Grand Canyon Research From A Biblical Perspective: It’s Good News Friday today on WallBuilders Live! Tune in now to hear about just some of the good things that have been happening in our country recently. In this episode, we discuss things such as, defending college kids to have religious freedom, defending a pastor out of Uganda, a big win for pro-life, and much more, right here on WallBuilders Live! 

Air Date: 07/28/2017

Guests: 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.  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.

Welcome

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 from a Biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

That conversation today is a good news conversation! It”€™s Good News Friday! We”€™re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. My name is Rick Green. I’m a former Texas state representative.  

I love these Good News Fridays because it’s almost like a pick me up as we go into the weekend of some of the great things happening in the country. You don’t hear most of these things on the major media.

David and Tim have compiled these great lists of little pieces of good news from across the country to share with us on Friday. So, David, Tim, looking forward to today. Folks that want more of that can go to our website WallBuildersLive.com where the archives are and they can get those previous Friday programs. David, you starting us?

GuideStar Terminated Its Contract With SPLC

David:

I am, I’m going to start off with the national news story. It deals with charitable giving. There are various organizations out there that help people who have money directed to where they would like it to go, or get to go to organizations.

One of those national groups that helped facilitate giving is called GuideStar. GuideStar is able to say to people, “€œHey, here’s good charities, here’s recommended stuff, and here’s where I can go.

So with a lot of organizations being 501 c3 organizations Family Research Council, WallBuilders, American Family Association, etc. GuideStar had joined with the Southern Poverty Law Center and said, “€œOh, we can’t recommend groups like American Family Association, or WallBuilders, or Family Research Council, because these are all hate groups.

Of course on the “€œSouthern Poverty Law Center Hate Group List”€ all you have to do is be for traditional marriage and that makes you a “€œhate group.”€ If you stand for something you’re a hater.

Tim:

Or if you’re also in favor of just boys using boys’ bathroom and locker rooms.

David:

That’s true.

Tim:

“€œIf you think boys shouldn’t go in girls’ bathrooms and lockers, if we should protect the privacy of teenage girls. Well, then you are hateful and you’re bigoted.”€

David:

Also, if we are big fans of religious liberty, and religious freedom, and therefore we don’t think Sharia is a good idea, that also makes us bigoted because we prefer the Constitution over Sharia and that makes us hateful.

So what happened was 41 of these organizations got together and sent a letter to these guys, “€œHey, you really ought to look at your affiliation with SPLC. Re-check this. Look at what the standards they use for calling people “€˜hate groups.”€

Thankfully, GuideStar did, and they reversed track. They’ve ended their affiliation with SPLC. That now puts these 41 organizations back available for donations through GuideStar for folks who use GuideStar as a giving mechanism. So that’s good news.

Rick:

Yeah, it is! How often when something like that happens we go, “€œOh, they”€™re too big, we can’t get them to pay attention, and they probably wouldn’t reverse it anyway. So we won”€™t do anything.”€ But in this case, people did and got it reversed!  Now people that are going to GuideStar, as supposedly a neutral source, which now I think it will be more neutral that this happened, will be able to get good information.  But you’ve got to speak up.

David:

You”€™ve got to speak up, that did happen, and thankfully they were open minded about this. At least enough to see that SPLC is really not a neutral group on being able to decide who’s a hater and who’s not. Rick, why is SPLC not a hate group for hating us?

Rick:

“€œYou shouldn’t judge anybody.”€ Well, aren’t you judging me now by saying that I’m not supposed to judge you. Same thing.

David:

You hate us for what we stand for, but we’re the hate group, not you? So it’s kind of weird, but it is a good thing now that they’ve reversed positions.

Rick:

I always laugh when I read comments in Matt Walsh’s articles because they’ll talk about how mean he is as they use all their expletives to describe him.

David:

Same adjectives, they use on these mean adjectives to talk about how mean he is.

A Big Win For Pro-Life

Rick:

All right, Tim, do you have a short one then before we go to break?

