I Am Here to Give You Hope

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Friends, I am here to give you hope. It's time for the line of fire with your host biblical scholar and cultural commentator Dr. Michael Brown, your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the line of fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Let me start by saying the phone lines are wide open. Anything you want to talk to me about, be it the elections, be it moral cultural issues, be it Bible, theology, spiritual issues, I will be taking calls over the course of the show on a wide range of subjects. So if you've been looking for a day to call in, you've got a question you want to ask, this is a good day.

I don't have any guests coming on with me. We can't give you all kinds of election updates in the midst of things. It's a good day to call, 866-348-7884. Those of you who've been wanting to give me a piece of your mind for a while and unload and tell me how bad I am and what I'm doing wrong, by all means, let the whole world hear it. Give us a call today. Love to talk to each and every one of you.

Before I get to the calls, Michael Brown here, delighted, as always, to be with you. And we're in the midst of an intense season. Right now, if you're listening live, it is election day. It's the middle of the afternoon, election day. And the outcome of this election, midterms, is as consequential as any as I could remember.

I'm out of state broadcasting this week from Texas. I sent in an absentee ballot for the first time in my life so as to be a good witness in the midst of saying the elections are important, even though it didn't seem right where I lived that it was a super close race. But anyway, I wanted to be conscientious, right? However, however, politics is not the end of the world. Whatever happens with the elections, as I said yesterday, we need to tone down the rhetoric. And whichever party comes out with victory, all right, if it swings all Democrat, which is obviously not going to happen, that this is massive blue wave.

But if that happened, or a massive red wave, or something in between, Jesus is still Lord, the church is still called to be the church, and America, despite the dire warnings on both sides, will continue as a Democratic Republic. The problem is, it's not just every two years, every four years. We're talking about the elections. This is 24-7.

There is no break. But you know the moment that these elections are over, all the talk is going to be 2024 for the next two years. We could either choose to get caught up with that, have our lives revolve around it, divide as believers over that, be going at each other over that, watching the polls, getting upset, getting our blood boiling, or we could pray for those in authority. We could do what we can on the ground when it's important, if there's a vote coming up on something, to address that.

If there's junk going on in your children's school, to go talk to the school board, or to get on the school board, or to talk to teachers, do whatever you do. But otherwise, our focus, our priority, has to be the gospel. Our focus, our priority, has to be intimacy with Jesus. Our focus and priority has to be being disciples and making disciples, knowing God, and making God known. That has to be our whole focus, our whole purpose, our whole agenda, the Great Commission, living godly lives, pouring into your kids, being witnesses on your job, learning which you're supposed to learn in school so you can get on with career, going to the mission field, whatever you're called to do, getting alone and worshipping, having healthy churches and families. That's what we have to be giving ourselves to. That's what has to be our mission. We should have a holy obsession, in that sense, with God and the gospel. And politics is over here.

It's important, but it's over here. As I said endlessly, in the last several years, and especially in interviews with secular media, I'm shouting to the whole world, as loudly as I possibly can, I'm shouting to the whole world, Jesus is my savior. He's my Lord. He died for me. He shed his blood for me. Everything in me belongs to him. He purchased me for God. I live to do the will of God. I breathe to do the will of God. My last drop of blood is for the will of God. Oh, and I voted this way. There are two different universes, and they're not going to become one in my life, by God's grace.

And I'm not going to confuse the two or the priorities. And it could be that an electoral outcome that we absolutely think is the worst, when I say we, I mean each of us, right, that we think is the worst, could end up producing the greatest revival in the church, which would lead to awakening in the society, which would lead to then better government than we ever could have had. We don't know that. We are often so short-sighted, you know, we remove Saddam Hussein. He was the butcher of Baghdad. He was a brutal man.

He was bad news. We finally remove him. And what happens? It opens the door for ISIS. What happens, at least, to the exiling and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Christians? One of my colleagues was talking to presidential leaders in the Bush administration, a Christian colleague, and said, what are your thoughts, what are your plans regarding the Christians?

Because when Saddam Hussein comes down, he is a stabilizing force, and stopping radical Islam from attacking the Christians and so on, and what are your plans? And he said they looked at him with blank stares, like they hadn't thought about it. That was just his anecdote, his experience. But you know, I remember, and I'm going to give you some words of real encouragement in a moment, but I remember when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. So evil empire, bad Russians, they invaded another country, and you hear about these freedom fighters in the mountains, and they're pushing back, and somehow Russia, with all of its military might, can't defeat them, and ends up that they get driven out.

