California Failed To Pass Laws Against Homeschooling: Huge victory in California! Bills attacking homeschooling and Christian private schools lost in a big way! We live in a republic and this is proof that getting involved really does make a difference. Tune in now to learn more!

Air Date: 05/14/2018

Guest: Pastor Jack Hibbs

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 talk about the day”€™s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture. But always from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

For that conversation today we have Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills out in California. And we’re going to be talking about several issues happening in California and some very positive things happening there as well.

We have special guests throughout the week and we also have Foundations of Freedom Thursday programs and Good News Friday programs. All of which is available at our website right now at WallBuildersLive.com. Be sure and visit there to find out more about our program. And then also encourage you to visit WallBuilders.com – that’s our main website with a wealth of information and tools available to you to equip and inspire your family to be better citizens, to get engaged in the process, to obey the biblical commands and actually go out there and be salt and light in our community. So, check all of that out there at WallBuilders.com and WallBuildersLive.com.

Jack Hibbs is with us, Pastor Jack kids, always good to have you, sir. God bless you. Appreciate your time today.

Pastor Hibbs:

Rick, it’s great to be with you. It’s always great.

Rick:

Hey, I know there’s good things happen at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills because we’ve been there, we see what God’s doing in the church. I joke with you sometimes about, “€œYeah, but you’re in California. How good can things be?”€ And often we have to talk about some of the bad things happening there. But you were just telling me off the air actually there’s a good feeling right now, people are getting engaged and you’re seeing some positive steps.

Pastor Hibbs:

I’ve got to tell you this is the first time I have seen this in my lifetime, Rick, and I’m a San Diego born native Californian. Something’s up and it’s kind of like the vibe or the feel, Rick, that was the pre-Trump election, you could see people kind of getting stirred up–

Rick:

Yeah.

A Huge Victory In California

Pastor Hibbs:

–and you didn’t quite know how it’s going to go. But something was happening. Well, California seems like we’re catching that wave a little later, but we are catching the wave. You can feel the populace starting to be very concerned, very engaged. And, gosh Rick, to back it up, I don’t know if we have the time or if you’d like to hear about one of our victories a week and a half ago–

Rick:

Yeah, please.

Pastor Hibbs:

–it was huge.

Rick:

Yes.

Pastor Hibbs:

We believe that this victory, you guys, was huge for the nation because we all know that what happens in California doesn’t stay in California.

Rick:

That”€™s right.

Pastor Hibbs:

So, here’s what happened – up in the San Francisco area two different authors of two very horrific bills – AB-2926 and AB-2756 were both bills created by Democrats to go directly after, I might add even violently after, homeschool parents, and families, and even private schools, specifically Christian. What they decided to do was put forth a bill there in Sacramento that would require all homeschoolers in the state of California to be subject to unannounced state inspections of their homes to determine the safety of the home. Now, who’s going to set their criteria–

Rick:

Right.

Pastor Hibbs:

— for the state of California which is anti homeschool to begin with.

The Media Jumped On It

Rick:

And of course, Jack, background on this – they use that horrific * case as the reason that–

Pastor Hibbs:

That”€™s right.

Rick:

–horrible case, this family was not homeschooling, they were claiming to be homeschoolers. But they used that label and the media jumped on it.

Pastor Hibbs:

That”€™s right.

Rick:

And so now the legislators decide all, “€œOh, all homeschoolers must be this way or there must be a bunch of these crazy families out there.”€ Yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

That’s exactly correct. And so on top of that, Rick, they would require that all California homeschool parents or instructors would have to be state certified, that they would have to incorporate state mandated education specifically– and I don’t know how much your listeners are aware, but California has some of the most sexually violent and offensive sex ed for children from k up. It’s just unbelievable.

So, here’s what happened – there was such a push back to that in the likes that we’ve not seen before. Thousands of people began to respond. We started to see just a groundswell. We had at our church, for example, a day where people would come and sign handwritten letters to their assemblyman, we had thousands of people show up for this–

Rick:

Wow.

