Is the War in Israel the Beginning of the Final War?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. So is the War on Israel a fulfillment of biblical prophecy?

Are we nearing the end of the age? 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. So is this it? Is this the end of the age? Are we coming up on the end of the world?

Oh, I don't mean in a hundred years from now, but I mean in the next few years. Are we about to see the War of Gog and Magog? Is this the culmination of all things leading into the final Armageddon? Is the return of Jesus very, very near and at the door? Is the conflict in Israel about to spread around the entire world? Welcome to The Line of Fire.

This is Michael Brown. Those watching on YouTube or Facebook, we are audio only one more day over at Christ for the Nations where we had to be audio only this week. And then, God willing, tomorrow, Friday over in Fort Worth, we'll be back with video. That means we can show you video clips if we want to. You'll be listening on radio and by podcast, but others may be able to see things as well. And then back to our normal studio in North Carolina, God willing, on Monday. Everyone watching on YouTube, will you click a thumbs up and share?

If you're watching on Facebook, will you share? These are obviously critically important days. I was sharing with the students this morning at Christ for the Nations that if there's ever been a time not to play games, it's now.

That I'm more serious about the things of God than I've ever been and I live with the mentality of by life or by death. The seriousness has been upped in light of the seriousness of what is happening in the world and the unbelievable agony being lived out moment by moment by so many in Israel grieving beyond description and being attacked from two fronts now. Hamas continuing to attack with rocket fire from the south and Hezbollah, other proxies of Iran from the north bombing, even sending in paragliders. So Israel is under assault and yes at the same time we care about innocent Palestinians who will be suffering as well as a result of Israel doing its best to wipe out these demonic threats.

So it is a very sober time. The question is scripturally what time is it? Now if you have a very specific question that ties in with biblical prophecy and the end of the age, if you want to challenge me on my views. Yesterday I said that there are Christian theologies that contribute to antisemitism. I made very clear that there are people who hold to replacement theology today who are not antisemites. There are people who hold to various forms of preterism who are not antisemites. But I said that replacement theology opens the door to antisemitism and has through church history and that preterism can create a disdain for Israel, for the Jewish people and that I have seen that arrogance while they're just getting what they deserve. They're under wrath.

God finished with them in the year 70. So I've not made blanket statements about eschatologies. I myself am not a dispensationalist. I always get blamed for that and I'm not attacking my dispensationalist friends. I'm not a dispensationalist. I haven't been for over 45 years. It's easy to throw words around and terms around that fit a narrative but that's not me.

I'm not a dispensationalist. But like Charles Spurgeon, like many of the Puritan leaders, like J.T. Ryle, like many others in recent times, well-known respected Christian leaders, they recognize that God keeps His word and that God has given promises to Israel and those promises will be fulfilled or God is a liar. And friends, it's one of the reasons that Satan so wants to wipe the Jewish people out.

One, they were called by God to bring salvation to the world through the Messiah and be a light to the world. Hence, Satan hates them. God said to Pharaoh through Moses, B'ni b'chori Yisrael, Israel is my son, my firstborn. So if you're the devil, of course you hate the Jewish people.

You hate the people of Israel and want to wipe them out naturally. And then secondly, secondly, God promised in scripture explicitly that no matter what the people of Israel do, He will still preserve them as a people. Look for example in Jeremiah 31 verses 35 to 37, explicitly He says no matter what Israel does, I will still preserve you.

As long as there's sun and moon and stars, I will still preserve you. If the devil can wipe out the Jewish people, he makes God into a liar. And then the Jewish people still play a role in world redemption. A Jewish Jerusalem will welcome the Messiah back. Jesus said at the end of Matthew 23, He said you will not see me again speaking to Jerusalem and the Jewish leadership.

And so you say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Meaning, you will not see me again until you welcome me back as King Messiah. It is Jewish repentance that brings the Messiah back. Jewish repentance, recognizing him, looking to the one they pierced in Zechariah the 12th chapter.

