Will God Bring Non-Repentant Jews Back to the Land? And Dr. Brown Takes Your Calls

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Is it possible that God would bring the Jewish people back to the land without repentance? Oh, and the phone lines are open. You've got questions, we've got answers. 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.

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866-348-7884. Two things and then we are going to go right to your calls. Number one, I just saw this in an article in Wall Street Journal by Representative Mike Gallagher. Why do young Americans support Hamas?

Look at TikTok. The article starts by saying this, according to a Harvard-Harris poll, 51% of Americans ages 18 to 24 believe Hamas was justified in its brutal terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli citizens on October 7th. I read that absolutely shocking, appalling, sickening news to underscore how critically important it is that we get the truth out, that we disseminate truth because in massive ways, in deceptive ways, in destructive ways, a lot of misinformation and disinformation is getting out and it will lead to more bloodshed in the future. Those kinds of attitudes open the door to all kinds of bloodshed in the future.

We must be vigilant. All right. I have often pointed out that if God scattered the Jewish people in judgment, which the Scriptures are clear on in Old and New Testament, if he scattered us in judgment that we cannot regather ourselves, the UN cannot regather us, Jewish people cannot decide that we will just go back on our own in mass and take the land again. If God scattered us in judgment, we cannot undo his judgment. You cannot undo the curse of God by your own efforts. It can only come with repentance and getting right with God. So, if God brought the Jewish people back to the land by his sovereign will, we have to accept that he did it. In other words, we can't do it on our own as Jewish people, make it happen.

If he scattered us in judgment, if he closed the door, we can't open it. The UN can't do it. The U.S. can't do it. The world can't do it. Satan won't do it. So, who is it that brought us back to the land? God himself.

That's the only answer. Well, some have said, yeah, yeah, but Scripture is clear. For example, Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30 is one of a number of passages where God says this plainly.

And I'll start reading in verse 1. When all these blessings and curses I have set before you, Moses speaking, come on you, and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations. And when you and your children return to the Lord your God of obeying with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. So, that is one of many, many passages in the Hebrew Bible saying to the nation of Israel, under the law, under the Sinai Covenant, when I scatter you in judgment, if you repent I will bring you back. So, many say, yeah, but there has not been national repentance and therefore the modern state of Israel cannot be something that God raised up. It's an aberration. It may just be something that happened, but it cannot be divine restoration because there hasn't been repentance.

That's a fair question. Except for the fact that God is sovereign and can do what he wants to do and he's already done it in history and it's in the Bible. So, let's go over to Ezekiel chapter 36 beginning in verse 16. The first context, return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile and the ongoing context, the return of the Jewish people from around the globe until this day. Ezekiel 36 16. The word of the Lord came to me, O mortal, son of man. When the house of Israel dwelt in their own sorrow, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds. Their ways were in my sight like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. So, I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they shed upon the land and for the fetishes with which they defiled it.

I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed through the countries. I punished them in accordance with their ways and their deeds, but when they came to those nations, they caused my holy name to be profaned and that it was said of them, these are the people of the Lord and yet they had to leave his land. He must not be a powerful deity.

They get scattered. He must be a weak deity. Therefore, he says, I am concerned for my holy name which the house of Israel have caused to be profaned among the nations to which they have come. Say to the house of Israel, thus said the Lord God, not for your sake will I act, O house of Israel, obviously not because you repent either, but for my holy name which you have caused to be profaned among the nations to which you have come, I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations among whom you have caused it to be profaned and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I manifest my holiness before their eyes through you, I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries and I will bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes.

I will give you a new heart, et cetera. So, all this happens after the Jewish people are brought back to the land. And Bishop J.C. Ryle, reading this, not a dispensationalist in the 1800s, Anglican Bishop, Bishop J.C. Ryle said that from what he could see, the Jewish people would be brought back to the land in unbelief and there would turn to the Lord. And little by little, it is what we see happening. So, God is sovereign. As he pleases, he can do more than what he said in the law. He will never do less than he promised, but he can do more. Let's also remember that the land promised preceded the Sinai Covenant. So, God can say, hey, I promised this before. My name is being defiled. Even though you've fallen short, I'm going to bring you back anyway. And that's the only explanation for the modern state of Israel. God brought us back and that is why there is such world hostility over it. 866, 3, 4, truth.

