Why Pastors Must Address the Culture Wars

The following is a pre-recorded program. We're about to expose yet another video from Rabbi Tovia Singel. 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. Hey friends this is Michael Brown here delighted to be with us in a moment. I will be joined with my colleague Jonathan McClatchy now a resident biologist at the Discovery Institute. He's been a biology professor and he leads the great website TalkAboutDoubts.com. You know we've done a series maybe 10-11 videos so far we could do hundreds if we had the time debunking these horrific counter-missionary videos from Rabbi Tovia Singer.

And for those that know the word for those that know Jewish tradition other things they're just so easy to demolish. But because there are lots of people on the internet with no background especially Christians that pick up his stuff that he does mess with the faith of some and that's why we're doing our best to say hey here if you want answers if you want truth here they are. So we're going to get into a video Jonathan brought it to my attention.

I'd seen it come across my feet it's like you gotta be kidding me. Then Jonathan got in the contest we said let's let's just get together and do this. So Jonathan welcome back to The Line of Fire always great to have you here. Great to be here thanks for having me.

Yeah it is it is a real joy. All right so folks may not know but over 30 years ago Tovia and I did what ended up being an impromptu debate at the house of a Russian messianic Jew. He had brought us both over there under false pretenses we did this debate and he asked for those tapes to not be released. Then we did a subsequent debate that was hosted on Sid Roth's broadcast that blanketed New York New Jersey and then we interacted a lot privately after that and then he cut me off has refused to deal with me under any circumstance has had many opportunities to debate me and has refused but actually last year he was supposed to debate Jonathan McClatchy. It was interesting Jonathan's not a Jewish believer and although a seasoned apologist did not specialize in answering Jewish objections to Jesus what what happened with the debate? He was supposed to debate and then it got canceled. Yeah we were supposed to be debating in Indianapolis last summer in August the debate was scheduled and everything and and then Tovia Singer had something come up I think he wanted or there was a there was a problem with the venue like their heating system wasn't working and so they wanted to postpone it until or their their their air conditioning I think it was was broken so they wanted to postpone it and then Tovia Singer was expecting the birth of his grandson and so they wanted he wanted to wait until after the birth of his grandson so he didn't miss that and then his grandson was born and then he announced that he actually didn't want to do the debate after all so I was a little disappointed it didn't take place but yeah I still write various articles relating to some of Tovia Singer's work. I've read his two volume set Let's Get Biblical and I am a frequent follower of his YouTube channel. Yeah and you know what's interesting is is he's avoided debating people like me for over 30 years and there are others like me he's refused to debate and then I'll find a Christian maybe debating for the first time a Christian leader or someone with no background in this and hold these debates and then I heard he was going to debate you I thought I don't know that he realizes what he's asking for and my opinion only opinion as he dug a little deeper and found you were not the kind of person who wanted to debate God knows God knows but here's what we do know he puts out these sensationalistic videos with these sensationalistic titles and you actually get into it's like what are you talking about so there's one I didn't watch it I saw you know don't watch this unless you want to leave Christianity it's like oh this is going to be the new devastating argument so he starts out he gets into Isaiah 53 and any and we're going to play a clip in a moment but his basic thesis is that if you read the other chapters Isaiah 40 to 55 read the surrounding chapters you'll find out Isaiah 53 is not about Yeshua at all it's not about the suffering Messiah it's about the people of Israel so let's listen to this clip you know James is a very good point so as it turns out uh it's very important if someone wants to remain a Christian to just read Isaiah 53 that's what you want to do here's what you don't want to do if you want to be a Christian tomorrow don't read Isaiah 41 42 43 don't read the chapters that introduce it don't read the whole book of Isaiah because if you read the whole book of Isaiah so I'm just going to point out the verses quickly 41 8 and 9 42 6 43 10 44 1 21 45 4 48 20 you can see where this is going this is the fourth of four servant songs no matter what you believe it's axiomatic that the author Isaiah had in view that if you're reading Isaiah 53 you've read the chapters that introduce it so if you were watching me right now listening to my voice if you want to remain a member of your church in good standing do not read Isaiah 41 8 9 don't read Isaiah 49 verse 3 where it says explicitly that Israel is God's servant don't read Isaiah 48 verse 20 Israel's God's servant just read Isaiah 53 so this is a like a helicopter theology where you just land in the 53rd chapter of a 66 chapter book all right Jonathan you've written on this extensively I've written taught debated Isaiah 53 for decades when you hear that argument what's your response sure so uh Tovia notes correctly that the servant uh in the book of Isaiah is sometimes identified as the nation as the nation of Israel and he gives a number of examples which are the same examples he also gives in his let's get biblical volume one I have an article where I go into this topic extensively on my website Jonathan Mcclatchy.com if anyone is interested in checking that out and I have an article entitled the treasury of Isaiah 53 a witness to Israel's Messiah and I interact in that article extensively with some of Tovia Singer's analysis I won't go through all of the points I raised there here but let me just give you a brief sample so one of the texts that Tovia likes to cite concerning Israel being the servant is Isaiah 41 verses 8 and 9 where we read but you Israel my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the offspring of Abraham my friend you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its