Dr. Brown Tackles Your Toughest Questions

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We are live from Denver. You've got questions. We've got answers.

Phone lines are open. 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. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire broadcast. Michael Brown, so glad to be with all of you. Coming your way live from right outside of Denver, Colorado, we are remote, which means that we are audio only, so everyone listening, always the same, everyone watching.

Well, just imagine the smiling face and, yes, the ever-present mustache. Okay, it is the last day of the week. You may be listening, watching a different day, but it is the last day of the week, which means you've got questions. We've got answers. Here's the number to call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884 is the number to call.

Okay, now, here's the deal. We had a brand new phone system installed in our Winston-Salem studio. That's where all the calls come in and everything is monitored there. And everything has been, we got that set up, the call quality was better than it's ever been, but then another adjustment had to be made. We went back to the old system for a few days.

We're back with this one. However, as I'm looking at our board, which is always completely lit up at this point on a Friday, I don't see it lit up, which means we may be having an issue. But here's a perfect time to call because I'm showing all of our lines open, whereas they're normally all lit up. 866-348-7884 is the number to call. Call right now. If I don't see calls, all right, if you're on YouTube, start posting your questions on YouTube. If you're on Facebook, start posting your questions on Facebook.

And then I need Kai and Chris to start scrambling and going over there. I've got plenty to talk about. I've got no problem talking, but this is all call-driven and it could well be that with the first day with the phone system set back up, something is not working correctly.

That's obviously the case. All right. So how about this? I'm going to type something as we are speaking. All right. Do you think I can multitask and get this done so that I listen, I could teach on any number of subjects, but by all means, I want to do my best to get to your questions as well.

Let me ask all of you this question. If you're a Republican, if you're a conservative, would you vote for a Republican candidate for president who said, we are fighting for the gay community and we are fighting and fighting hard with the help of many of the people here tonight. This is at a big rally December of last year. And with the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides.

The strides you've made here is incredible. Would you vote for that candidate? That's the question. Oh, okay. Looks like our phone lines are working. So call in 866-348-7884.

Would you vote for that candidate? Just a question for you. We'll come back to it in a little while. Okay. Let's go over to Chris in Dallas, Texas.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hey Chris, are you listening on K word or on your cell phone or computer? I'm on my cell phone. Okay, great. Yes.

So wherever you're in your car driving, make sure the 100.7 FM on K word, our great station in Dallas, but welcome to the broadcast. You're first up. Yeah, thank you. So, uh, I've got a question regarding Catholicism. I bumped into a handful of Catholics online and they have told me that a, to have your sins forgiven, a priest does that a literal priest at a Catholic church performs the act of, of forgiving of your sins. And when I, you know, I'm an evangelical, uh, Protestant believer, you know, Baptist, and I, you know, tell them, Hey, Jesus Christ forgives you of your sins and Jesus Christ alone. They come back at me with John 20, 23, which as I'm sure you know, says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. And I believe that as Jesus Christ speaking to his apostles or disciples, so they'll use that verse saying, Hey, Jesus Christ gave authority to man.

Okay. Apostles. And they have the authority to forgive sins.

And that, that office, that ability continues through to present day with current Catholic priests. And I don't have an answer for that. I just, I don't know. That one stumps me.

So great. Yeah, we can, we can help you. This is not to bash our Catholic friends, but let's look at this principle. If I have 10 verses, 20 verses, 50 verses, a hundred verses, a thousand verses that all say the same thing. And one verse that says something slightly differently. What do I build my doctrine on?

I build it on the 10 or the 20 or the 50 or the hundred or the thousand, not the one. So throughout the whole Bible from beginning to end, people go to God for forgiveness and ask him to forgive. And he forgives through the whole Bible. Go into the gospels. Jesus talking about the tax collector and the sinner in Luke 18, the tax collector lists his eyes to God, repent, you know, repent. And Jesus says he goes home justified.

That's him and, and God. Go into the book of Acts and look at the preaching there. And in every single case that people respond to the gospel and what's the, what, what are they told? You'll receive forgiveness of sins. So they repent, they're immersed, they receive forgiveness of sins over and over and over and over and over. What does Paul say in Romans 10? If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, believe that God has raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. What does it say in 1 John?