Tim:

I do, I”€™ve got a quick short on.  This is from, really, all over the U.S. It is a notification that seven planned parenthood clinic facilities have permanently closed. We’ve seen a lot of positive traction in the pro-life arena. We’ve seen state’s passing all kinds of pro-life legislation.

Even President Trump, with what he did with funding for foreign nations like Mexico. So many things where he said, “€œLook, we’re not funding abortion. We are seeing positive traction. But as planned parenthood is the number one abortion provider in the U.S. with more than 300,000 abortions every year, it is great news to see some of these facilities closed down because it does mean that we are saving unborn babies lives.  So this is good news coming from around the U.S.

Rick:

And Tim, we’ve had several reports like that. Some people may think we’re repeating here, but we’re not, this is seven more of them closing! So over the last, I don’t know, 2-4 years, I’ve lost count.

And how many of them have closed as a result of sometimes just because people are having fewer abortions, sometimes just because we’ve been able to defund them at a state level in a particular state. So many different efforts in the pro-life movement that are causing this. But I”€™ve lost count of how many have closed over the last few years. Every time it’s good news though.

Tim:

It does seem that every week or two we are seeing a notification that more planned parenthood clinics are closed down. So you’re right, these are different clinics than the ones that we had previously talked about.

David:

Now remember guys, over 60 percent of Planned Parenthood’s funding comes from government funds. So as the government starts cropping that stuff down it would make sense that 60 percent of their clinics would close because they don’t have the private resources and the market is not willing to pay for all the stuff that they do and provide. So this is a free market driven enterprise, if Planned Parenthood didn’t have government support they would be much smaller than what they are.

On the other side, this is a good indication that free market is also working because people really aren”€™t wanting to pay Planned Parenthood for all the facilities they have out there.

Rick:

Of course, every time government gives them money that violates that basic value that we should not have to pay for abortion with our tax dollars. Any government entity giving Planned Parenthood money is going to result in that. So they’re taking your tax dollars and it’s going to find its way into funding abortion by funding Planned Parenthood.

So this has been great across the country as states, other entities, and even the federal government fighting hard there to defund Planned Parenthood. We haven’t gotten there yet. But man, we’ve been gaining momentum on that one as well. It’s just been victory, after victory, after victory. Let’s take a quick break, we’ll be right back. More good news here on WallBuilders Live!

Chasing American Legends

Rick:

If you ever wonder if it’s over for America.  Can we restore those constitutional principles that made our nation great? Then we want to encourage you.  We want to show you some evidence of how it can be done. We want to show you the evidence behind what made America great in the first place. And we want to have some fun while we’re doing it.

It’s called Chasing American Legends. It’s our special television program that follows the Green family around the nation investigating myths and legends about America.  And it’s amazing what we have found and what we’ve discovered. Dove Channel is now airing Chasing American Legends and we want you to check it out.

We’ve got a link today at WallBuildersLive.com so you can find out more about Chasing American Legends, airing now on the Dove Channel. We’re going to take you and march with the minutemen for the re-enactment of April 19th, 1775. That shot heard around the world. Take you to investigate the battles that George Washington was in.

All kinds of great episodes.  Check it out right now at DoveChannel.com.  Give our family a chance to inspire yours. We know we can give you some hope of the future of our nation. Check it out. Chasing American Legends at DoveChannel.com

Defending College Kids To Have Religious Freedom

Rick:

Welcome back, thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live on this Good News Friday! WallBuildersLive.com is the website if you want to get some more good news from those previous programs over the last few weeks.

We’re here with David and Tim Barton and they’re sharing good news for us. David, you’re up next, bro.

David:

Going to Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire has a requirement that students in order to graduate from the university there have to put in 30 hours of volunteer time. They have to do some type of service learning in order to graduate.

So they’ve got to put in volunteer time. Interestingly enough, they said, “€œWell, that volunteer time only works if you put it in secular places. You have to volunteer somewhere secular.”€

And some of the kids said, “€œWe want to volunteer at some learning centers that are at local churches nearby. They’re helping kids and helping urban communities.”€Â 

“€œNo, it has to be somewhere secular. You can’t go help people unless it”€™s secular.”€

Of course, when you have a double standard like that, that is clearly unconstitutional. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom weighed in and the university ends up losing, again. So the good news is, the strings of wins continue on our side when we stand up and fight this stuff. Now kids who go to the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire actually get to put in their 30 hours at some religious place that they want to.

