Dr. Brown Responds to Dr. Tom Pennington on the Voice of God.

If the Holy Spirit speaks to us today, today light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Okay, just now we are putting together our March Frontline newsletter. We have had more signups for this than anything we've ever done. It's absolutely free. We can't wait to get the new edition into your hands later this month. So if you're not getting this equipping inspirational free digital newsletter chock full of information, everything from an inspirational message to amazing testimonies to a Hebrew word of the month, go to TheLineOfFire.org.

TheLineOfFire.org and sign up today. So folks associated with American Gospel have just released four and a half hours of dialogue of Justin Peters, Jim Osmond, Sam Storms and me as we had a roundtable discussion, not a debate, a roundtable discussion about false teachers, false prophets, discernment, charismatic movement, cessationism, etc. So it was not meant to be a debate. It wasn't formatted as a debate. It was a discussion between servants of the Lord who want to honor the Lord and honor the Word of God in a respectful way and have honest dialogue. It will be posted soon. Right now, if you're subscribing to American Gospel of the Saints, you can pay to watch it.

But it's going to be released very soon on YouTube, absolutely free as well. So we appreciate that everyone can get to watch it. And you'll see it's respectful all across the room. And we talk about issues.

We talk about people. It's as candid and forthright as could be. So what I'm going to do on the air today is not meant to bash. It's not meant to attack. It's not meant to demean. It's not meant to dishonor.

It's with respect. I want to interact with recent comments on a video where Justin Peters interviews Dr. Tom Pennington. And they're talking about cessationism, talking about issues with charismatic movement, etc. And I came up in my feed the other day. I just clicked to a few different spots.

And it's nice to be laid out so you can just go to different subjects. So I clicked on one subject, heard what Dr. Pennington said. I've read his book cover to cover on cessationism. I did a show responding to it.

If you ever wanted to have a public debate, gracious debate between two servants of the Lord, it would be a delight to do it where we lay out the claims for cessationism versus continuationism based on scripture. But I thought it would be useful to comment on this in a constructive way. So again, my intent is not to bash. My intent is not to mock. My intent is not to sow discord between brothers and sisters in the Lord.

No, not at all. And Justin and I, Justin Peters and I have serious differences on a number of points. But I believe he's sincerely grieved over things. I don't believe he's motivated by money or fame. I believe he's grieved over things and he feels it's his calling to expose them. God knows everybody's hearts, right?

God knows the motivation of everybody's hearts. But in other words, I'm not judging him in a negative way. I'm differing with him on various points, but respecting why he feels burdened to do what he does. So I say that to lay everything out, because they're going to have strong differences, but they're theological, they're biblical, they're practical, they're not personal, and anything I say is not meant in any dishonoring way.

I hope I'm making that absolutely clear. All right, so Justin Peters asked Tom Pennington about the idea of believers today hearing the voice of God. And I'm just going to let this play.

It's a few minutes long. I want you to hear the question and the answer in full. Here we go. And Tom, another one of the pushbacks, they would say, well, God, when we as cessationists say that God is not speaking in a direct, quotable sense outside of Scripture, because if that were true, then that would logically lead to an open canon of Scripture, because whatever God says should be just as authoritative as anything you said in Scripture. And they say, well, God still speaks today, but it's not as authoritative in the same authoritative way that he spoke in the Bible.

Is that a tenable position? And the answer to that is, let's define terms. If you mean that God is still speaking through his Word by granting the illumination the Spirit brings to the believer's mind as they read the Scripture, and you're now understanding the Scripture in a deeper, more profound way, if that's what you mean, then amen and amen. But if you mean that God is communicating something directly to your mind, what amounts to direct revelation, then I would say there's no biblical evidence for that. In fact, I would argue the evidence is absolutely contrary to that. We have, to use Peter's language, we have this more sure word that's been given to us in the Scripture, so we don't need something external. And I think I grew up in a circle where there was a lot of mysticism, not so much the charismatic movement, but this mystical idea that God speaks to me. And I think that's a dangerous door to open, because I think, first of all, it's not biblical. There's not evidence of that.

