Christian Theologies that Contribute to Antisemitism

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

There are some Christian theologies that actually contribute to anti-Semitism. We'll talk about it today. 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. This is how we rise up.

Heavy as a hurricane, louder than a freight train. This is how we rise up. We continue to be in a very serious frame of mind as we stand before God at these urgent times. But you know, that's just a New Testament way of thinking. Paul speaks about Timothy and exhorts him as a fellow soldier, endure hardship with us as a fellow soldier.

Around the world, brothers and sisters are being persecuted or losing their lives for the gospel. The devil is playing for keeps. And right before the broadcast, I was thinking about these words. I thought, is this from one of my books? Is this a quote?

The time for playing games is over. And I thought, where did that come from? Then I remembered. I'll tell you about that in a moment.

Welcome to the broadcast. I want to open the phone lines again. Those of you that feel that somehow what Hamas did can be justified, you can call me. Those of you who believe that God is finished with Israel as a nation, that when the temple was destroyed in the year 70, God was saying he was done with Israel. Those of you who believe that there are no promises that remain for Israel as a people, only individuals being saved through Jesus, but no promises to Israel as a people, by all means, I would love for you to call 866-348-7884.

I want to tell you some very poignant, painful, personal stories from Israel. I want to give you an update on what is happening right now in the war. And then we're going to get into the word. But when I began to think, where were those lines?

The time for playing games is over. I remember. I remember. This was a letter that was carried by the 9-11 terrorists and was found, I believe, in one of their vehicles or hotels, that this was something that they looked at the night before. They were now going to give themselves to martyrdom for the cause of Allah and attack the great Satan and America. Of course, Israel to them is the little Satan.

And it was this, you could read most of it, and it would sound like a great exhortation to believers to live for God and to be serious and not to play games. And I thought, those were radical Islamic terrorists. And the fact is, those who are committed to doing evil are often more devoted to their cause than those of us who are committed to doing good. Those who want to destroy are often more committed to their cause and willing to give their lives for their cause.

When many of us who have the message of eternal life and can save people from eternal destruction, we're more concerned about preserving our own lifestyles and having a happy time. Something is terribly wrong with that picture. Okay, just to personalize some things for you, one kibbutz in Israel, they found 108 bodies in one kibbutz. There's one where the soldiers have now found 40 babies and children. And reportedly, some of the babies were beheaded.

What kind of monstrous evil is this? I had folks after the show posted comments and said, Dr. Brown, you are the most gracious host I've ever heard. I can't believe how gracious you were with your callers yesterday or today as they posted yesterday. And others said, Dr. Brown, you were rude. You were disrespectful. You didn't treat people rightly. I understand I was sharper than I would normally be. And I actually took time to go back and listen.

I'm normally not able to do it. But I went back and listened. And when someone says, I'm not defending Hamas, but there's a reason for what they did. No, no, there is no justifiable reason.

There is no reason. I don't care how provoked you are. Okay, so you fight against soldiers. You try to take out Israeli weaponry. But you don't slaughter families.

You don't butcher babies. And anyone that wants to defend that, anyone that wants to justify that, anyone that wants to put that in another light is on the wrong side of justice and righteousness and frankly on the wrong side of God at that moment. Have you ever noticed, friends, that those rallying to support Hamas, aside from radical Muslims, and there were chants at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, a radical Islamic crowd chanting, gas the Jews. Have you ever noticed, though, that those who are not Islamic and that are having right now a pro-Palestinian rally or having a pro-Hamas rally, have you noticed that they are radical leftists, radical feminists, LGBTQ activists?

Check out my latest article where I get into this. And, you know, queers for Palestine. Do you know what happened to people who openly identify as queer in Palestine?

So I remember there was a rally in Charlotte years ago, a pro-Hamas rally. Now remember, it's one thing to say pro-Palestinian and we care about the Palestinian people and we believe Israel's not treating them rightly and we believe there's unfairness or Israel's occupied their territories and we're standing for them. Okay, that's a whole, that's a separate issue and we can have that discussion and does Israel have a right or not? Are the Palestinians being oppressed? Fine, we can have that civil discussion.

As fellow followers of Jesus, we can discuss that. But I'm talking about a pro-Hamas rally. Hamas is a movement that was born to eradicate Israel.

That was one of the major goals out of the gate. So have you noticed, though, and I remember looking at this rally in Charlotte and I'm looking at some of the people participating, groups participating, I think, are you kidding me? Radical feminists? Go ahead, hold your rally in Hamas, your pro-feminist rally. It's the last thing you'll do. Go ahead, go ahead, hold your gay pride event in Gaza. That's the last thing you'll do. Go ahead, dress immodestly and flout your body, flout your body.

