Charles Spurgeon Rebukes Replacement Theology

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Dr. Michael Brown. This is Michael Brown delighted to be with you on thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

So I've got a question, an honest question friends. If you are a follower of Jesus, securing your relationship with Him, securing your forgiveness of sins, securing the love of God for you, maybe you are a Gentile believer which be the vast majority of the church worldwide and you know God's love for you, you know that you are a son or daughter of God, there's no higher calling than that. Why is it that sometimes when I talk about God's purposes for Israel, it makes them feel insecure? I mean, Gentile Christians are like, well what's God's purpose for me then? Or are you, you're just carnal and you're thinking, why can't it be that you can be a Gentile follower of Jesus, have equal status with me as a Jewish follower of Jesus, just like there's no male or female, even though we're still men and women, there's no Jew or Gentile, even though we're still Jews or Gentiles, there's no distinction in Jesus, there's no caste system, there's no class system, we're one in Him, we will be with Him forever and ever and ever. We say that over and over and over and over and we say that Jewish people need Jesus to be saved, there's no dual covenant, there's no separate covenant that God has with Israel, everything comes by way of the cross, Jew, Gentile, we come to faith the same way through the blood of Messiah. We emphasize that, we say that, but the moment I say that God still has purposes for Israel and the Jewish people because He doesn't go back on His word and the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable and He will keep His word, why is it when I say that some people get very angry and very insecure as if it somehow is a threat to their status in the Lord or we're making other ways of salvation, it's really baffling and something I try to understand. You know, I'm looking at a comment someone posted on Facebook, it says, the spirit that is behind this post confesses Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Dr. Brown, you claim that you were still a physical Jew tells me that you are not in Jesus Christ.

What? So Jewishness is one of the old things that passes away. If anyone's in crisis and new creation, all things pass away. Jewishness is one of those. So when Paul identifies himself as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as an Israelite, and when Paul speaks to Jewish believers as Jews and when I mean, when you have this language to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, Jacob, James writing to fellow Jewish believers, that no one in the New Testament got this, I might as well say maleness or femaleness disappear. That's an old thing and once you're born again, you're no longer male or female, you're just maybe genderqueer, maybe that's what happens, gender nonconforming.

I mean, why must people make everything so spiritual that earthly realities cease to exist? One of the more bizarre comments that I saw and you know, most of the time because there are hundreds of thousands of comments posted over time on all our different social media sites, I don't get to see 99.999% of them. And then because we have articles and things posted in many, many different places, I don't get to see the vast, vast, vast majority of comments.

Again, 99.999%, I don't see. But every so often I'll try to look more, maybe just on YouTube comments and see and try to understand where people are coming from, I wish I had time to respond, that would be a joy to respond to every comment. But I had gone through Scripture in depth and I had just gone verse by verse by verse by verse and I'd indicated that even though God makes repentance a condition for the Jewish people to return from around the world, so if you repent I'll bring you back, there are times when even without repentance God says, I'm going to act for my name's sake. In other words, if you do this, I'll bring you back.

But I may just do something above and beyond that. You know, for example, you can come to God in faith and God says if you come in faith praying that He'll answer, but He may do something for an atheist or a non-believer just because He's God and He chooses to do it, He's sovereign. So I explained that that's exactly what Ezekiel 36, the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian exile, they're languishing in exile, God's talking to Ezekiel in exile, talking about the return of His people from exile to the Promised Land and God's doing it because His name is blasphemed because people look at the Jewish people scattered in the ancient world, they say, ah, well obviously your God was defeated, your temple was destroyed, our God's stronger than your God. So it approached His name, so He said, I'm going to do this, I'm going to bring you back for my name's sake.

And He says, once you're back in the land, then I'll sprinkle clean water on you. So the Jewish return from exile from Babylon, only a minority of the people came back, that's problem number one, they should have all come back, when a minority came back, it was by the mercy of God. And I explained how this passage has not yet reached its fulfillment, but we are seeing it over the last hundred plus years as God has brought His people back to the land more and more and once in the land, He's pouring out His Spirit and more and more Jews in the land are coming to faith in Jesus. And that's a pretty straightforward reading of the passage in terms of God changing hearts and minds once back in the land. So somebody posts this comment, nice theory but false again.

