Answers to Your Questions

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Okay. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the line of fire. You've got questions.

We've got answers.

And my delight to be with you on this Friday. As always, any question you want to ask me in any area of expertise I have, by all means, give me a call. And I'm about to reboot my computer. I was looking at the monitors and I don't know what happened, but for the first time I've ever seen this, this is on a desktop, not a laptop. I've got two monitors on my desk and one of them I'll focus on our callers, et cetera.

And the other, if I'm looking up articles that you're referring to, or if I'm looking at scripture verses we're discussing, you know, I've got my software over there and everything's upside down. I've been in the other room doing some things. I came in. Everything is upside down. Figure that out.

So I'm just rebooting here. I forget I tell you that. I thought, you know what? I'm just going to navigate around upside down until I get a break. I thought not.

That's not working. Again, any area where I can be of help to you. Anything you want to discuss with me, comments I've made that you have a question about, whether it's about politics, whether it's about morality, whether it's about the Bible, theology, Bible translation, host of issues we discuss. If it's something we discuss on the air, I'm glad to take your call on it here. 866-348-7884.

Before we get into that. Before I get to your calls, something really interesting happened and I wrote an article about it last night, and I'm going to expand this. My article dealt specifically with. Bible Quoting, Bible toting supporters of Donald Trump who'll drop the F-bomb and stuff like that.

Now I know there are people in every camp that are hypocrites. There are people in every church that are hypocrites. There are candidates themselves who are hypocrites, their Christian leaders who are hypocrites. I'm not making an overall indictment because of this. But it got my attention because I've seen this so much.

People blasting me when I raise concerns about candidate Trump. And if he ends up being the presidential candidate for the Republicans, or if he ends up being the president, you better believe I'm praying for him to be the best president we've ever had. I'm praying for God to use him in a world-changing way. Please understand that. But I've noticed that some of the folks who support him when they differ with me have differed with me as Christians, but in the most ridiculous tone.

So check this out. Uh and and this was uh I have to Uh I have to bleep out the profanity, but this was written with everything fully written out.

Okay, this is what someone wrote in response to a warning I gave that Donald Trump Was not the one we should be trusting in to be a protector of conservative Christian values. And here's what a gal named Kim posted on my YouTube channel. You are a effing idiot.

So she spells it out. With Four exclamation points. Trump will win President of the United States, and when he does and makes this country great again by getting back to all that was stolen from her, I'm going to laugh in your face and say, You were wrong and need to shut your piehole mouth. You are a deceiver, and you are leading Christians down a road of utter suffering for speaking against God's anointed one whom he has chosen, and that is Trump. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Funny how you could not back one thing that came out of your lying mouth with scripture. Read your Bible, you wicked plotting P-O-S.

Some more profanity there. And I don't care that I cuss at you because I was made this way, and I know who I am in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, that is sick. That is deception. Forget Donald Trump. Forget that.

Okay. When you have people who are claiming to be Christians and using vile, ugly language like that full of hatred and full of profanity, and saying, I know who I am in Jesus, God may be that way. Yikes! That is deep deception. I see it all the time.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire broadcast 866-34Truth is the number to call.

And this is the strangest thing I have ever seen. I am operating in upside down mode today. Maybe what I should do is hang from the ceiling and then everything will be good because things will be right side up. Have you ever had that happen? Where your monitors are completely upside down?

All right, well, let's do this. I'm going to take. This is really funny. I haven't the slightest clue as to what would be causing this, and our team is trying to figure out what's causing this, but I can read upside down.

So let's go to the phones. 866-34Truth is the number to call. I got to take a screenshot of this. 866-34Truth. We start in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Alex.

Hang on. Let's do this upside down. Oh, this is a first. Here we go. Welcome to the broadcast.

Alex, thanks for calling today. Thank you, sir. Um I had a question about Jesus being mentioned in the Talmud. And I was watching a video that was hosted by a guy named Jim Becca. He has a website called Messianic JudaismNetwork.net.

Mm-hmm. And he was quoting briefly about a book that was written by Joseph Klossner. About There were some s if there were signs pointing towards Jesus as the Messiah in the Talmud. I was just wondering if you could clarify that. Oh yeah, well Joseph Klausner was a great scholar at Hebrew University a couple generations ago and wrote on Jesus of Nazareth and wrote on Paul as well, Jesus and Paul, and had a lot of brilliant ideas and then a lot of other things that we would differ with.

But yeah, of course Jesus is mentioned several times in the Talmud. That's a vast sea of literature that was compiled over a period of 400 or 500 years. And in its final written form is about 500 years after the time of Jesus. And there are some references very explicitly, definitely speaking about him, and Jewish authorities giving him over to be killed at the time of the Passover and things like that. Then there are other references that may be speaking about him.

But it's debatable, but he's spoken of as a deceiver or burning an excrement in hell. He's equated with Balaam as a false prophet, etc.

So. Those are probably referring to him, and they probably mirror some of the hostility that existed at that time between church and synagogue. Yeah, but there are some definite and some probable references. The most recent book that deals with this in a good way is by a Jewish scholar named Peter Schaefer, S-C-H-A-F-E-R, Jesus in the Talmud, where he treats these things comprehensively, and he claims it's a Talmudic reaction against the Gospel of John and things like that. That's debatable, but there are definitely references to him in the early rabbinic literature, and then there are probable references as well.

Okay, thank you. Sure thing. All right, I've got a right side up computer in front of me here. Let's go to Manhattan. Uh Jim, welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, Michael. Thanks for taking my call. Sure thing. Uh my question is about slavery in the Bible. Um In the Old Testament, yes, the Israelite slavery system was much more benevolent and understandable and very different than the N of L and South slavery that we know about.

But slavery in the first century, though, was quite cruel. I mean, there was sexual abuse and The punishments included flogging and shackling, even dismemberment or maiming. And think the retirement age wasn't even until sixty. You know, but 1 Peter tells us that slaves should obey their masters even when they're harsh. And my question is, you know.