But I think beyond that, that becomes so subjective, it's impossible to know. I'm sure you've had the same thing. I'll sit with people in my office, counseling them, and the man will look across the desk at me and say, Tom, God told me he wants me to divorce my wife. And it's like, well, you don't have biblical grounds. Well, God told me.

Well, my response to that is how? You mean like you heard a voice? Oh, no, Tom. I don't mean like I heard a voice, although some would say that. I mean that I just had this sense, this impression. And my immediate response to that is, how do you know that was God? How do you know that wasn't your flesh? How do you know that wasn't some worldly influence that you've read somewhere that's coming to bear on your mind? You have no way in the world to know that's God.

Not one way. And that's true with any extra biblical revelation. That's why I love what Luther said in the Reformation. He said, the beauty of the scripture is we have the external word. We have the words of God to us in black and white on the page. There's no subjectivity. We don't have to wonder if this is what God said there. And so that would be my admonition to somebody who's thinking like that is you don't really treasure what you have.

You have the external word. You don't have to wonder if this is God or not. Yeah, so with all respect to Dr. Pennington and Justin Peters, I found those comments absolutely bizarre and absolutely unscriptural and contrary to spiritual logic as well.

So I prefaced everything with respect and honor and I make those comments with respect and honor, but I find those comments absolutely bizarre. So let's first go back to New Testament times when Dr. Pennington and Justin Peters would agree that the Holy Spirit was speaking in different ways with prophecy, for example, or tongues or interpretation or giving dreams or different revelations. Wouldn't it have been the same question then? How can you be sure? How can you know it's really the voice of God? Because it wasn't scripture, right? It's not scripture.

So wouldn't that same question adhere then? How can you know that that dream was really from God? How could you know that that internal voice is really from God? How could you know that that trance or that vision was really from God? All the ways that God communicates in the Book of Acts, how would the person know it was really God because it wasn't written in the Bible?

You might say, well, those things were written in the Bible. Okay, so then God was able to make the people know though. He was still able to make Cornelius know that this was a real angelic visitation in Acts 10. He was really able to make Peter know that this trance, he was really hearing the voice of God as he saw this vision.

Or Paul and his companions in Acts 16 as the Spirit of Jesus forbids them going one way and the Holy Spirit forbids them or hinders them going another way. And then Paul has a dream and interprets that God's speaking through the dream. That God was able to make his people know that it was his Spirit speaking. He's still able, the same way he was able to make people know in the New Testament as the Holy Spirit was being poured out in apostolic times, the same Spirit can make people know his voice just the same today.

But let's go a little further. The idea that if God speaks, it's now adding to the canon of Scripture. Or if God speaks, it's adding to the Bible. Well, what about all the things that God spoke in New Testament times that are not recorded? I mean after all, Acts chapter 2 tells us, and even if you just say it was just for then, of course you can't contextually, it's for the last days from the time Jesus died and rose until his second coming.

So it's for today. But even if you just want to start with New Testament times, God said, I'll pour up my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, right?

Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And even on your, the handmaidens and servants, I'll pour up my spirit and they'll prophesy. So you've got all this prophecy taking place. It's documented in the New Testament. Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 14, now this is how it works when you gather one as a prophecy, one as a tongue, one as an interpretation, one as a teaching, one as a psalm, or two or three prophets speak and others wait carefully what's being said.

And if a revelation comes to the second while the first is speaking, that the first stop and the second one speaks, and you can all prophesy in turn, and I wish that you would all prophesy. This is Paul's language in 1 Corinthians 12 and especially in the 14th chapter. So all this prophecy is going, where is it? It's never written down because it wasn't the Bible. You could well say that most of what God has said through history hasn't been recorded and it's not part of the Bible and it's not the Word of God. Yeah, and if we, when we get to Acts we read about Philippi and four daughters that prophesied. Where are their prophecies recorded?

They're not. Well, because God speaks all the time but it's not part of the Bible. God has spoken through history, continues to speak.

