Independence Day History, How To Keep America From Dictatorship: Tune in now as we discuss why it was vital for us to gain our independence and how we can make sure we keep the freedoms that we currently enjoy without going back to producing a dictatorship.

Air Date: 07/02/2019

Guest: Bill Federer

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. We always do so from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

This week, of course, very constitutional perspective and Declaration-of-Independence perspective, Founding-Fathers perspective. It is Independence-Day week. We’re gonna be celebrating it throughout this week.

We started yesterday with Brad Stein, God’s comic and my good friend, with whom I do the Comedy and the Constitution event all across the country. And, we will be headed out to Front Sight to do that at  Front Sight Firearms Training Institute for their July 4th celebration here in a couple of days. Then, after that we’re headed to the Ark.

The Ark Encounter

The Ark Encounter in Kentucky, right outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Right on the other side of the Kentucky-Ohio line there is the Ark Encounter, and it’s phenomenal. If you’ve never been, you gotta go.

But, Brad, I, and my family will be there this weekend performing the Comedy and the Constitution on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So, get in the car, drive out there, and see the Ark; then, enjoy the show. We’re going to make you proud to be an American and give you some very specific things you can do to help restore America’s Constitution.

AmericanMinute.com 

Anyway, we had Brad yesterday to talk about those things and encourage you to go this weekend. Today, we have Bill Federer with us. AmericanMinute.com is the website, just a wealth of great information and history.

We are looking forward to having him with us when we come back from the break. Then, also, I want a preview for you. Later in the week, we have our Independence Day Special with David and Tim Barton.

It is actually a television special they did; so, you can see the video if you go to our website WallBuildersLive.com. But, we’re bringing you the audio of that because the information is so good. We wanted to share it with our WallBuilders Live! listeners.

That will be the rest of this week. So, looking forward to a great week of celebrating our independence.

My name is Rick Green. Normally, David Barton and Tim Barton are with us in studio.  But, they will be with you the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday. Today it will just be Bill Federer and myself.

Stay with us. We’re going to take a quick break. By the way, as I’m going to break, I encourage you to visit our website WallBuildersLive.com.

I’m saying that today specifically for the donate button, and the reason is because it is the celebration of liberty throughout this week. And, remember what the Founders signed in the Declaration of Independence. They signed, after that final sentence that said “€œ…in support of this Declaration. with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”€

Invest in Freedom

Yes, they had to invest in freedom. And, you”€™ve got to do the same thing. We’ve got to do the same thing.

I look for organizations I can invest in. My wife and I love donating to organizations that are preserving freedom. We hope you feel the same way.

And, you can go to WallBuildersLive.com today and make that donation. It”€™s a great way to celebrate Independence Day; invest in freedom. Do that with us here at WallBuilders Live!

It’ll allow us to equip and inspire citizens all over the country to be better citizens and to do their part to preserve freedom. It will also help us to train pastors, young leaders, legislators, and all the other folks that we do programs for. You get to be a part of it by going to WallBuildersLive.com and clicking on that donate button.

Quick break; we’ll be right back. Bill Federer is our special guest today. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live! 

Moments From America’s History

This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. Today, numerous court decisions demonstrate that there’s often a conflict between the courts, the law, and religion. Has this conflict always existed?

Not according to James Wilson.  James Wilson was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was a law professor as well as an original justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. James Wilson saw no conflict between religion and the law. In fact, just the contrary.

He declared, “€œHuman law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistance.  Indeed, these two sciences run into each other.”

In the views of Founding Father James Wilson religion and good civil law were inseparable. For more information on God’s hand in American history contact WallBuilders at 1-800-8-REBUILD.

Welcome Bill Federer

RICK:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us today. Our special guest today is Bill Feder, our good friend.

Always good to have you, Bill. Thanks for coming on again.

BILL FEDERER:

Rick. It’s an honor.

RICK:

Hey, for American Minute, folks want to listen to you on a regular basis and also get copies of your book, best-bet books–how many books you got? Like four dozen?

BILL FEDERER:

About as many as David.  But, I’m working on it. I’ve got about 20.

RICK:

Twenty, that’s a lot. Okay. So, the best place to get the books and the radio commentary?

right.

BILL FEDERER:

AmericanMinute.com. Thank you.

RICK:

That”€™s easy: AmericanMinute.com. You know I love talking to you all year long, all kinds of holidays, different opportunities to learn, just a wealth of knowledge.  But, July 4th may be my favorite time to talk to you because there is so much rich history around our independence.

