A Heartfelt Plea from an Israeli Seeker

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

This is really one of the most moving emails I've ever received from a seeker in Israel. I'm going to share it with you. 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. And delighted to be with you. If you've got a Jewish related question for me today, the number to call 866-34-TRUTH.

866-348-7884. As long as it's Jewish related, we'll do our best to get to it during the show this hour. I've got some very beautiful, profound things to share with you that I think will really bless you, encourage you, and also enlist you to prayer. And then I want to give an invitation or challenge to those who believe that the Hebrew Bible, as written, the letters that were used, had pictographic meanings hidden within it. I want to give you a little invitation a little bit later in the show, and you'll be able to join in on our YouTube platform to weigh in with your interpretation of some words. I want to illustrate a point about alleged pictographic meaning.

I'll be doing that a little later in the broadcast. Also, if you see me reach for a tissue here or there, or you see my eyes tear up, what I'm about to share with you is actually very touching, very moving, deeply moving, from the heart. However, the reason for the tissue and potential tearing up in the eyes is I woke up this morning, for no reason I can understand, with real, severe allergies. I just got kind of hit with it.

Seemed like an odd time of the year to get hit with it anyway. If there are tears, because I'm moved, you'll know that. But otherwise, if you see tissue in my hand, those that are watching, or if you hear anything that sounds a little nasal, that's due to allergies. All right, I'm going to change the name of this gentleman from Israel, change his name to Shimon. And Shimon, if you're listening, you'll know this is you right off the bat. Why am I sharing his emails to us with all of you? It's because I want you to pray for this man.

That's first and foremost. I want you to feel his burden and to pray for him. I was deeply moved by the contents of his emails.

That's number one. Number two, I want to give you an idea of those that we're reaching and encourage you to help us reach more and more people like Shimon in Israel. And thank you, sir, for your candor, for your honesty, for your kind words. They meant more to me than you might realize. So we received this email a few weeks back.

Hi, Dr. Brown, or one of the team. I'm a Jewish man from Israel raised in an Orthodox family. I've been listening to your show for years, specifically the Jewish related ones. I've read much of your material books, listened to every debate, et cetera. Friends, you'd be amazed how many folks from religious Jewish backgrounds have watched our shows, have listened to the broadcast, have read books and materials far more than we might realize.

And Shimon is one of those people. He said, well, I do think after all this time that you have a much stronger case than the rabbis. I find myself just not a 100 percent persuaded. I'm quite skeptical as a person. It's not something I can control.

It's just how I'm wired. So even if I get to the point that I want to believe and I see the rationale and beauty of the messianic faith and believe me, to get to this point for being raised as an Orthodox Jew is quite a journey. I still find myself questioning it all the time and just not finding peace with it.

I do want to believe. And multiple times over the years I made the decision to just believe and act as a follower of Yeshua, but it never lasted for a long time just for the simple reason that I never encountered God. I'm going to pause there and just say, wow, what profound statements. First for someone raised Orthodox to come to the belief that faith in Yeshua is rational, beautiful, biblical.

That's massive. And I'm blessed to be on words that we could be part of that journey. But now the big thing, what about encountering God for himself? He continues, I heard you say many times you can make a very good case for the Messiah ship resurrection of Yeshua, but eventually to be satisfied with it and to really know for sure it's only by knowing God for yourself.

He said, I think you're exactly right. The issue is I know for sure that I don't know God. I never felt the spirit. I'm full of doubts and I don't see a way for me to embrace Yeshua. Maybe if I was raised in a Christian family living in a Christian country, I could have been a believer without really experiencing God. Let me just say this, you would have thought you were a believer, but you could have gone on with a pseudo faith. In other words, there are many people raised in Christian countries or Christian environments and Christian families that think they're Christians simply because they inherited family traditions, but they do not have their own real relationship with God. So in that sense, it's better to come through a more difficult way and path because it forces you to really know God for yourself.

He continues, but I really can't do it like that. What will happen to me with most of my family and friends that are Orthodox and ultra Orthodox will discover that I believe in Yeshua. That is really a sacrifice.

I will lose so much. When I read about Yeshua saying I need to take up the cross and follow him, I physically feel the burden of this, how hard it will be for me to do this. But the issue is that I'm willing to do it. I will gladly lose the world to gain him.

I understand Paul on such a deep level when he's talking about losing all things and considering them as rubbish compared to Yeshua. I want to say it myself. I'm willing to do it, but I just can't do it when I just feel like God is silent. I feel like he requires me to do so much, but gives me so little to handle it. I can't do it myself if we want to intervene.

