Is the Spirit Still Speaking Today?

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So, is it heretical to say that the Holy Spirit is still speaking to God's people today? It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the line of fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire as we dig into the Word of God together and tackle yet another subject that in my view should not be controversial at all, but is very controversial to many.

You get to weigh in today if you differ with my views. Here's the number to call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. I may have time later in the broadcast to continue my conversation with those of you who differ with my take on Israel today, who do not believe Israel today has any connection to fulfillment of prophecy, who believe it is wrong for Christians to stand with Israel, etc. Maybe I'll get to some calls like that as we did yesterday, 866-34-TRUTH. For those of you who believe that to say the Spirit of God is still speaking today is heretical, for those of you who say that it's adding to the Bible, that it's contrary to sound doctrine, that it's dangerous, I'd love to hear from you with your biblical arguments.

And for those of you who say, what are you talking about, the Holy Spirit speaking and acting and leading his people and communing with his people on a regular basis, and hey, I've got a testimony to share, you can call as well. You can call as well. A quick reminder, we are launching a brand new Front Nine newsletter that will start going out in January. This is going to be a must-read. You'll be edified, you'll be encouraged, you'll be challenged, you'll be strengthened, you'll be informed, we'll share testimonies, we'll share new resources, but the heart of the newsletter will be a story, something that will build you up, strengthen you, and encourage you that you can make a difference where you stand, or even just give you insight into what we're doing and how we can partner together. So, you want to be sure to get that. If you're getting our emails, you have it automatically. If you're not getting our emails, sign up now, askdrbrown.org.

Askdrbrown.org, that is the place to go to sign up for the emails. Okay. I'm interacting on a regular basis with my non-charismatic, my cessationist brothers and sisters in the church. Sometimes I have opportunity to interact online, most of the time I'm unable to interact on social media because of time constraints.

Sometimes I'm able to interact there, other times there are other settings where I'm interacting with my brothers and sisters who differ with me on these views. And there are some who very strongly, very strictly say, if you say that the Holy Spirit is still speaking today, that's dangerous, that's heretical, that's adding to the Bible. Because God has spoken once and for all in the Scriptures, in finality, in His Son, and anything after that is false revelation, anything added to that is extra-biblical revelation which is dangerous and which can now compete with Scripture or even take precedence over Scripture and these people into all kinds of error. So, I know that there are some of you who hold to that view. I don't mock your view. I fundamentally, deeply, passionately disagree with it, but I don't mock your view.

I have no desire to mock you for holding that view. And I believe that in most cases, it's love for God, love for His Word, love for truth that has brought you to the position that you're in. In other words, it's not that you're just trying to be negative to Charismatics Pentecostals. Some of you had bad experiences and you had prophecies over you that weren't true, or you believe God spoke to you and you made a big mess of your life and you've pulled back from it. But I'm not here to mock or disdain or say you're less spiritual or something's wrong with you. I'm simply here to say it's 100% clear to me in the Word that God continues to speak to His people today in many different ways, that in no way does it add or take away from the Bible any more than a menu in a restaurant is in competition with a phone book where you're looking up a phone number.

There are completely different functions. When it comes to the Bible, the Word of God, it is the one and only Word of God. It is the final and absolute revelation of who God is and what His will is, the general will of God for mankind, what He requires, what He desires, what is right, what is wrong, who Jesus is, etc., etc. Laid out with finality, end of subject, the only Word of God in that respect, period.

End of subject. Anyone that adds to it is a heretic. That has nothing to do with if you're praying about a major life decision and the Holy Spirit leads you and you hear the Lord saying this is the right path to take, that in no way takes away from the Bible, competes with the Bible, challenges the Bible, in any way shapes as your phone. Moreover, the Word of God tells us that God speaks, in an ongoing way to His people. The Word of God tells us that these are things that would be normal and that we could expect. Some people hear the audible voice of God. I've never heard the audible voice of God. I'm primarily talking about God leading us internally and bearing witness with things and directing us internally, but to me it's what Scripture says, it's what I've experienced, and what countless hundreds of millions of believers have experienced over the centuries, and even many cessationists who don't believe in prophecy and thus sayeth the Lord kind of thing, they'll say, yeah, the Lord spoke to me about this, or the Lord's been dealing with me about this, and they're relating as if God's been actually talking to them. Let me give you some Scripture, alright? Let me give you some Scripture, and then I'll share some examples out of my own life. Again, to me, this is just normal life in the Lord.

