Do the Prophetic Signs Point to the Lord's Imminent Return?

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

Where do we stand on the prophetic calendar and how should we be living as followers of Jesus? That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to the Line of Fire.

This is Michael Brown. Here's the number to call. I'm opening the phone lines wide. I've got a special interview tomorrow and I probably won't be taking calls during the interview, so I want to give you an extra chance to call in today. Any question, any comment on any subject that relates in any way to the Line of Fire. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

That's the number to call. And for all those that bash me, attack me, reject my positions, mock me, tell me what an ignorant jerk I am online, give me a call. This way not only could you enlighten me, but you get to speak to all of our listeners and all of our viewers to enlighten them too. Or is it that you don't want your views to be challenged?

As always though, phone lines are open. If you're watching you see my smile. If you're listening I hope you can feel the smile because I say what I say with a smile. I love truth. I love God and I pursue God and His truth wherever that leads regardless of cost or consequence. And I lean on the Lord for the courage and the strength to do it.

I encourage you to have that same posture. Not just that whatever you learn has to reinforce what you believe, but to say if what I believe is not based on truth, then I need to adjust what I believe. 866-34-TRUTH is the number to call. I am going to get into some questions about biblical prophecy. I'm going to discuss where we stand in the prophetic scheme. Can we make any predictions about time frame of the Lord's return? Is it any second?

Is it hundreds of years out? Is it somewhere in between? Can we know how much has God shown us in the Word? What is a matter of being responsible and alert? And what is a matter of fruitless, futile prophetic speculation? We'll discuss all that in a few minutes, but first I want to take a minute to share my heart about how easily we can get overwhelmed and discouraged by what's happening in the world around us.

Let me explain. We often deal with crises and maybe it's in the home. Maybe it's a health issue. Maybe it's something in our place of business. Maybe it's in ministry.

Ministry. And you're trying to patch something up. And you know, here's the dam.

Here's the dike. And you're putting your finger in the hole. And then you got to patch that up. It's like, oh, wait, there's another hole over here. And before you know it, you run out of fingers and you've run out of toes.

And if you live like that, that your whole life is trying to patch up the dam or stop the collapse from coming, you're going to worn out very quickly. Now, in my own life, I've been called with certain tasks. So, for example, one of my tasks is to reach my Jewish people with the message of Yeshua, the message of salvation in Jesus. And that's something that I understand over the course of my lifetime. I'll see certain fruit, but unless I'm in that final generation of national turning, that it will be limited fruit. I understand that. So, every time I hear of a Jewish person rejecting the message, that pains me.

Every time I hear of a Jewish believer having questions or struggling with their faith, that pains me. But ultimately, I understand we're sowing seed. We're sowing seed. We're sowing seed.

We're going to see change. We're going to see Jewish people come to the Lord. I've got amazing, wonderful testimonies I could share with you.

Something happened today that just blessed me so to see how someone that we worked with for over 25 years is now solidly in the Lord and growing and great testimonies. But I understand it's not my job to get every Jewish person in the world saved. And just like if you're an evangelist, your burden for your community or whatever mission field God's put you on, maybe you're a missionary, but you understand that you're not going to lead everyone to Jesus. In the same way, if you're pastoring a congregation, you want everyone to be healthy. But the more the congregation grows, you realize you have some people that never really get with the program, other people that turn on you, others that you do your best and you're just not able to help. And that's the reality. Maybe when you first start, you think, okay, we've got 11 people in congregation.

We want everyone to love Jesus and to love each other and to be happy to be here. And it's like, maybe you can sustain that for a bit, then it grows and it grows. And at a certain point, you've got to have certain problems. But if you have the wrong mentality, I am responsible to see every single person saved. I am responsible to have a perfect congregation.

You're going to wear yourself out very quickly. Just like raising kids. You know, you don't want your kids to have the problems the other kids have.

The only problem is they're part of the human race. So no perfect kids out there, no matter how godly you are as parents. But here, look at this. God laid on my heart 17 years ago. It's right around this time, 17 years ago, maybe a couple months later in the year. God laid it on my heart to stand with him and others to help push back the tide of homosexual activism.

