Dr. Brown Answers Your Questions and Takes Your Calls

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

Phone lines are open. You've got questions. We've got answers. 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. Thanks for joining us, friends, on The Line of Fire broadcast. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Phone lines wide open, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. And hey, a reminder, if you don't get my emails a few times a week, can I really encourage you to sign up?

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We start in Lake Elsinore, California. David, welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. Thanks for taking my call. Sure thing. All right, so just a quick question. Just wanted to get your thoughts on this passage in Jeremiah.

I wanted to get the commentary, unfortunately I've got to budget out, you know, some of my finances until I get your commentary. But I just wanted to get your take on Jeremiah 31, verse 22, the second part of it where it says, "'For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall encompass a man.'" So I've heard that that's, you know, a couple different interpretations of it. The main one that I've heard from various different people is that this is actually talking about Jesus in the womb of Mary, and that this is actually what's initiating the new covenant, so on and so forth.

I just wanted to get your take on that. Yeah, you know, the funny thing, David, when I looked at my screen, it just said Jeremiah. And I thought, I wonder if he's going to ask me about that verse, which is the most obscure verse in the book of Jeremiah.

I listed different possibilities in my commentary, because it's very difficult to be dogmatic. But I feel quite sure that it is not a prophecy of the virgin birth or a description of the virgin birth. It seems to me more of a prophecy of, in the midst of unfolding, judgment. And, you know, you have in the book of Isaiah, for example, that a woman will have to lead because there are no men to lead, or men will be weak like women, you know, some of those pictures, or men will cry out like a woman in childbirth.

It seems to be the same kind of thing. And the word for man there is a strong man. So it seems to be some negative context of weakness, of judgment, is the best way to understand it. You know, we can't be dogmatic on it. But to think that it is a prophecy of the virgin birth, or that the Hebrew verb there means to encompass, as to have in the womb, is a real, real stretch.

I mean, I don't know that I ever would have thought about it if I read it a hundred times, if not for the fact that some have argued for it. All right. Yeah, I mean, that's a simple enough answer. Thank you. You are very welcome. All right. 866-34-TRUTH.

We go to Sean in League City, Texas. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hey today.

Hey Sean. Hey, just wanted to ask about—my wife and I were talking, and how does a Christian rightly apply Jeremiah 29, 11, and 12, or even Jeremiah 33, 6? I know that in context, the way we typically quote it is out of context and not right, but what redemptive purposes can it serve, or can we quote it, or is there principles we can take from it?

What's your take on that? Right, so Jeremiah 29, especially verses 11 and 12, commonly quoted in prosperity preaching circles, you know, that God's going to prosper us, etc. But then many others say, no, no, it just says that God has good thoughts, good intentions towards us to give us a future, to give us a hope, and not to hurt us. So what you want to do is have some type of exegetical principle. How did this apply to Israel? How did this apply to ancient Judah in exile? How can it apply to us today?

As opposed to just pull it out and say, well, it's a good verse, so I like it. I'll take it. That's a bad one. I don't like it.

I won't take that, right? You know, I mean, the way some Christians read it, this is how they read the Bible. God says to Israel, I will judge you in my wrath. That's for the Jews.

But I will re-gather you in my mercy. That's the church, you know, so they just split verses. Obviously, you can't do that, but this is a word of encouragement that God has for his people, Israel, in exile, to his Jewish people saying, hey, it's not over for you.

There's still hope. There's still a future, and I have good intentions to bless you. And that certainly does speak of God's heart for all of his people, especially during times of trouble and difficulty that we as his people corporately know that he has a good future planned for us, that he has a wonderful destiny planned for us, and that he will meet us and bless us in the midst of difficulties and challenges in this world. It says in 2 Corinthians 1, Paul writing that as many promises God has made, they are yes and amen in the Messiah, and the amen, they are yes in Messiah, and the amen is sounded by us. So that would be one of those to say, yes, this is true for Israel, and God does still have a future promise for his people, but we can make spiritual application.

I have no problem whatsoever taking that and making spiritual application in my own life. But again, just have a principle on which you do it, and if this promise held, then how does it hold for us? Romans 15, 4, that whatever was written beforehand was written to give us hope. So how does that give me hope?

