Dr. Brown Answers Your Questions from Jerusalem

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network.

Last night, live from Jerusalem. Here's what we're going to do. I'm not taking calls today. Oh, come on, you haven't taken calls?

I know. I mentioned on yesterday's broadcast that because we had some technical issues with our live broadcast from Israel, we've been doing live broadcasts with our tour group. But I haven't been taking calls, God willing, Monday back in the office like always, isn't it? Memorial, yeah, it will be Memorial Day, but we'll be live taking your calls, interacting. So what we're going to do is we're going to get different questions. Some will pull that were posted on Facebook, but we're going to take most right here from in the room. Some have asked questions on yesterday's show, but we welcome them back again. So give us your first name, where you're from, and go ahead with your question.

My name is Fran. I'm from Los Angeles, and the question is regarding Revelation 9-6. It says, During those days men will seek death, but they will not find it. They will long to die, but death will elude them. Is God planning on supernaturally suspending normal laws of mortality? How do we understand that? That's possible. There could be that judgment, but there are plenty of people that say suffering and pain, they have a certain sickness, they may be elderly and weak and find no purpose in living, and they wish they could die.

I mean, this happens all the time. There are people that wish they could die and they can't. So it just seems that things will be so intense then that more and more people will be wishing they could die because of the misery of life there, and death will elude them. Obviously, anyone can commit suicide, but I don't think it requires supernatural intervention there as much as it's going to be that bad that people just wish I was dead and they keep on living, just like some people that are suffering go through that.

One interesting thing is when you read this account that God does put a mark on certain of the people to protect them, so even in this time of outpouring of wrath and judgment, there are his people in the midst of it that he supernaturally protects. All right, thank you for the question. All right, and I have to fight the habit of giving out the phone number. There's no reason to give out the phone number if I'm not taking calls.

So go ahead, sir. Where are you from? What's your question? Coming real close.

Yes, Mario from London. So the question is a little bit kind of well explained. In John chapter 9, I think, they ask, who is this man who can open the eyes of the blind? I'm wondering, obviously, other religious traditions, they have basically claims on miracles. It seems like some miracles can only be done by Jesus. So how do you reconcile the fact that people that don't believe in Jesus have similar claims to the ones that Christians have, even if maybe the number is different? Right, so we know that there are counterfeits.

We're fully aware of that. There are counterfeit miracles in the Bible. The Egyptian magicians could do some of the things that Moses and Aaron did, and then it stopped at a certain point. But in terms of the unique nature of the things that are documented, that God has done over the ages and to our day, I'm not aware of counterfeits that parallel all of them. I've heard certain things that seem similar or appear similar, but some of the outstanding miracles, creative miracles and things like that, I have not heard people in other faiths make verifiable documented claims that line up with it. Now, there's a tradition you'll often hear about that one of the six signs of the Messiah that the rabbis were waiting for was someone who would open the eyes of someone born blind, but I've never found that. I have no verification that that's true.

I've asked other rabbis. It seems to be one of these internet myths that have come up. So there can always be counterfeit to a certain point, but legitimately raising someone from the dead, I don't believe there are counterfeit miracles like that.

It would be someone that appeared to be dead or perhaps something along those lines. So when the miracles happen the way they do, the nature of them, some people realize this has to be the hand of God. Even Egyptian magicians said this must be the finger of God.

It got to a certain point, and that's what happened then. No one had seen that happen before. That's clear.

That's why everyone was saying, well, can a demon open the eyes of a man born blind? I mean, how can that happen? All right, thank you. Appreciate the question.

And holding back the phone number reflex once again. All right. Oh, hang on. Just real quick by a response. So how was the tour? Awesome! What's the next? All right, sweet. That's what we want to hear. Yes, go ahead. My name is Ben.

I'm from Indianapolis. And I have the question, what is the difference between the baptism in the spirit and the baptism of fire that John the Baptist prophesied concerning Jesus? So in Matthew the third chapter, in the tenth and twelfth verses, John the Immerser speaks of the fire of judgment that will come on the lost and the hypocrites, etc., the religious hypocrites. And then in the midst of it, Matthew 3.11, so he speaks of the fire of judgment and wood being cut down, trees being cut down and thrown on the fire. But then verse 11, he says, I baptize you with water, I immerse you in water, but the one coming after me is greater.

He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire. So there are two main lines of interpretation. The one is that it's speaking of two different classes of people, that you will be immersed, the righteous, the godly in the Holy Spirit and the ungodly, the religious hypocrites, you will be immersed in the fire of judgment that's been spoken of in verses 10 and 12. And something you could use to argue for that is that the other verses speak of the fire of judgment, the verse before, the verse after. And in addition to that, he's speaking to you, the hypocrites, those that are going to be cut down and thrown in the fire, so that would suggest the fire of judgment. On the flip side, Jesus does not immerse the sinners and the hypocrites in the Holy Spirit.