To resist the agenda while reaching out to the people. And since then, on most every front, things have gotten much, much worse in terms of the changing of our society. From the viewpoint of a gay activist or ally, things have gotten much better. From our viewpoint, much worse.

The only positive is just that there's more love for people as fellow human beings in the church. The church has realized that they've failed to reach out in many ways or be adequately compassionate and understanding. But otherwise, things have gotten worse. Now there's pushback. Transgender activism has gone so far. There's pushback. There are other things that have gotten so extreme that there's pushback to that.

And I do believe that there will be more and more pushback. But just recent Gallup polls, 70% of Americans approve of same-sex, quote, marriage. 55% Republicans approve of same-sex, quote, marriage.

And obviously, if Republicans are supposed to be more moral conservatives, unless they're basing their convictions on scripture, they're going to swing, move with the tide of society like others. And my friend, Dr. Frank Turek often points out that when it comes to the law, the law can prohibit something, the law can permit something, the law can promote something. When the law sets, when the Supreme Court says this is legal, it thereby promotes it by saying it's fine.

Even if it's not saying this is good for everyone, everyone should do it. So the Gallup poll points to it to a large shift in public perception since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, excuse me, Roe v. Wade, since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and made the day come that they overturned Roe v. Wade and overturned other bad decisions. But since 2015 in the Obergefell ruling, that since then there has been a shift, an even more dramatic shift in public opinion as expected. If my mentality was, okay, I need to put another finger in the dam here, stop that, another one here, another one there, I'd quickly get worn out, burnt out, discouraged. And trust me, any of us who are involved in, quote, the culture wars, any of us who are involved in standing up for social issues or social justice or righteousness, there's going to be constant discouragement, constant pushback.

And if you look at it in another analogy, bailing water out of a boat, the water's coming in more quickly than you can bail it out. That's the state of society. Now, does that mean, getting back to the prophecy question, that we are in the end of the age, that we are in the final apostasy, that there is such a thing as a final apostasy and everything's going down from here, in which case just accept it, understand it? Or is it just cyclical and we're in a negative cycle now?

Or could it be that America declines and becomes a second-rate country and the other powers are raised up and that America divides, that there's a division between states and independents? Who knows? Who knows?

I mean, who knows? I mean, we'll discuss that. But this much is sure, that I must not get caught up with the mentality that it's up to me or up to us to put enough fingers in the dam to stop it from bursting. That's not our role.

We don't have the power to do that. You say, no, no, we are the Ekklesia and we have legal authority on the earth and what we say happens, that's a misunderstanding of Ekklesia. It's a misunderstanding of the role of the church in society. Yes, all authority in heaven and earth belongs to King Jesus. Yes, the gates of hell, meaning even death itself, will not prevail against the church. Yes, the gospel is advancing all over the world, but we do not simply get to mandate what happens in society. We do not simply get to decree this and decree that and it happens. Hey, if anyone understood that, it was the apostles. If that was the case, and they certainly didn't just decree, here's the end of Rome or here's, you know, the end of this emperor or this or that.

You know, they endured terrible persecution and hardship and most all the original apostles were killed for their faith and they were often scattered and persecuted for their faith. This idea that the church rules and reigns over society, no, that's not biblical. It's a misinterpretation of the Greek and New Testament usage and it's dangerous.

It's dangerous. We're here to serve, not take over. Oh, we vote. We get involved in politics. We do what we can to elect candidates that will make godly decisions or righteous rulings and things like that. We appeal to the courts and others to do the right thing, but we're here not to take over and enforce our views.

That's only going to create a worse backlash but to serve through the gospel and bring about change as the gospel changes hearts and lives and extends out into a suffering, dying world. But if my mentality, if your mentality is, got to, all right, we need more people, more of us, okay, it's like this, plug that plug, you're always going to be discouraged, worn out, overwhelmed. But if your attitude is, okay, I'm grieved over what's happening in society, I care about my neighbor and I think these things are worse for our neighbors and worse for our kids and worse for the good of America, I'm deeply burdened about abortion, I'm deeply burdened about human trafficking and whatever the things are, you know, drug abuse or teen suicide or suicide of army vets, military vets, etc., you're burdened, you want to see change. If you take it on yourself to fix the thing, every day there's another loss, every day there's more discouragement, every day it gets more hopeless.