All these very freedom fighters help birth things like the Taliban, and birth ideologies, you know, and Osama bin Laden, some of it comes out of that. So you know, you're dealing often like with a chess match, and we're thinking one move ahead instead of 10, or 20, or 30, and God's looking eternity ahead. So an election may go in a way that you think is really bad, but it may end up producing good.

Isn't it the way it often happens? That the worst things that happen in our life ends up becoming, instead of stumbling blocks, stepping stones, and the obstacles become opportunities? So I am here, friends, one reason that I do the line of fire every day, one reason that God's called me into the body, into the world, at such a time as this, is to give you hope and encouragement.

If you're watching, look me in the eyes. If you're listening, give me your best ear. It's not all over. We have not come to the point of no return. It could well be, through the miracle of the gospel, through the miracle of revival and great awakening, through the miracle of the church being the church, that America's best days could be ahead.

With people, it's completely, totally, categorically impossible. You want someone to lay out why it's over for America. You want someone to lay out why it's hopeless for America. You want someone to lay out why we have gone beyond the point of no return.

I can do it. I can make the case for it, as well as anybody, but God. Those wonderful words in scripture, but God, but God. This happened, this happened, this happened, but God, Ephesians 2, right? We were dead in our sins. We were serving the prince of the air.

We were, by nature, children of wrath, but God. So I'm not just speaking empty words, because it's the living God who put this hope in my heart. Many years ago, when we were expanding our radio outreach, a gentleman came to us, a rich businessman who had supported others on radio over the years and was talking to me about potentially supporting us. And he said, you know, I listened to one guy on the radio, famous radio host, he said, but I can only listen to him so much, because it's all gloom and doom, and it's all apocalyptic end of the world. It's a secular guy, right?

Not a Christian guy. And he said, it just, I could only listen to him so much. But then he mentioned the other, having to be Rush Limbaugh, you may like Rush or not.

That's not the issue. He was obviously phenomenal at what he did, pioneer and amazing in what he did, whether you like him or not. But he said, I listened to Rush because Rush gives me hope.

And I thought, yeah, that is so interesting. So I'm not here, anybody that's listening to me, I am not a pep talk preacher. I am not one of these, is everybody happy? Let's be happy.

Smile. Jesus wants to make you happy and rich. No, I've written books with whole chapters against the carnal prosperity message or the pep talk gospel, as I call it. And I have called out who those who preach to the lost instead of telling them that they are the lost, they are sinners who need God's amazing grace. They tell sinners, you are just amazing. God wants you to know how amazing you are. No, if they were amazing, they wouldn't need to be saved. I am anything but a hype up life coach, pep talk, prosperity preacher.

Quite the contrary. The first messages I've preached for decades around the world have been repentance message, repentance message. I've got books of repentance books, I preach it to myself all the time. But God, the reason God has me preach repentance is because it prepares the way for revival.

It's not the only reason, it's a major reason. I know for a fact, not just I hope, I think, I know for a fact that there are many churches in America experiencing real outpourings of the spirit where many people, including many young people are getting radically saved, added to the body, discipled. I'm just talking about an emotional one moment thing. I know churches that are literally impacting communities where they live in positive ways and making a difference. I'm talking about here in America, God is moving. And I truly believe one reason we've gone through the humiliation we have in recent years, all the false prophecies about Trump. We have a massive egg on the face of the charismatic church, but then it's now egg on the face of the church of America in general.

Right? I mean, it just happens like that. The way we get so politically obsessed and into political idolatry and became appendages of political parties, the way we so divide it over politics and savaging each other, attacking each other. We're talking about men and women of God attacking each other over their political views. And doing it in public, all the scandals that we've had, whoever you are, whatever your background. I mean, we've had them Catholic, Protestant, evangelical, charismatic, scandal after scandal.

It's a horror. It's for approach to the name of Jesus, but that's not all I see. I see that God is humbling the church, that judgment begins with the house of God, that purging and purification begins with the house of God and that God comes Malachi three as a refiners fire. When God comes to visit, he comes to purify. So I see in recent years that all the junk has come up to the surface. I don't condemn those who fall and may God have mercy and bring restoration and we've all fallen short in one way or another. We all live by God's mercy. Every one of us, every one of us, I understand that, but I believe that the cleansing refining fire has come as the junk is coming up to the surface.