That's speaking to the believer. So my understanding, and scholars are divided over this, but there's a large number that would agree with my position, that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a baptism in fire. That fire and spirit are often noted together.

I pointed that out in some of the teaching here, right up to Acts 2, that the Holy Spirit comes with tongues of fire. So that the baptism in the Spirit is a baptism in fire. God's refining fire, purifying fire, the fire of love, the fire of passion. So that's how I understand fire there, as opposed to fire of judgment. Rather, it's the fire of the Spirit, and that's just another description. And just as fire came forth from the presence of the Lord in Leviticus 9, and consumes the sacrifices of Aaron, and fire consumes the sacrifices that Solomon offers up, Daniel 7, a river of fire, comes from the presence of the Lord. In Malachi 3, the Messiah comes as a refiner's fire. So the baptism of the Spirit is a baptism of fire. Thank you.

Let's see if I want to answer a Facebook question here. I just posted immediately before the show. Philip, when does the Sabbath begin biblically? So the Sabbath begins biblically at sunset on Friday night. Just like at Creation, there's evening and there's morning.

So the Jewish calendar to this day starts with evening, the night before, and then goes to morning. June, what are your thoughts on the Red Heifer Third Temple story coming out of Israel? None, really.

No thoughts about it. Every so often you hear the Red Heifer has been discovered, or now they've gotten several, and these are these cows, you know, red cows without blemish defect in any way. And some of the ranchers involved, you've got these Christian ranchers, and they're on the lookout for this. So they realize, hey, if this looks like it could be a candidate, then don't even, you know, pierce the ear to put a marking on it, you know, some tag to identify it, because that would mar it.

It would be blemished, right? So now there's talk, there's several of these. You say, well, why is that even important? Well, it's important because you cannot have the ritual for purification without the ashes of the Red Heifer, and this is another step that would indicate that we're getting closer to building the temple, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but I said I have no thoughts on it because I've heard the speculation for years.

There's no indication that there's any possibility of building Third Temple right now, so as far as I know, things are just sitting. When it gets closer, then we'll know. Okay, yes, sir?

Brett from Iowa. Go ahead. And I have a question about the Ark of the Covenant. In 1 Kings 8, verse 9, it says nothing was in the Ark except for the two tablets that Moses put in there, but then you go to Hebrews, it states that Aaron's rod and the jar of manna was in the Ark of the Covenant, so are there times that they opened the Ark during their ceremonies to place things in there besides the tablets? No, so in the tabernacle, right, when the tabernacle was built, those various things were there, Aaron's rod, that bud, the manna, and the tablets, so in the tabernacle, they were certainly there. We know that after Solomon's Temple was destroyed, that the entire Ark was lost, right? But either they did not transfer everything from the tabernacle over to the temple, right, would be the one choice, or Kings is just emphasizing the main thing that was there. But it is not like they went in and out and did different things to it, you know, leave this here for a while, take it out. So either those things were not transferred over from tabernacle to temple or there was just the emphasis on, for whatever reason, that's the main thing that was there. The reason it singles it out, it does seem to be telling you that's unique, that's interesting, right, but, yeah, that is, they didn't go in and out, move things around, so the description in Hebrews was the description during the time of the tabernacle, right, and not necessarily during the time of the temple. Got it, thank you.

All right, I'm going to answer another. Lee, I know you've been to Israel many times, but your first-time guess, is there an extreme culture shock, the threat of rockets overhead, et cetera, doesn't seem normal. So have you felt like you're in an unsafe area in the midst of a war zone, or has everything seemed normal to you?

Normal. Yeah, so you wouldn't even know, being here, that there have been massive government protests and upheaval. The rockets from Hamas are normally coming into one particular part of Israel, southern Israel, so if you were there, you would know that more was going on.

But I remember the last tour a few years ago, we were walking from the hotel over to a bookstore that had a connection for my radio show, and it was a couple from South Africa, and we were walking back after the show was like 1030 at night, and they said, we can't even walk the streets of Johannesburg where we live like this. They felt it was exceptionally peaceful. So when you're here, you're not aware in any way that there's conflict going on.

And most of the country is at peace. All right, we will be right back after the break. I'm going to be taking more questions from our great tour group here, and then answering some of the questions posted on Facebook, and now a word from our sponsor, Trivita.

We appreciate 100 percent of your first order when you donate it to The Line of Five. I'm Paul Burnett, a board-certified doctor of holistic health. Over the years, I have helped countless people increase and maintain their natural energy production with Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 sold only by Trivita. I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar, but I have met many people deficient in energy-supporting vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins and is an essential nutrient, meaning the body cannot make B12 on its own. You see, unlike other oral B12 supplements, Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 is fast-acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue, bypassing the digestive process, making it immediately available for use in the body. Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 is also formulated with other natural energy-supporting ingredients, such as folate, ginseng root, and other natural ingredients.

