Brazil”€™s Bolsonaro Confirms Embassy Move To Jerusalem: We call it Good News Friday because it’s a chance for David and Tim to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. In this episode, we talk about how a peace cross was kept up honoring veterans stands. How Trump”€™s approval jumps up. How Brazil”€™s Bolsonaro confirms embassy move to Jerusalem. And more!

Air Date: 11/16/2018

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

 

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! Where we”€™re talking about today”€™s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, all of it from a Biblical, historical, and Constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. And my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.

 

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It’s Good News Friday. I always look forward to the Good News Friday programs. It’s a great pick-me-up. If you like hearing some good news, if you like knowing that the system works if we work it, and if you like knowing that there are victories happening all across the country, then you will enjoy today’s program.

You can even get some of the previous Good News Friday programs that are available at WallBuildersLive.com, that’s our radio website. You can also get some of the listings of radio stations around the country where you can hear us, but you can also get listings of radio programs, those are archived programs from previous weeks. Listen to those as well.

Then there’s WallBuilders.com, our main website, that’s where you can get a lot of great information and also become a partner of the program and donate to help us continue these great Good News Friday programs that we share with you.

Bladensburg Monument

David, Tim, I always enjoy the wealth of good news that you share with us on Friday. I actually like the fact that I have no idea what you’re going to share. No pre-recording planning meetings around here. I just get to hear this stuff for the first time on the program. So thanks for bringing it all together. Let’s dive in. David, what’s our first piece of good news?

David:

Rick, I’m going to start with something that’s going on in the town of Bladensburg, Maryland. Bladensburg, Maryland, like so many other older cities across the country, has a rich heritage of veterans. A lot of Bladensburg citizens have former generations that served in the military, including during World War I.  In World War I, 49 citizens from Bladensburg, Maryland, lost their lives.

So the town wanted to honor them.

The American Legion erected a memorial there in the town. It has a plaque on the memorial, and it has these four traits that they wanted to highlight: valor, endurance, courage, and devotion. So it’s got an American Legion plaque there with their emblem and those four words.

The dedication says this is dedicated to, “€œThe heroes of Prince George’s County, who gave their lives in the Great War for the liberty of the world.”€

Only problem is this memorial is in the shape of a cross. It was called a peace cross, and it was erected to honor those 49 who were slain from Prince George’s County, Bladensburg, Maryland.

A Fight Over the Cross

It has been there for 90 years, until the American Humanist Association said, “€œWhoa! This is unconstitutional!”€

I don’t know why nobody thought it was unconstitutional prior to that. It’s not a small cross. It’s big. It’s easy to see. But they filed a lawsuit. It worked its way through the federal courts, and went to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which says, “€œNo, you”€™ve got to tear it down. You can’t have something that’s memorial for the military that’s in the shape of a cross.”€

Now the problem with that is just around the corner, not far away, is Arlington Cemetery.

Of course, there are headstones that are in shape of a cross, but that doesn’t count because you can choose the headstone you want for your place of burial. But in Arlington Cemetery, we have crosses there erected as we do in many military cemeteries, as we do even in the military cemeteries overseas around Normandy and etc..

So if this stands, that memorial crosses to soldiers have to come down, we’re talking about marching through most military cemeteries and take them down.

So this is a concerning case.

The good news is the current U.S. Supreme Court just voted that they’re going to hear this case. They’re going to re-examine this decision, and given what we think is the current composition, we expect this to be overturned.

First Liberty is on the Case

Tim:

This is the case coming from our friends over at First Liberty.

Kelly Shackelford is, I guess president or CEO? I don’t know officially what his title is. He’s a guy that runs First Liberty.

We’ve had many attorneys from First Liberty on throughout the years. In fact, even earlier this year, we’ve had several laws dealing with different cases. So not only is it exciting to see something go to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they can weigh in on this and, God willing, give a decision that certainly will protect religious liberty, especially the religious expression in this case in the form of a cross and cemeteries. Certainly there’s nothing unconstitutional about this, but the way the current climate is going, people try to make it appear that this would be unconstitutional.

It’s not.

Not only is it exciting to see the Supreme Court take this case, it’s exciting that we have our friends who are able to go and represent, in the U.S. Supreme Court, this case for this decision.

It”€™s Going to the Supreme Court

So it’s very exciting. Certainly something that we encourage all listeners to do is keep this in your prayers. We definitely want to see the U.S. Supreme Court come down on the side of religious liberty, and maybe in this case the expression of people in a religious form, in public, in a cemetery.