And, I’m just wondering what sticks out in your mind because you’ve got so many facts, stories, incredible history-kind-of-mystery things, and all these things in your head. When people ask you what stands out for July 4th for you, what’s the best story you think of?

America”€™s Founders Flipped It

BILL FEDERER:

I think of world history and how the most common form of government is a king. And, from the beginning of recorded history. You have Nimrod, Pharaoh, Caesars, Kizers.

Also, the kingdoms keep it bigger and bigger until the king of England had the biggest. And, America’s Founders broke away and flipped it, and made the people the king. That’s what we celebrate.

We get to be–the word “€œcitizen”€ means “€œco-king.”€

RICK:

That”€™s good.

BILL FEDERER:

We’re citizens of America. And, one of the things that–

RICK:

Wait, wait. What did you say? What does it “€œcitizen”€ mean?

BILL FEDERER:

It means “€œco-king.”€

RICK:

“€œCo-king;”€ so, as citizens we are basically corporate kings together, like a co-op of kings.

BILL FEDERER:

Right, right. So, you get to decide what you want to do with your life. Then, all together we decide what’s going to happen in the country.

Democracy or Republic?

But, it’s a bottom-up form of government where, you know–we pledge–a democracy. It has two meanings. One, it’s a general term that means the people participate in ruling.

The other is the actual form of government. And, it only ever worked as an actual form of government on a small basis like a city-state. Now, a republic is different.

A republic is where you take care of your family and your farm. And, you have someone in your place that goes to the market every day and talks politics; they’re your representative. So, republics could get bigger; but, still the people are the kings.

And so, when we “€œpledge allegiance to the flag and to the Republic,”€ we’re basically pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves.

RICK:

That”€™s good.

BILL FEDERER:

And so, when somebody protests the flag, what they’re saying is: “€œI don’t want to be the king anymore. I protest this system where people rule themselves.”€

Anyway.

RICK:

That’s good.

The World During Revolution

BILL FEDERER:

It was interesting to look at what the situation was in the world at the time the Revolution took place. So, in China, they had 5000 years of emperors and, at the time of our Revolution, they had Chien-Lung. And, he was the emperor of the Manchu [Ch”€™ing] dynasty who had totalitarian power and ruthlessly put down revolts.

If you wanted to have your city break away, he’d show up with a 100,000-man army and rip the walls down around your city. Eventually these little kingdoms complained. And, he said, “€œLook, I’ll build the Great Wall,”€ you know.

But, then in Japan, you had the Tokugawa Chamberlain Tanuma Okitsugu. He was the totalitarian leader of the Japanese-India. The British took over India.

They would come into one kingdom, give them guns, go to another kingdom give guns away, and then stir up ancient animosities so a fight would break out. Then, eventually the British took over India. Warren Hastings was the British governor.

Also, Russia had 12 time zones all controlled by one person, Catherine the Great of Russia. And, then you had the Austro-Hungarian Empirez: Austria, Hungary, Bohemia (the Czech Republic), a lot of these different central European countries. They were all underneath of one leader named Joseph II.

He was an emperor. Prussia was a German Kingdom, very powerful. It was under Frederick the Great of Prussia.

In France, Louis XVI was on his uneasy throne, right? Then, Louis XIV, who was the longest-reigning monarch in Europe, controlled his global empire. And then, Louis XVI is the one that helped us during the Revolution.

In response all we got was a bunch of debt. And, after the Revolution, his country had a French reign of terror and Napoleon seized power.

A Unique Experiment

But, what was happening in America was really a unique experiment where, on the entire planet, you never saw that people were getting to rule themselves. This was really unique.

RICK:

This was very unique.

BILL FEDERER:

And so, when we look at the Founding Fathers and how they were fighting for this Revolutionary War, they were really fighting to give us charge of our lives.

RICK:

Yes.

BILL FEDERER:

And, I love the quote from Lincoln where he says, “€œIn the United States, the people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts.”€ Then, you have John Jay, the first Chief Judge who said, “€œThe people are the sovereign of this country.”€ Also, the quote from Teddy Roosevelt, where he said, “€œIn no other place and at no other time, has the experiment of government of the people, by the people, and for the people been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country.”€

And so, they all understood Hey what we’re doing is really unique. Don’t fritter it away.

RICK:

And we don’t necessarily recognize that today though. Do we, Bill? I mean, we’re so used to this, for generations now, and we’ve seen other countries around the world adopt somewhat of a similar system.