It's our relationship. It's fellowship. Thank God for the Word. Thank God.

Thank God. My life is built on the Word, but I don't have fellowship with the Word. I have fellowship with God through the Word. All right, we are just getting started. 866, 3-4 Truth. If you think I'm missing something, feel free to weigh in. And if you've got to just random comment, question you want to ask, I may get to some of those as well. 866, 3-4-8, 7-8-8-4.

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Welcome back, friends, to the Line of Fire broadcast, 866-348-7884. My latest article is titled Why My Focus is Not on Donald Trump. It's not just not on Donald Trump. It's not on Joe Biden. It's not on politics or the elections.

And I lay out why. It's not about who you vote for. I encourage everyone to vote. I encourage everyone to be informed of what's going on and to vote accordingly.

But we don't need to get caught up now in polling, in rival stories, in court cases. Pray for justice in the courts. Pray for a free and fair election. Keep your focus on the Lord and bearing fruit on the mission he's given you. If you are called primarily to political activity or largely political activity, fundraising, lobbying, working with a candidate, running for office, educating people on issues, and that's a calling in your life, well, be faithful to that calling.

But most of the rest of us, that's not our calling. And I have no reason to be, oh, the polls show this. How's that going to affect it? What's it got to do with Election Day? All I need to know all I need to know when it comes to Election Days is who I plan to vote for and to be ready to cast that vote.

That's all I need to know at that point. Everything else is just praying for God's will to be done, praying for free and fair elections, praying for righteous decisions in court cases, and to get worked up and caught up in election fever, especially when it's going to be crazy in the months leading up to November 4th. And there's going to be so much turmoil and things exploding on social media and news pundits, everybody talking day and night. I'll go back to Psalm 16. I've set the Lord always before me. Let that be the goal. Let that be the focus.

Go to God first, worship first, in the Word first, prayer first, loving God, loving your neighbor, loving your family, bearing fruit, sharing the gospel. Let's give ourselves to that and be ready to vote on Election Day. That's, that's, well, I'll leave it right there. 866-342. You can read the article at thelineoffire.org.

Just click on read and you'll see it as the latest article. Okay, Jesus said in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. I've had folks say, well, that means in salvation. He doesn't say in salvation. This is the shepherd and his sheep. Do the sheep know the voice of their shepherd? Well, he speaks through the Bible. He doesn't only speak through the Bible. It doesn't say he only speaks through the Bible. It says that his sheep know his voice.

So let me push this a little further with you. How do you know you're saved? How do you know you're born again? How do you know your sins are forgiven? Now, if you don't know that, if you don't know for sure, let me make sure you understand the gospel. We have all sinned, meaning we've all fallen short of God's standards. We've all done things with our lives that are displeasing to God, that fall short of the mark, and sometimes that are blatantly ugly, destructive, and willful. Either way, we're all guilty in his sight and worthy of judgment and damnation.

But he sent his son. God loved us so much that he sent his son to take our place, to die for our sins, to pay for what we did wrong, that if we will put our trust in God and say, God, I trust you. I trust you. I believe this to be true. I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead.

I believe that. I'm asking you to cleanse me, wash me, give me a brand new heart. I want to live for you.

I want to serve you. If you'll cry out to him, if you'll truly mean that, he will do that for you. He will have mercy. He will do that for you. He will have mercy on you. He will wash you clean and give you a new start. In fact, if today's the day that you cry out to God and ask for salvation, let us know.

Shoot us a note at thelineoffire.org. We'd love to pray for you and encourage you on your journey. I ask everyone else who says, yes, I know I'm born again. I know I'm saved. I know my sins are forgiven.

How do you know? Well, the word of God says, well, how do you know it's the word of God? And we can go on with those series of questions, right? The big question ultimately would be, has there been a change in your life? Is there evidence of the new birth? As revival scholar Dr. James Edwin Orr once said, the only proof of the new birth is a new life. Is there evidence of new life? Are you changed?

Is there a change in your behavior, change in your attitude? And do you have a relationship with God, right? The word of God makes these promises. It's absolutely true. It surely is God is true.