How does that encourage me? How does that reveal the nature of God? And then especially because it's written to the Jewish people in exile, how does it speak to us in times that seem hopeless and difficult? So I believe God can use that verse to bring comfort and encouragement to us today.

Okay, cool, cool. Yeah, I was talking to my wife, and there was like a prayer ministry we were a part of, and they sent that. They sent like Jeremiah 33 and 6, and I was like, well, let me look at this in context. And I looked at it, and I was like, why wouldn't you just go to like Isaiah 53 and 5?

You know what I mean? So that's the other question. If you're taking Jeremiah 33, 6 as a promise of divine physical healing, that's not even the original context. The original context is God bringing the exiles back and restoring with and using on the one hand the metaphor of sickness and healing for the nation, but with it I'm sure there was physical restoration as well. But you can now make, it's not a leap, go through a process and say, okay, does that reveal the nature of God as healer?

Is that yet another reminder of that? Can the Holy Spirit use that to encourage me? Yes, so it has to be not in a dogmatic way that God promised me healing in this verse, but rather another reminder that God is a healer and a restorer. And certainly the Holy Spirit could then take that verse and apply it to your heart, and out of that, you know, benefit comes.

So it's just, it's a matter of right application and then recognizing at any time the Holy Spirit can speak to us personally through a scripture, but we're just not going to make a dogmatic teaching out of it. Hey, Sean, I appreciate the call. Thank you. Thank you. All right, 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to David in Fairfax, Virginia. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hey, thanks, Dr. Brown. I appreciate you having me on to ask this question.

Sure thing. My question is, you know, in light of one of the articles that I read of yours from a few years ago regarding whether somebody can forfeit their salvation, how do you interpret Ephesians 1, 13 and 14? Right, so in terms of being sealed by the Spirit? Right, so the question is, what does it mean to be sealed, right? Does it mean to be sealed like a bottle is sealed and it can't be opened, right?

You know, you get a container of medicine, don't use if the seal has been broken, or you get a new computer in a box, you know, if a box has been opened, you know, whatever. So the seal is that, or is it a seal in terms of God's seal on our lives, God's stamp on our lives, that the Holy Spirit is a stamp on our lives of divine possession and a guarantee of inheritance? If it's the former, it might suggest that once you are sealed, you can't be unsealed, right? That would argue in favor of perseverance of the saints or you can't lose your salvation. If it means God's stamp, God's seal to say, hey, I am with you, you are mine, and the seal is the Holy Spirit, which is the deposit that which is to come, well, then certainly we could walk away from God, reject God, in which case we are no longer sealed, we no longer have that stamp. And the Greek can be interpreted either way. You have to, you know, it occurs later in Ephesians as well, in the context of don't grieve the Spirit by whom you've been sealed for the day of redemption.

So you'd have to look at other passages to determine what seal meant in that case. You couldn't, in my view, make a dogmatic argument just based on that, because either view is equally plausible. And do you think that when the Holy Spirit resides in somebody, that he can essentially no longer reside based on that choice?

Is that your interpretation? Yes, we can invite the Holy Spirit in and we can reject him. Jesus does say, if you deny me, I'll deny you. Paul reaffirms that, writing to Timothy, that if we deny him, that he'll deny us. And we are warned, for example, in Hebrews 10, beginning verse 26, that if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, so just thinking, well, we can continue to live in sin and continue to do what we want, then the only thing we have to look forward to is fiery judgment. And you may want to take a look at Hebrews 10 29 in particular, because it mentions that we've been sanctified by the Holy Spirit and yet we are trampling the Son of God underfoot, and all we can look forward to is fiery judgment.

Let me ask you this question. Is it possible to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and still sin? Yes.

Doesn't that seem to be a little harder? So, of course, I agree with you. Doesn't that seem to be a harder concept to wrap your mind around, that we could be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and still sin, as opposed to the idea that we could reject the Holy Spirit?