Why? Because God wants to skim it away and do something beautiful. And the reason he's put it in the hearts of somebody to believe is to pray, to cry out is because he's ready to move. He's ready to move in ways beyond what we've seen. Is America ready for a move of God? We still haven't gotten over COVID, the after effects of that and the fear and the loss and the anger that's come out in the lives that have been messed with in so many ways from kids right on up and however sincere people may have been.

We haven't gotten over the election crisis from the last one. In the next one, on and on it goes, we are, we are ripe for an output. I'm here to give you hope and say, now's the time to press into God.

Now's the time to say, Lord, here I am. I hold nothing back from you, Lord. Hold nothing back from me.

All right. I'm going straight to the phones. When we come back, don't go anywhere.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks friends for joining us on the line of fire. Remember there's still room on our Israel trip. If you haven't heard about it, May 2023, but the clock is ticking. I mean, we're talking like six months out barely. So get registered now. We still have seats, the trip of a lifetime. Go to AskDrBrown.org, ASKDRBrown.org is right there on the homepage.

Here's the number to call 866-348-7884 and we will start in Centralia, Washington. Jonathan, welcome to the line of fire. Hello, doctor. Can you hear me okay?

Loud and clear, sir. All right. My question was, so I have this coworker that I had who I was friends with. I no longer have direct contact with him, but I'm friends with people who also still work with him, right? But I found out recently that he saved it up to get a full sex chain surgery. And I thought, oh no, that's terrible because, you know, there's all these medical complications that can kill you and then the suicide rate after the fact is very high and then chances are he'll regret it at some point in his life. So I went online because what I wanted to do was I wanted to find all of the data of all of the medical complications and all the statistics of suicide and all the statistics of regret and all that other stuff.

And I was going to put it on a piece of paper and I was going to give it to one of my friends who still works with him and it would be delivered to him. Just like if you had a friend who was going to commit suicide, you would want to stop him. And in my mind, this is the same sort of thing. The problem is I couldn't seem to find the data for this stuff. But I know that you know an awful lot about this subject and you're, in my mind, one of the best sources on this subject. So I suppose, what do you say? Where can I find the data for this subject?

Right. So there's a ton of stuff that is out there and it's in different places and some of it in more medically oriented sites. So let me give you a few suggestions, okay? You want to approach this in terms of the information and as far as personal story also, okay?

So let me start with personal story. In his image is a really powerful documentary that I hosted for the American Family Association. American Family Studios put it out.

It's incredibly well done. It talks about activism. It talks about theology.

But it has stories and two of the three main stories are former transgenders, one of whom had full sex change surgery, the other a good amount of sex change surgery, powerful, beautiful, wonderful stories of redemption. So the movie is free. Anyone can watch it. So you want to get that link in his image.

You can either go to inhisimage.movie or just on YouTube. In his image, the movie, it's about an hour and 40 minutes long, okay? And it's because of the stories, it's really compelling. That's one thing, okay? Second thing, look up Scott Nugent, N-E-W-G-E-N-T. I know her as Kelly, as a woman as she is. But Kelly had sex change surgery, became Scott, is not a Christian, but has become the most outspoken voice of a former transgender or currently, quote, trans man saying, danger, danger. Don't do this to children.

Don't do this especially to children. So Scott Nugent and then Newsweek, it took her two years to find a major publication willing to put things out. And Kelly, as the world knows her, Scott, really lays things out and then the end of the article is point, point, point, point, all hyperlinked.

It has this effect, this effect, shortens life, does this, does this, does this, does this, does this, here's my own horror story, here, and just click on each of those links. But that's all in one place. That's someone that your friend could really listen to because that's someone that did it and is not a Christian now and is not saying the Bible says, but just saying you can't change. I thought this would change, you can't change. So that's the second place to go, okay? And you'll find the article.

I think it says we need balance with transgenders or something like that. Third thing, sexchangeregret.com. That's the site of Walt Heyer.

Walt's probably about 80 years old and I had sex change surgery, lived as a woman, then realized that was not the cause of his emotional and mental problems and then got saved along the way. He was married to a woman, sexchangeregret.com. That's another place to go. And then the last one, help, the number four, helpforfamilies.com. And then you'll have two choices, one dealing with homosexuality or the transgender issues. Just click obviously on transgender. You'll have a lot of resources and information there. So the In His Image movie, for the best, concise medical information, the Scott Nugent Newsweek article, then for more personal stories and data, sexchangeregret.com. And then lastly, help for, number four, helpforfamilies.com. One last thing, Jonathan, obviously your prayers make a big difference as well.

