Kathy Hughes June 6th, 2007

Bless you Steve Brown! You always say what I'm thinking just like Simon on American Idol. You say it so true! We so need to hear that our only goodness is in Jesus!

dorsey June 7th, 2007

Uh, Steve, I did like you said (well, I thought so).

Could you send $500 to the 3rd Circuit Court of Gloucester County, NJ? If not, maybe you could recommend a good bail bondsman? Thanks.

Chemical Erik June 8th, 2007

I like to send them to mrdeity.com.

I've also seen a room full of adults at church go red when I mention God wants all the husbands and wives to have lots of sex. It's extra fun to offend the pious with the very source they claim for their righteousness!

Mark June 9th, 2007

I think my unhealthy addiction to the approval of others has been the one thing that has prevented me from offending people when I should have. I really want people to like me, so it's tough to want to ruin that by offending them.

Christov June 10th, 2007

Um, Steve, didn't you and Pete set up and knock an "offensive" straw man in a, um, recent Key Life broadcast? 8 June 2007? I just want to kid with and wind you up a little bit. Now, I understand that you can Pope-out on this one ("I didn't say that (about Islam), I was only quoting an earlier Pope who did say that ) Of course, that'd be casting Martin Luther as the Steve Brown of the Reformation, but that wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it? Except that Luther guy didn't grow any tulips, although he may have mistaken them for onions and eaten a few? I'm just kidding. I liked your blog, and got what you were saying in your broadcast, even though they seem a little contradictory.

Happy Sunday,

Christov
Lovely Stepford, TN

Al Pastor Bo June 13th, 2007

What exactly was the "tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil" and why was God so opposed to eating from it? Could it be that constant conversation and debut over what is good and what is evil and the knowledge thereof could be desensitizing to our humanity. Apathy being the chiefest of traits amoungst the saints in our day. Could it be that Ted Turner has it right when he says "show it to them long enough, it will go from thought provoking, to funny, to a lifestyle".?

Be careful my friend, words are eternal and shall stay with you for all eternity.

(Joe) Joseph Black aka Dr J. June 17th, 2007

Steve,
I love your teaching. I am a radical restorationist not a reformationist.Personally, I feel Luther may have got it in some areas, but he still missed it.
It's difficult for Popes or Priest to give up the reins of power.
I enjoyed the quote though. Keep offending, I do daily in my ranting about the history of the church. I want people to know Christ instead of man's traditions, and religion. I love your efforts to make people think. I listen to the CD's you send me and enjoy your teaching, It is both spiritual and thought provoking at once.
God bless

Charles October 11th, 2007

Al Pastor Bo needs a beer.

Paul June 17th, 2008

Martin Luther also said this:

Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self�glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them.

Did I not tell you earlier that a Jew is such a noble, precious jewel that God and all the angels dance when he farts?

Alas, it cannot be anything but the terrible wrath of God which permits anyone to sink into such abysmal, devilish, hellish, insane baseness, envy, and arrogance. If I were to avenge myself on the devil himself I should be unable to wish him such evil and misfortune as God's wrath inflicts on the Jews, compelling them to lie and to blaspheme so monstrously, in violation of their own conscience. Anyway, they have their reward for constantly giving God the lie.

Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death.

And much, much more, such as provoking people to burn down the Jews Synagogues, calling them demons in the flesh and many other horrible things. Hitler referred to Luther's writings before his persecution and murder of the Jews.

Paul June 17th, 2008

Be careful who you associate yourself with or quote. Here's another famous Martin Luther anti-semitic statements…

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly � and I myself was unaware of it � will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.

Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. (remainder omitted)

Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: "what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord." Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18], "You are Peter," etc, inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.

Fifth, I advise that safe�conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. (…remainder omitted).

Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in a good and worthy cause.

Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}. For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.

My essay, I hope, will furnish a Christian (who in any case has no desire to become a Jew) with enough material not only to defend himself against the blind, venomous Jews, but also to become the foe of the Jews' malice, lying, and cursing, and to understand not only that their belief is false but that they are surely possessed by all devils. May Christ, our dear Lord, convert them mercifully and preserve us steadfastly and immovably in the knowledge of him, which is eternal life. Amen.

From Luther's Works, Volume 47: The Christian in Society IV, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971). pp 268�293

Thomas June 17th, 2008

Luther at times comes across as a wanna be Paul. But I should be carefull about making judgement calls when If I'm not mistaken he suffered from mental problems. I love Luther though, he was just a product of his times like we all are.