Go ahead and do that. And it just strikes me, well, why do they join together? Because it's always being against Israel. It's always being on the side of anti-Semitism.

It's being part of the spirit of the age. And then there's never a big jump from there to gas the Jews. Notice, not the Israelis, the Jews, all Jews then become evil. There's an article in the New York Post, Shani Luke deserved Hamas' brutality, according to the U.S. Left.

So Shani Luke was a tattoo artist from Germany, in Israel, at the Rave Dance Festival. Again, these, as the article points out, would not have been voters for Bibi Netanyahu. These would be leftists, these would be peacenecks, right?

These would be those who would be very much in harmony with leftist politics in America. And they're the ones mowed down, slaughtered in cold blood. And yet, yet you have rallies here.

Look at this. A speaker at the DSA NYC rally on Sunday shouted to the crowd, as you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time until the resistance came in, in electrified hand gliders, and took at least several dozen hipsters. And people were whooping and laughing.

So hang on. The crowd is celebrating the slaughter of young people with similar ideologies because it was in Israel? And Hamas was justified in doing that? You see how sick this is? You see how demonic this is?

Just something a little more personal here. Tamar Kedim Siman Tov and her husband Yonatan. So the fighting breaks out, bombs start dropping, they live in a neighborhood near Gaza in the kibbutz. They're able, thankfully, to get into the bomb shelter with their twin six-year-old daughters and their four-year-old daughter. So thankfully they're able to get in the bomb shelter and send note to their friends, they're safe, until the terrorists break into the bomb shelter and slaughter the whole family.

This is the type of stuff that has been happening, and that happened. And again, as Israel responds and everyone says, Hey, hey, you need to be proportional. Okay, so what's proportional then? That Israel goes and slaughters babies there?

Is that proportional? Is it proportional that Israel goes and rapes victims? Israel right now must eradicate Hamas. It must take Hamas out of power so Hamas cannot live to do this again. It has no choice in that regard.

But how to execute that without creating even more of a vicious cycle? And we know with it there will be suffering of Palestinians. That's why I say pray for everyone in the region. So right now, Hamas has threatened, beginning yesterday, saying if Israel doesn't stop the bombings that they will start executing hostages and sending out the video, to my knowledge that has not happened yet. But obviously, Israel is bringing about devastating damage to Hamas centers and strongholds and killing many of their combatants as well. And of course, many Israelis are dying in battle. There are rockets that continue to come in from Hamas, so this is from the southwest, and then from the north, from Lebanon. So Israel is being bombarded by rockets. And right now, it is essential that we pray for God's hand of intervention, God's mercy, God's grace in the midst of this.

Somehow, somehow, God can bring life out of death and beauty out of ashes. And as we've often said, out of the ashes of the Holocaust, the modern state of Israel was born. But friends, that doesn't take away all the losses and all the agony and the hundreds of funerals taking place all over Israel that have taken place in Judaism and try to bury your dead within a day.

So this happening in the Sabbath and everything involved with it, it's slowing things down. But you're talking about national devastation, the likes of which we've never known in America. This is more devastating than anything we have ever experienced, more devastating than 9-11, more devastating than Pearl Harbor. So it's the trauma, the pain that will last for generations, the losses, the wounds that can never be healed. I'm even wondering with whole families that are slaughtered, who's there to bury them?

What are the relatives to survive? And I'm hearing from people now. One Christian brother wrote to me, hey Michael, just letting you know I'm grieving with you, praying with you. And he's very much standing with Palestinians and calling Israel to treat Palestinians better. That's his perspective. But he hates the violence. He absolutely stands against violence against Israel. He believes Israel has the right to dwell in peace and safety.

And he said a friend of his lost his mom and dad. We just got word about a Messianic believer, the son of a leader in a congregation Israel, killed. So there's no minimizing the ugliness, the horror, the trauma, how nothing's going to be the same after this. But we can pray for God's redemptive purposes. We can pray in the midst of it for God to reach out and save and have mercy and protect in the midst of all of this. So I do want to talk with you about Christian theologies that contribute to anti-Semitism. And through church history it is undeniable that once Christians believed that God was finished with the Jewish people as a people, that the nation was somehow now under a curse, that yes, individual Jews could be saved, but there are no promises that remain for the people, that in some way the church replaced Israel and God's redemptive plan.

That has been the seedbed for anti-Semitism, Jew hatred in the church through history and right to this day. And I'm watching it on social media. I'm watching it on our social media pages. We're going to address that. We come back. I'll take some calls too.

Stay right here. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Tributa Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend James Robinson, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife Betty host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40-year-plus best friends.

Well, let me just say this to you. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.