You know, two believers, but what's the principle? If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So don't mention priest, mediator, any such thing. So the whole of the Bible, read through Psalm 51, David's prayer of repentance after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah healed. He cries out to God for forgiveness, cleanse me, wash me. He doesn't go to the, to the priest then.

So verse after verse after verse after verse after verse after verse after verse in the Bible with the same thing. You go to God, you ask him to forgive and he will forgive and he will have mercy. The prodigal son goes running back to his father signifying and typifying the Heavenly Father and he's embraced. There's no mediator, there's no priest there.

So that's the first thing. Overwhelming, complete, without fail, consistent scriptural testimony. Now priests played certain roles as mediators for the people, ministers of the gospel play certain roles, but that's overwhelming testimony of scripture. We go to God, we ask for mercy and forgiveness and he forgives.

That's number one. Number two, where does it say that the priests are apostles? Where is there any such connection?

Where is there any link of that? Where is Jesus saying that to anyone but the apostles there? If you just want to strictly look at that in scripture, say, well show me. Show me where it goes from the apostles to the priests and you're going to say everything that Jesus said to the apostles now applies to Catholic priests.

That's the second thing. Third thing, really all it's talking about is our role as preachers of the gospel, really for all believers representing the church as a whole. We declare that if you will repent and turn to God, your sins will be forgiven. We make that declaration. We declare forgiveness through the gospel and we declare if you refuse to repent, your blood is on your own hands.

So that's exactly what we're doing there. As ministers of the gospel, we are acting out that very verse. So the entire testimony of scripture is against it and that verse is being completely misapplied. So again, no intent to bash my Catholic friends and if you find relationship with God with the help of a priest through Jesus, so be it.

But to impose that on others is absolute bad doctrine. Okay, yeah, thank you. Thank you.

You are very, very welcome. 866-348-7884. Let's go to David and Corpus Christi, Colorado.

Welcome to the line of fire. Corpus Christi, Texas, Dr. Brown. Okay, so here's the deal, David.

I only know of Corpus Christi, Texas, but our call screeners, they get real busy on Friday and sometimes they may put a wrong thing in, but because my screen said Corpus Christi, Colorado, my first question was going to be, I didn't know there was such a place, I should be coming your way next month, actually, Corpus Christi at New Life. Awesome. Yeah. Alright, what's your question, sir?

Alrighty then. Well, first off, it's an honor to be able to ask a question again and for the audience, I'm cheating by asking you to go for my show later on today, but why don't we see a more supernatural move of God in the United States of America? We read a Bible, supernatural events from Genesis to Revelation, right? The majority of the other parts of the world, you know, I've been to South Africa and things like that, you know, supernatural all over the place, healings, resurrections, prophecies, words of knowledge, but we come into the West and especially America, where has God moving?

Why don't we see that more in America? Alright, let me give you multiple answers to that question. We recognize certain things were done in the Bible for certain purposes. For example, the exodus from Egypt was a one-time event on that scale. We recognize that even though as followers of Jesus, by the Spirit, we can do the things that he did, we understand there was a tremendous outpouring of miracles through him to demonstrate him being the Messiah. So we're not expecting that we're all going to be able to walk on water and things like that. So the certain things that happened in the Bible, or Elijah going up to heaven in a whirlwind and chariots of fire. That being said, the biggest reason we don't see God move more in America is because we're not interested in it.

I was preaching last night here in Englewood, Colorado, and quoted Leonard Ravenhill, when he was asked, why is it that we don't see revival? His answer was always, because we're willing to live without it. Very few really have that level of devotion and single-mindedness to press into God until breakthroughs come. So that's a major factor. God does not just come to those who were nonchalant and lackadaisical.

It's not even healthy or good for us if he did, and it creates bad habits, if that was the case. He comes to the hungry and the thirsty, and the ones that have the most intense and extreme breakthroughs tend to do it out of desperation and outcry. So that's the second thing. The third thing is, the Holy Spirit is moving in very supernatural ways in many, many places. And people are being healed, and miracles are taking place, and I've been in a number of churches. You know, the church, God willing, that will be in next month in Corpus Christi, they've been baptizing about a thousand people a year now, and outpourings in the Corpus Christi campus there, college campus.

