Dr. Brown Tackles Your Toughest Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Joining us today on the line of fire, Michael Brown.

Delighted to be with you. Phone lines are wide open. Any subject, any question, any comment that ties in in any way with anything we ever talk about on the radio, anything I've written, spoken about, something a guest has talked about, wide ranging subjects. Yes, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. As always, those who differ with us, critics and others, phone lines are open to you.

Let us start with Morris in Bonita, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Morris, are you there? Yes, sir, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. I had a question. I've been kind of going back and forth with some friends on Daniel 9, and they pretty much put something all up.

Does it mean when heaven and earth pass away, was that referred to the temple on the second destruction of the temple? No, sir, absolutely not. Okay, good. That is a myth.

That is an absolute myth. Okay, I'm with you on that. I have one more question, because I deal with this class of people, I deal with another class of people who are very much a certain thing that also Paul was a false apostle. And I disagree with that, but it's very deep rooted in some people. So what are your thoughts on that?

Well, it's complete nonsense on every level. The writings of Paul were received early by the early church. There is no major rejection of his writing except in schismatic groups.

He was welcomed by the apostles. If you're going to say that Paul was a false apostle, then that means Luke was a false teacher, so you eliminate the book of Luke and you eliminate the book of Acts. You eliminate 2 Peter, which commends the writings of Paul. You eliminate the testimony of all the early church fathers that speak of Paul.

So it's complete nonsense. There's some schismatic groups. Now, if someone is not claiming to be a follower of Jesus, or claiming that the Bible is not the word of God, and that there were these other groups, there was a tension between James, Jacob, there was a tension between James and Paul, or that Paul started something new and it's different than the original Jesus, that's a whole other thing. In other words, they're throwing out the Bible, right?

And they're just taking a little bit here and a little bit there, and claiming these things. But otherwise, if you're going to give the Bible any authority, and the early church any authority, then of course, Paul was one of the key men raised up by God and the writer of almost half of the New Testament, whose writings are critically, foundationally important. You throw out Paul, you throw out the Gospel, you throw out the New Testament, you throw out the Bible as we have it. Yes, sir. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Yes, sure thing. 866-34-TRUTH. Just to clarify one point that Morris was asking, there is a teaching going around that when Jesus said that until heaven and earth pass away, that thus and such will not pass away. So Matthew 5, Matthew 24, that that was an idiom, referring to the temple in Jerusalem, and he wasn't talking about the end of the age, and the destruction of the heavens and the earth, or the renewal of the heavens and the earth.

He was talking about the destruction of the physical temple. Nonsense. Internet myth.

Nonsense. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Melinda in Adrian, Missouri. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, how are you? Doing well, thank you.

Awesome. Hey, I have a question regarding my pastor. So I've been pretty frustrated, my wife and I have been, at church, just because we have so much zeal for the Lord, we've been saved almost two years, and we want to do so much, we want to do some outreach, we want to do some, you know, go to maybe some pride parades and spread the Gospel. We just have a lot of a lot of zeal and excitement. And it just seems like our church doesn't do anything. I mean, we don't do fundraisers, we don't do outreach, we do nothing.

We show up on Sunday, and we go out to lunch afterwards, watch the NFL and then just have a hunky dory day. And so the problem is, is I've confronted him before, and he gets super defensive, says things like, you know, you can tell he's convicted is what it is. You're talking about your pastor, when you say confronted him, you mean your pastor? Yes.

Okay. And so I'll confront him about these things, and he'll say things like, oh, well, you're young, you're not mature enough, you know, basically just accusing me of, I guess, being too young and not understanding, and you have a lot of zeal, but, you know, I had a lot of zeal when I was first saved, and I'm glad that I didn't go out because I would have looked like an idiot, blah, blah, blah, and I'm just like, how do I handle that? Right, so you're in the wrong place. That's the pastor of the church, and he's the leader, just like if you have kids, you're the leader in your home, and just like if you're the boss of a business, you're the leader. So God hasn't called you to lead the church, and if you make an appeal, not confront, not rebuke, but if you make an appeal to the pastor and ask him would he consider these things or you're aggrieved, you're burdened over this, or would he release you to raise up others to go out, if he says, no, that's not who we are, that's not what we do, then you honor him and move on somewhere else. If you have to drive two hours to be of people of like mind, if you have to get a home fellowship or something like that, it's not for you to change the church.