This is what we call having a relationship. You say, you're judging me! I'm not judging. If you say you have a wonderful relationship with God, but you don't believe the Holy Spirit speaks in any way today, in an ongoing way, outside of the Bible, just bringing the Bible to light and opening up the Scriptures to us, I'm not demeaning you, alright? So it's not a put-down. It's not a put-down.

I'm simply saying that as I understand relationship, this interaction is part of it. So, let's take a look in John chapter 10. John chapter 10. And I'll tell you what brought this to my mind again. One is renewed and ongoing interaction with some of my cessationist brothers and sisters. And two is, I saw a post, it was a comment on YouTube, and I was referring to something and I mentioned how the Holy Spirit spoke to me clearly, and the person had the time signature said, at that moment when you said it and the Holy Spirit spoke to me clearly, I knew you were a heretic. I knew I had to reject what you were saying. Just those words that the Holy Spirit spoke to me clearly.

Of course, I feel bad for people. You know, it's like you're swimming in the water. It's a hot day. You're at the beach, quiet part of the beach with your family, and you're swimming in the water.

It's a glorious, beautiful day, just kind of floating on your back and just enjoying the peace of the water. And you understand some people teach there's no such thing as water. You don't get mad at the people.

You feel bad for someone rejecting that. You think you're a heretic because you talk about the Holy Spirit speaking, but I know his reality. So, what does Jesus say? And John 10, he's talking about being the good shepherd, and he's talking about how in general, generally speaking, that the sheep know the shepherd's voice, but the voice of another they won't listen to. So, he reiterates this, John chapter 10, and Jesus says this, verse 27, John 10, 27, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. My sheep listen to my voice.

I know them, and they follow me. The Greek for listen, for hear, is present, active, indicative. In other words, it's ongoing. You say, well, that means it's salvation. You see, Jesus was talking about the saved and the unsaved. So the saved hear his voice to salvation. The unsaved were not a sheep. Don't listen to his voice.

Don't hear his voice. Well, why then is it written the way it's written, present, active, indicative, that this is ongoing that the Lord's sheep hear his voice? You could say, well, that means it's an ongoing characteristic that those who are the Lord's sheep will be the ones who get saved.

Well, let's just think of the analogy. The sheep hear the shepherd's voice, not just in being called to salvation, but they recognize the shepherd's voice. They hear his voice when he speaks. So if I say to you that we are his sheep, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. Yahweh is my shepherd.

I'll lack nothing. Well, don't sheep in an ongoing way hear and recognize the voice of the shepherd? Why would it stop? Why would it be that you hear the voice of God calling you to salvation through the gospel, but you never hear his voice outside of that, outside of reading the Bible? Where's the logic? Someone give me the spiritual logic on that. Don't the sheep in an ongoing way hear the shepherd's voice? Okay, Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, verse 14. Paul says these well-known words, Romans 8, 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. Some would translate more broadly, children of God.

It's as many as are led by the Spirit, they are sons of God. And then in verse 16, it's the Spirit himself who bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Okay, so something to think about here for a moment.

Something to think about. Yes, the overall way that the Spirit leads all of us on a daily basis is to say no to sin, no to the flesh, and yes to God. That is the larger, broader leading of the Spirit. But why does it stop there?

Why is it only that? Why is it not that the Spirit continues to direct us, just as say in Acts 16, Paul and his team were going to go in one direction and the Spirit of Jesus forbade them, they're going to go in another direction, the Holy Spirit did not want that, then Paul has a dream, then through the dream they conclude what the will of God is. Why did that stop?

Who said that it would stop? It was not adding to the Bible all the times that the Holy Spirit was leading people that are not recorded in the Bible in New Testament times. It was not adding to the Bible.

The numerous times where the Holy Spirit gave dreams and visions and prophetic words that are not recorded in the New Testament, that was not adding to the Bible because it's not part of the Bible. So doesn't the Holy Spirit still lead? Doesn't the Holy Spirit still direct? Doesn't the Holy Spirit still bear witness, not just to our salvation, but to the will of God and to what's right and pleasing in His sight? So here's a question for you.

If you're really praying for direction from God and when you go left you feel anxious, not right, something's wrong here, when you go to the right you have this sense of peace and wholeness and God being with you and let's say that is the Holy Spirit bearing witness that this is the direction that you are to take, the Holy Spirit leading you that this is the direction to take. Is that adding to the Bible? No. But would it be adding to the Bible if the Holy Spirit said go to the right?