Nonetheless, very good news that the Supreme Court decided to take this case.

David:

I would say the really, really good news, and it echoes what Tim said, is not that they took it, but they took it when Justice Kennedy is not on the court, and justice Kavanaugh is, and justice Gorsuch is. That’s what I think makes this case so significant, is it really increases the odds that we’re going to see a return toward a constitutional view of the First Amendment, and that’s really cool.

Rick

Ok, quick break guys, we’ll be back with more good news. Folks, stay with us, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Muslim Terrorists Attacking American Ships Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton with another moment from American History. The year after the American War for Independence ended we begin addressing the issue of Muslim terrorists in North Africa, who were attacking American ships, killing, and enslaving American seamen.

Congress dispatched John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to negotiate peace. When they asked the Muslim ambassador the reason for the unprovoked attacks he told them that it was written in their Qur’an, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them whenever they could be found.

Sixteen years of negotiations failed and in 1801 America send its military to crush the terrorists. When that war ended in 1805 the first American edition of the Qur’an was published, urging Americans to read the Qur’an to see for themselves that it”€™s teachings were incompatible with the safety and peace of non-Muslims. To see the first American Qur’an and to get more information about America’s first war on Islamic terror, go to WallBuilders.com.

Good News from the Midterms

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live. It’s Good News Friday today. Tim Barton is up next with some good news. Tim?

Tim:

Alright guys, this is something that came out before the midterms. The midterms, several media outlets have come out and reported that this was kind of a referendum against Trump, because the House has now flipped. The House is no longer Republican, the House is now Democrat.

It really was a message to President Trump. We did coverage shortly after the midterm elections—in fact, Dad, you were doing coverage that night on TV—but that Friday, Good News Friday, we did an election recap program. We talked about how, really, that’s not an honest reflection of what happened, considering that historically whatever president is in control, that midterm election generally there’s a massive swing in the House.

The swing was not nearly as far for President Trump as it is for other presidents. The fact he picked up seats in the Senate shows that. So it is a little different than what other presidents have experienced.

The article I have shows that Trump’s approval jumps ahead of Obama’s midterm approval rating, which again could be an indication that—the first midterm under President Obama there was a much larger swing in the Republican direction than there was under President Trump and the Democrat direction. Nonetheless, recognizing that—

David:

Wait, didn”€™t he lose 50 House seats and— was it eight Senate seats?

Trump”€™s Approval Ratings Above Obama”€™s

Tim:

I want to say he lost 63 House seats, and I think it was maybe 6 Senate seats as well, is what was lost in the midterm under President Obama. And yet in the midst of this, leading up to the midterms, President Trump’s approval rating was at 47 percent. President Obama, leading into his midterm, was at 45 percent. So certainly the media would never let you know that President Trump has a higher approval rating than President Obama.

Obviously this is not to say that there hasn’t been problems in the Trump Administration. We on this program have talked about some of the things he’s done that we don’t agree with, although there’s been a lot more that we’ve been able to support, and cheer on, and get behind than we thought was going to be there, more than we’ve seen in many years going all the way back to the mid 2000s. Nonetheless, this was an article that I’m sure did not get much coverage.

The American people, even though the midterms—again, people are saying, “€œWell, President Trump lost the House, or his party did.”€

Therefore people think he’s not doing his job.

That’s not statistically what polling is showing when it comes to President Trump, at least at the mid-term level to this point.

The Tropical Trump

Rick:

All right. So David, you got our next piece. Go ahead, bro.

David:

I have to ask you guys a question: where are the tropics?

Rick:

Where are the tropics?

Tim:

Which tropics are we talking about?

David:

If you hear somebody say tropics, what do you think of?

Tim:

I would think Caribbean somewhere, Bahamas, Jamaica, definitely somewhere with a lot of sun. A lot of beach. Maybe some rain forest?

David:

Well it’s interesting, that’s what I think of. I don’t think of Brazil as the tropics. Brazil is not what first comes to mind. I think of the Caribbean, and think of Hawaii, etcetera, but Brazil is considered a tropical nation.

In Brazil, they recently had a presidential election, and the president is now being called the Tropical Trump. So he”€™s Trump from the tropics, because he is the same outspoken kind of man or has the same boldness.

The same, “€œI’m gonna shake up the political system,”€ kind of approach.