For example, let's say that you're a terrific Italian cook, and you go to a local Chinese restaurant that's got bad Chinese, and you think, wow, if you just changed to an Italian restaurant, I could help you, and you could make a lot of money. Well, that's not your place to do it, so it's frustrating. You may be 100% right in all your perceptions, but God didn't make you the pastor, and that's simply the way it works, or if it's led by a team of elders or whoever. So the same way, somebody may not agree with the way you're raising your kids, but that's not for them to tell you what to do because they're not your kids.

So it is frustrating. You don't want to let your zeal be quenched, but if that's where the people are at, then you're in the wrong place. The whole thing of church is not who your friends are or who you like hanging out with, but people of like-minded faith who want to go for it together. Get yourself in a place like that and give yourself to the gospel and serve in whichever ways you can and get involved. And if it's a healthy church, they'll be doing a lot of outreach already, but then when they get to know you and find you trustworthy, they'll empower you to do things as well. So rather than stay frustrated and be against the leaders there, best to graciously move on and ask for blessing as you do. Say, hey, I don't want to be a nuisance, I don't want to be a thorn in your side, but obviously I don't fit here and you're the pastor, I'm not, so just ask for your blessing. We'll be making our home somewhere else. All right?

Yeah, thank you. What's unfortunate is I'm very close with him. Like, we fish and we do things outside of church, so it's just biblically that we disagree and I'm like, isn't it a call for all of us to go, you know, faith without works is dead? I mean, and so, and what I wanted to ask you about, respond to what you said is, are you saying that it's kind of like a way that he runs his church? Like, because I'm kind of thinking about this in like an objective problem in the body of Christ, not just how you prefer to run a church. Like, aren't we called to outreach and called to go see?

Yes, yes. Like I said, you can be 100% right, but it's not your job to change the church unless God's made you the leader. I'll give you an example. Let's say that it's a Baptist church that doesn't believe in speaking in tongues and you've been filled with the Spirit and you speak in tongues and you're 100% sure it's scriptural. So that's my position, right? But the pastor and the elders don't believe in it. So you could say, hey, would you mind reading this book about this or could we have a discussion one day about these verses? And if they say, we've read those books, we've had our discussion, this is what we believe, then you can either honor them and remain quiet or you can honor them and leave to go somewhere else. But that's what they teach. If it's wrong, it's wrong. And they're accountable to God for it. But it's not to the individual congregants to now dictate the way change goes. Authority just doesn't work like that. It's just like if you work in a company and you know this company is not acting ethically and you challenge them to act ethically and they don't. Well, then you leave, right?

Because you don't own the company. So what I'd say is the best way to maintain a friendship with the pastor is to just say, hey, look, you know, I don't want to be a thorn in your side here. I'm burning to get out. I believe the church is called to get out. If it's not the way you see things, hey, I'm going to go somewhere else and let's be friends.

I've had I've maintained friendships with people by not being in the same church with them over the years. Right. And we work together better and are better friends from the outside. And then the other thing is pray, pray, pray. All right.

That's that's the other thing. Pray, pray, pray, God, your best, not negative prayers, God, your best for pastor, your best for the church may and then pray for yourself. Lord, may we all have a heart burning for you. And if you feel, hey, I'm I'm supposed to do that, support him, honor him and then pray secretly.

Fine. Otherwise, move on somewhere else. Get out there serving and or at the very least, if you stay, say, can I have your blessing to go out? And if he says go for it, do it, then you do it.

Get some other friends to do it with you. But otherwise, get past the frustration and move on. Hey, thank you, sir, for the call. And my counsel here is kind of universal based on these principles. 866-348-7884.

Let's go to Jay in Boise, Idaho. Welcome to the line of fire. Solomon, thank you for taking the calls.