But how do you know that you know? Well, Paul writes in Romans 8 16 and says, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, that we are the children of God. And John's gospel makes this clear. In 1 John, these things are written so that you can know that you have eternal life.

So yes, there's the evidence of the new birth. We're not perfect, but we're different. We're changed.

We're different than we used to be. That's one thing. The other thing is that we have the witness of the spirit in our lives. Do you have that inner witness? You say, I do.

Okay, isn't that subjective? What if I said, well, how can you really know that? You say, well, I know that. I know God could make me know. What's the same thing with his voice?

You can recognize his voice. There are things God's spoken to me to do over the years that are absolutely certain to me because I know his voice. And it's a very peculiar idea to think that God saves us and brings us into his family, but doesn't commune with us with spiritual fellowship outside of speaking to us through the Bible. It's not that the Bible's not sufficient. The Bible doesn't take the place of fellowship with the spirit, does it?

No, of course not. The Bible doesn't take the place of the witness of the spirit. The Bible is 100% completely, totally sufficient in what it serves to do, to bring us a revelation about God, who he is, revelation of his son, revelation of our sin, revelation of the plan of salvation, revelation of how to live for God.

Everything we need in terms of the instruction manual and the revelation of God is there. Through the word of God introducing us to the living God, we now have fellowship with God. 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. That means communion. That means interaction. And I can think of believers all around the world from all backgrounds, even some of whom would say they're cessationist, just talking about God speaking to them or God leading them or God giving them an insight.

You say, but it's subjective. Okay, again, how do you know? How do you know that you have the real witness of the spirit? Mormons claim to have some burning fire in them, and that's how they know that the Book of Mormon is true. Obviously, it's satanic deception. So we have the written word, we have the authoritative revelation of God. Now he comes and bears witness in our spirit.

Let me take this further. The idea that you are being totally non-subjective when you read the Bible, but being totally subjective when you talk about God speaking to you on the inside. I have a question. Why do we have such massive differences over interpretation of Scripture? How is it that reading this same Bible for 52 years, and however long Dr. Pennington's been reading obviously for decades and Justin Peter for decades, how is it reading the same Bible, praying to the same God for insight, asking God to illuminate our hearts and minds? And then digging, digging into the Hebrew, the Greek, et cetera, and looking at commentaries. So using our minds and praying for insight, how is it that we have such vastly different interpretations on one of the gifts of the Spirit for today? Reading the same Bible. And you'll have people debating divorce about what are biblical grounds for divorce and remarriage based on the same on the same Bible. You say, now you're totally missing the point. You're saying the Bible's subjective.

No, I'm not. The Bible is the Word of God. But as we come to it as best as we can, we're not perfect.

That's why we have these differences within the body. So the idea that you have the Bible, that's it. It's not subjective. But if you claim the Holy Spirit led you or spoke to, that's totally subjective. Not so.

Not so. We come with all of our frailties before God, so your word is absolutely certain. Open my heart, my mind. And Jesus, I know you continue to speak to me in many, many ways. It's not the Bible. It's not adding to the Bible. It's not authoritative revelation for the whole church. You better believe that it's Jesus' sheep.

We hear his voice. And it's just part of life. It's beautiful.

It's wonderful. And the Word of God tells us we should have it. I believe God. Because I believe God, I'm not a cessationist. Because I believe the Word, I'm not a cessationist. If you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values, you could be canceled. You could be cast out. You could be put down. You could be silenced. I'm here to say, friends, that I am not about to be silenced.

And I don't believe you are either. It is time for us to stand up. It is time for us to say enough is enough. It is time for us to push back in Jesus' name. Not fighting the way the world fights.

No. Overcoming evil with good. Overcoming hatred with love. Overcoming the flesh with the power of the Spirit. Overcoming lies with truth. And that's what we're here to do on the Line of Fire broadcast.