Number one, Ezekiel 36 is clearly speaking about the work of Christ specifically on Pentecost. What? Clearly? You talk about reading something back into the text that's not there.

You talk about taking a later perspective and reading something back into the text that's not there. Remember, remember, the prophets prophesied certain things about the coming of the Messiah. Was it prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem? Yes. Where was he born?

Bethlehem. Was it prophesied that he had a supernatural birth? Yes.

Did he have a supernatural birth? Yes. Was it prophesied that he'd be despised and rejected? Yes. Was it prophesied that he died a criminal's death? Yes.

Was it prophesied he'd be treated brutally? Yes. Was it prophesied that he would rise from the dead physically? Yes.

All those things happened. He'd be with the rich in his death. Was he with the rich in his death?

Yes. Joseph of Amor Thea took his body and buried it, etc. All the things that were prophesied literally happened. John the Immersive came in the Spirit and power of Elijah because he was not physically actually Elijah reincarnate. So he came in the Spirit and power of Elijah. But otherwise, when the prophets said, this would happen, this would happen, this would happen, it did. Now we want to take their same words and make everything hyper-spiritual. You can't do that with the Bible. Otherwise, what you are doing, like Augustine said, you know, if you believe what you like in the Gospels, it's not the Gospels you believe, it's yourself. Paraphrase. He said it much better.

The same thing here. Ezekiel makes clear prophecies in a clear context about a clear people, and now it clearly speaks about the work of Christ, specifically on Pentecost? What? So Charles Spurgeon dealt with this mentality because it's been prevalent in church history and it's opened the door to despising of Jewish people and hating of Jewish people and banishing of Jewish people.

Not always, but this is what's happened over the centuries. So Spurgeon, who is not a dispensationalist as I am not a dispensationalist, Spurgeon actually addressed this. And I want to read some of this to you. If you don't yet have my book, Our Hands Are Staying with Blood, and you're able to get it, I urge you to get it.

Make sure you get the updated 2019 edition. But get hold of the book. It'll be one of the most eye-opening, at times painful things you've ever read. As Don Wilkerson said, he wanted to put it down, but he couldn't put it down. And you see, you can't put a good book down.

He said he wanted to, but he couldn't. He was compelled to keep reading, and the foreword to the book came out in 92, updated edition 2019. You'll find it eye-opening and you'll find what I'm going to be quoting out of the book from Charles Spurgeon. But he's talking about Ezekiel 37.

He is, what, three days shy of his 30th birthday. It's 1864. The message is on the restoration and conversion of the Jews. So it's Ezekiel 37.

I want to start reading it to you. The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them. I saw a great, hang on, just blocking here the text. There we go. Oh, hang on. Just moved to the wrong chapter. Let me go back.

Here we go. I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live?

I said, Sovereign Lord, you alone know. Then he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, dry bones hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones.

And he goes on and he goes on. And he says, verse 11, then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say our bones are dried up and our hope is gone. We are cut off there for a prophet's son said, and this is what the Sovereign Lord says, my people, I'm going to open your graves, bring you up for them, et cetera.

So these bones are the people of Israel. So Spurgeon's preaching on Ezekiel 37, one through ten. And he says, the passage could be interpreted to describe the revival of a decayed church. But that was not the prophet's primary intent.

No, Spurgeon tells us. He was talking of his own people, of his own race and of his own tribe. He surely ought to have known his own mind and led by the Holy Spirit, he gives us an explanation of the vision, not thus saith the Lord, my dying church shall be restored. And you could use the Hebrew word for congregation, which is the equivalent of the word for church, the kahal. He could have said, my congregation shall be restored. Thus saith the Lord, my dying church shall be restored, but I will bring my people out of their graves and bring them into the land of Israel. So Spurgeon in 1864 said, God will bring the Jewish people back to the land of Israel, physical Jews back to the physical land of Israel. And he said, this is not about the church.

You can make spiritual application if you like, but that's not what the prophet said. Will we allow the word to speak for itself? Well, Paul wrote, okay, Paul can't overturn everything in the Old Testament. Perhaps someone's misunderstanding Paul.