Sure thing. So I had a question and I've been in a dialogue with a good friend of mine who's a Seventh-day Adventist. And one of the primary areas of disagreement between your standard evangelical and SDA would be the identity of who would type a scapegoat.

And I won't go into the law to the all of it because it takes too long. But it fundamentally boils down to the question used for or to the word used for scapegoat as a veil. Yeah. And their view is that a goat for as a veil would be for a being as a veil. But my understanding of the word is that originally it just means something like entire removal and that it doesn't become a being until after the destruction of the second temple. Kind of in the in a similar vein to Lilith. So I was curious, do you have any insight on what that word means and the origins of this angelic figure as a veil?

Yeah, sure thing. So I will comment on that on the other side of the break. So as a sale, translated in English as scapegoat, the goat that escapes, is that referring to a demon in the wilderness? Or is it saying this is for the goat that will escape or is it the goat is for this demon?

We'll answer that on the other side of the break. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

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People are already getting it and sending notes as to how much they're appreciating it. All on the website, askdrbrown.org. All right, so, Jay, back to you. There is actually a major debate among scholars to this day and it is not solved. Was there a demon in the wilderness called Azazel? And was the second goat, one goat was killed and it was brought into the holiest place of all.

And then there was a second goat that was sent out into the wilderness. Was that sent out to a demon? Was it sent to a demon in some type of payment? No, cannot be.

Certainly wrong. Was it sent out to a demon, meaning it goes into an unclean place, it brings the pollution out to an unclean place? That's one way to read it. The other way would be Azazel deriving it as if it was from Azazel, the goat that escaped, the goat that went out. There is debate among scholars to this day. Without question, though, the two goats point to the twofold work of Jesus, dying to cleanse us of our sins and dying to remove our sins from us. Both of those aspects are expressed in what the two goats did, so they are both types of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.

How much is certain from a typological point of view? I appreciate that. One of the back and forth we've been having is, me and this other gentleman, has been the... From what I can gather, because I've dealt with this with Lilith before, you know, the word Lilith is in Isaiah 34, 14, but there's no figure called Lilith for almost over a thousand years. No, no, no. Actually, to the contrary, Lilith is a demon there. It's a night demon. That's known all the way back to Sumerian and Akkadian literature. To clarify, though, what I mean specifically is a... Because my understanding is that it's a Sumerian class of demon, but the woman, the figure Lilith, is a later literary invention.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Or the idea that Adam was first married to Lilith and then he divorced her, so now she tries to kill all the subsequent children. Right.

Those myths develop later, but the idea of Lilith being a demon of the night of some kind, yeah, that's clearly what Isaiah is speaking about, but the traditions that come out of it, yeah, yeah, those are many hundreds of years later. Right, and so my understanding was, because I've been unable to find a reference to the figure Azazel. Correct. And I think the earliest that they could find is Mishnah. Right, right.

No, no, the reason is... Right, no, not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge. But we don't have everything attested, you know what I'm saying? Just because we don't have a specific reference, that's why scholars still debate it. So your research is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I haven't studied this in depth in some time, but I don't think there's anything new discovered. But you just, you have to be careful with saying, well, the old saying, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Just because we don't have a certain thing attested, a demonic figure in other ancient Near Eastern literature called Azazel, doesn't mean that such a figure did not exist.

And again, there's scholarly speculation about that. But thank you. Your facts as presented are accurate based on what we know. I appreciate it. 866-3-4-2. By the way, with that now, we have two phone lines open. If you want to try to call, this is a perfect time to do it.

And we go to Mario over in London. Welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown, thank you very much for taking the call. Before asking the question, I wanted to say, I'm coming to, if I can wait, my wife is very excited.

I will be ready, I'm sure. My question relates to the work of Daniel McDonald. I wanted to ask if you're familiar with it. So basically, he's a New Testament scholar who argues that there are a lot of similarities between the Gospel account and the New Testament in general and the Homeric epics. And so one point that he makes which embodies me a little bit, because I never heard a very good refutation of it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which is the first resurrection account, basically there is nothing physical. And the physical, let's say, resurrection kind of testimonies are in the Gospel. But those are very, very similar to the Homeric epics. So for instance, the Gospel of Luke, if you read the stories, I think it's very similar to one of the Iliad stories. So I wanted to ask, have you ever looked into it? What do you think about it?

