A Major New Christian Statement; and Pastor Michael Youssef Talks About the End of the World

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. We're going to tell you the truth about the so-called N-A-R in Christian nationalism, thanks so much for joining us today on the Line of Fire. This is an important broadcast, we'll be talking about an important news statement that has been issued at a critical time in church history and American history right here in our nation.

If you have a comment, question related to this, 866-342-866-348-7884. At the bottom of the hour I'll be joined by Pastor Michael Yusef, but right now I want to bring on my good friend, my very good friend and close colleague Bishop Joseph Matera. Thanks for joining us on the broadcast today.

Oh, it's my pleasure to be with you. So we jointly with a team of other leaders issued a statement a couple years back, the prophetic standard statement. We were concerned going into the 2020 elections that if the pro-Trump prophecies did not come to pass there'd be a lot of fallout. We've been concerned for many, many years about lack of prophetic accountability within our own charismatic circles.

We issued that, it's gotten widespread attention, probably almost a thousand signers, multiple languages picked up by the secular media as well. What is it that caused you to reach out to me, excuse me, to say, I think we need to write a statement on another subject? What prompted you, Joe? Well, I felt very strongly that as 2024 was looming there was going to be an avalanche of extreme expressions of Christian nationalism and the secular media, but also the evangelicals, including some Pentecostals, have been writing against the so-called NAR more and more, and there has been a conflation now between the so-called NAR and apostolic movement and Christian nationalism, some because people from both camps are working together, but others are just lumping everyone together, including me and you, together with anybody who's an extreme Christian nationalist.

And I felt like it's just going to get worse. I almost felt like I was a sitting duck because I am the national convener for something that has the term apostolic in it, the United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, and I just felt like, man, we need to make a statement to give the body of Christ discernment, but also to distinguish between what we believe and what is being touted by some, and also bringing out some of the misinformation by the media and the exaggerations concerning a quote-unquote NAR global conspiracy. Right, so this was our opportunity to take the narrative into our own hands. We understand that we're going to be misreported on many occasions and lied about, maligned, intentionally, unintentionally.

We know that many within the body will still misreport, even unintentionally, but this was for us to say, okay, here's what we do believe. If you want to attack us, attack us for what we do believe, not for what we don't believe. You know, Joe, I've had people tell me, well, Dr. Brown, you're a leader in NAR. I say, well, tell me what NAR believes, tell me what NAR holds to, and they tell me, I say, well, I don't believe in any of that. Well, you're still a leader in it.

You're still a leader in it. So it's so ambiguous. This is our way of laying things out clearly. Now, before we get into the statement itself, you've been working for many years on really kind of your life work, a statement on apostolic ministry. You earned, this is part of your doctoral work in producing this, but it's now out as a book. So friends, if you want to find out what we mean by apostolic ministry, what we believe in, what we don't believe in, how it works in churches, in cities, in nations, what are abuses, what are biblical truths, this is the place to go.

It's the first of its kind to be this comprehensive. So, Joe, just tell us the name of your book and why you put so many years into it. Yes, well, the name of the book is The Global Apostolic Movement and the Progress of the Gospel.

It is now on Amazon and Kindle in printed form. And I was getting a doctorate, a THD, actually, theology doctorate, from a non-charismatic school, Antioch International, which deals with a lot of church planting movements across the world, probably the largest church planting movements. And when I went into that doctoral program, I told them, I don't have time to do something that's going to take me away from my primary mission. So the President agreed that it would be a book, that my doctoral thesis would be written so that it would be eventually released as a book. And so I killed two birds with one stone, I got my second doctorate, I have a doctorate in ministry already, and now a THD, and had to do minor alterations to release it as a book. And so there's never been a scholarly book from a practitioner that I know of that's been released before, so people could get inside information as to how it's evolved in the last 50 years from the United States and the world, how it's connected or disconnected from church history, what are the patterns that have to be replicated from the first century that we would call primitivism, what are some of the primary teachings that have influenced the present day apostolic movement, some good, some bad, and what are some of the things we need to correct moving on to the future. So it's very, very comprehensive.