They are in 20 different schools with Bible clubs, including elementary schools, and the kids minister and pray for the sick. So God is moving and things are happening all over America. We just don't hear about it as much as we might, but certainly not what we should be seeing. Certainly not the scale that we should be seeing. Last point is, there's a certain unbelief in our culture, a certain skepticism, scientism, we know better. And sometimes just with a more simple faith, God, we trust you in your word, we see greater miracles.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire. There are some really exciting things happening with a major church-sponsored run that we're going to be talking to you about in the days to come, an exciting initiative with a great heart where the proceeds go and fighting for justice, standing for justice. We are getting TriVita supplements to some of the key runners in this event so that they can monitor it in the weeks ahead to see the results they get. I'm going to be on the same routine regimen with them just to monitor along with them. If you want to find out more, call 800-771-5584. Not about the run but about these amazing wellness supplements, 800-771-5584. Just a reminder, when you do call with any order of any size, you'll get the free digital mini book that Nancy and I wrote.

It is called The Healthy Church Starts with a Healthy You. Make sure you check your email because you'll be getting the digital book that's automatic, that's free. It's a short read. It will inspire you. It will encourage you. If you're interested, 800-771-5584.

If you're calling on a day when it's off or time out of business hours, the folks there will gladly get back to you. I'm just excited about being part of this radio revolution, part of this wellness revolution. Can I thank all of you who send in words of encouragement or who stop me at an airport and greet me? It's a regular thing that happens. I see the smile, and it's the smile of an old friend.

But I know I don't know you, and I know it's coming. Dr. Brown, I listen to you every day or I follow you. It's a blessing, and I'm so thrilled to know that we're making an impact in your life.

Here it is. We've been doing live daily talk radio one or two hours a day since July of 2008, so over 15 years now. I sit every day like, I get to do radio again. We get to be on the air with all of you.

What a joy. Jesus is Lord. He is at work in the earth. No matter what you're going through, be encouraged. He is Lord. If you're a child of God, the ultimate story ends well.

866-344-TRUTH. All right, let us go to our buddy Eddie in Connecticut. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. We had a lot of fireworks last week with this topic. Sweet.

Basically, what's that? I said sweet. For those who don't know, this is our New York friend Eddie in Connecticut with his weekly Bible study.

Go ahead. The topic was Jesus when he said, I have been come for the unrighteous, not the righteous. I came for the well, not the sick. I mean, I came for the sick, not the well. I only came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

So I said, wait a minute. If I'm reading that as a regular person here with a regular average brain, it's telling me that he only came for certain people. If you were righteous, he didn't come for you. You had it all set.

You don't need a, I know I'm off the course here, but I said, let me get the call in here to you. But it sounds like when you're reading it, you know, point blank, I haven't come for the righteous. They're all set for the unrighteous.

I haven't come for the well. They're good. They're healthy. I came for sick people. And then we just talk when we talked about if one sheep leaves the and goes astray, the good shepherd's going to go after that one.

But the guys that are already in the corral or whatever, they're fine. So I said, let me call. So Eddie, here's the deal. There's two sides to your question.

The first side is this. Jesus is also speaking a rebuke to the self-righteous in the first case. In other words, if you think you're righteous, you think you're good, you think you're healthy, I can't help you. So there is that aspect to what he's saying.

But there's more to it. And I remember, as a fairly new believer, asking dear brother Rudy, who's with the Lord now, he would faithfully drive us back and forth to church services week in, week out, pick us up at our home and drive us before we had our own driver's license. And I asked him the question from Luke 15, the very same subject. The 99 who don't need to repent. What about them? He gave me a simple answer. He said they already repented.

So that's the point. Everybody has to repent. Some were already repentant and serving God and wanting the Lord, and others were still in rebellion. Others had fallen away. So the shepherds go on after the ones that are not right.

The others are in right relationship. Just like now, during the Brownsville revival from 1995 to 2000, every night Steve Hill is preaching a passionate message of repentance, of repentance, to get right with God and get the sin out of your life. Was he talking to the believers there who were on fire? Was he talking to the people like you and me whose lives were transformed through the gospel and now we want to please the Lord? No, he was talking to the lost and the backslidden and the hypocrite. So right now, if Jesus said, I didn't come for the righteous but for the sinners in the rebellion, we'd be cheering him on. Come on, Jesus, go get them. He's already got us.

