Dr. Brown Tackles Your Big Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. You've got questions. We've got answers. Let's do it. 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. Hey, friends, Michael Brown here, delighted to spend this day with you. I will not be taking calls today, but I'm going to be responding to questions that I've asked to be posted already on social media. So don't post now. But I'm going to be responding to a bunch of questions that have been posted on Facebook as I've been looking at them.

There are some really fascinating ones, so we're going to dig in together. Do you get my emails? I'm going to keep reminding you until you do. You're like, yeah, you're talking to me.

Yeah, I am. You'll be enriched. You'll be informed. You know, we work hard to be a resource for you, to really be your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

And most days I'm writing a new article. It could be dealing with the church and political issues. It could be dealing with the theological controversy. It could be dealing with things going on in Israel. Or it could just be something inspirational.

I'll feel the right. But most days I do. It's about five new articles a week. You say, who can keep up with that?

Well, we'll send you links to all of them. Yeah, every week, once a week. And we put out new videos.

We pull an excerpt from the show or we may just sit and record an extra video. And and we post them regularly through the week. You say hard to keep up with.

Yes. But you get the emails. You'll know about it. Brand new resource coming up. I'm speaking in your area. You'll be informed through email.

So take a moment, go to AskDr.Brown.org, AskDrBrown.org and sign up for the emails and we will put you immediately in our fun welcome tour, which you'll find enjoyable and informative. OK, let us start with Mark. I still haven't heard a good explanation about the unforgivable sin. Reading the text plainly, it's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees labeling the work of the Holy Spirit is from the devil. That's Mark three is the one place that explicitly connects blasphemy of the Spirit with religious leaders attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil. And my church upbringing, it was always explained that the sin of unbelief was the unforgivable sin. But the text doesn't plainly say that. How can any sin be unforgivable except that which denies the very thing that allows you to be forgiven in the first place?

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Yeah, I've addressed this many times, Mark, and I've said that the text only gives us one explicit bit of information. He said this. Jesus said this.

Mark three. It spoke about the blasphemy of the Spirit being the one sin that was unforgivable. And and he said this because they said he's doing this by the power of Satan.

They said he's he's working miracles by a demon. Now, Paul writes in first Timothy one that God had mercy on him, even though he was a violent persecutor of other believers. God had mercy on him because he acted ignorantly and unbelief. When Peter gets up and preaches in Acts three about his own Jewish people rejecting the Messiah says, No, I know you acted ignorantly as you didn't realize what you were doing. So that tells me that the blasphemy of the Spirit is a knowing, willing sin that is on such a level of hard heartedness that you knowingly, with your eyes open, attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan himself.

There is a line that you're crossing and hardening of the heart. There's a line you're crossing and rejecting God. It's not just unbelief, because many times unbelief is part of our ignorance. We may struggle in our faith for years and years and years. The one who is blaspheming the Spirit is so hard in his or her heart to God that they will never want forgiveness.

They will never want to come our way. They will never say, I'm trying, but I can't get back. No, they're they have set an irreversible course in their lives and they have rejected it with that hardness of heart. I believe I heard Billy Graham, a clip from him many years ago, saying that he didn't attribute it directly to saying that the works of the Holy Spirit were from the devil and doing that knowingly. But rather that hardness of heart that causes a complete and utter rejection of the Lord and you utterly shut your your heart to it.

But again, explicit in the text is only one thing. And you say, well, I know a lot of preachers today. And they say, like, what you Charismatics believe in, it's really of the devil. It's based on ignorance. It's not the last name of the spirit. It's based on ignorance.

All right. If they really knew it was the spirit, then they would embrace it. Here, these men knew it was the spirit and rejected it. And Jesus said, no, that's a line.

That's the line that you cross. You can't come back as best as I understand the text. All right, Jesse, sorry for the long question. I've always wondered why the generation that saw the return of Israel hasn't seen a second coming popularized by Hal Lindsey, late Great Planet Earth. Then I heard you say that in 1948, Israel was so busy busy getting self-established that they never established a constitution.

Could it be that they must ratify the Constitution first, thus reestablishing the covenant with God? I was in a pre-tribber until recently. I'm more of a pan-tribulational now, an all-pan out in the end just as God promised. And then blessings to truck driver listening via downloaded podcasts while driving the Alaska Highway right now in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. Headed home to Montana.

It must be beautiful where a lot of the places where you get to drive, Jesse. OK, there is an interpretation based on Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse repeated in Mark 13 in Luke 21 when Jesus said, This generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled. Now, part of it is clearly the generation that saw the destruction of the temple. That was part of what the disciples were asking about. As the threefold question is laid out in Matthew 24, they thought it's all one event. The destruction of the temple, the return of Jesus and the end of the age.

