The Line of Fire with Guest Host Stu Epperson

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

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. How about this for a headline today? The NFL takes over the leadership of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and other major cities. Would that not be a fascinating headline? And why would you say that?

Because crime and poverty is at an all-time high in those cities. Look what just happened. The NFL, the Giants just fired their coach, Joe Judge. The Vikings just fired Mike Zimmer and their general manager, Rick Spielman. The Bears just fired their coach and GM. The Dolphins just fired their coach in a surprise and it looked like he was turning things around down there. The Broncos just parted ways with their coach after the third consecutive losing season. Year after year after year, things have gone south in these major cities. So what if the headline today read in the paper, the NFL, NFL teams in specific took over the leadership of Chicago?

Fire them! Am I off my rocker? Am I all wet? I'm not Dr. Michael Brown, but it's an honor to sit in for him. I'm Stu Epperson, and Dr. Brown is out today. We're so grateful for him and the ministry of the line of fire, and I'm tickled to death to be able to sit in the honored spot here in the Truth booth, in the line of fire, and I'm inviting you to call and tell me why the NFL shouldn't take over these major cities. Please call and tell me. And whoever gives me the best answer is going to win two tickets. Two tickets. And I got an update on Dr. Brown I'm going to give you shortly.

I keep prayers coming in for him. Now this is the other topic I want to talk about. So the first topic is, should the NFL take over these cities? They're failing! Well Stu, what are you doing getting into politics? I'm not getting into politics! God has given me, the money God has given me is his money, and when I pay my taxes, they're a stewardship. And where are they going?

And if I keep paying the same taxes to the same government that's doing the same nonsense and failing, okay let's put it this way, if I'm a season ticket holder for the Denver Broncos, I love going to the games, they're fun, I'm paying X amount of thousand dollars a year to go to the games, to have great seats, to have fun, food, camaraderie, but I'm going, there's a scoreboard in my team, I'm going to win. And I expect them to put a winning roster together, I expect them to put a winning head coach together, a winning coaching staff, general manager, back office, front office, all of the above. And yet they lose games. So what do they do? They fire the coach. So what do we do in Chicago? We fire the mayor, file the aldermen, fire the councilmen.

What do we do in Baltimore? Crime goes up. Tonight someone will be executed in cold blood in Chicago. What happens? NFL, you lose games, you get fired. They bring in a coach who wins.

Chicago, I'm suggesting the NFL takes over Chicago or a specific team, and they let the Chicago Bears leadership take over Chicago, the city leadership, and they fire those people. I'm not saying Republican. If you're losing lives and being murdered, then you should be fired. It's common sense.

Tell me I'm all wet, tell me where I'm wrong. At 866-34-TRUTH, 86634 87884, what should the church do about all this escalating crime? I got the statistics right here, and they are worse than I thought.

I almost didn't want our producers to pick these out for me, to print this. It's evil. Smash and grab retailers. People are just going in. I guarantee you they're not looting NFL stadiums. I guarantee you they're not going to the Panthers crashing through the gates and looting all of their souvenir shops and all their stores.

I guarantee you they're making nice coin there. And if they don't win games, they fire their coach. So why shouldn't the NFL take over these cities? 866-34-TRUTH, 86634 87884, now what's at stake here? Your question, your answer. Someone give me a real good answer to this.

Someone help me see clearly on this. And I'm going to give you... This is going to open up a can of worms. I'm sorry, Grayson, our producer, he's in there with gritted teeth. He's ready to get your calls. We've got some lines open here on the line of fire.

Stu Epperson in for Dr. Michael Brown, 866-34-TRUTH, 86634 87884. I got two tickets right here in my hand for the Wake Forest Duke basketball game tonight at seven o'clock. The game is sold out, but I'm holding two tickets. Quite valuable tickets.

And I'm going to give them to whoever calls in with a good answer to why don't we let the NFL... Here's how this happened. I'm going to tell you more about how this happened in a second. And why, Stu, are you so worked up about this?

I got a 19 year old and a 21 year old daughter. Wow. How did that go by so fast? And she is in New York City and she's walking on the streets at nighttime. And her mom and I are just like, wow, we're people of prayer.

But sometimes it's hit your knees and pray. It's pitch black. And literally, New York is letting criminals run the streets. You get turned in for a felony in New York. You're out on the streets the next day. People are getting murdered.

She's had friends getting beat up in the subway, being shot cold blood in New York City. So my thing is, what in the world? Fire them. Fire them all. Bring in new coaches, new leaders. Let the NFL take over New York City. They won't tolerate that. You win a few games in the NFL, you're out.

And they bring in winners to get to the Super Bowl. So that's just kind of coming out of that. A couple other things I want to share with you. But I'm going to give away these Duke tickets. But here's the dilemma on the Duke tickets. Grayson, I don't know how much time we have on this segment. So I want to get to some calls, too, in a little bit. But we've got a few minutes.

