Bringing Redemption Out of Tragedy

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. So much tragedy in the world, so much tragedy in the news.

What is God doing redemptively in the midst of it? That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We're ready to get built up, strengthened, encouraged, edified, even stretched. You've tuned in to the right broadcast.

This is Michael Brown. Welcome to the line of fire. We're here to see you get healthier, stronger, thriving, vibrant in every way. Oh, physically, but all the more spiritually. As you are healthy, as you are strong, as you are vibrant, as you are overflowing with God's grace and goodness and truth and courage and strength in your own life, you will be able to change the environment around you.

As the light shines, the darkness is dispelled. Hey, you can ask me anything you want to today, 866-348-7884, or you can call to comment on the topics we're going to touch on, 866-34-TRUTH. I want to have a heart-to-heart talk with you about the shootings in Michigan at the end of last week. I want to talk to you about the passing of Bob Dole. I want to talk to you about the firing of Chris Cuomo. I want to bring scriptural perspectives on everything that we talk about today.

But first, as we're in the month of December, I just want to share my heart honestly candidly with you about one other thing. Have we been a blessing to you this year? Have these line of fire broadcasts helped you? Have they helped you grow in the Lord?

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That's the place to go. And we do appreciate your solidarity and your support deeply. OK, so I was looking at the news, the tragic shootings in Michigan over the weekend and reading some of the stories. And one caught my attention. You know, so four students killed, a number of others shot, including a teacher, just cold blooded murder. And all of the the utterly tragic things where there was enough advance notice, obviously with hindsight, with hindsight, when when the kid was called in for the second time because of drawings that he had, violent drawings and things that he had written and and looking for ammo online. And when these things happen, when teachers were aware of some of this, when the when the young man was brought in to to meet with school counselors for the second time and then parents were brought in. Obviously, in hindsight, you don't let the kid back in class that day because it was after that that he went out and shot and killed.

And you certainly search his backpack, his locker. If law enforcement had been brought in, they said at that point, the moment their violent images or anything like that, they should have been brought in. They would have made sure he didn't go back to class that day. They would have made sure that everything was searched. But again, that's hindsight that what happened happened. Obviously, if the counselors in the school had the slightest hint that something like this would have happened, they would not have allowed him back and they would have searched his belongings. They would have called in police from the start.

That's hindsight. These lives are lost now. And yeah, I know every day tragedy takes place and I'm going somewhere with this.

Every day, we just don't hear about it all in the news. But someone dying in a tragic car wreck or a family on the way to church hit by a drunk driver and, you know, the pastor's wife and kids are on their way because the pastor got there early and they're all killed. I mean, horrific things like this happen all the time and children dying of cancer and on and on. There's heartache, there's pain every moment of every day.

It's one reason that we long for Jesus to return because we know that ultimately, until he does return, there's going to be heartache, there's going to be pain. Sometimes we focus a little more on things that are in the news that are all the more shocking. So kids going to school one day, you're not expecting to not come home. The parents are not expecting that when the kid goes out that morning that they'll never see him again in this world. And one of the stories really got my attention.

The loss of every life is obviously terribly tragic. But there's one of the kids, popular football player. These are high school kids. And we've got, well, it's these three of our grandchildren now are in high school. One in college, three in high school. And our two grandsons, each seniors, about six weeks apart in age. One plays baseball, the other plays football. So when I read about a high school kid, a young man, football player, you know, you can relate even more. That's like one of our grandsons. And I watch this video after a game. He's talking and, you know, just he's got his whole life ahead of him.

Right. And then according to the reports, when the shooting began, he tried to disarm the shooter. So he tried to do the noble and courageous thing, according to the reports, and in the process lost his life. And I read that and I just I just and I watched the video and I just put my my head in my hands and sobbed. Just I can't imagine the pain of the parents, the family, the trauma, the shock and the others that lost their kids and the others, the kids shot, who knows the trauma they live with, the teacher shot, the trauma these the kids in the school have to live.

I mean, just horrific on every level. So then I step back and ask the question, OK. And there was a petition to sign to have the the school stadium, you know, whatever they whatever it's called, they played to have it named after the young man that the football player that tried to disarm the shooter signed that petition. And I thought, OK, if he lived a normal life, had married family, was a good guy, did a lot of good, but lived a normal life. Right. He'd be here today, gone tomorrow. Nobody would remember him in terms of the larger scheme of America. Right.