Let's start in California. Trevor, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown.

Great to talk to you. I am calling asking what did Job do wrong? Why does God rebuke him at the end of the book? And also, why does his speeches sound like the book of Psalms, but it seems like God still gets mad?

And then why does God, what does God mean when he says, who is this who obscures my plans without knowledge? And I've got to take the answer offline. Thanks so much. God bless. All right. Sounds good. God bless. All right. So, for those that want a big in-depth answer to all those wonderful questions, buy my commentary on Job, called Job, a Commentary, the Faith to Challenge God, New Translation and Commentary.

So, Trevor, thank you for the questions. Job did not do anything wrong to bring on his sufferings. He did things wrong after his sufferings. What did he do wrongly? He accused God of being a moral monster. He accused God of not running the universe properly.

He accused God of not caring about the suffering of the righteous or the poor or the needy and basically that God even empowered the wicked. Now, what's interesting is that after God rebukes Job for his arrogant speech and his false accusations against God, because again, Job did not understand that it was actually not God's hand. Yes, Satan had God's permission, but it was not actually God's hand that struck him. This was the work of the devil. This is the type of stuff that Satan does. So, Job didn't understand what was going on, the larger dynamic, and rather than saying, God, I don't understand why this happened. I don't understand why you did these things to me, because that would be his only understanding.

God did it. I don't understand why you did, but I'm going to worship you anyway. He accused God of being a monster, of not caring, of blinding the eyes of the judges and the earth so that people would suffer, etc. So, he falsely accused God and God rebukes him. However, the amazing thing is in the 42nd chapter, so Job recants in verses 5, 6, 7, that passage there, God then rebukes the three friends.

The three friends came with the Orthodox doctrine. God blesses the righteous and curses the wicked. And Job obviously, he thought you're righteous, but there must have been some sin that God was purging out of your life. And when he pushes back against that and starts to speak these ugly words, they say, well, no, Job, you are a sinner. Your kids died because of your sin, and they died because of their sin.

And the more they talk and accuse him, the more he rails. And they give the Orthodox doctrine, the righteous are blessed, the wicked are cursed. The things that happened to you only happen to wicked people, therefore you must be wicked. So, they came with an Orthodox theology that was like a straitjacket that did not allow them to see the nuances, the larger dynamics, the fact that sometimes inexplicable things happen to godly people in this world, and we don't have an answer as to why. So, amazingly, when it's over, God three times called Job, my servant, my servant, and he says to the friends, you didn't speak rightly about me as my servant Job did.

What? He just rebuked Job for, Job, tell him you don't know how to run your universe, you don't know what you're doing, you're a monster, you're a madman, you know, in some of his accusations. Now he says Job spoke about me rightly because Job also knew that something was wrong and that somehow God would fix it, that ultimately there would be vindication, that ultimately his own words would be vindicated, that ultimately there would be a redeemer, and that in God's universe this is not who God is, that he doesn't go about bringing needless suffering on the poor and rejoice and the suffering of the righteous, and that's not who he is. So, the friends spoke wrongly because like, well, if you go through a bad thing and you're guilty and you're accursed and you're wicked and good things happening in your life, well then obviously you're righteous and blessed.

It was a narrow, shallow theology. That's one reason the Book of Job is there, to say, hey, these are the general principles, and you look at the Book of Proverbs, these are the general principles of life, but there are many exceptions in the midst of this world, and you may need eternity before they balance out and work out and everything is according to the plan. It may not all happen in this world. So, Job also spoke rightly about God knowing that somehow God did have to act, and that God would turn things around because that's in the nature of God, that there had to be justice in God's universe. So, he ran from God to God.