I need to know for sure that it's real. Otherwise I find myself just falling from the faith every time. It feels like I'm trying to mimic something that isn't real. Maybe I'm just talking to the wall.

Maybe it's wishful thinking. In my situation, I can never be just a lukewarm believer. I will dedicate my life for him or there's really not a reason to continue with this. But how can it make me sacrifice everything in my life without making himself known to me on some level? I could have written some of the specific questions and doubts I have, but after all these years that I found answers to objections and still got new ones for me, I think that right now the main problem is that I don't know God for myself. If I would have known him, I could have lived with some questions unanswered. Like I heard your quote many times, a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.

Actually, I learned that from Leonard Ravenhill. I don't know what to do. I'm at the brink of just stopping it and leaving it all together. I don't know what you could really do, Dr. Brown, but I would appreciate any advice. Wow.

All right. First thing, first thing, can you just make a note to pray for Shimon? Can you make a note and say, all right, I'm going to pray for this man. God knows his name. God knows exactly who he is. For God to touch him, God did say those who seek me will find me. If you search for me earnestly, you'll find me. Deuteronomy 4 29 and Jeremiah 29 13 and Matthew 7 through 11 and so many other passages, if we'll earnestly seek him, we'll find him. He will reveal himself to those who seek him. The promises and proverbs that reinforce that, for sure, for sure. Let us pray that God would draw him by his Spirit, that God would give him new birth, that God would open his heart, God would open his mind. Not just Shimon, but others that he speaks for, others raised orthodox, ultra-orthodox, other Jewish seekers, others from other religious and non-religious backgrounds who find themselves in the same place.

I would give everything for Jesus if I just knew he was real. Friends, this is very sacred to me. This is very, very sacred to me.

I hope you feel the weight of this. So, immediately my associate who helps in our Jewish ministry work, Egal, wrote to him, thanking him for contacting us and communicating so openly, encouraged him to continue in the Word and prayer, recommended some resources. And then I sent a personal reply, which I very, very rarely do. So, Shimon, again, this was how deeply I was touched by what you were at, as you know, as you know. I said, Dear Shimon, thanks so much for sharing your heart with me and my team.

We were deeply touched by your email, so much so that I wanted to send you a personal note. God will hear your cry. The Lord will make himself known to you.

He will fulfill his promises. What you say makes perfect sense, and it's clear that you understand the cost of following Yeshua, as well as the glorious eternal rewards. But yes, you must know the Lord directly and not just be intellectually convinced. And that means you must seek him earnestly and hold him to his word. I have attached the last chapter of my book, Has God Failed You?, finding faith when you're not even sure God is real.

This is just for you, not to be distributed publicly, of course. And while the words are very challenging, I believe they will ignite your own heart and soul to pursue the Lord more earnestly. And as you do, he will make himself real to you in his own way. Please do keep us posted in the weeks and months ahead and know that we are praying for you.

And he then wrote back and said this, Hi, Egal, thanks for your advice and the recommendations. I have actually read all the relevant books, the five volumes, The Real Coach of Jesus, Resurrection and Commentary in Jeremiah, and I've listened to all of his relevant debates multiple times over the years regarding questions. Like I said, I do have things unresolved, but I just don't think that's the main issue for me anymore. Like what happened to me before I'll arrive at a satisfactory answer, then I have new different questions and doubts. It took me a lot of time to recognize it, but the root problem for me is really that I just don't know God for myself. I do think that in general, the case for Yeshua is good, but being somewhat convinced of a proposition is not something that will make me born again.

A proposition has no power to save. A living God has. A personal Messiah does. And that's what I'm after.

That's who I'm after. Friends, he's preaching the Gospel. Shimon is preaching the Gospel. There's evidence of the work of the Spirit already in his life. Shimon, if you're listening now, there's evidence that you're getting this by the Holy Spirit. God is making this real to you.

It's not just your own intellectual deduction. The Holy Spirit is making this plain to you already. Then he said, I read the personal message from Dr. Brown, and please, if you can pass to him that I truly appreciate him taking the time to write to me personally, I'm thankful for the prayers and I will certainly read the chapter he attached. I just want to say that I know for sure that without this ministry, I would have left the pursuit after Yeshua a long time ago.

The sheer depth of the arguments and the answers, the sincerity never overstating the case, always sticking with the truth as it is. The heart you have, Dr. Brown, for our people, for God, it is so real and so desirable, even though we're both Jewish who truly provoke me to jealousy. So I don't know what will happen with my faith, but I do want to thank you, all the team for this ministry.

I think the impact you're making on our people is larger than it seems. I'm sure there are others like me on a path to Yeshua without you even knowing. I mean, friends, this was heaven sent.

