You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers

You've got questions, we've got answers, let's do it. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Well, thank you for joining us today on the line of fire. This is Michael Brown, your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity in the midst. Of a society and chaos and a church all too often in compromise. It is our Friday broadcast on the line of fire, which means you've got questions, we've got answers. Any question under the sun in anything that relates to this broadcast, give me a call.

Any area of expertise I have where I can help you, give me a call. 866-34TRUTH. That's 866-348-7884. As always, I'll get to as many calls as possible. I want to start with an email question from Paul.

I understand you're coming out with a book next year that espouses a post-trib rapture. I'd like to begin studying from this perspective right now. Is there a book? that you can recommend for me. All right, so a little clarity on that.

Professor Craig Keener and I, God willing, are co-authoring a book. That I think will come out in 2019 just because of other publishing commitments we have, on why we don't believe in a pre-trib rapture. When you say we're espousing a post-trib rapture, that presupposes the same seven-year tribulation period.

So that'll be something else we discuss in the book. But certainly, we don't believe in a pre-trib rapture. We do believe that whatever tribulation, testing, difficulty, pain, trial will be here, that we'll be right in the midst of it, but protected by God from his wrath and able by his grace to overcome. The works of the evil one, and therefore we should not be afraid of. The Antichrist, and we'll each be taking different aspects of that as well as telling our own story.

Now, I also want to make this clear: some of the finest Christians I know in the world believe in a preacher of rapture. People I've worked with for many years believe in a pre-trip rapture. I don't divide over this. And in fact, I can't even tell you what everyone on my own leadership team believes about it because. It's just not a point of discussion, and it doesn't affect the way we minister.

There are folks I've ministered with around the world for years, and I don't know where they stand on it. It's never come up in all of our preaching, teaching, and ministering, and serving together for these years. All of us. should live in readiness to meet the Lord. All of us should live with a sense of eager expectation that we want to see him return.

and all of us should be prepared to trust God to carry us through no matter what. But here's what I'd encourage you to do. rather than reading other books, On the subject. What I would do is start reading to the New Testament again. And say, Father, Give me eyes to see.

Help me to understand what your word says and do your best to read it. as if you'd never read it before and no one had ever told you what they believed before. And ask yourself What would I deduce? What I see. What would come naturally?

What I see that there are two separate phases to the Lord's return. What I see that there is someone who's going to take us out before. What I see is that we're going to go through times of tribulation and testing. And here's the big thing that I would encourage you to look for. What are we anticipating?

What are we longing for? What are we crying out for? Is it not the appearing of the Lord? Doesn't Timothy say in 2 Timothy 4 speak of all those who love his appearing? Doesn't the Bible talk about him coming visibly?

Doesn't it speak of him coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on those who don't know God? And that's when we get our relief. In other words, we're not looking for a secret event. We're not looking for something that happens and nobody sees it, and suddenly we're gone. What we're looking for is his appearing.

And ask yourself this. Are we looking for him to return or to just come halfway and go back to heaven? We're looking for his visible return. I believe the Bible's very, very clear on that.

So study the scriptures and see the insights you come up with. We'll be right back with your calls. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks friends for joining us on the line of fire. Hey. Every single day I'm writing something new or we're putting out a new video, go to my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. When you're there, check out our digital library. I bet.

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So take advantage of those resources and don't leave the website until you sign up for our email list. And when you do, I want to send you a free book, Seven Secrets of the Real Messiah, a free e-book when you sign up for our emails. All right. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Anything under the sun you want to ask me? If you differ with me on something, give me a call. Let's have a civil discussion at 866-348-7884. Let's see. Will go over to Phoenix, Arizona.

In Phoenix, Danny, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Doctor Brown, how are you? Doing very well, thank you, sir. Good, good. I spoke to you a few weeks ago.

We had a good discussion, and I wanted to ask my second question that I wasn't able to ask last time. All right, all right. Sure.

Okay.

Okay, so I'm just going to read it. I wrote it down, and then I'll just listen for your answer.

Sounds good.

Okay.

Um So my question is Why do you accept Paul's words as truth? I ask this of your listeners as well. The only religion that makes a claim of national revelation is Judaism. Christianity makes no such claim? Paul's claim in First Corinthians fifteen of five hundred witnesses does not share the same nature as our national revelation.

since he is writing this to an audience far removed from said events, an audience that is obviously not Jewish. since Paul wrote it in Greek. He explicitly states in Galatians one point eleven that he is receiving his information directly from Jesus, from his personal revelation, from the heavenly Jesus, who Paul never met in person. Why do you trust this claim? Paul's letters were written first before the Gospels.

Nowhere in the New Testament did anyone directly witness the resurrection. Every religion except for Judaism starts with one person's supernatural revelation. Why is Paul's authority taken to be truth, especially when we have good reason not to trust him? Life changing experiences don't matter. The way people act doesn't matter.

What matters is this fundamental contrast that of national revelation and personal revelation. And no religion can take a monopoly on wonderful people and life-changing experiences. Why not try? that a witness nation heard the voice of God directly the same message. The very same people, your people, who have rejected over the millennia the claims of any other religion so fervently.

All right, great. I appreciate you writing it out so carefully.

So actually, the answer to your question is in your question itself. I base everything on the national revelation. I base everything on what God explicitly said in Scripture. And in what he said to our people, As preserved through the generations, he clearly paved the way and declared what he would do with his son, the Messiah.

So I'm listening to that national revelation beginning in Torah, which begins to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah and through our history and prophets. Here's what I see: I see our constant failure, I see that we reject the law. that we reject the God of Israel, that we reject the prophets, that we're in a constant state of disobedience to the point that the ten northern tribes are scattered, that the southern tribes are exiled, that the temple was destroyed and has remained destroyed. I see our constant failure, yet I see God's constant faithfulness.

So number one, I go back to the national revelation. I start with Torah, and that's what Yeshua said. If you believe in Torah, you'll believe in me. That's where I start. I then go through what continues to come within the Tanakh, within the Hebrew scriptures, the overall clear testimony that Jesus is the Messiah, that he had to begin his mission and die for our sins and rise from the dead before the second temple was destroyed.

So based on that national word, that ongoing revelation, we now come up to the time of Yeshua. And what he does is over a three-year period. throughout the land of Israel in a three-year period. Works miracles, signs, and wonders, and keeps pointing everyone to the God of Israel, and then fulfills the prophecies about his death. and his resurrection.

And the prophets also tell us that he will initially be rejected by his people, Israel, and yet welcomed by the Gentiles.

So God laid it out plainly in our book, in our Revelation, even telling us once again that we would fail and fall short. And I want to give you a full answer and then we can interact afterwards because your question was quite comprehensive. That's where I start. Number one. Number two, he then demonstrates his resurrection in a national way.

By sending his spirit.

So not only did he demonstrate his messiahship in a national way, he then sends his spirit at Shavuot Pentecost when Jews from all around the world have gathered. And then Peter preaches the message, and then miracles are wrought.

So God now testifying to the nation that Jesus Yeshua, in fact, is the Messiah. And just as in Old Testament times, that only a remnant believed and the rest of the nation was largely disobedient, so a remnant of Jews has believed. And we continue to see the prophecy fulfilled that the Messiah has been a light to the nations despite being rejected by his own people. And that's why we know he is the one who will return. And our scriptures even tell us at that time we will mourn in deep repentance when we recognize that we rejected him.

So it all goes back to the national revelation. It's in harmony with the national revelation. It's confirmed by the Messiah over a period of three years demonstrating his messiahship and then demonstrating his resurrection by sending his spirit. To continue his works in the sight of people gathered from all over Israel.

So it's all in harmony with that. As for Paul, the Messiah appeared to Paul, and the other eyewitnesses who had been with Yeshua, who had seen him die and rise, they confirmed that this, in fact, was legitimate, and that's why we receive Paul's words as well. And finally, Yes, he wrote his letters before the Gospels, but scholars have established that the oral traditions of the Gospels were circulating shortly after the Messiah's death and resurrection, and then written down subsequently.

So the witness got out immediately, and it's all in harmony with the national revelation. Very simple.

Okay.

Yeah. I guess I still don't. If we have reason not to trust Paul in his words, which there is good reason, just comparing. His words and what the n and what the Hebrew Bible says. in places My question to you is, why do you trust him?

Why do you I don't understand how how is his revelation with Jesus, how can we verify that? It's not falsifiable. It's not a falsifiable claim. All right. Well, how how why do you trust the book of Ecclesiastes?

It seems to contradict other parts of the Hebrew Bible. Why do you trust that? as being God's word. I I don't see how that's relevant, Dr. Brown.

I'm probably not sure. No, it's totally relevant. Trust me. It's not a red herring. It's totally relevant.

Why do you trust that that's God's word? It seems to contradict other passages. Because it's not It's a wisdom book. It's not But why is it part of the Bible? Why do you trust it as part of the Bible?