Yeah, it really is. Friends, the global apostolic movement, if you're a pastor leader, it's something you'll be able to embrace. If you're a theologian, you'll be able to get it. If you're just interested but want to do a serious read, it's very readable, it's clearly written, but it's super well researched, and again, I couldn't have thought of a better person to write it, Joe, I'm not just saying that to say it, but you know the areas that we're in agreement on, and you're the one to articulate this. All right, so to our statement, you can read it for yourself, you can share it if you're a Christian leader, we welcome you to sign it if you agree with it. Go to NAR, so NAR and Christiannationalism.com, NAR and Christiannationalism.com.

So Joe, I'm going to start to read through it and then ask for your commentary on different points, all right? So the statement, and we got an initial, about 60 key signers, apostolic leaders, prophetic leaders, professors, pastors, different ones to sign on, and then in the days ahead we would expect hundreds of other leaders to sign on as well and say amen to this. So in light of the controversy surrounding the terms New Apostolic Reformation, NAR, and Christian nationalism, we're issuing this statement of clarification. We affirm the importance of Ephesians 4-11 ministries for the church today and believe that such ministry functions have existed throughout church history, even if not described in these exact terms. So Joe, if we're looking through church history at people that you would say were apostolic, not just pastors, teachers, or evangelists, but apostolic people in church history outside of the New Testament, what kind of people would you point to, not contemporary, but in church history? Yeah, well, there's always been a line of people who have functionally been apostolic, and in church history, out of honor and respect to the original 12 apostles after they all died off, essentially the bishops of the church became the successors.

So anyone could do a Google search of some of the bishops, for example, of Antioch after John would be Ignatius. You got people like Irenaeus, you've got people like Gregory the Great, Gregory the Theologian, you have people like Augustine, you know, more modern times in the Reformation, who could argue that John Calvin was an apostle in function, Martin Luther. John Wesley would be the closest thing to modern day apostolicity, so we can go on and on from the earliest days of the church up until recent times. And the way we construct apostolic, in many ways, outside of the charismatic gifts, you know, Paul said he moved in signs and wonders, if you just take that away for a minute, even non-charismatics fit the template of a modern day apostolic function. You have anybody who leads a movement that, or started a movement, or a church planning movement, whether they speak in tongues or not, they would most likely fit the category of apostolic in the way we define it. You know, as a visionary leader who would garner pastors and leaders and people together in a particular region for the common cause of Christ. I mean, you don't even have to be charismatic to be an apostolic leader, so it's pretty interesting.

It is. All right, so we right in the start of the statement, we affirm that contemporary apostolic and prophetic ministries are important for the well-being and mission of the church, just as evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching ministries important. By apostolic, we are referring to visionary leaders who are missional, fathering, and pioneering, such as church planters, networkers, or movement leaders, often marked by their focus on gospel expansion beyond one local region. Such leaders are identified by their function whether or not they use the term apostolic and whether or not they are Pentecostal or Charismatic. By prophetic, we're referring to church leaders who understand and declare the mind of God for specific times and seasons, helping the Lord's people respond biblically. Such leaders are identified by their function whether or not they use the term prophetic and whether or not they are Pentecostal or Charismatic. We reject the belief that contemporary apostles carry the same authority as did the original 12 apostles. Joe, is that an abuse that is actually here today?

We say in our statement we reject it. Are you finding that there are people who claim to be apostles today that say that they have the same kind of special authority that the early apostles did? Well, I did speak to one person recently who said, why are you limiting God? Why are you saying that the Old Testament prophets have more authority than New Testament prophets and New Testament apostles have more authority than the present-day apostles? Why are you putting God in the box?

That kind of thing. And it's not like people just say that, you know, forthrightly, but by some of the way they speak, their writings, the way they practice their version of apostolicity, it seems as though they almost think they're on par with the original 12 apostles. So it's not like I know of anybody that's prominent who teaches they're equal to the original 12, but some of their language could be perilously close to that.