Just another person that had a good life. You think, well, because of his heroic actions, he'll be remembered to be something named after him. There'll be a certain legacy and perhaps because of the tragedy that that protocols will be set in place in schools across America that will save many lives. It's because of the terrible loss of these lives.

Then maybe many other lives will be saved because of the protocols and and things being done in a much more careful way so that people are extra cautious. The moment they see these kinds of signs and bring in law enforcement even more quickly to prevent this kind of thing from happening. I'm not talking about the parents and their alleged guilt and all this right now. I'm not talking about any of this.

And I'm not pointing fingers at the school. Obviously, hindsight is 20, 20 and tragically 20, 20 now. But as I was just processing this, thinking, OK, even if lives are saved out of this, these lives were still lost. These lives are still gone.

These parents will never have the joy of seeing their kids or grandparents seeing their grandkids grow up. And these kids that could have grown up and enjoyed everything in life that we've gotten to enjoy, they're gone as teenagers. And that's that can't be changed in this world. And that got me thinking about this theme. Because I've thought about it many, many times in terms of people who've given their lives for the gospel. Jim Elliott, who was martyred by the Auca Indians, prayed, Lord, I don't ask for a long life, but a full one like yours, Lord Jesus. It could well be that this young man in particular, in seeking to disarm a shooter and risking his life to save the lives of others, will have done more with his life in a shorter period of time and have a greater legacy than many of the rest of us in an entire lifetime. It just got me thinking about this. Long life is a blessing from God, but much more important than the quantity of life is the quality of life.

Perhaps a short life lived well in obedience to God can be of much greater value than a long life lived like so many of us live our lives wastefully. All right, more to talk about. 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 866-34-TRUTH with anything on your mind today.

We'll take some calls a bit later in the broadcast. So, again, I've often reflected on this issue. Let's say you have a young person that wasn't wearing a seat belt and got in a bad car accident and was killed. They had the seat belt on.

They likely would have survived. And this produces a movement in the whole community where kids become more responsible as drivers. So as a result of the loss of this one life, many other lives are saved. You say, yeah, but that one life was still lost. Exactly. Exactly. And it wasn't lost by that person's choice either.

Maybe negligence, but they didn't choose to lose their lives. It's different, though, for us. We must live, friends, in light of eternity. We must live knowing our lives belong to God.

And just as this young man who sought to disarm the shooter and lost his life in the process will be known and remembered in a way that most likely he never would have been if he simply went on living his life as he had, even if it was a good and fine life. We have to ask ourselves, as Leonard Ravenhill pointedly asked, and it's not his grave site, are the things you're living for worth Christ dying for? Do our lives make sense in the light of eternity? Are we making quality decisions that will make sense when we look back a month from now, a year from now, 10 years from now? Or are we living lives that when we look back, we'll say, what was the purpose of it?

Where did the years go? It doesn't mean people have to know what you're doing or look at you and praise you. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about the sight of God. I'm talking about what matters. I'm talking about running your race so as to win, whether your race is a homeschooling mom, whether your race is a professional athlete seeking to honor the Lord, whether your race is pastoring a congregation, whether your race is being a godly witness in the business place or earning money to generate funds for the gospel.

Whatever your race is, whether your race right now is maintaining purity in the midst of an impure culture as a teen, run your race so as to win. It's a messed up world. It's a very messed up world. And if there is no God, it's really messed up because no eternal good can come out of these things. There is never a making things right.

It's over and things can never be made right. Thank God he is real. Thank God there is a world to come. Thank God things that are not set right in this world can be set right in the world to come. But with the pain, with the suffering, it's still yet another reason why we long for the Lord's return.

All right. I just wanted to share that with you and hopefully it'll minister some grace and truth to you in the midst of this. Now, the question is, I was interacting with a Calvinist pastor on Twitter and hopefully we'll do a friendly debate about the subject next year. But the question is, does God ordain everything that happens? Does God ordain everything that happens? I don't just mean earthquake, hurricane, quote, natural disasters, which some call acts of God. I'm not just talking about that. I'm talking about the shooter shooting.