We don’t realize that was the first time. I mean, they totally turned it on its head. Instead of the power flow being from the king to the people, it was from the people to the king, loaning power not to the king, but to the to the legislature and to the system that replaced the king, as you mentioned earlier, the co-kings.

Constitution Alive!

Hey, Bill, hold on one second. We gotta take a quick break. We’ll be right back

Bill Federer is our special guest. We are celebrating Independence Day all throughout this week. And, I really encourage you this weekend to teach these lessons to your children and grandchildren, the people in your life.

It’s a great time to remind ourselves just how blessed we are. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the United States Constitution but just felt like, man, the classes are boring or it’s just that old language from 200 years ago or I don’t know where to start? People want to know. But, it gets frustrating because you don’t know where to look for truth about the Constitution either.

Well, we’ve got a special program for you available now called Constitution Alive! with David Barton and Rick Green. It’s actually a teaching done on the Constitution at Independence Hall in the very room where the Constitution was framed. We take you both to Philadelphia, the Cradle of Liberty and Independence Hall and to the WallBuilders”€™ library where David Barton brings the history to life to teach the original intent of our Founding Fathers.

We call it the QuickStart guide to the Constitution because in just a few hours through these videos you will learn the Citizen’s Guide to America’s Constitution.  You’ll learn what you need to do to help save our Constitutional Republic. It’s fun! It’s entertaining! And, it’s going to inspire you to do your part to preserve freedom for future generations. It’s called Constitution Alive with David Barton and Rick Green. You can find out more information on our website now at WallBuilders.com.

Independence Day Special

RICK:

We’re back in a WallBuilders Live! Bill Federer is our guest today during this July 4th, Independence Day celebration time. We’ve been doing that all throughout this week, sharing great programming with you.

For the rest of this week, we’re going to be giving you a television special with David and Tim Barton, bringing the audio to you here on WallBuilders Live! We”€™ll bring alive some of that great history from Independence Day and July 4th.

Today, Bill Federer is with us to talk about those things. Bill, as we were going to break, talking about that very unique, massive, historical change from power flowing from a king to the people. Our Founding Fathers said, “€œNo, that’s backwards. We believe power and freedom comes from God to the people; and then, we loan it to the king, or the government in this case,”€ as you said, “€œco-kings.”€

And, that was very, very different. It’s a big change.

BILL FEDERER:

You’re exactly right. I mean, there were Greek city-states I mentioned. Rome was a republic; but, their senators were hereditary. And, it worked for 500 years, until Julius Caesar found a way to usurp power and make himself a dictator for life.

The Italians had some Italian city-states, until Napoleon conquered them. All these other experiments of ruling themselves always ended. Now, the first one was ancient Israel.

Ancient Israel

In 1400 B.C., they came into the Promised Land. And, for 400 years, Israel did not have a king. It was ruled by each person being taught the Law and each person being accountable to God to follow it.

It was sort of like everybody had a behavioral app on their iPhone. Everybody had the Law. The Levites were the computer geeks who would help you to download the app.

And, it worked because everybody was–it wasn’t wireless back then. It was this concept that God is everywhere watching everyone; He wants you to be fair and is going to hold you accountable in the future.

It worked in ancient Israel until the priest stopped teaching the Law. Then, they clamored to Samuel the prophet. They said, “€œWe want to be like all the other countries who have a king.”€

Samuel cries, and the Lord tells him, “€œThey did not reject you; they rejected Me.”€ So, America’s Founders looked back to ancient Israel. David, Tim, and you are all experts on it.

The Founders Looked to Ancient Israel

But, they taught Hebrew at Yale and Harvard. They were looking back to ancient Israel as this model, especially the Puritans. That’s what our Founders did.

They drew these ideas and put it all together in this Revolution. They gave us–you know, “€œMake America Great Again.”€ What makes it great is  you get to be in charge of your life; and then, together we’re in charge of the country.

RICK:

I’ve got to seize on one thing you said there, Bill, about the ancient Israel, that it was working great until they stopped teaching the history and teaching how this works. And, that seems to be the same mistake we’re making.

BILL FEDERER:

Right. And so, in ancient Israel, what happened? The priest stopped teaching the Law. The high priest, Eli, his own sons are sleeping with women in the very Tent of Meeting.

Imagine the Ark of the Covenant in there, and they’re fooling around. Then, there’s a Levite with a silver graven image in the house of a guy named Micah. You’re reading the story, scratching your head, thinking What’s this Levite doing with a graven image? Isn’t that one of the commandments, that you”€™re not supposed to have them? And then, the terrible story a Levite with a concubine.