But Kellyn Nugent said that she has spoken to hundreds and hundreds of people who've had transgender surgery and a couple of them have long-term said they're happy, said nobody else. And it can take years, in other words, it's an initial process, but normally after seven years is when the bottom falls out with many. So these people are struggling. They need our help. They need our love. They need our prayer. But if you could stop someone from making a wrong decision, then you could really help a lot. So Jonathan, those resources are there for you.

Hopefully you can help your friend. Well, I thank you very much, Dr. Brown. I really appreciate what you do in regards to this area of society. Well, thank you, sir. And look, these are people going through struggles, I can't imagine.

And they have been so brainwashed, indoctrinated, influenced, and we all are by the culture in different ways. I mentioned I was teaching last month in Christ for the Nations here in Dallas and did a day talking about LGBTQ issues in people. And afterwards, a gentleman came up to me to tell me that his daughter, 23, had a breast removed at the age of 22, goes by a male name, now won't talk to him when I pray for her. In fact, I have her name in my Bible.

He gave me that note, and I've had it in my Bible and prayed. Another young woman came up to me, she said, hey, I came out of this a year ago. I was gender fluid. I was omnisexual.

I was in a polyamorous relationship, and I'm thinking, she's 18. She never would have thought of these things, if not for the culture around her. So you're talking about people hurting, some dealt with internal pain for many years. They think this is a solution, but in the end, it only makes things worse. Hey, Jonathan, thank you very much for your call and your concern. Some of you are saying, oh, Dr. Brown, I'm driving in my car.

I couldn't get that. Hey, no problem. Get our app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK, Dear Brown, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries.

And then later today, just click on Recent Shows, listen to the show again, and you can jot all the data down. All right, let us go over, switching subjects dramatically, let us go over to Marlin in Broward, Florida. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hello, Dr. Brown.

How are you doing? It's a pleasure to speak to you. It's an honor.

I always bring your books and I always listen to your radio. Well, thank you. Yes, yes. Well, my question is, what does it mean that Jesus will be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek and who is Melchizedek according to the Bible? Yes.

So it's a question that many have asked and we've answered on the air before, so I appreciate the question. So of course, he's referenced in the Old Testament, Genesis 14. He is the king of Shalom, which is related to Shalom and then could be the early name for Jerusalem. But he's the king of Shalom, but he's also a priest.

So he's a king priest. And Abraham, as we understand it, gave tithes to him in Melchizedek, blessed him, which would mean that Melchizedek is the superior one in that relationship. And then he's mentioned in Psalm 110, this Messianic Psalm, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then in Hebrew 7, he's mentioned again, and that he is the type of Jesus, the Messiah. He also is found in literature outside of the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls in particular where he's kind of a semi-divine figure. He's highly exalted. So in the Bible, who is Melchizedek? Well, I just mentioned the text where he occurs.

The question, the debate is this. Was he the son of God in the flesh? In other words, Jesus comes into the world, the son of God comes into the world like he does at different times. Sometimes it's the angel of the Lord. Sometimes it's what seems like a human being. And then he's gone.

He disappears. And that is God appearing in the Old Testament, but it's the son of God doing it. The father is hidden in his glory, the son makes him known. That's called a theophany or a Christophany, right, a divine appearance in the Old Testament. Is that who Melchizedek is, which is why it says in Hebrew 7, he does have mother, father, no beginning or end, and the son of God is a high priest like him? Or as I understand it, that he was simply a man, that these were his characteristics, but because the Bible doesn't mention him being born or dying, it doesn't mention his ancestry and it mentions an eternal priesthood after his order that he is a type of the Messiah who existed before he came into this world, who has no end and whose priesthood is forever. So in my view, he was a human being. He was the king of Shalem and Melchizedek is the way you say it in Hebrew, and he serves as a type and symbol of Jesus who has an endless priesthood and as the son of God has no beginning and no end. But there are those.

I'm not one of them. There are those who believe that he was actually the son of God incarnate and that he did not live as a human being all these years. He just appears and he's gone. One reason I have a hard time with that is that he was a king, in other words, he's mentioned as a king of a place which would mean he's there. He didn't just appear and disappear, as would happen like the angel of the Lord would appear and it was the son of God in the form of an angel and then he would disappear right over the son of God appearing in the burning bush and it's the angel of the Lord and then he's gone. It seems he was someone with an earthly life. So that's how I understand it.