It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the NOPA cactus juice with me, NOPA left. I began drinking about that much in the morning in a glass and that much later in the day, and in three months I was a different person. I have now gone more than ten years with no pain. Not better, well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable, and that's just my testimony. But that's been more than ten years with no pain.

Matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try. See if it helps relieve your pain.

I hope it does like it has mine, because it worked for me. Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. 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. Thanks to our co-sponsor TriVita for their generosity to help us spread the Line of Fire around America. We just decided today we're going to do something we have never done before for those that come alongside and support us as torchbearers as we are determined to shake the nation, to shake the church, to say the time is now. I'll talk to you about that in a little while, but I wholeheartedly agree with the sponsor. They sponsor us, support, endorse our friends at TriVita to check out their great life-enhancing products. And again, they are helping us reach more people. 866-34-TRUTH.

Before I go to the phones, let me open something up for you. I have seen consistent comments from people in light of what's happening. And they say, well, the Jews are cursed. Well, the Jews are antichrists. Well, the Jews deserve what they get. Well, the Jews are under God's wrath. Well, 1 Thessalonians says that the wrath has come upon them and that they're not really Jews and a real Jew is a spiritual Jew and so on and so forth.

I've seen quotes like this and I've researched through history. My most translated book, probably my best-selling book ever, is Our Hands Are Staying with Blood, The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People. And overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly through church history it was this wrong theology, replacement theology, supersessionism that somehow the church superseded Israel on God's purposes. So when you're reading the Old Testament, the promise is about Israel, Jerusalem, now that it becomes spiritually applied. When that happens, it's the very violation of what Paul spoke of in Romans 11 when he said, don't boast against the branches. Meaning, you came in through mercy. Individual Jewish branches were cut out of the tree because of unbelief. You came in through mercy.

You can be cut off too. So he warns, I don't want you to be ignorant unless you become arrogant. So twice in Romans 11 there's a warning about Gentile Christians becoming arrogant. What's the arrogance? It's thinking, we are the new Israel.

It's thinking, we have replaced them. We are the new spiritual Jews and God has finished with them. It's one thing if a Christian says, you know, I feel like I'm a spiritual Jew and I pray for the Jewish people of Israel. Okay, I understand that. It's another thing when they say, no, no, they're not the real Jews.

They're not authentic. That's not the real Israel. The church is the real Israel.

Once you have that mentality, pride comes in. And rather than recognizing God's redemptive purposes in Israel, rather than recognizing that the one who's scattered will regather, rather than recognizing that the only reason the Jewish people exist to this day is because God has preserved us, the only reason we're back in the land is because God has brought us back in the land and that we still have a redemptive role to play, rather than recognizing that, that you say, no, no, when it says, God, I'll scatter you in my anger. That's the Jews.

I'll regather you in my mercy. That's the church. You're butchering the Bible when you do that. You're completely changing the meaning of the prophets. You say, well, Paul did that.

No, no. If you think Paul did that, then either Paul wasn't writing by inspiration or you're misunderstanding Paul. I go with the latter, that you're misunderstanding Paul. You say, yeah, at the end of Romans 2, he says he's not a Jew who's one outwardly, circumcision is an immorally. Well, many would translate he's not a Jew who's only one outwardly. See, that's what the Greek is seeking to convey. But even if he's making a spiritual point that the true Jew in the sight of God is one who's circumcised in the heart, what does he say in the very next verse?

Then what's the advantage of being a Jew? He goes back to talking about the Jewish people. What does he say in Romans 1, 16? The Gospel's to the Jew first, also to the Greek. He continues to talk about Jews, Jews, Jews, Jews throughout Romans. Throughout the New Testament, Paul speaks of Jews, and he's always speaking about physical, ethnic Jews.

That's what he's talking about. So even if you say, well, there's a spiritual sense where we're all Jews, that does not negate the fact that there are Jewish people that God calls Jews. And in Romans 9 through 11, when Paul's speaking to the believers, he says, I'm writing to Gentiles.

I'm writing to Gentile Christians. Because it's your role to provoke Israel to envy. He doesn't say you've become Israel, or you've replaced Israel. No, your role is to provoke Israel to envy by having the blessing and fullness of God's grace and mercy and covenantal kindness and presence of God. You have that. You experience that.

You're living that out. That provokes Israel to envy. You have the promised Messiah and are living in the benefits of that. And then through that, all Israel will be saved. And when you keep reading in Romans 11, right up to verses 28 and 29, he says, as far as the Gospel's concerned, they, who? The people of Israel. The Jewish people. Those who don't believe.

They are enemies for your sake. So they've been enemies of the Gospel, but it's been for your sake because now that opens the door for the Gospel to go to the Gentile world. He said, but they are beloved because of the fathers. Still beloved because God made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and those promises stand regardless. Because God is who he is. And when he made the covenantal promise with Abraham in Genesis 15, it was one way.