They clearly mixed two things together. So, he does sort that out, but in a way that's layered and overlapping. In terms of the end times, there are certain things that will happen. And when those things are unfolding, that will happen.

It's folding that generation at the end, just like the generation that saw certain signs, saw the temple destroyed, that generation at the end that sees certain things happen will see the Lord's return. But it doesn't say the establishment of the State of Israel is one of those things. And it's absolutely not about the Constitution.

I appreciate you asking that. No, the state has been established. The Constitution is quite secondary to that. So, you say, where did they get that from? Well, when the fig tree blossoms, you know that summer is near.

Right? So, Jesus says that, and the fig tree represents Israel. So, when Israel is a state again, then it's 40 years subs, and actually it's 70, which is 2018.

Well, that's passed as well. Others come up with all kinds of explanations to keep playing with the dates. That's not what the fig tree blossoming there means. And Luke 21 says the fig tree and the other trees. The fig tree was the most obvious, that when it would begin to blossom, you knew summer was near.

That's all he's saying. When you see certain things happen, you know the end is near. Just like when you see the fig tree blossoming, you see the end is near.

It doesn't, you see summer is coming. He doesn't specifically say that the fig tree is Israel there, nor is what it means there. So, that's where the misinterpretation is.

The generation that sees Israel restored as a state, as a nation, will be the one that sees Jesus return. No, that's not what Jesus is saying. So, it's based on a misinterpretation.

All right. Daniel, what about NAR or are they biblical? Okay, NAR, the so-called New Apostolic Reformation, as presented by critics, is a boogeyman.

It is a myth. It is non-existent. I've been in this in detail for years. And as one of the alleged leaders of NAR, who's spoken to other alleged leaders of NAR, and their first question is, Mike, what is NAR? Dr. Brown, what is NAR?

What are people talking about? The NAR of the critics, this worldwide apostolic movement to take over the church and dominate the world, is a myth. It does not exist. I've argued that as plainly as I can, face-to-face in friendly interaction with Doug Givette and Holly Pivik, who've especially popularized the NAR myth. It is a myth, plain and simple. Now, there are certain teachings that are identified as New Apostolic Reformation, and you could look at, say, a book by Che Ahn, A-H-N, C-H-E, A-H-N, Che Ahn's book on apostolic ministry, and that'll give you an idea of what some leaders within what they would identify as New Apostolic Reformation believe. But the myth is it brings together all these different charismatic, Pentecostal groups, Pirate Christian, Radio Center, a bunch of others, well-meaning people, people I believe are devoted to the Lord, and do see some real error. I told Holly and Doug, let's work together to expose the error, but you've got to ditch this NAR myth thing, but of course that's their thing, that's what they believe. So they're not about to change terminology or drop it.

But I found it to be very destructive, very divisive terminology, very misleading, getting people paranoid about something that doesn't really exist, hence my calling it a boogeyman. So if you want to know what does identify as New Apostolic Reformation, read, say, Che Ahn's book, and I would agree with much and have areas of disagreement as happens with brothers and sisters in the Lord. If you want to know exactly what I believe, and what I affirm about apostolic ministry today, prophetic ministry today, what I believe are errors, and what I believe are misconceptions about NAR, Joe Matera, Bishop Joe Matera and I, with input from others, drew up a statement.

You can read it and get exactly, this is what I believe, this is what I don't believe, this is what is real, this is what is not real. It's NAR and Christiannationalism.org. N-A-R and Christiannationalism.org. Read the statement, it will affirm exactly what I do believe, it will deny the things that I deny and do not believe, and it'll separate myth from reality when it comes to so-called NAR. But the NAR of the critics, the NAR, there's a NAR church, most of that is a myth. Most of that is a conglomeration of the worst of different charismatic abuses and understandings of different misunderstandings of various teachings, all bundled together as one, as if it's this worldwide conspiratorial movement.

That frankly does not exist. Okay, Gordon, Jeremiah 30 declares Israel's future security but a full end to all the nations that I scattered you, America, British, European nations, who do you believe the scripture is referring to and what will it look like, was primarily referring then to Babylon and Assyria, and those were judged as empires and no longer exist, and the Greek empire, the Roman empire, Persian empire before that, none of those exist anymore. And it's primarily addressing the nations that oppressed Israel. If you look at larger context in Jeremiah, the nations that oppressed Israel, the nations that hurt and attacked Israel would come under divine judgment. As the Jewish people were scattered in exile, part of divine judgment, the nations overdid the punishment. The nations went too far, and because of that, God punished them in different ways, some more severe than others. Even Germany dividing into two, East and West Germany and the lasting trauma that that brought, that was part of the fruit of judgment coming on Germany for its barbaric acts against the Jews and others.

