As we come to the end of 2016, by all counts a highly unusual and even surreal year, I wanted to take a moment to thank each of you who have read my articles or watched my videos and shared them with others. Through our teamwork here online, we are getting a message out to the world, and together, we are making a difference. I couldn’t do it without your help!

Of course, not everyone likes it when you tackle the controversies, confront the culture, and challenge the status quo, and to the extent you hit the target, you will get a lively, sometimes ugly response.

In response to one of my video debates, where I called out a professing Christian leader who wished that the American government would execute gays, one man wrote, “Dr. Michael Brown is a sell-out and a failure and lost because of his old age he needs to give up the show because he's irrelevant besides his 60 plus year old YouTube video subscribers.”

Another wrote, “You are a f-----g joke. You kiss the a-- of f-gs.”

In response to my video on National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution,” one woman posted, “You don’t deserve to live in a liberal world,” while another added, “I was expecting something actually smart and thought stimulating but this is some religion bs lmao also stop misgendering you Old idiot.”

Then there are the regular death wishes and occasional death threats, like “Dr. Brown you should be stoned”; and “Your days are numbered you freak”; and, “Go away and f--k yourself, Dr. Brown. I hope you die of cancer, long slow and painful.”

Of course, there are the constant accusations that I do what I do for selfish gain, such as these: “you are Jew first [meant as an insult] and a Christian for $”; “you are a rightwing shill”; “you serve the g-o-d of mammon”; “this man is a con”; and, “Don’t buy the book. Vampires like Brown only want your money. They use Christianity for get rich quick schemes.”

Then there are the religious conspiracy theories, like this one: “It looks to me like he’s had Jesuit training.” But of course!

And there are the endless accusations of sexual perversion, most to vile even to repeat. Among the more mild is this: “You're obviously a closeted tranny chaser so just come out with it already.”

There are even some readers who get the color of my skin wrong, despite my picture accompanying my articles, like this woman who was upset with my warning to believers about voting for Hillary: “You are BLACK...do you think you are exempt from Lord Trump's discrimination? Go sit down!! or get your dumb A$$ in the basket of deplorables!!” (This is almost as bad as the man who called me a “shill for Hillary.”)

Conversely, a black man reprimanded me for denying that Jesus was black, saying, “Dr. Brown you are a f----g demon and have no knowledge the scriptures” and, “You so called white ppl are devils . . . are gonna pay for your whitewashing brainwashing genocide and just being a f----g cancer to the planet.”

In a similar spirit, a viewer taking exception to my video lecture, “Is Israel an Evil Occupier” began his post with, “Good speech Dr s--t liar mother f----r,” before getting to his points.

One gay man, whom I tried to reach out to, even branded me “the least Christ-like pastor of all time,” while a Muslim told me that, “Ali Khamanei [the Supreme Leader of Iran] is closer to Jesus than you are.”

This, of course, is the tiniest selection of hate-filled posts coming from a wide range of viewers and readers on a daily basis, but they are completely outweighed by comments from those whose lives have been positively impacted, like the two, young Christian men from Syria, recent refugees to Australia, who said to me with tears, “You are our voice”; or the Christian woman who emailed me, eager to share how she had been completely delivered from an intense, long-term lesbian relationship and was now happily engaged to a man; or the 15-year-old high-school student who thanked me for being the grandfather she never had and for helping to preserve her sanity in the midst of the hostile environment.

Thank God for the lives He has touched!

As for all the hate mail, it’s actually a source of encouragement to me, a sign that we’re doing the right thing (Matthew 5:10-12) and another reminder to pray for those who malign us. May they receive the same grace and mercy I received 45 years ago.

So, as we enter this new year, a year filled with opportunity and expectation, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your help in disseminating our message, for your constructive and thoughtful comments (including when you disagree), and for your prayers and support.

You would be massively encouraged and full of hope if you could sit where I sit and see and hear the reports that come our way on a regular basis, and you would be full of faith as we enter 2017, eager to prove out the Scripture that says that nothing is impossible to him or her who believes (Mark 9:23).

It’s true!