I suppose. I guess I think of it a little bit in a little bit different terms, you know, when it comes to rejecting the Holy Spirit, you know, in my, you know, I've always held to the perseverance of the saints' position, and so, you know, I've thought of unbelievers essentially being the ones who are rejecting the Holy Spirit, but not believers. Yeah, well, I mean, why do you think David prayed, don't take your Holy Spirit from me, in Psalm 51? So let me ask you this, David, with all respect, I don't mean to be pushy and asking. You need to answer on the other side of the break. So if you believe in the perseverance of the saints and you know you have the Holy Spirit living within you, then you would say that it is completely impossible for you to lose your salvation under any circumstance, correct? That it's 100% impossible for you to backslide and use your salvation.

So you can respond on the other side of the break, then we'll get to more of your call. Stay right here. 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. You've got questions, we've got answers. Hey, if you've read one of my books and it's blessed you, would you take a moment to just post a short review on Amazon? Even if you didn't buy it there, as long as you actually read the book and you found the book to be helpful, post a review. It's just a good way of getting word out, helping others know. And then with a number of my books which are on controversial subjects, we'll have people just pouring in hateful reviews that haven't even seen the book, but just to attack because I wrote it. So this always helps balance things out with the truth.

And it encourages others to check things out. All right, so back to David in Fairfax, just really quickly because I want to get to other calls. So if you have the deposit of the Spirit in your own life and you're the witness of the Holy Spirit and you know that you know that you have eternal life, would that mean that you also know it's impossible for you to ever backslide because God will preserve you? Yeah, I guess in my view, I don't view part of the promise being that I would never backslide, but that the Holy Spirit would never depart from me, like you mentioned in Psalm 51. So it's impossible for you to fall away? No, it's impossible for you to be lost.

I believe so, yes. Right, so what do you do with all the warnings? They don't apply to you then because it's impossible for you to fall away, correct?

I suppose, I don't know. Yeah, so I'd encourage you, sir, to do a fresh read through Hebrews because Hebrews, now there are many other New Testament books with warnings, but Hebrews 2, Hebrews 3, Hebrews 4, Hebrews 10, Hebrews 12, all have very strong warnings to believers about the potential danger of falling away and denying the Lord and being lost. So it's just healthy to read and say, okay, why are these here? If they have no meaning or relevance, if it's impossible, now the Calvinist answer is, well, God uses those to keep us on track. In which case, then you can't be 100% sure because otherwise you just know, hey, no matter what I do, may displease the Lord, but no matter what I do, I'm still in.

So just for you to consider. 866, three for truth. On my end, I have 100% assurance of salvation. It's all grace. The Holy Spirit bears witness in my own heart. I know that I know that I have eternal life.

It's not based on my performance. It's based on what the Lord has done. At the same time, I know if I idiotically, foolishly, insanely chose to walk away from the Lord, it would be to my own damnation. All right, 866, three for truth. Let's go to Vince in Rock Island, Illinois. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hello, Dr. Brown. Quick question. The Nephilim in the Old Testament, I know you've gotten a lot of questions I've had, and a lot of times I hear, you know, I hear you say that, you know, the relations between angels and women. Now my question is, in Matthew chapter 22 verse 30, it says, in the direction they will neither marry, you know, we will neither marry nor be given in marriage, we'll be like angels in heaven. So if it was relations, and we're going to be like angels, it kind of makes me think that reading that scripture, that there's no possibility for relations between angels and man, because when we get to heaven in our new resurrected bodies, we're not going to be procreating.

Right, exactly. So that's a standard reason or a standard objection against reading Genesis 6, where it speaks of the sons of God and the daughters of men, to say that the sons of God that just meant that the godly line of Seth and the daughters of men that meant the ungodly line of Cain, etc. The problem is that it's a real stretch to read the Hebrew text, and to think that that's the concept that was being put forward there, which is why there's so many ancient traditions widespread in the Jewish and Christian world, that it was referring to fallen angels. So then the obvious question is, since Christians knew Matthew 22, 30, and maybe Jews had similar traditions, then how did they come up with this idea that somehow the angels were able to take on human form? Angels maybe inhabit human bodies in their fallenness, and it doesn't just say they procreates, it says they took for them wives, right? That's the Hebrew idiom for that.