And when I responded to Jeff Durbin who reached out privately, he's just very busy and unable to get into an engagement. Maybe we can have a public dialogue or debate about some of these issues and some of these verses later on. But I went through every relevant verse in Romans and then many other verses in the New Testament to demonstrate that when it's speaking about Jews, it's talking about Jews, it's talking about Israel, it's talking about Israel, it's not talking about Gentile Christians, it's not talking about the church. We went through verse after verse. If you haven't watched it, just search on your app, type in Durbin, D-U-R-B-I-N or on our website, askdurban.org, A-S-K-D-R, brown.org.

Just type in Durbin and you can read the exchange. Just brother to brother, loving the word, wanting to enhance our understanding. So Spurgeon says this, the meaning of our text as opened by the context is most evidently if words mean anything. First, that there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality. And then secondly, there is in the text and in the context a most plain declaration that there shall be a spiritual restoration, a conversion in fact of the tribes of Israel. Spurgeon said if words mean anything, that's what the text is saying.

And yet, people say, well you're just carnal in your interpretation, you're a dispensationalist, that's the most evil thing, I'm not a dispensationalist. Spurgeon was not. Spurgeon was not, okay? And yet, this is what we are being told. Spurgeon has a rebuke. No, no, no, don't substitute the church for Israel.

That's not accurate, that's not biblical, it's reading something in that is contrary to what God spoke through the prophets. Don't do it. We'll be back, there's a lot more. Are you wanting to ensure the best way your body can fight off infections, viruses, and health-robbing pathogens? Discover the power of high levels of vitamin D. The medical community since 2020 has been shocked into realizing just how crucial vitamin D is in supporting immune function. This is Michael Ellison, founder of TriVita Wellness, with this very important health message. The immune system is your miraculous, God-given and designed system you were born with.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I'm not sure what happened. We've had quite an amazing day so far. First, when we came in to do our normal sound check, the studio could not hear me at all. Second, our phone systems on all of our computers have basically shut down in three different locations, which is why I haven't been pushing the phone number so far. Then, just now during the break in our studio here in Fort Worth at Mercy Culture, the computer had to completely reboot and reconnect it with seconds to go as the show started.

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Use the code BROWN25 as in Dr. Brown. Okay, I want to get back to Charles Spurgeon and I want to say this once again. If you say that in the Old Testament, when the prophet would say, for example, Jeremiah, God speaking to the prophet, I will scatter you in my anger. Who's the physical Jewish people that had sinned? I will scatter you in my anger. I will regather you in my mercy.

It has to be the same people. Oh, no, no, no. It's scattering your Jews in anger, regathering your church in mercy. That's butchering the Bible.

And you could make it say anything you want in that regard. And the New Testament does not do that. The New Testament does not rewrite the Old. The New Testament brings out the full meaning, but does not rewrite and change. If it did, it would have been rejected.

And Paul wouldn't have accepted this revelation either because it would have butchered the word of God that they had. When God says, I will scatter you in my anger, what kind of scattering is a physical scatter? I'll regather you in my mercy. That means spiritual.

The regathering has to be as real as the scattering. You say, where's the leave of the Gentiles? All the promises in the Old Testament, God bringing in the nations and how the nations, for example, the end of Isaiah 19, and how Egypt and Assyria that would now worship God together with Israel. Israel doesn't become the church. Israel becomes part of the church, part of the ecclesia, part of the body, along with Gentile believers. Let me go back to Spurgeon.

Listen to what he said. 1864 Israel is now blotted out from the map of nations. Her sons are scattered far and wide. Her daughters mourn all the rivers of the earth. Her sacred song is hushed.

No king reigns in Jerusalem. She bringeth forth no governors among her tribes, but she is to be restored. She is to be restored as from the dead. When her own sons have given up all hope of her, then is God to appear for her. She is to be reorganized.

Her scattered bones are to be brought together. There will be a native government again. There will again be the form of a body politic.

A state shall be incorporated and a king shall reign. So this is what we await now, the fullness of the regathering and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom as the Jewish people turn to Jesus the Messiah. He said Israel has now become alienated from her own land. Her sons, though they can never forget the sacred dust of Palestine, yet die at a hopeless distance from her consecrated shores. But it shall not be so forever, for her son shall again rejoice in her. Her land shall be called Beulah for a young man created by the Messiah.