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Donate monthly. 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. Welcome back, friends, to The Line of Fire. Boy, right before the show today, I had the joy of signing thank you letters to a group of new torchbearers. Each of you individually bears a few letters to sign one after the other. It brings joy to my heart.

I just pray a quick prayer over each one of thanksgiving. And just got a testimony today from a coworker with Jews for Jesus about another Jewish person. All their life warned about Jewish believers and Jesus. Don't listen to them. Came upon a Jews for Jesus video on YouTube. Ended up watching it. Contacted Jews for Jesus.

They referred to some of my books. God worked in her life. And she's now following Yeshua.

Born again. And as our supporters, you get to share that. Yeah, you're part of that.

You're part of making that happen. So thank you to all of our torchbearers. Those who want to find out more, all the benefits you get, go to TheLineOfFire.org. Click on donate monthly support. Just find out about the benefits and joys of being a torchbearer.

It's TheLineOfFire.org. Donate monthly support. Okay, so back to this comment that if God still speaks today, that if it is actually a word from God, then it becomes somehow equal to scripture. Somebody addressed that by pointing out that throughout the New Testament you had God speaking prophetically in other ways and Paul saying every one of you can prophesy and writing to the Thessalonians, don't despise prophets.

These test everything. Hold fast to that which is good. Don't put out the Spirit's fire.

And going through all these different things. We know the Holy Spirit was speaking and there's much prophetic activity and no one's denying that. It wasn't recorded. It wasn't recorded because it wasn't the Bible. As I said earlier, just based on how many prophets there have been, you read about the schools of the prophets or the band, a group of prophets that traveled together say with Samuel or Elijah or Elisha and their prophecies aren't recorded, right? So the vast majority of these prophetic words weren't recorded.

Just some select ones through history that were part of the Bible that God chose to record. And that way, look, Paul wrote a letter to the Laodiceans we don't have. It wasn't scripture. It was a letter from Paul but it wasn't scripture. So God continues to speak as he always has to his people in many different ways, sometimes through dreams, visions, internal voice, impression, more rarely an external voice. But this is how he continues to speak, speaks prophetically, etc. But it's not Bible. And we need to make that distinction because the Word of God makes the distinction.

And then everything must be tested. So if something claims to be from God and violates the Word, the Word, then we throw it out. If God says, you know, God told me to quit my job and spend all my money at a casino and gamble my money. Well, he didn't tell you that. He didn't tell you this. He's not going to tell you to gamble your money way in a casino. He's not going to do that. Well, I'm happily married, but he told me to leave my spouse and go shack up with some of those. So it's not going to tell you to do that. It's contrary to the Word. But might he tell you that there's a coworker that needs prayer?

Yes. Might he tell you just in his love and mercy, a word of personal correction that you need in terms of your own life? Might he tell you as you're praying that, yes, I'm calling you to the mission field to serve here or there? I mean, what's so odd to me is with so many people through history attesting to God speaking, so many believers through history attesting to God speaking, even Charles Spurgeon attesting to some prophetic words, you have to deny hundreds of millions of people have heard the voice of God and are hearing the voice of God and that this, the whole relationship they think they have in this way, it may be genuine in terms of their say, but it's delusional. It's a very bizarre idea.

Not only is it unscriptural, it's very odd. What about 2 Peter chapter one that was quoted? Was Peter saying that we shouldn't have prophecy today or we shouldn't have the Holy Spirit speaking to us or leading us today because we have the Bible?

Look at what he says. 2 Peter 1 16, for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain. So he wants to testify to what he experienced.

Yes, I understand it was with Jesus on the earth and it's recorded in the Bible. I understand that. But he's not downplaying his experience in what follows.

He's not downplaying the importance of it. He said we didn't follow the fables. We were eyewitnesses. We were there like 1 John. We're talking about we're talking to you about the word about Jesus. We touched him. We sat with him. We know him. We're communicating that to you. So he's not downplaying experience here. This is the same Peter who at Pentecost preaches about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and prophecy, dreams, visions, the same Peter that said this will be characteristic of the last days.

He continues. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This is not a statement that the word of God is authoritative and there's no experience that you have outside of that.