I'm talking about a car wreck. I'm talking about every disease and sickness that's in someone's body. Does God ordain everything that happens? It doesn't mean that he approves of everything that happens. But does he have a secret will in which he ordains everything that happens or that the decree by which he created the world and set things in motion is the decree by which everything is ordered? I do not believe that scripture. I do not believe that God ordains everything that happens. There are many things in scripture that God disassociates himself from. There are many things in scripture where God makes clear I had nothing to do.

I want it. Nothing to do with that. There are many things in scripture. God says, I raised you up to do this, but you did that.

And I'm not happy with that. And it wasn't according to my will. So no, I do not believe that God ordains everything that happens. Now Calvinists would say, but human beings are still responsible for their choices. Yes, yes, I understand. Calvinists is not preaching some type of fatalism. And you're not responsible. Of course not.

I understand that. I would not want to misrepresent a Calvinist position, of course. But I do not believe, according to scripture, that the shooting happened because God ordained it. No, the shooting happened because of evil human choices and perhaps satanic involvement. Did God let it happen? Well, everything that happens, if it happened, God let it happen. In other words, he didn't stop it from happening. You say, but why didn't he stop it? Well, then he would have to stop the human race.

There would be no human race. Because every day human beings do good things and do bad things. And every day human beings make choices. We either have a world in which we have the freedom to make choices, in which case good and bad things can happen, or we don't have a world with freedom. But if you want a world where there's freedom or we can actually make choices.

And we talked about this with the Christmas parade massacre in Waukesha. That there is a world in which we make choices. You say, well, why did God have to create us in the first place?

Well, would you rather not be? The reason that suicide, as terrible as it is and as epidemic as it can be, is still so rare comparatively, even among people suffering and hurting. The reason that suicide is so extremely rare is because people prize their existence. It's because people would rather be alive than dead. So we would rather that God created us than not have been at all.

And if we can have a world in which you push a button and you never do anything wrong again, you never think a wrong thought, but you're now under outside control, you say, no, I want freedom. What do we prize the most? Our existence.

What do we next prize most? Our freedom. So God gave us both our existence and our freedom. But with that, there are consequences.

With that, tragedies will occur. It also means we have the freedom to do good. In fact, let me just grab that that Wesley quote. I should I should memorize it one day.

There we go. John Wesley, perhaps his most famous single quote. Do all the good you can, by all the means you can. It's just so easy to memorize. Let's all memorize it.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. Yeah, that's that's how we have to live. Not as if God has a whip out. You didn't pray enough.

You didn't fast enough. What's the matter with you? Some of us live with the conception of God like that, which is totally contrary to his nature and very destructive for our own walks with God.

Rather, because of the great love that he had for us, rather because of the goodness that he's shown to us, rather because of the opportunities that he's bestowed on us, let's do what we can while we have the time. Hey, think of it like this. If you knew that this week was the last week you're going to have with one of your loved ones, would you do anything differently? You say, well, I'd stop everything else and just be with them.

OK, I understand that. But aside from that, would you would you make them know even more how much you love them? Would you do your very best to make sure they know the Lord?

Would you do what you can to to hear their heart? You want to live in such a way that you live without regret. And then if if you find out you're coming to the end of your life rather than say, oh, no, I was just going to get started.

Or you're not going to have much time with someone else, like, oh, I always wish I don't don't live like that, don't live with endless wishes that never come to pass. Do what you know how to do. Do it today. If you say I don't know where to start, then start on your knees. Or in prayer, if you can't get on your knees, Lord, I'm your child and I want your life, my life to count in eternity. I want it to make sense here in this world. I got so much going on and I feel like my head swirling and I don't I don't know which way is up or down. And I'm tired.

I'm in debt. Feel. I mean, whatever it is, just start where you are and say, Lord, how can I glorify you? How can my life count? You know, I look back over the years of travel internationally, over 150 international trips and a lot of them very, very trying, very intense. Some of them, especially in the earlier days, very long. And and then, you know, on the flip side, you make a long, long trip for for a couple of days somewhere. You know, when it less less time to Australia right before covid got just it hit and flights were being canceled.

So it was 50 hours each way to be in Australia just for a weekend, basically. But I'm so glad I made every one of those trips. Boy, am I glad.

Boy, am I glad whatever put sacrifice was involved. I'm so glad. And then, you know, I'm always pushed and feel this holy drive to write more and produce more. And I'm so glad I've got books out. 40 plus books I've written.