The literal sense and meaning of this passage meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away must be evident that both the two and the ten tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land and that a king is to rule over them. He declared, I think, this is Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers in church history, his writings and sermons still widely read and used today, one of the most Jesus exalting preachers of all time. A great soul winner, strong Calvinist, cessationist would have been the norm there, but there was some prophecies and things he had. But otherwise he was not a dispensationalist, he was not a modern Pentecostal, okay?

It's Charles Spurgeon. He said, I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. Spurgeon said that.

I agree. We do not think enough about it, but certainly if there is anything promised in the Bible, it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the children of Israel. So I'm not rebuking replacement theologians here, Spurgeon is. I'm not rebuking those who read this as the church rather than Israel. Spurgeon is.

I'm not rebuking those who deny the physical return of Israel will happen at any point. Spurgeon is. No, let me go further. The word is. Yeah, I believe it that strongly.

Okay. Bishop J.C. Ryle, he was an older contemporary of Spurgeon. He also taught this very, very strongly. And he said this. He said, imagine this conversation between a Christian and a Jew who did not believe in Jesus. So the Christian believes that Jesus literally fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about his first coming.

Ryle says this. But suppose the Jew asked you if you take all the prophecies of the Old Testament in their simple literal meaning. Suppose he asked you if you believe in a literal personal advent of Messiah to reign over the earth in glory, a literal restoration of Judah and Israel to Palestine, a literal rebuilding and restoration of Zion and Jerusalem. Suppose the unconverted Jew puts these questions to you.

What answer are you prepared to make? Will you dare to tell them that the Old Testament prophecies of this kind are not to be taken in their plain literal sense? Will you dare to tell them that the word Zion, Jerusalem, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim, Israel do not mean what they seem to mean, but mean the Church of Christ? Will you dare to tell them that the glorious kingdom and future blessedness of Zion so often dwelt upon in prophecy mean nothing more than the gradual Christianizing of the world by missionaries and gospel preaching? Will you dare to tell them you think it carnal to expect a literal rebuilding of Jerusalem? Carnal to expect a literal coming of Messiah to reign? Oh, reader, if you are a man of this mind, take care of what you are doing. I say again, take care. This again, great Anglican bishop, respected leader in the 1800s, a little bit older, a little bit before, Charles Spurgeon. And he gives a strong warning. So for those that just like to throw this out, well, you're just dispensationalist.

Well, I'm not, and Ryle wasn't, and Spurgeon wasn't. And yet they, along with many other church leaders through history, recognize the Bible spoke of a physical restoration of the Jewish people back to the land. No, that does not save them from sin. No, that does not bring them into right relationship with God.

No, that does not bypass the cross. No, that does not stop us from praying for the salvation of Jewish people. And when I lead tours to Israel and we're praying at the wall, the Kotel, that's called the wailing wall from not within Israel, but others call it the wailing wall. When we're praying side by side with religious Jews, I tell them, don't just say, wow, that was amazing.

I was in Israel. I said, leave with a burden because no people are so near and yet so far. I mean, here they are pouring their heart out to God. And I said, they don't know God as they need to know God. So we're not denying the Jewish people need Jesus.

We're coming up with another way of salvation. We're simply saying, God meant what he said. He said what he meant. And he can be trusted. And if he kept his word to Israel, he'd keep his word to the church.

If he broke his word to Israel, he can break his word to the church. I trust God. I take him at his word.

Same thing. 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 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, as, 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.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. So, of course, our live stream on YouTube.

This went out, I guess, on Facebook, too, so welcome back. We will get a full broadcast up. It may be audio only, we will have to see, but we will get that up for you.

It should be without a problem. Let me just see what is happening. Anyway, we should have everything back up.

So if you are going to YouTube, we will have the full broadcast up and we will send out links to it accordingly. I was going to give out the phone number by habit, but there is no reason to do that. Let's go back to Bishop J.C. Royal. So what he is saying is this. You are talking to a Jewish person, right? You are using the Old Testament for Jude the Bible. So you are using the Hebrew Bible.

And you are saying, let me show you that it talks about Jesus. Hey, read Isaiah 53. Who is that talking about? Oh, it sounds like Jesus.