But there is debate among scholars in Hebrews 7, fascinating topic, fascinating figure. And thank you, sir, for the call. All right, we got a break coming up, but I do actually got right now we got a couple phone lines open, which means if you get in now that we will be able to get to your call before the show is over. And let's see what's on the board here.

Oh, three very interesting politically culturally related questions. We'll come to all of them right here on the line of fire 866-348-7884. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the broadcast.

We've opened the phone lines to every subject, every call 866-348-7884. Going back to the phones momentarily, I just want to say this word about hope that if you know the reality of God, who he is, all powerful, all wise, all good, and with a plan and purpose for his people, if you know that Jesus has risen from the dead and thereby conquered the forces of darkness and he lives in you, there's always reason for hope in the darkest moment, in the worst of times, in the most painful agonizing position you've ever been in. There is always hope because of who God is. Light rises in the darkness for the righteous. That's gospel truth. It's not sticking your head in the sand.

It's lifting your eyes up to what's true. I'm not talking about denying reality. I'm not talking about you get a diagnosis from the doctor and the prognosis and, okay, this is it.

You've got this disease and it's terminal, barring a miracle, you've got six months to live. One thing is denial. One thing is just walk around denying reality. Another is just to have, just think if I say the words, well, I'm healed, I'm healed, that something's just going to happen and the sickness is going to run away, all right?

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about rather than stick your head in the sand, lift your eyes up and set your eyes firmly on God, and it says about Moses in Hebrews 12 that he endured as seeing him who is invisible. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4 that we don't look at what is seen but is unseen because what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.

I take hold of that. In the darkest, most horrific times, there's hope, in the midst of the pain, there's knowledge that the pain will come to an end, and because God is a redeemer and it takes the most evil crime ever committed by human beings, the crucifixion of the Son of God, and turns that into the means for the salvation of the world, then I know that the worst things can become the best things. As I said earlier, that the stumbling blocks can become stepping stones and the obstacles can become opportunities, and what God does through us and shaping us to be like his son, which is the ultimate goal, he can often do that through the worst and hardest of times. So the words of hope I speak are not empty words of some hyped-up life coach preacher. They're words of truth based on almost 51 years in Jesus now. Coming very close to 51 years in Jesus, I'm full of hope because of who he is, and there's no hype in that, there's no empty words in that.

May the hope of God fill your heart as you are in right relationship with him. All right, we go back to the phones, and let's go over to Maryland. Andrew, welcome to the line of fire. Hello. Hello. Can I get you to speak up somehow? You're very faint in my ears here. I'm sorry, I was a little, I'm sorry, can you hear me now?

A little bit better. Yeah, go ahead. All right. Sorry about this. All right. Anyway, would you recommend your book, it's close to touching up the church to some people who are like, not, sorry for a bit, I'm at work, so it's kind of hard for me to talk right now. Yeah, so what I recommended for whom? I'll tell you what, hey, Andrew, I apologize, I'm unable to hear you, and of course I want to be thinking of our listeners here, so I'm not sure what your question was going to be, but the book will be very helpful for people who were Christians but had a problem with Donald Trump, the book will be helpful even for non-believers to read and get a perspective, and the book will be helpful for those who voted for Trump.

Why do I say it for each? For Christians who did not vote for Trump, this will explain why many Christians did, why many Christians felt it was important to vote for Trump, it'll really give a perspective but then show how there was an unhealthy political seduction. For those who aren't believers, it will give them a better understanding of what matters to us and what values to us and what our goals really are, how we got off track but how also there's a lot of exaggerated reporting about who we really are. And for those who did vote for Trump, those who got caught up in the false prophecies, those who saw it without Trump, the whole nation's going to collapse, this will show how political seduction takes place and it takes place on the left and on the right.

