Good News For Today And a Positive Update On The Crisis In Afghanistan – In the midst of the Afghanistan crisis, there is positive news coming out of this situation. David and Tim brings us an important update, as well the usual good news for today! Tune in to hear both today!

Air Date: 09/10/2021

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.

 

Rick:

This is the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live, we’re talking about the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And you found us on a Friday, that means it’s Good News Friday. I love Good News Fridays here at WallBuilders. It’s a chance to just talk about all the victories out there, not only in America, but across the world. And yes, it’s ugly out there. There’s a lot of bad things happening. But there’s also a lot of good things happening as well, because of people just like you that are applying a biblical worldview to your life and to your culture, to your neighborhood, to your state. All the answers are right there in God’s word. And when we use them, we get good results.

And that’s what we talked about here at WallBuilders. In fact, wallbuilders comes from that scripture in Nehemiah that says arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach. So we’re literally rebuilding the foundations of America. And you are a part of it when you listen to WallBuilders, and when you share the wall builders programs, and when you donate to WallBuilders. We appreciate you doing that at wallbuilderslive.com. You can do that today. And that’s where you can get archives of the program as well.

I’m Rick Green, former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. And I’m here with America’s premier historian, that’s David Barton. He’s our founder here at WallBuilders. And Tim Barton. He’s a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. We appreciate you joining us today. And as I said, Good News Friday, and guys, normally, you know, Good News Friday, that means we just dive into the good news. But there’s kind of some updates that we need to get that might include some bad news. And so kind of like how I do on my Front Porch lives on Sunday night, I talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, but I usually go backwards. So I like to do the ugly first, and then the bad, and then get to the good because I like to end on the good.

So I’ll tell you what, let’s talk about what’s been going on in Afghanistan since David your back, and we haven’t had a chance to get an update in a few days about what’s been happening there and the missions that continue. And then we’ll dive into some of our good news because it’s actually good news, the lives that have been saved.

David:

Yeah, some updates we can get for sure. And let me kind of backup for people who don’t know. Nazarene Fund was started about six years ago, December 2015, by Glenn Beck when ISIS had moved into Iraq, and were setting up their Caliphate. That’s kind of their world global government. And so at that time, they were just butchering Christians that the scouts would go through the houses, and mark where the Christians lived, and their army would come to ISIS army, and just, I mean, I don’t mean kill them, I mean, butcher them. I mean, it was just barbarically brutal the way they would kill them.

And so at that point, we said, can do that, we got to get these guys out. So over the next few years, we got several 100,000 Christians moved to safety. So in that period of time, when the caliphate had come down, ISIS went into hiding, and in hiding, they were still very active, trying to raise money. And so there was a lot of sex slavery going on, where they would kidnap Christians, and there was a lot of organ harvesting, where they kidnapped Christians and kill them, sell their organs. And so we worked on getting a lot of that shut down and rescuing those in sex slavery.

And then as we get into Afghanistan, and what is now Biden said, this is going to be we’re going to shut it down here, we saw things really rise again as far as open persecution, open killing of Christians. And as Taliban moved in Afghanistan, there were so many Christians in danger. They had been safe when America was there: we had brought some stability to that region. And when America started saying, we’re gonna leave, it all changed. And so we identified thousands of Christians that were targeted for execution, trying to get them out and so started moving them out in the early stages of this were probably four or five weeks ago now, maybe six weeks ago, moving them out.

And there was such chaos at the airport in Kabul, is being run by the State Department. It gets so bad that the guy who runs our operations at Nazarene Fund, military actually asked him to take over the civilian side of the airport. And so in the last few weeks, we got a lot of planes out of there, a lot going. But the State Department has really been obstructing.

And so what’s made news in the last week or so, everything from Newsweek through MSN through everything out there is all these planes that Glenn Beck has stuck on the ground. And so Glenn and I and Tim are on the board of Nazaren Fund, we help run that. Focus a bit on that because we couldn’t get those planes off the ground and the State Department was obstructing. And so what’s happened, since then other groups have been trying to get, have come out with the actual email showing the State Department is what’s keeping us from saving this Americans, getting these Americans out of here.