It's not that at all. Rather it's saying we had this eyewitness experience with Jesus. We were there on the mount when the glory of God came and the Father spoke. We were there. We saw the glory. We saw Jesus glorified, transfigured.

Transfigured. We heard the voice of God speak. We were there. Not only so but you, all of you, you have the prophetic word. You have the prophecies.

That's what he's talking about in context there. This is now all the more confirmed that the prophetic word has been confirmed by this experience and you now have this word. You don't need to rely on our experience and just our witness because you have now this word of prophecy confirmed by the coming of Jesus into this world and by fulfilling the prophecies.

It's not either or. It's not now that you have the Bible you don't need anything else. Again it's a peculiar thought. You say Dr. Brown is the Bible not sufficient for you? The question we raised earlier.

It's completely sufficient for what it does. For example when I go to the gas station to fill my car with gas I don't pay with the Bible. I pay with our credit card. When I go to the grocery store I come home with groceries. Why? Because I can't eat the Bible when I make my salad. You say that's being silly.

No I'm making a point. When you say the all-sufficiency of scripture meaning what? It is all sufficient for what it claims.

It is all sufficient for what it does. Do I have a relationship with the Bible? No I have a relationship with God with the help of the Bible. The Bible introduces me to God. Now I develop a relationship with Him with the word of God as the foundation.

So daily I fellowship with God through the word. I drink in the beauty of the word. I take it in. I eat it.

I digest it. I seek to live by it. And that word tells me about the gifts of the Spirit for today until Jesus returns. And that word tells me about prophecy for today. And that word tells me about dreams and visions for today. And that word tells me that I hear the voice of Jesus because I'm one of His sheep. And that word tells me that the Spirit leads and guides and illuminates and bears witness and that we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

And that word never tells me this pattern will change until Jesus returns and we see Him face to face and there is no more controversy. You know I think back to beautiful times in my relationship with the Lord where He spoke something that was so transformative and life-giving. Where He gave me a personal word of correction that was so crucial and important. Or when He called me to quit my job and go teach at a Bible school on Long Island.

They didn't even know me from Adam. God told me to do it in 1983. I gave notice on my job. I told my mom that we'd be moving out further on Long Island. She was a widow.

We'd be moving further out but you know come see her regularly and weekly etc. with the kids. It was that real. And it all unfolded beautifully and wonderfully.

That's not every single day. But it was beautiful. It was real. It was powerful. I was absolutely sure. And a series of many miracles happened along the way to make it happen. And for a house to sell the service everything just fell into place. And then check this out.

Check this out. Just going back in time and to me again this is just the beauty of fellowship with the Lord. So there were two main faculty members when the school opened. A branch of Christ for the nations that was on Long Island from 1983 to 1981. So the school opens and initially you have the director of the school who's going to be teaching some classes. An Old Testament professor and a New Testament professor.

That was all set. Then God calls me to teach there and the director says we're set now but as soon as there's an opening for another faculty as we grow you are the first person I'm going to hire. Well then it turns out that the Old Testament professor who had just started there felt called to leave. He felt he was not to stay in Long Island.

He was to go back to Texas which meant that I was now going to be able to come on very quickly. And that first semester I was going to start doing night classes for the general public and for the students that were interested and then immediately start full-time in that next semester come January of 84. So nobody knows this.

The director knows that the students do not know at all. They have no idea that this Old Testament professor that's currently there is going to be leaving and that I'm going to be taking his place. I happened to show up on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon they had a public service. It wasn't a local church just public service for those that wanted to attend and guest speakers may be in town and speak etc. So I just happened to show up for the Sunday afternoon service. There was a guest speaker that day a local pastor.

At the end of the service he has a word for the Old Testament professor that that Old Testament professor is going to be leaving. Nobody knew it. The director was shocked.

Nobody knew it. He had a word that he was going to be leaving. I believe he said going back to Dallas and the students were shocked to hear it and the director talked.