Every word of these was like a treasure. And friends, I'm committed with you to praying for God to reveal himself to Shimon. I believe he is going to be a genuine Talmud, a genuine disciple, a glowing example of what it means for a Jewish person to find new life in Yeshua, the Messiah.

Let us commit to pray for Shimon as he represents so many others in Israel as well. Friends, you can see why this was so meaningful to receive this email. We will be right back. I'm going to go straight to the phones, then a little later in the broadcast, I've got an invitation challenge for those who believe that the original Hebrew letters still maintain their pictographic meaning in the Hebrew Bible. We'll be right back.

Hey, friends, Michael Brown here. Many of you know about the radical health transformation in my own life starting August of 2014 went from 275 pounds to 180 pounds, less than eight months, not by dieting, but by radical lifestyle transformation, getting rid of the bad unhealthy things, eating only healthy foods. I've kept it up by God's grace now for nine years, going from three headaches a week to no headaches in nine years, blood pressure as high as 149 over 103, now maybe 105 over 70 on average, I mean, radical transformation. And I encourage you to look at your life, look at your diet, ask, are you going in the right direction or do you need to make some changes?

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I use these, I commend them to you, 800-771-5584. 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. It is Thursday, Michael Brown, delighted to be with you, 866-34-87-884. By the way, these Triveda products are absolutely wonderful and I'm thrilled to recommend them to you.

Unfortunately, they don't demolish allergies in themselves. It's like not a cure-all for everything, but just, yeah, take advantage of the special offers you can get through our sponsors. All right, we go over to Joseph in Dallas, Texas. Welcome to the broadcaster. Joseph, are you there? We lost Joseph. He had a question about a couple of Hebrew manuscripts. I was curious to know what he was asking about, but maybe we'll get him back on the line.

Let's go over to Little Rock, Arkansas. Steve, you are on the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. How are you doing today? Very well, thank you.

Good. First, I just wanted to say thank you, appreciate your ministry. I've been a torchbearer for a few years, because when I first came familiar with you a few years ago and I said, dislike this guy, he makes a lot of sense.

So I need to help kind of support him. And also, I really appreciate the path that you've taken on all of this numerology and pictorial stuff. It really helped me understand some things. I've had friends give me Bibles, Sumatria Bibles, Paleo Bibles, and I just can't buy that stuff. And I lead a messianic congregation here in Arkansas.

So my question. First, I have to say that I am not a hyper-Sabbath guy. I fight with friends who try to say Sabbath is a requirement, that all of the law is the requirement.

I've lost friends who've walked away from the faith. And I'm just trying to ask this question from trying to understand how you read Acts 21. And so I have the debate with my friends about Acts 15 who try and say we need to keep all the law, and I say no, Acts 15 clearly lays that out, we don't have to do that.

However, it seems though that when we were here, or I'm sorry, when you were here, we got to have dinner together and we were talking about divine invitation. And I said it was for the Gentiles, but you said it was also for the Jew. And so when I read the story when Paul went up to the temple, that they said, hey, we hear that you're teaching against Moses while you're out and about, but what we need to do is go and take these guys to the temple and pay their sacrifice and all of that so that everybody knows that what is being said about you is not true. And to me it seems though, right there as far as regarding the Jewish people, because it's James, that he's saying to them, hey, the Gentiles don't have to do this, but we need you to go prove that you're still observing all of Torah. And though I've heard you say several times that, you know, the Wonder of New and Better Covenant, and I agree with that, even though I think contextually it's talking about sacrifices. However, it seems at that moment, Paul would have said, you know what, James, I've got to straighten you out on something.

I am not going to go to the temple and I'm not going to do this because we are under a new and better covenant and we don't have to keep Sabbath and we don't have to keep the feast. Does that kind of make sense? It seems like he's kind of... So I'm just trying to understand that process, how you would see that. So hopefully this is not confrontational, I don't mean that to be.

Oh, no, anything but confrontational, number one. Number two, it's a very valid question and a very important passage, and one from which it's easy to get the idea that God requires Jewish believers to live specifically as Jews. So I want to read the passage, the key parts, and then give you different views on it and then give you my own view.

But thank you for your support, your faithfulness, that helps us reach so many more people, so thank you for that. Okay, so Acts 21, we start off by noticing the question was never about Gentile Christians and how they should live. That was never the question, right? Rather, he gets to Jerusalem and there's a conflict and controversy, so Jacob, James comes to him, so the leader of the Jerusalem congregation. You see, brothers, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed. They're all zealous for the law and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done?

It was certainly here that you've come. Do therefore what we tell you. We are four men who are under a vow.

Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they will shave their heads. Thus, all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself also live in observance of laws. For the Gentiles who have believed, we've sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to others from blood, from what has been strangled, sexual immorality.

They don't have to worry about the rest. Okay, so number one, it is not about Gentile believers. We agree with that.

That's crystal clear. Number two, there are some Christians who believe that Paul messed up here, that Paul made a big mistake, that this was what Agabus prophesied that he would be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and that Paul had a mental spiritual lapse here and compromised. I don't believe that. I reject that view. That's number one in terms of Paul's actions. Number two, some say, well, for Paul it was what's called an adiaphora. He could do it or not.

And here he's happy to say, I'll do it. I believe that's missing the point that he was saying by doing this that he did not teach Jews to forsake Moses. He did not teach them to stop circumcising their sons. So, I don't believe that explanation is sufficient. The third explanation is that he was living as a Jew himself and that he was encouraging Jews to continue to live as Jews.

So, I believe that last view is correct. As he wrote in 1 Corinthians 7 to Jews and Gentiles in the Lord, when you were called, meaning saved, if you're circumcised, don't become uncircumcised. If you're uncircumcised, don't become circumcised. So, as a Jewish person comes to faith, was Paul saying, hey, stop circumcising your sons and let's give up the Sabbath and let's forsake Torah ethics?

No, not for a second. Why would he do that? With the destruction of the temple and the recognition now of how deeply things have changed, that you have Pharisaical Judaism becomes preeminent in the larger Jewish community because they were not temple-based, they were synagogue-based, and their traditions now gave Jews a way to continue to live as Jews without these other things, and now more of the realities of the new covenant came to Jewish believers and many of the principles that Paul had laid out now became more and more relevant, but they still lived as Jews. Paul lived as a Jew. For centuries, Jewish believers still lived as Jews.

So, for sure, there is a mandate to say, if you've been living like this, continue to live like this. In other words, why wouldn't you observe the seventh-day Sabbath? If you're a Jewish person, you came to faith, now you find greater meaning in it. Why wouldn't you circumcise your son just as a sign of the ongoing covenant, not for salvation? Paul says it doesn't mean anything as far as salvation, but as far as your solidarity with Israel.

So, amen to that. However, if someone comes to faith as a Jewish person and it's not how they've been living, they were raised as a totally secular Jew, is Paul now telling that person, commanding that person that you have to live as a Jew? I don't think so based on the principle of 1 Corinthians 7. It's in continuing the way you were when you came to faith. So, we have a break, but that's my basic response. There'd be no reason for Paul to this moment, right? Let's say a number of Jewish people, religious Jews, came to faith, right?

And Paul was here discipling them. What do you say now? You need to switch from Saturday to Sunday. Now you need to switch from Passover to Easter.

Now you need to quit circumcising your son. So, he wouldn't teach any of that. He would just teach them how to live by the Spirit, Romans 7, not by the written code.

And he would show them how the Torah was like a guardian, a tutor to bring us to the Messiah. And now that we've come to him, the scaffolding that was there when the building was going up is not necessary in that same way, but it's part of who we were, part of lifestyle, part of calling, not for salvation, but rather for identity and continuity. So, hopefully that is sufficient. During the break, our call screener will jump back on. If that answers your question, great. If you need to probe a little more, you can come back out on the other side of the break.

So, call screener, if you just check with Steve, make sure we answer these questions sufficiently. Nick, you're next. And then, everybody who believes in a pictographic meaning of the Hebrew letters, I've got an invitation for you on the other side of the break. Hey friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown.

I want to invite you to join our support team, make an investment of $1 a day that will absolutely last forever. You know, the Lord has given us a holy mandate to blanket America with the line of fire broadcast. And on a regular basis, we hear from folks writing in, Dr. Brown, I used to be a practicing homosexual. I listened to, I heard grace and truth together.

I was changed. We hear from pastors who say, thank you for speaking with compassion, but giving us backbone and courage. And we know across America, so many believers are getting healthy and strong through listening to the broadcast, through listening to these messages, as we tackle the controversies, the most difficult issues of the day.

We even hear from former Muslims who've come to faith, from Jewish people who now believe in Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, through this broadcast and our resources. So, join our support team, $1 or more per day makes you an official torchbearer. Immediately, you will get access to hundreds of hours of terrific online classes and exclusive video content. Every single month, we'll send you a brand new audio message and along with an insider prayer newsletter, where we'll talk about the things that are going to be coming in our ministry and share some of the amazing testimonies of the fruit that you are a part of. And when you do sign up, I want to give you two books as a special gift. First, Compassionate Father or Consuming Fire, who is the God of the Old Testament?