Would that be adding? Obviously not. Obviously that's not canonical scripture, it's not the will of God for everyone, it's not the revelation of the nature of God, it's simply specific directives. Why would that be adding to the Bible or in competition with the Bible?

It's simply not. What about 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14? 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14, where Paul gives his benediction to the believers in Corinth that the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus and the communion, the communion of the Holy Spirit would be theirs. We have communion with the Spirit.

It is a sacred participation, it is a relationship. Do you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? This is Michael Ellison, founder of Trivita 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 host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.

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Use the code BROWN25. Let me just give you a testimony. One of so many, many, many, many testimonies I could give you. I remember getting ready to speak at a church. It was in Columbus, Ohio. A large, spirit-filled Methodist church. The pastor, same pastor for many, many years, which is often not the case as there would be more rotation. And as I'm praying, I had a message I was going to preach. I just felt the Lord direct me to a different passage. And it was kind of an unusual passage, but I felt, preach from that passage. Before I get up to preach, someone delivers a prophetic word, and the prophetic word was that passage. Now, those things have happened many different times. I've been to, had the privilege of going to India many times and spending time with precious brothers and sisters there.

And I don't proselytize. We're there hanging out with our friends and being with them, living by the rules, et cetera. And I've been maybe 45 hours of travel on my way there. And then, as I'm traveling, I'll get, you know, I know I've got to start preaching probably the next day. I'll arrive there in the afternoon after 45 hours of travel, you know, little interruption along the way.

And I think, okay, I get to crash at the hotel at least until tonight, maybe until tomorrow. And they say, brother, the pastor's already here. The leaders are already here.

Would you like to speak to them? It's like, okay, I'm here to minister. So I'm jet-lagged, off the plane, all this, right, in the car, driving to the meeting, and I'll get a sense, go with this passage, speak on this passage. And I'll get up, and I'll begin to preach, and the brothers begin to shake their heads and smile.

Why? Because that was the passage that God gave them as the theme for the year. And I'm coming now in December, and it's the very passage they've emphasized for the year. I've even had it where one of my messages, the first message, reiterates the very theme.

I start with a scripture, and I'm going to start here, and I feel, no, back up two verses. And I back up two verses, and they say, brother, that was our theme passage for the year. The next night I'm preaching, and in the middle of the message, I feel prompted to go in a different direction, as I go in this direction as I'm preaching, and I find out that those words, that I just, that passage I just quoted, is their theme for January. So I started the first message with their theme for the whole year, it was like the year in review, and now my next message, I move into a passage I didn't plan on getting into, and they say, brother, that's our theme for the next year. We've had, I mean, we smile when these things, when these things happen. Here, what do you make of this?

Again, they're people that hear the voice of the Lord more than me, more clearly than me, but what do you make of this? 1994, we were setting up meetings, I was spending a lot of time on the road traveling, it was a major thing I was doing, traveling and writing, and I, we couldn't lock things in for meetings in Finland and meetings in Italy. I just used this illustration the other day when interacting with a cessationist brother, a dear brother, who differs with me on these things. So, I was a little frustrated because we couldn't lock dates in, my secretary was working with folks there with communication issues, it was before an email explosion and all of this, and I'm praying on a Sunday night, and I get this sense, I get this sense, you'll hear from Finland and Italy tomorrow. And then, out of the blue, and you'll hear from England. I hadn't spoken in England since 1987, and I had no connections in England that were inviting me over, but I just had the sense, you'll hear from Finland and Italy tomorrow, and you'll hear from England. Well, next day, a fax comes in from, I forget which was Finland, which was Italy, a call, a fax, so we hear from them the next day, and my secretary calls, and I said, Mike, yeah, we heard from, got this fax from Finland or Italy, we heard from the other by phone, and I got a call back to finalize details, but you also got a call from England, from this brother in England.

I thought, isn't that interesting? Because I just, the quiet voice of the Lord, you're gonna hear this, this, you hear from Finland and Italy, and you hear from England. So, I get on the phone and speak with this dear brother from England, first conversation we've ever had, and he tells me about a leadership conference they do every year, about 115, 20 leaders from all over UK, and then other nations come together for three intensive days in this place, Pilgrim's Hall, and he felt led to invite me to speak, and I said, look, I don't know anything about, you know, he told me more about his ministry and organization, and I liked what I heard, and I said, look, I don't know anything about you, but God told me yesterday I was gonna hear from England.