Obviously, everyone kind of tries to find similarities between New Testament and other works, and usually they fall apart. But this one seems to me like a good argument. And thank you very much, Dr. Brown. Yes, I appreciate it. I'm not sure if I've followed every part, so I just want to ask a question. Hey, did you call some months back after you and your wife just had another baby?

A new baby? Yes. Okay, I remember that.

Just Mario from London stuck in my head, and when you mentioned your wife again, I thought, wait a second. Okay, good, good. I did remember that. All right, so the parallel here that is being raised, an extra-Biblical parallel, is comparing these first appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. Comparing them to what, exactly?

I think there is an account in the Iliad from Homer, which is very similar, like, you know, there is, I can't remember the name of the Iliad hero, but basically goes back to his father, and he says, look, I've been attacked, but I'm back alive, something like this. So my point is, like, obviously... I don't see, right, these people looking for parallels, this has happened for centuries and centuries and centuries. They simply don't exist. The type of thing that happened, to as many people as it happened, the idea that a myth could just be created, and now a movement built on it, when you would have had a whole generation of eyewitnesses who'd say it never happened. So there was no body, there was no person, there was no one that we ate with and talked with, and the hundreds of people saw before he ascended to heaven and these things. So the parallels are really, same with virgin birth, the alleged parallels, the more you look at them, you think, wow, the Gospel accounts are like night and day.

The same way here, so you, again, a reference to the Iliad or something, everyone's known that, you know, the Greco-Roman scholars and early Mediterranean scholars, they all knew these things. So, no, to me, all of it breaks down, especially when you scrutinize it more deeply, and the nature of the crucifixion, the amount of people seeing him die, the amount of people seeing him rise, the surprise at it, the shock at it, all of that, it really does break down. Have you read my book, Resurrection? Not really.

No, that's all right. There's a lot to read for every book that's out there that I've read. There are multiplied millions that I didn't. But you may enjoy looking into it. Resurrection, investigating a rabbi from Brooklyn, a preacher from Galilee, and the event that changed the world.

Resurrection, I'm sure you get it either paperback or e-book over in England. I think you'll really find it interesting, because I look at a contemporary potential parallel and then show how it only highlights the uniqueness of the Resurrection. Hey, thank you for the question, 86634truth.

All right, let's go to Roy in South Carolina. I'll try to answer your question before the break, but if not, I'll finish after. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, Dr. Michael Byron, I appreciate your ministry. Thank you.

I actually have two quick questions, one you probably can rattle off and answer very quickly. One of which was, you've addressed many false prophets, I just was interested in who you considered some prophets that you would trust in. And then my other question, which I gave to you when I called in was, what is your advice for employees that work for companies that pay for people to travel for an abortion? Should they contact their HR department and say they don't agree with that statement?

Or just listen to the Holy Spirit and each case is unique on what that employee should do. Yes. All right. So, yeah, everyone has to work that out. Second question first, everyone has to work that out. In other words, if a company is saying we're taking our profits and we're using some of our income to fund abortions, if you can't get an abortion in this state, we'll fund you to travel to another state and you're an employee there. Do you keep working there? Do you register your disapproval and say you don't want to be an active participant, you want to be on record that you differ? Do you use that company as a platform to speak out against it? Everyone has to get God's mind on that and find out what the strategy is. Obviously, many companies use funds for all kinds of things that we differ with. Where do we draw the line?

What's too far? So, everyone has to work that out for themselves. I'd encourage you to check out a brother I've gotten to know in recent years, but he's been around for decades, Jim Lafoon. I think it's L-A-F-O-O-N. Highly regarded as a very, very accurate prophetic voice today, but one that's behind the scenes.