Look What Happens When People Stand!

Pastor Hibbs:

–and thousands of letters. What happened was people began to speak up and call and we know this for a fact because we actually wound up calling these assembly members, and asking them, and talking to them, and I was personally told basically, “€œCall off your dogs. We’ve heard from you. That’s enough.”€ And here’s what happened a week and a half ago – in Sacramento on the day of the vote there were thousands of people standing in opposition to the bill. It went on for hours, almost four hours, Rick, people, citizens, got up and said, “€œI oppose these bills.”€

What happened was something that we’ve had state assembly members tell us since it’s never happened before in California history. Even the author of the bill when it came up for a motion to vote on it no one put the motion forward, no one put the bill forward, no one voted on it, it never got to a vote.

Rick:

Wow.

Pastor Hibbs:

They heard from the citizens of California so strongly that even the author ran from his own bill and it died on the floor. Both bills were defeated because the other author just simply pulled her bill off.

Rick:

Wow.

Pastor Hibbs:

So, this was a huge victory and it’s the first time that we have felt fresh air in California where people feel as though maybe there is some hope. So, this is an exciting time.

Rick:

That’s fantastic and it proves the system works. It proves that you can work this system even in California. I heard that the families were literally snaked around the building lined up to go testify. It was just a huge outpouring.

Every Person From Every Walk of Life

Pastor Hibbs:

True. Very, very, very, true. So, yeah this is fantastic. In fact, I love what you just said Rick because that’s been my mantra the whole thing – is everybody– and I’ve been telling people if you’re a Christian or not I don’t care if you’re an atheist you live in a republic, so act like it.

Rick:

Yeah, yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

You live in a republic. So, do it. Stop being distracted by your x box, or by the Laker game – get up–

Rick:

Amen.

Pastor Hibbs:

–and get involved. And I got to tell you – we had– standing in defense of homeschoolers– we had every person from every walk of life representing homeschooling. We couldn’t believe it.

And then I found this out, Rick – a year and a half ago there was this big movement in California to impose all kids to be vaccinated without parental consent. Well, it turns out that a lot of those people that did not agree with the vaccination policy that was imposed pulled their kids out of public school and began to homeschool them.

So, what happened was this huge backlash against the elected officials. So, what we’re doing now as a church and I’m encouraging pastors up and down the state to inform their people– Rick, you and I know the Johnson Amendment, we’ve been trying to break it for years yet, right?

Rick:

Yeah.

Let the Bible Be the Standard

Pastor Hibbs:

So, I”€™m encouraging pastors to stand with me in opposition to the Johnson Amendment and encourage their churches, literally, who to vote for based on a biblical worldview. I’m not interested in parties, but I will encourage the church and I have been to vote for the candidate that represents the closest biblical worldview that you and I have.

So, that’s pro-life, pro marriage, I include–

Rick:

Pro parental rights since you”€™ve got two cases here on parental rights.

Pastor Hibbs:

Parental rights – you go down that list and believe it or not it makes electing someone very simple. I let the Bible being the standard of who I vote for.

Rick:

That”€™s great.

Pastor Hibbs:

I don’t know, Rick, it feels optimistic for the first time in California.

Rick:

It sounds like, even with those two issues, that what happened was you had people that were against the legislation and helping to defeat the legislation that weren’t even all homeschoolers. They saw it as an attack not just on homeschoolers, but on freedom, on parents, on being able to raise your children and choose how they’re going to be educated.

Pastor Hibbs:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And listen, again, I don’t know how much time we have to talk, but we’ve got this other bill that these guys–

Rick:

Yeah, next battle, right? Let’s see that same kind of outpouring from the church and from communities that want to protect freedom on this bill. Tell us about this next one.