David:

And so the new president down there, the president elect, Jair Bolsonaro—

Tim:

I don’t think that’s how you pronounce his name.

David:

I don’t speak Portuguese well, there’s only two nations in the world that do, and I’m not from either one of them.

Rick:

You said you don’t speak Portuguese well. Does that mean you speak Portuguese”€¦ not well?

David:

Portuguese is a Latin based language, like Spanish, French, and English. So there’s a few words that I can kind of read—I’m not gonna say speak. So it’s one of the Latin based languages.

No, I don’t speak Portuguese.

Tim:

Anyways, so amigo.

David:

No, no, that’s Spanish, another of the Latin based languages.  So what has he done? He has announced that he is moving his embassy to Jerusalem.

Tim:

Wow.

Another Embassy Moving to Jerusalem!

David:

So he said, “€œI told you in the campaign I was going to do this, and I’m going to do it.”€

He told Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, he said, “€œLook, you guys get to decide where your capital is. I don’t decide, that’s your decision. You said it’s Jerusalem, that’s fine with me. I”€™m moving it to Jerusalem.”€

And as it was with Trump, all these people are clamoring saying, “€œNo! You can’t do that!”€

He said, “€œWatch me.”€

So the same kind of boldness. That’s a great piece of news, that you have another nation—Guatemala and America and others are looking at it, but now you have another nation that has moved their embassy to Jerusalem. And, ironically, it’s being done by the new leader of Brazil whom they call the Tropical Trump.

Rick:

Tropical Trump, ok. Any nation that’s willing to move their embassy to Jerusalem, where it should be, we”€™ll come up with a cute name for them as well. But Tropical Trump… that’s going to be interesting.

Quick break, we’ll be right back with more good news. Stay with us, on WallBuilders Live

A Moment From America”€™s History

This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. Shortly after the American Revolution America had become the envy of the world. It still remains a wonder of the modern world as 219 years later America has become the longest ongoing constitutional republic in the history of the world. What was the foundation upon which our Founding Fathers established this great nation? According to John Adams, the foundation was Christianity.

John Adams declared, “€œThe general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. Now I will avow that I then believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”€

According to Founding Father John Adams, it was the principles of Christianity which formed the foundation for American government. For more information on God’s hand in American history contact WallBuilders at 1-800-8-REBUILD.

Don”€™t let Your Child be Left Out of the Educational Process

Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday. Now, usually it’s David and Tim that have compiled all the good news to share with you, but this time I’m just going to read some good news from one of our listeners that sent it in. She wanted to share what she had sent to her daughter’s teacher after they had taught her daughter about the Constitution.

She said, “€œHi, I hope you’re having a great day. Did you know it’s federal law, and Texas law, to teach about the Constitution on Constitution Day? However, I was led to believe your history class just played cards and had free time. But don’t despair. Our child, your student, took the Constitution Alive 12 hour course with former state Representative, Rick Green, and historian David Barton. She’s still working in the workbook, filling in the over 222 pages, going article by article and learning more about topics such as executive orders, recess appointments, Electoral College, judicial tyranny, the enumerated powers of Congress, second amendment, and freedom of religion, just to name a few. It may take our daughter a while to learn it all, but it sure is fun! We also have a copy of the original document, and since my husband and I taught our daughter cursive handwriting, she can read it. I just wanted to let you know that your student, our daughter, is not being left out of the educational process.”€

62 Percent of High School Students Can”€™t Name the Branches of Government

Thanks so much guys. Great letter. I think the point is that you’re supposed to be doing that in the classroom, but if you’re only going to play cards and have free time, some parents will rightly and wisely take it in their hands to teach their children the Constitution. Novel concept.

Tim:

Yeah. Certainly very wisely for parents. One other thing, I actually was speaking in a high school very recently, a public school, and I was going through some of the things that most Americans don’t know. I was trying to make these kids feel comfortable, so I wasn’t asking them things at first. We were pointing out that 62 percent of graduating seniors could not identify the three branches of government, and they all go, “€œOooooh!”€ And only one in a thousand Americans can name the five freedoms protected in the First Amendment, and they’re going, “€œOh my gosh!”€

So you get them kind of amped up.

Then I said, “€œOh, by the way, who in here can name”€¦”€ So I started asking them these basic questions and their teacher was a little mortified and embarrassed.