Right, and that's why we categorically say it. We reject the belief that contemporary apostles carry the same authority as did the original 12 apostles. We reject the belief that contemporary prophets have the exact same function or carry the exact same authority as did Old Testament prophets. We reject the belief that every church must be submitted to apostles and prophets to be in right order before the Lord. To all of my friends that would be critics of our ministry, critics of Dr. Matera's ministry, this is what we believe, criticize us for what we do believe, not what we don't believe.

We'll be right back. 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. I'm speaking with my friend and colleague, Dr. Joseph Matera. He is the author of a comprehensive book I highly recommend to those in church leadership ministry, those wanting to understand the nature of apostolic ministry, The Global Apostolic Movement by Joe Matera. Joe, I want to go on reading from the statement that we authored together with the help of other leaders.

You can read it, friends, at narandchristiannationalism.com. If you're a Christian leader and you agree with the statement, we encourage you to circulate it as well as to sign on as well. So we say in the statement we further oppose the possible abuse of ecclesial titles that manifests itself in self-proclaimed apostles and prophets claiming territorial authority over pastors in a community, city, or nation. What if someone said, why even use titles, why even call someone an apostle or prophet or recognize them as such if that could be abused?

How would you respond to that? Well, then don't call Billy Graham an evangelist. Don't call your pastor a pastor. I mean, every one of the ministry gifts in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11, have been abused. So actually, the New Testament warns us more about new false teaching than it does about false prophets.

So we have to be careful that we don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Now, I'm not big on titles. I don't think we need to call someone apostle Joe. As a matter of fact, most of the true apostles I know don't use the title.

It's more of an adjective. However, that being said, because you used the title doesn't make you an apostle. And some people have used the title to try to take authority over others. And to me, if you have to have a title, sometimes it could be because you're insecure and you're not bearing enough fruit.

So you need to hide behind a hierarchical definition instead of practical application. Didn't John Paul Jackson once say, if you have to tell someone you're a prophet, you're not? Something like that.

Yeah, yeah, I think I heard something like that, yeah. All right, let me go on with a statement. We reject the belief that, quote, new revelation is essential for the life and growth of the church, or that contemporary apostles or prophets are the only ones privy to such, quote, new revelation. We affirm the full sufficiency of scripture for the health and mission of the church. So we believe as we study the word that God is always going to give us new insights and understanding as we study and wait on him and dig into the scripture. What's the difference between that and the way that this concept of, quote, new revelation is being used by some? Yeah, I mean, I'm very careful not to use the word revelation when I describe God speaking to me.

I like to use the word illumination because revelation connotes canonicity, meaning that it's equal to scripture. And the way some of these prophets prophesy, they almost speak as though what they're saying has equal weight to the word of God, to the sacred text. And the Old Testament prophets, any of their words that were recorded, were recorded as canon, as scripture, because they spoke from being in the counsel of God.

It wasn't even the charismatic gifts that we have in First Corinthians 12. They literally stood in the counsel of God. We can see that in Isaiah chapter 6, 1 Kings with Micah chapter 22, Jeremiah chapter 23. So it wasn't the same as when we get a prophetic utterance. And these people were in the counsel of God. And then out of that, they got a burden from the Lord and they spoke. That's why if they made a mistake, they could be stoned to death, according to Deuteronomy 18.

And that is the big difference here. You know, the New Testament prophets don't have that kind of authority. And they're not supposed, they only prophesy in part, it tells us in First Corinthians 14. We only know in part, actually, First Corinthians 13, we only know in part, prophesy in part.

And our words could be judged. And even if we make a mistake, we're not called a false prophet, we're not going to be stoned to death. That in and of itself shows the nature of prophecy is not on the same levels. The Old Testament, where God only spoke through the prophets, according to Hebrews 1-1. Now he speaks to all God's people.

We're born again, it says, all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God, according to Romans 8. So there's a huge difference between the gift of prophecy, prophets, and the Old Testament foretelling of the Word of God through the prophets. Yeah, well said, well articulated.