Did God give it at Mount Sinai? No. Did God give it in front of witnesses that verify that it's really true?

Okay, so why do you trust it? That's not how Jews base their faith on. But why do you trust? But no, no, you said everything goes back to a national revelation. But Danny, hang on.

You said everything goes back to a national revelation, correct? All right, this was not given by national revelation. There was a debate about Sher Shiru, Song of Songs.

Okay, so why do you trust that song of songs, Sherisherem, or Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, that they belong in our Bible? They're controversial books. Why do you trust that? Because they're consistent with the Torah. They're not.

No, Cohelle it's not. Cohell it raises many problems. Ezekiel 40 to 48, the vision of the temple, the Talmud says that one rabbi spent endless hours reconciling the dimensions of that temple with the dimensions of the temple that God prescribed, but we lost his records. There are lots of things that seem to contradict.

So, the fact is, you receive them because our community received them as scripture, correct? That's why you receive them because the previous generation, all right, exactly the same thing.

Okay.

The Messiah came, the Messiah came. I'm not trusting one person with the person. No, no, no, you're not. You're trusting, you're trusting Yeshua. No, no, no.

You're trusting, you're trusting Yeshua. He is the Messiah. Paul is not the Messiah. Paul is simply a witness that was chosen. Was Isaiah at Mount Sinai?

No. All right, Danny, tell you what. Here's the only frustration I have answering you. is you ask a question and don't let me answer it. You're putting your trust in the Messiah.

Work on that first. Once you see that Jesus Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel. Promised in scripture, who came and did what he had to do before the second temple was destroyed. When you recognize that, Then you recognize that the community of his followers preserved writings that they understood to be inspired. Just like Isaiah was not at Mount Sinai and Ezekiel was not there and Solomon and David were not there, and yet we trust them as being part of the canon of Scripture, what they write and what they say, because it was received by the community.

I don't find Paul to be in contradiction with a syllable of the Hebrew scriptures. If he was, I would reject him. But he's not. He just needs to be rightly understood, just like Ecclesiastes needs to be rightly understood.

So your big issue is: who is Jesus Yeshua? Get that right. everything else will fall into place. Change the world. Give us strength to always do what's right.

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.

Hey, friends, this is a great time to call. Phone lines are open on the line of fire 866-365. 34 Truth. That's 866-348-7884. Any question of any kind that you want to ask me, as long as it's in an area where I can help you, it's got to be somewhere in my expertise or something that intersects with a guest we've had on or previous discussion or something I've written, talked about, give us a call, 866-348-7884.

Yeah, you're reading the scripture, and what does that mean? Hey, that happens to me to this day, 45 years studying scripture. Yeah, what does that mean? Need to dig into that a little further. Maybe there's a dispute within your church or denomination or group or social media.

And what is this, what's right here? Who believes this? Who believes that? Hey, Give me a call. Maybe we could help sort these things out for you.

866-34TRUTH. All right. This is a question from Azad. just got introduced to this name Eil Shaddai.

Some try to convince me that God is female. Also something about multi-breasted God. But I want to understand this better through research. Hence, need your help. Is this another attempt of feminists trying to push their agenda?

No, I don't think this is feminist. It's just people who are misguided because I've heard preachers and teachers who are not feminists put this forth.

So let me first put you at rest. El Shaddai is not a female deity. Start there. Number one. Number two.

El Shaddai is not a multi-breasted name. deity, male or female. Yes, there were fertility goddesses in the ancient world, and yes, some of them were. Visualized in the idols that were made of them as multi-breasted. But Not this God.

Not the God of Israel. You say, well, where did they get this from? Very, very simple. We don't know with 100% certainty what Shaddai means. Eel is God.

What exactly does Shaddai mean? There's one tradition that says it's actually Sha Dai. The God that is She Die, that is enough. She that die enough. That's really a later reconstruction that doesn't really work in the oldest strata of Hebrew.

That's more of a play on words.

So it's unlikely that it means the God who is enough or the God who is more than enough. The prophets sometimes rhymed it with the word shod, destruction. Like a shod from Shaddai, this judgment will come. But it's unlikely that Shaddai is connected with the word for destruction. It's just a play on words in the Hebrew, like saying you're a mic and you're sitting behind the mic.

My name, Mike, Michael, has nothing to do with microphone.

So that's just a play on words in the prophetic books. When the ancient translators in Greek and Latin translated Shaddai, they translated it with something that would mean almighty or all-powerful.

So the ancient translators, Jewish and Christian translators, understood it somehow to mean almighty or all-powerful. That's why in most of our Bibles, you'll see El Shaddai is translated as God Almighty.

Some speculate that Shaddai traces back to a Babylonian Assyrian word called Akkadian word, Shaddu, which is mountain.

So just like God is the rock and God is the fortress, God is mountain, hence powerful and from there, all-powerful. There's a Hebrew word for demon, shade, but this is clearly not associated with God. You see, where do they get the breast thing? The Hebrew word for breast is shod. And breasts, two breasts would be Shaddaim.

And based on that, some have said, ah, that's the multi-breasted God. No, there's no connection there for sure.

However, it could be speaking of the power. Powerful God, hence the almighty God. We just don't know with 100% certainty what the name means, but certainly it is a great name of glorification of the Lord. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Burt in Des Moines, Iowa.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, doctor Brown. Thank you so much. I really enjoy your ministry. Thank you.

I just had a question, maybe a little off-topic from where you were just at. Oh, there's no off-topic and on-topic on the question and answer show, so we're good. Yeah. My wife and I just got done watching the movie The Shack. And I went around to.

I'm a Bible-believing Christian, have been most of my life, and I've. just recently found out a really Bible based church, and we're really getting really connected with that church. And some of the folks were quite concerned about us liking it. And I I think from a discerning Christian point of view, we were able to pick out the good and and kind of throw away the bad. But from the perspective of some of our unsaved friends, if they were to watch it.

And I'm not saying that I've promoted it by any means, but I'm just concerned about the author and his universalism. I've read some of the articles about where he stands with that. And I think that the way they portrayed the Trinity, there were some factual flaws, I believe, there, but I was just curious your thoughts about that. I don't know if you've done a. A show on that.

I tried to look at it. No, you know what? I planned to, and I never did. I didn't see the movie. I did get the book years ago.

I read a little of it, and I just couldn't get into it. I'm not faulting the book. I just couldn't get into it. Obviously, a lot of people found it valuable. I did get a more recent book by the author of the Shack, and it's about lies that Christians believe.

And the guy is not an Orthodox believer. There's no question about that. He does have heterodox views that are dangerous. And when he puts them forth plainly, they are dangerous. I've had some believing friends see the shack and say it was incredible.

They wept, they thought it was powerful, they thought it was a great message in it. Obviously, there are things that would raise concern, and especially if you're watching it and going to be influenced doctrinally.

However, my understanding, again, not having seen it, but read pro and con from believers, that these things are not the primary message. They're more subtle along the way. And overall, there is a powerful message.

So I would look at it like this. I would look at it as if it was a movie put out. by secular Hollywood. I've seen some people, they've seen the Wonder Woman movie. When it first came out, they saw it and they said, Boy, there are like 20 different messages here symbolic of God and spiritual things.

Like, oh, maybe so, but I don't think the Wonder Woman people said, Hey, let's get the gospel out in a subtle way through this.

So there are movies that Hollywood puts out, and the directors are not believers, and the producers are not believers, and the actors are not believers, and yet there's a great theme. There's a message of family or courage or integrity or hope or faith.

So use it as a starting point. You know, if you went and saw, say, The Case for Christ, The Least Robile Testimony, okay, that's over. That's gospel. Bring a friend, they're going to hear the gospel. The Shack use it in that regard then, as if the world has provided something useful that can be a bridge for conversation with a non-believer.

And if a non-believer goes there and it gets them thinking about God and wondering about spiritual things, then take that and work with it and say, you know, just like something happening in the news that may be unsettling to people. You can say, hey, let's talk about that. And here's why I have hope and here's why I have confidence.

So I haven't seen it. It would be unfair to make more comments based on that. But I've read enough. I've read enough of the descriptions. I've interacted with enough people to say with confidence that you understand you're not going to get a pure gospel message in it, but the deception is probably less prominent than the positive message.

And therefore, if you can get someone to just look at it rather than drink a little poison, just look at it a little differently and say, okay, how about this? There's some great stuff to talk about. Let's think about it. And then get them from there, this blurry picture with some error in it, and get them over to the clear truth of scripture. In that sense, it can be used positively.

All right, make sure you go to the website, askdrbrown.org. Tons of great information waiting for you there. It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown.

Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Well, thank you for joining us today on the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. Yes, people always tell me listening to radio, I can hear the smile in your voice as you're watching TV. You can see it. It's genuine because I love being on the air, answering your questions, getting into the word together.