Tim:

And guys, let me point out the irony. I’m saying let me point out, yet you guys already know. But is it worth bringing up in conversation that the only reason we do charitable good works is because of religious faith.

So to say, “€œNo, you can’t volunteer at a charitable organization if it’s faith driven,”€ the only reason we do charitable things is because it is faith driven.

The Contrast Between Different Religion”€™s Charity Efforts

David:

Let me be more specific, it”€™s because it”€™s Biblically faith driven. Because trying to find Muslim nations that are charitable and help the poor in the same way that a Western Christian or Jewish nation does, a whole different ballgame.

Tim:

Now wait a second, you’re just saying that because all of history proves that to be true. But I think that’s just your opinion when you look at all of recorded human history.

David:

All right, I’ll give you that. We’ll throw all the Muslims out, we”€™ll just look at all the Hindu nations and see how that works. Oh, same result. Wait, let’s go to the Buddhist nation, oh same result. Let”€™s go to the secular nation, surely-

Rick:

I feel like all this history should be a trigger warning. Like if you’re going to bring up evidence and bring up the past that’s actually happened, I should have a warning so I can tune out or leave so that my concocted ideas with no evidence don’t get threatened.

Rick:

You know, Tim is right. The irony is that it is Biblical faith that produced this desire to volunteer. Now we’re saying, “€œYou can volunteer as long as it’s not related to Biblical faith.”€ Which is crazy.

Tim:

Again, to kind of finish this thought. America gives more aid, effort, and relief than every other nation combined. Any time there’s a natural disaster, anytime something happens, America is the one that responds.

When you look back to the historic precident, where do we get these ideas? As my dad mentioned, it is a Biblical faith. And even if you go to Benjamin Franklin when he helped found the very first hospital there in Pennsylvania the motto, the seal for that hospital is the image and a verse from the parable of the good Samaritan.

Where the good Samaritan was this individual, who generally-a Samaritan and a Jew of that time, they didn’t get along, they were enemies, but the Samaritan saw this Jew who was hurt, who was in need, and the Samaritan says, “€œLet me help and care for him.”€ When nobody else did anything, although the religious people walked by.

Jesus was laying out, almost the thought of the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do it to you. Well, this is kind of a similar thought from the Good Samaritan. If you’re going to love your neighbor, “€œWell, who is my neighbor?”€ Even people you don’t like you should treat with love. You should help them if you see a need.

This is where the thought of even helping others came from. Franklin, the seal and motto for the hospital, he puts up a picture and a verse from the parable of the Good Samaritan.

That parable is only taught in Christianity. It’s only taught in Biblical faith, as is the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These are the reasons that we express so much generosity toward others when there is a time of need.

But we learn those lessons because of Biblical faith. So even if you can say, “€œHey, wait a second, there’s secular charities today that they’re not motivated by Christianity.”€ No, I can acknowledge that they’re not reading their Bible going, “€œOh, we should do this because of the Bible.”€ It doesn’t mean that’s not the precedent that was set. In fact, I would argue the reason we have that precedent in America is because of Biblical faith. And that’s where we learn to do these kinds of things.

That’s why you don’t see the same kind of action in Muslim nations, in Hindu nations, and in Buddhist Nations, and in the secular nations. This is a principle that is taught in Christianity, therefore you find it in nations that have their roots in Christianity.

Rick:

Isn’t it interesting that The Laws of Nature, Nature’s God works even for those that aren’t recognizing, or they don’t remember, or they don’t know, or maybe even refuting where it came from, but God’s principles that he put in the laws of nature still produce good results and so you do have a lot of people today living out some of these good principles but saying that they didn’t come from God because they don’t know the history.

It’s just like as you mentioned, Franklin isn”€™t that basically what he told Thomas Paine? When Paine said, “€œI can be a good person without being a Christian.”€ But he said, “€œWait a minute, where did you get that? How do you know the foundation for what a good person is?

