really dig into the why and the how of a translation then use the net bible so net bible.org the new english translation and that has over 60 000 translation notes some of them very very technical some of them more simple explaining here's why we translate the hebrew this way here's why we translate the greek this way here's where there's a variant in text so that's freely available online net bible.org and when you when you use that you'll find just on the translation level lots and lots of useful information and i've even used that when doing commentary work found hey here's a good little summary of the discussion here but some of it's very technical some less so so you get out of it whatever you can so those are again i could someone could call and say how could you recommend this this verse that there's you know there's there's always going to be questions about it on the website askstartyourbrown.org or the app askstartyourbrownministries just check translations you get a lot more data but susan that's my samariel answer hey friends be blessed back with you tomorrow another program powered by the truth network