If you've got a question of any kind, Anything that relates in any way to What we talk about on the line of fire. Anything that's appropriate for Christian radio or TV, give me a call. 866-34Truth. That's 866-348-7884. And it doesn't have to be on topic because there are no set topics on this special broadcast.

I want to go right to an email question, and this is from Arishia. And I've actually heard this more and more in recent years. Arisha asks, is it wrong to do yoga? Even if it's just The posture. Is it wrong to to do yoga.

I've heard Every answer ranging from Of course it's wrong. It's Eastern religion. It's tied in with Hinduism and demonic spirits and false gods and all kinds of bizarre spiritual traditions.

So of course you don't do it. I've heard that. I've heard the other extreme. By the way, I'm not saying the position is extreme either way. We'll come to that in a moment.

I'm saying I've heard both sides to others where you have places that teach Christian yoga. And they do Bible study and pray and and do yoga.

So what's right and what's wrong? Uh let me say that I'm giving you a personal opinion. that I can't say definitively That my position is a scriptural position or the scriptural position. I do my best to use biblical wisdom, but obviously the Bible does not address everything directly and plainly.

So take this for what it's worth. It's my opinion for you to prayerfully consider. Number one, if it is being done in the context Of Eastern religion, or in the context of New Age, or in the context of other types of Unbiblical beliefs, then stay away from it entirely. In other words, if you have some local health club and they do it, but they do it in conjunction with other things, with the music and sounds, or a kind of New Age revelation, or some Hindu meditation, then you stay away from it. There are plenty of other ways you can exercise and be in shape.

That's number one. You say, no, no, no, I'm just mean like in my home. I've seen some of these stretches work well, and some of these breathing techniques are helpful, and so on. Or, no, it's at a Christian health club, and we all pray together, and then we do aerobics, and then we do some yoga. Oh, okay.

That's obviously between you and God because here, let's face it. Moving my arms this way, up or down, or you're twisting it. Movement in itself is not. Godly versus satanic. You know what I'm saying?

If I'm doing a particular stretch and I'm learning to breathe a certain way, to rest, in and of itself, that's not godly or satanic. Yes, some movements in themselves are wicked and evil. We understand that they're vulgar. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about if I stretch this way versus stretching that way, in itself, it's just physical movement.

And if you didn't, maybe you didn't even know it was yoga. It's just, hey, these are great ways to stretch and learn it, fine.

Well, then, what's the problem with it in that regard?

However, Having said that, One of my dearest friends in the world is a Christian, an Indian. An Indian Christian, well-respected leader in India, and he says, don't do it. Don't do it. All the traditions come from Eastern religion. It's a way that Eastern religion is being sent around the world.

And I've read. From proponents of Eastern religion, look at this. We're getting our philosophies and concepts around the world, and people don't even realize it is coming in the form of yoga and other ways.

So maybe they know something about this that I don't. My own thought is just an exercise, what does it matter?

However, maybe there's more attached to it, and maybe you should find another way to stretch and work out and breathe that's unassociated with yoga. Work it out for yourself.

Sorry, I can't be more definitive. 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 being part of today's line of fire broadcast. This is the day and the show. We take your questions on any subject under the sun. And as always, I'm going to keep doing this. I don't get a lot of takers, but I'm going to keep doing this.

If you disagree with me, If you want to challenge something that I hold to, if you think I'm wrong on a particular issue, well, give me a call. I'll be civil. I'll give you an opportunity to express your disagreement and I'll do my best to interact fairly and intelligently. Does that sound fair? 866-348-7884.

Hey, some people, while I'm doing live radio two hours a day, they'll start a Twitter war with me. I'm really sorry. I can't respond right now. I'm doing a radio bro. Oh, you don't care.

You know, well, call the show. If you can sit there and tweet, you can't be working that hard on your job. Call the show. We'll have a friendly conversation. 866-348-787.

884 is the number to call. Let's see. We'll go over to Houston, Texas. Jay, you're on the line of fire. Hello, Dr.

Brown. Hey Hey, I'm a new fan of yours. I absolutely love your show. Um really, really interesting. I haven't just discovered who you were here in the last few months.

Don't know where I've been, but I think you and I are contemporaries. I'm 60 years old. I think you're probably close to that age. Yes, 62.

Well thanks. Welcome to the family, Jay. Yeah. Well um Um I uh I've read your letter to Bernie Sanders today. I saw it on Town Hall.

Really liked the letter. Just Extremely well done and And touche on that. Not what I called about, though. Yeah, let me just jump in and say one thing. You may, friends, you may be listening to this or watching this at a later date, but if you want to read my open letter to Senator Bernie Sanders about his very un-American grilling of a Christian nominee for a position put forward by President Trump, it's all there on my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org.

You'll see it in the digital library. Yeah, we'll see whether he reads it or not, but I felt it was important to raise that because it was horrific. Listening to the hearing and the way he's grilling a man for Christian beliefs and saying this is not what our country is about. That was kind of chilling. And the best construction was that Senator Sanders misinterpreted the Christian words.

But even if he did, you still can't put a religious test on a candidate.

So it was very disturbing. Of course, I sought to write graciously in my interactions.

So thanks for reading that. As to your question, go ahead, Jay. Yeah. Yeah, and it was very gracious. I didn't see the hearing, but.

Uh But uh the the letter was was Excellent. Thank you. My question to you, Dr. Brown, today is: you know, I've followed Hank Enograph for a while, and you've probably addressed this already. Uh but I you know, I've been able to listen every day and and catch everything that you say.

But you like I I know you probably addressed this. I know your friend James White addressed it. I tried to watch some of James's comments on it. Couldn't see the whole thing. But I would like your thoughts on what Hank's.

situation is and uh Yes, sir. Yes, so first, Jay, we are, of course, praying for Hank's healing. He's battling cancer right now. He's a brother in the Lord, and he's done so much good for so many years.

So we're praying for his healing. And of course, he's got a great family, above all, wife and many kids.

So we're praying for his healing and for years of fruitful service ahead. I obviously differ. with what he's done, where he's gone. I believe him. When he says he's still committed to Jesus, he's still committed to the Word of God, he's still a believer, I don't look at him as apostasizing from the faith and no longer being a Christian because he's converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.

And he's also downplayed it and said he appreciates the church and so on and in conversations he's had with others and still holds to all the fundamentals of the faith. The difference would be, though, that if he is Eastern Orthodox, he holds to scripture plus tradition. And Scripture interpreted it in the light of tradition.

Now, as far as the fundamentals of the faith, that he believes salvation only comes through Jesus, that he believes Jesus is the divine word made flesh, that he died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day, that he's our Lord, that the Bible is God's Word, He holds to those things the same way. Does He hold to justification by grace through faith exactly as before? Has it changed at all? That's another conversation and one that we'd have to hear from Hank directly.

So I still look at him as a brother, but I differ with the direction that he's gone. And I believe it's going to be confusing for many others. And not only so, I do understand. Why Christian networks that he was on have dropped his radio show? I feel badly for him, especially now that he's under physical attack, although he's going through it with honoring the Lord and with a great spirit of grace in the midst of it and putting his trust in the Lord no matter what happens to him.

But if you're the Bible answer man, and you now hold to a particular church tradition, which is the Bible plus tradition. It's difficult for you to do that. I can't imagine then, say, the Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox radio show or TV show that their Bible answer man would be an evangelical who denied the authority of the church.

So there is obviously a conflict there, and because of that, different networks have dropped his broadcast. I understand that can be upsetting and difficult, but I fully understand why they would do that.

Some say, no, no, he's apostate. He's left the Lord. I don't look at it that way. I don't believe that.

However, I believe he has forfeited his right to speak as the Bible answer man, saying the Bible and the Bible alone is our final authority, and no church tradition can overrule that, change that. There's obviously got to be some degree of compromise now that he's gone to Eastern Orthodoxy. I don't mean compromise morally. I mean compromise in the position of sola scriptura, scripture alone. That's explicitly saying not scripture plus church tradition, whereas he would have to say, if he's truly converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, scripture plus church tradition.

Hey, one more thing. I did shoot him a note to saying, hey, man, I'm still waiting for you at the real original. Faith as a Messianic Jew, because Eastern Orthodox would claim to have the original Jewish roots of the faith.

So I did send him that note with a smile in the midst of it. Hey, thank you for asking, Jay, and again, thank you for your gracious words. 866-34TRUTH. Let's go to Boston, Massachusetts. Casey, welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, good afternoon, Dr. Blow. Can I get in? How you doing? My question is I listen to Christian radio all day long 'cause my job is driving, so I got a chance then.

Yeah. And The one issue I have with a lot of these ev evangelicals, um, pastors are everything that is Do Is in support of Donald Trump.

Okay? They make him out to be like he's this great. Yeah. Christian, who's going to come and save America. And I have a problem with that because there's so many lies and he's been told and exaggeration.