So that's your answer. He's already got us. He's already brought us to repentance. So those who've already repented, he wasn't coming to bring them to repentance. He was bringing the others to repentance. And those in their self-righteousness who thought, hey, I don't need him, he's saying fine, I'll just go to the sick. Make sense? Right.

Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense, Dr. Braun. I wish we had you here in the Bible study. Hey, well listen, the next best thing, and obviously, God bless, always great talking with you, but obviously the next best thing is having our app. So wherever you go, you can ask me.

Now, it won't be quite like this. In other words, it's not artificial intelligence and you'll get a manufactured answer from me without talking to me directly, but we've answered a lot of questions and we've got a lot of articles, combined maybe 6,000 articles and videos, so we've covered a lot of ground. And we've got a really good search engine. So if you don't have the app, download it. It's Ask Dr. Braun Ministries, ASK DR Braun Ministries. Download the app. And the first thing you do, scroll down, hit subscribe. Hit subscribe. And when you do, you'll then sign up for our weekly email. So if you miss an article, you miss a video, we've got a new book coming out, I'm taking a trip to Israel, I'm coming your way to minister, boom, you'll know immediately. And then scroll down to the search engine and look for anything of interest.

Just search. And I think you'll be surprised with how much you get. By the way, that quote I read at the beginning of the show, this is actually from former President Trump, December of last year, celebrating all the tremendous progress with the gay community and how he's been fighting for their rights these years, just for the record. Okay, let us go over to Matthew in Baytown, Texas. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, how are you doing Dr. Braun? Thank you so much for what you do and for taking my car. My joy. Yes, sir. My question is, from Psalm 96, it'll be Psalm 95. But I was calling I was reading the early church fathers and they had a dispute. Well, Justin Martyr had a dispute with a Jew on verse number 10. He accused the rulers of the the people that were the rulers over Israel, of cutting a piece of verse number 10 out that says the Lord reigns from the wood.

I was just wondering, have you ever heard of that? And I've looked through every Bible I can. I can only read English. So the symptoms in the Latin Vulgate. And, you know, of course, all of the English translations I got and I've never seen anything like that with the early church fathers were accusing them of.

Yeah, yeah. So the issue would be if there's a variant reading. In other words, the Hebrew says what it says, as we have in our English translations. And sometimes you have a textual variation, you have different manuscripts. And, and, or you have, say, the Hebrew says this, the Septuagint says this, the Vulgate says this, the Paschita says this, so different ancient versions. And obviously, Justin's not reading from the Hebrew. So whatever version he had, had something that was different than what a Jewish reader would have in Hebrew, hence the accusation, but it would be unfounded. In other words, it was it was not an intentional deviation. It was not a duplicity. Rather, it was simply a textual difference. Follow? It would just be like, yeah, it would be like if someone's reading the King James and someone else is reading the NASB or the ESV and say, oh, you twisted that, you took it.

Well, no, no, just based on different texts. Okay, we've got a line or two open, 866-348-7884, right back with more of your calls. Hey, friends, Dr. Michael Brown here. Do you remember when people thought I was crazy when I said it's not too late for America, that God can still do something in our country, that there is going to be a pushback, a gospel-based moral and cultural revolution? And do you remember when people thought that you were crazy because you felt the same way because you believe what I was saying and already felt it in your heart? Well, friends, that pushback is here. The gospel-based moral and cultural revolution we've been talking about for 25 years is unfolding and we are right in the thick of it.

And the line of fire broadcast is divinely positioned for such a time as this. Friends, you would be so gratified and blessed as I hear, if you could hear what I hear, testimony after testimony as leaders, young people, old people, moms, dads, students, people from all backgrounds come up to me and say, Dr. Brown, you're providing a template for us. You're providing a blueprint for us.

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AskDrBrown.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. Welcome, welcome to the line of fire as we come your way live from right outside of Denver, Colorado. My great joy and privilege to be with you. Friends, the tide is turning. The cultural tide is turning and is turning beginning with the church.

Quick testimony and then right to your calls. So the church where I ministered last night, they had meetings every night of the week just to seek God and be in his presence. And they had a service I guess maybe second or third week of February. It started on a Sunday morning and it ended 8 a.m. Monday morning. People stayed through the night worshiping God, meeting with God.