So, I'll come, he goes, I don't know anything about you, but I read your book Whatever Happened to the Power of God, and God told me I was supposed to call you to invite you. Now, who did that? Was that the devil? Was that the devil doing it?

We just happened to make it up the same day? Let me throw out another example for you. So, going to India every year with my friends there, the ministry leader's son and daughter-in-law, whom I had the privilege of baptizing on my first trip there. So, they were unable to have kids. So, I said, I really felt faith. I said, let's pray that by the time I come back next year, you'll have a baby.

Well, sure enough, they do. They have a baby boy, and when I get there, I said, what's his name? They said, uncle. They said, uncle, we're waiting for you to name him, which is, you know, a practice we've been used to there.

So, I really prayed. I felt Daniel, his name is Daniel. So, I gave him the name Daniel. Well, then right after that, they have another boy with no problem this time, another boy, and this time they say, we want you to name him as well. So, the moment I pray, I hear the Spirit say his name is Jonathan.

So, I don't even hesitate. It comes that day, the last meeting, the last service, the everything, the build-up, you know. And I go to name him, and I say, his name is Jonathan. And the mom holding little Jonathan in her arms, tears begin pouring down her cheeks. I find out that she was praying about them, two of them having a special relationship, just being very, very special friends. And she thought, well, who in the Bible were special friends, David and Jonathan?

But then David had tarnished his ministry because of his fall and tarnished his life. And she said, Lord, have Uncle name him Jonathan. She prayed that God would speak to me the name of the baby Jonathan. Well, now years go by, and I get this sense they're supposed to have another child, and it's supposed to be a girl. And I'm supposed to name the girl and give her the name Nancy.

What? Well, we're talking, and they both say, Uncle, we feel we're supposed to have another baby. We're supposed to have a girl, and you're supposed to name her Nancy.

Oh, this just coincidence, huh? Well, she's been unable to have a kid for years. So we pray, find out she's pregnant. But I feel, no, she's not just Nancy. There's more to it. There's more to it. She needs another name, a biblical name as well. And I wrestle, I wrestle with it. I wrestled with it for months. Like, what God, what's that?

I'm serious. Lord, I want to get the, what's the name? What are you saying? And I hear Priscilla, Priscilla. So, the name of Priscilla Nancy, Priscilla Nancy. And as I speak it, I see the mom just overcome for a moment.

I didn't know. I didn't know that as a, when they were first married, she did get pregnant, and she miscarried, and it was a girl. And she felt like a piece of her was lost at that moment.

And you moms who've miscarried understand that. Well, when she was baptized, after she was baptized, she was given, her name is, she has her Indian name, but she was given the name Priscilla from the Bible. So that became part of her identity. When I said the baby is Priscilla, it was like God just restoring in that moment. These are just special, beautiful things that the Lord does. And it's a wonderful thing. It's part of our relationship with them. It's thoroughly biblical. I wish that more people would experience this aspect of leading the Lord in the voice of God. It's, it's a beautiful thing. We'll be right 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 you remember when people thought that you were crazy because you felt the same way, because you believed what I was saying and already felt it in your heart? Well friends, that pushback is here. The gospel-based moral and cultural revolution we've been talking about for 25 years is unfolding. And we are right in the thick of it.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the Line of Fire broadcast. Friends, being led by the Spirit, hearing the voice of God should be something very real in our lives. Again, I've never heard the audible voice of God, and there are times when I pray and I sense God saying a particular thing, but I'll journal it and pray and want to rightly discern.

You know, Elijah the prophet, remember in 1 Kings 19, that God calls him to Mount Horeb and it's 40 days of fasting sustained by God and journey and he gets to the sacred mount and there's earthquakes, wind, fire, but God's not in any of that. And then a quiet, still small voice. The Hebrew is very interesting there, but still small voices is how we've commonly known it in Hebrew. Remember in John 12, that God speaks to honor and glorify his Son and some think it's an angel, some think there's thunder, right? So, God can speak and people don't hear.

Or when Yeshua appears to Paul, Saul, in Acts the ninth chapter, that the others with him, they hear something but they don't understand the voice, only Paul does. So, just like everything, we grow in our relationship with God, we grow in our understanding of the Bible, right? If we all agree the Bible is God's word and yet we need to grow in our understanding of it and how God speaks to us through it and how we understand his will through it.