And even his vice president, because he's a Christian, you know, he agrees with everything Trump does as well. And I feel like, I don't know if that's Christ-like, if these passes should be so one sided with with This president and forfeit everything else that he's doing and stuff. Yeah, Casey, that's a very valid concern, and I agree with it. I voted for Donald Trump as president with reluctance. I opposed him during the primaries, but then voted for him with concern.

And I am rooting for him and praying for him. And I do believe that there are ways that God can use him and is using him. And yet his faults and his flaws are self-evident, as Senator Cruz reluctantly said a few weeks ago, that a lot of his wounds are self-inflicted. that others have said that he's often his own worst enemy.

So here's what I appreciate about him. I appreciate that he's fearless. and that he's not going to bow down to the political establishment. That's big. because Washington has has crushed many a good leader before him.

That's number one. I appreciate the fact that he is seeking to be a genuine friend of believers and stand for our liberty. I appreciate the fact that he's being an incredibly strong friend of Israel and even challenging the UN like none of our presidents have done because of their extreme anti-Israel bias. I believe that he really has taken a strong pro-life position, has been consistent there, and has appointed good people like Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. That's all big.

And I believe he's a patriot and he cares about the best interests of America. At the same time, he often puts his foot in his mouth, sadly. At the same time, yeah, are there exaggerations or are there lies and can he be trusted? Those are valid concerns. And is there too much of a family thing going on there?

Too much influence from the family? Because we didn't elect his family. We elected him.

So as president, just as I prayed for President Obama, even though I differed with him strongly, I always said I'm praying that he'll become our best president ever, even though I couldn't vote for him. And I oppose so many of his policies and feel he brought great harm to our nation, yet he was our president. and therefore worthy of respect as president. And I prayed for him and I would never mock him or speak disparagingly of him because he's the president of the United States. The same way with President Trump.

I know a lot of his past behavior is very distressing. I know there are many issues to raise.

So I think what we need to do is be nuanced and say, hey, here's a guy with clay feet. Here's a man with some very real problems. But we believe that God can use him for good. Great call, great click. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks so much for joining us on the broadcast. Michael Brown here, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here's the number to call with your questions of any kind, shape, size, or form, as long as they're appropriate for Christian radio, TV, 866-3422. 3, 4, 8, 7, 10. 884.

That's 866-345. For truth, and let's go to Richmond, Virginia. Kevin, you are on the line of fire. Hey, good afternoon, Dr. Brown.

How are you this afternoon? I'm doing great. I'm blessed. Thank you, sir. That's good.

Thank you for taking my call. I had a question on the um origin of um evil um I can't remember exactly where it is, but in the Bible, you know, the word says God. He created good and evil. Yeah. And um I guess after, you know, we get raptured and um when God creates A new heaven and a new earth.

we have to deal with this cycle all over again, because Lucifer obviously he had free will and um Yeah. uh premeditated uh intention to sin against God, and this was in heaven.

So, will we be faced with this same cycle again? Or do you think this is going to be. Just totally wiped out. And if we still have free will, how would that be wiped out? Got it.

Yeah, so a couple of questions there, and I love the question.

So here's where we start. Number one, in Isaiah, the 45th chapter, the seventh verse, in the King James, it says God created evil. But most old translations have that correct. The Hebrew word ga or ga'a can mean something bad like disaster or something morally bad like evil. And when God does it, it's like disaster and judgment.

When we do it, it's evil.

So in context, it's the opposite of shalom or well-being. And you've got the contrast between light and darkness and things. God is saying, I'm the one who brings well-being, shalom, and I'm the one who brings disaster. I create both. He's not saying that he created evil.

That would make God Himself tainted or stained. There's no blemish in Him. In Him is light, and there's no darkness at all.

So, what He did is create free will. In an environment where someone could make a choice, and by choosing, To go their own way, or by choosing to say no, then evil is actuated. Evil comes into being then through our disobedience. That's what happens with Lucifer in a perfect world with only angelic beings and God, and no worldly temptation and things like that, and no sin. Simply, you can make a choice that evil is then actuated.

That's it makes free will somewhat mysterious in that regard. Free will was actuated through that, and the same with Adam and Eve, that we became evil, and evil was actuated in the human race by disobedience. And then, since then, it's just part of our nature, which is why we need a new nature.

So, is the cycle going to be repeated? Is it going to be another fall? And then we get saved and then lost and saved. No, no, we won't for the following reasons: we have made our choice by God's grace to follow Him. Right.

In the world to come, we will be resurrected. with a will and heart to serve him, And with no Satan, with no sin, with no flesh, with no world around us. For example, if I put you in a room. and said, hey, read whatever you want in the room, but you're locked in that room and there are no drugs in that room. You can't choose to do drugs.

There are no drugs there.

So we're going to be in a perfect environment, but one in which we have already made our choice in God by His grace. Saved, renewed, a new heart, a new mind, and he's simply confirming that forever.

So we will be, it tells us we'll be with him forever. It's already set, it's already fixed, there's nothing to worry about. But it's not because he made us into robots, it's because we received it, Lord, I want to follow you, I want to serve you. If you're a Calvinist, you look at it a little differently, but the same end result: that our heart now says, God, I want you and I want you alone, renewed by God's grace.

So, in that environment, there's no sin, there's no temptation, there's no devil, there's no world, there's no flesh. We've already said, Lord, I want to follow you. He said, I'm going to keep you to the end. Then we're good. It's just like if you are in the middle of dry land and the nearest water is 10,000 miles away.

You're not going to drown in water there. It's not going to happen. And the good thing is, we're not going to struggle. We're not going to be like, oh, man, it was a tough day. No, because there's nothing to struggle with.

What I wonder about. Yeah, what I wonder about, and Nancy and I, my wife Nancy and I have joked about this, is, okay, Charles Spurgeon said that the angels don't understand grace. Because either they fell. Or they didn't fall, whereas we fell and we were redeemed.

So he said, Forever, he's going to preach to the angels about grace. You know, and you figure every week they got to hear it again. It's like, we still don't get it. Could you preach it again? But, you know, Nancy's got interests like photography or gardening or building things, you know, and she's creative.

But everything I do is controversy. I'm debating, I'm taking on moral cultural issues. I'm in the midst of this. She says, What are you going to do? What are you going to do in the world to come?

You know, who are you going to debate?

So we laugh about that. And that's what I wonder about. Like, wow.

Okay, we're going to worship the Lord. He's going to be central. We're going to be with Him and worship Him. But do we explore the universe? Are there, for example, if there's no possibility of losing, then is winning exciting?

Or if there's no possibility of failure, then what about achievement? Or how does it work? Because the world we're in, like no pain, no gain kind of thing, but is that going to be the way it is in the world to come? Or will it all just be exhilarating? I mean, who knows?

But it's beyond. Our most wild dreams. But don't worry, man. When we make it there, no turning back. You know, we trust in God right now, today, and we trust in Him forever.

All right? I appreciate you taking my call. God bless you and your ministry and your family. Thanks, man. And I appreciate the smile in your voice as.

Well, eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four you know It's amazing to think of being with him forever. A lot of us, things are good in this world, good in life. Maybe finances in order, family healthy. Maybe your marriage's strong, things going well in your local church. Maybe on a more superficial level, your home team just won a championship or you just got a promotion or something like that.

And life is good, but there's a lot of pain in this world. A lot of suffering. A lot of hurt against some of you. You're going through hell on earth right now. And our friends, brothers, and sisters around the world, persecuted for their faith, they're going through hell on earth.

And it reminds us. that no matter how nice things are in this world, We're just passing through. And the old joke is told about this very, very wealthy man, and he made a deal with the Lord that in the world to come he could bring one giant sack with him. And he's about to enter the pearly gates, you know, just the way the joke's told. And Peter's standing there and saying, wait, wait, you can't come in with the sack.

He goes, no, check my name. Check my name. I've got a special arrangement here. And he says, actually, you do. But I just need to see what's in the sack.

This is massive, giant sack, and the guy takes out the the largest bar of gold that you you could even imagine. I mean, God knows how many millions of dollars it's worth. And Peter looked at him and said, Why did you bring concrete to heaven? Yeah, the streets are paved with gold, but the highlight is being with the Lord forever and ever. Wow.

Wow, wow. Hey, if you haven't signed up for my emails, you want to get them informative with articles, videos every week. And when you sign up, I send you a free e-book, Seven Secrets of the Real Messiah. Go to askdrbrown.org today. You've got questions.

We've got answers. Let's do it. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome, welcome to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. And if you've got questions, we've got answers. If we don't have the answers, we'll do our best to find them. For you, as we dig into the scriptures and theology, and practical matters, and moral and cultural matters, and Israel, Jewish people, whatever you want to ask me about any question of any kind, as long as it's appropriate to ask on the air.

Go for it. Have at it. This is your day to call. Here's the number: 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-788. Eight, five.

for. We want to dig into these questions, get to as many as possible. And we will go straight to the phones. We'll start in St. Louis with Antonio.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, thanks for having me on, Dr. Brown. Sure thing. I have a question for you.