Okay. Read Psalm 22. Who is that talking about? Oh, it sounds like Jesus. Look at Micah 5. Where is he going to be born? He was going to be born in Bethlehem. Did it all happen literally as spoken?

Yeah. Look at Isaiah 49. Does it say the servant will be rejected, seem to fail in his mission to his own people, but he will be a light to the nations. Didn't that happen with Jesus? And wow.

Okay. And Acts 1, his feet will touch on the Mount of Olives. In Zechariah 14, he is going to return. His feet will touch on the Mount of Olives. Hey look, it is all written out.

There it is. And now, he will say, what about all the future promises that are in the Old Testament? Oh, no, that is all spiritual now. So the promises about the first coming, they are literal, but the second coming, but this all becomes spiritual. And when it said Israel, the first time around it meant Israel, but the second time around it means somebody else. Or Israel is expanded.

And you think, what are you talking about? You just changed, you are reading the Bible one way, now you are reading it differently. So listen to what Ryle says.

He lived 1816 to 1900. Time would fail me if I attempted to quote all the passages of scripture in which the future history of Israel is revealed. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Isaiah, all declared the same thing. All predict with more or less particularity that in the end of this dispensation the Jews are to be restored to their own land and to the favor of God. He said, I lay no claim to infallibility in interpretation of scripture in this matter. I am well aware that many excellent Christians cannot see the subject as I do. I can only say that to my eyes, the future salvation of Israel as a people, their return to Palestine and their national conversion to God appear as clearly and plainly revealed as any prophecy in God's word. Any prophecy in God's word.

As F.F. Bruce said, esteemed New Testament scholar, one of the great scholars of the last generation, Israel's blindness is only partial, Romans 11, and only temporary. The new covenant will not be complete until it embraces the people of the old covenant. And on and on we go.

So I want to challenge you. Don't just write this off as dismissationalism. In fact, I could give you quotes from the Puritans that say similar things and talk about the return of the Jewish people to the land and their embrace of the Messiah there in the land. And I could show you quotes from even even some of the early church leaders where they would read many passages in a replacement way and read promises to Israel, apply them spiritually to the church. They still many of them still spoke of a future restoration visit. You say, well, I accept the spiritual restoration. Well, hang on. If there's a future spiritual restoration promise, then it means in some certain way they are still chosen.

Does it not? That if there is a specific promise, you say, I believe there's going to be a future national national conversion. Well, then they're still chosen. And as I explained that Paul explicitly uses the word for elect chosen in Romans the 11th chapter, just like us, chosen in the Messiah, chosen in Christ. It's the same word that's used in other passages.

The difference is this. There is a corporate choosing where God chooses a nation for service, for a purpose. They remain his chosen nation.

That is Israel. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Though the Jewish people rejecting the gospel, Paul writes, may be enemies for your sake. Now there is still loved on account of the fathers.

Right. As far as election, there's still loved on account of the fathers. So the Jews remain God's chosen people in terms of a people, a nation with a task, with a mission on the earth that will be fulfilled. But that does not mean individual Jews are automatically saved.

There is the choosing in Christ, which is those of us who are saved. So you say, does that mean there are two people of God? Yes. Yes.

Uh-huh. As the Bible does say plainly, as Paul states clearly, as the prophet stated clearly, Israel's chosenness remains, but Israel's chosenness never guaranteed Israel's salvation. So there is a physical people on the earth that are still chosen. And there is a spiritual people, a people in Messiah that are chosen in him.

The only saved ones, the only ones in right relationship with God, the only ones whose sins have been forgiven, the only ones with eternal life are those who are in Messiah. But the chosenness of the Jewish people remains. God cannot be trusted.

Otherwise his clear words must be turned upside down. And I still go back to simple passages like Jeremiah 31 verses 35 to 37, where God categorically says, no matter what, no matter what the people of Israel do, I will still preserve them as a people. Some say, well, yeah, that's going to be a future salvation, but not the physical state now. What, why can't it be?

Why can't it be when God said, I'll bring you back from all the nations of the earth and I'll reestablish you in the land and I'll plant you there. And then that there's going to be a final war, a final turning of the nations against Israel and Jewish people. You can see how this unfolds right now. I mean, you can see the hostility towards Israel and the Jewish people around the world.