So I don't expect that every nation where Jews have been scattered, like America for example, is going to be fully destroyed by God, but in turn, America did not join in the severe oppression of Jews as Jews or severe persecution of Jews as Jews. All right, we will be right back on the other side of the break. Again, if you're just tuning in, I'm not taking calls today, but hey, 99.999% of you listening are just listening anyway, especially if you're listening on podcast after the fact. So I've got some great questions I'm going to keep fielding really, really interesting ones.

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Go to triveda.com or call 800-771-5584, again 800-771-5584. The Truth Network presents Life 101, the basic rules for getting by and moving ahead in life. We've all faced times in life where we are completely overwhelmed with just too much to do. This is usually due to our own false beliefs that we actually have to do all the things that we're doing. In reality, some of the things we're doing or committed to are simply due to careless overcommitment. So how do you reverse it and find spare time?

Start with only one thing. Jesus said there's plenty of time in one day to worry about the things for that day, and since that's true, there must be something that you can cut out. Whatever it is, quit talking yourself into holding onto it. It may take a bold step to humble yourself and tell others that you're overcommitted. Then as soon as you can, drop out of that one thing that you really don't have to be doing. Afterwards, you will find more peace of mind and life will become less of a burden and more of a joy. Do it today.

Pray for wisdom to find that one thing in life that you can drop to achieve more balance in your schedule and more peace of mind in life. You are listening to the Truth Network. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the Line of Fire.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Those who are watching the broadcast might have noticed that there is a little dark spot on my shirt. Maybe it's disappeared by now. Ah, I was rained, walking in, getting caught in some rain, and I was going to wait until the spot disappeared. But it's like, hey, the great majority of you are just listening and not watching. So spot or not, we go on. And others, I don't think you were distracted by it.

But those that really notice every little detail, that's the explanation to the mystery. Now you can refocus on the broadcast. I'm not taking calls today answering questions that have already been posted on Facebook. If you want to connect with us on Facebook, it's a lively place with lots of interaction and about 580,000 plus followers there. That's AskDrBrown, A-S-K-D-R, Brown on Facebook. But if you just look for Dr. Michael Brown, you'll get me there.

Or well, just go to the website AskDrBrown.org, you'll see all the different ways to connect on social media. Brad, utilizing your language convention education, please speak of the differences between words A and B. What are the actual definitions of the words? Meaning that it is possible to be A and not B, then other than loyalty to five-point Calvinism, why does some insist that if one is A, then one has to be B? Word A is elect, word B is saved. So why does some insist that if one is elect, then one has to be saved?

It has to do with the definition of the words. So Israel was a chosen and elect nation as a nation, but it didn't mean that every individual Israelite was saved. However, it is our understanding that New Testament election means that you are chosen before the foundation of the world to be elect in Christ. In other words, that he will have a people. In my view, it is based on God's foreknowledge in terms of that he will have a people in Christ. That's what has been predestined now, who those people will be is based on our response to the gospel.

The Calvinist would say it's predetermined before the foundation of the world. But either way, God determined that he would have an elect people in his son. So New Testament election would say if you are chosen by God for salvation, then you are therefore saved.

And I agree with that. So Old Testament election was on a national basis and individual Israelites could be right with God or not. New Testament election is election in Christ.

And the only ones who are in the Messiah are believers. And therefore to be elect is to be saved. Now you could argue that the word elect relates to the word chosen. And Jesus says, many are called but few are chosen, but that would confirm the same thing. Elect chosen in Messiah. So if you're in him, you are therefore elect. If you are elect, you are saved. Therefore it's not five point Calvinism as much as New Testament terminology. All right, Joel, Christian counseling, what say you?

Thank you. Christian counseling can be a lifesaver, a life giver, a life transformer. Christian counseling can save marriages. Christian counseling can bring wholeness and healing to lives as long as it's done rightly.

What do I mean by that? What I mean is that there are different approaches to counseling. I'm absolutely not a counseling expert, but let's just say many psychologists and counselors for many years were driven by a Freudian model, Sigmund Freud.

And Sigmund Freud was anything but biblical in his thinking about human nature. So if a Christian counselor was more Christian in name, but was trained in such a way that they were more worldly and secular in their thinking, then the counseling might be harmful. Many, many years ago, there was a mom, she and her husband seemed to have a great marriage, a bunch of kids, very devoted to their kids. She was a little beleaguered with the pressures of life and started seeing a counselor. And she and her husband were very close to Nancy and me, the students of mine in the mid-80s, and she started seeing a counselor and Nancy said, I don't like what this counselor is saying.