Okay, I know this is kind of like a controversial issue and I I really don't trust many people to to answer the question, but I feel like if I ask you it, you'll answer it unbiasedly, especially from a Messianic Jewish perspective. But in Paul's writings in First Corinthians eleven three, Maybe it's like three through ten or something like that. He's talking about the head of woman is man, and the head of man is Christ, stuff like this, and about the head covering. Do you think that when a woman prays, she should pray with her head covering and also. If you were a Messianic Jew.

Do you think it's disrespectful to pray uh to pray with a kippah?

Okay, so Akipa, for those that don't know what that is, it's also called Yamaka, just the little skull cap, and that's this head covering that men would wear. All right, several questions here of importance, and we'll sort them out. one by one. First, the order that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 11. In terms of the father, the son, and then the husband, the wife, I believe that order is clear in Scripture.

In other words, that Jesus the Messiah Is in a subservient role to the father, and then that the man is in that subservient role to Jesus, and the woman to the man. Not in a slavish way, but yes, I do believe that the husband is the head of the wife and the head of the home, and that he is therefore called to love his wife as the Messiah loves his body, loves the church, and that it's in a loving, sacrificial way. And in doing that, he then becomes a man worthy of her respect as well.

So that order is important there, and that's part of what Paul's pointing to.

Now, Let's make sense of this. There was a cultural context. And in the cultural context, women would be veiled. Married women would be veiled in public. Not quite to the extent that you see in the Islamic world, but certainly very different than women dress in the West.

This is not just in Jewish culture, but in other parts of the ancient world. And the question is: now, you have a meaning in your home. When the wife is in the home, she doesn't need to be veiled or covered. And the long hair is also part of her glory as a woman and therefore part of a gender distinction that I think remains and thinks should be encouraged in that respect. I'm not dogmatic on it, but I think when a woman virtually shaves her head and that's her style, I think there is something that is beneath her dignity as a woman.

Calling, obviously, it's not a heaven or hell issue. But the question is, when you have a meeting in your home now, Maybe you've got 20 people in your home and you've got men and women together. Should the woman be veiled? The wives. That's who he's speaking about.

The wives. Because the same Greek word for women is the Greek word for wife.

So should they be veiled and covered? And the answer is yes. It's a sign of submission. It's a sign of being under authority. And therefore, you're now in right order when praying and prophesying accordingly.

That seems to be what the dispute goes back to: being in the house churches and that question.

So, we don't have that same cultural phenomenon now where, in our culture, a married woman is veiled. But there should obviously be the right understanding of gender distinctions and right understanding of governmental authority in the church and in the home. All right, we'll get to the other side. Your question on the other side of the break. Stay right here.

Token. Came to work. It's fire we want. Oh, fire we want. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRU. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire. Michael Brown, so glad to be with you. Your questions on any subject that is fit for us to discuss here on the air and relevant in any way to our line of fire broadcast, give us a call, 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884. Let me just finish up the question about St. Louis.

Uh from St. Louis about head coverings from Antonio. All right, is it wrong for a Messianic Jew to wear a kipah, a yamlika, and pray, is that covering their head?

Well, remember the high priest what wore a mitre, it was a kind of hat.

So that was obviously not the issue. And a skull cap is not a head covering. The question would be if a man veiled himself the way a woman did and prayed in that way, would that be appropriate? And that was the issue. Or for a man to have hair the same way that a woman had hair, that would be the issue.

But in either case, in either case, these are not salvation issues. These are not things that exclude someone from the kingdom of God. But these were important, especially in the ancient culture. The best thing we do is understand the ancient culture and apply it to today. You have other things like moral issues, adultery, that's the same from culture to culture.

Sex outside of wedlock, same from culture to culture. Liling, stealing, gossiping, that's the same from culture to culture. Whereas since women today, wives don't wear veils in our Western culture, then The question is: All right, how does this apply? How do we work this out in our day? There are women that that's their culture, custom, and culture.

And they feel okay in a church service, I'm gonna put a veil on. God bless you if you feel that's the right thing to do. Wonderful. And the sisters in India, where I minister every year, when they pray, they take their sari and they wrap it around their heads when they pray and worship. And wonderful.

That's part of their world and culture, and that's their understanding of 1 Corinthians 11. But it has to be applied with cultural sensitivity. All right, 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to the phones in New York City. Anthony, Pastor Anthony, welcome to the line of fire.

Thank you, Dr. Rena. Good to speak to you again. All right. Thanks, sir.

Hey, tell me what's on your mind in terms of some concerns that I understand you've had, and I've invited you. Hey, give me a call. Let's discuss those. Uh well uh Uh Assistant, I think, reached out to me specifically. I had written.

devotional regarding Um And it's something that we talked about the last time I spoke to you. I spoke to you after you appeared on the Benny Hinn show. Uh mm. kind of loaning your credibility, which you've Built up over decades of service to the body of Christ to people who have not earned it and don't deserve it and are essentially false teachers within the body of Christ.

So, my concern was that it had gotten to the point where I think I used the term gatekeeper.

So, essentially, it's not that you. are promoting the false teachings. In fact, I think that if the teachings were separated from the people, you would denounce them. In fact, one of the cases, in the case of Joseph Prince, he actually wrote a book against it. Um uh so uh the but as uh the term that I use, Gatekeeper simply meant that um you may not realize it, but you're essentially pointing people Cool.

People who are false. And ultimately, at the end of our disagreement mates has simply come down to. whether you agree that the people I've outlined I feel. Right. And that's what I want to understand.

And just for everyone else that's listening and watching, we did ask Anthony to call. I get blasted day and night. Websites attacking me, videos attacking me. And my staff will send them to me. And I pray for the folks that smile.

The vast majority don't even bother to look at, especially anonymous, you know, discernment ministries. It's like, I don't even know who you are. You might be living in adultery. You might be a heretic. You might be 18-year-old.

I have no idea who you are. If you're not even willing to say that, can't interact. But you had written an article and it was fairly strong, but you wrote it in a friendly way. And I said, hey, you know what? I'm trying to model how to work through these differences in the body.

Let's reach out to you. And I've reached out to others who differed and they weren't willing to interact.

So, yeah, I'm always trying to reach out and dialogue and understand things.

So, just something very quick, my perspective several years later. about appearing on on Benny Hinn's show, okay? I just want to address that first, and then I want to ask you specifically, say, about. One Christian leader that was on my show that you believe is either a false prophet or false teacher and feel that by my not renouncing that person, I'm now misleading others or not functioning well in in my calling and not taking my responsibility seriously.

So let me just quickly say, not necessarily you have to renounce them, but when you give them the platform.

Okay.

That's you know what I'm saying? I I mean I I understand but not not everybody feels called to discern to discern in the ministries. Got it. Got it. You feel like give them a platform without saying, hey, I differ with this, this, and this.

So let's proceed with caution, but I just have someone on as a guest. All right. Fair enough. All right. So back to Benny Hinn.

I knew that there were teachings he had that I strongly differed with.

Some of them he renounced in the early 90s. Hank Hanegraaff helped influence him, and he renounced a number of these. And I researched to see if he picked them up since, and he hadn't. But I heard all the bad reports and the fundraising this and lifestyle this and all these other issues. Then I had some folks that had graduated from my ministry school that got to know him and said, Dr.

Brown, you should really get to know Benny Hinn. We've been in his meetings. He preaches the gospel. We've been in his home. He lives a godly life.

He's very devoted to the Lord. There's just a lot of false stuff said about him. And then shortly after that, I got an invitation to appear on his show and to talk about who is the real Messiah. And I'd just written my book, The Real Coast of Jesus.

So I.

Well Do I want to start fresh? Because I don't know what to believe. I haven't followed him carefully at all.

So I don't know exactly what to believe or not.

So let me meet him. Let me go on the show and meet him. At least this way I can get the message of Jesus the Messiah. And he also agreed that we could do a day on hypergrace. And that was my biggest thing.

I wanted to get hypergrace out to his TV audience because I knew that many of the people watching the networks he was on were also hearing the hypergrace message.

So that was my further incentive. And then I thought, if I get to know him, because he seems to be really eager to get to know me. Then From there, we'll see where it goes. And if there is serious error, maybe I can play a role in correcting it.

So, I mean, all that I think we had discussed back then.

So, I ended up being on the air. The time we spent before the broadcast was wonderful. Getting into the Word, talking about the things of the Lord, wonderful. Even looking at the Bible in Hebrew, the shows themselves were terrific shows. Unfortunately, the Hyper Grace show, for a couple of reasons, didn't air.

Instead, they put on another show, which was A carnal fundraising show, in my judgment.

So that grieved me. Subsequently, I've not had. relationship with with Benny Hinn and had the in the time to interact. I did write him a very strong appeal with concerns about the way he raised funds in his ministry and the people he worked with in raising funds. and urging him to work with me to clean this up.