It's not just intellectual, is it? It's not just the smarter ones or the more educated ones can better relate to God or his word. No, his sheep hear his voice and follow him, that's a broad generalization, but just in so many critical, critical ways, hearing God speak things to me that I've seen pan out over decades now, over decades, seeing them pan out, things that I felt the Lord urging me, warn people, speak and I have and the warnings have now been validated. So, yes, how do we know fully who God is? Through the Bible. How do we know the will of God for the human race? Through the Bible. How do we know what is moral, what is immoral, ultimately? Through the Bible, right? We have natural law, we have other reasoning, but ultimately our authority is scripture, God revealed in the Word. How do we know who Jesus is?

Through the Word. Do we have relationship with him that now deepens our understanding of him? For example, as you walk in obedience over years and years and years, even if you've never, quote, heard the voice of God, doesn't that deepen your understanding of who God is? He's revealed in the Word, but now as you walk with him, go through life, maybe go through a hardship, lose a loved one to sickness, disease, see the faithfulness of God, doesn't that enhance your relationship with him? Well, it's the same way with the Holy Spirit speaking and leading. It's not like a horoscope.

It's not like playing the lottery. Okay, Lord, what are the sacred numbers? What are the numbers?

Give me numbers. The sacred numbers. No, they're not sacred numbers.

It's lottery. No, it's not prognostication. That's where I think there were so many errors with so many prophetic groups of just sitting together, okay, what's the Lord saying about the elections? What's the Lord saying? I don't see that primarily as what prophetic ministry does today. I would see it, what's the Spirit saying to the church in the midst of the elections?

Not as opposed to who's going to win the elections. Two very different questions. But one more passage I want to look at. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 14. I've been to this passage many, many times.

Many, many times. Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 14, after the outpouring of the Spirit of Pentecost, Shavuot, and the hundred twenty full of the Spirit speaking new tongues, new languages, Peter standing up with them, as some say, some hear the praises of God, their own language, others think they're drunk, says, look, it's, Peter stands with the 11 and says, hey, brothers, it's not, these men are not drunk, it's only 9 in the morning. Rather, this, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And then it begins, in the last days, God says, I'll pour up my Spirit on all flesh. So what's really interesting is Peter adds those words, in the last days, God says.

Hebrew is just, after this, I'll pour up my Spirit. But here, Peter, it's in the last days, God says, I'll pour up my Spirit on all flesh. And then from there, explains, your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Old men will, will dream dreams. Young men will see visions. I'll pour up my Spirit on all flesh. It won't just be a few prophets here and there.

It's going to be this universal outpouring. And that began at Pentecost and has continued and increased over the centuries. There have been times where it's waned in different ways, but it's always been here. And now a great monumental increase the last hundred plus years that have seen the greatest ingathering of souls into the kingdom, by far, at any time in world history. The last 50, 75 years seen more souls gathered into the kingdom than probably the previous 1900 years combined leading up to that. More Muslims say, for example, in the last 50 years than 1400 years before that. God moving powerfully and so much of it ties in with these very things, with the voice of the Lord, with signs and wonders and miracles. I've spoken, I have spoken to former Muslims face to face who love Jesus, who are grounded in the word, who live godly lives, who are not into a carnal prosperity message, who are not into weird flaky doctrines, solid citizens of the kingdom. And they've told me their testimonies of how they heard the voice of God, how God visited them in salvation and how they were drawn to the word and how they came to faith and how God continues to speak and move in dreams and visions. So my friends get very regular dreams from the Lord, supernatural dreams from the Lord. And they are confirmed and they come to pass with accuracy.

I know the people, solid godly people, many of whom you never heard their names, solid godly people and God moves in their lives in these ways and it's normal, it's normal. It's 6-6-3-4 truth. I want to get to some very specific questions about these issues and then some broader questions. But I do want to get to my friend in Oceanside, New York because I grew up in Island Park, the neighboring town. Hang on John if you can, I'll get there in a moment.

Let's go to El Paso, Texas. Julius, thanks for calling the line of fire. Hi Dr. Brown. I know you were talking about how God speaks today. Yeah. The main thing with me is that I'm a seer. I mainly hear God from visions and dreams. Give me an example. And basically meaning His word.

Yes, so give me an example. Oh, as far as me giving you an example, I had a dream about this war with Israel about 8 years ago. And then the Lord began to tell me to write it down in detail. And I began to tell my friends about this war and what would happen.

And as you can see, 8 years later, it came to pass. So it was first a dream you had and then you had a sense that the dream was real. And then afterwards you felt God speaking to you about the dream.