So that would have to be the answer. It doesn't mean that you accept that interpretation, but that would have to be the answer that somehow in their fall, they were either able to take on human form, they had the ability to do that, or they could certainly appear to be like humans at other times. They could sit and eat with people. You know, remember when they were with angels or Genesis 18, that with Abraham, he washed their feet. One of them was actually the Lord, but the other two angels, he washed their feet.

They ate and drank with him. So that's certainly a bodily form as opposed to the angelic spiritual form. So maybe they had some ability to do that. And you could argue that God stopped it at a certain point, but that has to be the answer.

Obviously, they were not in their angelic glorified form, but in an earthly form, either by inhabiting human bodies or by taking on human form, hence able to procreate. That would be the answer to the question. Okay, thank you.

You are very welcome. 866-34-TRUTH, let us go to Genesis in Chicago, Illinois. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hi, my name is Genesis. I'm eight years old, and I have two questions. Whoa! Thank you, Genesis.

Okay. Hi, I have two questions. My first question is, did Samson go to heaven or hell? Because he died with the first one. And my second question is, how did Moses write the Torah? Because he was in the book of Genesis. Ah, I love these questions.

These are wonderful questions, Genesis. I believe Samson went to heaven because he prayed a prayer to God. He repented of his sin. He did foolish things. He was a very silly man and the choices that he made. But then he asked God to back him up, to let him bring judgment on the people that hurt him, that were wicked people. He was able to bring judgment on them, to see them punished. So I believe that God blessed him at the end of his life. God answered his prayer and that he went to heaven. God is very merciful. And if we humble ourselves, if we say, Oh God, I really need you. I've made some big mistakes, but please forgive me.

He'll do that. As for Moses, so what we have to understand is that just like you hear a story from your mommy and daddy, and maybe they heard it from their mommy and daddy, and it gets passed down, that the stories about Abraham, about Isaac, and they were passed down. And that's how Moses learned about them.

You say, but what about like the creation, the creation of the world? Moses wasn't there when God was making the world. So God showed him. God revealed it. Remember that Moses was with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights.

Thank you. That just you're in your room alone for 40 days and 40 nights, and God is talking to you. So God revealed a lot of things to Moses as well.

And that's how he was able to write the book of Genesis. Okay. Okay. All right.

Hey, listen, you call again whenever you like. Okay. Okay.

All right. God bless you. Now, the question is 866-34-TRUTH. The question is, were those Genesis' own questions, which would be even more impressive, young lady, or were you calling to have the fun of calling and asking questions that the family has talked about, which is great that the family's talking about.

Either way, I love it. 866-34-TRUTH, and let's go to Edwin in Orlando, Florida. Welcome to the Line of Fire. How are you doing, doctor?

Doing well, thank you. Yes, I had a historical question. I was, you know, looking up some history when it comes to empire, the Jewish empire, where they're going to end, through a line of Solomon. My question was, basically, Solomon is married with Pharaoh's daughter. Well, I was looking at actually opposing cases, or to say that it's quote-unquote historically inaccurate because pharaohs keep their lineage in their family circle and their royalty.

So my question is, what would be a good case to refute those opposers that will argue that type of inaccuracy in biblical history? Yeah, so the first thing is that descent in Egypt or Israel would not have gone through the daughter in terms of royal descent, but through the father. So in terms of Pharaoh's lineage, that would be through his sons. It would not be, so if he had sons, he may have had several sons, several daughters, for one of them to intermarry. It's very common in the ancient world to have these marriages. You know, you have Jezebel, right, marrying Ahab.

So she's seized from Tyre, Phoenician city of Tyre, and, you know, a kind of royalty or priestly royalty there. So you'd have these political marriages. It happened all the time, and there's actually nothing unusual about it whatsoever. It was commonly done. That was a sinful thing that Solomon did, but this was a way to have political alliances. You marry into the royal family with one nation and another nation, and there are other examples of it in the Bible as well. So actually nothing unusual about it and nothing that would be impossible in the ancient Egyptian world.