Did you know anything? Talked to the pastor. No just God just showed him and he spoke it publicly and the director said it just so happens that Mr. Brown and then my doctor Mr. Brown is going to be the because they knew me already from the night classes he's going to be the new Old Testament professor. He happens to be here today. The director was stunned. It was just one of those beautiful little things the Lord did but I mean we could go on with story after story after story just part of our fellowship with him part of our relationship with him. I encourage you to avail yourself of it as one of the Lord's sheep say Jesus you say I hear your voice I want to hear it more clearly.

We'll be right back. I'm Paul Burnett a board certified doctor of holistic health. Over the years I have helped countless people increase and maintain their natural energy production with Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 sold only by Trivita. I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar but I have met many people deficient in energy supporting vitamin b12. Vitamin b12 is one of the eight b vitamins and is an essential nutrient meaning the body cannot make b12 on its own. You see unlike other oral b12 supplements Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 is fast acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue bypassing the digestive process making it immediately available for use in the body. Alfred Libby's slow dissolve super b12 is also formulated with other natural energy supporting ingredients such as folate ginseng root and other natural ingredients. 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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 welcome welcome to the line of fire hey shout out to our co-sponsor Trivita you know what what is so encouraging as as a Trivita generously supports this ministry every month and generously donates 100% of the first order that comes in more than a tithe of all subsequent orders of is how many of you are repeat customers meaning that you're really finding the products helpful which really gratifies me and that's why I try to read it as that's part of what I travel with part of what goes in my system every day so it's not a substitute for healthy eating or exercise but great supplements wide range of of health helping supplements so give them a call ask them your questions what about this I struggle with this what would you recommend for this and and that's how they got a great team that's ready to answer your questions call 800-771-5584 800-771-5584 if it's easier go to trivita.com trivita.com just use the code brown25 check out these great supplements I think you'll find them really helpful and we just want you to thrive that's the goal so we hope this will help as well again 800-771-5584 uh I may have told the story some months back but but either way let me let me share it again so you you tell me if you're a cessationist if you if you don't believe that God does these kinds of things gives insight revelation to someone then um tell me how this happened tell me tell me what this was okay so I was doing a service for a colleague of mine a small congregation that used the building of another small congregation in the Maryland area years back and they had fasted that day before the night meeting I think it was a Saturday night meeting but they fasted before that night meeting that God would really speak through me so I brought a message preached the word and then I began to minister and remember it's a small group of people did they have 30 people there maybe but I felt the Lord giving me words for some different people there I remember I had a word for one woman and suddenly I hear a shriek a scream it's like okay you were that woman I mean it was so for her she shrieked when I spoke it um but I it was one of those nights it was one of the strongest flows of the spirit ever felt to minister to people prophetically so if people were responding in such a way that you knew it was the Lord's like I didn't know this person was in the military and I start talking about military service and discipline and find out he's in the military and so on so there was a guy that was sitting there in the front row and he was looking around watching what was happening and people were really being touched and the power of the spirit was present in a strong way and people were weeping and he was just sitting there kind of skeptically looking around looking around so I just felt Lord that's not right your presence is here in a strong way and yet he's mocking so I just opened my heart up to the Lord because I understood that the Holy Spirit is there and that the Holy Spirit knows everything being God and I just opened my heart to the Holy Spirit to see if there's anything he wanted to say to me and next thing I looked at this guy and and looked over the congregation and I said there's someone here and as God is moving and people are being touched you're skeptical you're skeptical of the whole thing and and well God wants you to know he knows who you are you are a pickpocket now they're they're between 20 and 30 people there I don't know any of the people outside of the pastor his wife I certainly don't know this guy the skeptical guy in the front row okay don't know him obviously and the idea that there's somebody there that was a pickpocket right what are the chances of that what are the chances but it just dropped in me and I said God wants you to know that he knows who you are and I'm just saying this to everybody but I know who it's for and I and I said you're a pickpocket in fact you pick someone's pocket on the way to the service and right before the service you were boasting about it to