Yes, yes. And that's the way the Holy Spirit has been able to speak to me for many, many years. My question to you is, how does the Holy Spirit speak to you? Yes, so the primary way, so we agree, of course, the Bible, God speaks through the Bible. And through those who have ears to hear, He speaks His truth to us. But it's primarily the inner ear. In other words, just like... Okay, you're a hearer.

Yeah, yeah. So I would be what you would call a hearer, right? So definitely not a seer. I'll see something in my mind's eye. In other words, I might see myself in a particular place speaking, right?

So that's the only seeing part. It's definitely not dreams. It's not open visions or anything like that. But many things in life that I do today, I saw myself doing years in advance.

And I believe it's the Holy Spirit who put it there. In other words, in my mind's eye, it was as if it was a memory, but it hadn't happened yet. And so when I then get called or invited to do it, it's like, yeah, I'm supposed to do it because I already saw myself doing it. I already saw myself in that country or in that platform or in that setting.

So yes. But the hearing, the things I've journaled for decades, yeah, that's the inner ear, the inner voice. Isaiah, in certain contexts, is in my ears, the utterance of the Lord. And I believe many times that was the inner voice. Sometimes it's clearly audible that the prophets heard. Other times, the inner voice. So it's just I'll hear, just like if I say, okay, close your eyes and count, you know, one, two, three.

Now shout, one, two, three. So I'll hear the Spirit. You say, well, how do you know it's the Spirit? So the same way as with a dream, there are things that you develop in your own life in your walk with the Lord, right? So for me, when I'm really in the presence of God, really meeting with Him, and I hear that, I hear His voice, I recognize it. I recognize the voice of the Spirit. And then as I spend more time with Him, that same voice will come with that same message even more loudly and clearly. And then maybe the next day, someone will contact me and say, Dr. Brown, I've been praying. I feel the Lord say this, I journaled it last night.

I journaled it last night. And you're saying the exact same thing to me. So yes, thanks for calling and sharing that. Again, everybody hears and experiences differently. If you say, that's not my walk, am I criticizing you? I sit here from the outset? No. But I'm inviting you to examine the Word, to see if perhaps there is more that is available that can bless you and help you to bless others, because that's what it's about.

It's about glorifying Jesus. Hey Julius, thank you for the call. Let's go to Brian in High Point, North Carolina. Welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, sir. I'm very honored to speak to you and I love your ministry. Thank you.

I'm speaking with your screener. I told him that if I had answered this question just a year ago, I would have said in my most convinced Baptist background that the gifts are clearly for another time, you know, first century church, etc, etc. But I've been unemployed for over a year now. And I've spent a lot of that time with nothing else to do but focus on my family and reading the Word. And the more I read the Word and the more teachings I examine, I began to be convinced that I was wrong about this. And I'm not going to get into the whole thing.

And I'm certainly don't want to try to, you know, get into things I shouldn't get into on your show. But I had gone to seminary and, and before I even began to understand that the Lord was awakening this part of his glory and power to me, it was in my seminary research, which I didn't even recognize it for what it was until the last year or so. And I began to get urgings as I pray for people and specific people that I encounter. And all of a sudden, I hear the Holy Spirit, not in an audible way, for me anyway, not in an audible way, but in an urging in my spirit.

Ask this lady, and this happened to us just two nights ago. The Lord tells me that you're burdened for somebody in your immediate family. How can I pray for you? And, you know, she happened to be a waitress at a place where we my wife and I were having dinner, and she goes, Oh, my gosh, how could you know that? And I said, Well, I don't know it. But the Holy Spirit told me to ask you about it. We stopped right there. And we prayed for her son who has autism, which is a passion for me, my son has autism, he was the focus of my seminary search.

Prior to that, you know, example after example, but it's always with specific people in mind. And the more I respond to that, the more your last call comes into play for me, because I was worried, I'm very uncomfortable with this. I tell you, stay right here. Stay right here.

We'll finish on the other side of the break. The Holy Spirit's still speaking, friends. He is. He really is. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Travita 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 host the life today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced my friend Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.

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

It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the nopal cactus juice with me, nopalaya. I began drinking about that much in the morning in a glass and that much later in the day. And in three months, I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable.

Now that's just my testimony. But that's been more than 10 years with no pain. Matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try. See if it helps relieve your pain. I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me.

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Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, just another reminder, if you don't get our emails, we've got a great new frontline newsletter coming your way starting January. You want to get this, you'll be edified, you'll be encouraged and you can be part of what is happening together in the line of fire. Friends, we're all in it. Every one of us, we're in the line of fire. We are tigers on our back, but in Jesus, we're making a difference.