It was unconditional. It was God saying, I'm making the covenant. I'm cutting the covenant. And that's why we have been preserved. Not because of our righteousness or goodness, but because of his mercy. Same with the church, by the way.

That's how we're here today. Because of the mercy of God. Because of the grace of God. Because of the kindness of God.

Otherwise we'd all be slaughtered. God also has mercy on the lost sheep of the house of Israel, friends. That's why we've been preserved, despite judgment and despite Satan trying to wipe us out.

That's why we've been preserved and brought back to the land. Remember, when God opens the door, no one can shut it. When he shuts the door, no one can open it. When he curses, no one can bless. When he blesses, no one can curse.

That's Biblical reality. When he smites, no one can heal. When he heals, no one can smite. When he scatters, no one can regather. He scattered the Jewish people in his anger as we rejected Moses' prophets and the Messiah. He has regathered us in his mercy.

That's the only reason we're back in the land. UN can't do it. Jewish people can't do it themselves. Satan can't do it and wouldn't do it.

He's the one who has brought us back. To not recognize that is to deny the hand of God at work in history. In front of our eyes. But not only so.

The purposes remain. When the disciples asked Jesus in Acts 1, Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? When they asked him that, they'd been with him for 40 days after his resurrection talking about the kingdom. He didn't rebuke him and say, that's a stupid question. That's an idiotic question. What an oddball question.

Don't you understand? The church is now replacing Israel. God's finished with Israel as a nation.

No! He said, it's not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father has appointed. He'll do that at the right time. He's got that. He'll do that at the right time. You focus. If you don't receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you'll be my witnesses.

Let that be your focus. But of course he's going to restore the kingdom to Israel. Well, because he made covenantal promises.

And Israel still has a role to play. And a Jewish Jerusalem must welcome back the Messiah. So, you read Isaiah 62. In Isaiah 62, some believe it's the prophet speaking from the beginning.

Many believe it's God speaking from the beginning. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. For Jerusalem's sake, I will not keep quiet. Until her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch, the nations will see your vindication, all kings your glory will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. I'm going to scroll down to verse 6. I've posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem clearly God speaking.

They will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. If you read that and say it doesn't mean the physical city of Jerusalem, then you hold to some form of replacement theology. If you say, well that now means the church or something else, now you have changed the words of God, you have changed the intent of God, you have forgotten that Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem. And the big question is, if God is finished with his purposes for Israel as a people, why is the Messiah coming back to Jerusalem? And I've found with the rising tide of preterism, partial preterism and then full preterism, which many consider heretical because it denies the future resurrection of the dead and denies the future physical return of Jesus. But even with partial preterism, there is this, well it's over, God judged Israel in 70 and the temple was destroyed and it's over for Israel and he brought his judgment and Israel is under a curse and Israel is under wrath and whatever happens, they deserve on some level.

Friends, you have now become a tool of anti-Semitism. Your theology has now opened up the door, not just to having a different theological view on Israel, but actually having disdain, and that's what I've seen. I've seen this Christian arrogance with a disdain, not realizing the church doesn't deserve to be here.

We don't deserve to be here at all. The sins we've committed, the evil that we've done, and the sins that the church has committed against the Jewish people in history and in some cases to this day, we're only here by mercy. Why do you think there's been so much lack and judgment on the church through the centuries?

One reason is our arrogance, our arrogance, and God is absolutely judging that. All right, 866-3-4-truth, I've got more to say theologically, give you a little history lesson, take some calls and an important announcement to make when we come back, stay right here. 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 believed 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, you're showing us how to do this, how to have hearts of compassion, backbones of steel.

But friends, it's a joint effort. We do this together and with your support, we can amplify this broadcast around the nation and amplify this voice to shake the nation. Join our support team today.

Become a torchbearer with a dollar or more per day. Here's the number to call to sign up. 800-538-5275. That's 800-538-5275. Or go to AskDrBrown.org, A-S-K-D-R Brown dot org and become a monthly supporter. Click on donate monthly support.

I want to immediately give you two classic books, Compassionate Father or Consuming Fire, Who is the God of the Old Testament and Revolution, which will really show you what it means to be a Jesus follower today. Plus, you'll get free access to our online classes and so much more. Sign up today.

AskDrBrown.org. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-342.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We are going to go to the phones shortly and thank you for those calling in, especially when you know that we're going to be disagreeing. Thank you for calling in. I trust you'll be clear.