And then if you take on everything, you kind of get paralyzed, like what, what do I do now? So what's the liberating mentality? What's the attitude we need to have? We spend quality time with God, so first our focus is on Him. We are renewed in Him by being in His presence. In His presence is fullness of joy and the joy of the Lord is our strength. And then we get our marching orders.

Lord, what's your assignment for me? And that's what we give ourselves to. We're not going to stop the world from sinning.

We cannot hold back evil with our own power, but we can advance the kingdom of God one life at a time. We can be faithful to our assignment, so that's what ultimately burns in me. And yes, I've had that attitude as if it's all on my shoulders and I have to fix it or we have to fix it.

That's definitely going to wear you out, burn you out. But if your attitude is, okay, Lord, you've given me your responsibility, your, your, your yoke is easy, your burden is light. What are you calling me to do? How can I give myself to that, my entire being to that? You live like that, you live like that, you'll be blessed, renewed, and you'll see much lasting freedom. 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, friends, for joining us on the Line of Fire 866-34-TRUTH. Isn't it amazing that the same Jesus who tells us to take up our cross and follow him, that says we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, that we must leave everything, that we must say no to self and no to this world, and that we must put second to him every other relationship or pull that would stand in the way of complete obedience to the point of radically cutting off those things that destroy, meaning sinful activities and lifestyle. This same Jesus who makes these radical demands also says, Matthew 11, beginning verse 28, come to me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, weighed down. It can be applied in many different ways in the immediate context of verses that follow. It is speaking of a religious tradition that can weigh us down, but obviously just weighed down, burdened by life, by sin. Come to me, he says, not to my religious system, not to a spiritual method, but come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And this is learn of me. It's about knowing him, learning of him, learning from him. He says, for I'm meek myself, lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy.

Greek might better be explained as my yoke fits just right and my burden is light. So I want to deposit this spiritual insight into your hearts. I think you'll find it helpful. And again, phone lines are open, even though I'm speaking in a very targeted specific way today. Phone lines are open for anything you want to talk to me about, any subject under the sun, any question you have, give me a call 866-348-7884.

So here's something I think you'll find this really helpful. I didn't plan on getting into this today, but I just feel it's appropriate, and I know whenever I talk about this that it's going to minister to someone because it's an important biblical truth. But perhaps today, with more people feeling stressed and pressured, more people feeling that the burden to somehow make things happen, that perhaps this will be even more applicable, more helpful to you today.

So look at it like this. I remember hearing a guy preach, oh, I was probably 20 years old, maybe not even that, maybe still a teenager. So new believer, and he was probably in his 60s because I remember how impressed I was, how energetic and full of faith he was as he preached. And he said he was talking to a young lady, I think flying one day, and she said to him, but isn't it hard to live for God? And he said, I remember he got going, it was amazing. He said, I look at us, I'm just going to share it with you, you know, radio talk as opposed to preacher talk, right?

You know, kind of jumping up and down excited preaching. He said, you know, I look at a fish and I see that fish swimming in the water and breathing under the water and darting here and darting there. And I asked that fish, isn't it hard for you to do that?

I mean, breathe underwater and dart here and dart there and go down. And the fish looks at him and says, no, it's my nature. And then he says, I look at the bird, this is what he's telling, this is his spontaneous answer to the gal that he was talking to on the plane, that he was on the plane. And he said, I look at the bird and the bird's darting here and there and soaring and diving and watch it flap its wings. And I look at it and I said, isn't it hard for you to do that soar in the sky and dive and swing and flap your wings? And the bird says, no, it's my nature. And then he looked at her and he says, I have the nature of the Lord Jesus living in me. It's not hard to live for God.

It's my nature. It was just such a glorious quote, but in the same way, not just in terms of our walk with the Lord, but our calling, the things he's given us to do, the things he's burdened us to do and gifted us to do. When we are in our calling, we thrive.

We are alive. Yes, I'm made to do this. And when we're carrying things that we're not called to do, it's judgment and burden. Now, I understand you'll have to get up in the morning, go to work, take care of kids, go to school, do whatever we do. I understand that we have to have discipline in life and that there are always going to be some tasks that we don't really enjoy as much. And the younger we are, the more we're going to have to serve and grow and learn before we really find our place with this is who God made me to be.