I just addressed primarily the right in this book but it happens on both sides so the political seduction of the church I think can be read by anyone interested in what's happening in American politics today, whatever their background. Hey, thank you for the call, 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Bryant in Louisville, Kentucky. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown, I appreciate you having me on. Sure. So basically, you know, I'm recently returned to the faith, I spent over a decade outside of the faith, recently returned and I'm not a Trump or a Republican, main deal there is, you know, I probably would say I have more conservative social views on economic issues. I think, you know, I'm definitely more to the left as far as unions, minimum wage, stuff like that and I've never felt it conflicted with the faith, but I have a lot of respect for Trumpers and Republicans because I realized that a lot of my fellow believers in Christ are Trumpers and Republicans, it's just, that's how it is statistically, so I try not to demonize or hate, even though a lot of groups do it to the other group, but one thing that I really do think that the Trumpers out there who speak for the faith really do need and everybody on every political side needs to get rid of something, but the whole election denial thing, that really disturbs me because to me, the numbers are clear that Biden won, whether you hate him or not, I agree, he's way more pro-choice than he, you know, he's got a lot of beliefs that I think are toxic, but he won, I mean, he just won and I think that's really not a good thing for Christians to get it to dabble into because then you get to election denying, you get into tyranny and third world type stuff. All right, so here's the question, so and you have concerns and I guess you'd say it also makes us seem less credible and it hurts our witness and we shouldn't be known as election deniers, but as truth tellers and Jesus lovers, and I just had this dialogue with a colleague of mine who sent me a lengthy email saying, look, here are all the reasons why we know there was no election fraud and he went through everything on all the court cases and even former AG Robert Barr saying it's BS in terms of the election being fraudulent and so on and so forth, so I sent the email to a colleague of mine, various dude, and I said how would you respond to this and got a much, much, much, much longer email with point after point after point after point saying here's how you know there was fraud, here's how you know there was fraud, here's further evidence, this is what's come out, now this is coming out in courts and there are other things happening and so the problem is for those who truly believe it happened and that this is people now trying to take away our freedoms because if you can rig the elections then we don't have freedom, our vote no longer counts, we don't have a democratic republic and for example that President Biden, as he was candidate Biden, small rallies, very little enthusiasm behind him as a candidate, Trump packing places out with massive crowds and then Biden destroys the vote count, gets far more votes than even Barack Obama did and you know how does this happen and so on and so I'm not an election denier myself and my own position is I don't know what happened because I haven't researched it and I don't have the ability to research it nor has God called me to but I do not believe that should be our theme now, I do not believe we should be harping on it, I believe we should do our best to ensure safe elections but be moving on, I 100% agree with you that we should be moving on from 2020, doing our best to ensure fair elections, get the vote out and do what we can to shape the political situation in America. The problem Brian is for people to really believe it and they're convinced and they're not conspiratorialists, they're not crazy, they're not wild eyed, you know that's the challenge so I think the key thing is as you interact with people, right, to try to understand are they just repeating the latest theory that they heard and so on and just say hey why don't we just move on, we can't fix that, let's move on, let's do what we can do.

Those who've really studied it and feel they have a case, you don't just want to tell them to drop it because then it's like well I know it to be true, how can I drop it? What you have to say is we can't go back and change it, whatever happened, God knows and my position is even if I don't know if there is fraud or not on any level, we prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed for these elections more than any elections in my lifetime and I'm 67, we prayed for these more and God gave us Joe Biden, whether it was stolen or not, God gave us Joe Biden, therefore he's the president, he's my president even though I despise some of the policies that he stands for, I pray for him as a human being but God gave us Joe Biden for better or for worse and he is the president and that's the reality we have to deal with so I'll end on that note sir that I'm with you in terms of move on, move on, let not just be the theme, let not just be what defines us, it's just hard when people are really convinced and they've, I know a colleague of mine is not a Trump guy, as a research professor, one of the most level-headed guys I know and he studied this intensively, this is Michael, I believe there's fraud, so I don't know what to make of that but either way we move forward, that's I think what we agree on fully, yes? Yeah and I'll just throw this out here at the very end, I totally agree 100% and hopefully that'll help Christians and everybody move on but then the fright is what if it happens again in 24 and then they claim fraud again in 24, what do we do that?

You know what I mean? Well the key thing is what if there is fraud, I am not an election denier, you've never heard me, you have never heard me get on the air and say the elections were stolen or there was fraud, you have never once heard those words from me, you've never once read those words from me, however, are there irregularities? I think everybody knows that in elections there have been irregularities, it's well known, it's researched in our past, I mean just look up election fraud in American history, we have had things happen, people have confessed to it, they've been shifted things and done things illegal, it has happened in our history, that's a fact, right? So how do we avoid it happening in the future?