It was very much almost like appealing to you're your own woman, you can do your own thing, to the point that marriage became oppressive, to the point that the responsibilities that she had became oppressive, and she ended up divorcing her husband, who was a very, very devoted husband. So sometimes counseling can be unhealthy, but if it's godly counseling, thank God for the gift. Thank God for the ability to have insight into someone's life and soul. Look, when you have a Christian worldview, you understand that we are spiritual beings as well as physical, mental, and emotional beings, and you factor that into your counseling, and you base things on scriptural principles, and you have gifts and calling from God. So Christian counseling can be wonderful, life-giving, life-transformative, and look, Jesus says, quoting from Isaiah 61 in Luke 4, that he came to heal the brokenhearted. So just like an expert doctor can, oh, it's a complex fracture here or break, but he knows how to set the bones, right, or another doctor is an expert in heart surgery, and this person can save your life, well, there are others, just like some of us are gifted in teaching or preaching the Word, right, that there are people who are gifted counselors and have wisdom, people who are wise throughout scripture, and they are real gifts to the body, and now they can specialize, they can see where the inner being needs to be healed, where the mind and emotions need to be healed. So godly Christian counseling is a godsend to the body. Ah, all right, let's see here, so a longer question, I'll get you on the other side of the break. Tricia, what is the best way you found to evangelize Jewish people?

What have you learned was ineffective? Any advice to give to someone feeling called to evangelize the Jewish people? Thank you for your time and consideration and my questions. God bless you and keep you always.

Thanks for the burden and the interest, Tricia. Number one, visit my website, Real Messiah, realmessiah.com. If you're talking to a Jewish person, they have questions or objections, send them there because we deal with maybe 100 of the most common Jewish objections to Jesus being the Messiah. There are full-length debates that you or your friend can watch where I debate Jewish rabbis. There are specific video series that we're putting out that demolish misinformation from counter missionary rabbis, one in particular, so that's all there. And it's a great resource, a great learning place for you, realmessiah.com.

Everybody, if you've not been there, go there. If you have the app, that's Dr. Brown Ministries app, you just scroll down on it, you'll see Real Messiah, boom, right there, okay. As to your larger question, Jewish people are people like everybody else. Personal love, prayer, getting to know someone and speaking to their life as they're asking questions, that's number one, that's for everybody. So it's not we're trying to get a statistic on our belts that we love people and we love Jewish people and we know that Jew or Gentile, we have been saved by a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish Savior, so there's that sense of connection and indebtedness.

So in that light, absolutely, you lean into that. It's beautiful, it's wonderful, it's holy, but you build relationship, you pray that 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 you, 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 gonna 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 wanna give you two books as a special gift, first, Compassionate Father of 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, a classic book that tells you how to wage war the Jesus way, 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 AskDrBrown.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 the Line of Fire broadcast. Hey, a reminder for all of you who wanted to try out the brand new Trivita product, Ashwagandha, that I am really enjoying.

I mean, I'm up positive anyway with the mood lift, the better sleep, it's a de-stressing thing. So if you're interested in checking that out, as always, the number to call, 800-771-5584, if you would like to check that out, 800-771-5584. And when you call in, you'll find out the special offer this week. You get one bottle of Ashwagandha, you get the second free and a free digital download of a mini book that I wrote with Nancy, A Healthy Church Starts With a Healthy You, about our own life transformation and things we found to be really, really effective. That's a free digital download as well, a giveaway courtesy of Trivita. So if you're interested, you can call 800-771-5584, or you can go to the Trivita website, trivita.com. If you want to check out the Ashwagandha, use the code KSM66. Yeah? KSM66.

Use that, and that'll get you the discount and the free digital download. All right, let's go to Del's question. I'm having trouble processing something that our pastor does in our prayer night as he starts to minister to people guided by the Holy Spirit for various healings, deliverance, hurts, and needs. He speaks a certain cadence and inflection and says certain things as he's either ministering to the individual or church, like, oh, I feel the presence of God in the house, and did you feel that?

Whoop. Do you feel the power of God moving through you? Do you feel a warmth and sound, shoo, my, my?

Dr. Brown, I say this with all sincerity. It seems like the power of suggestion, like manipulation of a response, and it seems like peer pressure effect. He prefaces a prophetic utterance about an individual with, I'm off, and this is not what you're going through or feeling, just say no, you're off. But who's willing to say that when you're singled out and the whole church is watching? My heart's belief is that, of course, God can do anything, and I desire revival with all my heart, but I don't want myself, my family, or the church to be led astray.

Your thoughts. Number one, is he preaching and teaching scripture? Is the foundation of what you're hearing there biblical? Are the foundational doctrinal beliefs of the church biblical? If not, you don't want to be there. If so, okay, that's the big thing, that the basic things that are being taught and preached, lived out there, are scriptural.