I take the best of my Hebrew and Old Testament scholarship, wrap it together in this book that you'll find eye-opening, answering many of the questions you have. And then, Revolution, my classic book that tells you how to wage war to Jesus by overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love. We are transformed, we can bring transformation to the nation. So, call this number now, 800-538-5275. That's 800-538-5275. Say, I'd like to become a torchbearer or go to AskDr.Brown.org. Click on Donate Monthly Support. 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. Welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

Michael Brown, delighted to be here. Those watching on YouTube or Facebook will notice, will notice that there's a box of tissues here on the desk with me. Yes, I'm touched and moved by the subjects we're talking about, but the tears in my eyes are because of allergies today. If you're wondering, why is that tissue box there?

That is the reason for it. 866-34-TRUTH. And I want to go back to Steve just for one more comment. But first, can I give all of you an invitation to partner with us in the sacred work we're doing? Paul did say the Gospel is to the Jew.

Excuse me. The Jew first and also to the Gentile. And it's a sacred obligation of the church to share the riches of the Messiah with all people, and particularly the Jewish people from whom those riches have come.

So we're on the front lines. Our materials are used literally around the world by different Jewish ministries. I met with a major leader recently in Germany about getting materials out, a leader from Ukraine about getting materials out in Russian. There were some translations many years ago of a couple of books.

You can't even get them anymore. We need to produce new translations and many of the key books we have for outreach, apologetics, and strengthening in the body. So many important resources to get out to more people. We have so much of our material out in Hebrew now for free in Israel in different forms, but we need to get much more out, and we have to partner with different ministries to get this done, and that means funding to do it. This is a great opportunity for you to be on the front lines, and when you are, we'll pour back into you.

You get immediate access to dozens and dozens and dozens of hours of online classes that you'd otherwise have to pay to take. Dozens and dozens of hours of exclusive video content, really scores, hundreds of hours of materials, and then two free books we send you right at the outset to thank you for joining our support team, and then a new audio message every month, and then on top of that, every month I write to you personally to all of our monthly supporters from the heart, share what's going on, give you some insider reports, tell you what's coming. You get a 15% discount in our bookstore, too, so it's just our way of thanking you a thousand times for you standing with us, and the best of all, you're helping us reach Jewish people with the good news in Messiah, as well as stand for righteousness here in America. So, call this number now 800-538-5275, say I want to become a monthly supporter. 800-538-5275, a dollar or more per day, some can give much more. Whatever the Lord lays on your heart and you're able to do, this will go 100% for our Jewish outreach, 800-538-5275, or go to AskDr.

Brown, askdrbrown.org, click on donate monthly support. Thank you, thank you for joining us. Okay, one more quick comment going back to Steve. Yes, just got the note here on my screen, please share with me the question that you asked our call screener. You're still there?

Ah, okay, Steve's not there. The question was, if I give more grace to transgender callers than those who are worried about my answer about people coming into the law, etc., obviously I try to give grace to everyone, right, and especially someone who's going to call in already thinking I'm rejecting them or hating them or judging them, I want to go out of my way even more to speak graciously. At the same time, when I feel that there needs to be a warning, or when someone comes on, they're going to now teach and instruct and call us ignorant, etc., I might be more clear, more direct, and tell them that you're wrong because I'm trying to warn and I'm trying to help. But always, at all times, I want to minister with grace to those who differ or who are on the outside of what we believe.

866-34-TRUTH. Nick in Toronto, is this a Jewish-related question, sir? It's about the tri-unity of God. All right, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, I always wanted to ask you this. Can we compare the tri-unity to God in any way to cloning, you know, how they clone animals?

Did God clone himself out of his heart to Jesus in the spirit, or am I totally off? Anyway, I'm at work, I gotta go back to work. Go for it. I'm in the computer room, I work for the government of Canada, so I'm just sneaking out. All right, all right, we don't want you to get in trouble. We don't want you to get in trouble with the government of Canada, especially since you called my show.

That wouldn't go too well. Okay, no, I don't think there's any comparison. I don't think there's any comparison. I appreciate the thought to try to think through how God could be one, and yet three, and what does that mean, and how does that work? But no, it's not a matter of God reproducing himself and reproducing himself and reproducing himself, and then reproducing himself the same but with a variant of some kind. No, we understand that God eternally existed as complex unity, that this is who God is in his essential nature, and revealed to us as Father, Son, and Spirit, with an internal relationship there that was always there.

So it'd be very different on many fronts. But thank you, sir, for the question. All right, we go to Canden, New York. Hang on.

Canden, there we go. Brian, welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown, how are you?

Doing well, thank you. I'm from CF&IBS in Long Island, from 1984 and 1985. We played stickball together. Oh, come on, man!