Such an obviously evil institution. Why didn't Jesus, Paul or Peter outright just condemn it? I know Christians two millenniums later would play a role in that, but Yeah. Rather than look for clues in the Bible or the book of Philemon, why not just a few verses that God could have used to completely radically challenge this institution as a whole? Yeah, the best answer to that is that it was not something that could be challenged at that time.

You're Jesus, remember in his very opening sermon. in Luke the fourth chapter quotes from Isaiah 61. And in Isaiah 61, he's quoting about liberty to the captives. That's in his very first message. And then Paul does give wise counsel.

If there's a way to get your freedom, you should do it. In 1 Corinthians, the 7th chapter. And the New Testament also levels out that they're all equals. That in the body, you don't have slave, you don't have free. Everyone is equal.

So that immediately starts to change the relationships. And the slave masters are also called to act in a compassionate way or in a gracious way, remembering that they are slaves to the Lord Jesus. And not all of the. There was plenty of. Of slavery in the ancient world that was not.

of the kind that you're describing, that was more of the indentured servant kind. But you're talking about a movement of thousands of Jewish people originally, and then a minority of Gentiles as it begins to spread versus the Roman Empire. And in the wisdom of God, if you completely attacked and denounced the system from the start, basically you'd either lead to a failed revolt, bloodshed.

So in the wisdom of God, the thing to do was to plant the seeds that would overthrow it. It overthrew it in the church. It overthrew it then over the centuries in church history in many different places, and not just with Wilberforce and the abolitionists in the UK and America. But that was in the wisdom of God. You're dealing with a different situation than, say, America today.

where we together can denounce certain things representing hundreds of millions of people worldwide or tens of millions within America. And that was simply in the wisdom of God to plant those seeds. And then, also, the gospel is going to go to many places where the slave has no. Option. But to be a slave.

And the master, that's the only system that they've known for generations.

So the wisdom of God was a long-term overthrow. rather than an immediate confrontation. But I mean, you know, in terms of sedition, I mean, they were willing to go to jail and be imprisoned and even die for the gospel. Exactly. For the gospel.

But not just to try to change the entire social system. For example, there was a lot of mistreatment of women. Right? Yeah. And that's not overtly addressed.

What about infanticide? The exposing of babies to death that were unwanted. You know, you already have a daughter, you don't need another daughter. Kids got a handicap, just leave it on the mountain for the animals to eat or for the elements to destroy.

So it was a situation when there was tremendous wickedness throughout the world, and this was God's way of being wiser than us. Listen, Jim, I fully sympathize with your questions. As I've traveled around the world and seen how the gospel Penetrates in all these different societies, and then from there is able to go out and. change things in a different way, I see the wisdom of God in it. And especially when you have, among the early believers, now you're in the same house group.

And you're master and slave. And maybe the slave is the elder, as an elder in the congregation, and the master is a newer believer. Everything starts getting changed. And that's the way to bring about long-term societal change. And I can only say that sometimes.

we can miss the forest for the trees. And I'm constantly stepping back, saying, okay, Father, what's the right way to address this situation? This is the immediate confrontational way, but there might be a better way that may lose a battle or two along the way, but will ultimately win the war. And that's my take on it, sir. But what wasn't the civil rights movement was very confrontational and immediate, right?

You know, and very gospel motivated. Yes, and it's exa exactly a totally different time in history. It was it was a totally different time. It was already a hundred years after liberation of the slaves. It was but so again, each context is different.

And but there's enough overt in Scripture that is dealing with this head-on, that if Christians live by this, it turns the system upside down.

Okay. Yep, that's you know, read the New Testament through that lens. Here, let me just throw out, it's it's a It's a distant parallel, it's not analogous to this, but the Bible doesn't tell us a lot. in terms of exactly how to structure leadership. in a local assembly.

or through a city. Or how to conduct a worship service, or things like that. It gives guidelines, but not in depth. And one reason is every culture is different. Every culture relates to authority differently.

Every culture has different traditions and styles and values.

So, within that, These different things, leadership, style of worship, things like that, those have to have a certain fluidity to them. Again, I said it's a bit of a distant parallel to what we're discussing. But those are the principles I see. I trust that'll be helpful for you. All right, Jim, thank you for the call.

Much appreciated. Great questions for. For sure. 866-34TRUTH. And I'll get back.

Take your calls on the other side of the break. Check out, check out our very, very special Israel tour. February 25th to March 6th of next year. We've got a special banner right up on the website: ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org.

Check it out. Join Dr. Michael Brown along with Messianic Jewish pastor Scott Volk for a unique behind-the-scenes tour of Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. Space is limited, so we are accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on the trip and to secure your spot, please visit our website at askdrbrown.org and click on the Israel Tour banner or call our office at 704-782-3760.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, the Israel Tour. Really excited about it. Find out what's going on by going to ask Dr. BrownA-S-K-D-R-Brown.org.

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866-348-7884. When you're on the website, check out my latest articles and videos. We've got inspirational messages we've added on YouTube, striking video commentary from 2011, things we warned about back then and in years prior. Eye-opening, I believe, for you. 866-34TRUTH to the phones.

We go to Houston, Texas. Denise, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, how are you feeling? Very well, thank you. I'll try and make this as quick as I possibly can because I know other people want to call in.

But I am really struggling. with the presidential election. I'm having the same struggle that I had four years ago in not wanting to vote for either party's nominee. Four years ago, when I was struggling through that, I went before the Lord. and just said, show me.

And in the midst of that, I heard a speech by A Christian pastor that I admire greatly, and his topic was How Should Christians Vote? And after he went over that, I felt comfortable voting for Mitt Romney. because previously I was not because he was a Mormon. But my conscience was clear when I voted for him, and it still is to this day. For the sake of argument, I'm going to say that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appear to be The two nominees.