Not only are the ingredients beneficial for energy, but they also support healthy cognition, mood, nerve function, and natural hemoglobin production. You deserve to live with greater energy and mental clarity, and now, like millions of others, you can with Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 sold only by your wellness partner, Trivita. To place your order for products to support your wellness goals, call 1-800-771-5584. Or online at trivita.com 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.

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. Call me a fanatic. It's our way. Welcome back to the Line of Fire, our last stage.

Live in Jerusalem. All right. Go ahead.

All right. So, go ahead. You've got questions. We've got answers. This time, questions from our tour group and some posted on Facebook. Go ahead, sir. Dr. Brown, Fred from Ritris, California.

It's been a great trip, and thank you for putting this together. June is coming, and Gay Pride Month, which I think is a direct satanic attack on Christianity and God's law. Dr. Brown, I have a lot of friends, and I work in a business that's very LGBTQ intense. First Peter 3.15 says, Our answer is always given answer for the hope we have in the Lord. With your many answers to this affront, what answer would you give, or would you have Christians prepared to give in Gay Pride Month?

Right. So, let's separate the agenda from your average person, right? There is an aggressive agenda that's pushing from our schools to, you know, from toddlers to university level, pushing in the business world, pushing on every front. And what became clear to me in 2004 when God first called me to begin engaging these subjects in a focused way was that those who came out of the closet, so in their mind fighting for equality, tolerance, just so they can live their lives the way we live ours, their relationships be recognized, not be persecuted, you know, for who they are, those who came out of the closet ultimately wanted to put us in the closet.

That was the inevitability. And for years when I would talk about that, I'd be on secular radio or TV and people would mock me for saying it. And then after a few years, the tone changed and people began to say to me, bigots like you belong in the closet. It became much more overt. I remember when Kim Davis, who was the county clerk in Kentucky, which had voted 75% to 25% not to redefine marriage before the Supreme Court overturned things, when she refused to write a same-sex marriage certificate and defied the court order, she was put in jail, and there were people celebrating around the country that she was put in jail and comparing Kim Davis to ISIS. So this is the reality. This is how things have shifted. Nonetheless, your average person who identifies as gay or lesbian is not an activist.

They're just trying to live their lives, right? And that's why the word God laid on my heart was reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage. So the biggest thing that we need to do is ask God for a supernatural heart of love. And then with that, for deep conviction. So our motto has been hearts of compassion, backbones of steel.

Hearts of compassion, backbones of steel. Grace and truth together. So we ask God for a baptism of love for people and for opportunities to share the gospel because everybody needs Jesus the same way. Jesus died for everyone the same way.

Everyone needs him the same way. So you ask for supernatural love and for divine appointments to share the gospel. And if I was sharing the gospel with someone very openly, boldly gay, I'd talk to them about the Lord, talk to them about sin. I would not necessarily bring up anything specific in their lifestyle unless it came up or the Lord led me to.

I want to lead them to know the Lord is a sinner who needs to be saved. At the same time, if I'm faced with something in the workplace where I'm forced to do something that violates my convictions, then with all respect, you have to say, I'm sorry, I can't do this. This is a violation of my convictions. And I believe if you want to be inclusive, you have to be inclusive to me as well. Absolutely. And then when you have to take a stand, you do. We've always lost things for doing what's right. But we can't feel the need that I have to go out of my way to rock the boat.

I have to go out of my way to make something happen. I'm going to tear down the banner that's been put up. No, we're in a fallen world. We're in a sinful world. It could be a liquor ad here. It could be an ad for a strip club here. It could be an ad for unhealthy food here. It could be a gay activist thing here. We're in a fallen world.

So how can we live immovable on truth, but really loving people? And I remember one flight. It was just like an hour flight in the States. And the guy next to me was very evidently gay, and the educator was a high school principal. So we talked for the whole flight about these things. I told him who I was, what I believed, and we had a very cordial talk.

But he didn't know that I knew he was gay. So we were sitting right next to each other, talking the whole time. So at the end of the talk, he said, you realize the man sitting next to you is that very thing? I said, why do you think I've had this conversation? Because he thought, oh, I'm not going to talk to you.

Or I would have treated him differently. It's like, well, I assume. Yeah, that's why we're having this conversation, a civil conversation in the midst of our differences. So you can even be someone to open a door and say, hey, I'm a Christian. I hold to this, this, this. You're this.

How do we live side by side as neighbors and try to befriend someone and see if the Lord will give an open door for the gospel? Absolutely. Thanks a lot. You bet. Thank you. All right, somebody else, make your way over to the question seat right here.

