Dr. Brown Answers Your Instagram Questions

You've got questions. We've got answers. Let's do it. Hey friends, Michael Brown.

Welcome back to the Line of Fire. This is my last prerecorded show while I am in India. Thanks for praying.

You can pray for the return trip back home and eager to be with you live again on Monday. But what I'm doing today, I've never done this before, but we've got, I don't know, 35, 37,000 followers on Instagram, maybe more than that, I forget. But I've never just answered questions posted on Instagram. I've done it Facebook. I've done it Twitter. But this time, I'm just answering questions posted on Instagram.

I solicited these last week. So here we go. The first question is for, actually, I know, Brian, where did you get that beautiful flannel?

Looking good, Dr. Brown. Okay, actually, it is a really nice flannel shirt. And there's a story behind it. When I was speaking at Radiant Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, last month, or the month before, as you listen to this now, in early December, as I was speaking there, I was given this, or whatever, a few weeks ago, I was given a flannel shirt, you know, just in the welcome package and different things.

There was this beautiful flannel shirt. So that's where I got it. Radiant Church, Kalamazoo. Yes. Okay. Christy, how does one know the difference between a spiritual tack and just the results of the fall of man? Right? So in this world, where it's a messed up world, and things go wrong, and we make mistakes, and we suffer because of what other people did, and we suffer just because we're in a fallen world, a spiritual tack is normally going to be more concerted, it's going to be more definite, it's going to be more sustained, it's going to be more obvious. So when you have several different things happening consecutively that are all highly unusual, when you have these things coming, and there's a real sense of oppression with it, when you have it repeatedly over and over, those are often signs that more is going on, in which case you deal with it more as a spiritual attack, as opposed to just, you know, rebuking the wind on a windy day, you know, we're rebuking the cold weather during the winter, that's just living in this world. But there are things that are unusual, that are sustained, or that come with unusual oppression. There could even be something that's just part of this world, but now Satan's trying to pour more junk on us in the midst of a battle. So that can often happen, and we just recognize it. Over time, we recognize something more is going on here.

All right, let's see, not W2. In Genesis 12-3, when it talks about those who bless, those who curse, can you explain the Hebrew translation used for curse? Does it mean to curse or that God will change your heart?

Thank you, and please be thorough. Okay, I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean. Does it mean to curse or that God will change your heart? But the Hebrew for blessed is very simple. It uses the words blessed two times.

So, I will bless those that bless you, speaking to Abraham and then his descendants we see right through Israel. This is continued as a promise, and I will curse those who curse you. Now, two different words are used in the Hebrew. The first is the standard word for curse.

So, it is God's judgment. It is God's curses, just like Deuteronomy 28, beginning in verse 15 to the end of the chapter, divine curses. So, God will curse those who curse Abraham's seed, again, speaking of future Israel. So, the second word that's used is not exactly the same as curse. It really means to speak contemptuously of, to speak lightly of in a contemptuous way. So, that would be what it's saying, that God will curse, bring judgment on those who revile Israel, who speak contemptuously of Israel. That's the better way to translate it and understand it, but it's very close in terms of meaning.

You know, tell you what, because of the names, the Instagram names are not actual names here, rather than try to pronounce what's here, I'll just answer the questions, and if it's yours, you'll know it. According to the Word of God, can a Christian be demonized? Yes. The question is, what do you mean by demonized? Do you mean, can a Christian come under satanic oppression?

For sure. Can a Christian come under sustained satanic attack, where there is a demonic presence there? Sure. Can a Christian allow a certain part of their life to come under demonic power?

Yes. A Christian can become bound, even though in Jesus we are free, even though we have died to our sin, and should not live in it any longer, we can consider ourselves dead to sin. It is possible for a believer to open the door to the enemy and in a certain area of life find themselves bound where they need to be set free or delivered. Can a Christian be demon possessed and possessed in their entirety by Satan? No, not if they are born-again believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit. No, because in that case they would not belong to Jesus but to the devil. So a Christian can be demonized, meaning in certain ways come under demonic power, oppression, or in a certain part of their life be bound by satanic power and need to be set free. Can a Christian be demonized in the sense of demon possessed and owned and controlled by the devil? No. I do not see that as a scriptural possibility.