And so throughout this week, the State Department has really been the focus. I’ve talked to dozens of congressmen and senators and they are really ticked about it. The American people are ticked about it. If the election were held today, Biden would not be president most likely based on all polling that’s out right now. So this has been a real hard hit for them. But at the same time, what we’re doing at the Nazarene Fund is not going to quit.

And by the way those they gave to the Nazarene Fund, whether it was directly to Nazarene Fund or whether you gave to WallBuilders, on our side, wallbuilders/contribute many, many, many gave there. Those funds have literally at this point saved thousands of lives, hands down, no question about it.

Now I was given reports earlier and said I can’t say where I am, I now can say where we were. That was the UAE, United Arab Emirates. At the time, they did not want their name out there because of fear of Taliban coming after them. It is now known that they’ve done a really good job of helping. Initially, they agreed to take 4,100 of these refugees and just get them to safety. And it went up to 12,000. And now here this week, they’ve agreed to take another 10,000 as permanent residents, not just refugees looking for safety, but let them live there in the UAE. And the UAE, among all Arabic nations may be the most prosperous and the most westernized that is in the Middle East. It’s quite a remarkable nation.

So, a lot of good things happening. And there’s a lot of things we still can’t talk about right now. They’re just too sensitive and too many lives are at stake. We’ll be talking about more as some of this stuff gets finished up. But just know that there’s still a lot of rescues going on. We still have thousands on our list to get out of there. We anticipate we’ll be doing this for another six months, at least, just getting folks out of Afghanistan.

Tim:

And that’s as much as possible, obviously, conditions on the ground can change rapidly. And so depending on what happens to the Taliban, we know Al Qaeda is there, we know there’s ISIS there. And so certainly, that can change. But some of the positive news is we’ve already been hearing and seeing from some of the refugees that have come out, and the camps they’re in now. And we know there’s a lot of work to get them relocated to help get them connected with different groups that can help them in that transition to the new nation they’re going to.

But we’ve seen pregnant women already giving birth. So children that had they not been rescued very likely could have or would have died, would not have even been born, these mothers would have died, that babies would have died. And so it is really neat to see not only the people that we could visibly see at the time be saved, but now, these pregnant women giving birth and seeing these children and they fully credited that had they not gotten out, they would have died, their kids would have died.

And so there is some really positive things and positive stories, looking where we are now, still a lot of work to be done. But certainly, we are very grateful for all the people that have been praying and supporting along the way. There’s no doubt in many moments that God intervened and opened doors, things that didn’t make sense that all of a sudden you started coming together. There’s also no doubt that we need a lot of prayer right now. There’s a lot of problems we’re still navigating and dealing with. There’s a lot of challenges still on the ground. But we are very grateful for everyone who’s been praying, who’s been offering support, and also, obviously financially who’s been making those donations to this persecuted Christians fund at wallbuilders.com. So we’re very grateful for your prayers and support.

David:

And let me add too that, with all this going on, Nazarene Fund, we’ve had it kind of an addendum to the policy, because we’ve existed to help persecuted Christians, religious minorities, get them to safety. But you know what, we’re not going to just say, oh, you’re an American that’s in danger, and you’re not a persecuted Christian, so we’re not getting you out. No, at this point in time, we’re saying, if your life is threatened, we’re going to help get you out. And we don’t care whether you’re Muslim interpreters that’s an allied to United States, whether you’re an American on the ground, whether you’re persecuted Christian, we’re going to get you to safety if your life has been threatened.

And so in the process of doing that, and moving those folks out, you know, we’re still going to have a primary emphasis, we’re doing everything we can to help get these questions established in good countries and, and we’re trying to find them good places. I mean, you don’t want to put a whole group of Christians in a Pakistan. That’s not the place they’re. No, you can put the Muslim allies of American Pakistan, that can be a good place.