And at this point, I cannot, in clear conscience, Vote for them. And I've gone before the Lord again asking him for direction. And in the midst of that, I heard a sermon two weeks ago from Dr. Adrian Rogers. And before anybody criticizes him, he passed away ten years ago.

Exactly, right.

So it's got to be he wasn't talking about Trump and Hillary, right? Exactly. He's he was not talking about them, but his his Sermon was on the character God requires of leaders. And he listed five things. And I could not place a check mark by any of them for either Hillary or for Donald Trump.

And so I have told people, a couple of people, I said I will gladly participate. and vote in the city. and statewide elections I said, but when it comes to President, I will have to leave it blank. And I did receive criticism. It was not harsh.

But they said, you know, Denise, as a Christian, You need to vote. And I understand what they're saying. Yeah. you should participate in the process. But when it's against your conscience, Mm-hmm.

How can you possibly do that? And I am struggling with that. Yeah, so I'm right where you are. First, Denise, I wish that every Christian. Took the elections as seriously as you did, praying about it, being informed on the issues, really wrestling with the issues.

And seeking the Lord when there are questions. I voted for Mitt Romney, but with great reluctance, not because of the Mormon issue, but because I didn't trust he was a real conservative. And I saw it. There won't be much change if he is president from where we're at. And I thought, I don't want to do that again.

I can't see myself doing that again. In other words, if every year we're choosing between, quote, the lesser of two evils, where's the point where we just say, no, I won't. And we send a message, we take a stand. Maybe a third party has to be raised up. In this case, though, it's not.

Where we are right now is not the fault of the Republican Party. I couldn't vote for Bernie or Hillary because of their pro-abortion, pro-gay activism stance, and and with Bernie his his real uh animosity towards uh Israel in many ways today. But on the Republican side, It's right now, it's not the fault of the Republican establishment that our primary candidates are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is a strong, strong conservative that I've endorsed, that I would love to see as president, but I don't know what God is doing. Is God judging us?

Is God blessing us? What do we need as a nation? What does the church need? I don't know. If Donald Trump ended up being the candidate, now look, if the Republican establishment tried to take it away from Trump and from Cruz, then I'd say, forget Republicans, we need a whole new party.

But at this stage, it's not the point. We're not at that point.

So let's say that Donald Trump does get the nomination. Even though I've said repeatedly that I could not vote for him in good conscience, I could not be the one that said I support his presidency because of the character issues and the other qualities of his life that I feel would be so destructive, I would still go to the Lord again. Even though I'm where you are right now, I would go to the Lord once again and say, Should I vote for Donald Trump, or do we send a message with a third-party candidate, even if they have no chance of winning, as an investment for the future? Or do we just get involved on the state and city votes? We have to go before the Lord.

And my last thing, not to overly spiritualize this, Denise, but. If In fact, God has raised up Donald Trump to be president, as some have claimed. And that he's Cyrus from the Bible that will do good for the Jewish people or do good for the church in this case, if in fact God has raised him up in his prophetic purposes. And I know others saying something very different. You've got to be really careful about basing a vote on prophecy for many reasons.

But if God's raising him up to be president, because his whole run is highly unlikely, he never thought he was going to be where he was when he started this thing out from what he's actually said openly. Then if he's going to get in, God's going to get him in without my vote. That's my position.

So, right now, if the elections were tomorrow, and it was Trump versus Hillary. I would sit out the presidential port, believing, number one, that I cannot in conscience put my name behind either of them, and number two, that if it is God's will for one of them to be in the White House, that God's going to do that with or without my vote. And Charles Spurgeon said when confronted with two evils Choose neither.

So I'm with you, Denise. The Lord will guide us. We continue to pray for what's best for the country and for God to have his way in the elections. And there are many scenarios, by the way. that we didn't even discuss one of them being let's just say that through a contested convention, but following all the rules, Senator Cruz got the nomination.

You could easily now have a third party run with Donald Trump, and I would expect many of his supporters to go with him and feel justified in doing it. That further clouds everything.

So we've really got to be on our knees for many reasons. Jesus is Lord in all of it. It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, it worked. It worked.

I posted on Facebook, my monitor is upside down. I don't know what happened. And someone told me what to do. Brilliant. It worked.

So what I did was I held down alt and control at the same time. and uh use the navigation keys and here we are back to normal. Look at that.

So hang on, let me give a shout out to Who is it that told me? To uh to Jim. Jim Shade, thank you. Yeah, and also uh Leo. Leo Mackasix.

Yeah, that's the Facebook name. Thank you. Very, very helpful. 866-348-7884. Let's go to Janice in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, thanks for having me. Sure thing. I would like to comment on the comments that have been made about the election. I just find it interesting that we've kicked God out of schools.

courtrooms, public buildings, and almost some churches.

So we've reached the age of enlightenment again. Enlightenment as we had centuries ago, and that didn't exactly work for us. Um and then we want God to be a participant in our elections. I think he is in his own way. I think since we have failed to bless God, America hasn't blessed God in a long time.

I think God is not going to bless America. And I really think that Nebuchadnezzar Trump is going to be the president. I'm going to vote. I'm not going to vote for him. Wouldn't ever do that.

Um, I'm not gonna abstain from voting. I'm from that segment of society who Ancestors had to fight for a right to vote, so I would never not vote in any election. Um I'm going to vote the lesser, if there is such a thing in this election, the lesser of two evils. Um I'm not just going to sit it out. Lynn Romney counted on A forgetful percentage.

But he was caught on video counting on a percentage of a segment of society not voting, and I'm not going to prove him right. And that's my comment. Hey, thank you. Thank you for winning. I think what Mitt Romney was saying, by the way, his infamous 47% comment was that.

47% of the population receive some benefit from the government. be it s some some form of subsidy from the government and therefore is most likely going to vote Democrat, et cetera. And so you know which way they're going. But Janice, I 100% respect your position. 100%.