Tim:

That’s right. He said, “€œHow do you think this came for you if it was not from somebody before you that taught you those principles.”€ And that’s exactly right. You don’t have to be someone that loves God and loves Jesus, that even acknowledges and wants to believe in all those things.

But if you will follow the principles that God laid out in his word through the Bible, then life will be better and you will enjoy life. It helps more people around you, it helps others. This is that principle even of the charity of helping others in need.

So again, that”€™s why it’s ironic that a college will say, “€œWait a second, you can”€™t volunteer at a religious charity.”€ Well, that’s for this whole idea of charity came from, it was from that Biblical faith which now you’re saying we can’t be a part of.

It”€™s just a little ironic, shows that college didn’t really know their history, and their roots of where this started in America.

Rick:

Stay with us folks! We’ve got some more good news when we return. Right here, on WallBuilders Live!

Pastors Only Briefing Trip

Tim:

Hi, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders and I want to encourage all the pastors out there with a unique opportunity that we’re presenting it WallBuilders. We’re doing a special tour just for pastors that you can come and learn more about the spiritual heritage of our nation. Not just seeing the sights but understanding the significance of what they are and what they represent.

We get to go to the Capitol at night.  And we get to see the spiritual heritage of our Founding Fathers, of who we are as a nation, where we came from. We bring in congressman that will tell you about current legislation, about our religious liberties  and freedom, and what’s going on in Washington, D.C.

If you’re a pastor or if you want to recommend your pastor for this trip, you can go to our website at www.WallBuilders.com. And there’s a link that’s for scheduling.  If you click on that link there’s a section for pastor”€™s briefing. There’s more information about the dates, when it’s going, and how it’s going to happen. If you want to know more about our nation, our religious liberties, our freedom, our spiritual heritage, this is a trip you want to be a part of.

Traveling To The Grand Canyon

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live, thanks for staying with us. Back with David and Tim Barton for some more good news. Tim, what’s our next piece of good news?

Tim:

We’re going to Arizona, and actually, I had to clarify. It”€™s something related to the Grand Canyon. I couldn’t remember how much the Grand Canyon covered in terms of territory in states.

Actually, the last time I was at the Grand Canyon I was actually in Nevada and we drove down. I thought it was kind of on the border and so I had to look it up and realized, “€œOh, the Grand Canyon is actually only in Arizona.”€Â 

Although, it is really close to a couple of borders. Nonetheless, I’ve been to the Grand Canyon a few times. And as with every national park, you’re not supposed to take any souvenirs if you did not pay for them. You buy them in the gift shop. You don’t pick them up off the ground.

But I would venture to say that for many tourists when they go that they probably take a souvenir even though you’re not supposed to, and I get it, I’m not endorsing their behavior, but you might be in the Grand Canyon and you pick up a rock, “€œOh, that’s really cool.”€ And you stick it in your pocket.

David:

I went to Bryce Canyon and we rode down to the bottom of the Canyon on mules and we got really dirty coming out so I took home a lot of dirt from Bryce Canyon, I guess that was a problem, huh?

Tim:

That was probably illegal. In fact, now that you said that somebody might come knocking at your door.

David:

And it”€™s actually because so many people took dirt, that’s why the canyon is so deep there. Because we keep pulling out the dirt.

Tim:

It”€™s the billions of years of people kept walking through the canyons and it just hollowed it- no, not really.

Grand Canyon Research From A Biblical Perspective

So here’s kind of the funny irony of this one. It ends up being good news. But there was a scientist, who like many of the scientists, went to the Grand Canyon and said, “€œWe’ll do some research.”€

He applies for a permit and he’s done research in the Grand Canyon before. This time however, he was denied a permit. There were multiple reasons why-

David:

They found out he was for marriage?

Tim:

Well, it’s almost that’s silly. Because he believes that God created the earth and they said, “€œNo, then you’re not a real scientist.”€

David:

That means Newton wasn”€™t a real scientist?

Rick:

I was just thinking about that.