And, you know, here's the other thing. The people writing these passages were, that's the world they lived in, Edwin. In other words, they weren't writing it from America in the year 2021. They were writing in that ancient world, and they knew the customs a whole lot better than a lot of contemporary critics do. So that's when you just really dismiss these types of marriages were common in the ancient world for political purposes, and that's why Solomon married, you know, had wives from other other royalty or other nations as well.

But as for preserving lineage, for the daughter and to marry with another royal figure, no reason that they couldn't do it. Hey, thank you for asking. I appreciate it. 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 for joining us on today's broadcast. You've got questions. We've got answers. 866-34-TRUTH. To the phones.

Oh, I failed to mention this earlier, but you picked it up by now. If you're watching, we're audio only. I'm speaking at a conference in Tupelo, Mississippi, and broadcasting from the studios of American Family Radio, the AFA network. So we are audio only, everyone listening. Everything sounds just the same. If you're watching, just remember I'm smiling as I'm talking.

We go to Seagrove, North Carolina. Todd, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. My question is coming from Revelation, chapter 13, verse 17. It speaks about that no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. I don't remember who I heard mention this, but they say that the word or should not be in that verse. It should be the mark, the name of the beast, the number of his name. And I know that really changes things. It seems to take it from a threefold mark to just one mark, which are like three levels of it.

I guess that's the best way for me to describe it, so I just want to get your take on that. Yeah, there's no reason to remove the word or. If you have the ability to check different Bible translations—I remember from a previous call that sight is an issue—but if you're able to check other Bible translations, if you see version after version after version after version after version all having the word or, then it's telling you that's a completely legitimate way of reading the Greek.

If you see half have it, half don't have it, that would raise the question. But overwhelmingly this is how it's understood, so I would not press that meaning that folks have suggested to you. And when someone who is not a Greek scholar tells you what the translation got wrong, you always have to wonder, well, why do they know it and the translators don't know it? You know, if I've never been to Seagrove and I'm telling you about the streets of Seagrove and the best places to eat, and I've never been there, and you're telling me I live here, you're wrong, then you'd have a better chance of knowing. So it's the same with the translations.

That's why you see or there, which is the beast's name or the number of its name. So I wouldn't get hung up on that at all. Hey, as always, thanks for your questions. I appreciate the call. 866-34-TRUTH, we go to Natalie in Detroit, Michigan.

Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. This is actually Angie and Natalie in Detroit, Michigan right now. Hey, Angie and Natalie. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you.

We're so excited to be asking this question. So the other day I was watching a YouTube video, actually last night, where a woman called and you spoke to her, and she was stating that she was living in a lot of pain, physical pain, and she also spoke about being unforgiving and stuff like that, and I remember her mentioning something about being baptized in fire or something like that, or the Holy Spirit of fire. I can't remember exactly the words that she used, and that the pain went away, and I was just wondering if you could maybe explain more what that means, because everything that I've been looking up, it speaks of the fire separating the wheat and the calf, and I'm just confused by that, and I was just wondering if you could please explain more on that, or if you remember that conversation with that woman. Yeah, so thanks for the questions, and glad to have the two of you on together. So I'm just, if someone has a particular spiritual experience and they're describing to me what happened, and they may be using terms that are not exactly scriptural, or referencing something theologically that is something I wouldn't necessarily agree with, but the larger point they're making is such and such that they want to ask me another question, then I'm not, many times with a call, I'm not going to just stop and nitpick every little detail, you know what I'm saying? So she may have used a certain one in terms of her own experience. I was just listening, okay, what happened to you?

How has the change come? The concept of the baptism of the Spirit and fire in Matthew 3.11 is, to me, one event, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism in fire. In Matthew 3.10 and 12, John the Immerser, John the Baptist, is explaining how every tree that doesn't bear fruit is thrown in the fire and burns, so that the sinners of the world will be burned in fire, but for the believer, Jesus will baptize us in the Holy Spirit in fire. If you think at Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit was put out, there were tongues of fire that sat on each one. Fire is often associated with the glory of God in the Old Testament, God appearing in fire at Mount Sinai, the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire with Israel as part of the glory of God. So this image of the Holy Spirit in fire is something that's common in the Scripture, or the glory of God in fire, and I understand it speaks of God's purity, I understand it speaks of God's passion. It is a purifying work as well, the baptism in the Spirit. So some take the baptism of the Spirit and fire to be two separate things in Matthew 3.11, because that's the one time it's mentioned, you know, you'll be baptized in the Holy Spirit in fire. Luke 12, Jesus says he's come to bring fire to the earth, but that seems to be the fire of judgment and the fire of purging. Malachi 3 says that he'll come as a refiner's fire and he will purify the sons of Levi, so that's part of what Jesus did.