Okay. Wake Forest plays Duke tonight. Coach K's last dance, his final tour.

The last time Coach K coaches in the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. Not even two miles from where I'm sitting. But there's a caveat. I know someone out there wants these two tickets. You can call me at 866-34-TRUTH right now.

You kind of make a case against or for what I'm suggesting with the NFL, an NFL team, even, taking over the cities that are failing and straighten things out because kids are dying, being killed. You make your case. Go back and forth with me a little bit on this.

What is a believer to do? That's very important here on this show, especially. But I'll give you two tickets to the sold out game tonight. But the caveat is this. You have to show a vaccination card to get in the game. Number one, Wake Forest University just announced this a couple days ago. Number two, you have to either show a vaccination card or show a negative COVID test. Now, the reason that I'm bringing this up is because I'm going to give you these two tickets and I want to bless a listener of the line of fire with these two tickets. If you're anywhere in the North Carolina area, we have listeners all over the state, all over the country, really listening to the line of fire. Those of you who are out of state where you can enjoy the conversation, you can even weigh in if you think it's a bad idea, a good idea that Wake shows is requiring ticket holders to show a proof of vaccination card or a negative COVID test proof to get into the Wake Forest Duke basketball game tonight.

Game sold out. I just know that it's made a little tricky for me. I've talked to people. I talked to a pastor earlier. I was blessing a pastor with four tickets and he called me back upset. He said, Stu, I can't go. And again, I'm not getting into the pro-vax, anti-vax, but some people are having a really hard time with this.

Another guy called me. He says, I'm trying to find a COVID test. I'm perfectly healthy, but I haven't been vaccinated, but I don't have anything. I already had it, you know, like a month ago.

I'm trying to find a legitimate test so I can get into the game tonight. I'm already a season ticket holder, Stu. What do I do? And I'm like, why are you calling me? Maybe you can call me now, those of you who have an opinion about this. And I won't answer quite as articulately or brilliantly as the inestimable Dr. Michael Brown, but I'd love to hear from you at 866-34-TRUTH.

Hey, at least I used a big word, Grayson, right? 8663487884. Do you think, what if you have a conviction against getting vaccinated if you're a Christian? Do you think it's fair for a major ACC team on the biggest night of their season, Coach K's final night coaching Duke against Wake in Winston-Salem, North Carolina?

Do you think it's fair for them to require a vaccination card for people to get in the game? 866-34-TRUTH. And hey, give me a good answer to that. I got two Wake Forest Duke tickets to give to you. Now, again, you have to be vaccinated and show that card tonight to get in, or you have to have a proof of a negative test.

OK, you got to study hard for those tests, but you got to get a proof of a negative test to use these two tickets. So I'm just I mean, it's in all fairness to you. I'm not going to give these away to someone who's excited. Maybe they're a big Wake fan. They want to see and maybe you're coming from who knows where you're listening from the Lake Norman area, or maybe you're coming from Durham to come see Duke play Wake tonight. And you get these tickets, but then. You're not vaccinated and you haven't had a test, so you're not going to go to the game because that's the rule. Do you think that's fair?

Do you think it's heavy handed? You know, a friend of mine, I called him. He says, don't you think, Stu, that's a good thing to do just to make sure no one's sick? I said, well, yeah, but people have common sense. They're not going to go sick to a game, are they? He said, Stu, you wouldn't believe the kind of crazy folks I've seen at some of these games.

So that was his perspective. I want to hear your perspective and I want to unload a couple tickets to the Wake-Duke basketball game tonight. Kind of a cool thing. These might be the last two tickets left in town. Grayson, we got it.

We got a hot one right here. So the toll free number to call in is 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. And then there's that NFL issue. Why don't we just let the NFL take over these cities?

They're about winning games. We're tired of losing lives. Let's kind of say, hey, we got a little solution here.

Am I off my rocker? Let's see what Rebecca says, a Virginia caller to the line of fire. I'm Stu Epperson in for Dr. Michael Brown.

Got an update on him coming up in just a little bit. But, Rebecca, welcome to the show. Hi, Stu. How are you? Great. Good to hear your voice.

What do you think about all this? Well, you know what? The NFL, if they were a little bit more patriotic like they used to be. I mean, at this point, I think Mickey Mouse could do a better job than these people in the cities are doing.

I guess better than nothing. Well, look, look, look, the NFL, the NFL is very politically correct. I mean, they're very I'm completely you've heard on this program. I'm sure Dr. Brown, they've missed the boat on a lot of even moral ethical issues. But, hey, if they could stop crime, I mean, people are being murdered.

I mean, these little six year olds are getting killed in drive by shootings and they don't even have a chance to grow up and form a world view about this stuff. It's awful. It really is awful. And as far as people getting sick, people that have been vaccinated are actually the ones getting the omicron. The tests are false positive, false negatives. The tests are a joke. Wow. All these mandates.