And twenty five hundred articles and thousands of broadcasts and so many debates and and so on. I'm not earning brownie points from government to say I'm so glad I've been able to produce things that that that makes sense that, Lord, you gave me time and I sought to use it. And that's my life.

That's my call. It's going to be very different than yours for some. So much of your life was just involved in raising a big family and pouring into them. And and every one of those kids is becoming a jewel in your crown. And for so many, just be faithful in the workplace and supporting your family and supporting your local church and serving.

And and they're they're equally heroic. All right. They're equally important in being faithful day by day by day. Live a life that makes sense, friends. It's just one C.T.

Studd. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last.

Live in such a way that makes sense in the light of eternity. OK, we come back. We're going to talk about Bob Dole.

Don't talk about the firing of Chris Cuomo. Don't go anywhere. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire.

This is Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Hey, I just want to do a shout out to those listening in Norway, Denmark by way of podcast. Yeah, I know you're out there. So thanks for listening. Just wanted to mention these two countries in particular today. Just look at emails during the break.

And there's something I get. I know it's weekly, monthly, which just shows where podcasts are being. They only found out about the service recently where podcasts are being listened to in different parts of the world.

And some of those countries just came up. So, so glad to have you. All of you that listen from around the world or watch from around the world.

What a joy to be in contact with you. You know, a few years ago when we were leading a tour in Israel, it was the last day. We were in the old city of Jerusalem. And a man, maybe in his 20s, somewhere about that, Orthodox Jewish man came up to me to tell me that he and his friends listen to my debate videos, watch them all the time. And I was thrilled to hear that, obviously, as an Orthodox Jew. He didn't look like a typical Orthodox Jew. When I press things a little bit, he said that he was raised in a Christian home, but was never Christian. He converted to Judaism and is now studying all day and living an Orthodox lifestyle. And I said, what about the others with you?

He said, oh, yeah, most of them, you know, raised in Orthodox homes. And we watch your debates together. And so I just said, hey, you know, you're on a journey. Keep studying, keep learning, keep seeking.

And, you know, real friendly interaction. Then he walked away. So I grabbed some of the folks from the tour group with me. I said, hey, let's pray for him. So we prayed. And no sooner did we finish praying. And I see him walking back towards me. He said, hey, they won't believe I saw you unless we take a picture together.

So we did. Hey, if you're watching this broadcast, hey, I pray you continue on your journey to seek God and know his truth and know the truth about the Messiah. When I was in the Faroe Islands a few years ago speaking about what would happen if marriage was redefined. One of the neatest stories I heard, a gentleman came up to me after I spoke at a church there. Do you know where the Faroe Islands are? Yeah, when I first heard, I didn't know. Years back we had some students from the Faroe Islands.

And it's not spelled like Faro in the Bible. This is F-A-R-O-E off the coast of Iceland. So when I was there, a gentleman came up to me. His wife saying as soon as he gets home from work, the first thing they do is they put on YouTube videos of ours. So for all of you watching from around the world, welcome, welcome to the broadcast. So glad to have you as part of our audience. For everyone listening on radio, you've been with us the longest, right? 13 plus years. Some of you have been listening 13 plus years. Good for you. In fact, in fact.

Oh, do I want to do this? Sure, sure. If you have been listening, I don't mean every single day. I don't mean that you never missed a broadcast, but if you have been listening regularly on the radio.

So that would be states like North Carolina, Virginia. If you've been listening on the radio since we first went on the air in 2008. Give me a call. I want to give you a free book. All right, I want to give you a free book. My book, Compassionate Father of Consuming Fire.

Who is the God of the Old Testament? So if you happen to be listening right now and you're able to call and you have been listening since we've been on the air. So back to give me a call. 866-348-7884. I don't mean that you've never missed a day. If you have, then that's amazing.

But you listen regularly since all the way back then. 866-348-7884. Call in my joy to give you a free book. OK, so news yesterday of the passing of Bob Dole. And in the past, one of our staff members would get a collage of pictures from young days to old days of the person who had passed away. And then would post something, just the name and year they were born, year they died and put it on our Facebook page.

So we don't do that as regularly now as as we did in the past. But when I saw the news, I thought, you know what, maybe I'll just post something. Maybe I'll just post this picture and the announcement that he died.