You can see this unfolding. So why can't it be what it says? Why does that somehow threaten God's promises to the church or God's purposes or compete with? To me, seeing God do literally what he said he was going to do encourages me about everything else, the rest of the spiritual program. That's good news. That's very positive.

So chew on these things. Spurgeon had strong words. Ryle had strong words and I'm echoing their strong words because I've seen the destructive effect of replacement theology through history. He said to the offensive term, I'm sorry, but that's what it ends up with. If you end up changing who the people spoken of there, well, it expands into this.

Okay. If the people to who promises were given no longer have those promises, then it is replacement. If the promises were given to someone else, it's not.

If that which is physical now becomes spiritual to the point it's not physical anymore, that's replacement. Well, Jesus is the land. Number one, the New Testament never teaches that Jesus is the land of Israel.

It never teaches it. There is not an explicit statement. There's not even an allegorical statement teaching that Jesus becomes the land of Israel.

It is not there. It is not in the New Testament. And as the Jewish refugees were trying to find a homeland after the horrors of the Holocaust and now the UN partition plan, just tell the Jews around the world, Jesus is your homeland. Jesus is the land of Israel. No, no, that's like telling the starving person Jesus is the bread of life. Well, he is the bread of life, but right now that person needs a piece of bread.

Yes, Jesus is the only salvation, but right now these people need a place to live. What is so striking? What is so hard to accept?

I don't mean that people are intentionally being obtuse or stubborn. It's just something I still don't get when verses, verse after verse after verse, I could just take the whole program and read verses that promise us from the Old Testament. And it unfolds in front of our eyes. And we're also told that the Jewish people back in the land, there'll be world hostility in the end against the Jewish people and against Jerusalem.

So it's not just only gonna be perfect initially. So it's promised, it's written, it's happening in front of our eyes. We say, well, I don't like Israel's policies. Okay, let's talk policies then. Fair enough, let's talk policies. I don't think they're treating the Palestinians correct.

Okay, let's talk about that. When Israel was chosen by God in the land, did Israel do everything perfectly in the Old Testament? Far from it. Were they still chosen? Yes. Were they still in the land by God's word?

Yes. So why can't it be the same today? Well, it says that God would do it. Well, who do you think did it? Who do you think did it? Who do you think we gathered us from around the world? Who do you think rebuilt the modern state of Israel out of the ashes of the Holocaust?

It wasn't just people doing it. The Rothschilds. Well, tell you what, why not just put whatever screen name you have, just add to it, and I am an anti-Semite. I'm a Jew-hater. It's the Rothschilds because the Jews, the greedy Jewish bankers, they rule the whole world, and they're running the whole world, and they're trying to destroy the whole world. Why not just add to your screen name, and I am an anti-Semite.

I am a Jew-hater. And so Calvin and centered gospel messages, it's all about me, it's all about me, because you recognize that it's all about God. Obviously, if God's sovereign, then he's the one overseeing these events. If he said he was going to do it, and it's happened, and he's the one who ultimately causes world history to unfold, you'd say he's not the author of sin, but he is the one orchestrating his plan and ordering the affairs of man. Well, then he did. And if he said he was going to do it, why not acknowledge it? If he did it, it brought the Jewish people back because he's sovereign, right?

It didn't just happen on its own. It's not like people decide, and God's like, man, I'm so frustrated. I'm so frustrated. I wish I was God. I would do something where they're so frustrated because I gave authority to people and the devil.

They run everything I wish I could just do. No, that's not the God we worship. And Calvinists above all should know that it's not Satan's over here, and people are over here, and God's like, I hope the people make the right decision. No, he's God.

My years of a Calvinist, 77-82, that reinforced those realities in me. He is God. He is God Almighty.

He's carrying out his purposes on the earth. And if the Jewish people regathered from around the land and the only people ever in world history to be scattered from the land for generations and now regathered while maintaining their identity and being kept together, it's never happened before. But God said it would happen, and it's happening in front of our eyes. The cities that were ruined are rebuilt. You know, look at old pictures of Jerusalem from 100 years ago, and today it's mind-boggling to change as the land of Israel.