Let me continue in the statement. We affirm that the spirit of true apostles and prophets should exemplify the attitude and lifestyle of Jesus, Philippians 2, 4-12, coming alongside other church and workplace leaders to serve them, not replace them. In short, we deny an affiliation with what is presently characterized as NAR in many circles of both Christian and secular press. We also believe that reports of an alleged conspiratorial worldwide dangerous NAR movement are highly exaggerated and misleading. Joe, I recently spent time with Doug Gavet and Holly Pivik, who are the two principal people who have really researched the so-called New Apostolic Reformation and raised concerns, and we've agreed with many of their concerns, we've agreed with many of the issues that they raised, but then we've said you're painting with too broad a brush.

With all respect, as much as we disagree with the extremes, we also reject the extremes that you're pointing out. We believe you're painting with too broad a brush so that almost anybody can be put under NAR. And I said, since I'm very forthright about what I believe, you're very forthright, we don't apologize for being Pentecostal Charismatic for believing in what's referred to as Ephesians 4-11 or five-fold ministry. I said, why then do I deny any affiliation with so-called NAR, if not for this NAR thing being partly a myth and the parts that are real I don't agree with?

How would you explain if, hey, you're the leader of the U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, you're the convener of that, and you're part of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, and you've written a whole book on the Global Apostolic Movement, why then do you say, A, I'm not part of so-called NAR, and B, the way NAR is described is not accurate? Yeah, well, first of all, NAR was a term used by Peter Wagner as a mystiologist and researcher to describe a divine phenomena that was going on all over the world where apostolic leaders are being raised up by God since the beginning of the 20th century to lead movement and even start denominations, and you could put the Pentecostal denominations in that category, and so he was saying it doesn't necessarily depend on denominations, so he would say it's a new reformation, apostolic reformation. He never meant that there's a global man-made conspiracy, he was just saying something by observation, and so some people who have been classified as part of the NAR never even heard of that term, so how could you be in something and you've never heard of it? Now, I've used that term a few times, even in one or two of my books, but I used it as a sociological phenomena, not because we were part of some kind of global conspiracy or global movement that was man-made, and so I think that's where the misunderstanding comes, and we, man, I wish I had the ability to organize the whole world under one category, man, that would be the biggest miracle since the Red Sea was parted. Nobody, not even denominations have that power, the Roman Catholic Church doesn't even have that power.

How in the world is anyone able to orchestrate that kind of conspiracy? It is beyond me, so that's where we would disagree. I would agree with the NAR as a missional term, but not as a conspiratorial term. You know, someone told me that when Peter Wagner was first coining this, looking at what was happening around the world, he described it as post-denominational. This is going back to the early 1900s, looking at things, the church movement in China, this country, that country, so totally unrelated, unless the Holy Spirit was behind it all, but otherwise totally unrelated to one another, different phenomena, different styles of leadership, ministry, but they were marked by not being part of traditional denominations. So I was told recently that when Peter Wagner was first looking at it, he referred to it as post-denominational. I'm getting this second hand, and that Jack Hayford suggested that that could sound like a put-down of denominations, which many were healthy, growing, etc., so then others suggested, why not refer to it as a New Apostolic Reformation, and that's how it came about, not only the accuracy of that, but he was describing something that was simply outside of traditional denominational working, and that's what it was, and it continues to be happening around the world, and the vast majority of what's happening is unrelated, and one doesn't know what the other's doing, and they have diverse expressions, except they all get, you find the worst elements, the extremes, and they get grouped together under NAR, so my appeal to Doug and Holly, with great respect for their work and their zeal, was to say, hey, find a different term, you know, maybe you call it the super apostle movement, Sam, right?

Come up with another term, and then let's deal with the abuses, as opposed to painting with a broad brush, and then negatively describing many people. All right, I've got to go switch gears to another guest. Friends, we didn't even get in halfway through the statement, because we now take on the issue of Christian nationalism, but go to NARandChristiannationalism.com, read the whole statement for yourself, circulated among others, Christian leaders sign on, and then go over to Amazon and check out Joe Matera's book, it's M-A-T-T-E-R-A, The Global Apostolic Movement, is must reading. Hey Joe, thanks for taking time to join us today. Thank you so much for all the great work you're doing. All right, God bless, God bless. All right, friends, we come back, we're going to talk to Pastor Michael Youssef.