She came with me afterwards and said, “€œI promise, we’ve talked about those, I tried to tell them.”€

Yet these kids, by and large, didn’t know any of what we would consider very basic things when it comes to constitutional knowledge. So even, for example, if your kids do go to a school where, in theory, they do have some level of government class or some kind of class to really learn about the constitution, it would not be a wise assumption to go with the fact that, “€œOh, my kids probably know about that.”€

Constitution Alive

No. This is probably a really good thing to do at home. Rick, as even you were reading, the Constitution Alive, one of the products we have at WallBuilders, where as you go through the Constitution—and it’s not quite line by line to the Constitution, it’s kind of thought by thought or concept by concept, that big picture stuff to really give a great understanding. It”€™s not just what it says and how it applies, but why the founding fathers came to the place they said, “€œWe have to do this.”€

What was it they were dealing with that led them to come to the place to protect that? So it is great to see parents saying, “€œI’m going to make sure my kids understand what the Constitution is about, why we have it, why we need to uphold it, how it’s applied in life and culture.”€

So definitely kudos to those parents, and we would encourage every parent, don’t just assume that because yours student is learning something about this, or related to this in high school, that they know what it’s really about. I can attest. I speak in a lot of schools, and most kids, even if they have a class where they talk about this, they really don’t know very much about it at all. I wish every school was preparing them to be very good and diligent productive members of society. Unfortunately, it’s just not always the case.

So mom and dad, grandma, grandpa, and listeners, take it upon yourself to make sure that we’re helping teach the rising generation about the Constitution, about how freedom works, and about why we do what we do in America. Constitution Alive is a great way to do that.

“€œGet Rid of the Waste

Rick:

Yeah. In fact, Constitution Alive, by the way, for an individual family or for your whole church, your tea party group, your synagogue, bring it in and bring people together to study the Constitution, for sure, like this mom. As parents, let’s make sure we’re doing that with at least our children, let alone others in the community.

Alright, let’s get another piece of good news before we have to break. Guys, who”€™s going to jump in with one?

Tim:

Right here, I’ve got one I think we can do quickly before we go into break. The headline of this is, “€œGet Rid of the Waste,”€ and that’s a quote from President Trump from shortly before the midterm elections. He was referring to his different cabinets, and he says he’s instructed every single cabinet secretary that, coming up this next year, part of their budget proposal for their cabinet, they have to reduce their budget five percent.

We would love to see this applied across the federal budget. President Trump doesn’t have the authority or ability to do that, and certainly with Congress looking the way it is right now I doubt Nancy Pelosi is going to want to reduce spending by 5 percent, or cut the budget by 5 percent. Although certainly with us being more than 20 trillion dollars in debt it would make sense to trim back some of that budget.

A Nickel Plan

Certainly there are places that we can do that. But President Trump told every cabinet secretary they have to cut their budget by 5 percent. He came out and said that. I’ve heard of the penny plan where people want to reduce spending by one penny out of every dollar, he says rather than go with the penny plan we will go with the nickel plan. So he said 5 percent has to go. He says, “€œI believe we can actually do it easily.”€

Well, he sometimes is known to maybe give a little exaggeration, but in this situation I think you probably could find a lot of waste, a lot of the fat and flab as they often call it, that you can reduce. You can cut off and really not minimize any of the functionality of those cabinet positions. Definitely something we appreciate, that we are having a federal government where, at least at the cabinet level, they’re being told to reduce their budget to save the American”€™s money.

Rick:

All right. Quick break now guys. We’ll be right back with more good news, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Front Sight Training Course

Rick Green here, from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Greene, Tim Barton, David Barton, have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution?

They’re raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. Go to my website right now at RickGreen.com. You can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at Front Sight, or Larry Elder, or Tim Barton and myself out there. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family. It is a fantastic place to train. They train 30 to 40,000 people a year, and they’re just wonderful to work with. You can go with us. We’re headed back out.

We’re going to have a great time out there, and if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we’re going to treat you. If you’re a donor of WallBuilders, you”€™ll be able to go to this Front Sight class for free. It normally cost a thousand dollars, go to FrontSight.com right now. You’ll see that it’s a thousand dollars to attend their two-day class. You are going to be able to go for free, if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders Live.

So, check out that information at RickGreen.com and join us. We are going once a month for the next three months. You can pick one of those classes. All of our previous classes have filled up. Make sure that you get online today and get signed up. Whether you’ve never shot before, or you’ve shot your whole life, you will enjoy this class. You”€™ll enjoy the fellowship. We’ll be training on the range during the day and studying the Constitution at night. What a great combination. Check it out today at RickGreen.com

What”€™s a Teenager”€™s Favorite Restaurant

Rick:

We’re back, with WallBuilders Live, for maybe two more pieces of good news. We’ll see how fast David and Tim can talk. David?