You won't see him in a lot of big, high places, very much behind the scenes, but I've been exposed to him in recent years. All right, God bless. Call me a fanatic. It's our world.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to the Line of Fire, 866-348-7884. You've got questions of any kind, relate in any way to the broadcast. We've got answers. All right, let us go to Paul in Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the work you do.

Thanks. I wanted to just bring up, in the Gospel of John, when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, he encouraged her to go get her husband, to which we know she replied that she isn't married, and Jesus said, correct, and you've had five others before, and the one who is now is not your husband. In regards to that, my question is, as a believer, there was a period of time where I was married for ten years, I ended up divorcing, the divorce was not on Biblical ground, I simply had kind of turned my back on that point to the Church and God's faith due to various circumstances and being worn down in my marriage, and I walked away from that marriage. Now, since then, she is in a committed relationship, has been for three and a half years, even having a child, and now I'm in a situation where, following my divorce, I entered into a relationship with somebody, moved in, engaged in intimate practices, so we were sleeping together, and basically, I'm trying to find out, after a year of that going on, I felt really convicted that I wasn't supposed to be doing that outside of the bonds of marriage. So, I left that relationship.

Should I be turning back to that now because I slept with her? Okay, the fact that you slept with her obviously does not justify marrying her or sleeping with her again, that was sexual immorality, of course, can be forgiven through the cross, and God can take our mistakes and turn them into stepping stones for us to grow and learn from, but what you really have to do is step back, sit down with a solid pastor that you're in good relationship with, and review the past. And you could make a very strong case to say you divorced your wife without biblical grounds, and you don't have the right to remarry, the fact that she's in a relationship with someone else, married to someone else, after you divorced her, does not free you.

That argument could strongly be made. There are others who would claim that because she's in a new relationship and married that that releases you. Others would say no, that's if you engage in a new relationship that's still adultery as long as the person is alive. So Paul, I'm not going to tell you what to do there. You need to study the scriptures carefully, and you need to sit down with a godly pastor that holds to biblical ethics, and is not just going to be a yes man, and really look at this there. Marriage is a sacred thing in God's sight, and our no-fault divorce culture in the church has brought terrible destruction on our society in many ways. Again, God forgives. I know so many people that have been through difficult divorces, and God's forgiven, and many I believe have had grounds to remarry, and they're blessed. But this is something you really need to work out before the Lord, and with a godly pastor, whether you can marry again, so I couldn't live without being with someone in sex. We can do anything with God's help. We can do anything with God's help.

But in this particular case, you really need to sit down with a leader and look at things, go back through history. Obviously, if the woman you divorced, your wife, was not with someone now, then it would behoove you to seek reconciliation, and humble yourself, and confess your sin, and show her that you're a different person, and seek to reconcile. That's not an option now, but does that release you to remarry? Many would say certainly not.

Others would say, well, yes it would, so you really need to work that through. And because of the weight of this, I'm not going to tell you what to do. That's not my place, it's a phone call to someone I don't know that would not be righteous in the sight of the Lord for me to say more. So, may the Lord help you to honor him, may he give you grace to live in self-control until whatever next step is, or in the years ahead. And may he connect you with some godly leaders that can really speak into your life. Thank you for calling with such a weighty question, but that's as far as I can go in an answer from this distance.

866-344-TRUTH. Let me just talk here for another moment. I will weigh in on all kinds of controversial issues, even though I'm aware many times that doing so will cost me support, or will cost me listeners or followers. That's always been immaterial. I never calculate that, even for a split second. It doesn't enter my mind.

I'm going to do my best to speak truthfully. There are certain situations I'm asked about, and there's an argument on different ways, different sides. Scholars debate it to this day. Bible translators debate to this day. Theologians debate them to this day.

People who love Jesus passionately debate them to this day. The fact that I'm not going to weigh in definitively on every point is because there are different sides to an argument, and I haven't landed in a particular place. But then there are situations like this which are so weighty. Of course I can tell this brother, no, don't sleep with this woman, and the fact that you slept with her doesn't mean you're supposed to marry her. I can say that emphatically and clearly. And I do have grave concerns about someone that divorces for no biblical reason, and then life goes on and they get closer to the Lord and now they want to remarry. I have grave concerns, but I am not aware of every circumstance and the whole story and narrative, so for me to say more is wrong. Also, I don't want to condemn others who are in different situations, and the moment you hear me say some of these things you immediately feel, oh no, I'm remarried, is that sin? I'm not making a blanket statement, alright? So please hear these, apply them as the shoe fits, and then when you have questions, don't bury them.