Or Acts the 3rd chapter as Peter preaches to the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem and says, repent and turn to God that times of refresh may come from the Lord that He may send the Messiah. So Israel still plays a role. God's heart beats for everyone on the earth. God loves every people the same.

He doesn't show any favoritism. Romans 10 to 12, the same Lord is Lord of all, richly blessing those who call upon Him, Jew and Gentile. There's no difference there in terms of salvation and the mercy of God. God loves the world and the Great Commission is to the whole world. The end will not come until this Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached as a witness to all nations. So we must get the Gospel to the nations, the fullness of the Gentiles must come in, Romans 11 to 25, and provoked by that on the heels of that all Israel will be saved. Romans 11 to 26, it is both and. So there is a significant role yet for Israel and Israel has been chosen by God and because of being chosen, Amos 3, 1, you only have I known out of all the families of the earth.

God said therefore I'll punish you for iniquities. So to whom much is given much is required. That's why Israel which is this ancient people, let's say the people of India, the people of China, has maybe 15 million people worldwide. There may be other lost groups here and there, we don't know what those numbers are. But known people of Israel about 15 million worldwide. Known Jewish people worldwide roughly 15 million. And yet the people of India, well over, if you take Indians worldwide, probably about a billion and a half.

Same with the people of China worldwide. So Israel has suffered much, been through much purging. Been under divine discipline but also under satanic attack to wipe them out. And one of the great manifestations of this is the pro-Hamas rallies.

We're going to talk tomorrow with an expert who's going to talk about how Islamic organizations in America have responded to the Hamas atrocities. And did ISIS burn people alive? Yes. Did Hamas do that? Yes.

Did ISIS rape women and kill them? Yes. Has Hamas done that? Yes. Did ISIS behead people? Yes. Did Hamas behead people?

Yes. The difference is that to our knowledge, to our knowledge, ISIS didn't behead babies. And to our knowledge, ISIS didn't burn children and babies alive. Either way, you're talking about demonic entities following a demonic radical Islam. And again, there are many Muslims who say that is not Islam and that is not who we are and that is not the spirit of Islam. So that's why I specifically speak of the demonic nature of radical Islam, would just agree on that. But when you see people celebrating, when you see people rejoicing, when you have the Students for Justice in Palestine saying this was a historic win, beheading babies is a historic win, raping and abusing women is a historic win, shooting 90-year-old grandmothers in the head is a historic win, killing mothers with babies in arms is a historic win, burning whole families alive is a historic win.

What kind of sickness is that? You know, and I'm going to get to biblical prophecy in a moment. And if you differ with me, if you think, well, no man, Dr. Brown, you're believing all this stuff and it's not that bad and Israel is the evil occupier and Israel is the evil one, go ahead, call. We've opened the phone lines for those who differ with me.

If you differ with me theologically, if you say that replacement theology is not, open the door to anti-Semitism in history. No man is giving you a call. 866-348-7884.

866-348-7884. I'm not taking general calls. I'm not taking general calls just about prophecy in the end times. Only this very specific subject. Alright, my latest article talks about the celebration of Hamas, terrorist acts by various groups. BLM. Oh yeah, BLM, Black Lives Matter, which again, the issue is not do Black Lives Matter, of course Black Lives Matter. The issue is the BLM, which I separate from the teaching, the reality, the heartfelt conviction that of course Black Lives Matter, and we should make that known in America, that yes, of course every Black life matters, but the BLM organization itself, Marxist driven, queer ideologically driven, inciting hatred and violence, that I completely reject. It's no surprise that leaders in BLM voice their support for Hamas and say it's just like the rights of Blacks in America. So when have American Blacks gone around beheading white babies?

Please tell me that. When have African Americans gone around raping white women and then everyone celebrates that, oh good, that's a historic win. When have African Americans said, you know, we're just going to burn down the houses of, here's a mother with children and babies, we're just going to burn them alive.

When have African Americans done it? Don't dare, don't dare compare Hamas to African Americans and the quote freedom fighting of Hamas to the history of African Americans. Please don't do that. Don't be so gross and ugly to do that.