Normally, if I post directly, I'm posting just my own thoughts or an article I've written and then. And that would be your book, your your connection to the truth of God is revealed in scripture for the rest of your life. Only one book of the Bible that you could read. Which book would it be and why?

1-866-348-7884. I decided to do a little poll the other day on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram asking this very question. I had an idea of where the answers might go.

You could give an educated guess as well. And then I asked myself the same question and came up with a top three that I would have to say, if I can only have one book to read in the Bible for the rest of my life, which would it be? But what about you? Which book? You only get one. And that's the book for the rest of your life that you read from the Bible.

Give me a call. 866-344-TRUTH. And of course, tell me why. In the New Testament, in the five books of Moses, the book that is quoted the most is Deuteronomy. In the prophetic writings, the book that's quoted the most is Isaiah. In what would be called the writings in the threefold division in the Hebrew Scriptures.

So that would reflect books like Psalms, Proverbs, and quite a few others. Psalms was the one quoted most often. So those were three favorite books of the Bible in terms of each of the three different sections as they were quoted. Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Psalms. Now, in the rabbinic literature in the centuries following, it's the same three that were quoted the most from their respective parts of the Bible in the threefold division that is found in the Jewish canon of Scripture. So same books we have as Christian Old Testament, but different order of books, different division. And then in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the same phenomenon. Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Psalms of the books of the Old Testament. So if you could pick any one book, you only get this.

You don't get to read anything else from the Bible through the rest of your life. Which book would it be? So I'll get to calls and then I'll tell you the results of the survey. And then later in the show, I'll tell you my particular choice.

Let me say this also. I listen to audiobooks a lot while driving in my car. Unless I'm burdened to pray about a particular thing or have a phone call to make, I listen to audiobooks and on a regular basis I'm listening to the Bible on audio.

So some days if my concentration level is not as intense, maybe I just kind of need to unwind a little bit on a longer drive. I might listen just to an enjoyable read, you know, another book outside of the Bible. And then if I'm more focused, then I'll be taking in Scripture. So yesterday I was listening to a nationally best-selling book on a very important theme. And it's a pretty easy listen. You know, it wasn't a drain to listen to it. So I'm just listening to it. I thought, ah, I'm going to switch over to the Bible.

Now here's the thing. I was about to get to 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament. And if you're familiar with 1 Chronicles, the opening five chapters are basically just genealogy.

I mean, in the chapters after that, it goes on quite a while before it gets into deeper narrative and tells you more about the life of David, things like that. So when you're reading, let's do our best to set a different tone, to set a different example, to say, hey, we're followers of Jesus. And that impacts how we live and that impacts how we act and that impacts what we post. And if you follow us, you'll see that we are of a different spirit. Come on. The political scene, we just devour each other and the hatred on each side and those seeking to inflame racial tensions on each side.

And we often just pass each other like ships in the night. How does that help? What good does that do? Hey, if I've got a point to make, I want someone on the other side to hear it. I want to do my best to impact them.

But if I got so much baggage in front of me that they're not even going to listen to what I say, what's the use of it? So let's step high. And those of you who've set God the examples, who've been careful with your speech, I know it's frustrating because there's so much junk out there. Keep shining. Keep shining.

The light will shine in the darkness. 866-34-TRUTH. All right, tell you what, let me let me switch topics and then I'll take some calls. Firing of Chris Cuomo. Obviously, there were many that didn't like him on the right, that didn't like the way he helped his brother, Andrew, did not like the celebratory praises during the handling of covid and on and on. And just because CNN hates CNN, CNN is evil.

All right. I do not like a lot of the content on CNN and the worldviews of some of the key people I have on there, obviously. But there's naturally going to be gloating. Look, there are people who gloat it. When a Christian leader dies, conservative Christian leader, there are people on the left that will gloat or gloat when Rush Limbaugh died.

And there are people on the right who will gloat when someone on the left dies or is fired, as in this case. But look at what it says in Proverbs chapter 24. Proverbs chapter 24 verses 17 and 18.

It says this. Being fall, if I have to smile, because Lou, I get the better if or when your enemy falls, don't exalt if he trips. Let not your heart rejoice. Pen, you're out tonight. We have enough.