The Law says that Levite is to marry a virgin of his own tribe. Here he is with a woman who’s not even married to. And, the house is surrounded by sodomites.

The Casting off of Restraints

Something about that behavior that appears at the very last stages of the people ruling themselves: this abandonment of passion, casting off restraints. The sodomites banging on the door, raped the poor girl, and she dies. You know the rest of the story.

By the time you’re grossed out, you read this line: “€œEvery man did that which was right in their own eyes.”€ Why?

RICK:

Yes.

BILL FEDERER:

Because the priest had stopped teaching what was right in the Lord’s eyes. So, they stopped using this internal app, right? They gave in to their passions, turns into chaos, and they get a king.

The Founders Got These Ideas from the Bible

So, we see the struggle that whenever there is lack of morals and lack of self-restraint, there’s chaos. And, out of that chaos, a dictator usually seizes power. But, our Country”€™s Founders designed it where we would all be moral people, accountable to God.

And, that was what makes America great. Because again, we break away from a king and instead of a top-down form of government, the polarity changes to a bottom-up form a government. And, the Founders got these ideas from the Bible, the Hebrew republic.

RICK:

What a great time to remind us not just to enjoy this, not just to have a cook out and celebrate that we’ve got a day off work or whatever it might be. But, actually say, “€œWait a minute. How did this all come about in the first place?”€

Let’s be reminded of how unique this was in history, how amazing it was that they succeeded. I mean, the odds against them were incredible. And so, when we celebrate independence, we need to really be celebrating independence.

Teach Your Children

We need to be celebrating, as you were saying, the fact that we are co-kings, that we are in charge. The reason we say, “€œWe the People,”€ God’s given us this system where we’re Caesar. So, we need to be “€œrendering under Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God”€™s,”€ which means being good citizens, which means learning this history, teaching that law.

That’s why I love what you do, Bill. It is so important for us to be reminded of these things. What is a good sit-down for parents this weekend during July 4th, to say? What would you give them a priority to teach to their kids on this special occasion?

BILL FEDERER:

Well, it’s sort of like you give the child the car keys and say, “€œYou’re a responsible kid. You can come home whenever because I know you’re going to do what’s right. But, if you don’t follow internal morals and give into your passions and lusts by fooling around or driving drunk and get pulled over by the police, thrown in jail; then, you’ll be controlled behind bars.

“€œSo, teenager, you’re going to be controlled. It’s either voluntarily from the inside, or forcibly from the outside.”€ It’s the same way with the nation.

We are either going to be voluntarily controlled with internal morals, accountable to God. Or, we’re going to teach the kids to give into passions and lusts, do whatever they want, “€œYou can be a girl today, a boy tomorrow;”€ it’s total lawlessness. And, out of that chaos, there’s going to come insecurity for life and property and more crime.

Lawlessness Breeds Tyranny

Then, people say, “€œWe need some strong government leader to come in and restore order.”€ They’ll come in collect everybody’s guns; and, yeah, they’ll restore order.  But, when the dust settles, you’ll have had that polarity flip.

It’ll go from the people ruling themselves bottom-up, back to a king ruling top-down. And so, this is a critical moment in our country’s history, If we want to preserve this.

RICK:

Oh, yes.

BILL FEDERER:

One quote from Calvin Coolidge in 1924: “€œThe history of government on this earth has been almost entirely rule of force held in the hands of a few. Under our Constitution, America committed itself to power in the hands of the people.”€ So, we have a great gift; but, it’s also a great responsibility.

RICK:

Oh that’s so good, so good. I mean, that’s really what it boils down to, this gift we have: with these blessings of liberty, come somewhat of a burden, somewhat of a responsibility, to say,”€I’m not just going to enjoy the blessings, but will exercise this carefully and think about what it means to be free and how to live out that freedom.”€

Oh so good.

BILL FEDERER:

Ronald Reagan said, “€œIn this country of ours, took place the greatest Revolution that has ever taken place in the world’s history. Every other Revolution simply exchange one set of rulers for another.”€

Reagan goes on, “€œHere for the first time in all the thousands of years of man’s relation to man, the Founding Fathers established the idea that you and I had within ourselves a God-given right and ability to determine our own destiny.”€ So, Reagan was saying, “€œLook; it was really the greatest Revolution that ever happened in World History. We’re the inheritors of it; let’s keep it.”€

We Must Not Forget

RICK:

So, so true. Man, we are, I think, sometimes blinded by how blessed we are. It’s kind of that old Deuteronomy thing, where we’ve been so blessed for so long, we’ve forgotten where it came from and forgotten the price it was paid. We kind of just think that we earned it ourselves, when in fact, it was previous generations and the Lord’s blessing.