How about this? Joseph, have you ever tried to reconcile with those of us who believe in one law, one Torah for all the commonwealth of Israel? It's not a matter, Joseph, of reconciling.

I believe it's erroneous. I would warn against anyone who teaches that Gentile Christians must observe the Sinai covenant. I would warn against that because it does bring people into bondage and take their eyes off Yeshua in many ways.

I've watched it over the years. But if you're personally convicted that you're supposed to do it, I'm not going to disfellowship you. I wouldn't cut you off. So it's not a matter of reconciling. We have a deep theological difference. Nonetheless, within the Messianic Jewish movement, there are some who believe all Messianic Jews should be observing the seventh-day Sabbath and keeping the feasts and kosher laws. And others would say only those called and burdened to do it.

So we're going to have these divisions. There are Christians who observe a seventh-day Sabbath. There are Christians who say every day is holy. There are Christians who practice an eighth day, a Sunday, first day of the week Sabbath. And we can all fellowship together in the Lord and honor the Lord based on Romans 14.

Again, where I'm going to differ is if something is taught in a dogmatic way that is now going to judge others negatively that don't see it eye to eye. That's where I'm going to push back. OK, go ahead.

This is Anna from Michigan. Yes. My question is regarding the relationship between the followers of Jesus today and Israel as a country and the people. So Genesis 12, 3 says, I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed, in the call of Abraham. So my question for you is the following. Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus today and not honor Israel as the chosen nation that God will still come back to?

Yes. You can be a follower of Jesus and get a lot of things wrong. In fact, I've had even one or two things wrong over the last 50-plus years, among many others. So we all have blind spots. We all have things that are very important to us that someone else just doesn't see at all.

So I recognize that. I do not believe you can be a follower of Jesus and have hostile, sinful attitudes towards others in any ongoing way. You'll come under conviction of the Lord. But you may have a blind spot about Israel. I know people that have reacted against kind of an extreme Christian Zionism that over-exalts Israel. Or there are some people, they've got a lot of Palestinian friends, and they're friends mainly with Christian Arabs, and they hear a very different narrative. And because of that, they can't see how Israel today is a fulfillment of prophecy. But they're believers. They love the Lord. They're not anti-Semites. But I have often seen how a rejection of modern Israel is often a path to anti-Semitism on a larger level. And that's when it becomes more dangerous. But, yes, there are Christians with blind spots.

Look, there are Christians that don't have any heart for world missions. Hey, friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown. I want to invite you to join our support team.

Make an investment of $1 a day that will absolutely last forever. You know, the Lord has given us a holy mandate to blanket America with a 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 you. I heard grace and truth together.

I was changed. We hear from pastors who say, thank you for speaking with compassion but giving us backbone and courage. And we know across America, so many believers are getting healthy and strong through listening to the broadcast, through listening to these messages as we tackle the controversies, the most difficult issues of the day. We even hear from former Muslims who've come to faith, from Jewish people who now believe in Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, through this broadcast and our resources. So join our support team.

$1 or more per day makes you an official torchbearer. Immediately, you will get access to hundreds of hours of terrific online classes and exclusive video content. Every single month, we'll send you a brand new audio message and along with an insider prayer newsletter where we'll talk about the things that are gonna be coming in our ministry and share some of the amazing testimonies of the fruit that you are a part of.

And when you do sign up, I wanna give you two books as a special gift. First, Compassionate Father of Consuming Fire, who is the God of the Old Testament? I take the best of my Hebrew and Old Testament scholarship, wrap it together in this book that you'll find eye-opening, answering many of the questions you have.

And then Revolution, my classic book that tells you how to wage war with Jesus, by overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love. We are transformed. We can bring transformation to the nation. So call this number now, 800-538-5275. That's 800-538-5275. Say, I'd like to become a torchbearer or go to askdr.brown.org.

Click on Donate Monthly Support. 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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the Line of Fire.

Michael Brown, our last night coming your way live from Jerusalem. All right. You've got questions. We've got answers. For all our new listeners, we normally take your calls.

The entire Friday broadcast is just your calls. But because we had some technical problems with our equipment here in Israel, we are taking questions from our tour group here on our last night, one more day physically together, but the last night together here in the hotel during radio. So we turn over to our next question. Go ahead. Hi, Dr. Brown. You are? My name is Josh, and I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.

All right. My question is similar to the last question that was just asked, and that is why did God choose Israel as his chosen nation? Obviously, he chose Abraham first, and a nation came through Abraham. Was it always in God's mind and heart to have a specific nation that he came from when he created the whole world and all these other nations? Why did he specifically choose Israel? Right. So we know for sure that before the foundation of the world, Jesus was predestined as the land that was slain. For example, 1 Peter 1, Revelation 13. So we know that before God created, he foresaw the fall, saw everything that would happen, and his plan was for everything to go wrong the way it did, for his son to come into the world.