Is the end near? 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, welcome to The Line of Fire.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Hey, if you've been listening to the broadcast, you listen to the first half of the broadcast, I'd be talking with my friend Joe Matera about apostolic ministry, prophetic ministry, what we affirm, what we don't affirm. We already have the whole prophetic standard statement out. If you want to know where we stand, what's right, what's wrong, what's in abuse, what's healthy, go to propheticstandards.com. To read the new statement, go to N-A-R-And christiannationalism.com. We are having a hard time getting hold of Pastor Youssef, hopefully he'll be here momentarily, but either way, either way, if you, nope, looks like, we'll try one other number.

We double checked with his team yesterday and everybody should be ready, but sometimes some is a different phone than we were given. Anyway, if we can track it down, great, he'll be joining us shortly, but either way, I want to reserve the end of the show for your calls. If you have an issue, if you differ, or if you've got a question, if you say, I don't know, you say, what are you saying, I'm not really understanding, give me a call. I'm not threatened by it, I'm happy to hear from you. If you'd say, well, I'm a critic of your ministry, I'm just going to bash, that's perfectly fine. At least with clarity, we'll have a civil conversation between us, all right?

But read the statement, we put it out so that you can say, okay, I agree, I disagree, all right, I know where you stand here. Now, we've said these things many times over the years, but we're doing our best to say them even more clearly. With that, it looks like we have connected with Dr. Youssef, so most all of you listening, watching, know his ministry.

He pastors Church of the Apostles, born in Egypt, lived in Lebanon, Australia, came to the States, and has an international teaching ministry on radio and TV. His new book that I'm holding in my hands, Is the End Near, with a foreword by R.T. Kendall, what Jesus told us about the last days. Dr. Youssef, thanks so much for joining us on the broadcast. Oh, my pleasure, thank you so much for having me.

Oh, my joy, my joy. So, the good thing is, I didn't have to take a lot of time introducing you, because your reputation goes before you. All right, we've had a global pandemic, there's talk about nuclear war, there's a lot of upheaval. Is the end near?

Where do we stand? Well, you know, people have speculated in the past, as you know, and I was very hesitant to get into this whole subject, but I said, you cannot go wrong when you absolutely stick to the words of Jesus. And so I studied Matthew 24 and 25 sideways, upside down, through the 50 years of ministry, but specifically in the last couple of years. And, you know, the whole concept of the pregnant woman, of the giving birth, that our Lord tells us, and it's very clear to me, He's saying, yes, earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, and all these things happen, and they're always there. But the whole image of a pregnant, when I have four children, I've attended all their birth, we have 11 grandchildren, I've attended some of their birth, and we know that when these labor pains get closer and closer in intervals, and they get stronger, then you know that the time is near. And so I take those words that our Lord Himself said to look for, these are the signs to look for. And, you know, in that discourse, as you know, Michael, they have a, you know, he talks about two things he talks about on that day, namely 70 AD, when Jerusalem was raised by the Romans, and he said, but in those days, and I meant the distinction between that day, those days, and he does that, because he's answering two questions.

And so, with that in mind, I began to think, you know, with these things happening, closer and closer intervals, they are within a short period of time, not every few years, not every few days, even knowledge used to double every 150 years, now they're doubling literally every day and a half. And so that prompted me to just go to the scriptures, see what Jesus says, and write about it, rather than try to speculate, you know, some people through the past, this day or that day, and nobody can do that, because Jesus said, even the son, whom I believe voluntarily did not want the day, who knows the day, but the father knew, and until he went back to the father, I'm assuming he then knew, but he voluntarily did not want to know, and so that he would not let his disciples know. But since we don't know the day, we're looking at the sign, and all the signs are here, and all six labor pains that he talks about are happening and happening past, they're happening quicker, and so I tell people, you know, lift up your heads, because the day of redemption is drawing nigh. For the non-believers, they need to repent and come to Christ. For the believers, they need to get their spiritual bags packed. I often say to my congregation, I said, I've had my spiritual bags packed for a long time, and every morning I wake up, if it's today, I'm ready. So there's so much fear in the society today, there's so much fear everywhere.

You're a pastor, as well as a voice on radio and TV. Do you, in your book, help people deal with the fear issue? If they read the book, are they going to get more fearful, or are you going to help them deal with their fears?