Take them to the Lord and say, Lord, I want what's best, and then sit down with solid spiritual leaders and work these things through. Alright, we go back to the phones. Let's go to Salt Lake City, Utah. Harry, you are on the line of fire. How are you doing, Nicholas?

I'm doing great, thanks for asking. Good, good. So my question is, I'm going through the book of Job and my Bible reading, and I was just wondering, why is that book considered scripture, you know, how did the Jews come to accept Job, where does the book come from? It just seems so differently written than all the other books that it's kind of in a class of its own.

Yeah, oh it is, it's in a class of its own. As I spent years writing a commentary on it, I'm all the more awed, awestruck by the book, but we don't know exactly how every book became part of the canon of scripture, right? In other words, it's one thing with the early church where you could see the process of, okay, an apostle wrote this, or an eyewitness wrote this, or it was an associate of an apostle, things like that, and then what was received early on, you know, the writings of Paul or Matthew, Mark, and Luke, or whatever was received early on, and then was built on. But when we're talking about the canon of Israel, it's so much more ancient, and over such a long period of time, that we don't know exactly how every book got in. For example, 1 and 2 Samuel, Samuel didn't write 2 Samuel, Samuel didn't write all this stuff about after his death, and you know, who wrote 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, or why this book or that, so there are a lot of questions that we have, but the larger process was that over a period of time, the nation of Israel recognized a particular thing as holy and as God's word, so God from his point orchestrated things in such a way that the people on their part recognized these books. So by the time of Jesus, there doesn't seem to be a debate about any of the books of what we have as the Old Testament now being part of the Bible.

We know there may have been some minor debate in the years that followed in the Jewish community, but that was based on books that were already accepted, like Song of Solomon, and now some question, well, is that really sacred scripture, isn't it like love songs, don't the prostitutes use some of these verses? As to the reason that Job is in the Bible, it presents a challenge to the simple idea that if you're righteous, everything goes well, and if you're wicked, you're always punished, and it says it doesn't always work out like that, especially in the short term, but don't now change your theology and say, well, the person suffering must have sinned, or God must be sending these evil things, no, there's often more going on behind the scenes, and then it gives voice to the question, the pain, the challenge when he feels like, hey, it's in the Bible, but let's get to the end where God himself is the answer. Where the book came from, we don't know, we don't know who wrote it, it is the most mysterious in that regard, in the Talmud where this is discussed about when Job was written, you have a range of dates over 1000 different years speculating, so we don't know, it is, in terms of intellectual material and vocabulary, the loftiest book in the entire Bible, and yet we absolutely don't know who wrote it. But from everything we can tell, from the most ancient days when there's reference to scripture or Bible, or things being attested like the Dead Sea Scrolls, Job was always there. Job's been accepted as scripture from well before the time of Jesus without debate.

How it got in, we don't know exactly. Okay, it's such an amazing book, so different, so unique from all the other books, I was just wondering how much we do know. So that's it. If you ever get a chance to check out my commentary, it's called Job, the faith to challenge God, a new translation and commentary. Job, the faith to challenge God, a new translation and commentary. In the intro, I quote from different folks who say, you know, if all literature was gone in the world, they could only have one book, they'd have the book of Job.

I mean, it's extraordinary stuff, and a majestic book in that regard, and I'm so thrilled it's part of the canon of scripture. Okay, we'll get to as many calls as we can on the other side of the break. Make sure you visit vitaminmission.com, our sponsor, Dr. Mark Stangler. Check out the great health supplements, you get a special discount by being one of our listeners when you do. And Dr. Stangler in turn donates generously to our ministry, so vitaminmission.com.