But the baptism of the Spirit in fire to me is when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in power and the fire of God burns in our hearts and lives to serve God with greater passion and purity. That's how I understand it. Okay, thank you so much for explaining that.

We really appreciate it because we were so confused. Yeah, and let me just mention one other thing. There is a grammatical term called hendiotus. It's a funny sounding word, but it's basically putting one concept with two words, this and this, as one concept. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire is one concept joined together in that way.

Now, one last thing. Some people in a colloquial way will say, I went through a real baptism of fire, meaning I went through a real hard time. I went through a real test. And that's a whole different thing. We're not talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, Matthew 3.11, but rather, well, that was a real fiery baptism I went through. Just a colloquial way of saying a fiery trial. Man, I got thrown in the deep end and that was really rough. And, you know, 2 Peter 1 will talk about the, or 1 Peter 1, the trying of our faith as by fire.

It would be a similar concept to this. Man, that's a baptism of fire. All right, thank you for the call. Appreciate it. It's 6-6-3-4 Truth.

Let's go to Marcelo in Westminster, Maryland. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello. Thank you, thank you.

It's a pleasure to be able to talk to you in these meetings. I just wanted to ask you a question about spiritual gifts. Do you think that we should see spiritual gifts as abilities that the Spirit gives to a believer, and then stick to that person for the rest of their life? Or do you think it is possible that the believer is given a gift temporarily, and then can experience different gifts throughout their life?

Right. As I understand it, at any time, any believer can be used by the Spirit in any way. So in that sense, it would be the second thing that you're asking, that at any moment, because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, the Holy Spirit can work through us and manifest a particular gift. But it does seem that gifts are given in a permanent way, so that this is something characteristic in someone's life, which would be your first point. The language of 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul at the end of it is talking about apostles, prophets, teachers, those with gifts of help, those who administrate, those who speak in tongues, those who interpret, it seems that this is something that the person is known for, that this is something that the person experiences and a way that God works through them on a regular basis.

And my own experience over the decades has been that that's the case, that someone seems to have a particular gift that they flow in. One of my friends for years saw a special fruit where he prayed for people who were deaf. When he prayed for other sicknesses, he didn't see the same healing. And 1 Corinthians 12 mentions gifts of healing, plural. Some take it to mean different types of healing gifts for different sicknesses. I know some with wonderfully accurate gift of prophecy and personal prophecy, but they're not gifted in healing. So at any moment, the Holy Spirit could theoretically work through any of us with any manifestation of a gift. But otherwise, it does seem that these are things that God gives us. Paul references Timothy receiving a specific gift when the elders laid hands on him. So that seems to be characteristic of his life thereafter. All right, thank you very much.

You are very welcome. 866-34-TRUTH. I've had some very unique experiences spiritually where God showed me, hey, if I want to use you like this, I can. I'm not going to take time away from other calls now to get into this, but I had one of the most amazing supernatural experiences you'll ever hear about where I was asking God, why don't you ever use me in this particular way? And it wasn't even a way that I wanted to be used or thought of. It just suddenly kind of came to mind out of the blue while praying for some folks in Florida in the 1980s.

This thought hit out of the blue. Lord, how can you ever use me in that particular way? And then he did. And it was maybe the most supernatural story you'll ever hear about that particular gift being used or that particular grace being expressed. And then the Spirit just said to me, I can use you like that whenever I want, but that's not my calling on your life.

And it never happened after that in that way. All right, back to the phones. We go to Christy in Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi. Hey. It's really funny that you have the same name as my father in the natural. Well, listen, there is one and one Michael Brown out there. I've learned that.