David:

And Kepler, and Copernicus, and Mendel, and my gosh-

Tim:

All of the above were not real scientists apparently according to the National Park Service here. But they told him, “€œYou can go pick up a rock outside the canyon, leave our canyon alone.”€

He explains, “€œLook, the research we’re doing, we need something from the inside of the canyon.”€ And they said, “€œWell, there are suitable places around.”€ So he filed a petition, turns out there’s not suitable places around.

They said, “€œOk, well then we’ll let you come in. But you have to designate this specific spot you’re going, you have to take pictures of it, send us the pictures, we want the GPS coordinates so we can verify, you have to specify the exact rocks you’re going to take, the size, the dimension, take pictures of them, send it to us.”€

They”€™re making him jump through all these hoops. Nobody else has jumped the hoops. It ends up being a several year process. He’s already done the research there before. Well, in the midst of it-

David:

They didn’t know he believed in God back then?

Tim:

Right. So in the midst of it, he realizes, “€œWait a second, something about this is not right.”€ And it’s discovered that they’re actually doing this because he is a creation scientist. So then our friends Alliance Defending Freedom, ADF, they get involved.

They bring a suit against the park service there at the Grand Canyon going, “€œHey guys, you cannot do this. This guy is a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney. He’s done all kinds of digs in Australia and all kinds of digs in the US. Now you’re saying that he can’t come to the Grand Canyon and he can’t pick up a rock and take it home, what most tourists have done this scientist is not allowed to do so.”€

So after ADF gets involved and after he’s been battling this for several years the Park Service finally relented and says, “€œOh, ok our bad, we withdraw our stay on your research and you can go in now and you can do research.”€ So the good news is that he can do research again.

It’s a little ridiculous the process for him to get to that point. But the good news is now with our friends at ADF getting involved and because he was willing to fight this process and go, “€œWait a second. No, you can’t kick me out just because I believe that God created things.”€ He now was able to get in and do research of the Grand Canyon.

David:

Do I need to point out that about 84 percent of the nation believes that God made the heaven and the earth? So if you’re in that 84 percent apparently you’re not eligible to use the facilities of the national park?

Tim:

“€œBut you know, scientists aren’t part of that 84 percent. The modern and secular scientists. They”€™re so much smarter than everybody else. So if you believe what the majority of people believe and the majority of actual humanity for all of history has believed including the scientists then you’re not smart enough to come to our canyon and pick up a rock.”€

Rick:

Unbelievable. But the good news is-

Tim:

He can now.

Rick:

Again, speaking up. Without speaking up, without fighting back, without getting folks like ADF involved, that stuff continues. Little by little, and that’s why we love Good News Friday because we get to hear the victories. Another break, we’ll be right back with more good news here on WallBuilders Live!

Avalon Project

Tim:

Hey, guys, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders. I know you hear my dad and Rick talk a lot about our Founding Fathers about the original intent of our nation, a constitutional heritage that we have. And really we’ve seen how far we slipped away from that. And I know a lot of us as we hear my dad and Rick talk think, “€œI wish there was a place that I could go where I could see these documents and I could read and learn about the Founding Fathers firsthand.  See the things they did.”€  

I want to give you some websites today that can help you accomplish that very thing. If you get online you can go to places like Library of Congress and you can look under their century of lawmaking or historical documents. You can go to the Avalon Project, to the Founders Constitution, Google Books, or even the internet archives.  

Or you can just go to WallBuilders.com. We have a section for our WallBuilders Library. And under that section, we have different subgroups for historical documents, historical writings, even a place where you can get helpful links to find out more information about other websites.  Where you can do research for yourself and find the truth for yourself. Friends, this is the time that we need to know who we are and where we came from. WallBuilders.com is a great place to go.

Uganda”€™s Turning Point

Rick:

Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. We’ve got time for some more good news. David, you”€™re up next, where are we headed?

David:

We’re going to head actually to federal court. We’re going to Massachusetts by way of Africa. To do that I want to back up to a number of years when George W. Bush was president.

There was an AIDS epidemic running across Africa. Uganda was one of the nations that had one of the highest AIDS rates in there. As I recall, it was something like 28 percent at the time. We were involved in the * with all that stuff. I don’t remember all the exact numbers but something like 28 percent.