The Next Battle

Pastor Hibbs:

Yeah, this one we hope picks up as much momentum as the other. this is AB2943.

Rick:

This is the one that threatens free speech and freedom of religion.

Pastor Hibbs:

I encourage everyone in your audience to go and research this to find out if anything has ever been submitted on the soil of this nation since its founding because you’ll find nothing of it. California State Assembly, and now it’s passed the Assembly and it’s going to the Senate, they have determined that a pastor, a psychologist, a legal counselor, cannot– listen to me carefully– cannot help counsel, speak, discuss.

Anyone from the LBGTQ community who comes to us, to our offices, or to our church services, and says, “€œI would like more information on my lifestyle, I’m not feeling good about it, I think I want out.”€ would literally become illegal because here’s how they’ve done it. The state believes that is fraudulent business practice because a pastor is being paid by congregants, or a licensed counselor in California is being paid by the clients, or by some group, to speak to somebody about exiting the LBGT community – even if they want to. California legislatures have determined that as a bad business practice. And they, in this bill have, determined that it’s punishable by fines or by imprisonment.

If this passes we have a couple of options. Number one, we don’t obey it. As pastors, I’m speaking just to pastors, we don’t obey it because we are to love the LBGT community with the gospel. They need love., they need help, they need a way out. Our state of California is trying to muzzle the pastor from doing that.

The second thing is this, which might be the better way to go, Rick. If we lose here in California I’ve already spoken to our good friends at ADF and we are circling our wagons to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Which, if that is successful is the Supreme Court, it’s not just California that would be safe or free, it’s all 50 states that would be safe or free from this remarkable banning of pastors, banning of counselors. And if you look online, look at the news broadcast, even Fox played it just the other night – could the Bible be banned in California because it addresses homosexuality.

Stand Up!

Rick:

It is an absolute direct attack on the First Amendment – both freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And I can’t imagine that even a majority of Californians would be for this. It’s like you said a while ago – people are on x-box, and doing whatever, and being entertained, and not paying attention to these battles. The left shows up in California for these battles. And we proved with this homeschooling bill that conservatives, and Bible believing folks, and just people that want to direct the upbringing of their child, they can show up too and when they do show up they can make a difference. And in this case you got an even broader market in terms of people that this affects in a negative way, just the attack on free speech.

So, Californians, rise up. Here’s a great opportunity to speak truth, and stand for truth, and defeat a horrible bill that’s as unconstitutional as anything I’ve seen.

Pastor Hibbs:

Well, Rick, everybody knows somebody in California. I know your broadcast is going nationwide right now. Do us a favor here out west, help us please, throw us a lifeline. Will you contact a pastor in California? Will you help me do that?

Rick:

Yeah, that”€™s good.

Pastor Hibbs:

Get ahold of a pastor, educate him, because most pastors I’m calling, they’re not even aware of this bill. Tell them what’s going on, tell them to get involved. And by all means tell them to tell their flock to call Sacramento. Every Christian and every church in California should be bombarding Sacramento and their state senators saying, “€œIf you do not drop this bill, if you do not oppose this bill, we will vote you out.”€

Rick:

Yeah.

The Language They Understand

Pastor Hibbs:

That the language they understand. Thank God the Lord has given us a republic. And that’s how it works.

Rick:

That”€™s right.

Pastor Hibbs:

If they don’t represent your biblical worldview, Christian, vote them out.

Rick:

Jack, just from a practical perspective, people have got to realize what this means. So, because some Christians, even some pastors, might say, “€œWe don’t mess with the politics and we don’t get involved in all that stuff. We just do our thing over here.”€ Well, guess what? If you don’t pay attention to politics, politics is about to come say, “€œYou can’t do your thing anymore, you can’t follow the Bible, you can’t teach the Bible.”€

Pastor Hibbs:

Good point. Listen to us from California, people. It was the government that stepped into our pulpits and said, “€œYou will not define marriage based upon your Bible. We will define marriage and you will obey us.”€ It’s the state of California that stepped into our pulpits and said, “€œWe will decide when life begins and you will pay for elective abortions. We don’t care.”€ Listen, California said, “€œWe don’t care what the Hobby Lobby case determined regarding your religious convictions.”€ California currently, as I speak you, is in violation of federal law based upon that abortion bill.