So I did do that. But that's all the and I didn't hear back. The interaction we have is what happened that day. In retrospect, it may have been a mistake to go on because I have been so associated with things that he's done that have been controversial or negative.

So if I had to do it again, I might not do it, just to be totally straight with you. Uh now, if things had gone differently. If they had aired Hyper Grace Show, if I'd been able to build a relationship. And then see firsthand if there were issues and then be able to speak into his life, then I don't care about the flack. I could care less if I get negative flack, if behind the scenes I can do good, and then over a period of time bring about change.

But in retrospect, yeah, I did pray before, but I'm not infallible.

So that could have been. That could have been a mistake or error there. And I've said that quite candidly. But I haven't followed him carefully enough to say, do I think it's a false prophet or false teacher? Welcomed him as a brother in our fellowship, but there are things that have concerned me.

I just haven't followed closely enough to go beyond that.

So that's, I understand the concern. I'm giving you a totally candid answer. And I appreciate the answer because, I mean, back then I told you right after the show.

So I think that you had not really been up to speed on a lot of the teachings, which is what you expressed to me. Yes. I've had them sent to me since, Anthony. Yeah, I've had a lot of them sent to me since.

Some of them he definitely renounced. Yeah, but yeah.

So we talked.

So that's my perspective: the same history as to why I did it. Looking back now, was it wise or not? Maybe not. Do you still consider um a brother in Christ, though? I have no reason not to.

I have no reason not to, and this is the big question that I want to try to pursue with you, Anthony. Sure.

Where is someone disqualified from being a brother or sister in the Lord? In other words, on what basis? If someone says, The Lord showed me Jesus is coming next year. And it doesn't come next year. Are they still saved?

Well, why wouldn't they be saved based on a wrong prediction? If they say, I believe in a pre-trip rapture versus a post-trip rapture, I'm a Calvinist versus an Arminian. I speak in Tonga. Right. Right.

So I think we're in harmony on that.

So let's do this, all right? Let's focus on one particular individual, Pastor Bill Johnson, because you mentioned him in your. in your article and as to why you couldn't you know follow my ministry or anything.

So let's talk about that. I had Bill Johnson on the air with me on the condition that we could ask him many of the hard questions that critics have asked and we opened the phones for critics. Unfortunately they didn't call that day. But I asked the major questions I've been asked. What I want to understand is why you don't consider him a brother.

On what basis you say that he is not saved, not a brother in Christ. We'll be right back. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame. Say And the fire. 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. I'm looking at an article online from October 29th of 2016. I think it was just sent to me recently. Why Dr. Michael Brown has no credibility.

uh by Anthony Wade and Was sent to me. And again, I get stuff sent constantly. Cartoons made against me, videos made against me. And to be candid, a lot of the ministries that are so-called discernment ministries are doing much more harm than good. They are tearing down and not building up.

They're attacking brothers and sisters in petty ways. They're unethical. They don't reach out.

Some are anonymous. And some do a great job of really exposing error and heresy. And we interact whenever we can. I tell people, if you're not anonymous, if you let us know who you are, you want to interact, let's interact by all means. I love truth, I love the word, I love the Lord.

So we actually reached out and said, hey, here's. Here's someone that's writing things and trying to be constructive. Let's reach out and interact.

So we continue with that interaction. Anthony, welcome back to the broadcast. Thank you. Yeah, so Bill Johnson, I think you identified him as a false prophet or a false teacher, which, according to the New Testament, would be a wolf in sheep's clothing, therefore a hell-bound sinner, not redeemed. And because I don't share that view or warn people accordingly, then I'm not a good gatekeeper and I have no credibility.

So, on what basis? Do you say that Bill Johnson is not a brother in the Lord?

Well, uh Um to evaluate and test everything. But so I I try to stick to to teaching. You made the logical conclusion that if somebody is a false teacher, false prophet, that they're a hellbound sinner, et cetera, et cetera. I never wrote that. At least I'm pretty sure I didn't, because I try not to get personal too much into people because then people get they miss the point.

The point is the teaching is false. But didn't Jesus say that false prophets are wolves in sheep's clothing? No, no, I'm not disagreeing with your next leap. I'm just saying that I didn't write Bill Johnson as A, B, and C. I wrote this is what Bill Johnson teaches.

And this is.

So you haven't labeled him a false prophet or a false teacher? Oh, okay, so if he's a false prophet, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. If he's a false teacher, he introduced damnable heresies to destroy others. That's Jesus of Christ. Yeah, well that's the thing.

Stardust, he operates a a school for the supernatural where he teaches the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Last time I checked, the Bible said that the Spirit gives the gifts as he discerns and he wishes. He claims that you're not going to be able to do that. That's your first point? As to why he's a hell-bound sinner?

Are you serious? No, no, I think maybe I totally, maybe I totally misjudged you, sir. That's again, again, I think that you need to look at the entire body of work, not you. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, hang on, hang on, hang on, sir.

If that's your first, of course we're supposed to teach on the gifts of the Spirit. That's what they do. I taught at the school. I have grads that have taught at the school. Paul teaches on the gifts.

All right. Doesn't Paul teach on the gifts? There's a difference between teaching about the gifts and teaching the gifts. He believes and teaches that anybody can prophesy, that all the gifts are teachable to people. That's absolute heresy.

That is not what the Bible says. All right, all right. First, first. You're misrepresenting what he says, and to call it heresy, and then to say this is your first proof that he's a hell-bound sinner. Hey, sir, let me just tell you something very candidly, okay?

Yeah. very candidly. You will be measured by the measure you use on others. And I guarantee you, others in the body. Others in the body will damn you to hell for your teachings that you find orthodox.

Okay, again, I didn't put them in like priority order.

Okay, give me your number one. Your number one. I mean, he teaches that Christ was born again. He teaches that Christ was not divine while walking on earth. Oh, no, he does not teach that.

He does not teach that. Let him teach it, Dr. Brown. You are 100% wrong. You are 100% wrong.

He teaches that he always was fully God. But, like many others teach, while he was on the earth, he did not use his divine prerogatives to heal, but healed by the Spirit. Jesus Himself says that: I can only do what I see the Father doing. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He's anointed me to preach. I drive out demons by the Spirit.

And He teaches, He does not teach that He ever ceased to be God. He is explicit on that. Absolutely explicit. Christ uh being born again. He uses it in the biblical sense that he was declared Son of God with his resurrection.

So he was born as Son of God and then born again as Son of God. Listen to the whole teaching. Did did you listen to when I asked him that on the radio? Yeah, yeah, and he just basically denied it, and you accepted it. He didn't deny it.

All right, Anthony, listen, I. Know the man. I have sat face to face with him. I know people that have been in his church for years and years and years. What you are representing is not what he believes and what they believe.

What's ugly to me is that he's not going to be what's ugly. He is not teaching it. You're misinterpreting it. Listen, you have done a worse job of interpreting scripture and rightly representing Bill Johnson than he has done of representing his own position. If anything, you should be looking in the mirror and saying, how dare I write what I'm writing with the responsibility I have as a shepherd and as a pastor?

And other people, whether it's 10 or 100, are going to read what I write online. How dare I misrepresent a brother and sister in such a serious way? Bill will look at you with kindness and love and say, I don't know who the guy is, but just, hey, God bless him. And he'll enjoy meeting you in this world or in the world to come while you are misrepresenting his teaching. To his next service where he claims that angel feathers and gold dust appear.

So we can go back and forth. I understand the Bible. You claim now that I've misrepresented something scripturally. I'd be more than happy to have that discussion. What scripture have I misrepresented?

You have, all right, number one, you misrepresented about the gifts of the Spirit. You're misrepresenting what Bill Johnson teaches.

Okay, so that's different than misrepresenting scripture. Can we agree with you? And yes, that's different, but since you're attacking him, since I actually, I have to be totally candid with you, sir. I miss Read what was sent to me. I thought you were of a totally different spirit and attitude.

I'm being as candid as I can with you on live radio, and this will also be seen on TV. I misjudged you. I thought you were of a totally different attitude and spirit. I had no idea that you were misunderstanding someone else's position so grossly. that you were nitpicking and a reading of things to allow you to do that.

And I understand you identified yourself as an assembly of God pastor. A former. Oh, so oh okay, that's that's another thing.

So so you're no longer charismatic or Pentecostal? No, I I returned my c my credentials last year. I sound like you're no longer charismatic. All right, so that's something else. If that was in your information there, I missed it because I just glanced at it.

I think it was in my bio that your system asked for. I think I referred to myself. Yeah, okay, well, I didn't see that you had renounced those things and no longer held to them. But hey, bottom line is this, and I just want to give you a word of wisdom. I reached out to you for you, okay, not for me.

Because I don't mind being attacked. I don't mind being misrepresented. I don't mind someone saying, we can't listen to Dr. Brown anymore. My only concern is I can't help you.

I can't help you the way I used to help you. I get blasted day and night. I get death wishes day and night.