That's part of the power of the Book of Job. Right back. There's more of your calls and questions.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks again for joining us on the Line of Fire. We have put out key videos on very, very important subjects, my interaction over years with Andy Stanley about homosexual practice and my calling him out for having practicing homosexuals speak at a conference on LGBT issues, especially for parents. We've been dealing day and night with the crisis in Israel, with the out-of-control anti-Semitism worldwide. We've done our best to have honest conversations about our differences with our Cessationist friends. Just had what I thought was a very enjoyable conversation with Pastor Jim Osmond on the Bible Dinger's YouTube channel about Cessationism versus Continuationism.

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We go to John in Wilmington, Delaware. Welcome to the line of fire. How you doing, Dr. Brown?

Very well, thank you. So I have a question. It's very clear in the New Testament that Gentiles were not required to get circumcised or observe the Torah. But it seems that Paul remained faithful according to Acts 21. Do you think Paul, as he was building his congregation, so like when I see 1st Corinthians 7, 18 and 19, he discusses, you know, if you're circumcised, remain circumcised, and if you're uncircumcised, remain uncircumcised, but it's the commandments that matter. Do you think as Paul built these congregations, he expected his Jewish people to remain Jewish in identity?

Yes, I do. So let me say this in the most qualified way that I can. I believe that it was the natural thing to do, and he was encouraging them to do it. In other words, if you'd been a Sabbath-observing Jewish person before you came to faith, well, you don't become a Gentile throughout the Sabbath now, or say it doesn't apply anymore, but you relate to it differently. You find your ultimate rest in Yeshua, and you understand that there's no death penalty for violation, and we're not bound by the rabbinic traditions, which may be beautiful for rabbinic you, but are not binding in our lives.

It would just be a natural thing to do. And hey, for a Gentile, no, you don't need to take those things on. I mean, you're free to keep the dietary laws of the seventh-day Sabbath, but you don't need to take those things on.

I believe it would be a very natural thing as opposed to a Jewish person gets saved today. Let's say they come from a totally secular background, right? They've never observed the Sabbath. They've never kept the dietary laws.

They've never done any of those things. They come to faith. I don't believe there's an obligation on them now to say, okay, I need to become more observant. I need to do this.

I need to do that. It's a matter of as I walk with the Lord, what does that Jewish identity look like? As I walk with the Lord, what's the specific nature of that Jewish calling? So I have Messianic Jewish colleagues who believe that as a Jewish person comes to faith, there is a mandate for them to, not in a salvation way, but in an obedience way, to observe Torah in the light of the New Covenant so that they should observe the seventh-day Sabbath. They should keep the dietary laws.

They should observe the biblical calendar because that's part of what Jewish people do, and that's doing what Paul said. If you're saved circumcised, don't become uncircumcised. The challenge there is they've never lived that. That's never been who they are. It's almost like they got saved as a Gentile. You know what I'm saying?

That experientially and by background. So I do believe that Jewish identity is important, that it's just like being a male versus being a female is important, not in terms of status. Higher, lower, we're equal in the Lord.

There's no caste system, there's no class system. Jew and Gentile in Jesus Yeshua are exact equals, and yet we have distinctives. So for me those distinctives have come out in many ways in my life as a Jewish believer, but I don't live the same way as some of my Messianic Jewish friends. Jewish identity is very deep and real and part of my life, but I don't live it out in exactly the same way as my Messianic Jewish friends.

But as to your question, first century, I think it was very natural to expect you've been walking in this, now continue, but in the light of the Spirit. So the only thing I would like, and I've always followed you, I've read all your books, so I've always always kind of consulted with your books when I think about these things, but Paul, you know, mandating it, I could partially see only reason why is in Isaiah 11, in that day the root of Jesse who will stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious. So to Paul, could his theology have been the reason why we want these distinctions is because when we see a Jewish person and a Gentile keeping the law based in the Spirit, then we know that the Messiah has arrived, so it's a sign to the world.

Yeah, no, I don't think so, because the world really doesn't get it. In other words, the world still says you can't be a Jew and believe in Jesus. They don't really get it, and for the Jewish community, if they see a Gentile observing Torah, it's weird, like, why are you doing that?