But I want to read something that to me is positive. There are many celebrities who will not speak up on behalf of Israel. I read Kylie Jenner posted something pro-Israel, got blasted, she pulled her post immediately. You can't do that. Why?

Because it's the spirit of the age, the spirit of the world to be anti-Semitic, the spirit of the age to be Jew hating. And you side with her, you can't do that. And your friend Bella Hadid, she's Palestinian, her father is Palestinian American, how dare you post that.

Well, I found this interesting and I want to read this. This is Zizi Hadid, so the sister of Bella Hadid, I guess both famous models. And so she's, her sister Bella very strongly anti-Israel, their father outspoken Palestinian American.

This is what she posted on Instagram. And if you're pro-Palestinian, if you think Israel is unfairly occupying territories and mistreating Palestinians, why can't you have an expression like this rather than celebrating Hamas? She said, my thoughts, this is Zizi Hadid, my thoughts are with all those affected by the unjustifiable tragedy. And every day that innocent lives are taken by this conflict, too many of which are children.

Now look at this line. She said, while I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person. That's a commendable statement.

That's a beautiful statement. Obviously, if I sat down with her, and she doesn't know I exist, but if I sat down with her and we talked, I'm sure we'd have many political and ideological differences and a different perspective on the Middle East. But I 100% say yes, let's have hopes and dreams for Palestinians. None of them include the harm of a Jewish person. She said, the terrorizing of innocent people is not in alignment with and does not do any good for the free Palestine movement.

The idea that it does has fueled a painful decades-long cycle of back-and-forth retaliation. And she said this, no innocent civilian, Palestinian or Israeli, deserves to be a victim of the bloodshed. Why can't everyone say that?

Why can't all people on all sides say that? We'll be right back. We're going to look at prophetic scriptures on the other side of the break. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Tributa Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend James Robison, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife Betty hosts 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.

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Use the code BROWN25. Just looking at a headline on Daily Mail, how the Hamas attack on the Kefara Atzah kibbutz unfolded. I've been reading lots about the failure in Israeli security and how things went and it's just a perfect storm and certainly there was not supernatural intervention on behalf of Israel. God obviously did not stop this. But Israel's not promised perfect protection either.

It would be one thing if the whole nation was completely righteous and the enemies tried to attack but Israel exists by the mercy of God just like you and I as fathers of Jesus exist by the mercy of God. But listen to this agonizing headline. How Hamas carried out attack that shocked the world. Gunmen stormed kibbutz at dawn, shot and burned families alive as they begged for their lives, starting with grandmother 90, before beheading babies. Yeah, what can you say?

What can you say? I hear from a friend of mine in America, Christian in America, he said a friend of our family was one of those kidnapped. A friend of our family was one of those kidnapped in Israel.

I hear from a colleague in Israel, he's been on the air with me, an Orthodox Jewish friend. It's challenging for him because his son has just left the wife of three months to fight on the front lines. His son-in-law has left his daughter and their two little children to fight on the front lines. This is the reality of what is happening. Now here is the question. Is this fulfillment of the biblical prophecy?

Is this an indication that we are getting closer to the final war? Again, if you're watching on YouTube make sure you click the thumbs up and share the video. We want to reach as many people as we can.

Same on Facebook. If you're watching click share. If you listen to the podcast share it with your friends. These are urgent days. I've never been more serious about what I'm doing on the air than I am today. So early this year I put out some videos absolutely disparaging the notion that the first word of the book of Genesis in Hebrew going back to alleged original pictographic meanings clearly prophesied that Jesus returned to rapturous church by September 2023. The video came out in 2018 and it said it may happen before then but certainly by then absolutely by September 2023 we won't be here. So I put out a video. I wrote an article first saying the methodology is complete nonsense. There are no pictographic hidden meanings in the Hebrew text.

I've been through that over and over and over. Hebrew letters originally come from pictographs as does the English alphabet, the Greek alphabet ultimately going back to pictographs in the Semitic world. But the letters themselves are letters and that's how God conveyed things with letters and words etc. But to drag all this out of Genesis 1 was complete nonsense. It was an idiotic interpretation that nobody should have paid any attention to but because of so much ignorance in the body and people very sincere about what could it be and is there a message here.