Right? He saw what we would do. Someone would come into the world, die for our sins, and God would get a people for himself who would love him, be with him, and enjoy him forever. So in order to send his son into the world, he needed a womb through which the child would be born.

Not just being an individual, but national. For example, if Jesus appeared in India 2,000 years ago, supernaturally born in India 2,000 years ago, he would have been one of many other gods. Maybe he's the latest manifestation of Krishna. They had no concept of holiness of God. They had no concept of sin in biblical terms.

They had no concept of atonement or anything like that. Right? So it would have been more miracles. He had great teaching. He died. He ascended to heaven. And now he's just another part of the Indian pantheon. So for God to send his son into the world, it says in Galatians 4, he was born of a woman born under the law.

Right? So there was a people that God prepared where he revealed himself to them one God only, concepts of sin, redemption, holiness, even blood sacrifice. You know, what was his meaning of his death on the cross?

He's just another man dying there. Unless you had the understanding of vicarious suffering, substitutionary atonement, those kinds of things. So God needed a people through whom the Messiah would come.

And then remember, once he comes, dies, and rises, there have to be people who understand what happened who can then tell the message, bring the message to the world. That's why it starts with the Jewish apostles who have this background and understanding. So the reason that it's Israel is what you said because you chose Abraham.

That's the exclusive reason why it's that people. He chose Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob. Deuteronomy 7, it's not because you were bigger, better than anybody, but because he loved the fathers. Romans 11, 28, that the Jewish people now, to the Gentiles, they're enemies on account of the gospel for your sake, right? Their rejection has brought the gospel to the rest of the world, but they are loved on account of the fathers. So God chooses Abraham. It says in Genesis 18 that he will guide his children after him. So God chooses him because Abraham hears his voice and believes, and now through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes of Israel.

But as you see the thing unfold, it's a mess. In other words, it's clear enough because of Israel's righteousness. It's all kinds of sin and corruption from early on, and one reason God was so strict about destroying the Canaanites and other things was that the only way Israel was going to survive was if it didn't intermarry and buy into the idolatry of the surrounding nations.

And then even then, the ten northern tribes are largely scattered, and the tribe of Judah and Benjamin barely make it and survive to have the remnant through which the Messiah can come. So it was exclusively his love for Abraham that triggered it and the fact that there was always a plan to have a people through whom the Messiah would come and who would make him known. So with that being said, since we're in Israel, there are lots of rabbinic traditions about Abraham, and we know from Scripture that his forefathers were idol worshippers, right? And even Joshua 24 mentions the forefathers were idol worshippers. So there's one Jewish tradition that Abraham's father owned an idol store, and Abraham got the revelation of the one true God and wanted to illustrate it to his father. So one day he smashes all the idols in the store and just leaves the biggest idol standing, and Abraham's father comes in and says, What happened? He said, Well, the gods started fighting, and this one beat this one until only the biggest one was left. And his father says, They're not gods.

They're just wood and stone. He goes, Ah, you see, so that was, I actually preached that. I preached that once at a Hindi village in India. I used that illustration, you know, and they were smiling.

They got it. So thank you for the question. All right. Rainey asks, What resources would you recommend for a former agnostic that is wanting to learn about God, open his heart to Jesus, but his church has been unable to answer any of his questions, or for his believing wife to be able to help him? So one thing is you could send him to talkaboutdoubts.com. Talkaboutdoubts.com that my friend Professor Jonathan McClatchy has put together. Talkaboutdoubts.com. And he can just come on there, and there's a formal fill-out saying, I've got questions on this.

I don't know if I can believe in a god or how could there be a good god in the suffering world, whatever his questions are, and they will set it up for him to interact one-on-one with a scholar in that field. It's an extraordinary online ministry. Talkaboutdoubts.com. You could also check out the websites of people like Frank Turek, so crossexamined with a D at the end.org. You'll find that very helpful. You can look at some of Frank's teachings or J. Warner Wallace, the cold case detective famous in police work and then became a solid apologist. There's so much information out there. Any of Lee Strobel's books and videos on the case for Christ and many others, Lee Strobel, S-T-R-O-B-E-L.

There are lots of good resources for seekers, for atheists, agnostics, and plenty of books, and all these gentlemen that I just mentioned have them out, but if he really is serious and has honest questions, go to talkaboutdoubts.com. Whoever is next, make your way over here. Mikey asked this on Facebook. I was listening to a messianic rabbi teach about Jewish history and just wanted to get your thoughts on something in terms of accuracy as I found it fascinating. In like 67 to 68 AD during the revolt, Rome surrounded the city, but were initially beaten back to the coast by the zealots and the Jewish army. Messianic Jews realized the brief opportunity to flee was what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 and decided their allegiance was with Messiah and fled across the Jordan River into Pele instead of continuing to fight. Pretty much as they fled, the other Jews were essentially saying, Where are you? We're going to need you. Where are you going?