You're a Gentile. Or especially if they try to dress up Jewish, which of course you're not saying. So I do believe it's just part of the diversity of the body, the unity and the diversity of the body, but it is as the Holy Spirit writes it on our hearts, and it's going to look different for each person depending on background, upbringing, and things like that. So to me, it's a matter of the church was very wrong over the centuries in trying to get Jewish people who came to faith not live like Jews anymore.

I have friends of mine where they came to faith, Jewish friends, that Christians gave them, literally gave them a ham sandwich to eat to prove that they were really saved. And there are horrific baptismal formulas that I relate and quote, our hands are stained with blood. And in that, as you know, as you've read it, that Jews as they were getting baptized would have to confess, I will eat pork, I will venerate Mary, I will curse the rabbis, I will never observe the Sabbath. So the church sinned in very serious and grievous ways in doing that, and now the pendulum swung in the way back to recognize, hey, Jewish believers can live like Jews and worship on the seventh day together and be in a messianic congregation. That's part of the diversity of the body. And hey, why celebrate a new holiday Easter that's not explicit in the Bible when we can celebrate the death and resurrection of Yeshua within Passover? So that's beautiful and wonderful.

It becomes a problem and burdensome when people are told they have to do XYZ or they're mandated to do these particular things as Jewish believers. That's where I've seen a lot of bondage and confusion come on a practical level. Hey, John, thank you for the call and the insight. Something worth considering.

I just haven't seen it quite like that, but I do appreciate the call. All right, we come back, we will talk to Zion Evan Nick 866-348-7884 is the number to call. And one more reminder, I know I've said it once or twice already, if you don't get my emails, I really encourage you to. We've got so much important information coming out, and you'll be up to date with our articles, videos. It's a critical hour. I've never been more serious about the gospel than right now.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We've got some amazing plans for the new year and some amazing resources we plan to be putting out, and we'll be telling you about them in the days to come. But please pray. Please stand with us in prayer. We're in critical times. We're on the front lines of many key issues, and we cover your prayers.

That's what carries us more than anything. Thank you so much. All right, let's go over to Zion in Gulfport, Mississippi, or Sion, if we said your name in Hebrew. Welcome to the broadcast. Hey, how you doing, Dr. Brown? Doing well.

Awesome. So, first off, I just want to preface by saying I really appreciate your work. A few months ago, I was inquiring into Orthodox Judaism, and your thoughts on the subject actually helped me critically think about some of the arguments and whatnot, so I appreciate you on that. However, I have been looking into ancient Christianity, and if you do that, you're going to find the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox institutions. I've kind of thought that Roman Catholicism seems super inconsistent, but I have been looking deeply into Eastern Orthodoxy, and I don't know, man, they definitely have an allure to them, but there seems to be certain things that just kind of irk me as far as the mariology of it and invocation of saints and icon veneration and all such things like that. So I'm just wondering if you had any thoughts about it, about Eastern Orthodoxy. Yes, so as everyone that follows this ministry knows, number one, I'm not an Eastern Orthodox or a Roman Catholic basher, that's number one.

Number two, I don't claim to be an expert spokesman. I can speak with much more authority about beliefs of rabbinic Judaism than I can of beliefs of Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism, although I'm quite conversant with many of them. But obviously, my big issues become when tradition gets elevated in such a way that it now contradicts the plain sense of Scripture or adds things clearly that now change the trajectory of Scripture. So with all respect, I would see that with Roman Catholicism, I would see that with Eastern Orthodoxy, the level of veneration on tradition and then some of the things that do develop, be it the iconography, be it the invocation of saints, be it mariology, be it the amount of weight that's put in the teaching of church leaders and fathers. So I deal with Scripture and that's completely inspired, 100% Word of God settled for us, right? When I'm dealing with tradition, so one of the great leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Church, one of the most revered is John Chrysostom, St. John Chrysostom, given the name Chrysostom after his death, meaning golden mouth, and tragically, his sermons, his seven sermons against the Jews, it was actually an eighth of some of those vile stuff that was ever produced by the early church. And I read some quotes from it on the air on Tuesday, I believe, so I don't have to deal with that with Scripture. In other words, I don't have to say, okay, we cut all this and this and this out. So ultimately, I'm still going back to what does the Word say, and that's my guide.