That's number one. Number two, Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian, philosopher, revivalist in the 1700s and the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards said, we ought not to limit God where he hath not limited himself. So where in the scriptures does it say that any of that is wrong? Or where in the scriptures does it say any of that is right? It doesn't.

It doesn't. Any more than my pastor wears a jacket and tie while my pastor wears shorts and a t-shirt. Neither one is scripturally mandated or forbidden, right? So we, you know, in our church, we just have pipe organ. Our church, it's all a cappella. Our church, we've got electric instruments and drummers, you know, it's okay, where does the Bible say you can't have one and you must have the other?

There's all kinds of flexibility. And human beings are human beings. There are churches, you can go to a lot of African American churches in America, and as the preacher's preaching, the congregation talks back to it. In fact, it's my favorite preaching environment, actually.

It's not universal, but it's very common, right? The preacher's preaching and the people talk back to you. They repeat what you're saying, like, man, that's going to drill in more and it tells you they're listening. You go to a lot of white evangelical churches and you get a nod. In fact, one black pastor was telling me, well-known national leader years back, he's with the Lord now, but he was actually telling us privately, but then speaking publicly about it. He's at an almost all-white Bible church. And he said, the most I ever get from them is like, hmm, like a nod.

So you just have cultural responses. This is the way your pastors used to respond. He's genuinely feeling something, okay? Now my take is, if God's really doing something, all he's doing is confirming it. In other words, did you feel warm?

Yeah, I was feeling heat going through my body. Okay, that's, now he's encouraging you, something's happening, that was the Holy Spirit, right? And when he's saying, if this doesn't relate, tell me, he's being as sincere as he can. Now, obviously not everyone's going to respond publicly and say you're off, but I've been in meetings where people have said, no, it's not relevant, it doesn't speak to me. I've ministered to people and said, does that mean anything to you? And I'll preface it and say, look, I feel this strongly, but it maybe doesn't apply as I think. And they'll go, oh no, they'll start crying.

You said they start weeping. It's like, okay, I guess that was right on. So he's not trying to manipulate, based on what you're describing, he's not trying to manipulate. It's just the way he gets touched, the way he ministers, here, somebody sees a spider, you know, crawling by their feet and like, and they step on it. So I was like, oh, that's just the way human beings respond. So we have a lot of conditioned responses based on our church environments, based on our church cultures. And this is all this is, this is a particular charismatic way that he's used, you know, there's response to what he's used to, and it's not right or wrong.

The question is, what's the fruit? Now, if you say that the prophecies are mainly off, well, that would concern me. If you say, he says, this one's being healed, that one's being healed, and no one's being healed, that would concern me. But otherwise, if you're seeing good fruit, if the basic message is being preached, if there's no moral, financial scandal, sexual scandal, anything like that, and there's good fruit being produced, people are coming to the Lord, disciples are being made, and prophecies are right on, or he people are being healed and praise God, don't don't sweat it. Don't sweat it at all.

I'd be at home in an environment like that if it was genuine chase. Two questions. What is the homosexual movement think that there is no agenda because some agendas do not have to be secretive, but it's just plain all out in the open. So what's their perception of claims of the LGBT agenda? Okay, starting there, in my book, A Queer Thing Happened to America, which came out in 2011, and we have to reprint now, the first chapter is called The Stealth Agenda, because I point to changes in basically every area of society, from laws to the educational system to public perception of things through media and social media and on and on. There are societal changes, with gay activists saying, there's no agenda, we don't have an agenda. What's the heterosexual agenda? Or who's the chief homosexual that we get the agenda from, or the membership card from?

So I spend a whole chapter dealing with how any notion of an agenda is rejected, rejected, there is no agenda, there's no such thing as an agenda, on and on and on and on, and in reality, of course there is. So the fact, and it's less and less denied as the years have gone on, so on the one hand, this is true, your average person who identifies as gay or biotrans does not have an agenda other than please leave me alone and let me live my life without you getting into my business. That would be the main code agenda, and if you're listening and you identify as someone of the LGBTQ spectrum, I think you'd agree with that, right?

Maybe you know people you hang out with, friends that are gay community, et cetera. You'd say, yeah, we're just trying to live our lives. We want you to stay out of our business, it's our lives, and we just want you to recognize our legitimacy.

You know, that our marriages, our families are the same as anybody else's, and decisions we make with our body, it's just like anybody else making a decision, it's autonomous and should be accepted. So your average person doesn't have an agenda, but without question, the activist organizations have clearly spelled out agendas. And some of them, for years, they even say don't say agendas, say rights, you know, don't use certain words. So it's all clearly thought out, thoroughly documented in the stealth agenda chapter. All right, second question, what can the evangelical church do more reaching out to the LGBTQ community? What are some of our common blind spots that may need to be addressed inside the church today?