The swamps drain the land verdant and bearing fruit and all of it. God said it would happen, and little by little spiritual renewal coming, more and more Jewish people in the land coming to faith in the Messiah. God said we pour clean water on our hearts once we're back in the land. Why not acknowledge he said he would do it? If you're a Calvinist, you believe that God orchestrated history, so he did it? Well, put it together with the Bible, because there it is. There it is. All right, I think I've said enough about that. When we come back, what I want to do is clarify a comment that I made, add to it with the help of an ultra-orthodox rabbi friend, and then just give you a couple more insights about Hamas and the people of Gaza and their level of suffering. I think you'll find this helpful. If you care about the Palestinians, if you grieve over Palestinian suffering right now, then these things will help you to understand, yeah, Free Palestine from Hamas.

Yes, Free Palestine from Hamas. We'll be right back. Do you want to feel at your best all year round? Look no further than Trivita's Sunshine Vitamin Essential D. Who hasn't felt sluggish and run down, especially during winter months when the sun is scarce? Trivita's Essential D is the answer you've been searching for to help you through even the cloudiest of days. I'm Dr. Paul, Director of Wellness Services at Trivita, and I have a health alert. Studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk and severity of infections and hospitalization of older adults.

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So call now 1-800-771-5584 or online at 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. Well, friends, my profound apologies for some connection problems we're having today. We'll do our best to have everything sorted out by tomorrow when I broadcast from several different locations as I travel and speak with the studio in Fort Worth, the studio in Dallas. Every so often we have these glitches. We do our best to overcome it, but my profound apologies as I just became aware of them. Yeah, okay. A couple of little things here. All clear. All clear.

We will work out these glitches. I'm not giving out the phone number. An ultra-orthodox rabbi friend, colleague, theological adversary reached out to me and gave me a B plus when I explained about orthodox rabbis, ultra-orthodox rabbis who oppose the modern state of Israel. So from him as one of my critics, I take that as a very high grade, but he felt I failed to make a clear distinction about something.

So I want to come back to that. I mentioned the Nitrai Karta, which is a fairly small group overall. They boast larger numbers, but it's a fairly small group overall. They are largely despised by the Jewish world, both secular and religious. So they not only say that the modern state of Israel is getting in the way of the Messiah's plan and it's secular, they'll even equate modern Israel to being like Nazis because they're trying to rob the Jewish people of their spiritual heritage, etc. Not only that, but they will go over and work with Palestinians, work with Palestinian terrorists or befriend them or go to Iran for some conference, and they stir up hostility towards the people of Israel living in the land, the Jewish people in the land, they stir up hostility towards them. They stir up hostility towards the modern state of Israel. In other words, this should not exist and Gentiles should be against this. The Satmar Hasidim, ultra-Orthodox large group in Brooklyn and in upstate New York, they do not support the modern state of Israel, but they believe that it is imperative for the Gentile world to recognize and support Israel. In other words, they have their own theological and spiritual reasons for not supporting and it's not Torah-based and Messiah has to set it up, but the rest of the world should recognize Israel. So the distinction between Yitrei Karta and Satmar, the distinction between this one smaller sect that is so anti-Israel that it will go join with pro-Hamas rallies and things like that and hence being despised by so much of the Jewish population for what they are doing, they would be very different from other traditional Jews who do not support the modern state of Israel. So as my colleague wrote, in Satmar they believe any non-Jew who is not pro-Israel is an anti-Semite, Yitrei Karta tries to convince non-Jews to be against Israel. I want to come back to the war right now.

I just want to point out some harsh realities. You can check my latest article about follow the Hamas money trail. When we hear the cries of free Palestine, there's a variation that we should change it to. Free Palestine from Hamas. Free Palestine from Hamas. So consider this.

Consider just these basic facts here. New York Post reported this week, while their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles. The terror group's three top leaders alone are worth a staggering $11 billion between them and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the Emirate of Qatar.

Consider this for a moment. The three top Hamas leaders, their combined wealth $11 billion. What if they get that money? How did they acquire that money and what could the people of Gaza do in terms of infrastructure, in terms of hospitals, in terms of schools, in terms of job opportunities and development, in terms of advancing their power supply and their water supply and things like that. What could be done with that kind of money?