So you know, we’re going to country and we can’t call the countries by name yet. But a lot of this is going to be going for a while, helping these folks get to good communities where they get good support. We had been able to send so many Christians to Australia. And Australia is such a great partner. And Christian communities there would take and embrace them. And so there’s a lot still yet to be done. And so this is not over by a longshot.

But right now, it is all hands on deck. And when time permits, there’s going to be some absolutely amazing stories. But the thing to do is pray for those that are still there, because it will take months. Tim and I just got the report of a Christian group that was meeting and the Taliban broke in and murdered every single one of them that was there at that meeting. And so it’s really tough on Christians.

But at the same time, we’ve just received news that about 30% of the Christians in Afghanistan say no, I don’t want to leave, I need to stay here and build the church. We need to be able to reach these other people with Jesus. And so the courage of 30% saying we’re going to stay behind even though it means immediate death for us if we’re found out, I mean that’s a lot of courage. So pray for those folks that are still there, a lot of them want to get out. But again, 30% of Christians are saying we want to stay here and carry the gospel message forward. So quite courageous people, but pray for them, pray for the ones that are getting out because they have a new home to go to where they don’t even know how to speak the language. They probably have never even heard that nation before where they’ve been located for years. They don’t know what… You know, they may not be able to find a South American nation on the map, who knows. But there’s a lot of change. But pray for the Christians that are still there and have chosen ro stay there and share the gospel with even those who would kill them.

Rick:

It’s you know, so much good news in the story, so many lives saved even as Tim, you mentioned, the baby’s born even since the rescues. And all of that happens because people contribute, and then you have the Nazarene Fund with the team that has the experience to get in there and get the job done. And so for all the people out there that have been listening over the last few weeks that donated and got to be a part of those rescues, by doing so, we want to say thank you in a big way. And then just reiterate, once again, the mission goes on. There are many more lives to save, not just in Afghanistan, but all over the Middle East, and frankly, around the world. And Nazarene Fund does an amazing job of rescuing those persecuted Christians. So go to the website today, if you get a chance, wallbuilders.com, go to the contribute link, and then just scroll down and you’ll see the Rescue Persecuted Christians Fund and that money will go to save lives.

David:

And Rick, let me add that too. And this is something I appreciate when I give to groups, is with the Nazarene Fund and this money that’s given to Middle East, 100% of it goes downrange. We don’t take any money out to pay for our accountants and bookkeepers, and IRS Tax stuff and all the stuff we have to do. We raise money for that separately, independently. Everything you give to help these folks that are in trouble right now, it goes to helping those folks. It goes downrange to the objective. So it’s money that you get a high return on because it’s not taken for any other purpose.

Rick:

Well, I know you guys are the ones with the stacks of good news. But taking a little bit of privilege here, I think that in and of itself is a piece of good news that should be shared at a time where we have so little trust in our institutions, in the government, in the media and organizations. Here you have an organization. And that’s really important what David just said. They get other donors and take care of the situation on all the overhead. When you donate, it all goes downrange. To have an organization like Nazarene fund and WallBuilders that you can trust to do that. And to get these incredible results that they do, that in and of itself is a blessing. Because most people are going I want to help, I want to help, but what in the world can I do? I don’t know where to get. I don’t know what to do. Here’s a great place where you can make a donation and make a big difference in saving lives. So, that’s very good news; great way to start our program today.

We’re going to take a quick break. We’ll come back and we’ll begin our rapid fire of different good news stories. Stay with us, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

THE AMERICAN STORY

Hey, guys, we want to let you know about a new resource we have here at WallBuilders called The American Story. For years, people have been asking us to do a history book, and we finally done it. We start with Christopher Columbus and go roughly through Abraham Lincoln. And one of the things that so often we hear today are about the imperfections of America, or how so many people in America that used to be celebrated or honored really aren’t good or honorable people.

One of the things we acknowledge quickly in the book is that the entire world is full of people who are sinful and need a savior, because the Bible even tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And yet what we see through history, and certainly is evident in America is how a perfect God uses imperfect people and does great things through them. The story of America is not the story of perfect people. But you see time and time again how God got involved in the process and use these imperfect people to do great things that impacted the entire world from America. To find out more, go to wallbuilders.com and check out The American Story.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us today, Good News Friday today, more than at our website, wallbuilderslive.com. And David, time to dive into that stack. Brother, what’s the first piece of good news other than all the good work Nazarene Fund’s doing?