So of course, I've addressed that deeply and almost endlessly for years. In my book, Can You Be Gay and Christian, you'll get a lot of information. Can you be gay and Christian? I really commend that book to you. If you have a burden, you want to reach those who identify as LGBTQ, it'll give you compassion, it'll give you understanding, as well as a strong biblical basis.

So can you be gay and Christian? Also, the movie In His Image, the documentary that I had the privilege of hosting for American Family Studios, In His Image, you can watch, it's been an hour and 45 minutes long. You can watch it for free at inhisimage.movie or just over on YouTube.

In His Image, it's the movie about an hour and 45 minutes long. That'll give you insight as well into what the church can do in the best way to reach out. So, pitfall number one is that we don't separate between the agenda and the people. The commissioning word that God gave me almost 19 years ago was, reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda with courage.

So we make a distinction between a destructive agenda and your average person. And what we need to do in our churches, in our ministry, in our lives, is be shouting out very loudly and clearly, Jesus died for everyone, gay, straight, trans, whatever, however you identify it, Jesus died for everyone just the same, shed the same blood for all, and offers eternal life and salvation freely to all. So that's number one. That's where we start. And whoever comes into our fellowship, wherever we meet, we want them to feel loved and at home, whatever their background, whoever they are, and then introduce them to the life-changing message of the cross, which will change everything from the inside out. That's one thing. So if you're a pastor and you're taking a strong stand on a social, cultural issue, God bless you.

I'm so glad you're doing it, you're one of the few that's doing it. But just make sure as you're doing it, that you bear in mind there might be a 15-year-old kid in the front row, just showed up that day suicidal, thinking the church hates him, God hates him, wondering if there's any hope for him, same-sex attracted. And he's listening to every word. And he's looking at your body language.

And he's wondering, how do you feel about me? So you need to almost preach a mini-sermon to that kid, or in your mind, those grandparents who are faithful church members for years, but their granddaughter is about to have a same-sex wedding and they love her and want to affirm her, but they don't know what to do with it. You want to reach out with compassion.

So hearts of compassion, backbones of steel. The other thing, a common pitfall is we use our little pithy sayings like, we love the sinner but we hate the sin. When you say that to someone who's gay identified, here's what they hear. You hate me.

Here. I'm heterosexual. I don't do heterosexual. I am heterosexual. It's not something I do or put on, it's who I am. The same way someone who's same-sex attracted, they don't do that.

They are that. When you say we love the sinner but we hate the sin, they hear you hate me. So we need to be careful both with the attitude of our heart, make sure we have a real love, as well as have real compassion for the person and make sure we're using the right language. But the flip side is we don't want to compromise what the Word says. Many times because we want to be understanding and compassionate and kind and not push people away that we now compromise scripture, in which case now we've driven them away from the source of life and affirm them in their error.

And that's another fatal error. Can You Begin Christian I think will really be helpful in this regard, but thank you for the questions. And again, the way I break it down is, the way God laid it on my heart, reach out to the people with compassion, resist the agenda of courage, and you'll need compassion to reach the people.

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Go to triveda.com or call 800-771-5584, again 800-771-5584. This is Dr. Michael Brown, host of the Line of Fire. If you haven't been to askdrbrown.org, what are you waiting for? There are hundreds of free audios, videos, articles to help equip you. And while you're there, check out the benefits of becoming a torchbearer, a monthly supporter of the Line of Fire. This week we're giving all new torchbearers Let the Lion Roar our special offer for the week. DVD, CD, CDs of interviews, and a book more than a $40 value, all yours as you partner with us as a torchbearer. Together, we're making a difference. This is Dr. Michael Brown, host of the Line of Fire. If you haven't been to askdrbrown.org, what are you waiting for?

There are hundreds of free audios, videos, articles to help equip you. And while you're there, check out the benefits of becoming a torchbearer, a monthly supporter of the Line of Fire. This week we're giving all new torchbearers Let the Lion Roar our special offer for the week DVD, CD, CDs of interviews, and a book more than a $40 value, all yours as you partner with us as a torchbearer. Together, we're making a difference.

Michael Brown here, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual evolution. Join me for the next broadcast on the Line of Fire. We'll set the record straight. We'll go back to the Scriptures and see what God's Word really says. We'll take a look at what's happening in the news and get a Kingdom perspective. All that, right here on the next broadcast of the Line of Fire.