Rick, I don’t know if you know this, we haven’t talked in a while–

Rick:

And this, Jack, just for our listeners, real quick. So, the Hobby Lobby case, in case you’re not familiar with it, was the one where the Green family and Hobby Lobby said, “€œWe will not support and pay for any taking of innocent life. And so we will not follow the Obama health care mandate–“€

Supreme Court Decision

Pastor Hibbs:

Right.

Rick:

“€œ–to do that.”€ And they took it all the way Supreme Court, they won 5 to 4. And the court upheld the constitutional concept that you shouldn’t have to violate your conscience. What you’re saying is that that is not– California’s ignoring that and not just with businesses, but churches, right?

Pastor Hibbs:

Well, I’ll tell you what. Shortly after that decision by the U.S. Supreme Court we had a letter from the California Secretary of State saying, stating, that California viewed the decision by the United States Supreme Court to be unconstitutional and that 501 c3 non-profit religious organizations would in fact have to pay for elective abortions.

Rick, I refuse to do that. We lost our insurance coverage, we sued the state of California on this issue. I testified before the state Senate on this issue as a violation of several things, but number one my First Amendment rights of course, but my biblical rights. But the fact of the matter– I told our state legislators, “€œYou’re asking me to take tithe dollars from worshipers of God who are pro-life because God is pro-life, and you’re asking me to take part– skim off part of their tithe worship money and send it to the aborting of a baby which offends the heart of God. I told them, “€œI cannot do that. I will not do that.”€

We wound up losing our insurance coverage. Our church currently has no insurance. We have a co-op that we’ve joined. As I said, we’ve filed a lawsuit, we are in court with the state of California suing them. Listen to this – church is suing the state of California demanding that it obey–

Rick:

The law.

Pastor Hibbs:

The U.S. Constitution.

The Status of the Case

Rick:

Wow. Wow. And you guys– now what’s the status of your case at this point? Are you guys in district court or are y’all in a local district court in California?

Pastor Hibbs:

We, no, this is being heard–

Rick:

Or in a federal private.

Pastor Hibbs:

It’s a federal court. Exactly.

Rick:

Okay.

Pastor Hibbs:

So, it’s in process now, but you know what’s crazy, Rick? A lot of people have forgotten this – that’s one of three cases that our churches involved in. Proposition eight, remember marriage?

Rick:

Yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

My whole argument back then was Prop 8 was to defend the definition that marriage is between a man and a woman based upon the Bible. Well, remember we won that, got it on the ballot, Rick. Californians voted for it and it won overwhelmingly.

Rick:

Twice, right?

Pastor Hibbs:

Yes. And then a homosexual judge by the name of Vaughn Walker stepped in and overturned it. One man overturned it, three weeks later he retired. That is still– legally we change the state constitution, but it was put on hold and not enforced because of that district judge decision.

The second thing is the famous bathroom bill. The bathroom bill where in California our legislators said all the bathrooms would have to be gender neutral bathrooms. And a male or female could use any bathroom they wanted at any time because those who are gender confused wouldn’t feel bad.

Rick:

But hold that thought. I want to get the story of what you guys did, how your church is responding to this in California and fighting back and defending young ladies like that. When we come back though. We’ve got to take a quick break. Stay with us, folks. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Leadership Training Program

Rick:

Hey, friends! We’ve got a great program to share with you today. It”€™s the WallBuilders Leadership Training Program and it’s an opportunity for 18 to 25 year olds to come spend two weeks diving into the original documents we’re always talking about here on WallBuilders Live.