Yeah. Well, my question is something that's, you know, kind of been on my heart for many, many years. My husband and I, we got married and we got saved shortly after that. It was a radical transformation.

He's Chinese and I'm Caucasian. But as far as, you know, going to church and I just it seemed like I just went full force, you know, just diving in the water and in the presence and just seeking God and trying my very best to raise my children without knowing anything, without having an example to be a mother, you know, or a parent. And but anyway, to make a long story short, how?

Because I have two grown children now and then I have three that are. Stay right there, Christy. We'll get you on the other side of the break. Stay right there. 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 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

We go right back to the phone. So Christy in Indianapolis, you've got two older children. I guess you're saying three younger, your husband not really with you in the faith.

Yes, go ahead. Yes, so how my two older children have already, like, they're not really following after God. And my husband complains even around my children about going to church and doesn't see the need to have a close relationship with God or follow after God or anything, so my children kind of see both sides, and we're unequally yoked in a way with both Christians. How do I just continue by setting example in prayer and speaking the word over them?

What do I do? I mean, how can I maintain this house when there's division? Yeah, it's a real challenge, and even though you got married outside the Lord and came to faith, it wasn't a choice you made. It's a strong warning for those who are in relationship with someone who's not a believer and you're not married yet or someone who doesn't share your heart spiritually.

It can lead to real, real problems, so just a word of caution to everyone to make sure you're spiritually rightly yoked before you do join together. But in this case, which is common, one family member gets saved or one is more on fire for the Lord. First, don't diminish the influence that you do have. Don't think that it's less powerful and less important than it is, and even though your older children are not walking with the Lord now, you deposited seeds in their hearts.

They've heard things for years and years and years, and you'll be amazed to see how that influence impacts them in the years ahead. So the things that you mentioned, praying for them, setting an example, speaking the word over them, those are super powerful. Just think of all the kids who were raised without that influence, with neither parent believing at all, and then pray for your husband. Pray that, you know, good prayers, not prayers like, he's this God, and you know he's that God. Just give him such a fresh love for you and make yourself real to him. And, you know, I've been around church long enough and seen where there's an unbelieving husband or backslid and everyone's praying for him. And I remember one in particular, when he came to the Lord and was on fire, we'd see him in church. I thought, is he acting?

Is he like a dream? Like, no, you got to be kidding me. But God can do that. So it can be discouraging. You feel like you've got resistance and house divided.

How can it stand? That's reality, Christy. But don't let that be your bigger focus. Let the bigger focus be that you know the Lord, that he listens to your prayers, that you get to pour truth into your kids and plant deep seeds within them.

So keep doing what you're doing. Keep praying for your husband. Set that Godly example. The kids will recognize what you have in your life and see areas where your husband is lacking. And again, just as a matter of faith, try to put the emphasis on God's promises and the power of what you are doing as opposed to putting your emphasis on how difficult it is. It is difficult, obviously, but I want to encourage that attitude of faith that God's with you and the Holy Spirit living within you is influencing those kids and the words that you're sharing with them are being planted and deposited in such a way that they won't be able to run far from them. So may the Lord bring your whole family to a glorious, saving knowledge of Jesus. And may your husband set a Godly example the likes of which you've never seen. May it be so. Hey, thank you, Christy, for the call. All right, let us go to Reed in New York City. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I have a question, and it's a two-part question, but in Matthew, Jesus says that we can't serve two masters, and then in Romans 6, Paul says that we're either slaves to sin or slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. Where does free will fit into this? Do we have free will if we're slaves?

And also, what's the difference between freedom and liberty? I know that's maybe a different question. Yeah, so, yes, we have free will in that we choose our master, right? We can choose to submit to the Lord, or we can choose to submit to sin and the flesh and the devil and the world.

So that's the first thing. The fact that Jesus is telling us you can't serve two masters and that Paul's saying consider yourself dead to sin alive to God means that as believers, these are choices we can make, which is why from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible says, choose, choose, choose. Now, here's the second thing. Even as slaves, we make choices. In other words, you may be a slave to sin, but then you say, I'm not going to do this.