We need you. And calling them traitors and destroyers. God comes back with reinforcements and 70 AD overpowers the zealots and destroys the temple. This is where the initial split and tension between rabbinic Judaism and messianic Judaism began to grow.

There's some of that account that I would agree with. First, the tension was there before. The tension is right there in the Gospels with Messiah and then in the book of Acts with the Jewish followers. So the tension is there from the beginning.

There's no question. Many would say that things were exacerbated when the Jewish believers did flee Jerusalem. The exact dates and details, I don't know that we can paint it that precisely. Maybe we can.

I'm just not sure that we can. But yes, we can say for sure that they did flee to Pele. The best as we understand many did and they were considered traitors, but they were still part of the Jewish community in decades that followed. And what happened with the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132 to 135 AD is that they this time were going to show their loyalty by fighting until he proclaimed himself Messiah. And there are some traditions that would indicate that he had them. Bar Kochba had these messianic Jews killed.

Some of this is sketchy. But even centuries after that, there was still community interface interaction and over the centuries more and more separation driving out. And then of course the church got things wrong on its end basically telling these Jewish believers if you want Jesus, you have to give up your Jewishness. And then the Jewish community told them if you want to be Jewish, you have to give up Jesus. And it really left them in a precarious place. Okay, go ahead, sir.

Hi, Dr. Brown, Zahar Kesselman from Cleveland, Ohio. I have a two-part question on Trinity. Yes. What have you found has been the most effective way to explain Trinity to a non-believer? And the second part is in the same way as in the marriage, a husband and wife are equal but there is different authority. Is there a difference in authority within the Trinity? Right, so the second question, it's clear that for the purposes of redemption, the son has submitted himself to the father. Right, so in John 5 he can say, in John 10, the father is greater than I. And then in 1 Corinthians 15, then the son will be subservient to the father when everything is put under his feet that only God can be God in fullness. So there's a clear subservience. The question is, is it simply for the purpose of salvation?

Just like you and I may be co-owners of a company but for a certain project you give the orders and I take them, right? So that's the debate among theologians. To me the emphasis would have to be on eternal equality as opposed to eternal subservience.

So it would be more an economic thing for the purposes of salvation. When it comes to explaining Trinity to non-believers, if I'm talking to Jewish people, I always want to say that God is complex and is unity. Even when we say tri-unity, they're still hearing three and thinking three gods. And then I want to try to show them how this is what makes impossible mysteries feasible, that God is visible yet invisible, that he's touchable yet untouchable, that he's imminent yet he's distant. And to show how different, to kind of bridges of understanding, concepts in rabbinic Judaism, like what's called the Memra, the word of the Lord. So you have God and his word, different things, the Shekhinah, the manifest presence of God.

Is the Shekhinah God or not? It's his presence on the earth. Old Testament passages where God is seen and yet he can't be seen. So this is how we understand that he's complex in his unity and because he's God at one and the same time he can sit enthroned in heaven, fill the universe with his presence and walk among us because he's eternal God. And I don't try to get into philosophical definitions or explanations. I don't find that helpful when talking about the nature of God. And even the physical sun, you know, we're touched by its invisible rays, its brightness is blinding, but we actually don't see the core of it, which is too bright to even behold. It's the shining force like the father hidden in his glory, the sun shines forth, S-O-N shines forth and the spirit like the invisible rays. We try to use some kind of analogy on some level to try to help it. Ultimately, you know, I just say, look, we know that God is eternal and yet we can't wrap our minds around that. How much more of these aspects of his being.

All right, back with you in a moment. I'm Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health and I want to introduce you to Trivita's multi-collagen formula. If there was ever a message I would want the world to hear, it would be about the importance of supplementing the body with its most abundant protein known as collagen. Studies have shown multiple health benefits by supplementing with collagen. Trivita's multi-collagen formula does not have just one or two types of collagen or even three, but five forms of collagen shown to support healthy tendons, ligaments, skin, hair, nails, bones, muscles, gut lining and even the arteries and veins.

Trivita did not stop there. Each of the five forms of collagen in Trivita's multi-collagen formula are hydrolyzed which increases maximum absorption. Trivita's multi-collagen formula is an easy dissolving powder that can be added to your favorite beverages and even soups in your favorite recipes. Each serving of Trivita's multi-collagen formula provides nine grams of protein, is gluten-free, GMO-free, hormone-free and sourced from grass-fed bovine, cage-free chickens and even wild-caught fish.