They went for it. So I said listen I want you to archive the video making these claims. I want you to archive the video and I want you to archive my article and let's get to the end of 2023 and see what happens. Well you can see that we're in October.

We're in October and Jesus did not return in Rapture's church and it's not going to happen by the end of the year. I'm a hundred percent sure. I am a million percent sure. No I'm not being boastful. I'm just the words clear. Other things are clear. It's not going to happen.

It's not going to happen. However there are solid Bible teachers. There are godly men and women. There are good people who love the Lord and fear the Lord who say this is the beginning of the end. We have now crossed that final line. This is the beginning of the end. So I'm separating this from the nonsense prophecies of date setting. I am separating this from the nonsense of trying to derive these mystical hid meetings from the Hebrew of Genesis 1-1. I'm separating this.

I'm taking this as a very serious thing to consider. Could it be that this is the beginning of the final birth pangs? Could it be that this is the beginning of the end? We're going to look at a number of passages in a moment but I want to address it first forthrightly.

I do not believe so. I do not with all respect to godly Christian leaders who are saying here it is. It's about to unfold. In other words, it's only going to get worse from here. It's going to spiral into a final world conflict in which all nations come against Jerusalem. We'll get to the final Armageddon. We'll get to the final Gog-Mogog wars of Ezekiel 38-39 and whatever you believe in.

A preacher of rapture, a poster of rapture that everything is accelerating towards that final climax. I personally, with all respect to the leaders who are teaching this, I'm not mocking them. I'm not putting them down. I'm not saying they're misusing the scripture.

I'm treating this completely, totally differently from the date setting and the bogus use of the Hebrew in Genesis 1. So please hear me. I personally don't believe we are at that point.

Why? Well, first inform us as I understand scripture, the table is not yet set. The table is not yet set for this final unfolding of events as I understand scripture. I'm not saying everybody's wrong. I'm the only one right. They're giving their perspective.

I'm giving mine. As a watchman on the wall, as a prophetic voice in terms of understanding the times and seasons, I'm giving my perspective, my understanding. So based on scripture, I don't see it. Number two, we've had momentous world events in the past, absolutely momentous massive world events in the past that were even more shaking for the world than these, even more traumatic for Israel than these. And yet the end was not yet. So that's my second reason.

I'm going to unpack these. The third reason is what I feel in my gut. What I feel in my gut is that there is still much more work to be done and that it's not just going to be chaos and things going downhill and everything falling apart before Jesus comes. As I understand it, with more than two and a half billion people who don't even know Jesus existed, don't even know he lived, died, let alone heard the gospel message, no, I don't believe the Lord will return before they, at least their people groups, have an opportunity to hear the message.

I also don't believe that the church is ready to meet the Lord and that there is much more that God will do on us, purging us through suffering for sure, pouring out his Spirit in our midst, but there is much more that he will do in us before he returns and there's much more to unfold in Israel and among the Jewish people before he returns. Now I live with urgency every day of my life. I live with urgency.

I was pushing the students this morning. I live with urgency every day in my life because every day is critical and every day people are hanging between heaven and hell and I only have one life and you only have one life. How then should we live? And people are suffering and people are dying. Of course I live with urgency. I don't need a prophetic timetable to help me to live with urgency, but I do not personally believe as I understand and study scripture and understand the signs of the times, I do not believe we are right at the end of the world and everything's about to explode in the next few years. Now we'll unpack some prophetic scripture when we come back.

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. You're showing us how to do this, how to have hearts of compassion, backbones of steel.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. At the end of today's broadcast I want to give you some prayer points for Israel. I've said just the generic prayers, God help, God intervene, God have mercy. And I'm not being trite about that because many times I don't know how to pray for Israel, the Middle East, the world. I rely on the Spirit's groanings through me and tears and then pray these simple words sometimes. But I'll give you some specific prayer points later in the broadcast.