They now have 24-7 prayer in one part of the building, 24-7 worship in another part of the building. God's at work. Things are happening.

I'm an eyewitness to it. Be encouraged. 866-34-TRUTH. All right, let us go to New York. Evan, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. Hey.

So I'm going to get right to it. So I've heard, I've heard multiple, well actually not multiple, but I've heard specifically, I believe his name is Bart Ephraim. He's been claiming that Jesus never claimed divinity in the Gospels. And I kind of wanted to obviously ask you about it because I'm currently on the fence about it.

So, it's ... Sure. So yeah, you're referring to Professor Bart Ephraim. So he's a well-known, respected New Testament scholar, but became very famous as an agnostic or maybe even atheist.

I'm not sure. Secular scholar, yeah. So we did a debate years ago on whether the Bible provided an adequate answer to the problem of suffering. So let's just say that we accepted face value that what's in the Gospels reflects the words of Jesus.

In other words, Professor Ehrman would not believe a lot of that. But let's just say we all accept it for argument's sake that what's written in the Gospels is the words of Jesus, okay? Yes. And when he says in John 8.58, before Abraham was, I am, that is an absolute declaration of divinity. The Greek is unambiguous. He's not saying, I was. He's saying, I am. He's either declaring, I am he, before Abraham was, I am he, or simply saying, I am, an identification with part of God's name, I am. It's an over-explicit statement.

And what's the reaction? They take up stones to stone him. Why? Because he claimed to be very old. No, because he was claiming to be divine. You get to John 10.30 and he says, I and my Father are one. Now we know that he prays in John 17 that we will be one with God as he is one with the Father. Obviously in the spiritual sense, but not in the full sense because in John 14 he says, I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

And then perhaps the clearest of all is in John 20.28 when Thomas recognizes who he is and says to him, my Lord and my God. And Jesus replies, now you believe. Now if he was a mortal man or an angelic being or some powerful creation and he wasn't God, he would rebuke that statement. Can you imagine someone saying to you, you're my God, you're my Lord? You wouldn't say, hey, now you get it.

No, you'd rebuke that person. So it's unambiguous in John's Gospel that Jesus claims divinity. Right. Thank you.

Because I've been kind of confused because there's some quotes that do claim it, but he also in some quotes claims to be kind of separate from it. But I appreciate this. Thank you. Right. But that's God's triunity. In other words, his primary role is not to come into the world and say, I am God, because that could have great misunderstanding. Well, is God no longer in heaven? Are you like one of the Greek gods like Zeus that comes and walks down on the earth?

How does this work? So he is the Word made flesh. He is the Son of God, but the Son himself is divine. So the emphasis of the New Testament is God sent his Son, Jesus Yeshua, to be Messiah and Lord.

But what we understand is that he is a divine Messiah and the testimony of the New Testament is unambiguous. Let me just point you to one more place, Evan. If you have my app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, or my website, askdrbrown.org, type in the name Tuggy, T-U-G-G-Y, and you'll see a debate I had with Professor Dale Tuggy on the New Testament witness to the deity of Jesus, T-U-G-G-Y.

Just search for that on our YouTube channel, Ask Dr. Brown, YouTube channel, askdrbrown.org, or on the app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries. Hey, thank you very much for the call. God bless you. Let us go over to Jim in Vero Beach, Sebastian, Florida. You know, I'm scheduled to be in Vero Beach for a few days, actually, in October. Just letting you know. Well, as always, we look forward to seeing you then, Dr. Brown. Wonderful. Yes, sir. What's on your mind?

So, long time student, first time caller back in the days of Christ of Nations in the 80s. Oh, that Jim! Awesome, man! Wonderful. Say hi to Patty and your precious daughter. I will. I sure will.

Thank you, sir. So, here's the question. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, it starts with saying, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and then in Genesis 2 it says the Lord created the earth and the heavens. And then in Genesis 1, one says God created man in his own image, and in the second chapter it talks about God creating man out of the dust of the earth. I've heard some teachers talk about that this was like two different creations, two different dimensions, you know, that one was like a different, almost, you know, the sons of God that appear later on in Scripture. What's your take on it? It's one and the same creation account from different angles.