In Jesus, we overcome. All right, let me go back to Bryant and High Point. I'm sure you could speak at great lengths, so I appreciate you being as concise as you are. One more point you wanted to make. Back over to you, sir. Yeah, I was just saying that your last caller and your advice and counsel to your last caller really resonated with me, because as someone who really didn't think that the spiritual gifts were active in the modern age, I've been very uncomfortable acting on those urges from the Spirit, and I'm like, Lord, how do I know that I'm just not making this up? And the Lord said exactly what you said to me, is my sheep know my voice. Practice obedience and you'll learn the difference between the aspirational thoughts that you have when I'm actually speaking to you. And the more I respond in obedience, the more I can tell the difference between my thoughts and the urgings of the Spirit. So I just wanted to thank you for that as well. Yeah, wonderfully well said. And again, we grow. It's practical. It's walking with the Lord.

It's developing relationship, cultivating intimacy. Hey, may the Lord bless you in every way and get you in the right job setting as well. God bless you. Thank you, sir, for the call. I appreciate that. Yeah, that's great. I know many of you listening are like, yeah, that's me.

That happened to me too. And we hear from so many of you, and you thank us for helping bring Word and Spirit together. We do want to encourage that.

I hate flakiness. I've written, I almost guarantee you, more than any person you know, I've written about abuses in Pentecostal charismatic circles in book form, probably more than anybody you know. And as a leader within the Pentecostal charismatic movement, by God's grace with an international platform, I may be the loudest voice calling out abuses as an insider within the movement. But just like in Corinth, Paul dealt with the abuses, but he commended them for functioning in the gifts. Just like people misuse the Bible, we don't throw out the Bible. People misrepresent God, we don't throw out God.

People misuse the gifts, we don't throw out the gifts. We throw out the abuses, and we dive in to the river of God's Holy Spirit. All right, let's go over to Oceanside, Long Island. John, welcome to the line of fire. Dr. Brown, it's a pleasure to speak to you.

Thanks, man. I appreciate the pure New York accent. I used to joke when we had students from around the world, I said, if you want to learn to speak proper English, you've got to go to New York. But yeah, my sister graduated from Oceanside High School, and we grew up in Island Park, so we're a good story. I remember you when you were much younger. I think you attended the same church that I did. I don't know if it was in Springfield Gardens, but in Oceanside, but I do remember you very well. I remember you preaching, and then I guess we lost track or whatever.

So I do know what your background is, and that's a good thing. That church that you attend no longer there, of course, anymore. It's gone through different pastors and so on and so forth.

But my question is this. I've been listening on Zoom to a church, and the fundamental beliefs are there. However, there's a lot of speaking in tongues, but there is no interpretation. In the churches that I grew up in, they were speaking in tongues, but there was also interpretation. Now, I read passages in the Bible where it says that, you know, it's good to pray in the Spirit, but it's more important to interpret, because it edifies the church. This church that I'm listening to, following through on Zoom, does not do that. And I read where, if you belong to a church like that, it's not really good. Now, good in the sense that it's not really helping you grow in the Spirit or in the Lord and so on and so forth.

So what say you, Dr. Brown? Yeah, so thanks, John, for the memories as well. Yeah, I got saved at Springfield Assembly of God in 1971. There you go, and that's where I met you, yes. Yeah, right after the season, started preaching there.

My first sermon was August 21st of 1973. I was there. I was there. You've got to be kidding me.

Amazing. No, no, I was there, and we know the same people, of course. You know the same people that are still around here in this area, so. To be fair, when we get off the phone, I just want our screen caller, our call screener, to just get on with you for a second and get your last name.

I don't want to do it over the air. Yes, absolutely, and you'll know. Yeah, you'll stay there for a second. You'll know who my mother and father were. I'll kick myself for not figuring out while we're together here, but anyway, yeah. That's okay. I mean, listen, we weren't, it's not like you and I hung out or anything like that, so. All right, yeah, so I will, yeah, so stay there.

When we're done, I'll put you on hold, and our call screener will come on and just, he'll write out the last name so I can see it on my screen here. Okay, so number one, the speaking tongues to that interpretation is a misuse, just like, think of any other language. If someone got up and gave a message in Spanish or Italian or French or German or Arabic or Hebrew or Russian, if you don't understand it, nobody's edified. They're telling the most amazing story of how they got saved, but nobody blinks an eye because they don't understand it. So tongues is no different. If you get up and speak in tongues for 30 seconds publicly, you know, the room gets quiet, you speak in tongues 30 seconds straight, no one interprets. Well, okay, don't do it.