And as far as judgment, yeah. I mean, that's the question. I was on the phone, a conference call with some key leaders today with one ministry organization, and that was the question: what is God doing? And is it going to get much darker before it gets brighter?

So thank you for the call. And I 100% respect the the desire to say, Hey, We couldn't vote at one point. Our part of the population couldn't vote at one point. And we're going to use our vote one way or another to send a message. Thank you.

86634Truth. All right, Taylor, I'll take one more election-related comment. David Yonkers, welcome to the line of fire. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry about that email, but I'm sure you're like me.

You're not surprised. I mean, I think we're the most godless country on the face of the earth today. I've lived in other countries and Just talking to people in this country, I've worked for two large companies as a payroll manager, and one of them had a lot of immigrants.

Some illegal and off the books. and to hear the things that are said that people think they're Christians is just so ludicrous. This country is delusional to think we're number one. The only thing we were number one is was taking down every market on the planet in two thousand eight. But I wouldn't dr The minute Trump said, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway, but the minute he said, in the debate that we needed China to watch Japan.

I thought, are you insane? I spent two years living in China as a consultant for the Chinese government, and I thought he's as crazy as Obama when Obama said, I'm going to bypass government and get the job done no matter what it takes. I thought you gotta be kidding me. Yeah, yeah, and for sure, David, you echo the sentiments of many, but we pray. God your will.

Your best, your plan. Is it to judge right now or is it to bless right now? God have mercy on America. It's fire we want. Oh fire we want.

We please stand the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Hey, if you live in Greater Charlotte, North Carolina. Less than five hours from now, my son-in-law Ryan Bruss and I will be teaming together to minister. Our whole focus is revival, our whole focus is encounter with God. Our whole focus is that you be freshly touched by the Spirit.

We'll have a great time of worship. I'll be bringing a short message, followed by a short message in ministry from Ryan.

So we are right near the Charlotte Motor Speedway tonight at Fire Church. Right on, was it Concord Parkway north?

So if you pass the speedway on your right, less than half a mile down the road, you'll see the building, fire, church, Ryan. I'll be ministering there together. 7 p.m. M tonight. If you can make it, we would love to see you.

866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Portland, Oregon. Chris, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown. First time caller.

Excited to be on your show. Thank you. I have a Bible question for you.

So for Paul, I've been doing a study through Paul. And in Romans 3:10, where he says, There's none righteous, no, not one. He's quoting Psalm fourteen, and so I have two issues or take us to questions with that. Number one, it seems that he's quoting it wrong, where the Psalm 14 says there's no one who does good.

So number one, is that should that be an issue for me that he's not quoting it? perfectly. And then number two is that same question, the context of Salt Orteen is the first half at least, It seems the psalmist is talking about those who don't believe in God who says there is no God. And it seems like almost like Paul is taking it out of context. He's talking about people who are essentially saying that there's no one righteous.

whereas Tom Forte seems to be saying that it's They should be talking to those who don't believe in God.

So is that an issue?

Okay. Oh yeah, excellent questions. And it has to do with lots of Paul's citations. The first thing is, Paul is quoting from a number of verses in the Psalms that speak of human wickedness.

Some are in an even more narrow context. just of wicked people in the land. But Paul is quoting these as representative from the Old Testament about the pervasive wickedness of the human race.

Now we know Psalm 14, which has a parallel in Psalm 53, the only difference being that Psalm 14 uses Yahweh and Psalm 53 just speaks of God, but it's the exact same content otherwise. That there is a righteous remnant. Psalm 14 slash 53 is speaking it's the righteous remnant crying out because we we know that uh from the overall context and then the prayer for deliverance and salvation for Israel. But it is speaking about humanity. It is speaking not just about the fool, the morally bankrupt person who says in his heart, there is no God, but it is saying that overall the world is corrupt.

Overall, the human race is bankrupt.

So Paul is taking a bunch of representative verses. He could have, for example, quoted from Genesis 8. That says the thoughts of man's heart are wicked continually, even from his youth. He could have quoted from Ecclesiastes 7, there's not a righteous man on the earth who does what's good without doing wickedly. He could have quoted from Proverbs 20, who can say, I've made my heart pure, my life is clean.

He could have quoted from Psalm 141, you know, no living being could be justified before you. Instead, he took a bunch of verses that spoke of the corruption of the human race and the wickedness of the human race to get his point across. And saying righteous versus good, those are common. Common variations. And then sometimes, if he's quoting from the Old Testament, he'll be quoting normally from the Septuagint because that would be the Bible that most of the people would have, his readers would have.

If they're in Rome, they're going to be reading the Bible in Greek. If they're reading it, they're going to be reading it in the Septuagint.

So that would explain differences there. And then again, there are minor variations.

So absolutely no problem. But you have to understand what Paul does. When he quotes, he's quoting for a larger purpose, and it's very much in keeping with the Jewish interpretive methods of the day. That we're not always going to take something in its first contextual meaning, but rather how the verse is known and what the verse is conveying on a larger level.

So that's how I look at that. And you'll see, if you look at all the other verses, by the way, it could even be like David just dealing with an enemy and speaking of his wickedness or cursing the wicked that oppose him. And that's a picture of the human race. Anything else? Since you're calling for the first time, we'll give you one more opportunity.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, one great answer, by the way. It makes a lot of sense. And my second question for you was: I was doing some study through the Torah trying to see if there was any commandments.

against abortion. And so I came up with Exodus twenty one through twenty two through twenty five.

So yeah, twenty one, twenty two through twenty five. And it seems to be, depending on which translation you go through, It's either saying that if if two guys are fighting they accidentally strike a pregnant woman. It's one translation says if she has miscarriage. Uh then there's just a penalty like it's uh that maybe you pay a fine. But if the woman's hurt further, then of course it's neglect the death penalty.