God gave me wings and I'm going to fly as opposed to he gave me wings and I'm going to try to swim underwater or he gave me legs to run and I'm going to try to fly. When you are in your calling, you'll thrive. And you'll say, you know, I can do this.

I can do this. It's not hard. I can do this, especially when you put God first and lean on him.

When you either try to fulfill God's calling with your own strength or do things he hasn't called you to do, you'll hit a wall, you'll crash, you'll burn, you'll be discouraged, you'll be down, you'll feel just, I can't, I can't do it. So here's the deal. If you called me to do things that I'm not called to do, I'm good with numbers, always been good with math, but like filling out forms or some tax thing, or you gave me the job of a CPA, okay, we need these books. Oh no, I can fill out another form. Oh gosh, you're serious.

I mean, I'd be totally discouraged and I drag myself. Oh, not another day of that. And somebody else like give me these number forms. I'll eat them for breakfast, bring them. Oh, I love balancing the books and getting, yes, yes.

You know, they're bean counters and just exactly. But then you put that person in charge of running the ministry into a new faith venture. Okay, listen, we're going to step out. We're going to need $10 million to finish this outreach facility that's going to enable us to reach a billion Muslims in the next 50 years. And we don't have any money, but we're going to go for it. We're going to start out and say, can we need to be the visionary? It's like, what? I want to be the one counting the receipts that come in.

You know, everybody's different and they're calling and gifting. You put me in a situation that would cause many people to crumble. I mean, people would literally run from it. Literally, they run from it. I run to it. But then the things they run to, I run from.

Why? There's grace to do what we're called to do. And when you get in that calling and when you do it with God's strength, that's what you're made for. You can thrive.

You can find supernatural renewal and strength. So I want to encourage you when it comes to your ministry, when it comes to your service, when it comes to your life calling, to really understand the will of God. And you may have to embrace things for a season that you really don't want to, but it's just part of the journey. You're in obedience to God. It's part of the journey. Say, Lord, give me grace in the midst of this. Give me joy in the midst of this. And everything else you everything else you cast on the Lord.

Let me give you one example of something. By God's grace, you know that we are very productive in ministry. So not only do we do five line of fire broadcasts a week, we do an additional YouTube chat, we record an additional bonus show that supporters get to watch. I normally write five articles a week and then always writing books. I've written more than 2,000 op-ed pieces in the last, I don't know, dozen years, written over 40 books, done thousands of radio broadcasts, preached thousands of sermons, traveled to what, 200 nations, excuse me, 200 nations I think would be adding a bit, traveled outside the United States about 200 times, maybe 35, 40 nations because I've been to some over and over the same. So we're productive. We're super active in Jewish outreach. We're super active in stirring hearts for revival. We're super active in moral, cultural, gospel-based revolution. Going for it and thriving in the midst of it. As long as I put God first and don't take on things that I'm not supposed to, and on constant interviews and constant Zoom things and debates and all that, several TV shows that we host as well. So doing a lot but thriving in the midst of it. And our team thrive. We're not burnt out. We're like, oh God, everybody, you know, depressed.

And no, because we're doing what God called us to do. A few years ago, PayPal decided that they were going to boycott North Carolina. They had planned to move into the Charlotte area with big corporate offices. It was going to be a major financial boon to the region.

We're a little bit outside of Charlotte. But they were upset with the bathroom bill in North Carolina saying that biological men could not go to a bathroom for women. And I decided, well, we should just boycott PayPal then.

I mean, many were saying the same thing. And I thought, well, we should just call for that if they're going to do this to say, okay, well, we won't give you our business then. So I went to get a website.

I had this idea I should do this, right? I went to get a website. To my surprise, boycottpaypal.com was available. So I went to obtain the website. It was $3. $3. It wouldn't go through.

We own all kinds of domain names because there's so many different things we've done over the years. I couldn't get the thing to go through. And instead of just asking someone in my office to do it, which is the way it's normally handled, I don't do that stuff. I got involved personally. And then reorder this and that.

And finally, I was dazed and dazed. And when the thing finally went through, I realized, God's not calling me to do this. I was down with the American Family Association and told the story. I said, you guys are anointed to do these things. We need to send a message to Home Depot about this or that.