Oh, no, no, no, no. I explained the origin of fear, the root of fear, and why, if a person has his or her faith absolutely anchored in Jesus, their greatest days are ahead of them. But if they don't, then this is the time to come. And it's no use wellowing in fear. If you don't know Jesus, you come to him, and we know that fear is a spirit, and it is not from God, and it's from the devil, and therefore, only the Holy Spirit of God can empower you over fear. In fact, instead of fear, actually, there should be excitement. We're going to be with the Lord, and we're going to reign and rule with him for all of eternity. That should be more, make us happy. You know, it's like the old man said, we read the last chapter, we know we win. Yeah, yeah. I mean, as simplistic as that is, there's ultimate truth to that, that you know God's kingdom is going to triumph, and therefore, you feel bad for those that are, they've risen up in opposition to God, they look so powerful today.

I feel bad for them, because I know that they'll come down, you grieve for them. So, in your book, Is the End Year, you have a chapter called the Noah Imperative. Tell us about that. Well, you know, again, I've really, Dr. Brown, I stuck with what Jesus said. I didn't even want to elaborate on it, and he said that some of the ways to know that the end is near, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days prior to the return of the Son of Man.

So what were those days like? They were carousing, they were eating and drinking, they were entertaining themselves to death, they were mocking Noah, and they were just after lunch, spiritually speaking, and yet that day came and took them by surprise. And so that Noah Imperative should tell everybody who hears the message of salvation, that learn from those people who, you know, for 120 years, he would preach, and he will call, he will invite, and he would cajole and beg for people to come into the ark, but then when the door is shut, Noah did not shut the door, God shut the door. And the Day of Mercy is now the Day of Grace is now, the Day of Salvation is now.

I am very urgent about this. I started a whole new ministry of going on the road, conducting crusades, I brought a whole team from the Billy Graham organization, they'll be working with me on this, and we're having a major event, evangelistic events around the world next year, because I want to plead with people in person, not just through the television screen, but I want to plead with them in person, come, now is the time to repent. Today is the day of salvation, don't put it off, don't postpone it, because you don't know when the return of Christ comes, and then you, he either going to be your savior, redeemer, and friend, or he's going to be your judge. And I'd rather you be, come and have him as your redeemer now. Yeah, I, you know what, it blesses me to see the urgency and burden in your heart after 50 years of ministry, I'm about the same in terms of you're serving the Lord, and to see that burden and urgency even more, as you see the shaking all around us, the upheaval.

One other question, and friends, get the book, is the end near? It's written with clarity, with force, and it's practical. When I came to faith in 1971 as a Jewish kid, heroin shooting, LSD using, hippie rock drummer, we were told Jesus, yeah, it's a radical conversion, we were told Jesus is coming any minute, and we're out of here any minute, and the signs are at hand, and for many there was kind of an abdicating, like, but we're out of here, and things getting worse around us, so it's all over. Many have that kind of gloom and doom mentality, and why bother if we're out of here any moment? How do you address that? Will be not obedient to Jesus, Jesus said, occupied till I come, that when he comes, I want him to see me occupying, that is working day and night, as with all, at 74 I am putting 16, 17 hour day, more than I have worked in my life.

Why? Because that's what it's supposed to be, that we're going to occupy till he comes, that we're going to be working, saving the last soul until the day comes. It's not to go put on white robes, and head for the mountains, and wait for the spaceship, that is not the Christian faith. The Christian faith is that as we see that day drawn nigh, that we will take heart, but we also become urgent with the gospel message to bring it to everyone who would listen. I think that's very important, because those people who kind of, you know, sold everything and waited for the May 19, you know, back in 05, if you remember, and that's not the gospel, that's not for Christian believers. This is a cop-out, but we are supposed to be working, and occupying, and serving, and doing, and giving, until that moment comes.

And in terms of the Perusia, the return of Christ, you know, the Apostle Paul... Excuse me, let me just jump in, I apologize. We've got a break, if you can stay over through the break, just a couple minute break, come back on the other side sir, and you can finish the thought. Wow, great example, 74 years old, burning brighter than ever, living with urgency, but living in the here and now.