But another translation says essentially if if she, you know, has an abortion or you know, if you if you strike a pregnant woman in an accident, and the baby comes out as a as an abortion type of deal, then it's it's a death penalty. And so it's it's a word I guess the Hebrew word yelled Is that that's why there's, I guess, different assumptions on what that's meaning. But have you? Yeah, of course, this is a famous debate in the. Bible and abortion.

First, if I was making a case For a pro-life, I would base it on other passages. I would base it on the personhood of the human being in the womb. For example, when Rebecca is told there are two nations within her womb. Because Jacob and Esau were inside of her. I would base it on God telling Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

So God forms us in the womb. Psalm 139, speaking of how God would carefully knit us together in the womb. And then even the account with Miriam, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, where John the immerser leaps in his mother's womb when Mary and Mary comes in with Jesus in her womb.

So there's obviously complete personhood that's being spoken of there. As to this particular verse, it's not that Yeled. Is ambiguous. We know what it means. It means child.

The Hebrew is and her children, plural come out. But there is no damage is no further damage. It could mean one of two things. One is that she miscarried. That's how so an abortion that was caused by that.

The other is she gives birth prematurely, but there's no other damage with it. And it's really a subject of dispute. If I was reading it, I didn't know anything. My natural inclination would would be uh uh to say, okay. I think it's saying if she gives birth prematurely, but there's no problem with the baby.

Then here's how the fine is leveled. But to say the child comes forth, does that mean abortion? Does that mean losing the child? Miscarriage could be, but I would lean towards the interpretive tradition that understands this with regard to abortion. Interestingly, the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he'll she be forced to pay a penalty.

So they're saying if there's a problem with the child born, Then there's a penalty that's paid.

So I would use this, Chris, regarding abortion.

However, Just understand that there's a little ambiguity, and hence you will see differences in translations and commentaries because of it. Thanks for the great questions. Much appreciated. 866-34TRUTH. We go to Charlotte.

Dennis, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you for taking my call, Doctor Browse. Sure thing. Me and my wife, we've been studying the book of Revelation, and we've got a question for you, and that question is. when it talks about the tribulation period.

Mm-hmm. Does the body of Christ go through any part of this or are we going to be gone by then? All right, those that believe that will be gone. Hold to a pre-trib rapture theory. They would point to Revelation 3.

Where God tells the church of Philadelphia that He'll keep them safe from the hour of trial coming on the whole world. And then Revelation 4, Jesus, the voice says to John, come up here. And they would say, see, that's when the church is taken up to heaven, and that's why you don't see ecclesia, church, the rest of the book. I personally don't hold to those views, Dennis. Chapter one, right at the beginning.

In the opening verses, it says John is identified as being on the island of Patmos. And then notice what it says in verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner, in the tribulation. and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus.

So he's saying we share in tribulation. Jesus said in John 16, 33 that in this world we will have tribulation. And then you see in Revelation a multitude coming to know the Lord during, quote, great tribulation in the seventh chapter.

So I see the saints of God on earth serving God in the midst of great hardship, persecution, but always protected from God's wrath, just like the Israelites were protected from the ten plagues. The plagues came on Egypt. Israel was protected. I believe we'll be protected from God's wrath, but not from the wrath of man, the wrath of Satan. Just as it's been through the centuries, the church has often suffered fiery persecution, but God has sustained us in the midst of it.

Thank you for your interest in the word, sir. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame. Shit. And the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the Line of Fire. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you.

866-348-787. Eight eight four to the phones, Boston, Massachusetts. Stephen, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, how are ya? Doing very well, thank you.

I just think that um And I'm not saying this in a bad way. I just think that Donald Trump, I don't think he's the worst candidate. And I don't think that. I think a lot of people misconstrue what he says about people. I think the media does.

And I think particularly the the liberal agenda Mm-hmm. And I just think that, um Yeah. dangerous candidate to be quite honest with you. Listen, for many reasons, Hillary would seem to be a much more dangerous candidate. She's so militantly pro-abortion, so militantly pro-gay activist.

And who knows what kind of Supreme Court justices she would appoint, and certain points she would get them through, and that would dramatically. Adjust the direction of our country and the coming generation in very, very dangerous ways.

So that could be. Real, real disaster. And Bernie, even more radical than Hillary. What would concern you about Donald Trump? Although I don't believe he's a True, deep conservative in any sense.

He's certainly more conservative than Hillary and Bernie, and has more conservative Christians in his ear these days than they would have. And that could be positive. There are so many things about his character, about his way of handling things, about policies that he's espoused. about uh divisions that he can cause about decisions he might make that could influence even potentially nuclear war. that there is a whole other set of dangers that come with a Donald Trump.

And that deeply concerned me. But look, once again, I want to say this. Everything I say is ultimately meant to be constructive. I'll sound warnings, I'll raise concerns as much as I can so that we can look at things wisely. And those who are starry-eyed about any candidate, let's be realistic and let's look at strengths and weaknesses.

And uh If he ends up being the Republican nominee and there's no viable third-party candidate, then my whole goal would be to be constructive in my comments. To perhaps say things that he might hear. My first open letter to him many months back was meant with the purpose of him reading it. Um You say, what do you, hey, I've had plenty of my open letters read by people I have no relationship with. That's why I wrote an open letter.

And often they've made impact.

So I would be constructive. And if he became the president, I would pray, oh, God, get hold of this man and make him an incredible president. Because I think yielded to God, he could be an amazing leader. But that's just my perspective, but I'm sensitive to yours as well.

Well, my perspective too is I think that, you know, the whole um not to generalize, but the whole democratic liberal agenda is pro atheist. In my view. I really think that. I'm not saying that No one can judge anyone's relationship with God. besides himself and God.

Through Jesus. But It's this this concerning because people make judgments on different candidates based on how the media constru construes it. that that can be a dangerous thing in itself. You know? Yeah, absolutely.

And look, the we've got to go past looking at popular media to get our information. Nancy and I have have been so troubled by this that even headlines report things in misleading ways. And then, when you go to actually see the footage, the video, or read the actual article, you think, wait a second. That's not accurate, but we're. We're submerged in it.