So when Bush comes in, he designates, I think it was something like $5 billion to fight AIDS in Africa. And so it was administers like, as I recall though, I think, USAID, or Pepfar, or someone like that.

And the requirements were, “€œWe’re going into Uganda, we’re going to really do pilot stuff there and see what we can do to reduce it.”€ Because, again, 28 percent of the nation or thereabouts, some high number had AIDS.

So the emphasis was really a Biblical emphasis. It was called the ABC Plan. A is abstain from sexual relations outside of marriage. B is be faithful to your spouse. And C is if you’re not going to do A or B then use a condom.

So that was called the ABC plan. And over a period of, I don’t know, four or five years the age rate fell from 28 percent down to about 6 percent, as I recall. I mean, it was a dramatic fall.

So simply going in and using A and B which are Biblical precepts and then C if you refuse the Biblical stuff, use a condom. It really made a huge difference. So Uganda, there’s a lot of Christian pastors in Uganda. There’s a lot of stuff there that is, if you want to say so, of the Biblical value of marriage.

Liberty Counsel Prevailed Against SMUG

So Pastor Scott Lively out of Massachusetts who was working in Uganda and he was advocating for traditional sexuality he was opposing the LGBT agenda that was moving through. Because of that, he ends up in a lawsuit.

Now grab this for the name, The Center for Constitutional Rights was involved in this. Anybody know who that center is or anything about them?  I’m guessing they probably promote constitutional…

Tim:

I”€™m guessing they promote constitutional rights.

David:

From the far left side.

Rick:

I was saying, it was sounding like the name- but the fact that I haven’t heard of it I’m a little nervous here.

David:

Yeah, the Center for Constitutional Rights is a far, far left- now, the group on our side is a little group called Liberty Council.

Tim:

Heard of them.

David:

Heard of them?

Rick:

Oh yeah.

David:

They’re the ones who win all the cases. Liberty Counsel, Mat Staver, and those guys, they’re on the side of Pastor Lively. Well, what happens is the Center for Constitutional Rights goes and gets a Ugandan group to file an international lawsuit against Pastor Scott Lively because he is pro traditional marriage. They follow suit and it’s filed as a crime against humanity for pushing against LGBT. It’s called a crime against humanity. And this thing goes in court for five years with being in a U.S. court and international law.

And by the way, whoever did the press work for this Ugandan group. I mean, they chose a stupid name. The Uganda group is called SMUG which means Sexual Minorities Uganda. SMUG is not the kind of kind of phrase-

Rick:

That”€™s not good PR. If they paid a marketing firm for that they might want to get a refund.

David:

Yeah, “€œI represent SMUG.”€ Wait a minute, I don’t think I like you. So SMUG is the one who filed suit against Pastor Lively and Liberty Counsel prevailed in this thing. They won and now after five years, the lawsuit has been thrown out by a federal judge even in Massachusetts. So that’s the good news.

But how amazing it is that if you stand up for something that worked and that dropped AIDS from 28 percent to 6 percent, or whatever it was, and if you stand for traditional marriage, which is what has been for 55 hundred years that you now end up with a crime against humanity charge against you as a pastor. Unbelievable.

Rick:

Wow. That’s going a long ways there guys.

David:

Gone a long ways. But again, all of us today have had a lot of legal action involved and we still continue to win under a 200 something-year-old Constitution. So the principles still work. And even judges in states like Massachusetts still recognize that those principles still work.

So the good news is we’ve got a great document. We’ve got great legal groups out there defending it and we just win case after case with that document and those legal groups.

Thanks for Listening

Rick:

When we speak up, when we stand up, when we let our voice be heard, that’s really what I always take home from these Good News Fridays is that we can make a difference if we’re involved. Just look at all of these victories.

So even when you think the culture is going crazy we’ve still got the truth, we’ve still got the principles, we’ve still got the Constitution on our side. We’ve just got to be active and we’ve got to stand up for what we believe. Thanks for listening today folks, you’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live!