So, interesting little story. Friends of ours that have been on the mission field literally for 50 years in Italy and Europe, one of them came to the Lord, but came from a Catholic background, and he said to his friend who was an evangelical, how come you don't do all these things that the Catholic Church does? And the fellow said to him, well, start reading the Bible, here's a Bible, start reading it through, cover to cover, and underline everything that's in the Bible that the Catholic Church does that we don't do, and then we'll talk about it.

So he read the Bible cover to cover and didn't find anything to underline. And then the next question would be, okay, well, where does it say that there is an authority then that is imparted to this tradition? You see, well, Paul references the traditions here and there.

Oh, okay, well, the only ones we have are what's recorded. You say, well, they were passed down through the ages. Okay, just like with rabbinic Judaism, well, then let's test them according to Scripture. And if I test them according to Scripture, and I see I shouldn't make graven image or I shouldn't bow down in front of a graven image, et cetera, and it doesn't matter who the graven image is of.

And I see various other things. I say, okay, then there may be some great insights. I think they're beautiful insights in a lot of Eastern Orthodoxy. There are many Roman Catholic writers that have had great insight on different points and that we can learn from. But ultimately, I have to test everything by Scripture and see, okay, if it doesn't line up, then I have to reject the larger system. So, obviously, an Eastern Orthodox person would say we're not saying every statement of every church leader or church father is equal to Scripture. But there is a role that tradition plays that I believe is beyond what Scripture says.

And then the other thing is, the Eastern Orthodox Church, which would make the claim to being the original church and to have the true Jewish roots, it does say that the church basically is the new Israel. And that, to me, is a fundamental, very, very serious error that is not a scriptural viewpoint and one that can even be dangerous as it leads to a very negative replacement theology. So, on that level, I could respect it.

And when Hank Hanegraaff converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, I didn't think that he went apostate or lost his salvation or something. I just differed with his decision. But those are major reasons I wouldn't go that way.

Understandable. It's just, it's, yeah, I got you. It just seems, I don't know, I guess when you get into the whole necessary for salvation arguments, it just gets kind of nerve-wracking. But, like, I see the idea behind icon veneration and whatnot. It's because of, like, the incarnations, their argument, and, you know, invocation of saints as they go to, like, you know, they're in heaven now, and we can ask them for prayers, and, like... Yeah, we understand the logic, but it's just, it's caught, you read the Ten Commandments, like, that's clear.

And it's just, it's explicit, it's clear, it's definite. There's not a hint that any of that would have been accepted or happened in the early church, in the earliest churches, that you don't have that kind of iconography, you know, from evidence, the best evidence that we have. And then there's not a single example in the New Testament of anyone invoking a saint, in the Old Testament for that matter, either, a departed believer.

There's not a single instance of all prayers to be directed to the Father through Jesus, and sometimes directly to Jesus. So, I mean, the word is so clear on these things, there's no reason to muddle it. Hey, let me just throw out this last thought for you, sir. For whatever it is, and I've got to get to some other calls, so just, I'll plant a seed for you.

Whatever it is that gets you wondering about this tradition, that tradition, I would just submit to you that if you would pursue the Lord personally, through His word and prayer and worship, more deeply than you ever have, and encounter Him more deeply, even going to read books about intimacy with God, that I think it would, it would strip away the need for some of these other things that have your interest. So I just want to submit that to you, all right? Absolutely, I appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, this has pushed me to a place where I've just been deeper with the Lord than ever before, so I see what you're saying.

Yeah, yeah. Go after Him with the word and prayer, the amount of time you get alone with Him, just worshiping, pouring your heart out to Him, taking in His word, growing and being part of a healthy church community, it should fill those needs. Hey, I appreciate the call and your spirit, of course. 866-344-TRUTH. All right, we go back to our friend Evan, Bay Ridge, New York. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown, thanks for having me on. I just, we talked maybe like a month or two ago, and I just, it was about whether or not Jesus was a human sacrifice, and Jesus not being offered on the altar, and I just have some things I'd like to clarify with you. Sure.