We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again, it's Dr. Michael Brown. All right, let's get straight back to the phones. Let's go to Carlos in Ohio. Welcome to the line of fire.

Good afternoon, Dr. Michael Brown. My question, sir, to you is are we to read the Bible in black and white in the sense of it says what it means, what it says, and it says what it means? One of the particular things I'm talking about is right now there's so much confusion in the homosexual lifestyle. I listen to different people besides you.

Some believe that a Christian can be a homosexual as long as he or she are not practicing it. Am I to believe that? Right, so a couple of things, Carlos.

Just a little bit of problem in the connection so you can hear me, but we won't hear any echo in the background. Okay, number one, we are to read the Bible as it was intended to be read. So history you read as history, poetry as poetry. When you said should we read it in black and white, that's an idiom then, right? What does it mean in black and white? So when the Bible uses an idiom, we understand it's an idiom.

When it's using an allegory, we understand it's an allegory. When it's saying don't murder, here's a command, don't murder. If you murder, you'll be put to death. That's literally what it means, just like the law. Just like when you're driving down the road and speed limit 45 miles an hour, that doesn't mean 4 plus 5 equals 9 and 9 is like 90, so I can go 90.

No, it's 45. So when the Bible calls us to repent and believe, that's literally what it means. The Bible explicitly forbids homosexual practice. The Bible explicitly forbids a man lying with a man or a woman with a woman. It explicitly says this is contrary to God's design at creation.

It explicitly says those who practice those things will not inherit the kingdom of God, just like those who practice many other things that God forbids in scripture will not inherit the kingdom of God. You say, what about someone who is same-sex attracted but doesn't act on it, says it is wrong in God's sight, repudiates it, and if God doesn't change them, is content to be single? God bless that person.

Thank God for them. If they can continue to grow in grace and see a change in their desires, wonderful. If they say, Lord, the very feeling of this is unclean, purge me, cleanse me, wonderful. But as long as they are not acting on the flesh, then you need to honor, support, and encourage. Should they identify as gay Christians or say, I'm a homosexual but not practicing?

No, no, no, no. That's using the terminology and thought of the world. They should say, I'm a follower of Jesus. Well, did you struggle with anything? Yeah, I've struggled with same-sex attraction, but I say no to it, and I turn to the Lord for grace, just like someone else may struggle with opposite-sex attraction. You know, a single guy and heavily attracted to the opposite sex but no sexual outlet? You say no to it, and you honor the Lord. In the one case, homosexual, there is no possibility of a relationship with someone of the same sex in the sexual or romantic way that God will bless.

That's clear. When it comes to heterosexual, then there could be the potential of marriage to the opposite sex in a holy way that God will bless. So we're not comparing apples with apples there, but do not identify as homosexual, gay. Rather, I'm a follower of Jesus, and I struggle with same-sex attraction.

My friend struggles with this, my other friend struggles with this, but we say no to it. Jesus called us to deny ourself, take up the cross and follow him. And by his grace, we continue to pursue change. Those people need our support, our encouragement, our love, our friendship. If they fall ten times, we help them back up and move forward in Jesus' name. Thank you for the question. All right, let us go to Roy in Montana.

Welcome to the line of fire. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.

Hey, I have a quick question here, real quick. You did a teaching years ago when you were in Baltimore, and you did it on, like, Finney and Praying Hyde, Ann and I and Judson. And I love those, and I have it downloaded to my really old iPod, but I'd like to give them as gifts. Is there anywhere I can get those?

Yeah, if you go to AskDrBrown.org, AskDrBrown.org, and click on Store, you'll see it in the audio resources. Giants of the Faith, yeah, Smith Wigglesworth, Adonai and Judson, George Whitefield, John Lake, Praying Hyde. Boy, those were staggering people to teach on. I remember when I would teach on those when I lived actually in, we did those in Rockville, Maryland, and when I would teach on those late 80s, early 90s, I'd get home after teaching, say, teaching on the prayer life of John Hyde, and I'd be completely devastated. I thought, I had never touched this in a million years. And then I'd wake up the next morning and say, if God used them, he could use me. The challenge was, every week was such a stretch, you know, Wigglesworth on faith, Judson on sacrificial service, you know, and so it was a jarring thing each week. But many were blessed by those, so the audio series on those that we distributed, it's still that audio series.