Yes! Well, who... It was a tie. Well, here's the question. Who won?

It came to a draw. Oh, really? Okay. All right, I don't feel bad then. That was a long time ago.

Well, uh... Let me just tell you this real quick, Brian. So, for those who don't know what stickball is, it's a game... I only found out once I moved out, or even going out further on Long Island, and people came from the Bible school from other states, they didn't know what stickball was. But it's a New York-based game, because you didn't have fields to play on, and you're in the streets, so you play with a rubber ball, and like a broomstick, and a square painted on a school.

What's funny is you move out of there, and you can't find walls to play on. But anyway, so it's 10, 15 years after CF&I. I'm now in Pensacola leading our ministry school there, so a bit older, right?

I'm in my mid-40s now. And I'm playing with some guys from New York. They don't stickball, say, hey, let's play. So anyway, I come in with my real heat, you know, and I'm bringing it, and the guy from New York says, oh, he's throwing the slowballs.

I thought, okay, I guess my arm is not what it used to be. Anyway, thanks for the memory. Go ahead, sir. So, a commentary by Arnold Fuchtenbaum, a Jewish dispensationalist, I'm not a dispensationalist, but he's brilliant, and his comment about the unpardonable sin is a sin that was committed by the ruling council of Jewish elders, rejecting the Messiah. It's not a sin that actually can be committed by an individual today. It happened then, and Jesus turned to the cross, etc. I've read that nowhere else.

Right. So, number one, Arnold is one of the leading Messianic Jewish scholars in the world, highly respected, and a man deep in the Word and sober in his opinions. So, it's not just like somebody came up with this idea one day and put it on the Internet, and that's where he discovered it.

So, whatever he says, you take with weight. Now, we know for sure the only time there's an explanation for this is in Mark the Third Chapter, right, where the religious leaders knowingly attributed the work of the Spirit to Satan. So, it's possible that they in their open-handed, open-eyed, fully accountable leadership positions committed an unpardonable sin, and it's not something repeatable. So, on that level, it's worth considering. In other words, because Dr. Fruchtenbaum argues for it, I would really look at it. It hasn't been my own view historically, but it's the kind of thing that I chew on and look at because of the level of his scholarship and thoughtfulness.

And then, what background does he have that would confirm that? That being said, the only time this ever comes up in conversation on a practical level is when I have to tell people and assure them that they have not personally committed the unpardonable sin. In other words, Christians struggle with this, and I wish they would never struggle with it because it's talking about someone who willingly and knowingly attributes the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan himself, in which case their heart has been hardened to such a degree that they have no interest in God, that the last concern they have is, oh no, I blaspheme the Spirit. And Brian, I remember some years ago there was this campaign to get people to come online and say, you know, I blaspheme the Spirit. And it was the fad thing. Even little kids were doing it. And I remember watching it, wondering, I wonder how many people are going to get saved that are doing this today, are going to get saved.

They're doing it completely ignorantly. As Paul talked about the mercy he received in 1 Timothy 1 says, I received it because the things I did persecuting the believers, I acted ignorantly and in unbelief. So let's just say I've never seen that view myself, and it has not been my own view historically, but I would not dismiss it out of hand as having a specific historical context, and therefore I would look into the claim a little bit more myself.

Right. His final comment was, well, what if they did accept their Messiah, Jesus the Messiah? Then he claimed it stands to reason that Christ would have been arrested for treason and crucified and still becoming the Passover lamb for the nation and the world. It was compelling, and I read it nowhere else. And after, what, 40 years, it's refreshing to get a perspective that's not cloudy, I'll say.

Yeah, let me say this, Brian. You know, I don't go chasing every new tangent interpretation because 99% of them are bogus and can be easily dismissed. But when they come from someone with weight, credibility, scholarship, you dig into it more deeply. That's one. And two, you know, 1 John 5 talks about a sin unto death. And John says, if you see someone commit that, don't pray for them. The question is, what exactly is a sin unto death? That's an even more relevant question for me because it's something that seems to be ongoing in the life of the community. Some associate that with the unpardonable sin.

I'm not sure it means that, but I still don't have a full understanding of what that sin unto death is. So they're good questions to continue to dig into. By the way, Brian, I hear that there's a reunion being planned for CFNI students to take place in North Carolina late August.

If you haven't heard about it. All right, blessings to you, sir. Thank you for the question.