There's no question about that. Critical scholars say that there were different sources that got patched together to make up the Pentateuch, and one of the sources presented things one way and another source another way, and they just got kind of patched together. There's no textural, compelling textural literary evidence to support that. And what's clear is you have, on the one hand, something called inclusio. So you start with a phrase, you end with a phrase. They're kind of like bookends. So Genesis 1-1, then into Genesis 2-4, it's heaven and earth, earth and heaven, it's like an inclusio. It's kind of, as I said, bookends on either side of the discussion. But Genesis 1 is laying everything out in a systematic form based on this pattern of seven, and it's all in an orderly way to convey the nature of God and how he works, and it's to give us insights into who he is and give us the big picture.

And then Genesis 2 zooms in and gives us the details. Have you ever done marital counseling, Jim? Oh, tons.

Okay. Have you ever sat with a husband and heard his case and said, that's unbelievable, that wife is like the worst person in the world. And then you sit with the wife, and she gives you her story, and you're like, he's the worst person in the world, one of them is lying, and then they sit together, it's like, oh, oh, okay, I can see how both of these stories mesh. So many times the bird's eye view and the worm's eye view will seem different, it's just different perspectives. Now, people say, no, no, but the order is different, because you have the animals and then you have Adam and Eve. Well, it could well be that God created animals afresh to bring to Adam so that he could then name them, right? So this is in the Garden of Eden saying, right, go ahead, I'm going to bring you some animals. That's one way of reading it.

The other, it doesn't have as much support on an academic level, but it could be read like this, just to read the Hebrew is what's called the pluperfect. So the Lord God having formed the animals already brought them to Adam. But either way, the whole purpose is one's the bird's eye view, now the worm's eye view. And we know as we continue on into the fifth chapter, it tells us that Adam was created in the image of God, and now his offspring is in his image. So it reaffirms that, even in Genesis 5, Adam created in the image of God.

So it's just giving us the details, there's no contradiction, it's one and the same creation account for sure. James DeYoung I figured that was the case, it's pretty much more of the orthodox way to look at things, but sometimes you hear things new emerge and it's always nice to know how to address them. David Tingin Yes, sir. All right, thank you for the call, Jim, look forward to seeing you guys. James DeYoung Thank you, sir. God bless.

David Tingin Bye-bye. God bless. 866-348-7884. Boy, I love taking your calls. Thanks for calling in and making my day.

We go back to Dallas, Texas. John, welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown Yes, thank you, Dr. Brown, for taking my call.

Thank you, Dr. Brown, for taking my call. So we look at these prophetic scriptures on several different levels. Initially it's the prophet speaking to the ancient people of Israel 25-2700 years ago and speaking of times of restoration that God will bring, but he is a forerunner of the Messiah. It's really the Messiah who speaks these words, right? So the famous Ruach Adonai Elohim Alai, those beautiful words in Hebrew, Jesus takes on his lips in Luke 4 and says, hey, today these are fulfilled in your hearing.

But he stops, of course, strategically. He stops in the middle of a verse, as he's reading, stops in the middle of verse 2 to proclaim a year of the Lord's favor and doesn't continue reading in a day of vindication by our God. In other words, it's not time for that judgment to come yet, but it is time for the favor of the Lord.

So that's the first thing. When Jesus does things, he inaugurates them. He inaugurated the kingdom of God, but there is now the spreading and the ongoing development of the kingdom of God. The rest of this passage here, it can be interpreted spiritually even now in terms of what the Lord does, but it's ultimately a prophecy of future restoration of Jerusalem and the Jewish people and how the nations will come flocking and how altogether we'll worship the God of Israel.

We can spiritualize it in terms of just like rivers in the desert is not a literal river in the desert, it's spiritual outpouring in a dry place, but there is an ultimate fulfillment that will come at the end of this age and into the millennial kingdom of the restoration of Israel and the Jewish people and of the nations joining together and flocking in to worship the God of Israel. Hey, thank you for the call. Much appreciated. Let's see, where are we going next?

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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. All right, let's go straight to the phones with Rita in Little Rock, Arkansas. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hi, thank you, Dr. Brown. What do you say to religions that predate Christianity and the Bible, that make claims that we are plagiarizing from them, such as Kemet and the ancient Egyptians with the quote-unquote Trinity and resurrection, their versions with Isis and Horus? Have you ever been in any debate with any of those type people that make such claims? Yeah, thank you for the question. I haven't done a lot of specific debates.