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You can click to give monthly support. Thank you. We are on the front lines together. It's time to shake the nation. We're rallying the troops so together we can stand and take back ground that the enemy has stolen. Together we can stand on behalf of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Together we can stand against the onslaughts of Satan. The tide is turning. The light is shining. The darkness is getting pushed back in the midst of the madness.

Let's do this together and make an impact that will last forever. Alright, key prophetic scriptures. Let's take a look in Zechariah chapter 12.

I'll read from the new JPS translation. Zechariah chapter 12. It says this, a pronouncement, the word of the Lord concerning Israel, the utterance of the Lord who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth and created man's breath within him. Behold I will make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Judah shall be caught up in the siege upon Jerusalem. When all the nations of the earth gather against her. And that day will make Jerusalem a stone for all the peoples to lift.

All who lift it shall injure themselves. And it goes on with how God will bring deliverance and then that wonderful passage how they'll look to me whom they've pierced and mourn over him. The great repentance of Israel recognizing that it historically rejected the Messiah, the one who could save them.

They thought this was the one who brought all this trouble on us. There'll be this massive repentance leading to Zechariah 13.1 a fountain open for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the house of David for cleansing for Israel. And leading into chapter 14 where the Lord will be king on that day and rule and reign out of Jerusalem as fetuses will touch the Mount of Olives.

What does it sound like? Sounds like Acts 1 how the return of Jesus, Yeshua. Two, the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. How amazing to be with our tour group earlier this year and look out and say here's where it all culminates, here's what's going to happen. And then from there the nations come in together, the survivors of the nations that attacked Jerusalem come in together to worship God in Jerusalem for Sukkot the Feast of Tabernacles. So in the midst of the mourning and pain right now we look forward to a glorious future.

The question is are we at that point? And same in Zechariah 14 that all the nations will be drawn together. God will draw them in judgment attacking Jerusalem and then will ultimately deliver his people.

They'll be suffering but he'll deliver them. Is this happening? Are we close to the whole world turning against Jerusalem? No, I don't see that now. I don't see that now. You said it could happen in a moment.

Yeah, it could happen in a moment but I don't see it happening now. In fact, as much as there is crazy support for Hamas in different parts of the world and unfortunately you have Saudi Arabia and Israel engaging in peace negotiations with Saudi Arabia, they're siding with the Palestinian cause at this moment and speaking against Israel and you have other nations doing the same. But now you've got the Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Moti who is an enemy of the Christian faith in India, an enemy of the Islamic faith in India and not historically this amazing friend of Israel, he puts out a statement on behalf of Israel. You've got Macron in France putting out a statement on behalf of Israel. You've got America sending a warship over and in some places there's more sympathy for Israel. Tragically, tragically, tragically you have to have a lot of Jewish people die and in the most horrific ways before you get any sympathy for Israel. That is just the sad reality.

It's the reality for a long time but it's one of those horrific times. Yeah, as the war goes on, Israel will be accused more and more of war crimes, Israel will be painted as the barbaric entity but I'll say it again, I'll say it again, you're not going to have Israeli soldiers beheading babies and the nation of Israel saying, oh, this is wonderful, praise God, Baruch Hashem, praise the Lord. No, that's not going to be happening. You're not going to be having Israeli women raping Palestinian women, abusing them and then killing them and then dragging their bodies through the streets and Israel saying, yeah, yeah, this is wonderful, we rejoice. No, there will be trials for war crimes if things like that happen.

So let's not try to make a false moral equivalent. So could there be more turning against Israel in the days ahead? Yeah, but I just don't see it happening now and we're certainly not at that point, are we?

Well, let's dig down a little deeper. Let's go over to Ezekiel 38 and 39. Now I know some of you just interpret these things spiritually, some have tried to say Zechariah 12 has already come to pass, Zechariah 14 has already come to pass. I categorically reject that. I categorically, exegetically, theologically reject the idea that Zechariah 12 or Zechariah 14 have already come to pass. It's some of the most convoluted reinterpreting of the Bible that I've seen and heard where people try to say it was already fulfilled. Absolutely not.