All right, let's see. Next, what do you think about women being leaders in ministry? So if you go to my website askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org, and type in women or women pastors, you'll see some video content where I've addressed this issue. I believe that women can serve in all areas of ministry effectively by the Lord but are not primarily called to governmental leadership. So while there are women like Deborah Led-Israel, there are women who are pastors who do apostolic ministry, who are leaders of networks and movements, I do not see it as the normal New Testament pattern. I see the normal New Testament pattern is the same as what we have in the home with the husband being the the head of the home and having a certain protective calling over the family. I see that in terms of male leadership in general. However, women being released into all types of ministry, evangelistic, prophetic, serving on pastoral teams, leading in that context, absolutely. As senior leaders of ministries, I see it as the exception rather than the rule. But I do recognize women have been raised up and anointed by God to do these very things as Deborah was. I just don't see it as the New Testament primary pattern or rule. Let's see, is thinking about committing a sin considered as committing it.

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I don't know how to explain it. If you mean you're wrestling with it, Lord I'm being tempted, I'm struggling, I know my weakness, I'm afraid I'm going to do that. No, that's not the same as doing it. If the thought comes to mind, boy what would it feel like to do this thing or to be in this place or and you're thinking about it and unless you are enjoying the prospect of it or actively considering it, then that's not sin. However, if in your heart you are fantasizing about doing it, you're fantasizing about being with another person, you're fantasizing about some other sinful pleasure or desire and giving yourself to it, it's not exactly the same as committing it, but yes it is sinful in the sight of God. So as Jesus said, if you think lustfully after someone else in your heart, you're committing adultery in your heart. It's not exactly the same as committing the act, but it is doing it in your heart. If you're thinking, oh God I'm struggling with this, I'm afraid I'm going to fall into this. No, that's not the sin. The sin is to either enjoy the thought of it, live out the thought of it, or actually commit the act. Let's see, all right.

Okay, I'm going to try not to answer several questions by the same person unless we get through all of them, then I'll come back. How did or does the Bible speak to you personally as a Jew to convince you that Yeshua really is the Messiah? So initially when I came to faith, I was just dramatically born again, and it was not through knowledge of scripture, but the Holy Spirit working in my heart and convicting me of sin.

As I began to read the Bible and study it over the decades, especially in those earlier years, now I was being challenged by the rabbis that this is not a messianic prophecy and that's not a messianic prophecy. So everything I believed was deeply challenged. That's why I ended up taking Hebrew and then majoring in Hebrew in college and ultimately getting a PhD in Near Eastern languages and literatures from New York University.

So it was wanting to study the text on my own, wanting to be sure that I knew that I knew on my own that I didn't have to rely on what others said and taught. And of course the more I studied over the years, the more the scripture became clear to me that Jesus was the Messiah. But you know some of the key passages like Isaiah 52 13 to 53 12, which is in the larger context of messianic prophecy from Isaiah of starting in Isaiah 42 and the 49th chapter and the 50th chapter and then into the 55th and the 59th and then the larger messianic prophecies of Isaiah, those still jump out to me as real. Those still speak to me with unmistakable clarity about Yeshua being the Messiah. The prophecies that would indicate that he had to come and do his work, putting together several testimonies before the second temple was destroyed, so Daniel 9 and Haggai 2 and Malachi 3, those are powerful. What I found later in Jewish tradition, the atoning power of the death of the righteous, I see is ultimately finding its reality in Jesus the Messiah.

And just reading the New Testament, reading the words of Jesus, reading about his life, it just jumps off the pages to me, the reality of who he is, the reality of what he did overwhelmingly. So all right, let's see, what is the meaning of love covers a multitude of sins. So that is Proverbs the 10th chapter, the 12th verse, which in Hebrew has what's called chiastic structure that the word it starts with or the form of part of the sentence is what it ends with. So it starts with hatred. So hatred, then the verb stirs up, and then the noun strife, and then the reverse and over all transgressions covers love.

So it's got hate on one side, love on the other. What does it mean that love covers a multitude of sins? That you forgive, that you're willing to overlook failures because someone comes in repentance, that when someone genuinely is trying to do the right thing, that rather than dragging up all the sins and remembering those, instead of that there is mercy extended. So just as God forgives and forgets our sins and does not hold them against us, so too we do the same with others. And love covers a multitude of sins. So it's as if it never happened.

It's as if the thing is buried. It doesn't mean you cover up sinful activity. So you know that your boss is stealing money from his company, but you don't say anything because you love him. No, that's standing with corruption.