It's come up many times over the years. Now you have some, like we'll say, well, Mithraism has all these amazing parallels, but then when you look, they're all after Christianity. It's the reverse order there. But the two-fold approach is this. Let's press in deeper. Let's see how much these really are parallels. So let's look at, okay, so if you had a dying and rising God in Egypt or in West Semitic religion or something like that, let's compare that to Jesus. There are two different worlds. One is the complete world of mythology. The other is the world of flesh and blood, where someone who walked, who lived, who is known, whose existence is acknowledged by virtually all except the most skeptical critical scholars, who died a physical death in front of people and physically rose from the dead and was seen by them. So the parallels are completely different, the so-called parallels. And a lot of this, you know, the dying and rising, a lot of it is just reflection on cycles of life.

In other words, that you have different seasons and things die at certain times and come back to life. So you have mythologies that are based on that. Even so-called Trinity. Okay, let's examine that.

Let's dig a little deeper. Are you talking about one transcendent God that created the entire universe and go through the characteristics of God? Then how does that compare to relates to Egyptian Trinity? It doesn't. It doesn't at all. The other thing is a fascinating observation by C.S.

Lewis. And he said that if the Gospel stories are true and the Bible is true, you would expect to see pagan parallels. That in other words, in the world of the Spirit, knowing certain truths and realities, here, Satan certainly understands God's triunity.

Wouldn't you expect to see this? Jesus was ordained to be a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Does the spiritual realm have some knowledge of that?

Certainly he didn't fully understand it. Are there going to be attempts to mimic that? Certainly. So the biggest thing you do is say, okay, let's really look at those parallels. And the more you do, the more the God of Israel, the God of the Bible stands out. The more that Jesus stands out. Even alleged parallels to virgin birth, it would be like some deity coming down from heaven and impregnating a woman, as opposed to the virginal conception. And so when you dig deeper, the parallels really fade away. And in fact, it's a great way to witness, because when you do, the God of the Bible and the accounts of the Bible are so dramatically and radically different that you say, where did they get that from? When the whole world was polytheistic, where did Israel come up with this idea of this one transcendent God who spoke the world into existence? Let's look at the Egyptian creation accounts and compare them and think, wow, we're not comparing apples and oranges.

We're comparing ants with rockets. You know, how in the world? So great question. That's the way I would respond. Absolutely. I appreciate your time. Thank you. You are very welcome. All right.

We go over to Deborah in Chicago. Welcome to the line of fire. Well, thank you. Yes, I was going to comment on your comment about would we vote for someone who is saying how that is good. The LGBTQ movement has made strides, which you say is President Trump. And I do, you know, appreciate your bringing that out.

And I know that for myself, or probably for any Christian, it comes down, you know, at the end of the line, it comes down to us and our relationship with the Lord and what we feel the Lord wants us to do and who the Lord, those we want, who we feel the Lord wants us to vote for and what's a deal breaker. The thing about President Trump, which I believe is the current president because of the, um, I'll tell you, just did you have a, did you have a question for me? Well, I guess I was just going to discuss it. Yeah, no, I was, I was just throwing it. No, I appreciate that. But just given, I, I'm so sorry, but given the nature of our Friday show where I'm just answering questions. Oh, I'm sorry.

I did not realize. No, no, no, no. I put it out only because I thought our phone lines weren't working and I wanted to throw something out. So your call is perfectly appropriate.

Please call in the future. But tell you what, just tell me in a nutshell, yes or no, if you would vote for President Trump, if you felt it was him versus President Biden or someone with a very bad agenda, would that be a deal breaker for you if he's celebrating same sex quote marriage and saying, Hey, we've, Hey, we want to treat everyone kindly. It's if there's progress in that regard and treating someone with kindness and compassion and grace in the midst of our differences. I'm all for that.

Yeah. But would that be a deal breaker? Would you say no in conscience? I can't vote for him because of that. Oh, I mean, I'm a lesser two evils person. Now abortion might be a different story for me.

That might be a deal breaker on some stuff. But yeah. Okay. No, all clear. Hey, again, thank you for calling. And I'm so sorry if I didn't make it clear. So Deborah, you responded to my question.