Tim, you’ve already been doing this a couple of summers and seen the results of young people coming to this program. We’re going to see more of them coming this year.

Tim:

Yeah, Rick, it”€™s something that”€™s been cool to see the transformation with young people coming in. The emphasis, for us, largely is a pursuit of truth. We have a culture that doesn’t know what truth is. We don’t know what biblical truth is, or constitutional truth, or the American heritage that we have. And so we really dive into original documents and say, “€œWell, what did they actually write? What did they actually do? Not just what did somebody say, what is actually true, and the truth is what’s transformational.

David:

Yeah, guys. This really is a remarkable opportunity. And for those who want to spend time with us and spend time in the original documents, this is a great program. So, if you’re from 18 to 25, or you know someone who’s 18 to 25, send them to sign up for one of our three sessions this summer at WallBuilders.com/leadershiptraining.

Bathroom Bill in California

Rick:

Welcome back while others like Pastor Jack Hibbs our special guest today talking about what’s going on in California, it affects the entire nation. And pastor, as we were going to the break– sorry to interrupt you there, I had to get one break in the day– you were telling us about this crazy deal in California where they’re saying we’re going to let boys and girls all go to the same bathrooms. The young ladies forced to even take showers in the same showers. It’s unbelievable what they’re doing.

And you guys there in California that said, “€œHey, this just isn’t right.”€ in your church even. You said, “€œWe’re going to push back on this.”€ You created a petition and got– you got Californians to sign a petition saying, “€œNo, we don’t want our bathrooms to be open to anyone that wants to go in. We want ladies to be protected, and ladies–“€ And how many Californians signed that petition?

Pastor Hibbs:

1.2 million signed.

Rick:

Wow.

Pastor Hibbs:

Here’s what we’re in court about on this one. We had no idea what was going on until we started getting phone calls from county clerks in the state of California. One after another stating this – “€œI’ve been advised, I’ve been contacted, by the secretary of state and by the attorney general of California to stop counting the petitions.”€ Rick, since that investigation– and I could mention some names you would know who they are, they’re involved in the investigation.

By the way, you’re about to hear it again on the news, it’s about to surface. But they now have evidence, we now have evidence that these clerks are willing to testify as to what the state told them to do. And we know now for a fact that many petitions were either destroyed or vandalized so that they couldn’t be counted. There was an overwhelming response of Californians that thought a boy, a 13 year old boy, taking a shower or going to the bathroom with a 13 year old girl was a bad idea. And yet our legislators in California just couldn’t see it.

Why Even Have a Republic?

Rick:

Why even have a republic or a process for the people’s voice to be heard if they’re just gonna ignore the petitions and figure out a way around them? The system is at stake if you’re not allowed to actually participate in this way.

So, you’re suing to say, “€œHey, follow the law, count the petitions, and give us a chance to get this on the ballot.”€

Pastor Hibbs:

Yeah, you know what? I know somebody might be listening and saying, “€œMan, Pastor, what’s the deal? Don’t you ever preach the gospel? Is this all you do?”€ Listen, I preach the gospel ninety nine to one over this issue. Here’s the thing – when you preach the gospel and teach the word of God chapter by chapter, verse by verse, you know what happens? People get equipped.

Rick:

Yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

They begin to love righteous and they get emboldened because they know what they believe. And so what they do is they start holding the culture accountable. This is being salt and light. This is being that agent of righteousness.

Rick:

Yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

Listen, we’re Christians and we love the Lord, but didn’t Jesus say, “€œLet your light so shine before men.”€? The word implies an unbelieving world of men. And didn’t Jesus tell us that we actually are to do righteousness? Well, I want to ask all of us, including myself, when are we doing righteousness? What does that look like? To go do the right thing is all God asked us to do. And when you do that, apparently, the world is going to hate you because you’re doing righteousness, you’re bringing light into the arena and they don’t like it.