First off is, I understand, I'm sorry, I just went together my thoughts for a second. We were talking about how Isaac wasn't offered on the altar, but Genesis 22, 9-13, in the New International Version says, When they reached the place of God, had told him about Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood on it, he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, etc., etc., which obviously says that, you know, Isaac was on the altar, implying that if there was a sacrifice, it would have to be on the altar. And secondly, regarding Jesus... Oh, no, but hang on, let's start there. Yeah. That was human sacrifice, and God forbid it. God said, I don't want that.

Right. Right, and there was no altar in Jerusalem, there was no temple altar there, so that there's no, the altar didn't exist. But all sacrifices were made on some kind of altar.

You offered them up on some kind of altar and burned them. But this was human sacrifice, and after God commanded Abraham to test him, he said, no, I don't want this. So God explicitly said, I do not want human sacrifice on an altar. But I'm, but then, I understand that, but then, by that same coin, then Jesus wasn't on the altar then. He was not a human sacrifice, exactly.

That's the whole point. He was not a human sacrifice. He laid his life down, the righteous dying for the unrighteous, the godly dying for the ungodly. All of our iniquities put on him, as it says in Isaiah 53.6, that he took our place in an intercessory role.

He bore the sin of many, Isaiah 53.12. But he was not a human sacrifice, therefore there was no altar. I understand that, but then, wasn't Jesus, like, when he died, wasn't he still technically an offering to God, and thus... Yes, but not a human sacrifice. Right, but not a human sacrifice. It was the offering of his own life on our behalf.

It would be like the car is going to go off the cliff, and you drive your car in front of it, and your car goes off the cliff, and everyone else is saved. So you offered your life as a sacrifice to save the others. It's not human sacrifice that they pour your blood out on the altar, and someone binds you there, so it's a totally different thing. It's the willing laying down of your life, so the sacrificial offering up of your life to save the lives of others. That's what Jesus did.

Just like in Jewish literature, the Maccabees fighting in Hasmonean War, that they said, let our blood be like as a sacrifice. I understand, but my point is, these are two different contexts, because Jesus was then an offering to God, and then that person was saving somebody else's life. It wasn't an offering to a higher deity. It was just to save somebody's life.

But it was on our behalf that it was on our behalf. But here's the thing, Evan, where does it say in Scripture, where does it say in Scripture that Jesus was to be offered on the altar, or that the Messiah was to be offered on the altar, or that the one who took our sins was to be offered on the temple altar? It doesn't say it.

Why? Because he's not an animal sacrifice. So you're confusing two categories. You're confusing Torah law about animal sacrifices, period, with the Messiah being the righteous offering that takes away our sins.

The Messiah dying in our place. They're two completely different categories. So as long as you're mixing them, there's going to be confusion. But they don't exist. And again, there would have been a concept of the death of the righteous atones, mitzvotham shalom shalom kim tikapeir.

That's in a totally separate category. That's what happened with Yeshua. That's what Isaiah 53, 6 says. That's what 1 Peter 2 in the other chapter says. The righteous died for the unrighteous, 1 Peter 3 as well. Christ died for our sins. That's the message. There's nothing to do with sacrifice on an altar because it's animals.

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These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 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, it's Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to The Line of Fire, 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go right back to the phones. Nick in Charlotte, North Carolina, welcome to The Line of Fire.

Hey, Dr. Brown, this is Nick. We met last week at SID in the studio when you went to film over at Messianic Vision. Okay, great to see you again.

Yeah, we met really briefly. Hey, I had a question about Roman Catholicism, but Zion kind of stole my questions. I have another one to pitch towards you if that's okay. All right, go for it. So I did some study back with Chabad and worked with them a lot, and obviously when you're at any of the SID movement... Let me just explain to our listeners.