But when that same boss comes with contrition and makes things right with the company and resigns from the job, you treat that person as a friend. You say, hey, you've made things right with God and man. Let's just move on.

It's as if it never happened. All right, we will be right back on the other side of the break and we will continue to answer your Instagram questions today on The Line of Fire. Thanks for joining us today on The Line of Fire that we are devoting to answering your Instagram questions. It's my last day ministering in India. Actually, by the time you're listening, yeah, maybe starting to travel back from India quite a few hours, but I love being there and I'm eager to give you a report of what happened next week.

If you've been following me on social media, I've been posting things as well and keeping you appraised of what's going on as much as I can. Certain things you just, India's under a lot of persecution and the real challenges, but thank God the church is growing. I'm there just getting to hang out with friends, just getting to see people that I love and spend time with and celebrate life together.

It's been too long since I've been able to travel back and get this time with my friends and travel around the country. By the way, I don't go to India to proselytize. That's not why I go to India. The Christians there are doing their work and I'm there as a friend and supporter.

So, we have other reasons for going over to India. If you haven't downloaded the app, my friendly reminder, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK Dear Brown Ministries on Apple and on Android. Make sure you download it. Enjoy it. Feast on the riches of it, especially if you get some time down during Christmas, New Year. Enjoy the app. Ask Dr. Brown, ASK Dear Brown Ministries. Also, wherever you are, anywhere in the world, as long as you have a cell phone or internet signal, you can just click during radio time and boom, listen live.

Or if you miss a show, click right there and listen to the previous broadcast. All right, here's one. What's your advice to a young man going into ministry? Recognize that ministry is just the public extension of your private life. Ministry is who you are more than what you do. And that must be the foundation of everything. The quality of your own life and your own relationship alone with God. Everything flows out of that.

You can't give what you don't have. It's easy to become professional. It's easy to learn how to organize a church. It's easy to learn how to hold good meetings.

Whatever your gifts are, it's easy to entertain or interest people. But that doesn't mean you're ministering to them. Doesn't mean they're growing.

Doesn't mean they're being changed. So you want this to be about God's work through you. It's never about making a living.

It's never about having your name known. It's about making Jesus known. And you want to major on the majors. Keep the main thing the main thing. Why are you going into ministry? What's the purpose? What's the calling?

The more successful you are in ministry, the busier you'll get, the easier it is to neglect time alone with God. And you do that and your roots dry up. And what's the good of anything? What's the good of all the activity?

Contrary to a tree, which if the roots died or the roots were cut up, then the tree itself would die and pretty soon everyone would see that the branches are dead and the leaves have fallen off or there's no fruit being born. We can have the appearance of life long after we've died spiritually or long after we've withered spiritually. We can still be running around here and there. So keep the main thing the main thing. Your relationship with God.

Quality relationships with those that are closest to you. Great commission always central. And then whatever your calling is, let God bless.

Let God promote. He knows how to open doors. He knows how to close doors. I'm an eyewitness to that for over 50 years. He is absolutely trustworthy.

Keep the main things the main things. All right. Someone asked me, I don't know where he's from. Where are you going to come, Dr. Brown? In other words, where am I speaking? It's all in our itinerary. Just go to the website, askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org.

Click on itinerary. You'll see where I'm speaking. Also, if I'm anywhere near you, anywhere near your area, we'll let you know.

How will that happen? You got to sign up for emails. Sign up for emails.

Let us know where you live. And if we're anywhere near your area, zip code, anywhere near your area and going to be speaking, you'll get a notice about that. So, you can do that on the website, askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org. Just when you sign up for the emails automatically. You don't have to say, hey, let us know when you're in the area.

Automatically that will happen. 70 AD in the fulfillment of Matthew 24. Matthew 24, categorically, was not fulfilled in the year 70 AD.

Absolutely, categorically not. There are things that are spoken of there that go beyond anything that happened in 70 AD. And the picture of the son of man coming on the clouds, the picture of the elect from the four corners of the earth being gathered to him did not happen in 70 AD. Even if you say he came in some form, in some sense, in judgment at that time, which I accept, of course he did.

That was divine judgment. It does not fulfill what is written there. It does not fulfill the clear second coming language, the language of parousia, which is used there, the Lord's arrival, which is used elsewhere in the New Testament for an actual presence.