I taught it late 80s, early 90s, we thought, good, it's the best I've taught it, so that's where you can get it, AskDrBrown.org, Store, and it should be under audio resources. Thank you, because they are awesome. Well, thank you.

Yeah, go ahead. My question to you is, you know, God's people should give. There's no doubt in my mind that God's people should give, but is there any place in the Old Testament that tells you to tithe money like we're seeing nowadays? It seems to me like it should be, you know, back then it was like a tenth of your crops or your wine, and it was so many times a year or whatever. Actually though, if you'll read, if you'll study the laws in Deuteronomy, when the people were to bring tithes to Jerusalem every several years, they were converted into money. So take whatever of the crops, of the flocks, etc., convert it into money, and then bring the money, and then that would be given. So that's just, again, all we're doing is being practical, updating things as of today. And look, I've been in services in India where the people come and they put a pineapple in the front, or they put this vegetable in the front, and that's their offering, that's what they have. And it's very sacred when I see that.

But practically, we deal with money today, but it's the same principle. But in Deuteronomy, you'll see that, hey, thank you for the call, and let's go to Drew in Maryland. We've only got a few minutes, but let's do the best we can to dive in. Go ahead, please. Alright, hello, Dr. Brown, can you hear me? Yeah, I can. Can you hear me? Alright, the question I have is, how do I get over some anger and resentment towards my parents, especially when I feel like they should have known better, especially as Christian parents?

Got it, got it. Alright, I'm not going to ask more questions, just so I can answer in more detail. These are very challenging things, especially when we feel, hey, I have a lifelong wound because of this, I'm carrying the weight of this, I'm still scarred by this, why didn't they see, why didn't they do better? So the first thing is we spend time in God's presence, praying for God's best for them, and thanking God for them for every good thing they did, for every sacrifice they made, for efforts that they made, that's the first thing. Second, we remember how God forgave us. How many times have we blown it? Since we've been believers, how many times have we blown it?

How many times have we disobeyed or fallen short or let others down? How does God forgive us? Does he say, well, I'm not going to forgive because you knew better.

No, I'm going to hold this against you because at this stage of life, you shouldn't be doing it anymore. No, he forgives through the cross, Jesus tells us, Paul says, as you've been forgiven, forgive. So you meditate on that, God, how do you forgive me? That's how I'm called to forgive others.

And read through Matthew 18, the parable at the end of that chapter, read that through. So you pray for them, you thank God for them, you meditate on how God gave you, you look at how strongly Jesus says we have to forgive. And from the heart, the same way that we've been forgiven. And then you make a quality decision, Lord, even though I may not feel it, I am going to volitionally forgive in your sight. I'm not going to hold this against them. From the heart, I'm going to forgive as much as it lies in me.

And where I fall short, I'm asking you to take it from here. If you'll do those things, God will give you grace. I think of Corrie ten Boom talking about giving a Christian presentation and meeting a former Nazi at the end of it who was just so glad to meet her. And she realized this is the man that basically tortured my sister in prison, watched her die. And when God said forgive him, forgive him, she couldn't, she just couldn't. She said, how could you?

Come on. But she knew what God wanted and she reached out her hand and as she did, the Spirit of God just came through her and touched her and touched him to the point of weeping. So you do those things, you pray for them regularly. If they're not alive, you thank God for them every way that you can. You recognize how God forgives us, the depth of it, that we do not deserve it. Zero of it. And he gives us all of it. And then in God's sight, on your knees, say, Lord, I choose to forgive with everything in me.

Help me to do it. If you don't feel it, speak it anyway and the grace will follow and enable you. Don't carry it, my brother. Don't hold on to unforgiveness. It's unhealthy.

It's unbiblical. Releasing them will release you. Have an awesome weekend, friends. Remember the website, AskDrBrown.org. Make sure you get our e-mails.