I feel like we're living in Nazi Germany. So what if someone what if someone goes to that game and they have the tickets? They show they show a negative test that's legitimate, but they've got the omicron because somehow it didn't detect it. That's it. Oh, there's there's been evidence and news about Cruz's that have been completely shut down and they're pulling back.

OK, it's happened to Cruz's. What about this thing? How are we going to fix our cities? What is the church to do? Rebecca, thanks for your call. We've got more calls called, lined up at eight, six, six, three, four, truth. God bless you, Rebecca. Thanks for listening. Thank you. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling eight, six, six, three, four, truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

So there I am watching TV. It's the height of all the football games, the craze, the NFL playoffs, who's in, who's out wildcards. Big announcement comes on. The Denver Broncos fire their head coach. Well, why did they fire their head coach? They didn't feel good about him. They didn't like his tone of voice, his wardrobe, all those leisure suits. No, he lost games.

He didn't win the games. They're not contending for the Super Bowl. So then my wife, we're watching TV, she flips over to another channel and it's heartbreaking, like it's almost tear jerking. You see them talking about Chicago and talking about how the crime rate is murdered. You want to get killed? Go to inner city Chicago. It's awful. These are the worst run cities in America, according to an article I'm looking at by The Hill. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco.

The people are in debt up to their nose. The political parties that run those cities, the political leaders. And by the way, this isn't a Republican Democrat show. OK, you hire a Democrat that'll stop the murder in Chicago. Let's put them in there.

But my thing is, let's put the NFL in there. Because the mayor and the aldermen and the congressman and anyone else in Chicago who's running the place, they're losing. They're losing not just their little whatever games they play or their little bill here and there. They're losing lives. Kids are being slaughtered in cold blood on the streets. Murder. The murder rate's higher than it has ever been in Chicago. How about let's go to Baltimore?

Let's take a trip there. You want to? My point is, whoever's in control, let's put the NFL in control because they'll fire the people and they will prevent the murder.

So Rebecca called in, just our last caller from Virginia. She said, look, NFL's got some wonky views on stuff. Definitely some anti-family stuff that we talk about on this network, on this show. But you know what?

If they could stop the murder, killing people, the crime in inner city Chicago, put them in charge. What do you think? 866-348-7884. Stu Epperson Jr. in for my good friend, the legendary Dr. Michael Brown, the regular host of the Line of Fire. He is recovering, doing much better. Go to his Facebook page. Check it out for updates.

He is excited to be back with you very soon. Keep your prayers rolling in and upward for Dr. Brown. And I'm giving away two Wake Forest Dew tickets.

Game sold out tonight. But this opens up another can of worms. You got to be proof of vaccination card to get in the game.

And you've got to or or show a negative covid test, I guess within 48 hours. So there's some people upset about that. I don't know why they call me. But I'm asking you, is that a good idea? A bad idea? What are your feelings about that? And why not let someone like the NFL, one of these teams, take over inner city Chicago? At least kids aren't going to be murdered every night in cold blood.

Retailers aren't going to be looted. This smash and grab is unbelievable. Have you watched these?

What news do you watch? Are you seeing these people? They're tearing up retail stores and just taking whatever they want. And the cops are told to stand down.

It's awful. So as a parent of a 21 year old in New York City who can barely get on the train, where people are being raped in open daylight, broad daylight, killed, knifed and everything, because they're not putting criminals in jail, they're letting them right out. They're letting them right out of the can to grunt out and do it again.

And it's day after day after day. So let's get the New York Giants. They just fired their coach. Let's get them to run New York City.

And no more death. You know, clean it up. Do what it takes. Let's talk to Paul, another caller from Virginia. We've got another guy on the line too. We've got a Jay calling in. And your call is important to us as well.

866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. We'd love to hear your perspective. Maybe you think I am all wet, which wouldn't be the first time.

And then what should the church do about all this? Paul, jump on in here. Okay, can you hear me? Got you loud and clear. Okay, I'm calling about a book called COVID-19 and the Global Predators. Okay.

We Are the Prey by Dr. Peter Breggins, his wife, Ginger. Oh, wow. This book has been meticulously researched and it has introductions by leading COVID-19 physicians, Peter McCullough, Elizabeth Billette, and Vladimir, which he goes by Zeb Zelenko.

Okay. As your last caller from Virginia stated, these tests are a joke. These tests are up to what could be 80% inaccurate.

Oh my. They are using a PCR test. A lot of people are writing and talking about this.

Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Peter McCullough, on and on and on and on and on. Right, but they're not getting much airtime on the major networks, right? I am not. No, they're not. Yeah.

We have stopped watching the networks because it's propaganda. Yeah. Okay, so what's the name of the book again, Paul?

Paul, what's the name of the book? COVID-19 and the Global Predators, We Are the Prey. Okay. Now, by the way, so you think it's a good idea or a bad idea for a pro or amateur college athletics event to require a vaccination card or a proof of a negative test? Good or bad? I can't say it's too complicated. Okay. You got a couple hours, right? Yeah. Well, let me do this.