I promise I'll be clear. 866-348-7884. First, a very important announcement. I want to make a direct appeal to every pastor listening to the broadcast right now. If we are not on your church budget, if you are not supporting the line of fire and our mission to shake and stir the Church of America, to shake and stir the nation of America, to bring the people of Israel, to bring the Gospel to the nations, to be a voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity, to go places where many don't want to go and tackle subjects that many don't want to tackle, we hear from you constantly. We get letters and notes of appreciation when I speak.

People thank us for our voice and the example that it set, bringing grace and truth together, hearts of compassion, backbones of steel, for giving material to you, to help you on the front lines where you stand. If we are not on your church budget, I'm urging you to place the line of fire on the church budget. Become one of our church bearers. It could be $100 a month. It could be $500 a month.

It could be $1,000 a month. Different churches help us in different ways. But I'm asking every single pastor, please put us on your budget. The time is urgent.

You know what God's called me to do. Together we can get this done. AskDr.Brown.org. Click on donate, monthly support. You can do it on the app.

Click to give there and then monthly support in the Ask Dr. Brown Ministries app. We're doing something we've never done. So I want to make an appeal to every single one of you who's been blessed by this broadcast, who believes in my voice, who knows you can trust me on the front lines. God has called me, my head, to be like the tip of the battering ram. And together as you carry that battering ram, we'll smash walls down together. We'll smash strongholds down together. We'll liberate captives together. We'll equip believers together. We'll see God shake this nation. We'll see God pour out his mercy on the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We'll see God do all these things together.

And I'll get the reports of what you're doing. We'll rejoice together. I want to enlist you in this holy army now. So we've never done this before. But we just felt the urgency of the hour. Talked with our director of ministry. So here's what we're going to do. When you become a torchbearer today, a dollar or more per day, not only do you get the benefit of the free classes that you get in exclusive video content and a new audio message every month and an insider newsletter from me and discount in our online bookstore and discount if you come to Israel, we give you two books out of the gate, Revolution and Compassion, Father of Consuming Fire, and Father of the Old Testament. We feel it's so urgent now in this month of October with everything happening in the land. I want to give you two more books free when you sign up.

We're just doing this in October. Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People, which will probably be the most eye-opening book you've ever read in your life when it comes to spiritual issues, and Christian Antisemitism, confronting what's happening, the lies in the church today. We confront replacement theology. We go through church history.

We talk about what's happening to this moment, dispel lies about the Talmud. Of course, anybody can buy those books. By all means, do it. But we want to give you those four books free. We've never done this before. We just feel it's an urgent hour.

We want to get this in your hands. So call 800-538-5275. Do it now.

800-538-5275. Say, I want to become a torchbearer Go to the website, AskDr.Brown.org Click Donate Monthly Support. You know, over the years, I talk about money very little on the air and I don't like to bring these things up, but this is not about money. This is not about me. It's a critical time. God's given me a critical mission. We will give you prophetic insight on what is happening in the church, in the world today, and you will be stronger for it, and your people will be stronger, your families will be stronger, your lives will be stronger, God moving ways we've been dreaming about for years. So thank you for standing with us. Okay, with that, we go to the phones.

We will start in San Antonio, Texas. Mike, please tell me where you differ with me. Hey, Dr. Brown. I guess my differing is contextualizing, and you mentioned it yesterday with some of the callers, and even before the callers called in, some of the context, and now I know for you and for all of the listeners, it would take so much long to give all of the context for what's going on in that area, and so my only disagreement is that when talking about this tragedy, and it was a tragedy what Hamas committed, that was a tragedy, and it is also a tragedy what Israel is doing in Gaza right now. The report today is at least 770 innocent people have been killed, 140 children, and this is one of the most densely populated places in the world.

So let me just ask you this question. Do you think Israel is intentionally trying to kill children? We don't know the accuracy of those reports. Hamas is often the one responsible for their reports, but let's just say that they're accurate. Do you think that Israel is intentionally trying to slaughter children in Gaza? I believe this, that when you fire into a building, that you assume that Hamas is there, and you know that 40%, according to UNICEF, 40% of the people in Gaza are children, 15 and under. So if you fire into a building, then you know that children are going to be, innocent lives will be taken. So that's where you're misinformed. That's where you're deeply misinformed. So let me set the record straight. Yeah, and I appreciate what you're saying, and that you called, and the spirit of it.

So this is brother through brother, okay? Israel does everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties. They have been urging Gazans to go out of the, get into Egypt as much as possible. They have been urging them, non-combatants to leave. When they identify that Hamas is in a building, they drop leaflets on the building and around it.

They actually call people, they actually call people and say, get out of the building, we are going to bomb it. Tragically, Hamas is famous for this. Just research this.