We've got to do our best to get our information for ourselves. Thank you for your comments. They're certainly fair. And I appreciate them. 866-34TRUTH.

We go to New Mexico. Carrie, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, thanks, Doctor Brown. Sure thing. So basically, I'm just trying to gain a better understanding of the role of the Gentile from a Jewish perspective and also from a Christian perspective.

and um trying to see how they're able to come into covenants with God. And then, of course, with Israel, with its people.

So, I have two questions. I'll just ask you the first one, and that will basically tell me what my second question is going to be. Sure, sure. The question that I have pertains to a response that you gave to a question yesterday. Um unless I'm mistaken you stated that there's no way that a Gentile can become a spiritual Jew Even if they choose to observe the Sabbath and the holy days, is that right, or did I misunderstand you on that one?

I think you took it in a different context from when I said it. The caller was asking about Christians who claimed to be spiritual Jews. And I said, while I'm sensitive to that, how they can feel that way, their spirituality does not consist. is not found in being Jewish, but in being in Jesus. In other words, a Gentile Christian and a Jewish follower of Jesus have equal standing in God's sight.

One of them, the Messianic Jew, may observe a seventh-day Sabbath and follow the biblical calendar, and the Gentile Christian may not. And they have equal standing in God's sight, they're equally loved by God, there's no higher, lower, just like male and female. We have distinctives, there are differences, however. We are equal in Jesus. My point had nothing to do with someone converting to Judaism.

My point had to do with Christians trying to find a Jewish identity to find their spirituality. They don't need to do that. Their identity is found in Jesus. That's where their spirituality is found. And Gentiles have their unique role and what they bring with the diversity of the nations, and Jews have their unique role.

That was the point I was making. Not to say that a Gentile can't convert to Judaism. or not to say that a Christian doesn't feel a unique connection to Israel. They do. But they don't become spiritual Jews in the process, they become spiritual Gentiles.

And the goal is not to be Jew or Gentile, the goal is to be spiritual. Does that make sense? See, this is this is a problem that I get into, um, because Because you were saying they have unique roles or whatever, what the nations bring in compared to what Israel brings in, but then you're saying that they're equal. And then I know you said earlier, too, like when Jesus is. Equal in Jesus.

Equal in Jesus. In other words, That we each can go to God as Father, that we each experience forgiveness of sins the same way, that we're each indwelled by the Spirit the same way, that we're loved by God the same way. And we each have our purposes. I guess like what I hear is because I know I know like what Judaism teaches about how there's there's different laws for the Noahides and there's different laws for those that are that are Jewish or for the converts. And so that's sometimes what I start hearing with the New Testament because it's very similar what I hear in the as far as what Christians are required to obey when they're looking at the Ten Commandments, they say, well, we obey these nine, but not the Sabbath.

And that's very similar to the Noahi laws as well because there's the seven and then there's also no observance of Sabbath.

So Right, there are similarities, but bear in mind that the New Testament has a radically higher call than that, and that's why the focus is not on the laws. The New Testament calling, and unfortunately, I'm right at the end of this hour here, but the New Testament calling is far more radical. It is leave everything and follow Yeshua. Take up the cross, deny him, and now every aspect 24-7 of your entire life belongs to God, and you live and breathe obedience to God 24-7. And the secondary superficial things are things like Is the seventh-day Sabbath set aside or not compared to that complete devotion?

All right, we'll get to talk more about this. My bottom line today. With the elections coming up, recognize the urgency of the hour for America and stay on your knees. The phone lines are open. I'm ready.

Are you ready? Let's do it. You've got questions, we've got answers. Uh It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. That's 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Well, thank you for joining us on this Friday. On the line of fire.

Now you may be listening by podcast on Saturday. You may be jogging this moment or at home with family and everybody's listening in together. You might be listening. This is an archive four days from now in Mongolia. Yeah, if you are in Mongolia and it's not Friday, but it's Tuesday, yeah, that must be a specific word for you.

But welcome, everyone, welcome to the broadcast. You've got questions, we've got answers. 866-348-7884 is the number to call. Anything you want to ask me about. Moral cultural issues.

Anything you want to ask me about the Bible, theology, Bible translation, Hebrew-Greek type questions? Anything you want to ask me about? Christian perspective, Kenyan perspective on the elections. The phone lines are open. 866-34Truth is the number to call.

You know, I didn't take a lot of Israel-related calls yesterday. If you even have an Israel-related call, we normally do this on Thursday. I'll take those calls as well. All right. Please check out my latest articles and my latest videos, all at askdrbrown.org.

I think you'll find them fascinating, eye-opening, and very, very helpful. All right. This is an email question from Tammy. Tammy asks this. Dr.

Brown, I've heard you mention Arkansas several times the last couple of weeks as being among the states that failed to uphold religious freedom. I live in Arkansas and I'm unaware of this, and I also work with a homosexual, so I need to know what the law says. I don't have a TV, so most of the news I get comes from Christian media. I tried to find info about this on the web, but all I really found was an article linked below. And perhaps I don't understand it correctly, but it looks like this is a protection of religious freedom to me.

Do you have any information to clarify this for me? Thanks so much for being a voice for the rest of us. God bless. Tammy, let me make a few comments first before I get to Arkansas. Number one, God bless you for not having a T V.

We've had stretches in our lives where we had no TV at all. Most of the years raising our daughters, we had no TV. We would have a monitor we could use for video only. And I'm glad we did what we did.

Now we've got TVs. In fact, we've got big screen TV, sitting down with family or friends, maybe watching sports together or something like that. But for years, we had none. And it was really constructive not to.

Now, of course, everything's available online these days, but. For not having TV, I appreciate that. Good for you. Uh secondly Trying to get your news from Christian media, that's great. To the extent that you can find good places to go, can I commend to you the stream?