David:

We’re going to start out with a survey, and around here we do like to look at polling and surveys, and I will point out that polling on election night was not all that good in a whole lot of races.

There were races that we were watching—we watched about 50 House races on live coverage on election night. We watched 13 Senate races, and not many of them came according to prediction by the polls. So, polls aren”€™t always right. Surveys are pretty good because they can show you culturally what’s happening.

So there’s a survey that we’re going to look at. It comes out every year and has been coming out for a number of years. It is called Taking Stock with Teens, as in teenagers. Taking Stock with Teens Survey. Now, according to Taking Stock with Teens Survey, when you look at average income teens, and you look at the top restaurant that teens or teenagers prefer in 2010, what was the top restaurant for teenagers?

McDonalds and Starbucks and Chick-fil-a, Oh My!

Tim:

2010? That”€™s an interesting question, because I can guarantee I know the favorite one today. But in 2010? Oh man. So 2010… restaurant, or just places to get food?

David:

Place to get food.

Tim:

I would have said it was at Starbucks, probably, in 2010. Starbucks probably would have been the favorite place, although that would be more like coffee snacks. So for food in 2010″€¦

David:

It can be any kind of a restaurant, any kind of eating place.

Tim:

In 2010, I would say Starbucks probably is a top one in 2010.

David:

It’s actually McDonald’s, and McDonald’s had been there a number of years.

Tim:

What?

David:

In 2011—

Tim:

People made mistakes in 2010.

Rick

Are you all saying there’s somewhere else to eat besides Chick-fil-a?

Tim:

Well, see, if we said, “€œWhat’s the most popular one in 2018?”€ I would have said hands down Chick-fil-a. No problem. But backing up, yes. Before everybody came to their senses, before Christians were awakened to the reality of the goodness of Chick-fil-a, I don’t know.

So it’s 2010 was McDonald’s, and then in 2011?

David:

Starbucks took it. So from 2011 for the next seven years, Starbucks has been number one and this year among teenagers, now number one is—drum roll—Chick-fil-a.

Now let me see if I get this right. We’re talking about a lot of Gen Zers here. What they do is they have a food source that refuses to recognize Christmas, it’s vocally anti Trump, is pro LGBTQ and transgender, and they have set that aside for a food chain that’s closed on Sundays and plays Christian music in its restaurants?

Chick-fil-a, a Place to Start

Tim:

Because there is nothing at Starbucks as delicious as Chick-fil-a. That is the answer. That is why.

So, Chick-fil-a, it’s interesting as we talked about the rising generation, whether the millennials or Gen Zers, and how much they are moved by social justice issues. Chick-fil-a seems to have exceeded any expectation for a social justice issues by serving delicious food, and by doing it with an incredible attitude.

One of the things we encourage for young people is, hey, if you want to have a good foundation when it comes to entering into the job market, Chick-fil-a is where you want to go.

You will learn about customer service, you will learn about having a good attitude and personality, and working hard and being good teammates. I would imagine that if you’ve worked at Chick-fil-a, especially if you work for any extended period of time, one year, two or three years, that’s probably going to look good on your resume because your boss is going to know how you work hard and say, “€œMy pleasure.”€

So I would think Chick-fil-a certainly has benefits beyond just being good food, but great to know that, for the rising generation, they at least know where to find delicious chicken.

Brazil Moves their Embassy, Chick-fil-a Beats Starbucks, and More Good News at WallBuilders Live

Rick:

All right guys, we’re out of time for good news today, but there’s more good news on our Website WallBuildersLive.com. You can actually go back into previous Friday programs for the past few weeks and get some more of that good news, or make sure you don’t miss next Friday for Good News Friday.

Also throughout the week we got Foundations of Freedom Thursday programs, where we take your questions and we dive into those foundational principles. We have great guests Monday through Wednesday, so check it all out. Next week on WallBuilders Live, or hit the website today at WallBuildersLive.com.

Then of course we encourage you to also come alongside us as a partner or contributor at WallBuilders.com. We were talking coffee. Why not set aside one coffee a month? Five bucks a month helps us continue this great program and bring you this great news. Thanks for listening today to WallBuilders Live.