David:

Well, the first piece of good news I would point to is what’s happening in the US Senate. As folks may be aware, it’s a 50/50 split in the US Senate. But because the President is Democrat and the Vice President who sits over the senate as the president of the Senate is Democrat, that really is 51-50 is what it boils down to if there’s a 50/50 vote, the Vice President will vote with the Democrats that’s going to make it 51-50, and therefore they’ll win that issue.

So what’s been allowing so many things to move forward is this 50/50 Democrats have remained together, very cohesive Republicans have been cohesive, they’ve remained together. And so we’ve seen all these packages go through, the 1.2 trillion on the COVID relief, which very little of it went to COVID relief. Then you see the 3.5 trillion coming through on all this infrastructure stuff, which is not just infrastructure, it has huge amounts of social policy. I think only 21% go to roads, bridges, etc.

And all this is happening at a time when the economy is not looking good at all. Labor Day was the highest price of gasoline in recorded American history, this past Labor Day. So you think of what it was back in previous years when it was high, this is high as it’s been. And so we’ve seen house prices surging by over 400% in some cities, in some areas. So all this is going up. There’s still unemployment. A lot of people are not seeking work because we’re getting government paychecks. So all this is not good for the economy.

With that to say, Pelosi and others in the House have been moving forward with the infrastructure package, $3.5 trillion Bill because they have the votes in the Senate, they’ve got the 50 votes and they’ve got the Vice President Kamala Harris. Well, Joe Manchin, Democrat just shocked all the other Democrats by saying no, I think it’s time to hit what he called the ‘pause’ button. I don’t think we should move forward with this $3.5 trillion package. Again, very little bit goes for what it says it is, infrastructure.

He says, at a time when you have rising inflation, at a time when you have deep economic woes, at a time when the national debt is skyrocketing, we need to hit the ‘pause’ button. And so all of this planning has been done for the last month over in the House side, all on the Senate side. It looks like the American people may be saved from $3.5 trillion of debt. We’ve been sitting at 29 trillion, and this just takes it up even more. And so this really is terrifically good news that Joe Manchin of West Virginia was willing to take on his whole party, the whole party in the nation, if you will, certainly all the Democrats in the House and Senate. And he’s put his foot down and said, no, we’re not going to do this. So that’s a big piece of good news for the country.

Rick:

Well, that may be the most expensive piece of good news or highest dollar value piece of good news we’ve shared in a while, if we just say well, maybe not saved 3.5 trillion, but certainly at some point, it’ll get it down much lower than what it was going to be. Alright, Tim, next piece of good news, bro.

Tim:

Well, speaking of financial good news, over in Israel, they discovered a gold coin from the Byzantine Empire. What’s really interesting about this gold coin is it appears, and this is what they’re saying is dated back to Emperor Heraclius. And on one side of the coin, it supposed to have the Emperor and his two sons. What’s more significant for our conversation is on the other side of this gold coin, it has a picture of Golgotha with crosses, really this Christian symbol. And what they’re acknowledging is it looks like they’ve discovered some Christian artifacts in this dig with things going back.

All these things they found were about 1,500 years old, is what the Israel Antiquities Authority is saying. And this is going back to 638-639 AD is when they believe this coin would have been done. There’s an inscription in Greek, possibly Aramaic. Again, what’s really interesting about this, there’s a lot of things they found, I guess, related to Christianity is kind of what they’re acknowledging.

There was a bronze chain of a chandelier that was often used and shirts during the set era. There was different jars. And there was glass making workshop and wine press. As they’re uncovering, it looks like some kind of religious meeting side or area on some level. Now, what’s kind of fun about this is a acknowledge that this coin itself reveals the impact that Christianity had on that era.