Just go back, look up election fraud in American history, we're not talking about 2020, look up in decades before that and there's some shocking stuff, it's known, court cases verified, people confessed, so how do we make sure it doesn't happen in the future, that's the big issue. Hey thank you for the call and keep your focus on Jesus as you know, good to have you back in the fold. All right, got time for another call before the break, let us go to John in Cleveland, Ohio, welcome to the line of fire. Hi Dr. Brown, thanks for taking my call, I was just curious about the term wokeness, I believe that the left in general are the enemy of freedom and they are by nature better at psychological warfare and I've been thinking that this is the idea of calling on you.

Hey John, I apologize, I looked at my talking correctly, we'll get your call on the other side of the break, so sorry, we'll be right back, everybody else stay on hold, we'll be right with you. Welcome back to the line of fire, I would go straight back to John in Cleveland, Ohio, okay, so sorry to interrupt you sir, back to you. No problem, so Dr. Brown, have you ever heard the idea that the Democrats are the evil party and the Republicans are the stupid party and like the Democrats are the spiders, Republicans are the owls, have you ever heard like? Not the latter, I've heard sayings like if you're not a liberal when you're young, you don't have a heart, if you're not conservative when you're old, you don't have a mind, you know, so these different types of analogies, but yeah, go ahead, where are you going with this? Okay, no doubt, well I was just wondering, see I believe that the left is superior at psychological warfare and I was wondering, do you believe that the term wokeness is actually a mistake to use it because for example, if you, you know, if you see on TV, you'll see a pundit say, oh, oh, he's going woke or this is a woke mob, but isn't that like saying you're asleep? So it's kind of like, isn't it a compliment in a way, it just seems very ineffective in a way, but do you see it?

Yeah, John, it's an interesting question and it's obviously debatable, in other words, who are we talking to? Sometimes if I'm preaching to my choir, I say things that really fires up my choir, those that agree with me in my echo chamber, but those on the outside, it pushes them further away. And sometimes I'm trying to be sensitive to those on the outside and then I disappoint those on the inside. You know, one pastor said to me when he's on secular TV, if he has a choice of offending the church or offending the world, he's going to offend the church. I said, well, why not just speak the truth from God as opposed to to who you're going to offend or not offend. Why not just speak what is true and what God wants you to?

Again, we're talking about hundreds of billions of people and how they hear and perceive things. The idea of wokeness does convey something negative and it's like, I'm going to show how sensitive I am. I'm going to show how racially sensitive I am. I'm going to show how sensitive I am to women's issues.

I'm going to, you know, and it's so obvious that someone's just putting this thing on. But here's the problem that I have, John, is that we can we judge and polarize like I've been called woke. When I when I said I voted for Trump twice, but I felt he was morally responsible leading up to the storming of the Capitol and I held him responsible in that sense morally for the way he handled it. Oh, you're just trying to be woke or when we called out, you know, the false prophecies that you have on conspiracies. Oh, you're woke.

You're a rhino. I mean, I'm actually an independent. So I can't be a Republican in name only. But you know, you're you're this and you're you're you work for the left.

It's like, you know, so we just fling these things around and it's so immature and it's so unhelpful. And often when you obey God, it looks odd to people like Jeremiah prophesying to the people of Judah submit to King Nebuchadnezzar telling telling King Zedekiah submit to King Nebuchadnezzar and you'll live in exile and God will bless you. They said you're working for the enemy. You're a pro Babylon. You're not a patriot. You know, so if if you may take a certain stand, people say you're being unpatriotic.

No, no, no. I'm trying to see the church get healthy so the nation can get healthy. So the term itself can be debated. But let's not just put it on someone. Let's look at substance. That's the key thing. Let's look at the actual substance of what someone's saying instead of judging them. And we know why they're doing what they're doing. Right.

Let's try to deal with the actual issues and content as opposed to name calling. Either way. Hey, thank you for the question. I appreciate it.

We go over the mountain home, Texas. Robert, welcome to the line of fire. Yeah, Dr. Brown. I've got a theory that I haven't presented to anybody that I respect. And it's a theory that we're in a battle, an AI battle, and that our enemy is God. The two battles being the drug war and the bathroom war. Now in the drug war, if you research the opium wars of early 1800s, our ancestors were the drug pushers, the cartels, the dealers. When you say our ancestors, who do you mean, just so I understand? Founding fathers, England, France, we forced opium on China.

If you go, Wikipedia does it justice. And so I guess I have a question that there's some national repentance, maybe, that takes place. And secondly, on the bathroom bill, with the bathroom issues of, you know, girls in the boys bathroom, I don't think God approves of our gym classes.