Next thing, they have a million signatures. I said, you're called anointed to do that. I tried to do it one time.

The whole thing was a complete flop and couldn't even get a $3 website up. So stay in your lane. Stay in your lane. But when you do, put God first, lean on Him, and you find, hey, I'm made to do this. Unhandle this.

I can unthrive in it. Pastors, leaders, maybe you're taking on things God hasn't called you to. Maybe you're outside the lane of service He's called you to. All right, we're going to come back to Sherry on the other side of the break about dealing with a family member whose gay phone lines are open. 866-34-TRUTH. 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. What would you do if you were part of a cleanup crew and you were standing across from a building, a large office building that was many, many years old and was unsafe and was just demolished, and you're looking at a mountain of wreckage, and you're part of the cleanup crew, you're thinking, well, that's impossible. How do we clean that? You're overwhelmed, right?

But if someone says, okay, your job is to do this, you go around the perimeter and you sweep up and do this, or your job is to go in with this piece of machinery and to get these heaviest pieces, like, oh, okay, I have my assignment, I can do it. That's how it is with each of us. That's how it is with each of us. I tweeted this out, was it yesterday that I did?

I think it was yesterday. If you feel like it's your role as a believer to stop the spiritual and moral decline of society, you'll quickly become discouraged and worn out. But if you concentrate on advancing God's kingdom purposes by positively impacting one life at a time, you'll be encouraged and renewed. So get your marching orders, friend.

Get your assignment. Jesus said he could only do what he saw the Father doing. It's not your job to save the whole world. It's not your job to save your whole neighborhood. It's not even your job to save your whole family. It's your job to walk in obedience to the Lord and do what he gives you to do.

When you do that, there'll be sufficient grace for it. 866-348-7884. That is the number to call.

And we go to Sherry in Washington, D.C. Thanks for calling the line of fire. Thank you. I actually was calling because my sister just informed me that her little boy has informed their family that he is gay. And he's 14 years old. We don't think he's acting out. But as a believer in Christ, I'm struggling with how to respond as we go forward.

I'm trying to look for like a path of just the best, you know, kind of best practices. Because I immediately just stopped her because she was crying. And I said, hey, please know that we love you and we love him. He's our family. And that never changes. And while we may not agree spiritually with his decision or if he reaches out with that or whatever, at the same time, we love him. And that doesn't change.

And he's not kicked out because of this. So I just but I'm kind of stunned and not sure where to go from here. Yeah. So, Sherry, first, your response is the exact right starting point.

We love you, your family. That doesn't change. And that's that's what this this young man, this teenager, needs to hear from his mom and dad. If they simply say, look, you know what we believe, you know, that's understood.

You don't need to hit him with that pattern with it every day. He's aware of that. But say, hey, you're a son. We love you just the same. You didn't tell us you're dying of cancer or something like that.

So let's sit down. What's going on? How do you conclude this? So for many kids, especially that age, it really is a phase. It really is something that because of the society around them, it's like the thing to do. Or a lot of a lot of kids going through puberty in the years immediately after that go through a lot of confusion about their sexual identity. So it's very, very common. I can't put my finger on this specific poll.

I was trying to find it sometime back. But I read about a poll that was done with high school students and the percentage of them that thought they were gay. And it was about 25 percent. You know, gay or bisexual. When they were those that they could poll 10 years later, whatever the exact numbers were, when they were well into their 20s, it was under 5 percent.

So that's the first. They don't want to tell him you're just going through a phase. But they need to understand it could well be that. They don't need to say, OK, my son is locked in.

It's never going to change. So the biggest thing is the impression that he has is my mom and dad love me. They're not kicking me out of the house. They're not hating me.

They're not looking at me like I'm some kind of monster. And then the parents, they can't be blaming them. So what did we do? You know, if the father had been more there for the kid or whatever, they don't want to be blaming themselves.

But what you want to do is explore ways as a family to to get him thinking more deeply. So there are several different things. And can you jot this down? Are you able to take some notes as we're speaking?