Don't miss it. For more information on the Line of Fire, go to truthnetwork.com. Hey friends, Michael Brown here, providing you, by God's grace, with a voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

What a time of upheaval we are living in today. I invite you to join me for our next broadcast right here on the Line of Fire where we'll bring you a Kingdom perspective on what's happening in our world. For more information on the Line of Fire, go to truthnetwork.com. 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. Yeah, time really does fly when you're having a good time. Hey, you can get all your questions answered. Everything we have on our website, thousands of articles, videos, knows how many searchable words, so many relevant topics. So many people call in, we're happy to answer on the air. It's like, oh yeah, I have a whole article on that, or two videos on that, or three books on that. All this free stuff you can just get online, so if you don't have the app, just carry me in your pocket. And something comes up, you're having a discussion, and someone says, well, let's ask Dr. Brown. Really.

And 24-7 you can do it. I'll be right there with a smile. So it's Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK, DR Brown Ministries, download the app.

And then, when you do, just search, you go down to the search engine, put in your topic that you're looking for, and I bet you'll be surprised with what comes up. Okay, Carol, do you believe that all Jewish people should be moving to Israel? No.

No. I believe God is bringing many Jewish people back to Israel. First, when it comes to a believer, a Jewish believer in Jesus, someone like myself, we are sent into all the world like everyone else to make disciples. We're not all supposed to be in Israel. Many years ago, I really prayed about it, really wanted to be based in Israel, but God made it clear that we were not to. So we were based here in the States and travel around the world and, of course, serve Israel day and night in different ways in Jewish ministry and outreach and fighting anti-Semitism. But absolutely, I do not believe that it is a mandate for all Jewish believers. This is a specific calling and leading from God.

And if you're not called and you go prematurely, you end up getting burnt out. As for all Jews in general, we do have different roles and places in the world. It may be as we get closer to the end that God will be calling more and more back. Right now, more Jews live in Israel than any other part of the world. That was absolutely not the case with the founding of the State of Israel. You know, you had far more Jews in Russia, far more Jews in America and other places. And until recently, you had more Jews in America than in Israel. But now there are more Jews in Israel than in any other single nation on the planet, which is as it should be. But it says God brings people back. As I said, dealing with friends in Israel many years ago, there's a difference between leich and teleich.

Leich is go, or lechu, plural, go. And teleich, or telchu, is you will go. So in Scripture, God says this will happen. But to me, it has to be as he calls and brings it to pass and prompts it.

And he's doing quite a good job of making that happen. Aaron and Laura, as someone who cares a lot about unity, I'm saddened by some of the hyper criticism I see within the body of Christ, particularly against the charismatic church. But at the same time, I do see verses in the Bible about the validity of exposing false teachers, apostles, and prophets. How should those verses be properly applied?

How do you think we can get to a healthy place where we are exposing error within the church without demonizing genuine believers as unbelievers? This is directly from Aaron, of the Aaron and Laura couple. These have been great questions today, and some of these are very near and dear to my heart. Almost all of them, in fact, were things very relevant.

So I appreciate you asking. It is a grave concern, I carry, for the exact reasons you do. Often the criticism of brothers and sisters in the name of truth and righteousness is ugly, divisive, and absolutely self-righteous and not bearing the heart of the Lord. At the same time, often, so let's say criticism of charismatics by non-charismatics is often unrighteous, hypocritical, unbiblical, extreme, divisive, and lacking in the heart of the Lord. At the same time, many things within the charismatic movement, of which I am a part, many things are flaky, wrong, unbiblical, unjustifiable, and some, actually, heretical. And they're often unchecked. So each one kind of exacerbates the problem, right? The weird, flaky stuff that gets unchecked feeds the fires of the critics.

Many of them have a good burden but go too far. I just saw someone posted a link to a YouTube video, brother, I don't know who he is, thirty something thousand subscribers on YouTube, and it's a video on YouTube channels to avoid. So it was posted for us because I'm on it and someone wanted to explain why so-and-so are good friends of mine, as the video claims.

So I glanced at it. I mean, we get attacked and criticized day and night. In fact, I was saddened for the lack of unity and saddened for the misinformation, but blessed to see that I was attacked.

That always blesses me because I know we're on the right side. But I was accused of being good friends with one particular brother. I met him one time in my life, shook his hand, that was it. I have never read his books. I have never endorsed his teaching. In fact, I publicly got on the air and read a strong criticism of him and said, if all these things are true, then that person's not even saved, if the criticisms were true.

And here's where I think there are serious errors in the person's teaching. So that's the public comments I made, except I believe the person is a brother in the Lord, based on people that have known him over 40 years and based on his doctrinal statement. So for saying I believe he's a brother, I got attacked. But the guy bore false witness about me by saying, I'm good friends with this person or endorsed his support. That's false witness.