And it's clearly the time when we will be caught up to meet him and descend back to the earth with him. The things that are spoken of clearly did not find fulfillment in Matthew 24. When you look at the prophetic books, this is a very common pattern, that the prophet spoke of things in their day or things that were about to happen, along with things that were for many generations distant. Look, for example, at Ezekiel 36, the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian exile.

And when you do that, what do you see? You see that there are things that did happen with the return of the exile some decades after Ezekiel prophesied it, but much of the chapter has still not come to pass. The same with the prophecies of the return of the Jewish people from exile in Isaiah 40 through 55.

Much of that has still not yet come to pass. It is still future, even though it was prophesied of something that was going to happen with the return of the exiles 2,500 years ago. So, it's the same with Matthew 24. Even the reference to the abomination of desolation could have had reference to things in the second century BC, but Jesus clearly applying to things in 70.

But you could also say things in the future as well that have not yet fully come to pass. Remember, the disciples asked him about when the temple will be destroyed and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age. That phrase, the end of the age, is already used in Matthew 13, speaking of the end of the world, the time of the final harvest. And then it's used in Matthew 28, 20. Jesus says, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. When I was having a recent debate with Dr. Gary DeMar about that, he said, yes, I'm with you always, that's forever, even to the end of the age, meaning up to the destruction of Jerusalem. Because I didn't have the Greek memorized in front of me, I didn't catch his error there. But the word even is not there in the Greek. So, Jesus is saying, I'm with you always to the end of the age. He was not promising his disciples, I'm with you until the destruction of the temple.

After that, nope, you're on your own. Of course not. What silliness. And clearly, Matthew 13, the final harvest of the good and bad fish, is not something that took place in the year 70. But that's the phrase. Matthew tells us what end of the age means. It's the end of this world. It was when the Lord returns and sets up his kingdom on the earth.

It is still future. So, that's what they're asking. They thought it was all going to happen the same time. So, he answers the two questions. What's going to be, when will these things happen? One, and what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Two, right?

So, he answers the two together. Therefore, there are answers that have to do with the destruction of the temple in the year 70, and answers that have to do with the final destruction and the Lord's return. And of course, Jerusalem being back in Jewish hands, just as the prophets indicated, the Jewish people back in the land, just as the prophets indicated. Sadly, those who teach a preterist view, full preterist or partial preterist, do not recognize what God is doing in Israel today and with the return of the Jewish people from around the world in Jerusalem, the city of controversy for the whole world. They don't recognize God's hand in all this.

Instead, they just think it's stuff that happened rather than prophetic fulfillment, which is a shame. As a modern-day Christian is honoring the Sabbath, the commandment is, excuse me, let me read this, as a modern-day Christian is honoring the Sabbath, the commandment we are bound to. Is it a matter of salvation, since it's in the Ten Commandments, how can Christians today honor the Sabbath?

It is not a matter of salvation. Absolutely not. And there is not a New Testament command for all believers, specifically Gentile believers, to observe a seventh-day Sabbath.

Absolutely not. It finds its fulfillment first in Jesus being our Sabbath rest and in us resting from our own labors. And then secondly, it will be applied differently in different lives. Jewish believers, where this is part of covenant in history, might be more inclined to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Gentile believers that were working on Saturday, especially in the ancient world, didn't have that opportunity or luxury, might have found a day of rest when they could. Sunday ultimately became a day that became a new Sabbath for the church, but the church never had a permission from God to change the Sabbath and say the new Sabbath is Sunday. In any case, it is not a matter of salvation.

Because I've been asked this question so many times, we've addressed it many times, just go to my website, askdartyoubrown.org, askdartyoubrown.org, and just type in the word Sabbath, and you'll find some adequate teaching that'll make things clear there. And in your own life, take it up with the Lord. Ask the Lord, how can I express this?

It is a good practice, a good practice to have Sabbath rest. How can I express this? How can I live this out before you?

What's pleasing in your sight? But no, it is not a matter of salvation. Do not let anyone put you under pressure and say you must keep the Sabbath.

Don't let anyone put you under pressure. Let's see here. Thoughts on deliverance ministry. So, go back to comments from the first segment about Christians being demonized. Deliverance ministry can be valid in terms of setting people free who are not saved, but who are under demonic control or need demons driven out of them. And it can be valid within the church for believers who have allowed certain strongholds to come in their lives, who have opened the door to the enemy, and who have found themselves bound in a certain area of life and need to be set free. We just need to be careful that we don't make deliverance central. Jesus is central. Walking with God is central.