We'll be right back with a question for those who believe in pictographic meanings of the Hebrew letters. I'm Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health. And I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about the importance of healthy blood flow and how it's enhanced by a miracle molecule known as nitric oxide. You see, blood vessels release nitric oxide, which increases blood flow known as something called vasodilatation. At Triveda, we take blood flow seriously for our members and we've developed a nitric oxide plus supplement that has been formulated with natural ingredients designed to maximize nitric oxide production in our blood vessels, which increases blood flow. You may be wondering why you don't have as much energy as you used to. One study that I came across revealed that by the age of 40, we only produce about 50% of the nitric oxide production as compared to our twenties. And by the age of 70, the study showed that we're only producing about 15 to 25%.

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800-771-5584. May you live with grace. This is how we rise up. 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. Welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown, thanks for joining us, 866-34-TRUTH with your Jewish-related calls. I want to give an invitation to everyone who believes that the Hebrew Bible, as we have it, has hidden pictographic meanings in every word, in every letter. Therefore, if you can go back to the pictographic meanings, you'll find further insights into the Hebrew Bible, secret meanings, revelations, and things like that.

Okay, I want to give you an invitation. I'm going to give you two sentences. They each consist of two words, so they're short sentences in Hebrew. They're from the Bible. I'm not going to write it for you in Hebrew. I'm not going to write it in the old paleo script.

The paleo is just the old form of the script. I'm not going to write it in that script. I'm just going to give you the pictographic meanings as are generally agreed upon by those who hold to the pictographic meanings of the letters, okay? And what I want you to do, and you can follow up on YouTube, so on the Ask Dr. Brown channel on YouTube, Ask Dr. Brown, you can do it in the midst of this show, or if you see this as a separate video, that's probably going to be the easiest way to do it. So, are you ready for the pictographs?

Here's the invitation. What I want you to do is look at them and then tell me what you get out of these sentences. What's the meaning of these words? You say, well, I need to know the full Hebrew.

No, no. I want you to tell me the pictographic meanings because allegedly these are there. These are hidden. So, we know what the Hebrew says. We know what the words mean, how they're translated. But I want you to give me the pictographic interpretation. My contention is anyone can read anything into these and therefore the sky is the limit. But I want to give you the invitation to prove me wrong. And here's what I'm asking.

Don't look at what others write in the comments. You look at this, you figure this out, and then you post what you understand the right interpretation is. And then after we get enough comments, then I will come back and post within that and tell you what the words actually mean in Hebrew, aside from alleged pictographs.

So, here's the first one. The first word is oxgoad plus ox. Oxgoad plus ox. In other words, we're told that the Hebrew letters originally represented in this first word an oxgoad and an ox. So, that's the first word.

Oxgoad plus ox. What does that mean? What's the meaning of that? Then the second word in the sentence.

So, you can answer these independently or make them into a sentence. The second one, here are the four letters. Mark, so to put a mark on something. Mark plus head plus fishhook plus fence.

Mark plus head plus fishhook plus fence. What's the meaning of that? Those who believe that there are pictographic meanings. These are important words in Hebrew.

I didn't just take like a genealogy or something with names or numbers. These are important words in Hebrew. So, the first word, oxgoad plus ox.

The second word is mark plus head plus fishhook plus fence. All right? Second, second sentence. And again, you can make these sentences or individual. And again, please don't look at what other commenters say. You come up with what you understand the meaning of these words is.

All right? As sentences or individual words with individual meanings. Second, same thing for the first word. Oxgoad plus ox. Oxgoad plus ox.

Second word, are you ready? Mark so mark like a mark, putting a mark on something. Mark plus fish plus ox plus mouth. Got that?

Second word is mark plus fish plus ox plus mouth. Now, my contention is you could make that mean anything under the sun you want to by reading something into it. And it's absolutely not what God intended because they're letters, not pictures. But since people fiercely resist me, I mean, rebuke me, tell me I'm dead wrong and I'm missing things and get very, very upset about it. You'd be amazed at how emotionally attached some people are to this. Well, I want to give you the opportunity to prove me wrong. And that will emerge by hundreds of you all posting similar meanings or related meanings that will drop our jaws like wow.

My contention is it's obvious just by saying oxgoad plus ox or mark plus head plus fish plus fence that there are not hidden spiritual meanings because these are not pictures but letters. But here you have an invitation to prove me wrong. Okay, with that, let us go to Gibraltar. Anne, welcome to the line of fire. Thanks for calling in. Thank you so much. Okay, so my question is more of trying to get some advice or input from you on a practical, even evangelistic situation.

I'll try to just kind of paint a very quick picture so I don't take up too much time. But obviously living here in Gibraltar, there's a decent sized Jewish community here. And I've been here about 13, 14 years. It's my first experience really having any kind of friends being part of any sort of community where there were Jewish people. And there's a particular family who have been the father in the family who grew up with my father and they actually live next door to one another and they've been friends the whole life and there's his wife and then they've got one son. And so they've been friends of the family. They've gone through some particular challenges which factors in particularly with some health challenges.