Certainly not. Well, what about Ezekiel 38, so the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 and Charles Spurgeon preaching on it said, you know, God could have said, I'm going to revive my church because people use it to preach on revival in the church. He said, but it's not talking about that, it's talking about the people of Israel. Yeah, preach a spiritual message from it if you want, but say, hey, that's not what the original context is, I'm just making a spiritual application. So the dry bones coming back to life, the army raised up, brought back to the land, and now chapter 38.

So let's read this as something that is literally going to come to pass in the future. The word of the Lord came to me, O mortal, turn your face, O son of man, O mortal, turn your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Now there's speculation about the meaning of Gog and Magog, but we're not even going to debate any of that. We're just going to look at the big picture. Prophesy against him and say, thus said the Lord God, Lord, I'm coming to deal with you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around and put hooks in your drawers and lead you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in splendor, a vast assembly, all of them with bucklers and shields, wielding swords. Among them shall be Persia, Nubia and Put, everyone with shield and helmet, Gomer and all its cohorts, Beth Togarmah and the remotest parts of the north and all its cohorts, the many peoples with you.

Let's not even try to figure out who all these peoples are right now, because I'm just looking at the big picture. Be ready, prepare yourselves, you and all the battalions mustered about you and hold yourself in reserve for them. After a long time you should be summoned and in the distant future you shall march against the land of a people restored from the sword, gathered from the midst of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel which have long lain desolate, a people liberated from the nations and now all dwellings secure.

You shall advance coming like a storm, you should be like a cloud covering the earth, you and all your cohorts and the many peoples with you. Well, on the one hand, this fits Israel back in the land which lay desolate for so long, it was hardly developed when the Israeli chalutzim, the pioneers came in, many of them died of malaria draining the swamps as much as you had different peoples overseeing the land, Muslim, Christian and living there, the land itself was really undeveloped and very, very small number of inhabitants compared to numbers that built up beginning in the late 1800s and thereafter or in ancient history, very small numbers comparatively. So they were restored from the sword, gathered from the midst of many peoples, that's all happened except it says now all dwelling secure. In Hebrew, vayishv, excuse me, v'vulavetach kulam, all of them dwell in v'vetach securely. Well that's not the case, Israel's not dwelled secure since it's been in the land, it's had to be vigilant day and night and day and night and day and night and the vigilance is only intensified over the years. So it's, you say, no, no, no, but it's been secure because of its security code, well let's keep going. This says the Lord God, on that day a thought will occur to you and you'll conceive a wicked design, you'll say, I will invade a land of open towns, I will fall upon a tranquil people living secure, all of them living in unwalled towns and lacking bars and gates, that's the opposite of the description of Israel today.

That's the opposite. And we are nowhere, we are at the exact opposite of being near that. So with all respect to my brothers and sisters who really feel that this is it, this is the final war and it's all going to explode and we're going to see Gog and Magog, but how? If you think I'm missing something, I'm not being provacatory, I'm not trying to set up a hostile call, but generally if you think I'm missing something, call and tell me what I'm missing.

But this is what they're thinking, open towns, tranquil people living secure, I mean Israel heavily armed, everyone having to serve in the military and unwalled towns lacking bars and gates, everything has protection, schools protected, soldiers in front, on and on. So there's something very important we're going to get to on the other side of the break. Hey, keep spreading the word, we've got to get this message out. Share it with others right now.

We'll be right back. I'm Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health. Over the years, I have helped countless people increase and maintain their natural energy production with Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 sold only by Trivita. I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar, but I have met many people deficient 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.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, we go straight back to the scriptures. Let's take a look in 1 Thessalonians 5, reading from the NIV. Now, brothers and sisters, he's just talked about the return of the Lord, how we'll be caught up to meet him in the air, and so he appears, we meet him in the air, we escort him back to the earth, our gathering together, the Antichrist revealed the final rebellion, caught up to meet the Lord, welcome him back, escort him back to the earth. Now, chapter 5, verse 1. Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you. Isn't that interesting?