Or are you driving a car? I'm driving, but I'm happy to try to remember it. Thank you. OK. All right. Sure thing. If you forget anything, just shoot a note to us and and we will be more than glad to reiterate some of the conversation.

OK. All right. So number one, see if he will watch with his parents the movie in his image. In his image dot movie, that's easy to remember, if you live around D.C., then surely if you can figure out the system of blocks there and what's up, you know, what's what's the most you can get this.

So in his image dot movie, that's the first thing. It's really powerful. It's it's compassionately done. I hosted it for American Family Studios. And it may impact him just watching that together. At the very least, the mom and dad should watch it.

You can watch it as well. OK. All right. That's first thing. Second, in a conversation with him, you want to ask, so how long have you felt this way? He may say, I've always felt different since I was a little boy. I'm just telling you now.

It may be something he just, quote, recently discovered. But, you know, sometimes there is a sexual trauma in the background. Something did happen. There was abuse. Sometimes there are other issues and sometimes they're not.

But see if they can just have an open conversation. Right. So, hey, why do you feel this way?

What what led to that? And then from your knowledge, is he a genuine believer? I'm not really convinced that he is. OK, so that is obviously going to be the biggest thing for him to really know Jesus. If he really knows the Lord, then it's a question of, OK, what's God's will on this? Hey, can can can we agree that what matters is God's will?

And, you know, so so you want to you don't just want to make assumptions. So is he generally born again? If not, you know, that's the biggest thing to pray for his real salvation and conversion. And then the question of, OK, if he does profess faith, well, what's God's will? What is what does God want for your life?

What does God have for your life? And then the last thing, there is a useful resource by Tom Gilson. G.I.L.S.O.N. Gilson.

Think of a fish with gills in the sun, right? Gilson. Critical Conversations. Just remember that it's a book that he wrote for parents to talk to their kids about homosexuality. I wrote an endorsement for it. It's it's wisely written. It's biblically informed. It's compassionate. Remember, Tom Gilson. Critical Conversations.

You can order it online and that'll be helpful. That'll give him some guidance. So in his image dot movie, maybe you can watch it together. Pray that he'll really come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. And then what's God's will for your life? But but if he doesn't believe in God or fear God or honor God, talking to him about God's will might be put in the cart before the horse. Right. Sure.

And then and then lastly, Tom Gilson. Critical Conversations. And be assured that there and encourage your family that there are so many situations just like this, where the parents walked in love, stood by the truth, never compromised their views and prayed. And these kids over a period of years came around and are now solidly following Jesus. And and this is is way behind them. There are many, many people who went through the exact same phase that this this 14 year old did. And it's it's ancient history in their lives.

Thank you. Yeah. And you're relating to him. It's like, hey, it's every human being is flawed one way or another.

So this is just another flaw. I was speaking at a big conference in Singapore and we're doing a large and we're doing a large youth meeting, thousands of people there. And and we were doing having conversation, Q&A. And I said, OK, so what happens if your best friend, you know, your teenagers, your best friend says, I got something really heavy to tell you. You're Christian kids. OK, what is it? I'm gay.

I said, the answer is I thought you had something heavy to tell me. It's not in other words, the reality is that he's experiencing some same sex attraction. That's the reality of it. If someone says, you know, Mom, Dad, I'm weird. I don't like this, but I feel like attracted to the same sex. And OK, we work on that. There's solutions to that, not the end of the world. So that but that loving attitude, he understands once, hey, this is what we believe.

And you don't need to hammer it on them. Leave secret scriptures for him. You know, and the in his image movie is the kind of thing that you can watch together as a family, you know, and he would see the love behind it. Hey, give us an update in the months ahead, OK? Thank you so, so much. I'm really grateful.

Oh, you're welcome. And friends, would you pray for for Sherry's nephew? Would you do that for the family?

And you say, hey, do that same job. I'm praying for my own family members. Yes, absolutely. May the Lord work. Hey, God's grace, God's grace to each of you, his transforming power. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to Sam in Seattle, Washington. Welcome to the line of fire. Thanks, Dr. Brown. I just want to say, first of all, I'm a huge fan. I have gone through a lot of struggles with questioning Jesus and Messiah, and you've been seriously instrumental in creating a strong faith. I really appreciate you.