Walking in obedience, growing in the Spirit, bearing fruit, that is central. And there are times where deliverance is needed, as opposed to deliverance being the answer for everything. So, with any ministry there can always be extremes, something that is secondary or tertiary becomes primary. When it comes to demons, we can often get hyper focused on that. So, a word of caution.

Deliverance is valid, but a word of caution in terms of focusing on it too much. All right, we've got two more segments to answer as many of your Instagram questions as we can. We'll do our best to get to them. If you don't follow me on Instagram, it's drmichaelbrown on Instagram. Twitter's got another L in the middle, but Instagram drmichaelbrown. All right, friends, we're going to continue to answer your questions posted on Instagram. Remember, you can follow us on Instagram. We post differently there and have a little more fun there. Post differently there than on Facebook or Twitter.

So, each place is something different. So, feel free, if you're active on any of these platforms, subscribe to all of them. So, on Facebook, it's askdrbrown, askdrbrown.

Just follow us there, like us there. On Twitter, it's drmichaelbrown, got the middle initial L there. On Twitter, YouTube is askdrbrown, askdrbrown. And Instagram is drmichaelbrown, drmichaelbrown without the middle initial there.

All right, again, I'm not giving the names because some of them are a little hard to pronounce, figure out just like long number, letter names. So, I'm just going to do the question. If God knew of the fall and the sin that would follow, why did God allow it to happen? Also, what do you say to someone who doesn't care that Jesus is the real thing? God foreknew the fall. God foreknew human sin. That's why Jesus was ordained to die for our sins before the world began because God saw that something good would come out of it. God saw that a people would come out of it who would love him and know him who had been refined in the fire. God saw that a multitude that no one could number would be with him forever and ever as a result of the fall, as a result of human error and sin because of God's working in the earth through the cross, through the death and resurrection of Jesus to draw people to himself.

So, he foresaw the whole thing and created knowing that it would happen because of the end results being ultimately worth it. As for people who don't care that Jesus is the real thing, pray for them. Pray for them. And just in the quality of your own life, live in such a way that it would get their interest. But just pray for them.

Pray that God opens their hearts and minds and there's nothing you're going to talk them into. You know, how come you're not excited about Muhammad? How come you're not excited about Buddha? How come you're not excited about this or that? Well, because you've got no interest in it. It's not your faith.

It's not your background. Well, that's how other people look at Jesus. So, pray that God opens their hearts and minds, reveals himself, and then to the extent you have a relationship with him, just be yourself and let them see Jesus in you. Alright, thoughts on generational curses. So, generational curses do exist according to scripture.

And I'm just going to refresh my screen here to make sure that I've got the most recent questions that have come in. Okay, there we go. So, there are generational curses, meaning that, as it says in the Ten Commandments and elsewhere in the Old Testament, that the sins of the fathers have visited on sins of the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate him. So, you are in a God-hating environment. You grow up in it. You perpetuate that yourself. Your kids perpetuate it even further.

Things get worse and worse. And it may be now that things are falling on you because of what previous generations have done. Just look at it in the natural, that children born to alcoholics have a much higher chance of becoming alcoholics than children born to parents that don't drink.

Right? You know, people talk about sometimes obesity being genetic, and there may be something genetic, but sometimes what it is is family habits. You know, all our family's been heavy. Well, it could be family habits learned and become more deeply entrenched with each generation.

We can understand how these things happen, right? That, since like racism can become more deeply entrenched with each generation, and people demonize more and more in your eyes because of the environment you're raised in, and then there's a spiritual component that that deepens these. Maybe you come to faith, and you realize this is like a heritage or a history, then renounce it in Jesus' name. This is not who I am.

This is not part of my spiritual life. Through the cross, I've broken ties with all this, and I am blessed, not cursed, in Jesus' name. And believe and expect that that is how you will live, and that through the cross those curses over your life are broken. So, if you feel the need to actuate it and speak it by faith, then then do that according to the word of God, that his promises, either to thousands or more likely a thousand generations of those who love him, so all the more does he keep covenant faithfulness to his children.