Isn't that very interesting? For you know well, you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that this day should surprise you like a thief. So I don't need to write you about the Lord coming as a thief in the night and talk to you about times and dates because you are awake. And if you're awake, he can't come in the night. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then let us not be like others who are asleep but let us be awake and sober. And he goes on from there with practical instruction and exhortation.

So again, you can differ with me on pre-trip, post-trip. That's another debate to have another day. The same points I'm making will stand in terms of the larger point. Could this be what Ezekiel is talking about? That the people dwelling secure, levetach in Hebrew, kulam, all of them dwelling secure. That the unwalled cities, that it just seems that world peace has come. It seems it could be the beginning of the reign of the antichrist, it could be the prelude to that, but when everyone is saying peace and safety, sudden destruction will come on them. I don't hear the people of Israel as a whole saying peace and safety or the people in the region saying peace and safety. It did dawn on me that just like Egypt making a peace treaty with Israel was a good thing, that the same way that other nations making peace treaties with Israel, Jordan, other nations, the Abraham Accords, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, whatever other countries make peace accords with Israel, I look at it as a good thing. Day by day a good thing, if Saudi Arabia does, that's a good thing.

But ultimately, I don't believe they will ultimately last. Ultimately, if I'm understanding the prophetic scriptures correctly, we need to do this with humility. Because remember, the disciples who were followers of the Lord, and some of them knew the scripture better than others, but they were there with Jesus and Him telling them, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise as it is written, and they don't get it until after He rises, then He has to open their minds, then they get it. And this is spelled out. I mean, you read Isaiah 53, you think, how could anyone not see it?

Well, they didn't see it. So, for us to think that we've got it all figured out, yeah, I hold to things that I hold to, but I'm not going to die on some hills about future understanding of prophecy. Because we've got to handle these things with great humility looking forward. But as I understand the prophetic scriptures, there will be a time of peace and safety where it will look like everybody's in peace. We put the weapons down, we put the security down, we've finally reached that point of harmony, and what's always going to be the hotspot on the earth? The Middle East, the Israelis, their Palestinian, Arab, Muslim neighbors, dwelling in peace, security, and then sudden destruction. Then the final battle.

Then everything explodes. That's my understanding, and that's why I don't think we're at that point yet. Okay, second thing I mentioned was there have been horrific times in world history. World War I, worldwide, is much more a terrible time than today, worldwide. Or World War II, worldwide. I'm talking about the numbers, the tens of millions, the extraordinary amount of human suffering. Worldwide, it's a far more calamitous time then than it is now, worldwide.

You have the horrible invasion of Ukraine by Russia, you have other conflicts going on, and of course what we're focused on in the Middle East right now. Worldwide, it's a much less cataclysmic time today than that. You have to understand the prophetic teachers had it all worked out back then.

They had it all worked out, Hitler and Mussolini and their role, and revived Roman Empire, and all of this. Okay, so you've had these calamitous times, and that was not the end either. And as far as Jewish suffering, the suffering during the Holocaust as horrific and extraordinarily incomprehensible the suffering is right now, the nature of it, what happened, the horror of it, the shock of it, we should never get over the horror and shock of it, we should never get used to it. That overall, the suffering of Jews in Europe was incomparably greater. You're talking about two out of every three Jews slaughtered. That would have been like killing four and a half million Israelis now in the land. So there have been times of horrific suffering for Israel in the past. My understanding of Jacob's trouble is that it has repeated itself through history and God has delivered us out of it each time in a temporary way, and there will be a final Jacob's trouble out of which he'll deliver us in a final way.

When I did my commentary on Jeremiah, I really dug into that to try to understand that. So that's a second thing that these world events have unfolded in the past, calamitous, massive, and that was not the end. At the 25th anniversary of Israel, the enemies of Israel said, we're gonna wipe you out. The Yom Kippur War, we're gonna wipe you out. It was terrible suffering for Israel, but they didn't wipe Israel out. Now it's the 75th anniversary of Israel. Enemies of Israel, we're gonna wipe you out.