And it's the same in the Christian schools, where the clothes nakedness and not just, you know, 20 people taking a shower at the same time. So anyway, I just- I want to tell you what, let me major, because with limited time, it could take us too far afield, I'm going to focus on your first question here. I don't know the history in terms of what you just mentioned with China, opium, et cetera.

So I don't know the history. If I'm correct, you were the one that was right about a girl conceiving at like five years old or something. Was that your call? Yes.

Okay. Yes, I was surprised I got online and found out what you were saying was accurate. So I'm not questioning you on the opium thing. I'm just saying it's not history that I'm aware of. But here's the point I do want to raise, that none of us should be boasting about our righteousness, about how clean and good and right we are, because all of us have blind spots.

And I don't mean even just- not just individuals, but as parts of- if you vote a certain way, if you vote the right, if you vote the left, as much as I vote to the right, and as much as I abhor the militant pro-abortion policies and some of the activist policies that I believe are really destructive for the good of America, and these policies are so wrong, I understand that not everything about the Republicans is good and right. Not everything about the right is good and right, and that there are Christians who lean left, and they're not pro-abortion, but they lean left on other issues, and they'll say, well, what about this? What about this? What about this? What about these justice issues? What about this? What about this?

And we miss things. I was talking to one black brother in the States, and he said, look, you are excited when conservative justices are appointed to the courts. He said, and I understand why, pro-life decisions and other things like that, pro-family decisions, pro-religious liberty decisions. He's a very sharp guy. He said, but I know statistically that these justices, on average, will give a higher sentence to a black man than to a white man for the same crime with the same criminal background.

He said, so I'm not excited about these justices for these reasons. All that to say, when we're talking about America being a Christian nation and different things, everything's flawed and mixed, and it's not like the one side is the righteous side and the other side is the unrighteous side and so on. We have to recognize, thank you for the call, Robert, I appreciate it.

We have to recognize that the only one that's flawless is the Lord, and the only message that's flawless is the message of the gospel, right? And that to the extent we put our emphasis there, yes, we vote, but it is always going to be a flawed system, and you're always going to have backroom deals, and look, Rand Paul's talking about a bill came up and he said, hey, let us add to this bill the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and his Republican colleagues said, no, no, because we could win this vote, and Rand Paul said, wait, wait, you mean it's more important to you to win this vote, get the Democrats behind it, just on a funding bill, right, an economic bill, it's more important to do that than to defund Planned Parenthood, hey, you've just got to be pragmatic. Well, of course, you never get around to defunding Planned Parenthood, you never get all the promises and it doesn't happen.

It's a political system, whoever's in the White House is going to have clay feet, is going to be a person with strengths and weaknesses, and that's why we can't put all our stock in that. I know it's election day, and I know it's important, and I voted, and I hope to you if you haven't voted yet that you get out and vote, and vote in an informed way, not just because this is the way we always vote or my church votes or my family votes, vote in an informed way. What matters most to God when we cast a vote, in terms of what the state can do, in policy, right, what the government can do, that's what we're voting about, we're not voting about the church, we're voting about the government. What matters most to God, how can we vote for candidates that stand for those things as much as possible, right, weigh it out as much as possible, and then let's get on with our work.

Let's, look, the government can't, as T.L. Osborne said to leaders in Ukraine years ago, you can't make a good person bad, excuse me, a bad person good, you can't change their hearts, only the gospel can do that. So let's vote, but let's put all our eggs in God's marrow. Let's put, or God's basket, all our apples in God's marrow, or if we want to say it, let's put our heart, our soul, our strength, our effort, our mind, being one in Jesus, loving God, loving our neighbor, caring for those in need, helping that they help us in the least of these, making the gospel of Jesus known, being disciples, making disciples, giving ourselves to prayer and worship, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, being filled with hope in life, showing the world there is a better way, and ultimately we're only passing through here forever and ever, we're going to be with God, or separated from God. Let's major on the majors, friends, and as we do, we will make a glorious difference in eternity and people who would have been lost and hopeless and helpless will be saved and found and full of joy and purpose and life. Let us be givers of life and truth and hope.

Let me shout it on election day because we'll be so caught up with the results of which was going to go on, the votes been cast, what's going to happen is going to happen. Let's pray for our elected officials. Let's give ourselves to the work of the gospel. Hey, if you look at my emails, I want to fill you with hope and encouragement every week, several days a week. Want to minister to you, build you up, go to askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R brown.org, sign up for our emails. We want to pour into you. God bless. Your program powered by the truth network.