You'll find it very, very easily, because obviously you want facts. You're quoting UNICEF and these others, you want facts. And you're 100% right. Gaza's one of the most densely populated places on the planet.

You're absolutely right. A high proportion of children. The median age in Gaza is 18, whereas worldwide it's 28. So absolutely, there's terrible suffering. And that's why I've been saying we've got to pray for everybody. And I've been writing, it's going to be a terrible time for the Palestinian people now. And they're victims of what their leaders, what Hamas has done. But Israel will actually call a place saying, leave, flee.

And then the soldiers, we will get prayer requests from the parents of kids who are now on the front lines, 18, 20 years old. And they'll say, pray, because they have to go through all these precautions before they fire to make sure that they're not innocent civilians there. You are not allowed to travel off base without your ethics card as an Israeli soldier.

And I've seen them. That the first weeks of training, they train you about morality and ethics. So the last incursion where Israel wanted to try to take out strongholds in Gaza, the major study that was done, the first study that came out was Wadi Pan. The major study that was done said Israel did more to avoid civilian casualties than anyone in a recorded war. So Hamas, PLO, they were famous for putting rocket launchers in hospitals and elementary schools.

So how do you take them out? Well, the casualties, they were even saying they're going to have Israeli hostages by their rocket launchers and things like that. And then the nation of Israel considers this a tragedy when this happens, as opposed to Hamas terrorists dragging bodies of naked soldiers and naked women down the streets as everyone cheers and shouts Salahu Akbar. So you're 100% right in saying there's grievous suffering and they're going to end up being more deaths of Palestinian civilians, women, children, than in Israel. You're 100% right.

That is what's going to happen. Israel regrets it, tries to avoid it, but Hamas makes it unavoidable. The biggest thing is they do their best to avoid it. Hamas intentionally does it. And you've never heard of a situation where Israel goes in and just slaughters babies and beheads them.

You've never heard of that. Yes. And I'll just say this last point because I want other people to come in. So I would disagree with some of those reportings because depending on who you listen to and what reports, and I think that's what the caller was trying to say yesterday, respectfully, that depending on what reporting you're hearing that you do, for example, the 12-year-old that was killed in 2015. So you've heard many reports of Israeli soldiers and what they do. So like I said, it depends on the reporting, and that was my only critique. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. The only disagreement is just being on balance of how does the, and I guess this is a question for you and for all of the listeners is as Christians, people who believe in God, believe in the, and want to fight for justice and the suffering of people, then when we're looking at this circumstance that has lasted since 1917, 1948, Oslo Accords, et cetera, then we are asking a larger question.

And you are correct to say that we should be praying for this whole region, and there is a lot of context and nuance that we have to have when approaching it. Yeah, and Mike, thank you for that. So let me just say this last thing.

Thank you for your spirit, your attitude, and that's why we open up phones. The last thing I want to say is this. When there is a situation, there have been Israeli soldiers that have done wrong things. I mean, never like with Hamas did.

Never, never, never, never. But where there have been instances, there are trials over it. There's national outrage over it. There have been protests where hundreds of thousands of Israelis marched in the streets protesting what soldiers did, or what soldiers did. There are major, many organizations in Israel that are radically left-wing and are completely critical of the government day and night. You do that for one split second under the Palestinian authority or under Hamas, and you're dead.

You're dead. So that's the thing I think, in all respects, sir, that you're missing, that the thing is a lot more slanted than you might realize, and Israel works a lot harder for justice and fairness and equity. But thank you for the call and the spirit of it. And yes, as Christians, let's have God's heart. Absolutely. Thank you so much. All right, before I get back to the phones, what a wonderful call.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you for the way you said what you said. Remember our caller yesterday when she said, I'm not defending Hamas, but when you poke the bear too many times.

No, no, no. You poke the bear too many times, it still does not give the right or any excuse on any level in any world for that bear to now devour your babies. It would be one thing if you said, look, the people of Gaza have been provoked too many times or the Palestinians provoked too many times, and that's why they launched this attack on Israeli soldiers. Okay, I still differ with it, but I get that. But no, no, you throw no shade for Hamas.

You categorically, absolutely say 100% wrong, no justification, period, end of subject. Now, let's talk about the larger Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Fair enough. Let's talk about it. Those are apples and oranges. Let's not confuse them.

And that's why I push back so strongly. All right, we'll be right back. in energy supporting vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins and is an essential nutrient, meaning the body cannot make B12 on its own. You see, unlike other oral B12 supplements, Alfred Libby's slow-dissolve Super B12 is fast-acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue, bypassing the digestive process, making it immediately available for use in the body. Alfred Libby's slow-dissolve Super B12 is also formulated with other natural energy-supporting ingredients, such as folate, ginseng root, and other natural ingredients.