Now, again, I'm only upset for him and those he wrongly influences and for the lack of unity in the body. But bearing false witness, I mean, that's a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. It's one of the things God put in writing in his own hands, right?

Lotaneb v'recha et shakir. Don't bear false witness against your neighbor. So he actually did that in a video warning about false teachers, then quoting from 2 John about false teachers, etc. So that's grievous.

And that's ugly. Again, it's not about me. Our reach is great. We're touching millions of people by God's grace.

I just would like to touch more, to help more. So it grieves me that I can't. But your broader question, we have to stop labeling people false teachers, false prophets just because we have a disagreement on a particular point. If they are false teachers, according to 2 Peter 2, they are bringing in damnable heresies. If they are false prophets, according to Matthew 7, they are wolves in sheep's clothing. So if someone preaches something, look, I believe cessationism is very wrong.

I believe there is zero scriptural case to say that the gifts and power of the Spirit in terms of healing, miracles, prophecy do not continue to this day. I believe that it is a serious fundamental biblical error to reject that. And it is a practical error in terms of lifestyle as well.

On a very serious, deep level. Yet dear friends of mine are cessationists and we work together for larger issues in the kingdom. I believe Calvinism is wrong. I believe that you make a better case for Calvinism scripturally than for cessationism but I still believe Calvinism is wrong. But some of the greatest leaders in church history have been Calvinists.

To this day, highly respected brothers and sisters, people I honor, people I consider it a privilege to call a brother or a sister in church history and to this day. So I'm not going to damn them to hell. And New Testament prophecy is to be tested because everyone can potentially prophesy. So if someone gets something wrong, it doesn't mean they're a false prophet, which would mean they're a wolf in sheep's clothing, it means that they prophesied falsely.

There's a difference, there's a distinction. So we need to stop using these blanket terms unless the person is genuinely not a believer. And it is absolutely clear from scripture or lifestyle that they're not believers. Otherwise, let's say that's a false teaching or that's a false prophecy or here's where I differ with them.

That's one thing. The second thing is, the charismatic side, we have to clean up our act and do a better job of self-policing. We've really failed there and it's brought a lot of reproach to the gospel, driven people away from Jesus.

The false Trump prophecies and guaranteeing eight straight years in the White House or saying that he is actually the president and Biden's not, I mean that kind of nonsense that still goes on despite all of our best efforts to check it and call it to account, that's grievous and must be dealt with. So the critics need to tone down their criticism and get to know the people they're criticizing face to face and see the fruit of their lives and find out what they actually believe about point after point, that's one thing. Charismatically we need to clean up our act and stop driving people away, good-hearted sincere people, stop driving them away. And then, biggest thing of all, we need to recognize that we're one in Jesus.

We're going to be together forever. And if God is deemed to accept you, who am I to reject you? We may not be able to work together closely because of differences, but we must have God's heart. And one thing that I've learned over the decades is I don't know everything.

There are hills I'll die on. There are things I'm absolutely dogmatic on that I'll stake my life on. But who am I to say, I'm going to tell you about every ministry and every doctrine and I'm the right one.

What kind of arrogance is that? And if you're going to tell me your teachings, I guarantee you I can tear some of it apart and show it's wrong scripturally and using the original languages and so on. So let's walk with humility and let's really have God's heart. James Robison said something that changed his life when he was preaching and just working very specifically in certain narrow circles. That's where he worked and that's where he lived. You know, ministry. Billy Graham said to him, start hanging out with people you disagree with. And it changed his life. Those are the close words. I don't know if those are the exact words. It changed his life and he started spending time with others and realized, well, you love Jesus too.

Well, you love the word too. Well, you have a burden for the lost too. But whoa, we share the same goals. Boy, maybe one church jumps and shouts and the other church is quiet. Maybe one church emphasizes this more and this church emphasizes that more, but you get to know each other.

Wow, okay. I see you have God's heart too. And maybe you're like, all win the lost, win the lost, win the lost. And they're like, all feed the poor, feed the poor. Well, you both have biblical mandates for what you're doing.

It's not either or, it's both and. So that's a great thing to do. Get to know others within the body who hold to the basic orthodox faith. Get to know them. And there are people I differ with. There are people whose TV shows I've been on I differ with, whose radio shows I've been on I differ with.

There are people I've had on my broadcast to talk with that I differ with. But I think part of their message is important, we'll get that out, and then we'll share areas where we differ. But let's have God's heart. Go over John 17 over and over until we get the heart of the Lord, that we may be one with Jesus and the Father, because that's His heart. And a lot of it starts with you and me changing our bad attitudes. Have a blessed rest of the week weekend. And God bless.