Chabad is the other name for Lubavitch Hasidic Jews, so ultra-Orthodox Jews, their headquarters in Brooklyn, but the largest worldwide Jewish outreach movement, and Chabad stands for Chochmah Binah Da'at, so wisdom, understanding, knowledge, kind of an acronym for some of their understanding of Torah Judaism, etc. But they are unique in terms of the degree of outreach that they do to get secular Jews or Jews in other religions to become traditional. All right, so back to you. Yeah, for sure. And during that time, I stumbled across the balsam tov, and I came across a vision or a dream he had, I think it was on Rosh Hashanah, where he said he went to the third heaven and basically met Mashiach, and he had this encounter with Hashem, and it always baffled my mind, and it was kind of confusing to me at the time, and your books actually kind of helped me get pulled out of all of that. But I wanted to get your thoughts on that.

Do you think this was a legitimate encounter that the balsam tov had? Do you think that these miracles and these healings that are associated with them, like are they real, are they legends? What are your thoughts on that? It's a very fair question. You know, others have asked me about, when you were talking about Roman Catholicism initially, about the reported miracles at Lourdes, which would have been done allegedly through Mary's intercession, you know, Catholic miracles.

So it's kind of a parallel question in certain ways. But the balsam tov, acronym being the Besht, lived in the 1700s and is really the founder of the modern Hasidic movement and was a legendary miracle worker, as were the various leaders that followed him. Most recently, the Lubavitch Lecrebi who died, Menachem Mendel Schneerson who died at the age of 92 in 1994. If you read his biographies, their miracles reportedly took place with him. So here are the possibilities. Number one, it's all legend, myth, just stories, exaggeration stories, etc. And if someone claims to have had a vision and been taken up and seen X, Y, Z, I mean, how can you verify that with anybody unless they come back with some type of supernatural information or miraculous power? But it's possible that the miracles were all legendary.

So it's all story. Another possibility is that it was genuinely by the power of God for his sovereign reasons. Another explanation would be it was the power of God because this man was really walking with God and had the truth. And the last is that it was demonic counterfeits, that any alleged miracles were demonic counterfeits or just psychosomatic experiences and things like that.

I can't deny that some of it just on a literary basis or historiographical basis would seem to be legendary, legendary accretions. But then why are all these stories told about someone? Or Baba Sali, you know, a more contemporary alleged miracle worker, ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in Israel, et cetera. So to say it's all demonic, I'd have a hard time doing that, just write it off as all demonic. So my only explanation would be that God might do these things in his sovereign will for purposes unknown to us, but that ultimately everything then has to be tested by scripture. Now, if miracles are done that confirm a false belief and they seem to be genuinely supernatural, there's no human explanation, then I would say it's demonic. If things are done in terms of some type of bizarre counterfeit religious beliefs, then I'd say it's demonic.

But might God do different things? I mean, you hear it just in different faiths, different religions. What I find fascinating, though, is that as friends of ours evangelize and go to different parts of the world, especially unreached areas, that the name of Jesus is the most powerful name, that demons bow to him, and that witch doctors and others from different faiths realize that this is where the power of God is manifest, in his name. And even in Israel, we have friends of ours who, in their evangelism, will offer to pray for religious Jew, Bizhut Yeshua. So through the merit of Yeshua, they understand that a little bit better than in his name, in his merit. And they've seen miracles happen among them that have turned these religious Jews to the Messiah, that that's been the thing that made it real. So I would hate to just say it's demons, it's demonic power, or it's just human manipulation, or it's all legend. But perhaps God's mercy does work some miracles.

That's up to him. I remember years ago someone saying that the Vebbe prayed for this man or woman with a brain tumor, and the brain tumor went away. Am I going to say the devil did that? No, it could have been the mercy of God.

I don't know. But then the question is still going to come back to, if we sit down with these same people and say, okay, here are our miracles. I'm just dialoguing with a brother earlier, a cessationist brother we talked about. And I encourage folks to read the book Miracles Today by Craig Keener. It's an unbelievable compilation of contemporary miracles documented. Or Randy Clark's Eyewitness to Miracles. And he refers to other documented studies of miraculous, even of doctors, scientists, whatever, going to Mozambique with their equipment and measuring people that were prayed for for their sight, for their hearing, and then scientifically measuring them before and after prayer and documenting miracles. Ultimately, a rabbi would say, well, you have your miracles claims, we have our miracle claims, what does the word say?