Not only are the ingredients beneficial for energy, but they also support healthy cognition, mood, nerve function, and natural hemoglobin production. You deserve to live with greater energy and mental clarity, and now, like millions of others, you can with Alfred Libby's slow-dissolve Super B12, sold only by your wellness partner, Trivita. To order Alfred Libby's B12 for yourself, call 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast. Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at trivita.com. This is how we rise up against 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. I'm not saying that all preterists are anti-Semitic or harshly anti-Zionist. I'm not saying that those who hold to various forms of replacement theology, you probably call it fulfillment theology or something like that.

All the promises are fulfilled through Jesus. I'm not saying that you're all anti-Semitic or mentally. I'm simply saying that that theology, the theology of replacement, the theology where God gives explicit promises to Israel but they don't apply to Israel anymore because Israel is now somehow just a church for all believers, that that theology has opened the door wide to anti-Semitism.

And I'm watching it in front of my eyes for years now. I've documented it. I don't know a single person who believes God has brought the Jewish people back to the land, and while they care about justice for everyone in the land, they would be called Zionists, Christian Zionists. I don't know a single one of them that holds to replacement theology. Not a single one.

Whereas every single one that I know that is so strongly pro-Palestinian that they are anti-Israel, okay? I don't know a single one of them who does not hold to replacement theology. Yeah, very interesting. Those of you who don't know the history of Martin Luther, it's sickening, but it's enlightening to know. Luther, if you're a Protestant, was one of the great giants of the faith, the man that pushed back against what had been a very corrupt Catholicism of his day, wanting to bring reformation in the Catholic Church, and ended up breaking away. And, of course, the Catholic eyes, he's a very bad player, a very bad character. But there was certainly anti-Semitism Jew hatred that had been in the Catholic Church, and the Crusaders slaughtered Jews in cold blood.

We know the horrible stories of what happened. Luther sees this, and in 1523, he writes a mini-book that Jesus Christ was born a Jew, and says, you know, if I'd been a Jew, seeing the way these Catholics, these bishops and popes, and these coarse blockheads, the way they treat the Jews, these are his words, I'd rather be a pig than a Christian. Maybe we can show them, though, they're the older brothers, and maybe we can show them that Jesus was born a Jew, and hopefully win some of them. So it's 20 years later, instead of winning Jews, he hasn't seen them come to faith, he's paranoid, he thinks the Jews are out to get him. Surely before he died, he thought Jews had poisoned him, so wherever this paranoia came from, he had it. He's old, he's sick, he's now seeing people, some of his own followers who are interested in Jewish custom or tradition or holidays or things like that, and he's been showed Jewish passages that blaspheme Jesus, and some of this is a reaction to the horrors of church history, and he is under the misimpression that Jews curse Christians in their synagogues three times a day, and he writes his infamous 1543 book concerning the Jews and their lies, in which he gives counsel to the German princes as to how to get rid of this dastardly devilish burden of Jews, and he says their synagogues should be set on fire, places of business broken down and destroyed, rabbis forbidden to teach under penalty of death. There's no dispute, this is not an internet myth.

Everyone knows he wrote this, said this. If you look at Eric Bonhoeffer's book on Bonhoeffer, it's a pro Bonhoeffer book, but then dealing with, excuse me, this book on Luther, when you go through it and the anti-Semitism of Luther, you just have to deal with it. It's reality, it happened, and there are other things where you actually express not just your theological animosity but animosity towards Jewish people as people. Jews should be gathered together in ghettos and deprived of passports and good jobs and things like that.

I mean, absolutely sick, horrific stuff. Well, what happened was that even in his day, that was a rejected book by some of his contemporaries. Subsequent generations of Lutherans either repudiated that or ignored it or simply said, we like his 1523 book and use that. There are even generations of Lutherans that actually said, we repudiate his words of anti-Semitism, his terrible words. Well, the Nazis revived it. They also revived the synagogue, the Seven Sermons of John Chrysostom, great preacher in the fourth, fifth century, one of the great leaders of his day.

Revivalists, some would say. And he saw people, from what we understand, either Jewish believers living as Jews or Christians within his own congregations who were interested in Jewish things, and he preaches his infamous Seven Sermons against the Jews and says the Jews are like calf that's, you know, a cattle that's fattened for slaughter and God hates the Jews, the synagogue is worse than a brothel. So the Nazis reprinted these venomous words and felt that Luther was a genius, that it figured these things out. So what many historians say is the official beginning of the Holocaust, Kristallnacht, November 9th and 10th of 1938, what did the Nazis do? They set the synagogues on fire.