MikeMcK June 18th, 2008

So, Steve, do you think that "whores" and homosexuals should repent of their whoring and homosexuality?

greg from canada June 18th, 2008

Was that woman a whore by just wearing that dress? It was definately uncalled for. I met someone once who went through an exact situation as mentioned above. She was a christian, just dresses fashionably (nothing revealing), and was visiting a friends church and the pastor did the same thing to her.

Paul June 19th, 2008

I'm offended. You did what you wanted to do. Use to be a Christian, now a Jew, and by quoting Martin Luther you are promoting anti-semitism. What good came from Martin Luther? He wanted to change the cannon of scripture, basically taking the authority of the whole church to himself, promoted the burning of Jewish property and synagogues, and caused a ripple effect in christianity that has given birth to 23,000 different denominations, each one claiming to stand on the Bible alone, and each one having different doctrines. So he said stuff about faith and not works, so what? Try telling your wife you love her and tell her to believe you without you having to work for her love. I bet your marriage wouldn't last long.

mikeM June 19th, 2008

Yea….Luther….he was a real piece of work ehh? Without him, we'd still be Catholics (God forbid…que tone of sarcasm). Or Orthodox. Or Armenian. Or, whatever. From what I understand, his initial intention was to Reform the Catholic (one and only unified) Church. As with anyone, (except Jesus the Messiah of course) it's important to understand the good and bad of what they stood for. Otherwise, you patronize or demonize them personally (pick your poison), and don't take the time to sift through their epiphanies and errors, and come to your own conclusion. God forbid we think for ourselves right? And Steve, on the subject of offending someone, I'm gonna go smoke a joint……….MMMMUUUUAAAAAAAAAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!! (I've been working on my evil laugh…. It's much better in person…c'mon…. I just KNOw your doing it right now…)

KenWritez June 29th, 2008

Paul: "by quoting Martin Luther you are promoting anti-semitism."

Paul, relax. You'll be okay Just get more fiber for your diet. And several margaritas. In that order.

So Luther had rectal cranial inversion about Jews. Does that mean he can have nothing valid to say about anything else, ever? You appear to have an unhealthy fixation on Luther and legalism–should we ignore what you say? According to your own logic, yes.

abigail November 24th, 2008

As an Asian Christian, I do not understand why Christians in America who have the Bible and are free to praise and worship all the time argue so much about defending their sins and still wallowing in sin despite centuries of the knowledge of Christ and the Word of God. What about the Christians who are in jail because they had a page of the Bible in their possession? How about those who are beaten because of their faith in Christ? How come these two worlds that are supposed to be Christian so different? Who is Jesus really and what is it really like to be Christian? Christianity here in America has confused me- where is the cross of Christ?

AbbyLadybug July 3rd, 2009

Anyone who struggles and overcomes through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ is a hero. So many Christians like to put sins into categories, dividing them into the "big" ones and the "acceptable" (or "little") ones. Isn't it far more important what God thinks and what HE has to say about these matters? After all, He can see into the deepest depths of our soul, even when we are fooling ourselves. Thanks for being offensive!

Scott December 1st, 2009

I have big sins that I deal with except that I fail, a lot. This has been my biggest struggle of living the christian life while having a problem as mine hanging over me. Your program always makes me think, this blog is no different.

Often I am the one offeneded by my self!

Daniele January 26th, 2010

Hello Paul:
I heard the same thing about Luther and worse about Calvin from my history teacher. For Calvin, his theories gave rise to the persecution of the poor as if they were nothing, mostly in England. I must say that it shattered some admiration I had for Luther and the good that happened because of him. So both were wrong and right about certain things, that makes them humans. The apostle by whom you are named was also a persecutor of people. We are all in the same bag. I do fine because:
The solution is to find the finger of God in all of this. It is about Him after all and I can see what He did in history using the good, the bad and the ugly. It is His story and we are part of it and it is a story of love. Would you be glad if He decided today that you Paul and you know yourself better than anyone, should be used for His mighty work. What a privilege it would be right. I hope you experience that for your sake. Also, it is good to remember that when you eat a fruit, you cannot eat all of it. I cannot judge Luther, or Calvin because, that would mean I am better than them, who am I to know, or that there is a scale for sin.
I am a firm believer that all is good and useful to God, nothing goes to waste and He knows what He is doing, otherwise, I would be worshipping a worthless God. And Luther is another proof that He loves.
He used Alexander the Great to conquer the world and set it to a common language, he used the Roman to conquer and build 53,000 miles of road which were safe to travel — with the common language, there was the spread of the Gospel. Think of history as His plan and you will find Him there and worry only about one thing — forgetting how much He loves you, no matter what.
Daniele