Let me recommend, let me write down the name of this book. I want to say a site called realreal, R-E-A-L, not rare, dot com. Okay.

Because I'm not anti-vax. In fact, I wish I had done more research before. Yeah. Okay, so what's the website again? Paul, what's the website again?

I got to get some other folks in. Realreal, not rare, dot com. Okay.

Real, not rare. And I'm part of the government, real, not rare, dot com. Okay. Okay. What about what? Okay. Because the shots aren't working. They're not. Okay. Paul, thanks for your call.

Paul says they're not working. He's, you know, he's talking about, you know, this is a propaganda. He's cited this book COVID-19 and the Global Predators. I haven't, haven't heard of that book yet, but he's piqued my interest.

Maybe I need to check that out. Let's jump on another call here with Jay. Got a line open at 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

Stu Epperson in for my good buddy, Dr. Michael Brown. On the line of fire. Jay, you're on the line of fire. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Jay, jump on in here.

I think you want to talk about this NFL thing. Jay? Okay, we got a connection here.

Maybe a bad connection to his part. Jay, are you there? Let's pop him back on hold, Grayson. Check and see if he's there on your side. And I'll talk to Elizabeth who wants to make a comment too.

Maybe on both topics. I'm trying to give these doggone Wake Forest Duke tickets away. The game sold out.

I want to send a couple listeners. I got two tickets here. We'll leave them right outside. We're two miles from the Lawrence Joel Coliseum and it's Coach K's last time coaching there. But I just got a headline for my brother-in-law.

Listen to this, guys. This is breaking news from Jeff Borzello, ESPN staff writer. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is missing the game. Versus Wake Forest tonight at 7 o'clock with a non-COVID illness. So it will be the last time a Coach K coached team.

Duke team will play in the Joel. Coached by him even though he won't be there tonight. Interesting. Just got this.

That's a non-COVID related illness. But assistant head coach John Shire, I believe he's taken over too for K next year. Will serve as the acting head coach for Wednesday's game. That's tonight at 7 o'clock. I'm holding two tickets.

Game sold out. But I got you covered. If someone wants to go and you got a good answer to solving the world's problems today on the line of fire with Stu Epperson in for Michael Brown. Let's jump over and talk to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, thanks for calling in. Hey, I was calling regarding the vaccination card or the negative test to get into Wake. Yeah, big game tonight. Yeah, they just dropped us on this dishonest about two or three days ago and some people are upset. You know, season ticket holders looking for this game and maybe they have a religious exemption or maybe they maybe the vaccinations trigger allergy and they're afraid or maybe someone with their same DNA suffered greatly from a vaccination and they're very healthy and they don't want to, you know, they don't want to go. Now they can't.

They're all sitting on expensive tickets and they can't go. That's one issue. I think the other issue, in my opinion, is there's many people who are coming down with COVID who are vaccinated. So you're really setting up a false sense of security when you allow people in who have a card and are vaccinated because they may actually have COVID or not. You don't know.

Part of me says they're really no better off than the rest of us. And maybe a non vaccinated person is safer because they're making us test before we go in. But my final point is that I don't think the vaccine is 100% guaranteed, you know, to work.

And the other point would be that the testing is valuable, valuable as well. So I just don't understand the nonsense. Yeah. Interesting.

Yeah. It is really look, look, listen, I'm all about I'm all about caution. I'm all about being careful.

I'm all about protecting, especially the more vulnerable among us. I'm just trying to have a conversation, especially with people, some people with some pretty strong faith convictions. And by the way, it's interesting.

It's interesting. Elizabeth, don't we always talk about, like, at what point does your passion for a sport and your faith like, you know, am I going to go to church Sunday morning or am I going to go to my kids ballgame? Right. Like, at what point do we have this conflict? Well, this is putting a different kind of of conflict catch 22 for some people. And but I really appreciate your call. And I think you've made some good points.

Let's see what some other folks think. OK. OK. Say one more thing. Yes, ma'am. So the point also is, is if you are vaccinated and that does work, then why are you worried if somebody is not vaccinated is sitting right by you? You know, wow. If you protect yourself, then you're protected.

Yeah. And they're also, by the way, requiring inside the building mandatory mask wearing for everybody as well. Which someone asked me earlier, they say, well, look, if I show a negative test and I show my vaccine card, why am I wearing a mask? But you know, but again, they're just, you know, I guess trying to be careful. And then there are some Christians that are saying, hey, if you don't wear a mask and if you don't get vaccinated and if you don't do all this stuff, then you're not loving your neighbor. You're in sin.

Is that going too far? Someone help me out on all this. Elizabeth, God bless you. I appreciate your call. All right. Bye. Eight, six, six, three, four. Truth.

Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. Hey, let's turn over all of these dying inner cities that have been run by the same politicians for decades. And they only get worse. What if we turn it over to the NFL? They're about winning. They're firing coaches and aren't aren't making it work.

Let me know what you think. And who wants these two Wake Forest Duke tickets to the game tonight with a special caveat? Eight, six, six, three, four. Truth. 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, whatever happened to common sense, whatever happened to just common sense. I'm not talking about Trump. I'm not talking about right wing.

I'm not talking about left wing. I'm talking about the fact that a little kid is going to be murdered, cold blooded in Chicago tonight. And you're not going to hear about it. You're not going to hear about rising crime rate.

You're not going to hear about the smash and grab retailer. City Journal had a big article that, you know, what's on an incredible rise is thefts and violence at retailers by organized gangs that crash the windows. They crash in. They make off with the goods. And guess what they do?

They say resell it. It proliferates their drug offices and their drug, all that stuff and the money and all that. The debt per citizen. The debt per citizen in Chicago is thirty six thousand dollars. You know, the debt for the number one debt per citizen city in America is New York City.

Sixty four thousand one hundred. If you just join us, Stu Epperson in for Dr. Michael Brown, who's recovering, should be back soon. He can't wait to be back in the seat.

I'm honored to be in here feeling for him. I'm watching the NFL. I'm watching the news about on ESPN about them firing their coach a few days ago. And then we flip over to another channel and they're talking and people in tears talking about all the murders in inner city Chicago. It keeps getting worse.

The mayor is doing nothing. And I'm just sitting here thinking these same voters go to the polls every year. The politicians get on the same party and they say, we're going to do all this stuff for you. Vote for us. You vote for them.

And what do they do? More murder, more drugs, more violence over and over again. So I simply am proposing on this show to you today, hey, let's turn the inner city of Chicago leadership over to the NFL. Why? Because the NFL, they fired their coaches.

The Denver Broncos fired the coach, the Bears, the Giants. These people are serious about winning games. And I'm serious about not losing lives. And I'm a Christian. I'm a citizen of this country. I'm paying money, the taxes, not my money. It's God's. Do I not have the voice to ask for some accountability?

What's the definition of insanity? We're doing the same thing over and over again, the same result in all these inner cities. They yet keep electing. Who's running these inner cities? Baltimore. Crime is up. Poverty is up. People are dying. It's horrible. Chicago, L.A., New York, who's in charge? The NFL comes in, they clean house, they put winning coaches in these cities and the crime stops. Why not? It may be a little common sense. Are we done with that?

I'm not having collegial conversations about this. And I'm giving away two Wake Forest Duke tickets. The game sold out.

It's tonight at seven o'clock in Winston-Salem. If you can get here, I'll leave these tickets outside for you with your name on them. But you got to be vaccinated to go to the game or you have to show a proof of a negative test. So a vaccination card. So people are upset about that.

So I want to hear your thoughts on that, too. You think that's going too far? This was just announced just a few days ago.

Is it going too far for a school with a big game like this on the line to suddenly announce that you have to show this proof to get in the game? Let's see what we've had. Jay on the line for a little bit.

We lost him before. Jay would love to have you weigh in. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you. Yes. I have very little respect for the NFL since they've become so unpatriotic. I gotcha. I gotcha.

The name itself, National Football League, they should be required to respect the country. Okay. I know. Look, Jay, I'm with you on the wonkiness of the NFL. On this show, you've heard Dr. Brown talk about, you know, they're not friendly to a lot of Christian issues. But my point is, they're about winning games. They're about... My point is, let's get someone like them.

Let's get someone like Chick-fil-A, for Pete's sake, and let me use one that you're not going to be upset about, to run inner city Chicago and maybe the killing will stop. Do you hear what I'm saying? I do.

I do. And when you put it that way, you know, it couldn't be any worse. That's what I'm saying. I mean, look, you go to these NFL teams, look, they've got to field a roster that wins. They got to get good draft picks.

They got to pay top-notch people, coaching staff, front office, back office, general manager, marketing. They got to win. And if they don't deliver, they're out. And they're firing them left and right. I'm saying, hey, I want to read a headline tomorrow that says Chicago fires their mayor. She's out. Because she's done nothing for crime up there. I don't care. Hey, I don't care if she's a card-carrying member of the Baptist Church.

And I grew up Baptist. I don't care. She's not... You know, you bring a salesperson in, you hire them. They better hit their goals. They better perform. Or guess what?

We love you, but we'll miss you. You know what I'm saying, Jay? In every profession, except the government.

That is correct. Well, that needs to change. And I'm asking, and I'm saying, what does the Church do?

Maybe we hold these people accountable, you know, these politicians, to quit thinking about right and left and thinking about doing what's honorable to God and honorable to the country. And the murder's got to stop. Jay thanks for your call. I got a bunch of folks waiting to get in here, I appreciate your call. God bless you.

He held on a long time. Thanks for being there. Yes sir, and we're glad to hear his voice as well, and we want to hear yours at 866-343.