Hey, she may love a po. Let the Lord see it and be displeased and avert his wrath from him. In other words, your attitude will now become more important to God than whatever your enemy was guilty of. And again, I don't consider Chris Cuomo my enemy, but you're talking biblical times, your enemy, that's someone who wants to kill you.

Your enemy is someone who wants to destroy you or your family. And now God's bringing judgment on them. Yes, at last. You could be thankful if this is someone ready to kill you. Lord, thank you for delivering me from their hand. But the gloating, yeah, you got what you deserve.

You got what's coming to you. That can boomerang right back on us. And whatever we think Chris Cuomo's guilt was, we're sitting there gloating. Our gloating attitude may at that moment be more important to the Lord or an uglier in his sight than anything Chris Cuomo did. So let's watch our hearts.

Read the article. I think you'll find it edifying. AskDrBrown.org. Do not gloat when your enemy falls. We'll be right back and go to your calls. 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. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll go over to Dixie in Dallas, Texas. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Thank you so much. Glad to be here. Well, great.

Appreciate your enthusiasm. Can you hear me? Yeah, go ahead. Oh, okay. Well, you had asked earlier. I don't know which program that I'm listening.

I know a lot of times you know some of this is live, some of this is not. But you had asked if there was one, just one book of the Bible that we could read and we had to just choose one. Well, the one that I would choose would be Psalms because King David, you know, he talked about his times of adversary, the times when he would go through things and his praises toward God regardless of whatever he went through. I mean, there's times he would mess up, screw up, you know, commit adultery, murder. But he would determine and he would show the mercy and the love of God because he would be forgiven.

And so that's why I would choose Psalms because not only does it reflect love and mercy, but it reflects forgiveness, God's forgiveness. Yeah, and it's obviously very real. It's very raw. It's very honest, unfiltered in that regard.

Unfiltered. Yeah, and speaks to us directly. Yeah, that show where we ask that question and we're asked it on social media.

It's quite a few weeks back and, you know, we're live most every day, but always relevant, always relevant. And I tell folks, call with whatever's on your mind. So thank you for calling in and sharing that. Psalms is amazing. Do you have one favorite psalm in the book of Psalms?

Yes, I did. Psalms 91. Okay, the reason being? And it begins like this. Those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil will prevail us, nor will any plague come near our dwelling.

Yeah, so living in that place, that intimate place with God, there's some amazing promises. Hey, Dixie, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. You know, in the book I wrote last year in an intensive eight-day period to get out in the midst of COVID, not knowing that here a year and a half later we'd still be dealing with this and so many lives would have been lost. I knew it would be serious, but no idea it would go on this long.

So we wanted to get the book out immediately. It's still relevant when the world stops, still relevant to this day. But I end with an exposition of Psalm 91 in Hebrew. I end with that. And it is a good psalm to take hold of during times of plague and pandemic and epidemic and sickness and fear.

And the Hebrew begins, yeah, as we just heard the first verse in some other parts of the psalm quoted. Yeshay b'setral yom b'sel shaddai lonan. So, yeshay, that's an inhabitant. I am a yeshay of North Carolina.

So I am an inhabitant of North Carolina. It also means I live in, I dwell in. In fact, yeshay, a fundamental thing, a new yeshay v'achshav.

I am sitting now. Yeshay is actually to sit, to dwell, to live in. So it is it's an ongoing thing. Right. So it's not just that I pray for certain hours or you worship for certain periods of time. And we're in that that secret place, that hiding place.

But somehow our whole life is lived, hidden in God. Yeah. Now, don't get legalistic with it to think that, oh, if I think, oh, no, I thought a wrong thought. No, I thought another wrong thought. Now I'm thinking wrong thoughts about wrong thoughts.

And you get in a spiral. But it's a hard attitude of God first, God, my all in all. It's being God conscious with whatever we do.

And I know some people are so one track. You say, how can I be conscious of God? Just ask him, Lord, help me to be more conscious of your presence.

Help me to live with greater consciousness of who you are and then how we live based on that. Is is extraordinary. It is light in the midst of darkness. It is hope in the midst of fear and depression. It is it is confidence in the midst of the storm.

So since since this song was mentioned, let me let me share something with you that happened. So when we come out with a new book, we normally do preorders. And if you want to get the book, the first could be hundred. It could be up to four or five hundred with breaking the stronghold of food that people will want to get these in advance. So people will preorder.