This is an outrage. 2012, the Gatestone Institute noted that according to an investigative report published in the Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Asat, this is 2012, of these 600 millionaires living in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper report also refutes the claim that the Gaza Strip has been facing a humanitarian crisis because of an Israeli blockade. The Palestinian millionaires, according to the report 2012, have made their wealth thanks to the hundreds of underground tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Informed Palestinian sources reveal that every day, in addition to weapons, thousands of tons of fuel, medicine, various types of merchandise, vehicles, electrical appliances, drugs, medicine and cigarettes are smuggled into the Gaza Strip through more than 400 tunnels.

A former Sudanese government official who visited the Gaza Strip lately was quoted as saying that he found basic goods that were not available in Sudan. Almost all the tunnels are controlled by the Hamas government, which has established a special commission to oversee the smuggling business, which makes the Hamas government the biggest benefactor of the smuggling industry. Now, speaking of those tunnels, 300 miles of tunnels under Gaza.

Do you know how much it cost? Can you imagine how much money it cost to build those tunnels? Can you imagine what could have been done for the people of Gaza had that money gone instead into their well-being? Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated that Gaza is the largest terror base built by mankind ever.

The entire city is one big terror base. What about the amount of money spent on weaponry? They have set up Gaza as their terror base. According to the Times of Israel, as the residents of Gaza endured daily hardships due to the dire economic situation in the enclave, their Hamas leaders spend over $100 million a year on the group's military wing, the Yiz Al-Adin al-Qassam Brigades, according to estimates by both Israeli and Palestinian sources.

Spending on digging tunnels accounts for some $40 million of that annual sum. NBC News reported that the unemployment rate in Gaza is 47% and more than 80% of its people lives in poverty, according to the United Nations. Hamas, however, has funded an armed force of thousands equipped with rockets and drones and built a vast web of tunnels under Gaza.

This is NBC News. Estimates of its annual military budget range from $100 million to $350 million, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources. 47% unemployment, more than 80% living in poverty, and $100 to $350 million a year spent on building terror tunnels and weaponry? And Israel is the bad guy here?

Hamas' leadership has invested its income in an international investment portfolio worth $500 million in real estate and other assets from companies in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which it uses to conceal and launder its money according to a Treasury announcement. The Guardian notes that the World Food Program estimates that in normal times, more than 60% of Gaza's population faces food insecurity. And check this out.

Check this out. Even though Israel supplies electricity, water, power into Gaza, they are dying. They supply it. Even so, basically according to this report from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, that maybe in a day they will get four continuous hours of electrical supply. The population of Gaza receives an average of four hours per day of continuous electricity supply from the main grid. Much of this is due to the dilapidated electricity infrastructure in Gaza that was damaged during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. The large sums in foreign aid were delivered to Hamas specifically to reconstruct the grid.

Hamas has diverted the funds elsewhere and left the grid in its current condition. All those quotes, all documented. You can check all the links. Go to askdr.brown.org. Click on Read. You'll see it on the articles on your app.

Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK Dear Brown Ministries, right there on the app. You'll see, click on Read Latest Article. You'll be able to read it for yourself.

And it's up on other sites as well. So friends, this is the reality. The people of Gaza have suffered terribly under Hamas. Hamas leadership has made clear we want permanent war with Israel.

That's it. Until Israel is no more, they want permanent war with Israel. And remember, the more people of Gaza, the more civilians that die, the better it is for Hamas. Hamas wants to maximize civilian casualties. Israel wants to minimize civilian casualties.

Those are realities. Free Palestine, yes, from Hamas. And if there could be some good leadership for the people that cared more about the people and more about their future and more about their well-being than exterminating Israel, the people could live in a beautiful place and the people could prosper and thrive.

And oh, this is totally crazy, off the charts, out of the way impossible. You know what? There could even be open borders. There's only a blockade because the terrorists want to slaughter the people of Israel and we saw what happens when they have the opportunity.

So let's get on the right side of justice here. You can have different views on different subjects regarding what's going on and how Israel should implement its attack to wipe out Hamas. The bottom line, the evil ones, the ones that need to go, the ones that are hurting the Palestinian people. It's Hamas.

It's not Israel. You creep.