They've got one line open, 866-348-7884. I'm trying to give away these two tickets, but you've got to have your vaccination card proof or a negative test. Some folks are upset about that.

What do you think? What if a religious person has all kinds of religious issues with this, and they feel like they're big fans of the deacons, they want to see the Wake Duke game, but they're holding... I've actually had people turn tickets away.

I wanted to give them Wake Duke tickets, the game sold out! But they're just like, nah, I'm not going to fool with that, not going to go get a test for that, I don't have my vaccination, I have a religious exemption, or I've got a severe allergy to the vaccines in my history, and I'm not going to do it. And so, what do you say to them? What does a believer do? You think that's good, bad? Where is it protecting the people?

Are you loving your neighbor? 866-34-TRUTH, I want to go to Sean, who's been holding on for some time. Sean, thanks for calling the line of fire.

You're on the air. Okay, so, the NFL thing, or the NBA, whatever, I don't think that should be... I think the inner cities, I think it's a little bit, there's more factors in it than just leadership. Leadership is one of the problems. I have a big problem with authority and leadership in general, especially with a massive amount of people anyway. Basically, more power should be towards the people, and then leadership should be helping, not controlling. I have a problem with controlling. That's probably as deep as I want to go with that. Okay.

Other than the vaccination thing, yeah... I'm trying to see you in this game tonight, Sean. Sean, I'm trying to see you in this Wake Duke game.

I got two tickets, they're burning a hole in my pocket. The one thing I do agree with is more power with the church doing things rather than just having their services, you know, wherever the community is at, and then let the community continue, and then you get on the podium... Yeah, but Sean, just let me ask this question. Just common sense. I agree with you. Churches need to step up. Churches really drop the ball. Church needs to feed the poor. Churches need to get aggressive and get grassroots going. That's what we're called to do. What are we doing?

I agree with that. But my thing is why, year after year, do these cities, the crime is escalating, the poverty gets worse and worse and worse, education's horrible, cost of living stinks, New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, and yet people go and they elect the same leadership every year, Sean. Look, I'm not knocking Democrats, I'm not knocking Republicans, I'm just saying, dude, it's time to change. You are a McDonald's franchisee and your sales are in red ink. We're going to put someone else in that store. I'm sorry. God bless you.

You're a nice person, but you're not running. I think... That's my problem. Yeah. What's your take on that?

That's my problem right there. The control. The control is the problem. We give control to people that are flawed, just like we are. I know they're, yeah, greedy, just like we are. And then we give them massive amount of power.

So it's like, you just got to understand, like, if we can get greedy in such a small level, just think about it at a higher level. But that's what they sign. They sign up to fix things. There are politicians who have fixed things. There are politicians who have... Giuliani went to New York and you know what happened to crime?

It went way down. I would feel much better if he was in charge. And by the way, I don't give a flip if he's a Republican, an independent or a Democrat or an unannounced or whatever. My daughter's 21 years old. I'm scared to death of her walking on the subway right now. They're raping people in the subway. They're shooting people. And you know what the leadership in New York City does?

They smack them on the hand and put them right back out. And I'm saying, let's... Hold on a second. Giuliani was there. That wasn't happening, bud. I'm going to tell you, that's the cold hard facts. But people get all emotional.

Well, I've always voted for this party. Well, look, put someone in there who's going to get the job done. And hold them accountable. But could we do this, though? Could we just transfer that power of, I guess, NFL franchises, could we just transfer that power to good elect, I don't want to say religious, but religious type leaders? Why not? Why not?

Why not? But you know, yeah, I mean, all these politicians, they spout out about God, but we want to see them do something honorable to God, okay? I want to see Biden and Harris stop the murder of babies. Every time someone tries to stop abortion, they sue them.

I want to see them stop abusing and hurting people that are impoverished. I want to see them stop slamming marriage all the time, okay? They talk about God all they want, but they don't live it out one bit. You know what I'm saying?

So I think there's... No, they don't live it at all. Yeah. So Sean, God bless you. I appreciate your call.

We've got other folks to jump in here. I got two tickets for you, Sean. I really want to go to the game, man. I really want you to go to the game. What do you think? Hey, it's cool, man.

If I get them, I get them. Wake Forest Duke. Wake Forest Duke. Wake Forest Duke, man. Tonight, 7 o'clock.

What do you think? Duke's all day long, man. Okay. All right.

I got two tickets for... Transfer of power to the church. Okay. Well, maybe this whole thing, per Sean's comments, is a wake-up call.

To the church. Let's see. We lost. Betsy, call us back. 866-34-TRUTH. Wow.

What a conversation. Should we let the NFL take over the dying inner cities? Because the same politicians voted in by the same people, and usually it's the same party, are losing.

And people are being murdered. NFL, if the coach loses a game, he gets fired. Let's let the NFL run these cities.