Okay, so the last, the last, and death threats, the last thing I'm concerned about is someone writing a blog.

So I reached out to you for you and to have a conversation for our listeners and our viewers. That's why I did it. Here's a word of wisdom for you. You're on the wrong path. You've left the things of the spirit.

You've left the precious heritage and you're going away, sir, that your world is going to get more and more and more narrow. Less joy of the Lord, less grace of the Lord, less soul wing and effectiveness. I'm giving you a word of loving warning. Ain't still 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 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thank you, friends, for joining us on today's edition of The Line of Fire. You want to make my day? Call me. Give me a call with your question. You want to really make my day?

Call me and challenge me on what I believe. We'll have a friendly debate. How about that? 866-7666. 34 Truth 866-3487.

That is the number two call. I want to go straight to the phones. We're going to start in New York City with James. Welcome, sir, to the line of fire. Hi, Doctor Brown.

Thanks for taking my call. You bet. Um I wanted to uh Yeah, hopefully, this is relevant or on some topic. But earlier this week, you gave a great example about the periods of Christian history and violence. Specifically, you mentioned pastors during the American Revolution, and they were saying it was their Christian duty to fight for the British, or fight to fight the British, because they were.

You know, and revolution was a divine thing.

So I guess Part of my question is like, well, is it possible this is where things are in the Muslim world if we just. give them one hundred years, stay out of their affairs. We'll see the same kind of Reformation, the same kind of softening towards violence, because I always thought doctrine and theology were really what. determine the jihadists and their motives. And you have fundamentally even atheists acknowledged that there is a fundamental difference between the two religions, and we're seeing that manifest.

So and I can look at we can look at the Crusade, but we can see how that's You gave a great case for that. That's fundamentally a very different thing. That was about responding to 300 years of Christian lands being taken. And, you know, even but even for like several hundred years, you know, in Northern Ireland, there was, you know, a big, many people would say was religiously motivated war between Catholics and Protestants.

So I don't like a better sense of that. Yeah, here are the differences. They're very fundamental differences. They go back to Jesus and Muhammad. And that's why historically they've been totally different.

Jesus is crucified. Muhammad starts as a spiritual leader, then becomes a political leader, then a military leader, and a ruthless military leader at that. From Islam's earliest days, it spread with the help of the sword. From Islam's earliest days, it engaged in acts of violence. From Islam's earliest days, it had sacred texts and sacred examples that espoused violence in the name of God.

Whereas the scriptures that would speak of violence in the name of God would be Old Testament verses having to do with specific situation of expelling the Canaanites and even then waiting 400 years until there was enough evil for that.

So from the earliest days of Islam and in the centuries that followed the birth of Islam, there was a lot of violence, a lot of warring, and even warring and battling and bloodshed between Muslim leaders. Whereas in the early centuries of the church, you had the opposite, the people of God being persecuted, not being the persecutors. You don't have church-sanctioned, quote, violence in Jesus' name for a thousand years, whereas you have it continuously in Islam.

Now, here's the other thing. It does go back to theology. There are peaceful verses in the Quran. There are peaceful examples in the life of God. of Muhammad.

There are peace-loving Muslims today who are sincere and devout Muslims, and they're God-fearing Muslims, and they reject the jihadi theology, but there's no question throughout Islamic history, it has been there. It has been brutal, it has been ugly, and it has gone back to the Quran, it has gone back to the life of Muhammad, it has gone back to other sacred texts that have been transmitted, theological rulings and things like that. And has nothing to do ultimately with us being involved in Islamic affairs because the greatest amount of Muslims dying are Muslims killing Muslims. For example, in Algeria was 100,000, 150,000 casualties in Syria. And within Iraq, Muslims killing Muslims.

Afghanistan, Muslims killing Muslims. And on and on it goes. There's an excellent book by Ibn Waraq. W-A-R-R-A-Q, Ibn Warak. Wa-Rak.

It's called the Islam in Islamic Terrorism. It will refute all the other explanations for it, and it will show it goes back to its root in Islamic theology. It does not go back to its root in Christian theology, quite the contrary. Can there be a just war we're involved in? Yes, but it is not part of our theology of violence in God's name.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire today. 866-34Truth. You've got questions, we've got answers. Nothing is off-topic because we don't have a set topic on this particular day's broadcast. 866-348-7884.

Let us go to New Orleans. Anton, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Brown. A couple of weeks ago, you told the story about uh some Coptic Christians being martyred in Egypt. Yes.

And I was just seeing that the Coptic Christians use a different biblical canon than evangelicals would and I know Catholics have a different canon. And Orthodox, they have a different canon. The Church of the East, there are a number of different canons out. that are currently in use. I was wondering if you would just sort of give us the history or discuss that in some way that I would have a better understanding of of the distinctions and the importance of maybe the books that some of the other canons use that the evangelical canon doesn't use.

Yeah, so here's our case for The Bible, as we have it, 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and the other books exclude it. The so-called apocryphal books that would be received as scripture, say, by the Catholic Church, or the Book of Enoch, which is even received just in the Ethiopian canon. But here's our case. for the 66 books. When it comes to the disputed books, it's the books written primarily between the Old and the New Testament.

That's the basis of the dispute.

So that the Christian canon or the New Testament canon, those received books were in basic universal harmony on. And we also agree on the canon of scripture that the Hebrew Bible, we all accept those books.

So it's what about these other books, 1 Maccabees, or Ecclesiasticus, or Wisdom of Solomon, or Prayer of Manasseh, or Tobit, or something like that.

So the reason that I say, and we understand that they are not part. Of the canons. Number one, they were not received ultimately as scripture by the Jewish community. Or you say, well, the Jewish community could be wrong. I understand that.

But they were not ultimately received as scripture by the Jewish community. And hence, if you get a Hebrew Bible, you will find the same books that we have in the Old Testament and no more. A few of them are in a different order, and the 12 minor prophets are put together as one book.

So the numbering is different, but the same books, same text. All right? Then, when it comes to the New Testament, None of the apocryphal books are quoted as Scripture in the New Testament. Maybe there's a reference that you can say relates to a teaching, an apocryphal book or something, but nothing is quoted as scripture. It's not quoted as thus, as the scripture says, or as the word says, or it is written.

None of that, so it is not quoted as authoritative scripture.

So number one, The apocryphal books were not ultimately received. as canonical scripture by the Jewish community and Jewish world. Number one. Number two, the New Testament authors never quote the apocryphal books as scripture.

Some say, oh no, they're referring to it here, referring to it. There can be an allusion or background or something. They quote poets, they quote other things. The Book of Enoch is quoted. Although that was not considered scripture, except just by one tiny part of the church preserved it, the Ethiopian church.

So things can be quoted. But when they are quoted as Scripture, that's one thing. And none of the apocryphal books are quoted as scripture. We don't have them in our Bibles at all. At the time of the Reformation, when there was discussion and dispute of these things, they were.

Printed in the middle of the Bible.

So, as the Bibles were being printed, you would have Bibles that would have the Old Testament, New Testaments, the Word of God, and the Apocrypha in the middle. And these were considered to be edifying and useful.

However, they were not carrying the authority of the Word of God, and we were not to derive doctrine from them. I believe that is a sound view. Learn from them. Be enriched by them, but don't base doctrine on them and don't put them in the same category as the Word of God. I look at the apocryphal books.

As being in between the Bible and a good human book. In other words, they've had a greater role in Jewish and Christian history. They were printed, they were translated as part of the Septuagint or included in the Septuagint in Greek.

So the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament also had the apocryphal books, and therefore early Christians would have widely read them. But again, they were not quoted as scripture the way the Old Testament was or subsequently the way the New Testament was. And therefore we should not receive them as scripture.

So learn from that. Great.

Now, Enoch is what's called pseudopigraphical, which means falsely named or falsely ascribed, writings falsely ascribed, because Enoch, in fact, did not write the book of Enoch, although some words may go all the way back to Enoch as Jude quotes.

So there are books that are attributed to authors falsely. That's called the pseudopigrapha. That's separate from the Apocrypha.

So read the Bible as God's Word and learn from these other books. Find them interesting and valuable, but not with the same authority as Scripture. All right. Thank you for the call. Much appreciated.

Let's go to Athens, Texas. Luke, you're on the line of fire. Yes, sir, Doctor Brown. I'm kind of new, I guess I just got your app, but I've listened to a lot of your um Podcast. and Pasco's, really enjoy them.

Um I'm a Pentecostal. A bright turbo. very traditional stuff and it costs it. But anyway, Uh what I called about Yeah. I believe if I have understood your position correctly, That you would hold.

a post-tribulational rapture. Yeah, whatever tribulation there is, whether it's a seven-year period or an extended period, that Jesus will come at the end of that. And that's when we'll be resurrected and glorified.

So, yes, at the end of whatever tribulation period there is. Mm-hmm.

Okay.