What’s more fascinating in the midst of this, we’ve been to Israel several times, and one of the things they talked about is before anybody can build a new building, build a facility, they have to come and do a ground inspection to see what is underneath the area you’re going to build a building to make sure you’re not building on something significant. And so they were in the middle of working to build a new residential neighborhood, it was coming up on 100 anniversary for what was known as the Holiday Park. And so they’re working on building new homes for this area that I guess the population centers coming in.

And one of the things our friends in Israel often tell us is that all of Israel’s ground is just historic artifacts waiting to be discovered. And they don’t have the finances to excavate everywhere. But literally, they say everywhere, you’re going to find a piece of history. And this, again, is a case where not only they found a piece of history, the piece of history they found is again, a confirmation of the influence of Christianity, which if you look the last couple of years in Israel, they have found more pieces of artifacts related to things like the Dead Sea scrolls. They’re finding more of those scrolls hidden in caves. And they’re finding different pieces of parts where the Bible verses are now a gold coin with Golgotha, which is traditionally believed where Jesus was crucified.

And again, you’re seeing the influence of the Bible and Christianity. But guys, this is really cool that we are seeing a consistent theme when one of the things we encourage people is to get into apologetics, to know what you believe and why you believe what you believe. What is the defense for your belief? What is the reason for the hope you have within you? And what’s really cool is they’re continuing to find evidence that confirms the validity of the Christian faith. And it does make sense that there’s a lot of things here dating back, right, at the time of Christ, before Christ, after Christ. A lot of stuff going on. So really cool they found this gold coin over in Israel.

Rick:

Alright, another good news story. But Tim, what would you say the value of the coin was maybe?

Tim:

Well, they didn’t point that out. I don’t think it was probably 3.5 trillion.

Rick:

Yeah, I just wanted to see how far you off from 3.5 trillion, if David beats you by 3 trillion, 3.49 trillion, I don’t know. Anyway, alright.

Tim:

Yeah. I’m going to say it’s a solid 3.4 something trillion he beat me by. But he was actually talking about debt. And so if you’re talking about debt, that’s negative it, right?

Rick:

Good point.

Tim:

So although we’ve not spending it. Okay, we’ll do the math and come back later.

Rick:

Alright. Alright. I’ll stop trying to create a competition between father and son. Alright, David, next piece of good news, man.

David:

Rick, I’ve got a story that comes out of Pasco County, Florida. And this story deals with the sheriff’s department there. And we’ve talked so many times and praised the sheriff’s department because they’re doing such a good job of upholding the Constitution. This story involves a constitutional violation that really kind of came out of good intentions. The sheriff’s department there was wanting to identify people who might be troublemakers and kind of keep them out of the community, etc. And so what they did they said, hey, we know that there’s a lot of things that can be a problem here. So we’re going to help you have a peaceful community.

And so what they did, they would find people who might have been juvenile offenders, and they didn’t them to become big crime offenders. So they would kind of make it uncomfortable for them wanting to move out of the community. I mean, one of the sheriff’s deputies said our job was to make their lives miserable until they moved or they’re sued. Well, there’s some unintended consequences with that.

Because for example, you had a young boy that had been a juvenile offender, and so the police decided to kind of harass his home until he moved on, except it involved his family as well. And his sisters hadn’t been criminal offenders. His father hadn’t been a criminal offender. He had. And so since he was on the records as having been a problem, they targeted the home.

And as the Father, he is one of the many who filed a lawsuit over what was being done, the Father, I’m just reading here, it says “The father, Robert Jones, a plaintiff in the suit had officers show up at his residence without warrants on multiple occasions. They came in groups as large as 18 deputies at a time, and they would bang on the windows and yell at his young daughters while the daughters were hiding under the bed. And the officers deemed him uncooperative.” Which I can’t imagine why you might be uncooperative with that kind of stuff going on. “And in retaliation, they cited him for multiple property code violations. They started saying, oh, you don’t have the right numbers on your mailbox. That’s a violation. That’ll cost you. Oh, we measured your grass, it’s too long. That’s a violation. That’ll cost you.” So they just harassed and harassed and harassed him.