And you can rest assured that Trivita's multi-collagen formula is manufactured right here in the United States of America. To place your order for products to support your wellness goals, call 1-800-771-5584, 800-771-5584. Or online at trivita.com 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, 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.

Welcome back to the line of fire. Michael Brown, our last night, and our last segment live from Jerusalem. Alright, so I do want to get back to a couple more questions, but Zakhar from Ukraine originally said, when we were going to the Holocaust Museum yesterday, you told me an extraordinary story. I know I just got the short version of it, but you said people in your father's village were being rounded up to be slaughtered, yes? Tell us the story of what happened with your dad. My dad was a Holocaust survivor. He was born in 1940, and he was in a Nazi camp from 1942 through 1944. They were rounded up to be executed, and a Ukrainian that was working for Nazis, they were called Polizeis, felt bad for my dad, who was a four-year-old boy, and pushed him onto the side. And my dad then just found a Ukrainian home, and then he was passed from family to family to family. How did he find a home?

Just started knocking on the doors. Four years old? Yeah.

Okay. And the families were very scared of sheltering a Jewish boy, because they knew that the Nazis would actually hang the entire family. But then a family that could not have children took my dad in. They renamed my dad from Naum to Anatoly, adopted him. They actually had to dress him up as a girl while the Germans were still present in the village, because the Germans would check if the boys were circumcised, identifying them as Jews or making them pronounce certain words that the people with Jewish descent have a hard time saying, like some R sounds. And then after the war, his mom started asking around and found out about this family adopting a Jewish boy who was her son.

She had to go through court to get my dad back. Amazing. Just amazing. Wow. Thank God for his mercy. Thanks for sharing that.

I appreciate that. Keith asks, Did Judas know he was a fake believer and a traitor, or did he genuinely think he was a true follower of Christ? That's a good question.

In other words, we can speculate on it. I don't know what the Bible tells us explicitly, because you can even be doing ungodly things and still deceiving yourself. We can deceive ourselves as easily as we can deceive someone else. So he may well have thought that he was a genuine believer.

We know for sure. Matthew 7, Jesus says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we... All these things, right? Drive out demons in your name, prophesy mighty works, and he'll say, I never knew you.

Now, I never knew you could be one of two things. It could literally mean they were never his disciples, but they were deceived. They were self-deceived, and whatever they thought, miracles they were experiencing, it was all deception, because they were not under his lordship. Or, I never knew you was a Jewish form of excommunication. When you were cutting someone off who had been part of you, you cut them off by saying, I never knew you.

Those are the words you'd use. So it could have been these were believers that had turned away and apostatized, and he was saying, I never knew you. But if it's the former, they were never believers, but they thought they were. They were deceived.

So anyone else wants to ask a question, you could make your way up here, Dell asked this. Can you give me more insight as to the proper biblical meaning and practice of prophesying over someone in a church setting? In my present view, I see it almost used in the context of fortune telling, as telling someone they're coming into a better job, or money, et cetera. Someone feels wrong, conceptually like a pagan practice, your thoughts. So clearly the New Testament speaks of prophecy as a beautiful gift, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 14, 1 says, earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. And prophecy can come in many different forms, and I've had prophetic words spoken to me that confirmed something in my own life. I remember I was flying, I think it was to Detroit, talking to the guy next to me, and I was upgraded because I fly so much, so I was in first class, this guy's in first class.

In first class, you can just ask for, you know, alcohol or something, and just serve, you don't have to pay. So this guy's having drink after drink after drink, and we're talking, and he's telling me, yeah, he's a believer, he knows the Lord, but he knows he's really going to, you know, he's back and forth, back and forth, but he knows he's going to get right, and I wonder how many times he's been around the block here. And God drops in my heart a verse from Colossians 4, tell Archippus to finish the work he's been given to do. And I tell them, I said, that's, I've got a word for you from Colossians 4, and I read it, he goes, so I told you my name's Arch, he goes, my name's Archippus, actually, that was his name. Tell Archippus, right, that's the word.

So, you know, hard to run from that one, right? I mean, talk about, boom. There can be a word spoken where it seems completely outlandish, you know, like I'd never think of that, but it's God's way of planting an idea in someone, but everything has to be tested. So, years ago, a friend of mine was going to these different prophetic conferences, it became kind of the in thing in some of our circles, and you get a prophetic journal for all the prophetic words you were getting, and he's going to conference after conference, got stacks and stacks of prophecies over him, and I called him in my office one day, I said, I have a word for you from the Lord. And he said, what, what? I said, no more words. So, like anything, it can be abused, but when it's real and beautiful and God glorifying, wonderful.