The new book is The End Year. Dr. Michael Yusef, we'll be right back. 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. Friends, in less than 30 minutes, 4 15 Eastern Time, we'll be right back on the Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel, A-S-K-D-R Brown, for an exclusive YouTube Q&A chat.

Haven't done one in a couple weeks now, so Ask Dr. Brown on YouTube, 4 15 Eastern Time. All right, getting back to Dr. Yusef his new book is The End Year, so yes, you were talking about the word for coming, second coming parousia, when I had to cut you off right at a break, so back to you. Now, in a sense, what Apostle Paul himself was hoping and praying that he's going to see the parousia, but then when he realized it's coming toward the end of his life, he said to Timothy, Timothy, you look out for it, and of course, Timothy looked out for it in the next generation, and that teaches me one thing, and says that every generation must look for the coming of Christ. Every generation should be awaiting, anticipating, and praying, and working, and so, you know, even though our generation is seeing the signs that our Lord Jesus talked about, but nonetheless, even if it doesn't, if it doesn't come from another hundred years, that doesn't make it make any difference for me, for example, that I'm going to work harder than ever, I'm going to serve longer, and as much as I can, everywhere I can in the globe, but that's really ought to be our attitude. If he comes this afternoon, I'm packed, I'm ready to go.

If he doesn't, and I go to him first, that's great too. Either way, with a head you win, tails you win, so waiting for the Lord is a wonderful thing to do. Yeah, it really, and just the reality of his return, and what that means in scripture, and what happens to us, and what happens to the world is so magnificent. It should be on our minds and in our hearts, and you know, I feel the same way. I'm burning with passion, with desire, with holy fire. I'm just a kid, 67, you know, compared to you, right, but the goal, that's the goal, to see everything coming, the harvest of the nations, the turning of the Jewish people, to see Jesus, to live to see that.

If not, I'm going to run, and if I don't put the baton into his hands, I'll put it into the hands of the next generation. So last, I asked the last question before, the last, last question. We know all the stats about the decline in professing Christianity in America. Of course, many of the people weren't Christian to start, but we know that people have dropped out.

There are various reasons. Some will fall away. This could be the apostasy that Jesus was speaking about, but from your vantage point, as an evangelist as well as a pastor, do you see the harvest being ripe even in America? Well, I tell you, I'm not sure about America, and I'm not sure about Europe, and here's why, in my heart of heart, having traveled literally, circled the globe 67 times, and we have a television station dedicated into Arabic-speaking world, Kingdom Sat, it's in 195 million homes, and having traveled around, I'm seeing people coming to Christ from Islam, from the heart of Islam, at the risk of their own lives, literally, when they're signing on death warrants, and when they're coming to the Lord in large numbers, and with joy and anticipation, live or die, I'm for Christ, Christ redeemed me. They did not know this, and they have such joy in knowing and experiencing Christ. And then I see the church in the West, where people just now, after the COVID, they love to stay home in their pajamas and drink coffee and watch you on the live stream, and kind of the apostasy that he talks about, particularly in Matthew 24, it's the falling away.

These are the people who were supposed to be in the faith, they're falling away from the faith, and at least in my heart of hearts, and I take full responsibility, I'm not blaming anybody else for this, that I sense that two things are happening. God is preparing the elect for his return. By the same token, Satan is preparing his crowd for the coming of the Antichrist.

And so I see both things are happening, and that again excites me. Now sadly for America, and I love this country dearly, I came here and this country gave me a shelter, and I love the United States, but I'm seeing, here's the words of Jesus in 2024, Matthew. He, talking about the Antichrist, will deceive, if possible, I emphasize those words, if possible, even some of the elect. And that really puts a fire under me in order to warn people, do not fall away, do not follow the ways of the world, stand strong and get your laws geared and ready for the battle, because this deconstruction stuff just, I mean, really grieves me to my very soul, and people, you know, they're turning away from the faith. So, but if that's one of the signs that our Lord gives us in Matthew 24, then that's so be it, as much as I grieve over it. But I am seeing things happening globally, that which, you know, in the past, everybody kind of put all their signs focused on America.