Why not? And who wants these two Duke Wake Forest tickets, but you got to have a vaccination card or proof of a negative test to get into the game tonight in Winston-Salem. Let's talk to Mickey, a North Carolina caller. Mickey, you're on the line of fire.

With Stu Epperson in for Dr. Brown. Go ahead. Thank you, Vicky. Hello? Hey, there.

Yes. Sorry. Okay. Sorry about that.

That's all right. I know it sounds a lot, but what I feel is exactly what you're saying. I understand the analogy that you're using with the NFL, because of those cities that stand in so much trouble because of the wrong leadership in there. The problem is, the Democrats lie, I mean, they lie and lie and lie, and people are not used to their own brand tickets. Yeah.

They'll say anything to get elected, but then they don't do anything. When elected, Mickey, what a point you have, or Dickie, thank you for calling. Sorry. We had to cut you off.

We had a break. More coming up. 866-34-TRUTH. God bless you. Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'm Stu Epperson.

More coming up. 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. In certain cities in America that have been run by the same people, voted in by the same people, crime rate, murder rate is up. Violence is rising. Poverty is rising. It is tragic. And yet, we keep those same people in control.

And it should be heartbreaking. I mean, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I vote. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I pay my taxes. And one of my constitutional rights in this government, but I do it in a loving, gracious way, like in forums like this radio show, Stu Epperson in for my good friend, Dr. Michael Brown. I talk about these issues. We're exercising our freedom of speech and we're asking some common sense questions like, why doesn't the NFL or, okay, you know, they've got some kind of wonky views and maybe not so politically, you know, they're kind of, they've gone politically correct, some would argue Jay said earlier, they've gone unpatriotic in some cases.

So let's say, why not Chick-fil-A? Put them in charge of, if you don't have a, if you're not managing a store and it's not profitable and productive, you're fired. And the reason I use the NFL is I just was watching how they're, this is that time now, they called it Black Friday, I think last week, where they fire their coaches. They get rid of them. They're done. They're out. And they're speculating. The other guys are going to be on the chopping block soon in NFL, in college, you know, once the bowls are over, then they start firing them. And so I'm just telling you, why don't we do that and fire some of these people that are running these cities and let the NFL take over the cities?

Just a simple question. I'm also trying to give away these two Wake Forest tickets. They announced recently that you have to have a proof of vaccination card or a negative test proof to get into the game tonight at seven. It's sold out. I've got two tickets.

I want to bless a listener. If you want to go, you let me know or let our producers know. And we're interacting on this subject right now at 866-34-TRUTH, we've got a few minutes left to go in the show, and I'm going to jump back to the phone lines and let's talk to Andy.

He's been holding on for some time. Andy, thank you for calling the line of fire. Jump on in here.

All right. Hello. Hello. Hello, Andy.

You're on the air. It's Andrew. Andrew. Fantastic. Andrew.

Great Bible name. All right. All right.

Great deal. If you don't mind me kind of being a little bit of a devil's advocate since I've been hearing this from my circles. Right?

Yeah, please do. One of the things I'm hearing is that some people would say, what's the big deal about requiring a negative COVID test? It's not like these people just want to make sure people don't get it. Yeah, I got you. Yeah.

The entire thing is that some people don't know if this is like a religious issue because they feel like, well, the Bible doesn't say anything against wearing masks or something. Right. So, yeah, this is just stuff I'm hearing.

No, yeah. Listen, I'm glad you weighed in and that's the perspective of a lot of folks and honestly, to me, it's not as big a deal as this other people. I was just a little bit surprised, you know, I offer these tickets to a pastor and he was just like a little bit frustrated by it, you know, just like, wow, that this new rule. Other people are like, what's, you know, it's not a big deal, you know, I just got tested the other day.

I'll just take that test. I've been vaccinated. I've got a card.

I'll show my card. So, but I love that. I love hearing both perspectives and today we're really just having a conversation about that and also making sure that we're communicating how we feel about these things in a gracious way. By the way, these kind of conversations, Andy, thank you for your call. God bless you, my friend. Andrew, Andrew, thank you. These conversations, by the way, are simply opportunities to share the gospel. You're like, what, Stu? We're talking about vaccinations and politics and cities and crime?

Yeah. Because, and by the way, my bottom line with me, let me tell you my passion. My passion is sharing the good news of Jesus with everyone I come in contact to. And but these are relevant conversations, relevant in our culture.

Everyone's talking about it. So guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to discuss this with my neighbor. My goal is to share the Lord with them. My goal with, look, one day when you die, whether it's of COVID or natural causes or whatever hit by a truck, do you know Jesus?

And if you're a believer, who are you sharing Christ with? So these are all opportunities and opportunities also to show that we can communicate. Believers can from the pulpit, from the radio mic, from around the water cooler at our office. We can communicate with people who we disagree with in a gracious, loving way.