And that's what we come back to. But I do think, though, again, just from the viewpoint of if we were looking at this as historians, a lot of things are legendary accretions. You'll see it with like a Catholic saint that the earliest accounts attribute ABC to him, right, a thousand years ago, or Saint Francis of Assisi, or whoever it would be, I don't know. And then a hundred years later, the miracles get more and more. Even in the early church, you'll read secondary writings after the time of the New Testament, and the miracles of the apostles get even more and more exaggerated. So that just happens over history. I think that some of it, some of it could be God's mercy, some of it could be demonic.

I do not have a definitive answer, but I've wondered about it as well. Thank you, appreciate it. Yeah, you bet, you bet. All right, I've got time, we've still got time here.

Let us go over to Alberto in Savannah, Georgia. Welcome to the line of fire. Are you there, sir? Hello, hello.

All right, maybe you're not there anymore. Boy, we did get that classic call about the rebellious penguins I went along with. That was a classic. Sir, you should call again as a knitting old woman.

That was a great call. All right, let's go over to Donna in Minnesota. Welcome to the line of fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. Just wanted to mention, I went on your first Israel tour, one of your porch beavers. Oh, awesome, wonderful.

Yes, folks don't know the story. We had our torchbearers monthly supporters. One night, we told the folks in the restaurant where we'd eat at night in the hotel, hey, we're just going to have a table, or two tables, for all those who are our monthly supporters who are on the trip here.

And it's for the torchbearers. Well, they didn't quite get it right, because, you know, they weren't used to English, so they were the porch beavers. So, yeah, the one and only porch beavers, yes. Thank you, Donna. That's right.

Yep, very funny. Oh, you're welcome. I just have a quick question, so I'm going to ask it, and then I'll just hang up and listen. That'll be fine. The question is about God's will.

You know, there are some who seem to believe that everything is God's will, not that God caused the bad things to happen, but because He allowed it to happen, then it is His will, because there are a hundred ways He could have stopped it. So, I just appreciate your thoughts on that. You bet. So I'll hang up and listen. All right, thanks.

Thanks, Donna. Yeah, so, if you say, okay, I've got a piece of paper in my hand, I let it go, it was God's will that it dropped. Although the laws of gravity had dropped automatically, you could say, if God allows something, it's His will.

No, I don't believe that everything that happens is His will. That there are many things, He says, I didn't want this, I was against this, you grieve me. For example, in Matthew 23, Jesus speaking in Matthew 22, 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and sown those sent you, how often I longed to gather your children, together as a hen gathers her chicks and her wings, but you were not willing.

So, I was willing, you weren't. As in Luke 16, He says to the Pharisees that, Luke says that they rejected the will of God for their lives. So, there are many things that happen, God's will in terms of His desire is that we obey Him, honor Him, He expresses that. You know, Moses would say, if only, Isaiah would say, if only, speaking for the Lord, you only obeyed me. Through Jeremiah, he says, you did certain things, this is never my plan for you.

I never had this in mind for you to do. So, there are definitely things that happen, contrary to His will, and they grieve the heart of God. God did not ordain the people in Noah's day to sin the way they sinned, He ordained them to sin, it was His will that they sinned, then He was grieved that they sinned, so He wiped them out, though they sinned against His will. Calvinists would say there's His revealed will, that's what the word says, and His secret will, what He does, but does everything that happens in this world, the will of God? No, there are many things that are contrary to His will. His will is to allow them to happen, His will is to allow us to make certain choices, His will is we sow certain things, we will reap certain things, that's His will, but it's not His will that we did that specific thing. Many things are against His will, against His desire, but His will is to give us the choices, and then He will work out His purpose in the midst of it. God bless you friends, connect with you again on Monday.