No, I refuse to do that. So we're making choices within slavery to sin and bondage. We're making choices within our holy slavery to the Lord. But first, we get to choose our master, and second, even within that, we make choices all the time.

You know, look, there are lines I did cross and lines I didn't cross when I was unsaved, and then extremes of obedience I've gone to, and then others I haven't as a believer. As to the difference between freedom and liberty, most of the words, if you're looking at Hebrew or Greek vocabulary, that are used for the one can be used for the other. And perhaps that's a subject for another call where you could show me specific verses with specific words. Because, you know, as I've done translations, sometimes trying to think which is a better word and to liberate, to free freedom, liberation, often there's a lot of overlap between them.

So I would want to know specific verses and contexts to comment more. So maybe we'll have another discussion on that in the future. All right. And let's see if I can grab another call or two.

Let's go to Franco in New York City. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hi, Dr. Brown. How are you today? Doing well. Thank you, sir. Can you hear me well?

Yeah, I can. Very good. First of all, let me state this. Let me give you a thank you, because you have been a blessing in my life since 2001. Oh, so glad to hear that. 20 years, man. Good, good. Thank you.

20 years. I've been riding my bike through New York City, listening to you, and listening to Steve Hill's preaching. Awesome, awesome. And praying, praying through the whole city, riding my bike all over the place, and you're amazing. And you're a voice of love and a voice of God in the middle of these crazy times that we're living.

Thank you. So that being said, I have a couple of things that have been breaking my heart in the last seven years about the church, and it's the support of craziness and political party like the Trump world. And my first question is, what do you see the difference between the people that commit the riots and January 6th on the Capitol, and ISIS?

You see any comparisons being radicalized by religion? The first thing is, to my knowledge, as much as I have been concerned as a Trump voter about Trump idolatry, about the way that we put our trust in a man, the way that we excused his failings, the degree that we leaned on the arm of flesh, the degree that we became better known as the Trump people than the Jesus people in some ways. As much as I've raised concerns about that, Franco, I see the people that stormed the Capitol as of another class. I know many people that were there that day praying, worshiping, believing the election had been stolen, and praying for Congress or Vice President Pence to do what they thought was right, but they were mortified.

Every leader that I spoke to, everyone that I knew was there, was absolutely mortified by what happened with the storming of the Capitol. And then even the people that went in, you know, and the QAnon people and praying in Jesus' name, that's just a foreign mixture. That's not who we are. But even with those people, and then we don't know what mixture there was from other groups just using this to disrupt, but even among the right wing extremists and the white supremacists, they're not going around beheading people. They're not going around burning people to death. They may have extreme ideologies, but look, they didn't try to blow up the building. They didn't come in with guns and start shooting people down, which is what ISIS would have done.

I mean, they didn't try to kidnap women and go rape them. So I just would not make a comparison. I'd say that any radicalization is always dangerous, but let's not overstate things. Yes, and I 100% agree with that. It's just that, you know, like, the similarity and the influence of, you know, it's almost, like, subtle, you know, in ways that, you know, and my worry is that as church, we're not, you know, like, we're not educating enough, and we're not putting enough, like, I'm thankful for you and grateful for you, because, you know, you're one of those voices that are educating people, and, you know, or weapons are love. Or weapons are not, you know, we don't come from legalistic, you know, weapons to change lives. You know, we come with love and faith and compassion, and... Yeah, so Franco, I'm just jumping in only because we're right at the end of the show.

I want to make sure that I get to respond. My book, Evangelicals at the Crossroads, dealt with a lot of these issues and dealt with, if we were going to vote for Trump, how we could do so and preserve our testimony, but everything had to do with putting the cross before the flag. Everything had to do with putting spiritual activity before political activity. I'm just starting a book now, really, these last few days, I just started it, about how the church lost its way and how subtle the seduction is, because, look, you hate what's happening in terms of the radical left. You hate some of the wrong policies being pushed. You get someone that's going to stand and do what's right, and then you end up making that your primary focus, as opposed to the gospel first and foremost being the primary focus. Hey, folks, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Another program powered by the Truth Network.