And when it's flaky, run from it. All right, you're up. Yeah, Michael, again, Michael from Melbourne, Victoria. Yes. Just going over Luke 19, I just want to get your take on the story of Zacchaeus. It was amazing actually going through Jericho and actually having the opportunity to drive slow past the Sycamore tree, and this is sort of one thing that's been going through my mind, you know, for quite a few months, but I wanted to get your take on, you know, Zacchaeus' conversion to being saved by Jesus. And obviously it talks about Jesus saying, you know, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.

Yes. And obviously it further talks about Zacchaeus receiving him joyfully. And then as you further go down, Zacchaeus makes statements about repaying what he owed and so on to people that he may have taken it off falsely.

What's your take on Zacchaeus' actual point of salvation? Because is it the part of him actually showing evidence of repentance when he wants to restore what he's taken? Yes, so we see, okay, so let's just think of the message that's preached, the gospel that's preached. Matthew 3, John the Immerser's message is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus takes up the identical message in Matthew 4.17, preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When he sends out the 12, in Mark 6.12, they went out and preached that people should repent, right? Luke 5, he says that he came to call sinners to repentance. Luke 13.3, 13.5, unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish. And then the Great Commission summed up in Luke 24 that you're to begin preaching in Jerusalem, we're preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is the heart and core of the gospel. So now we get to Acts, and Peter preaches Acts 2.38, right?

What do we do? Repent and be baptized. And then he preaches in Acts 3.19, after the miraculous healing, repent and turn to God that your sins may be blotted out. You get to the 5th chapter, 31st verse, God has raised up Jesus to bring repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

You get to the 11th chapter, when the believers hear about what happened to Cornelius and the other Gentiles, right? It says that they rejoice because they had been given repentance to life, right? Now, when we get to Paul's preaching, yes, Acts 16.31, believe in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved in your household. Acts 17.30, Paul preached on Morris Hill, what does he say? God commands all men everywhere to repent. Then Acts 20.21, he sums up his message as saying that he preached repentance towards God, to Jew and Gentile, repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus. Then Acts 26.20, what does he say? He tells Agrippa that his message was that people should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds, right? So the fruit, the evidence, is what tells you that there's life. It would just be like someone that had died and was raised from the dead when they sit up, when they breathe, when they say something, you know they're alive. The baby cries, it's breathing.

It's the proof. So his eagerness, God was working in his heart, something was going on. Maybe he had been repenting along the way or maybe he just was drawn to this Jesus and the moment the Lord walks into the place, he's so overcome by that presence, he says, you know, this day, I'm going to make things right.

If I've stolen anything from anybody, I'm going to pay back five times and give half my goods to the poor. So that was the evidence of a heart that was changed and Jesus says he's the son of Abraham. Here's a Jewish man, just like in Luke 13, the daughter of Abraham who was crippled by a spirit for 18 years, Satan crippled her. Jesus sets free.

So this was the children's bread. So something may have been going on in his heart leading up to it. He may just have been really interested, but because his heart must have been open when the Lord actually came there, that happened. And that, by the way, is a great story to think about in terms of when the presence of God is really there, what can happen. That, you know, people who are hardened and mocking and no interest in the gospel at all and suddenly they, you know, they're under deep conviction. When the presence of God is really there, something very significant happens. Now we know there are people that walked around with Jesus and watched them perform miracles and had hard hearts, right, even next to him. So we understand that can happen.

It should be that there's some kind of conviction in our words or that... I remember a little service. It was a tiny little church building seated maybe 30 people squeezed in. And there were friends of mine, an African-American pastor in his little congregation, they used that on Saturday nights, and they asked me to come and minister for them.

And after I ministered, God just gave me words for different people there. I remember having a word for one woman with a particular condition. She literally screamed.

I mean, she shrieked. And, you know, just a few different people, and it seemed that it was like we were reading their mail. And I remember there was a guy sitting in the front row just with this mocking smile on his face, just sitting there. And I thought, Lord, you're really touching people.

You're here. And I didn't know the church had fasted, the whole church had fasted for the meeting that night that God would move. So there was just something special happening.

It's not right that he's sitting mocking in your presence. And I just opened my heart to the mind of God. It's never happened to me like that before or since on this level. And it just dropped in me. And I said, somebody here, I said, you're a pickpocket. You boast about how smooth you are.

In fact, you pick someone's pocket before the service, and you're boasting about it to someone in this building right here. Well, God wants you to know he knows exactly who you are. And suddenly the smile goes off the guy's face, and we got confirmation of the story. That was him the next day. He walked out with a different attitude.

You think that's the way you want it to be if God is there. Hey, one last note. When I went to India last year, I was thrilled to be jet-lagged free on the trip thanks to healthy eating and my Trivita supplements, Trip to Israel, which is jet-lagged free as well. So be sure to check out our sponsor's products, trivita.com. We used the code BROWN25, and we bid you adieu from Israel. Another program powered by the Truth Network.