Not Just for California

Rick:

And how can it not be the right thing to stand up for that 13 year old girl that’s being told she”€™s–?

Pastor Hibbs:

Uh huh.  

Rick:

I mean, come on, this is– it’s common sense, Jack, but most pastors aren”€™t willing to do it. The fact that you guys are has put you on the frontlines of this battle, as you said a couple times a program, not just for California, but for the country. And I don’t usually do this, but is there a way for our listeners outside of California or all across California to help with these legal battles? Can they donate to– do you have some kind of a legal fund or what can they do to help you guys?

Pastor Hibbs:

Gosh, we really don’t. Thank God the legal efforts have been very well provided for by Advocates for Faith and Freedom. That’s a group that’s taking care of one of our lawsuits. The other one is of course the wonderful people at Alliance Defending Freedom. So, that’s great. I tell you what–

Rick:

Well, we’ll put those two websites on our website today. We’ll do links to those two groups and folks can donate in you all”€™s name to those groups, right?

Pastor Hibbs:

That’s fantastic. I tell you what, more than anything please pray for us in California because we’re actually excited. This is an epic battle. We know, as I said earlier, what happens here, good, bad, or ugly, is exported to other parts of our nation.

Rick:

Yeah.

When Democrats Say Their Party Has Gone Too Far

Pastor Hibbs:

But listen, for everybody, you can go to Real Impact – realimpact.us, for information, realimpact.us. And you can go to the CaliforniaFamily.org website to stay up to date. Tell your friends in California to go to those websites and you’ll be informed and you’ll see what’s happening.

But, Rick, I want to end on an up note.

Rick:

Yeah.

Pastor Hibbs:

People are stirred up, people are pumped up, something’s happening. And when we see Democrats in California saying, “€œMy party has gone too far.”€ That’s an encouraging word.

Rick:

No doubt.

Pastor Hibbs:

That’s an encouraging thing.

Rick:

No doubt.

Pastor Hibbs:

So, getting people engaged and that’s what we’re going to do.

Rick:

God gives us these wonderful little victories to let us know that when we fight it can make a difference. And you saw that a week and a half ago–

Pastor Hibbs:

Yes.

Rick:

–with the bill that got killed that was so bad. Praying for great victories with the battles you’re in right now. Pastor Jack, thank you for the example that you”€™ve set. We’re going to put all those links at our website today at WallBuildersLive.com to make it easy for folks. Got to get you back again soon, brother. Thanks so much for your time, thanks for staying in the battle, thanks for leading in the way that you do.

Pastor Hibbs:

I love it Rick. Thank you much.

Be the Salt and Light

Rick:

That”€™s Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. Just in the thick of it and unafraid to engage. And what a great example, we need to be doing this all over the country. Not just pastors, but every one of us that say, “€œHey, we’re going to follow the commands of the Bible. We’re going to be salt and light, we’re going to influence culture, we’re going to do justice.”€ And that’s so needed in our culture today.

Several websites we talked about today I want to make sure I repeat those and then we’ll also have them at our website, WallBuildersLive.com. Go to RealImpact.us, CaliforniaFamily.org, and then be sure and visit Advocates for Faith and Family and also Alliance Defending Freedom and help them continue to help folks like Pastor Jack Hibbs and the other churches that are engaged in these battles.

Visit our website today, WallBuildersLive.com if you want to check out some of the archives over the last few weeks. You can listen to some of the programs you may have missed.

California Failed To Pass Laws Against Homeschooling

Rick:

And then you can also donate there at WallBuilders.com if you would like to come alongside us and help us to spread the good news and equip and inspire families across the country to be engaged in the culture. And to have guests like Jack Hibbs on and others that we have throughout the week to help educate and inspire all of us. So, if you’d like to be a part of that please visit WallBuilders.com.

We are a listener supported program, so every time you contribute or be a monthly donor with us you’re helping to spread this good news across the country and around the world. Thanks so much for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.