Thank you for doing that. Yeah, that aside from other things, that would be a deal breaker for me. That again, everyone has a line and I'm not looking to the president or Congress or anyone to do what the gospel is supposed to do. But I am voting for someone with certain reasons. And there are certain lines that would be crossed.

We'd all have those lines, right? Maybe someone's really strong in defense, but they're pro-abortion. Well, I'm not going to get my vote. That's, that's a given. All right. 866-344-TRUTH. Let's go to Rochester Hills, Michigan. Welcome to the line of fire. Cola, you are on the air.

Hey, Dr. Brown. Uh, thanks for taking my call. Appreciate you. And God bless you, brother.

Thank you. Um, my question is regarding, I think it's Hosea 6-2 or 8-2. And it's the one verse where it says after two days, he will revive us in the third day. He will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. And I guess my question is, uh, I believe historically people have believed that there would be about a 2000 year period from Christ to his return. And that basically that's a, no one knows exactly when, but the third day would be the millennial reign.

And I just wanted your opinion on that. Yeah, I don't believe that's what the verse is saying. Uh, first it's, it's figurative speech in Hosea. And then Paul leans on that and a number of other passages in the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 15, when he refers to the scriptures, speaking of the Messiah being resurrected on the third day.

So this is one that points to it. Now there are church leaders through history, sir, who've held to that view that, that there would be 6,000 years of human history and Jesus would have come after about 4,000 years. So that would be 2000 more years. And then there would be a thousand year millennial kingdom.

So there are some that hold to that. That's why there are a lot of people that this new frenzy of Jesus is coming in 2023, Jesus coming in 2030 and, and so on, which of course all the, all the date setting should be absolutely completely 100% dismissed as irrelevant and, and wrongheaded, however sincere. But, uh, is, is, could, could it be possible that there is some nuance there of, of, of resurrection after 2000 years of history? I don't see Hosea saying that. I don't believe the prophecy is saying that.

You're not the first to see it. I simply don't believe that's what the text is saying or implying. Uh, it's very interesting to be living at this time in history.

It's fascinating that people living a thousand years after the time of Jesus also thought that they were living in times of prophetic fulfillment. But, uh, thank you for the call. It's not the way I read the text, but you're, you're not crazy and wondering about it.

Others have wondered in the same way. God bless you. All right. God bless you too. Thank you. All right. Let us go to Benjamin in Kentucky. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey Dr. Brown.

Thank you so much. Um, recently somebody that I knew kind of threw out a vague reference about that they believe they're marijuana user and they believe that marijuana was somehow used for incense or something like that in the old Testament tabernacle. And, um, they had said they had talked to some Jewish folk or something. I was wondering if you had ever heard that. Not that I agree with it at all. And I guess in addition to that question, I get asked a lot about the use of it. Let me just, I'm just going to jump in only because we're going to have, uh, the end of the show momentarily. Okay.

Yes. I've absolutely heard about it and I've written articles about it and I've debunked it. It is absolute complete nonsense. It is 100% made up. It is a theory from a Polish scholar that wasn't even a Hebrew scholar alleging that Kanye bosom in the Hebrew Bible. So it was a fragrant read that that's where we got cannabis from for a fact that's not where we get cannabis from. Cannabis comes from a different linguistic origin, but said that's where we got it from.

And it was incense that would be burned in the tabernacle as if the priests were getting high while they're ministered. It is complete linguistic nonsense. There's not a shred of truth behind it.

If people use drugs and religious rituals and in any part of the world, people do that to this day. What does that prove? But this kind of bosom mean cannabis or does it, is it related etymologically to cannabis?

No, no more than Moses is related to mice. Where do you read more? Go to my app. Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK, Dear Brown Ministries. Type in, go to the search engine, scroll down for the search engine, type in cannabis or marijuana. You'll get all the details there. By the way, last year I wrote a bunch of articles at the request of Daily Wire and I did one about marijuana in the Bible and it lit up.

The comments were, I think thousands of comments actually wrote a follow-up article. People are hostile to me over it. You cannot use the Bible to justify marijuana smoking or ingestion. And remember God says, be sober, be vigilant. Have an awesome weekend. Another program powered by the Truth Network.