furthest corners saying to you you are my servant I have chosen you and cannot cast you off fear not for I am with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you I will help you I will upload you with my righteous right hand and so this um this text reveals actually the far from being saved by Israel's afflictions those nations who wage war against Israel will in fact be subject to destruction and this point is born out in other prophetic texts as well um Jeremiah 30 verse 11 for example for I am with you to save you declares the Lord I will make a full end of all the nations among him I scatter to you but of you I will not make a full end I will discipline you and just measure and I will be by I will by no means leave you unpunished uh Jeremiah 46 20 is another example um Tovia also cites um Isaiah 44 um where we read but now here oh Jacob my servant Israel whom I have chosen and then verse 21 it says remember these um so it's identified um the servant is Israel but then verse 21 and following it says remember these things oh Jacob and Israel for you are my servant I formed you you are my servant to Israel you will not be forgotten by me I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist return to me for I have redeemed you sing oh heavens for the Lord has done it shout oh depths of the earth break forth into singing oh mountains oh forests and every tree in it for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and will be glorified in Israel and so we learn that instead of providing atonement for the nations Israel herself requires salvation from her own sins right and on so on the interpretation that the servant is in fact Israel this doesn't really comport particularly well with what we read in Isaiah 53 um verses 9 and 11 so it says in verse 9 that they made his grave with the wiccan with the rich man is dead though he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth or verse 11 out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge of the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities and so forth and so as you as you actually read the various texts that tovia cites we learn that um that in fact israel is uh is judged for their own sins uh they um are they're unrighteous before god um as i-45 four is another example he gives for the sake of my servant jacob and israel my chosen i call you by your name i name me though you do not know me um but in verse uh so in in verses 17 and 20 and verse 21 and 22 of the same chapter though we read the following statement so verse 17 says but israel is saved by the lord with everlasting salvation you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity or verse 21 declare and present your case let them take counsel together who told this long ago who declared it of old was it not i the lord and there is no other god besides me a righteous god and a savior there is none besides me turn to me and be saved on the ends of the earth for i'm the god i am god and there is no other so thus israel is apparently no better than the other nations because israel also is in need of salvation by god yes um and so it's example after example as you read the context you discovered that actually these these examples that tobya likes to cite backfire against his argument by showing that israel cannot really be the servant spoken of in his i-53 yeah and and what's really interesting is when you look even the rabbinic commentators and it's fascinating people that don't know jewish tradition they'll believe this rabbi but this rabbi often contradicts or ignores jewish tradition especially when it undermines his argument so for example radak one of the so-called big three rabbinic commentators he says the servant in isaiah 42 is the messiah the targum which is the ancient jewish translation paraphrase of the hebrew bible into aramaic it identifies the servant there as the messiah or for example isaiah 49 and 50 rabbinic commentaries say that's the prophet isaiah himself or prophets in general and then there are many rabbinic traditions that say the servant and isaiah 52 13 through 15 is the messiah so in point of fact you have rabbinic tradition saying tobya singer is wrong that there are two servants there is the nation israel as a whole and there is the messiah the servant of the lord and then as you said jonathan but then as you go through other verses israel is the servant is guilty of sin israel the servant is in exile because of sin israel is in darkness and in need of a redeemer the messiah as servant does not suffer for his sins israel suffers for its own sins the messiah suffers for the sins of the people dies on their behalf and through his wounds healing comes the one servant in his knee is in need of redemption the other servant is the redeemer the one servant is is blind and dumb the other servant comes to open the eyes of the blind and and and to set the captives free one is captive in bondage the other comes to set the captives free so what we are shouting out is read the context everybody read the context is our best friend so what tobya singer said don't read the no no it's quite the opposite we're shouting to the whole world read the context because the more you read it you realize oh if israel is the servant why is there a need for another servant because israel as a nation falls into sin even the righteous remnant is unable to save the nation but there is one among the people is a 53 6 where god puts the guilt and sin of the people on him and he suffers on our behalf that we become righteous so as always the fatal flaw in the videos they're pretty easy to find we come back we're going to continue exposing this latest i'm paul brunette a board-certified doctor of holistic health and i want to take this opportunity to talk to you about the importance of healthy blood flow and how it's enhanced by a miracle molecule known as nitric oxide you see blood vessels release nitric oxide which increases blood flow known as something called vasodilation at trivita we take blood flow seriously for our members and we've developed a nitric oxide plus supplement that has been formulated with natural ingredients designed to maximize nitric oxide production in our blood vessels which increases blood flow you may be wondering why you don't have as much energy as you used to one study that i came across revealed that by the age of 40 we only produce about 50 of the nitric oxide production as compared to our 20s and by the age of 70 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