Don't do it again unless there's an interpreter. It's not like a sinful, terrible thing. It's just, it doesn't help. It doesn't edify.

It doesn't do good. Now, here's what I'd say, though. If they're excellent in every other way, if they are sound in teaching the Word in all these other ways, if they're healthy and you get edified and blessed by the message and the worship helps connect you with God, I'd look at that as a minor issue that's not ideal and it is out of order, but it's not a big deal because they're not teaching heresy. They're not opening their hearts to demons. Now, there are churches who say, if we all worship together in tongues and sing together, you sing in English, this one sings in tongues, this one sings in Spanish, this one in Portuguese, and the worship team is playing, that's just a symphony going up to the Lord. That's a different thing. If we're all, hey, let's all cry out to God in prayer, and one's praying in tongues, one's praying in English, and it's all just a chorus going up together, that's really a different matter. That's really not what Paul was addressing as much as the dysfunction of you speak in tongues, you speak in tongues, you speak in tongues, and it's just chaos and there's no message, there's no interpretation, there's no leading.

But I would make it, honestly, a secondary issue, and if there's health and life in other ways, and edification, and you're blessed, then, you know, enjoy the good, and it's a more minor thing, but it's worth just praying, Lord, help them to get in better order in this regard, because it is a distraction and it doesn't edify, all right? Got it, got it, excellent. All right, stay right there, John, and we're going to talk to you. Our call screen is just going to get your last name.

When I see it on my screen, I'm like, oh, how did I not know that? All right, do I have time for another call? Yeah, I do. Let's go over to Dave in Michigan, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, Dr. Baum, for taking my call. Hey, I just wanted to share this with you real quick, and I wanted to call during the times you were talking about Israel and what's going on today, but maybe this fits even better. God is just, I mean, I'm a white guy in northern Michigan, I have no connection to Israel or any Palestinian or anything, but I've been burdened to pray for them. So last summer, about the middle of August, I just got burdened to study the book of Judges and get into the story of Samson.

And it took me about a month and a half. And what I learned from there is how, you know, Israel was trying to make peace with the Palestinians instead of driving them out like they were supposed to. Samson was more interested in his own glory. I mean, there was some slight mention that he honored God, but it wasn't until his end that he honored God.

But the problem, and I listen to a lot of Jewish speakers about this, I really wanted to know what the depth was on this. As I was listening to these guys, it just sounded like during the time of Samson that God was getting upset because they weren't driving out the Philistines, and the violence and everything was happening, and it took Samson until his last moment to have this miraculous conquering. Well, it was right at the end of September that I finished that, and it wasn't until when October 7th rolled around, it was almost the same story that I read in Samson listening to what's happening in Israel and Gaza right to this day, because everything that happened with Samson was in that same region. And I have just been burdened to pray for Israel and the Jewish people, and I want them to know that God is moving on their behalf in the sky in northern Michigan. And I just feel like it was Spirit-led, and the timing was just too coincidental to be not God, and my heart has been burdened.

So, Dave, I appreciate the call, and I appreciate you sharing that love. So, again, so no one misinterprets John Samson. He's not saying that the goal is for Israel to drive out all the Palestinians today as Samson failed to fight against the Philistines, that Israel's supposed to kill all the Palestinians. He's not saying that at all.

He is saying that God is breaking his heart for the plight of the Jewish people, and it's something we have to keep in mind, because there is always a shift away from Jewish suffering, and the Jews become not the victims, but the guilty party, that when Jews suffer, it's their fault. When they don't fight back, what's the matter with them? When they do fight back, what, are they trying to kill everybody? It's damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I've been through this many times. If you're rich and Jewish, well, you control all the banks, and you're trying to dominate the world. If you're poor and Jewish, it's just like you're the off-scouring of the earth.

You're nothing. If you're religious and Jewish, why are you trying to be so different? If you're secular and Jewish, why are you just trying to fit in? It's the nature of Jew hatred and anti-Semitism. I can say all that while saying that my heart goes out to the Palestinians as well, as they've been victims of terrible leadership, and now through indoctrination, I've become so hardened and radicalized.

May God move in the Middle East. And John, I do remember your mom and dad. That's right, you were younger, but I absolutely remember your mom and dad. All right, back with you. A special interview with John Cooper from Skillet. You don't want to miss tomorrow's show. Your program, powered by the Truth Network.