They've struggled with a lot of obesity and the father recently had a very serious stroke about a couple years ago and he now is permanently in a wheelchair and never recovered full powers of speech and just can make noises that his family now kind of understand. They are intelligent people. The father and son both went through law school at the same time. And so that's just a sketch who they are a little bit. But when I first kind of encountered them and we became friends, you know, sometimes they would invite us over and we'd share some of the meals, some of the Jewish meals with them. And it was kind of a confusing experience because they seemed to fluctuate between what I would say just very Jewish to not very Jewish and very superstitious to which I wouldn't have expected. I didn't really know anything about modern day Judaism or anything like that. So for example, I was shocked when they did the readings at one of the meals that we had in Hebrew. And when I went to talk to them afterwards, they said that they actually didn't understand a word that they had just read. They just knew how to recite the Hebrew. In some ways they seem to know their faith somewhat and they'll discuss it quite vehemently. They would really talk about it. Apparently the father had once written a paper that I haven't had a chance to read yet, which was I think something along the lines of why, you know, the servant passages in Isaiah aren't to do with the Messiah, they're to do with Jewish people or something like that.

I want to try to read that. So there's been a level of intellectual engagement along those lines. But then, and I don't fully know the history of the Jewish community in Gibraltar, what I've heard is it used to be more liberal.

And then there was a change of rabbi at some level, maybe 20 years ago, something like that, and it became far more conservative. But there be times when this family seemed quite strict in terms of following the rules. And then there's other times where, you know, we'll be having meals.

And usually, so I mean, we're close to Spain here in Gibraltar. There's a lot of pork, a lot of eating of pork that goes on. And so sometimes they'll come over to to party and things like that. And we're usually very conscious to make sure we've got separate food that doesn't have anything close to pork there.

But they'll dig in to pork and shrimp and things. And it kind of takes me about, okay, on the one hand, like, so the Judaism, although some of the rules at least, is on the side. And then other times, they kind of fluctuate back to being more strict in the scenes. Let me just jump in.

Only because I've got a break at the end of the show coming up, so I want to be able to respond. So they are like many people around the world that go through religious fluctuation. You know, Christians, nominal Christians, they're more passionate here and then less Muslims, more passionate here and less back and forth. If they were deeply committed traditional Jews, they would understand the Hebrew they were reading, and they would be consistent. If they were totally secular, they would not even be reading the Hebrew or worrying about dietary laws. So they're obviously back and forth. And probably when pushed, we'll get a little more fervent.

You have your religion, my have mine. Here's what I'd recommend that you do, sir, as I know that was your ultimate question. I would encourage you to go to RealMessiah.com.

RealMessiah.com. That's our Jewish outreach website. You'll see lists of objections. Here are the most common 100 Jewish objections to Jesus. Take a look at those that seem relevant. And then we have answers, some written, some video that respond to these.

So familiarize yourself with that. Then sit down and say, Hey, we've known each other all these years. Can you tell me exactly what you believe?

Ask them questions. You tell me exactly what you believe about God, about the Torah, about obedience, about what He requires of you as Jews. And then tell me what you think of Jesus. Do you know He was Jewish? Do you think He could be the Messiah for Gentiles?

Ask Him questions like that. So what do they believe about XYZ? How seriously do they take it?

Who do they think Jesus is? See, okay, for Gentiles, not for Jews. And then say, Hey, would you watch a debate? Watch at RealMessiah.com. We've got a bunch of debates I've done with rabbis, so they get to see both sides. Hey, could you watch this debate, this Orthodox rabbi with a Jewish guy who says Jesus is the Messiah?

And give me your impressions. Sit down and watch it together. And then hopefully from there, you can have some discussions. And the biggest thing above all is to love people, to take a genuine interest in their lives, which you obviously have already, to pray for the eyes of their understanding to be open. That's the biggest, biggest thing along with loving them. And then as there's interest, to be able to present the truth to them.

So that would be my counsel. RealMessiah.com is the place to go. Thank you, and may the Lord touch this family in many, many ways. And Aaron, sorry I don't have time to bring you on the air.

We just got seconds. But in Genesis 32, did he wrestle Jacob with an angel with God? Was there 12 references in Angel? Genesis 32 speaks of God. I believe he was actually wrestling with the Messiah incarnate, so the Son of God appearing in angelic form.

That's who Jacob wrestled with. Hey, friends, thanks for standing with us together. We're making a real difference. Another program powered by the Truth Network.