Okay, let's see. About the mission of saying, who saves the life saves the entire world, is this taken from the Bible? No, it actually makes its way into the Quran, interestingly, but the saying in the Mishnah and the Talmud that the one who saves life is as if he saved the whole world is not taken from the Bible directly, but it's derived from a verse in Genesis that when Cain kills Abel, God says, the voice of your brother's blood cries from the earth, and the word for blood is plural there. So, in context, it most naturally is referring to, or most likely referring to, a violent death, and it's just a Semitic way of referring to a violent death, speaking of blood, plural. However, what the Talmudic rabbis deduced from this was that by killing Abel, that he also killed all of his future descendants, and therefore, if you kill a person, it's as if you've killed the entire world. If you save a person, it's as if you've saved the entire world. So, it's deduced from a passage in Genesis, but the quote itself is a rabbinic quote. All right, let's see here, scrolling down.

I love these questions. What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 5? So, 1 Corinthians 5, of course, is the case of the man who persisted in sin, the brother in the church, who would not repent, was sleeping with his father's wife, and therefore had to be put out of the church. And what Paul says, let's start in verse 4, when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of the Lord Jesus, of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. So, they were effectively going to turn this man over to Satan. They, having the authority of the Lord behind them, were going to say, you are not part of us, and you are taken out of the protection of the body, and you are given over to Satan. In other words, he will now have access to attack and destroy you. Your protection is gone. That grace that was there is gone. You are officially doing this in the spirit.

It's as if you had kind of a shield around you, and now that shield disappears, and those attacks are coming right your way. What is the goal? It is for the destruction of the flesh that a spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. In other words, the goal is that he will suffer in this flesh in such a way, or with it the destruction of the sinful desires, but he will suffer in such a way that he'll come back to God, and his spirit may be saved. So, maybe he will go through severe bodily affliction, and realize, okay, this is because of my sin. This is because I've been handed over to Satan, and as a result, he will repent that his spirit may be saved. That's what it's speaking about.

It's a very, very intense passage, for sure. All right, what do you believe is the line of biblical morality we should instill into our legal system? Should we vote for the biblical option, even when we know the majority of the country won't understand or agree or live by biblical principles? Are there some areas to vote for the individual's freedom to choose, for example, the legalization of substances? Okay, so, when I am voting as a follower of Jesus, I'm voting in a holistic way. In other words, I'm part of a legal system, part of a democratic republic that operates a certain way, and my vote is not to Christianize America or bring everyone under the authority of scripture or make it mandatory for everyone to believe or go to church or whatever, right? That's not the purpose of voting. The purpose of voting is to bring elected officials into office who will protect the best interests of America, preserve our freedoms, follow the constitutional guidelines, etc. That's what we're voting for.

So, I want to vote for what I believe what I believe is best for the country, and it'll be filtered through my biblical beliefs. So, let's say it's the legalization of marijuana. Based on my understanding of scripture and looking at what's best for society, do I believe that is a good thing? Alcohol is legal. Should pot be legal?

Should other drugs be legal? So, I'm going to evaluate it based on being a follower of Jesus in this world. In other words, I'm not saying everyone has to live the way I live, right? I'm not saying everyone has to abstain from drugs and alcohol because that's what I do.

That's not it. Let's say you don't smoke cigarettes, all right? Which I've never done, but all the junk I did before I was saved, I never smoked cigarettes, and I never drank a cup of coffee. Figure that out. I had a sip of coffee, didn't like it. A puff of cigarette, didn't like it.

That was it, but I was shooting heroin at 15. Figure that out, right? But, okay, you don't smoke cigarettes. Well, make it nationally legal.

No, that's not it, right? I don't watch certain unclean movies, so no one should be able to watch it. No, we're not imposing our morality on everyone. We're simply saying, okay, when it comes to what the law gets involved with, what's a good law? Is abortion good for America?

No, no, it's not. It's never good to take the life of the innocent. It's never good thing for the nation.

So, I'm voting as a believer, coloring my views, but for the good of the nation. So, I personally do not believe in the legalizing of pot. I understand alcohol is legal, and I understand that prohibitionism didn't work. I understand that. But to me, this is adding to the problems.

To me, this is compounding the difficulties. Certainly, I would say categorically that a follower of Jesus should not smoke pot. I'm not talking about a medically prescribed issue where marijuana is ingested for some medical purpose. That's a totally separate issue. Whether I agree with that or not is not the issue.