My question is actually a little bit different. I work for a Christian company and they are an affirming company and I'm probably one of 20 people in the whole institution that is against where they're going with their statement of homosexuality. I just feel that there's this kind of blatant misunderstanding of God's Word on what God has to say about that. And frankly, I've just been too much of a coward to say anything via email to people in person. And I was hoping that you could guide me in a way that's biblical, in a way that's gracious, also bold, because frankly, I just don't have the courage to speak up. And I feel like I'm failing Jesus. My biggest fear is to hear, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. Or like you were saying earlier, not fulfilling your marching orders. And I just want to be faithful to God and I feel like I'm failing Him basically by staying silent. So I was just curious if you could give me advice on how to graciously go about.

Yeah, absolutely. And listen, let's start where you are. And as you take each step, God's grace and strength will be there. And remember, the scripture says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. So you start with saying, Lord, I'm weak in myself. Lord, I'm a coward in myself.

But in you, there's strength. So we'll come back and go through the step-by-step on the other side of the break. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire. Hopefully, I'll get to make a few prophetic-related comments at the end of the show. I was not going to give you some brand-new, world-changing revelations, so don't worry about that. Just some practical thoughts.

But it's important that we talk to Sam in Seattle. Okay, Sam, so just some questions for you. What type of company or organization are you working in? I'm working for, actually, sadly, a Christian university. Okay, Christian university. And you say that you know of 20 people that may share your views. What's the size of the actual staff or organization?

I don't want to give too much away, so I'll say it's in the less than 10,000, but more than 2,000. Okay, got it. And when this university claims to be Christian, what does that actually mean? Does it just have a Christian history from generations ago, or is it currently claiming to operate on Christian principles? No, it is currently operating on Christian—well, claiming to operate on Christian principles is a long-standing, historically Christian school that claims to still be practicing. Right, and when did they make their shift on gay issues?

I actually, I work here now, and I was a student last four years, so probably about four or five years ago. Got it. And what does the stance now say? Is it simply accepting? Is it affirming? Is it celebrating? What's the shift? All of the above.

All of the above. So it still is holding its statement of homosexuality as being biblical, but there's large pushback from the faculty and staff, and the faculty and staff have kind of gone rogue in that manner of throwing pride parades, throwing counseling sessions with queer clergy. It's just, it's been kind of upsetting.

Got it, got it. Okay, and do you have any immediate supervisors or anyone that you work with that's over you that is in agreement with you? I have one, but our ultimate director is very pro LGBTQ. Is there anyone of higher authority in the university that is holding to biblical values? Luckily, the Board of Trustees is. However, the rest of the actual faculty staff directors are pretty leaning towards accreditation. Right, so what I would do is, as an employee of the university, I would write to the Board of Trustees, and I would ask for this to be kept confidentially, that you're not seeking to embarrass anyone, nor do you want to be the center of attention, but as someone who graduated from the school, as someone who signed on with the school's core values, you are very concerned about XYZ, and I would not make it a long letter or email, but I would give examples. Of course, they're aware of those, and that you're very concerned that the university is going to turn in a direction that is in complete violation of its mission and its history, and you are looking for input and counsel, you know, because you cannot support these other things that your superiors are doing, and you'd like their counsel.

I would go that route. Now, if you were asked to do anything directly or participate in anything directly that was in violation of your conscience, you have to just say, I'm sorry, I can't do that as a Christian, and it's actually contrary to our stated values. Like, everyone has to be involved in this, or sign up for gay pride, or affirm this, or you just politely decline. I'm sorry, but that would be in violation of biblical principles, in violation of XYZ statement, you know, in our bylaws, whatever. And otherwise, the question is, okay, if you're not being asked to violate your conscience, if you've not yet appealed to the board, then those are the immediate questions.

Now, you're not called to be me, I'm not called to be you. If I was in that situation, I would probably be very confrontational. I would probably begin to draw public attention to what's happening. I would go to my supervisors, and if they kept going against scripture and against the school standards, then I'd try to bump it up, and I would do certain things, and then they're probably writing about it, and publicizing it, and calling for repentance, etc. But that's my calling, I'm called to do that. Most aren't, and it's not a matter of better or worse, it's just a matter of, we're all called to do different things. And realistically, with the school going in this direction, the board's only going to be able to hold it back for a little while.