Well, they're not going to. I'm Yisrael Chai, by the grace and decree of God the people of Israel live. So there have been times of terrible Jewish suffering, times of world calamity greater than right now, and those were not the end either.

So that's the second thing. First, the prophetic scriptures, I don't see them saying that this is the final war. Second, looking historically, I don't see this as much bigger event. Now, if Iran gets involved, nuclear bombs, the world, okay, but that hasn't happened and I don't sense the final cataclysm.

And then thirdly, as I understand it, there's so much more gospel work that still has to be done, and there's so much that the church needs to grow into, and there's so much more that needs to be done in terms of turning the hearts of Jewish people to Yeshua. So I just don't see and feel and sense that we are at that final endpoint, and yet, as I said, I live with a sense of urgency. I live with a sense of urgency before Hamas' horrific attacks. I live with a sense of urgency that's only intensified at a time like this. I live with a sense of urgency before the horrific attacks of 9-11, and during that time I live with an even greater sense of urgency. But I always live with a sense of urgency. As I said, we only have one life.

The old C.T. Studd quote, only one life will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last.

Whereas Leonard Ravenhill used to ask, are the things you're living for worth Christ dying for? Therefore, I always live with a sense of urgency, only one life. I want to be able to say with Paul at the end of my life, 2 Timothy 4, 7, I fought the good fight. I finished the race.

I've kept the faith. I want to be able to say that. I want to stand before God and hear well done, good and faithful servant. Therefore, I live with urgency because there's a race, and I'm seeking to win my race, not to gain the favor of God, not to earn brownie points, but because I have his favor, because I'm so loved, I want to share that love with everyone.

I want to repay the debt of gratitude that I have for the blood of Jesus. So I don't need a war or prophecy to live with urgency. And here you're raising your kids.

That's urgent. There's a war on your kids. There's a war on your kids, the likes of which we've never seen in history with the things they have to deal with. There's a war in America for morality and sanity. We don't need end-time prophecy to make us live more seriously. There are brothers and sisters being slaughtered in different parts of the world.

As we focus on the conflict in the Middle East, there are Christians in other parts of the world every day being killed for their faith or thrown in prison for their faith or tortured for their faith. That's enough reason for us to live with urgency, is it not? So enough said. You hear my heart there, but I'm giving you my perspective. But please hear me again. I'm not doing this with disdain for those who differ with me.

Maybe they have an insight I don't have. Maybe things are going to rapidly unfold in a way that I don't see. So we shall watch and we shall pray. Amen? This is very different than when I mocked these ridiculous misinterpretations of scripture and said they're not true, they're butchering the Hebrew, they're misusing the Bible, and it's not going to happen.

So we're talking completely different things. All clear? All right, how to pray? How to pray? Well, obviously first you pray for the families of the victims and the wounded, that God would have mercy, that God would somehow bring beauty out of ashes, life out of death, hope out of the worst nightmare – well, it's an unimaginable nightmare, an unimaginable nightmare for people who just woke up, Shabbat morning, it's past Shabbat, and that was it, that was the end of their life, in some of the most terrific ways. So we pray for God's mercy and God's help and God's grace.

Secondly, we pray for the hostages, that there would be miraculous intervention to save hostages. Thirdly, we pray for the eradication of evil. We pray for God to bring destruction on those who bring destruction.

Vengeance is mine. We pray for God to work and that justice will be done. And we pray for the protection of innocent people, Israeli-Palestinian in the region who are suffering greatly. We pray for protection and grace. We pray for God to work out his larger purposes – obviously go back, replay this, write these things down – he has bigger purposes beyond this current trauma happening, that the purposes of God for Israel and the surrounding nations will be worked out. And that, Lord, your kingdom come to Israel and the Middle East and may hearts turn – Jewish hearts, Muslim hearts, other hearts – may they turn to Yeshua for mercy and grace and forgiveness and new life. I don't miss a single broadcast. Make sure if you're not getting my emails, sign up now at AskDrBrown.org. We've got urgent communiques we want to send out to you that will help you stand on the front lines.