And they were doing it because on the books it showed that there had been a criminal offender living there, it was a son, but now the whole family’s getting involved. And so this happened in a number of these houses and homes where the sheriffs would come into the home without any kind of a search warrant. Well, these folks took it to court and the Constitution won. The judge said, look, don’t care how good your intentions are, you’ve got to follow the Constitution. And the Fourth Amendment is very clear. You cannot enter a person’s home to search unless you have probable cause, unless you have a warrant. It has to be issued by a judge. And it has to be on oath or affirmation. Other than that, you can’t go in their homes. You can’t go in their homes and look for things that might be wrong and search for grass that might be too long, or whatever it is.

So while we applaud sheriffs and we applaud policemen, and they have good intentions, in this one case, they certainly crossed the line. But the good news is that the Constitution did prevail. The judge said no, you can’t violate the Constitution, even if it’s for good intentions. So good news is the Constitution wins.

Rick:

Constitution wins is always a good news item. And we enjoy having that one. Tim, you’re going to take us home. What’s our last piece of good news?

Tim:

Well, guys, this was from North Carolina and involves another interaction with police officers. This one specifically with state troopers. So North Carolina State Troopers were on just a normal run, and they noticed a vehicle on the side of the road. And they pull over to see what’s going on with the vehicle and it’s an elderly lady who has run out of gas. Now they got a call that there was somebody in the side of the road needing assistance, so they go responding to the call.

And when they see this elderly lady realizing she’s out of gas, and also, the article points out that this was a kind of terrifying scenario for her as an elderly person driving by herself, didn’t know what to do, and so calls 911 for help, the officers respond. So one officer says, hey, let me just run to the gas station. So he goes, gets a gas can fills up with gas to come back, the other officer stayed with her in her car to keep her company so she wasn’t scared or wasn’t lonely. They filled her car up with gas which they paid for the gas.

And after they fill her car up with gas, they asked her if she was hungry, and if they could take her to get some food to eat? So they took her to get food to eat. And she was so impressed that she took a picture. The picture ends up getting posted on social media. It goes viral. People are so impressed how honorable these officers were.

Well, the story gets even a little more interesting, because as they go to eat lunch, they apparently were on the radio and told some other officers hey, we’re taking this woman to go get food and the other officer said well, we want to come eat too. So there was a group of officers that came and they ate lunch with this elderly woman who had run out of gas. They picked up the ticket. They paid for gas.

And guys, I mean dad, even as you pointed out, there are some moments when certainly we can look at police officers or sheriffs and go they did the wrong thing there. That wasn’t good. By and large though, sheriffs, police officers, first responders, they are people with good hearts, good motives, good intentions, and they are working to help the American people.

David:

That’s right. And this is something that far too often over the last really decade, police officers have been maligned as being people that whether they be racist or right, whatever kind of moniker gets thrown against in the sticks, that they’re insensitive, that they’re out to get people. That’s not a good depiction of what the police force really is and what they’re about.

So this is a really fun story about an elderly woman who was rescued by some state troopers, and then after they filled her car up with gas, they took her out and bought her food as well. One of the fun comments in one of the social media posts, there was a lady who joked and said, I sure would like to run out of gas just so they would take me out to lunch too. No doubt about it, right, that’s a nice way to be treated officers. But a cool piece of good news coming out of North Carolina.

Rick:

Alright, folks, I know you’d probably like even more good news. It’s available at our website right now. Go to wallbuilderslive.com, click on the archive section. And in that archive section, you can go back to the Good News Friday programs in the last few weeks and months, and get your feel because I need that encouragement. I figured some of you out there might need that encouragement as well. So check out those good news programs at wallbuilderslive.com.

And also just learn more about WallBuilders. Go over to wallbuilders.com and look at all the resources, so many things you can learn about in our history, so many things to learn about what that biblical perspective, with the Constitution. In fact, you could start a Constitution class right there at your church, go through our Biblical Citizenship in Modern America class. There’s so much you can get into and be a part of the solution. Go check all that out today at wallbuilders.com. We sure appreciate you listening. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.