Barring, real outpouring of revival, and conviction, and renewal, and God, it's going to go off the deep end like so many others have, and just capitulate to the culture. In which case, you have to say, okay, if it was the secular university I signed up at, I'd know this is coming already, and I'd be working in it. You know, you can't go out of the world. On the other hand, if something claims to be Christian, and there's not many people, so I can't work with that. So, you know, at that point, you know, you may have to make decisions that I can't be part of this, or the flip side, well, as long as I can be a positive influence, and the door is open for me, then I'll stay. But either way, you have, you either have to be a positive influence doing good, or helping the thing go in the wrong direction. If you're just another passenger on the ship as it goes off the edge, then you haven't really, you know, really done what you could. But look, plenty of people work in all kinds of settings that are not exactly in harmony with their own beliefs or values, but they're not being asked to sin, and they're not participating in sin.

So those are the big things. Are you being asked to sin, or participate in sin? If you said, hey, look, what I do contributes to the larger program, and the larger programs going in this wrong direction, then see what you can do, you know, as an employee within it to raise these issues. And perhaps, you know, if others do the same, or you get a positive response from the board, if they say, well, how widespread is this, then, okay, now you got a little job.

You know, talk to a few of your friends, and ask them to reach out to a few others. And, you know, at the very least, you can be involved in holding the school accountable, and being a witness to the board. And if that's it, that's it. You may be there for years, and be a witness in the midst of it.

You may be called out, or it may change, but at least you've done something. Okay. All right? Right. All right.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. I appreciate it. All right. You're going to do it, right, Sam? I'm going to do it. All right. And again, don't try to be anybody other than you are. Don't think, well, so-and-so would do this, or so-and-so would do this. Well, and be preaching on the campus.

That's if they're called to great. You do what you're called to do, but start with, Lord, I'm a weak coward in myself, but in you, your strength, your grace is sufficient. Hey, God be with you, and keep us posted. You can always write to us at AskDrBrown.org, click on contact, and let us know how things are going. If there's some update of significance you want to share, great.

Otherwise, you know, publicly, otherwise, do it privately so you can go into more detail and know that it's in confidence. All right. God bless you, my brother. Same counsel for millions of others in similar situations.

Okay. Where do we stand prophetically? On the one hand, more than any other generation in history, the table is set for the Lord's return. If the gospel had not extended the way it has around the world in the last hundred years with a massive increase in salvation and discipleship and church growth, church planting, then we'd be nowhere near the end. If there had not been such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and fulfillment of prophecies of Joel, quote in Acts 2 of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh, we would not be potentially as close to the end as we are. If Israel was not back in the land, if Jerusalem was not in Jewish hands, if none of those things were in place, we would still be potentially far, far out of when the Lord could come back, as I understand prophecy. I'm just giving you my perspective, right? On the other hand, I do not see any indication that says it's any second, it's any minute. I do not believe in a pre-trib rapture so that Jesus could come at any point at any second. I do believe there are clear signs that the Lord laid out and these images, when you see this, then look up. I don't believe we're at that point.

So the table is set in a way it's not been set before. And guys, we've got a couple of quotes I didn't use yesterday. I want to pull those up in a minute. But I live with urgency because I've got one life and because every day people are dying people are dying without the Lord and every day their life and death struggles in our society. So I want to make an impact while I yet have breath. Let's put the first quote up on the screen. Oh, this is James Alexander Stewart, a Scottish evangelist. Oh, for an utter abandonment to the spirit.

Whenever, in any period of the church's history, a little company has sprung up, plastic and pliable in the hands of the divine spirit, then a new Pentecost has dawned. So my friend, why not you and me? Why not you and me with that utter abandonment to the spirit saying, God, just get hold of my life and use me? Why not you?

Why not me? And then this last quote, it's just so simple and it just gets to the point, simply this from the period in Thomas Brooks, if God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy. Ooh, expect opposition from the enemy, but it's because of your friendship with God. Draw on that, you'll have all the strength you need to overcome. We've got a great interview with Pastor Shane Eidelman tomorrow. We're going to focus on revival. You don't want to miss it. God bless. Another program powered by the truth network.