That's a separate issue. We're talking about substances that are being used for pleasure, all right? So, under no circumstances do I believe that a follower of Jesus should smoke pot, should get high, because you're getting high. And pot today, from everything I've read and understand, is far, far more potent than the pot that I smoked from 1969 to 1971 before God saved me. So, it's much more potent. And will it dull your senses or sharpen them? Can you be sober and vigilant? 1 Peter 5, right? Which is an always thing, be sober and vigilant, because your adversary the devil goes about his roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brothers and sisters in the world. Can you be sober and vigilant while getting high? No, by its very nature. It's going to dull your senses in certain ways, and it opens the door. I mean, there's all types of pot abuse now with kids.

In fact, you could eat, you know, a brownie with pot and all this other stuff. There's all kinds of abuse. There are lots of problems. States that have legalized it are having lots of difficulties.

They may be making money, but they're having lots of difficulties. It is something that should be looked into and can lead to other psychiatric problems and can lead to other forms of drug use and abuse. I believe it's still true that it remains a gateway drug that you open the door to one thing and other things do follow.

You suddenly say, hey man, I've followed Jesus, gotten high for years. I don't believe it's a good practice. That's between you and God.

You give account to him, not me. That's my view. Having said that, I'm not voting about what Christians should and shouldn't do.

I'm saying overall, based on biblical wisdom, do I think this is in the best interest of America? So, that's what's fueling my voting, and that's how I go about looking at these things. All right, we will be right back with more of your questions on the other side of the break. And if you're not getting my emails, one more reminder, go to the website now, AskDrBrown.org, and sign up to get them today.

We'll be right back. All right, one more segment to answer your Instagram questions. Let's see, thoughts on books like Enoch, Yasher, Jubilees. Is it okay to read into this stuff for further insight on vague stories in the Bible, such as Genesis, Silas, Mikey, Selek, Nimrod, et cetera, should we leave these books alone? You will not get any more insight into Genesis 6, Melchizedek, Nimrod, by reading these books. You know, Enoch will have some interesting things about Genesis 6, but otherwise, you're not going to get further insight. You'll read later traditions. We do not have the book of Yasher or Jasher mentioned in the Bible. There's a later forgery centuries later.

We don't have the original. Jubilees, intertestamental literature, interesting to read, but it's not going to give you further insight into Scripture. It's going to give you further insight into developing Jewish traditions.

Also, if you have our app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, scroll down on the home page to consider this, right, and click on it, and you'll see why weren't some books left out of the Bible. All right, it's a five-minute video that answers some of these questions head on. How would you biblically explain the appearances of the Virgin Mary in many different countries as each country has their own lady of etc.? It's a good question, and I cannot answer in an absolutely definitive way, but to me there are three possibilities. One, hallucinations. In other words, it's not real at all.

It's a hallucination to a fervent religious believer, which then gathers a tradition around it and then produces a lot of psychosomatic cures and apparent miracles. That's one. Now, many Catholics would say, oh brother, you don't understand at all. You don't know what's happened in documentation. Okay, I'm just giving three possibilities, having never studied the phenomenon in any depth.

That's one. Second, demonic apparitions. If something is actually leading people into false beliefs and a denial of the gospel of Jesus, if that is the case, or exalting Mary to a savior status that only belongs to Jesus, if that is the case, then demonic. Third possibility, that God in His mercy is reaching Catholics who so fervently believe that Mary is an intercessor and that Mary goes to Jesus for them, and that in His mercy He has reached out to them and even performed miracles because it's ultimately through Jesus. Now, some of my Reformed friends would say, are you crazy? I'm just putting out to me these are the only three possibilities, that it's hallucination, that it's demonic, or that it's God in His condescension working in a flawed system.

Those are my only explanations. All right, Sam, do you ever question or doubt your Christian faith, especially when it comes to debating people with different views? To the core of my being, no. To the core of my being, I'm 100 percent sure. To the core of my being, I'll give my life, I'll shed my blood.

I know that I know that I know. God is so real, has been so real for so many years, that to the core of my being, no. I don't doubt or question. Have I at times really been hit with serious doubts?

Yeah, but it's very rare. I know some I know some precious believers that struggle with deep doubt a lot, that have had years of torment. My heart goes out to them, and they are sincere. They love the Lord, but they straw the pain. Let's pray that they'll come to a deeper sense of assurance of faith, and in no way do I look down at them.