Stream.org. It's a good place to get the latest news, but it specializes in commentary and insight from key voices.

So, I encourage you to go there, stream.org, to be appraised of what is happening in the society. And when you thank me for being a voice. For quote, the rest of us, that's why we do what we do, Tammy. I seek to be a voice for the Lord. Sharing things as best as I can understand from a scriptural perspective that honors the Lord and Being your voice.

In other words, I can write an article. I can speak about something on the radio, we can put it on our TV broadcast, and we can reach millions of people. And in many, many cases, what I'm saying is exactly what you're feeling. Hence, we get to be your voice. What happened in Arkansas?

As I followed it and understood it was that the legislators put forth a religious freedoms bill that the governor didn't sign.

Now, I'll check and get that exact detail for you. But we'll be right back with your calls: 866-342. Change the world. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUT. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, friends, to the line of fire. You've got questions, we've got answers.

866. 348-7884 is the number to call. This is Michael Brown. If you live anywhere near Charlotte, North Carolina, you can join us four hours from now, 7 o'clock tonight. My son-in-law Ryan Bruss and I will be ministering a service with the whole purpose being a fresh encounter with God, asking the Holy Spirit to move and touch people powerfully by his presence.

We'll be ministering together and. It should be a very special night. We're really looking forward to it. If you need refreshing, fresh touch from God, encouragement from the word. If you can make it out, it's hosted at Fire Church, which is right past the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

So you pass the speedway on your right, and less than a half mile down the road, you'll see Fire Church. Join us at 7 o'clock tonight. 866-34Truth. So, Tammy, I can tell you exactly where the confusion is. The governor of Arkansas.

Said he would not sign the religious freedom bill the way it was passed. and felt that it could uh contain a license to discriminate. And the bill was revised.

So that it would be more in harmony with the federal RIF for Religious Freedom Restoration Act, be more in harmony with that. And then he did sign that. There was a concern, though, that there was the bowing to pressure not to sign the original bill. Because it could have Opened up all kinds of attack, and that the original bill was needed.

So, I need to be more precise in my comments there. Indiana really did cave. Others, like Georgia, the governor, refused to. passed the bill. Indiana passed the bill and then Cave within a week and revised it and the revision ended up Being worse than where things were before the bill, the the good bill was passed.

So I need to be more precise about Arkansas. The initial bill the governor would not sign.

However, he did sign the revised bill. But because of the lack of All-out attack, national attack on Arkansas, you can see that the bill was weaker. If it had been stronger, there would have been more attack. But that is the clarification, and I need to make that very clear as I speak about it in the future. All right.

We go to Raleigh, North Carolina. Zion, welcome to the line of fire. Hi, how are you doing, Mr. Brown? Very well, thanks.

Um I was just wondering, um I know a lot of people have heard about Donald Trump's comments towards the Mexican people and how he's gonna, quote unquote, build a wall. Do you believe that that's like that that is blasphemous in a way at all, or Because I just that just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Well, if he's going to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants from coming into the country. I don't have a problem with the concept. The issue is treating fairly. Legitimate immigrants and having a viable solution for those who are in the country. Is it the radical policy that he spoke about or Senator Cruz has spoken about, for example, that if you came here illegally, you can't stay?

Should there be some type of graduated way to stay? You've got to jump through a bunch of hoops, but if you've been here for years and you're not breaking the law and you're a good citizen, other than that, you came in illegally, you're contributing to the economy, you're raising a family here, and you want to stay, should you be able to stay? Senator Cruz has a very hard line on that. That's one of the few things where my line is not as hard as his is. The problem is the way Donald Trump has said what he said.

That it gave you the impression that all Mexicans or all immigrants were rapists or criminals. And of course, that was a horrific characterization.

Now, that's the nature of what he does. He'll make these bombastic statements and really get the support of lots and lots of voters who are upset and angry about illegal immigrants. And it works. It works 100% of the time. Yeah, it works extremely well.

Look, I was in Alabama, and I was talking to a Christian leader there. And we're saying, look, you would have expected you've got so many conservative evangelicals in Alabama. Ted Cruz would be their man. I mean, if you asked a year ago, conservative evangelicals in Alabama. Who are you going to vote for?

Ted Cruz, the hardest core conservative Christian in the Senate, in many ways, or Donald Trump, a lifelong liberal and reality TV star, overwhelmingly they would have said Cruz. And yet, somehow, the way Donald Trump presented himself and then the support of Senator Jeff Sessions, who's such an anti-immigration guy, anti-illegal immigration guy, that he got a good percentage. He won Alabama, and he won other states with large evangelical voters.

So it's been very effective. In that regard, you got to give him credit. He knows how to get a following. As much as I differ with him, you've got to give him credit for that. He knows how to make the statements that get him in the media and get him a following.

Yeah, you definitely got to hand it to him. Yeah, so, sir, in. In context of Is it wrong to build the wall to keep illegals out? Not if we have porous borders. Fine, build a wall.

I mean, it's a bit of a stretch to think how we could do it. But yeah, if we've got porous borders, if we've got criminals coming in, if we've got drugs coming in, and now terrorists, apparently Islamic terrorists using the porous border to come in, we need to shore that up. And I'm no expert on it. Is the wall the best way or does it send a bad message? Either way, it goes both ways.

We want people to come in legally, and we are a welcoming place for millions of immigrants from around the world. But again, it was the way that Donald Trump said things that seem to many to be racially insensitive, and that's really where the focus should be. And then, of course, he has Hispanic voters that do support him. All right, thank you for the call. And great name, by the way, of course, Zion from Raleigh.

866-342. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Let's go to Lexington, North Carolina. Joe, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. Thank you for taking the call.

You bet. Um A friend of mine told me I should look up. I've been a Methodist all my life, went to Methodist Church all my life. And I pulled it up on the internet, looked at Methodist News, and well, are you going to be in Charlotte? It was in the Charlotte Observer.