Well, it's fine, it's wonderful, but I'm looking at the globe. For example, Revelation 18, when I read it 50 years ago, I said, all the merchants of the world talk about the globe, all they're going to be mourning and crying over the lost. I wouldn't have understood it back then, but now when they talk about economies so interdependent and a blip on the screen in one place in the world is going to cause catastrophe for the rest of the world economically, I said, now I understand what Revelation 18 is talking about. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I'm just with you in every word you're saying here, and having traveled the world as much as you have been to many nations, go to persecuted countries and work with the church, and God is pouring out His Spirit, things are happening.

I've got a book coming out in March on why so many Christians have left the faith in addressing the deconstructionist movement, but we get one picture in America and Europe and another picture in Latin America or in Africa or in Asia, so it is what you're saying. Satan's building his army, God's building his army and family, and this is, what a time to be alive. Friends, the new book by Dr. Michael Youssef, The End is Near. Thank you, sir, for joining us today. I really appreciate it. My pleasure, Dr. Brown. Thank you for having me. All right, God bless.

Well, what a joy, what a joy. That is my first time that we've chatted, as far as I know, first time we've met or chatted, so I'm so glad to hear from our brother there, and yeah, that's the book right in my hand here. In fact, it's published by Frontline, which is part of Charisma Media, and they'll be publishing my book due out in March, Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith. Haven't talked about that yet, because we're still talking about the political seduction of the church, but yeah, every generation, doesn't Paul write that in 2 Timothy 4, where he says he's fought the good fight, he's finished the race, right, he's kept the faith, and henceforth he says that a crown of righteousness is stored up for him. He said, but not for me only, but for all those who love his appearing, all those who long for his appearing. In 2 Peter 3, speaking of the new heavens and the new earth and the universes, we know it being refined by fire, burned in fire, right, so God makes something newer and better out of it, right, a remaking of the universe, new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells, and he says that we can speed it, we can speed the coming of the Lord by our holy and godly living. If you're a traditional Jew, you're very familiar with that concept of perform of the mitzvot to hasten the coming of the Messiah, especially that would be emphasized in Hasidic mystical circles, but traditional Judaism in general, that by performing the commandments it is bringing a certain sanctification with it, and as in the Talmud, if all of Israel kept the Sabbath two straight weeks, then the Messiah would return. Well, we as believers can hasten the return of Jesus, so the Messiah would come in traditional Judaism, we're speaking of his return here, that we can hasten his return, how? Well, one way is by godly living, another way is by coming together in union, where we can unite together in Jesus, and then another area, of course, the most obvious is the Great Commission, bringing the gospel throughout the earth, and then working towards Israel's salvation. These are things we can do to hasten his return, so you can live with that sense of something on the horizon, and it's getting closer, right, with each generation it's getting closer, and as some have pointed out, that in our generation the table set, in other words, things could go into an accelerated mode in the next five or ten or twenty years that could bring about the return of Jesus, there could be an acceleration because the table set, when the Jewish people were not back in the land, when Jerusalem was not the recognized capital of Israel, when so many others, you know, when so much of the earth had no access to the gospel and no way to get them the gospel, so much has happened that God could accelerate the pace and the Lord could return in our lifetimes, and we say in our lifetimes, maybe there's a mom nursing her baby, talking, you know, listening, well the baby's one age and maybe there's great great grandma listening, she's 98, what do I mean in our lifetimes? Well, soon, soon enough that I get to see him, but either way, we run our race now, either way we give ourselves to the Great Commission, either way we seek to please the Lord because every one of us is going to stand before him, and the one thing that's guaranteed is that if we don't live to see his return, everybody dies, everybody dies, so let's live in readiness of his return, let's live ready to meet him every day and let us go about doing his work and making a difference and performing acts of kindness and mercy and justice day by day until he returns. What should we be found doing when he returns? Doing good, obeying the Great Commission, glorifying Jesus, doing what God's people are supposed to do. Back with you on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday tomorrow, 15 minutes from now, join me over on YouTube, ASK D.R. Brown, YouTube Spread the Word, we'll have a great Q&A chat.