From the standard Point out, I was raised. raised in church. all my life and I was raised um Pre-tribute. I still hold to a preacher of rapture, but the kind of direction I wanted to kind of talk to you about just a little bit was a. Partial rapture, not heard about it.

when I was younger, didn't really understand it much, heard about it again in Bible college. Just barely touchstone that it had some history at that college. But since then, through my own personal study, that would be the, you know, that I would hold to a partial rapture. In that I would also possibly a mid trib gathering But also a Uh tribulational gathering. I just kind of wanted to get your thoughts.

On if you've looked at the partial rapture, also known as the Bridehood thing. Right. Great book wrote by that. But anyway, Kennedy get your thoughts on that. Yeah, sure thing.

So there would be there would be a select group of people that were the bride that were taken out early, and then others are taken out later. Here's my fundamental problem with that, Luke. I see one second coming. And obviously, we don't divide over these things. There are fine Christians I work with and know that hold to pre-trib rapture.

God willing, in 2019, Professor Craig Keener and I will have a book out on why we don't believe in the pre-trib rapture. But again, we don't divide over it. We have colleagues who hold to pre-trib rapture. And for me, I'm living in readiness to meet the Lord at any time because none of us have a guarantee on tomorrow. And I'm also planning as if I have years ahead and running my race with everything I have.

And whatever hellish tribulation comes our way, I'm trusting God's grace to persevere in the midst of it. But when I see scripture, I see we're looking for one thing, His appearing. The glorious appearing. It's the thing that we're all looking forward to. It's the thing that the bride has made herself and is making herself ready for.

When Paul talks about the crown that awaits him, he says, not me only, 2 Timothy 4, but also all those who. Long for and love his appearing. And Hebrews 9 says that he'll appear a second time. There are going to be multiple appearances, but he's going to appear a second time. And then specifically, Paul writes of one time in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the Lord will return, and it's going to be audible with a shout.

Right? The voice of the archangel, the trump of God. And at that time, the dead in Christ, the dead and Messiah will rise, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up to him. And that's the one time. And when is it?

It has paracea, which is his arrival. Think of it like an airport. A plane has just arrived at Terminal B, gate four. All right, so it's telling you it's not in the air. They'll tell you it's in the air, it's nearby.

No, no, it's now arrived. It's now landed. The paracea, the coming, is the landing. And that's what we're looking forward to, that we're caught up to meet him when he appears and comes and then puts his feet on the earth. And 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that moment we're waiting for in the twinkling of an eye.

when we'll be raptured is when the last trumpet. And when does he come visibly for the whole world to see? When? With a trumpet.

So if the last trumpet is when we're raptured and caught up to be with him, then the trumpet blast with his return with angels and visible, like from the east to the west, that the whole world can see him like lightning striking. Yes, exactly. It's one and the same event.

So these are just a few of the reasons that I don't agree with the partial rapture or several phases to the rapture. One second coming, one public appearance, one final trumpet, and with that trumpet blast, we'll be with him forever. Hey, let's agree on that. That is going to be something to look forward to. All right, we'll be right back.

Shake the name. It's time to change or 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. Boy, phone lines jammed. I'll get to whoever I can in the next few minutes. 866-348-7884. Hey, you just heard a previous caller before the break mention our app.

Do you have it? It's a fabulous app. I cannot believe how user-friendly it is. It's the line of fire app. You can get it for Apple, your iPhone, your iPad.

You can get it for Android, Google Play Store. All right, so here's how you get it. Just search in your app store for the line of fire with Dr. Brown or Michael Brown, and then you'll find it. And here's the cool thing about it.

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And you just click on it. You can listen live two hours a day wherever you are in the country, literally in the world. And then you want to catch up on recent podcasts, boom, right there. You say, you know, I'd like to call. Boom, press the button.

Boy, what else do you have on your website? Articles that press that. There it is, right on your smartphone, the line of fire app downloaded today and everything, the quality crystal clear. I could not believe how well this app works. All right, let's dive back into our calls in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Chris, welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, thank you for letting me on. I'm a bit of a troublemaker, so be patient. Um I'm wondering how Lakrishna should respond to this.

On the Jim Baker show on june sixth, twenty seventeen. Steve String is a CEO, founder of Charisma magazine. Mm-hmm.

and Chrisma Media. He said that this is a direct quote. We need to support our President. We can't second guess him. How should a Christian respond when somebody upsets influence and power says that or something remotely like that.

Well, second guess him about about what? The segment was he was commenting on the James Colmy thing. Mm-hmm.

Got it. The overall gist seemed to be we can't second guess now. Yeah. The entire thing if you would like. Yeah, if there's a transcript, I will obviously not won't have time to watch, but I could get someone on my staff to read the transcript.

It's only like three minutes. Oh, the clip. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, so here's the long and short answer, Chris. Uh I I know Steven Strang pretty well.

He's a real man of integrity. He has very high standards. High ethics. He would be concerned if you said you printed something and it was false. That would definitely bother him.

Uh if you said we've got this great healing testimony we want to put in charisma magazine, he'd want documentation of it.

So I've seen him operate like that and seen his ethics and integrity. And I and I know that That he has strong political views as well. I'm only going to answer generically until I see the whole clip, all right, to be fair to you, Chris, and to be fair to Stephen Strang. But obviously We have to question any leader. In other words, their judgment is not perfect.

Okay.

We can't think that everything they do is right and fallible. Certainly not Donald Trump. Obviously, a very flawed man, but one I pray for and one I believe can do a lot of good for America and for the church.

So I'm rooting for him. I rooted for Barack Obama to my disappointment. I felt things went in a very wrong direction in many key ways. I'm rooting for Donald Trump and hope we'll get more things right than wrong. But I have concerns.

So if my friend Stephen Strang was saying, no matter what any president does, You can't second guess them. They're the president. You have to support them.

Well, obviously, I would differ with that. And I would question that kind of loyalty or allegiance. He's still the president. I can say, hey, I respect you as president. I honor you as president.

If I was in your presence, I'd treat you with the respect and honor that you deserve as the president of the United States. But I question your judgment on this, or I differ with this decision.

So if we're being told we can't do that, We can't second guess, that's one thing. I differ with that. If his point was, look, he's the president, you got to trust the guy. You can't just be questioning everything that he does and you give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's not second-guess them all the time.

Yeah, I understand that sentiment, and because there is confidence. constant, constant barrage of criticism of everything the president does from the left, like the right may have constantly criticized Barack Obama. It may be a little more intense now, with the left criticizing Donald Trump, and then President Trump has done things that have opened the door for criticism more. But look, I don't think it's fair to beat up on him constantly and to challenge everything and question everything.

So in that sense, if I don't have all the facts and information, yeah, I'm going to do my best to trust our elected leader and to hope he's doing right and not second guess him on everything. But for sure, I'm going to question lots of things. And if I have data, I'm going to say I think he was wrong on this, or I think this was a mistake, or I wish he didn't tweet that. It would have been better that he didn't. And I can't imagine that a man of Stephen Strang's caliber would be advocating blind loyalty to the president.

No matter what he does. That's my. Honest take. If it means the worst case construction voice, of course I disagree. But I don't think that that would have been his intent.

And by the way, I don't mind a troublemaking question. Not a problem at all. All right, let's see if we can get in one more call. Brian in Durham, North Carolina. If you can get your question real quick, we can get it in before the broadcast is out.

So go for it.

Well, I'm hoping you remember, man, we talked about a month ago about the wine skins and the bottles. You recall? Yeah, go ahead. Did you ever check your towels or Bible? Oh, oh, yeah, yeah.

Uh-huh. What do they say? Yeah, it is. Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, and I and I looked into it, found out exactly why and how the words were used, etc.

Yeah, so it nothing changed from my answer to you. I can't find any Bible that says wine stand anymore, not any King James. I have an 1858 in my hand. Yeah. It says bottle.

What happened to winescan? What bottles? What Bible says limeskin. What King James Bible says lime skin. Yeah, well, as far as locating that, sir, as far as specifically locating.

A King James Bible that says Wanskins here.

So we'll go, all right, we'll just type this in, do this little exercise. KJV 16. 11 text, right? We just type that in on live radio and TV. And let's see what we get here.

And let's we'll go to Mark, say, all right. Mark the third chapter as the clock is ticking. And we'll look at the parable of the wineskins there. All right, we'll go right there. And here it is, the 1611 text.

And I'm scrolling down, and let's see what I've got here. All right, hang on. I may actually be in the wrong chapter. Let's go instead to Luke chapter 5. All right, we'll go to Luke, the fifth chapter.

And let's see what we get here. And this is an easy thing to do. If you want to see if it's there, if you want to see if it was translated wine skin or wine bottle, Luke, the fifth chapter, Pharisees, scribes, he went forth. And no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old, if otherwise than both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles.

Bottles.

So that's the way it was from the earliest and the King James. That's it. All right, friends. See you next time right here on the line of fire.