They destroyed places of Jewish business. They did exactly what Luther said. And one of the leading bishops of the day, Martin Sasa, happened to notice November 10th, he wakes up and the synagogues are burning and it happened to be Luther's birthday. And he said, what a great coincidence. It was the greatest anti-Semite of his time.

What a great coincidence. These are some of the horrors of what's taking place in church history with the Jews. And the Catholic scholar, Edward Flannery, said that those pages of history the Jews have memorized, Christians have torn out of their books.

So these are realities. You say, are you saying if I'm a Preterist that I'm like Martin Luther's anti-Semitism? No, I'm simply saying beware. Beware of anything that creates in your heart a disdain towards the Jewish people, a disdain towards the modern state of Israel. It doesn't mean you have to agree with everything Israel did just like Mike. I don't think Mike did call then as an anti-Semitic bone in his body from what I'm hearing from him.

But he wants to make sure there's fairness and justice and two sides to every story. Look into that by all means. But if you have a disdain for the Jewish people, if you demonize the modern state of Israel and it comes out of your theology, you better recheck your theology.

You better recheck your theology. All right, I've got time for another call. Let's go over to Massachusetts. Eli, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, how's it going, Dr. Michael Brown? Doing very well, thank you. First, I just want to say I appreciate you and your ministry. I just really appreciate it. I first really heard you when I saw you in the debate with Dr. James White in defense of God's truth, and I just really appreciate you. But today I'm calling because I just wanted to let you know I am with you as a brother in Christ that I am in awe and just without words just the evil that is happening that is happening over there in Israel. Now, I'm calling obviously because I am obviously a Reformed Baptist which would hold to a continuation and fulfillment that the church is Israel. But I'm also one of those who also would hold to that in Romans 11. I agree with Paul in saying that there will be the natural branches will be really grafted back in, and I do agree with Paul in that in Romans 11. Okay, yeah, well, so here's the question. Is God preserving the Jewish people now as a people?

I would say yes, because like I said, He's preserving them because eventually He will bring the natural branches back in. Okay, all right, great. Another question.

Who brought the Jewish people back to the land? Well, God did. Okay, all right, well good. Well, there's no reason for us to get into an argument then against the minor things. Okay, fair enough then.

I actually thought Eli wanted to go in a different direction, but that's fine. So look, let's go to 1 Thessalonians 2. And remember that Paul also writes in Romans, as we saw in the 11th chapter, that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable and that the promises that God made to Israel and the Jewish people He will keep.

So here we have in 1 Thessalonians the 2nd chapter that Paul says, You brothers and sisters, verse 14, became imitators of God's congregations in Judea, which are in Messiah Jesus. You suffered from your own people the same things those congregations suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displeased God and the hostel to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be saved.

In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit the wrath of God has come upon them at last. So some have read that as saying, The Jews killed Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They displeased God and the hostel to everyone. The Jews killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. Did all Jews kill Jesus? No. Did all Jews kill the prophets? No. Did all Jews drive the apostles out?

No. Let's go back to verse 14. You became imitators of God's congregations in Judea. The word for Jew in Greek is the same word for Judean.

Alright, so now let's read this again. With your Messiah Jesus you suffered from your own people, the same thing those congregations suffered from the Judeans, those Judeans who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. In other words, the same ban-apple Jews in Jerusalem, in Judea, that gave Jesus over to be killed and that persecuted the prophets. Which prophets? The believers. The apostles' prophets? The believers. The prophets of that day. And the apostles and drove us out.

Wrath has come on them. And of course the temple of Jerusalem is destroyed. It's not making a statement that all Jews worldwide killed Jesus so that a Jew today would say, You killed Jesus. It's not making that statement at all. It's not making the statement that all Jews drove the apostles out, that all Jews killed the prophets.

No. There are Jews where? In Judea, and if you want to go back through history, those who persecuted the prophets, there have been some Jews, bad apples, wrong spirit, on the wrong side of things, and they persecuted the prophets, they persecuted Jesus, they persecuted us, and you're suffering the same thing for your countrymen that we did from those people. He's not making a blanket statement, All Jews displease God. When I had Catholic scholar E. Michael Jones on my show and he made that statement, Paul says the Jews displease God.

They're all hostile to God. No, Paul's not making that statement. Paul himself is a Jew, and he spoke of many of his people in Romans 10 as a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. He's not saying they're all hostile to God. He said that he had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And when Paul got in front of his people, he said, Look, I know you're serving God with a good conscience as I did. So not all were persecuted, not all were killing.

That's not been the case. And I told Dr. Jones, some of this rhetoric is going to be dangerous and inspire people to do wrong things. We have to be very, very careful. There is so much anti-Semitism, it's just like the human tide. This is the way things go. Beware, beware that your theology doesn't contribute to it. Another program powered by the Truth Network.