They'll pay a little bit more kind of a collector's item. And each one is numbered. One of our team members who's very good with calligraphy will just number the books. Right. So starting with one up to however many are preordered.

Like I said, it could be multiply hundreds. And then then I'll sign them. So sit with a staff member and we'll look at each one. OK, this was ordered by Maria.

This was ordered by Samuel. Just so I'll send it to so-and-so. And then I'll normally think of what's a good, appropriate scripture for for this book and then put it in and then sign my name. And that is that is my that's my book signing signature on legal documents. I try to sign the way I did many years ago, but I kind of lost that signature.

And it just it's kind of a quick one, but that's that's just the way it comes out. That's my actual signature. So with when the world stops, words of faith, hope and wisdom in the in the midst of of crisis and storm and trial. So I thought Psalm 91 would be appropriate. Psalm 91 would be appropriate. So with each one that I signed, I put Psalm 91 and signed it.

Well, as I'm signing before I could catch myself, I signed Psalm 91 for the book of a friend of ours. We we knew on Long Island. Oh, back in the mid 80s. And she lost her husband. She was younger than her husband.

She lost her husband. She was a friend of ours. We knew him. We knew her.

Then we knew them as a couple. And and I signed Psalm 91 exclamation point, which is a psalm of protection, which is a psalm that that the plague won't touch us. I mean, these are promises, right?

These are promises. And it might say how it might indicate how few of us actually live in that place of that level of supernatural protection. But in any case, that's what the psalm is about. And I proclaim that psalm is true. Whether I experience it or not, I proclaim it is true.

So I signed it. Psalm 91 exclamation point signed my name and thought, oh, she lost her husband. Our friend from years back, she lost her husband to COVID. He was in his 70s.

I think he was the first one of our friends that that we lost to the to the disease. And I I thought that could seem trite. That could seem like, oh, praise the Lord. Psalm 91.

Yeah, your husband died. But Psalm 91. And I thought about it, I thought maybe maybe we'll just redo it, just put that book aside and just sign. And then I thought again, but some 91 is true is still true, even when we have losses in this world and we don't experience the fullness of the long life promised us there, we have long life forever and ever and ever and ever and forever and ever and ever.

We will enjoy the blessing and the grace of God in ways beyond anything we imagine. And when I talked to one of our staff members who is also a friend of this couple for decades, she said, no, no, no, she's a strong woman of God. That's just fine.

Leave it as is. So what I want to say is, regardless of what you and I experience, the word of God is true. People have often said to me, well, Dr. Brown, you're a Pentecostal charismatic. Well, well, Mike, you believe what you do based on experience. Actually, I believe what I believe based on the word. I believe in divine healing today based on the word. I believe in the gift of prophecy today based on the word. I believe in speaking in tongues based on the word.

I believe in different aspects and manifestations of the Holy Spirit based on the word. Yeah. Now, have I experienced many things? Yes. Amazing. Wonderful.

Glorious. And there are things I experience in an ongoing way in my life that further confirm what I believe. But I still believe in divine healing even when I pray for the sick and they're not healed.

Why? Because I believe what's written. You say, oh, you condemn the person. No, of course not. Or you say you don't have enough faith.

No, no, of course not. I say we don't understand why some are healed and others aren't. Sometimes we do, but many times we don't. We don't understand why sometimes it seems our faith is real and vibrant and takes hold of God.

Here's the answer. And other times it doesn't seem to be there. Or times it seemed that person really was believing and they weren't healed. I don't have all the answers to these questions and many others. But I do know that God is faithful. I do know that ultimately everything he says will pan out. I know that in the end that he's the only one that will be proven trustworthy in the entire universe. He was the only one who will be proven perfectly trustworthy. And therefore, as I've trusted him through valleys and tunnels where they didn't seem to be light. In times when there didn't seem to be guidance.

In times of demonic attack. As I've trusted him to see his hand of grace prevail one way or another. By his grace, I'm going to trust him to the end.

And I encourage you. He's trustworthy. Lean on him. Even when not everything seems to fall into place. Lean on him. And in the end, in this world or the world to come, he will bring light out of the darkness.

It's just who he is. And now a revolution. Shake the nation. Change the world. Another program powered by the Truth Network.