And that's going to honor Christ, and that, by the way, is a great testimony as well. Joe, Dallas, Texas, you're on the line of fire. Stu phoned in for Dr. Brown. Go ahead, Joe. Thanks for calling in. Hey, Joe, you there? Hello? Joe. Hey, Joe, we can hear you. Jump on in. I'm Steven.

I'm holding. Oh, Steven. Hi, Joe. I'm sorry, well, Steven, we are, we're getting things right here. You, Steven, let's hear from you. Go ahead. What are your thoughts?

And then we'll go to Joe next. Oh, yes. I'm just calling about what you were discussing earlier about putting people in office that don't want to do the job. We got to stop thinking that we can do one thing the same way, over and over, and expect a different result. Yeah, that's a great point.

We got to put people there who is willing to do the job. Yes, sir. And they have to be Christians or non-Christians. They are Christians worse than people who are not Christians. And that's why, you know, that's why I told, you know, that's why you, you know, you may have a heart doctor who's quite profane and quite mean, but if he's, if he's the best guy out there, I want him working on my mom's heart.

You know, I may not want the sweet Christian, I may not want, hey, I may not want the sweet Christian heart doctor working on my mom's heart if the guy's not, you know, not as, not as effective, right? Correct. Correct. And that's the same thing, you know, with politics, anything else. You want somebody there to do the job.

If they can't do the job, you need to put someone there who can do the job. Okay. God bless you, Steven. Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Keep God in mind, because without him, we can do nothing. That's it. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what? Whatever, whatever stripe or flavor of the politician, God calls us to pray for them. Okay? Consult the Word of God.

1 Timothy 2 and 3, we're to pray for those in power. And let's see Joe here. Joe, I'm not going to call you Steven, even though I called Steven Joe. Thanks for hanging on, man.

I'm going to hang up on in here. Joe? Okay. Hey, Joe, you there? Hello?

Okay. Let's try to get him back and let's go to Luanne. We're almost out of time.

If you want to weigh in quickly, please do so before we wrap up here on today's episode of The Line of Fire. I still have two Wake Forest Duke tickets. Luanne, am I sending you to the Wake Forest Duke game tonight?

I got two tickets right here with your name on them. I hope so, because I got my vaccinated done, I've got a son who's got his vaccination done, and we are big time Wake Forest fans, and I just say people quit panicking over this thing. Get a shot if you feel like you need to, otherwise God's going to take care of it. Just quit panicking, folks. Yeah.

And I like that word. No need to panic. No need to let the consumption. In fact, I was at lunch with some guys talking about this, and the guy said, man, I'm just tired of talking about this. I'm like, that's fine. You know, let's move on to something else, let's not make it dominate, but let's let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and our conversations.

Not all of this stuff. But Luanne, we're going to put you on a brief hold, and we're going to bless you with tickets to go to the game tonight. What's that? I said thank you! God bless you. Hold on, and our team is going to tell you our address, and we're going to leave these for you with a Christian radio card for you, too, and you enjoy the game, okay? God bless you.

Thank you. I'm so glad someone won, and maybe Joe is still there. Joe, are you there? Joe? Hey, Joe, you there? Okay, so we're trying to get Joe on the line.

It's been an honor to be with you today, friends. Stu Epperson in for Dr. Michael Brown. Keep him in your prayers, he'll be back very soon.

He's feeling a lot better. I guess the bottom line truth for today is going to be, yes, pray for your politicians, but don't sit on your hands. It's okay to demand accountability, and it's okay to expect results. And that's the whole start of the whole thing with, and this is not a... By any stretch, I'm not sitting here with a huge commendation of the NFL.

They've sidestepped before, and they've blown it on some issues and whatnot, but coaches don't win games, they get fired. Chicago, the crime rate's up, let's fire some people. Put someone, some entity like the NFL, like Chick-fil-A, like Elon Musk, someone in charge of these cities so the killing stops. I mean, it's one thing to lose games and get fired if you're losing lives over and over again, and crime is up and poverty is up and all that, and people go and vote for these same politicians that promise the world, and yet it increases poverty, multiplies and compounds under their leadership. What are we doing?

That, my friends, is bad stewardship. And if you're a Christian and even a pastor, speak up and encourage people to vote for people that will honor God, but get things done and work towards solutions to these issues. And that is the bottom line truth. And ultimately, I love what Luanne said. What a blessing she is. She said, look, trust God, and don't take these, the COVID and the vaccination things and these conversations, don't let them dominate the narrative of your life. Be defined by Jesus, who he is and why he came, and let him rule your life. Finally, my verse for the new year, 2, 22, and 2022. First Corinthians chapter 2, verse 22.

What does it say? Paul said, I'm determined to know Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was consumed with who Jesus is and why Jesus came. Let that consume your conversation. Politics is a bridge to talk about Jesus, the COVID, the vaccinations, the quarantine. They're all a bridge to talk about Jesus. Use your social media to point people to Jesus Christ. He is the only way. He's our only hope. And he's coming back. This is a program powered by the truth network.