We're uh All our bishops and the Methodists are against Catherine Law. And one of the bishops By early. know that much about it, but I I I really thought it was against our Methodist bylaws to be very engaged. of the same sex. Yeah, so here's where things are at right now.

And it's a critical time for the Methodist Church. And sir, there may end up being a split, like happened in the Presbyterian Church and Lutheran Church, where you have splits. But it is still against the bylaws. They have still. Voted to uphold marriage as God intended it.

However, For example, Frank Schaefer A few years ago, he performed the quote wedding ceremony for his son and his son's partner. And he was defrocked because of it. The Methodists put him out, but then they subsequently restored him.

So there are Methodists who are breaking with the bylaws. who are breaking with the standards And performing quote weddings, that's their way of being part of a protest movement. But the Methodist Church, I would say, is very, very close to a split. That's as an outsider. And it could be necessary, the conservative versus the liberal.

It could be necessary. I it it sounds like you should be fired. If you're not going to do a big player. I think he could be fired. I mean Yeah, look, look, 100%, whatever organization you're part of, if you willfully defy that organization's rules, there are consequences.

Of course, he should be defrocked for doing it. And of course, the Methodists should act very clearly, reaching out with love to all, but saying marriage is the union of a man and woman as God intended it. But right now, I don't think there's the moral courage. The movement is too fractured. And it may have to be that there's a split.

And the true Methodists that follow in the tradition of Wesley and Scripture, they'll go on, and those will be the churches over the years that will grow and thrive. And the Methodists that depart from Scripture and the standards of Wesley, I would watch that over the years they would get smaller. Hey, time to pray, but thank you for the call, sir. Thank you. Eight six six six six six six six three four eight seven eight eight four All right.

Got time for another Coldwell State in North Carolina. Sam. In Winston-Salem, welcome to the line of fire.

Well hello, glad to be here. Hello, Dr. Brown. Hello. Uh I heard about a news person today who had converted from Christianity to Judaism.

And so, this is what I'm wondering. When you do something like that, convert from Christianity to Judaism, do you have to renounce Christ? And do you renounce the Holy Spirit? Or what do you say about the Holy Spirit when you make such a conversion? Holy Spirit's not going to be a question that comes up.

That's not a major. point of emphasis or difference.

Someone does not confess faith in the Holy Spirit when they're saved or when they're baptized, but they they do confess faith in Jesus. They don't have to deny the Spirit. But if someone was Consciously converting from Christianity to Judaism. In other words, they didn't come in and say, you know, I'm kind of nominal and secular and I want to become a Jew. They said, look, I've been a Christian and I want to become a Jew.

They would at some point be asked something explicit about that. Because obviously, if they still believe that Jesus is the Savior and the Lord, if they still believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, if they still believe that salvation comes through Him, then they've got no business converting to Judaism.

So, yeah, they would be asked something. And the more religious a Jew they try to become, the more they'd be discouraged from it by the rabbis. The rabbis would say, are you sure about this? Do you really want to do this? Do you understand the commitment and the opposition and the lifelong suffering we've had as Jews?

They'll discourage it. If the person is serious, then they'll embrace. But, yes, they would have to renounce Jesus. Yeah. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the line of fire 866-348-788. Four.

Let's go to Orange, California. Dr. Green, welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown, I am in the Heels of uh Doctor White, I'm on my bicycle right now.

So green green, white and brown, all doctors. Look at that.

I don't know, what color does that make? Yeah, I I don't know. Not not the not the most exotic colors, but anyway.

So here's my question. Um, I'm gonna get your MP3 set on healing. Yeah. Yeah. So knowing that Tell me.

What your biggest just aha moment when you were doing all that study on that word and what it represents? Yeah. A great, great question. And hey, considering you're on the road there, I don't hear you huffing and puffing or anything like that.

So, yeah, all right. But anyway, tell you what, you can hear me, but I can't hear you.

So, if you got a Catch your breath or anything like that, do it. I was doing a radio interview the other day, and I had to run up the steps with the phone to go to another room where it would be quiet. And, you know, I run up sometimes the warm-up for my workout, run up and down the steps, do 10 push-ups, run up and down the steps, do nine push-ups, you know, down to one.

So I'm used to running up and down steps. But I guess I was in the middle of an interview and kind of forgot to breathe and ran up and down the steps and talk. It's like, all right, don't lose your breath here. But But Stop. Here is the aha moment.

I was on my knees. with the Hebrew concordance open. I was looking at the different usages of rapha, the verbal form occurring almost 70 times in the Hebrew Bible. And I was familiar with it, of course, in the context of healing. Genesis twenty, where where Abraham prays for Abimelech and his his family and and others in in the the royal household.

And God heals them. And then Exodus 15:26, when God says that He is the Lord, their healer. Uh using that same root. And God healing Hezekiah when he's sick. or the psalmist saying, you healed all my diseases in Psalm 103.

What I was struck by was When I look, for example, in 1 Kings 18.30, And it uses a different form of the verb there for repair. Elijah repaired the Lord's broken-down altar. And then I saw in Leviticus 13 and 14, where it was used for the remission of extreme skin disease in the body. an extreme disease in the house, namely mildew. And then when I saw it was used, for example, in Second Kings, the second chapter, verses twenty one and twenty two, as I recall, of the making wholesome of undrinkable waters, a similar way it's used in Ezekiel the forty seventh chapter.

And then I saw that it was used in Psalm 60. For the fissures of the earth, the earth is split. Lord, restore it, repair it. And then in Jeremiah 19. likened to a potter's vessel that was smashed and couldn't be repaired.

And then I began to think of how the word was used in South Semitic languages that I'd seen references to in Arabic or Old South Arabian or Ethiopic, where it had a different nuance. For example, sewing. I could, you know, uh stitching a garment. As I looked at it, I realized That the larger meaning, or even 2 Chronicles 7:14, where God says He would heal the land if we prayed, you don't think of healing land. But if God is the healer, Mm.