Oh, I don't have those doubts. No, it's just there's a grace in me for some reason. So, a few times in my early years in the Lord, and then once, oh maybe about 20 years ago, I really got hit with a real serious attack on my faith, especially on Jewish-related issues in those earlier years. Now, I've had attacks on my faith about healing and things like that, but never to the point of questioning God or his existence or the reality of Jesus being Messiah and Lord, except for those few short seasons, and they were short.

I mean, a period of days, agonizing hours, but they were agonizing. So, the torment that others have lived with for years, by God's grace, I haven't. I know that I know. I'm absolutely sure. Do questions run through my mind like when I'm dealing with atheists?

Like, okay, how can I answer them better? But do I wonder, is this whole thing real? Beyond the passing thought? No, never. Never, never, never.

Not even into the core of my being, not even for a split second, by God's grace. Is saying, oh my God, for any little thing, using God's name in vain? Using his name in vain really is something more technical.

Is it attributing falsehood to him or associating him with an idol or is more than just speaking too freely? However, I would not want to say that in a trite way. To me, that's trivializing. It's not taking his name in vain in the biblical sense. All right, lashav there in Hebrew means more than just being trivial. It's more with relating to falsehood and idolatry, et cetera.

So, it's a misuse. But I wouldn't want to make it a habit with every little thing because it then trivializes what we're saying, right? When I'm saying, it's like, I want it to be, oh my God, I want it to be startled. I want it to be exactly what I'm saying.

But I wouldn't get hung up like I've committed some terrible sin if it slips out. Is Hasatan the adversary in English or is Hasatan Satan in English from Hebrew and did they refer to God as Satan for the census as he was David's adversary? Please explain. Hasatan in Job 1 and 2 is the adversary, but I believe it's the same one as Satan in the Bible. So, either translate that as the adversary or Satan, but not the Satan because Satan is a proper name. So, either translate it as Satan or the adversary.

They are one and the same. As for 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, which says that God incited David to number Israel in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. It says that Satan incited them. What we need to understand is because God was angry with David and Israel, he allowed Satan to do it. So, Satan now was the provocateur, but it was by the will of God because he was angry. God is not called the adversary there.

It is Satan who is the adversary there. Man is made of three parts, body, soul, spirit. So, if we read 1 Thessalonians 5 23 as a description of trichotomous nature, spirit, soul, body, then yes. What part is affected by salvation? Meaning, is the soul Satan goes to heaven upon death or is it the spirit?

And then the question continues. So, the spirit is what is born again. The soul is also part of our inner nature.

That's why some just look at us as dichotomous, inner being, outer being, soul slash spirit and physical body. So, the spirit is what is regenerated, born again. The soul, which is the mental conscious aspect of our being, must now be renewed. So, the renewing of the mind is the renewing of the soul. When Ezekiel says the soul that sins will die just means the person.

Nefesh there in Hebrew just means the person who sins will die. Doesn't mean soul there, it means person. So, when we die, our soul slash spirit goes to be with the Lord, awaiting physical resurrection. So, that's our inner being, soul slash spirit is the inner man, the inner person. And we are clothed in this physical body and one day we'll get a resurrected body. So, when we say our soul is saved, that means our person, our being is saved. But specifically, spirit slash soul, those are two different aspects of our inner being.

And the spirit is born again, the soul now renewed with the truth of the gospel. In the account of Lazarus and the rich man, Lazarus ends up in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in a place of torment. Where is Abraham's bosom exactly and can you give more insight on that? So, that was thought of as a place of paradise that would have been in the netherworld. So, if you were looking for a geographical location in the netherworld as if under the earth, you would have seen the earth. But again, that would be a geographical location, we're talking about a spiritual realm. So, it was the place of paradise in Jewish tradition, being near Abraham, the patriarchs, etc., those righteous ones that went on before us and then separated from the place of suffering. Now, it could all be though a picture Jesus is painting, that the afterlife is real, but he's painting a picture of the separation as if you can see each other on either side. Many would say that Abraham's bosom was where people went before the death and resurrection of Jesus. After that, they went straight to heaven. Others would say, no, Abraham's bosom is just figuratively and that was always a place in heaven and seeing the loss, the dam, that was just a pictorial description that Jesus gave to convey various points. So, either Abraham's bosom, a place in the netherworld where the righteous went before the death and resurrection of Jesus, or just a figurative way of speaking of God's heavenly presence. Let's see, is the fourth kingdom of Daniel Rome or Greece?