one of the people in the church here well God says he knows who you are suddenly the guy stops smiling and next day the pastor calls me he said Mike what was that word about the pickpocket what was that word and I explained it to him I told him I told who the guy was and what the whole thing was about and he said well he said needless to say he came in without the fear of God but he walked out in the fear of God he walked out in the fear of God why because prophecy revealed his sin and prophecy revealed that God was real and knew who he was now how that happened I'm I'm no I don't have ESP or whatever the thing you know I'm gonna read people's brain right right I'm not a psychic I'm I'm there glorifying Jesus asking the Holy Spirit to to work it brings about the fear of God in this person's life you're gonna say it was the devil that did it it was it was luck it was it was luck no and that's just one example but it was an extreme one one of the more extreme ones in my own life in ministry one of my colleagues is ministering a couple years ago we're working out together and he's telling me he was ministering at a church and and he had a word for a woman there and he asked her uh someone you wanted to bring to the service tonight yes but they ended up not coming correct but you've been texting them yes and he said text them this and ask means anything so he doesn't know who the person is right even if he knew who the person was that was there in the service he doesn't know the person that they invited and he didn't know the person the service is he didn't know the person that that they invited and and and he didn't uh no he didn't know the person didn't know the person invited no clue right it's not the kind of thing when he searched on social media or found this he didn't know the people involved he said he doesn't know who's been texting this person right and he says text her now and ask her if this means anything to her and i believe it was the words my bella vita ask her if that means anything to her and she texts her friend this is as a right there and the end of the service she texts her friend and her friend writes back in shock that's the tattoo on my arm it's like well the man here wanted to know if it meant anything to you and you felt god speaking to you well she showed up at the service the next night now what was that was that the devil was it a freak coincidence what about if i could give you hundreds of stories like this or thousands of stories like this or if we talk to enough people millions of stories like this you know lee strobel uh in his in his book on on miracles a case for miracles and and as typical lee strobel is going to bring the arguments against and bring challenges in his lively and great books uh and then lay out the case so you know he starts off with this story about him and his wife and they just feel burdened to write a check to a friend let's what were the amount was let's just say five hundred dollars and 29 cents make it five hundred thirteen dollars and twenty nine cents they don't know why but they just feel prompted to write a check for her that amount and they send it to her only to find out that something happened to her car and she needed repairs and the bill was 513.29 they felt impressed by the lord to do it they did it it was the exact amount it met a need with her administered to the in a glorious way who did that who did that there there was a ministry years back that used to support our school of ministry when we were in florida and you know lots of expenses in running a school of ministry and tuition doesn't even cover half of it so we were always in faith crying out believing couple we got in a real crisis and people on staff said hey we're serving paid or not we're committed but we needed a break we needed money we had a pair of staff and and we we were short fifty thousand dollars and it's payroll and we're in crisis mode so we we we gather our students for a time of fasting and prayer we don't mention any needs to them or anything at one point i lead in prayer and i cry out to god for a breakthrough by the next day a breakthrough for the next day that god knew the need cried out in faith as we fasted and prayed the next day we get a check from that company for fifty thousand dollars what had happened was they were giving like eight thousand a month or something roughly and they hadn't given for six months they didn't know that we had a need they hadn't given for six months and they said that afternoon they just heard the quiet voice of the lord saying they need money send it all and they said just just under fifty thousand dollars the next day well who spoke to them how'd that happen we go on and on it's not adding to the bible friends it's not claiming authoritative revelation for the church it's just being in fellowship with god and he does these things and it's beautiful and we should embrace it and my first reason for embracing it is because the bible tells me to the word of god says these things will be normative in these last days in which we live which is why i've said for many years because i am sola scritura i am therefore charismatic because i believe in the authoritative revelation of the bible as the one and only word of god capital w absolutely absolutely sufficient in itself for what it claims to be and to do because of that i embrace everything it says and it says that the gifts continue that prophecy continues that the voice of god continues that dreams and visions continue and as long as god is still speaking i want to continue to listen and obey and honor i hope this is helpful i say it with all respect to those who differ let's search the scriptures and see what the word of god says you