But, what a great time to be reminded. I love what you’ve shared, Bill. I think it’s so good to be able to share this with our listeners and encourage them to share it with folks throughout the July 4th celebration.

Again, we want to send people to the website AmericanMinute.com, not only to listen to the to the programs you”€™ve got there and the videos that are all fantastic, but also to get on the email list. You are always sending out some really cool pieces of history and unique things that we’re not taught anymore, that are not just interesting, but are life lessons. I mean, they really are good reminders of how we need to do this.

So, God bless you, brother. I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day. And, I’m looking forward to our next program together.

BILL FEDERER:

Well, God bless you, Rick, and WallBuilders, and the tremendous work you’re doing. RICK:

That’s Bill Federer, folks. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

Front Sight Handgun Training Course

Hey friends! Rick Green here, from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Green, Tim Barton, David Barton – what do all these folks have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution and educate America on the Constitution?

They’re all raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. In fact, if you go to my website right now today at RickGreen.com, you can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at Front Sight, or Larry Elder, or Tim Barton, or myself out there training at Front Sight. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family to make sure that you are ready and able to do that. It is a fantastic place to train. They train 30 to 40,000 people a year, and they’re just wonderful to work with.

And, you can go with us! We’re headed back out. We’re going to have a great time out there as the WallBuilders family and if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we have an amazing deal for you. It”€™s actually going to cost you 1/10th the normal price to attend this two day handgun training because you”€™re going with us. And, you”€™ll also get the Constitution crash course. I”€™ll be teaching on the Constitution, you”€™ll get the intellectual ammunition that you need to defend the Second Amendment and our Constitution. As well as getting the physical training on how to defend yourself and your family.

And, this is for everyone – guys, gals, everyone should take this class. No matter how much you”€™ve shot your whole life or if you”€™ve never touched a gun, learn how to defend your family. We”€™re going to be going several times throughout the year and we would love to have you be a part of that. Check it out at RickGreen.com today to find out the dates, get all the specifics, and get all of your questions answered. Check out RickGreen.com today to join us on this Front Sight trip for both your constitutional and handgun defense training.

RICK:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us. And, very special thanks to Bill Federer for being with us today and giving us a wealth of information in a short period of time.

You can get more information from Bill at his website AmericanMinute.com. We will have an easy link at our website today at WallBuildersLive.com. I encourage you to read his books, listen to his radio commentary, get on his email list; and, you’ll get a lot of great information on a regular basis there from Bill.

Many Thanks

I just want to thank you as a listener for being part of WallBuilders Live! because by being part of our program, whether you’re just listening and taking the information and using it to make yourself a better citizen, who actually lives out a biblical worldview of government, lives out our founding documents, and helps to restore our nation to those jurisdictions and constitutional limitations on government, all the different things that we talk about here on the program.

Whether you’re just doing that personally or you’re, hopefully, taking the next step, which is to share the program on Facebook, Twitter, and all your social media outlets. You can even email and your friends and family and, “€œHey, you need to listen toWallBuilders Live! to get equipped and inspired and hear great stories of how freedom came about and how we preserve it. Whether you’re doing that personally for yourself, or you’re sharing it with your friends and family, or you’re even investing in freedom with us by being one of our donors, thank you.

Thank you, thank you, for giving of your life your, fortune, and your sacred honor. Whichever category you fit into, I just want to take this July 4th week to say to you, “€œThank you.”€ Thank you for being part of the solution.

We appreciate your care for our nation, the next generation and your concern for whether or not they’re going to live in freedom. Thank you for realizing that this doesn’t happen by accident.

Just as Bill was saying earlier in the program, these things, if they’re not protected and are not lived out, they are lost. And, I would assume that if you listen to this program on a regular basis, you have taken freedom seriously. You’ve done like us here WallBuilders and said, “€œHey, this is a talent that the Master has left us with, this gift of freedom, a free society, and a government that we get to not only influence, but literally control.”€

More on How To Keep America From Dictatorship and Independence Day History

We get to do that if we’re engaged; and so, we want to take this talent of freedom and not bury it, not be the wicked and slothful servant who didn’t use the talent, multiply the talent. But, we want to be like the other two servants, who the Master said, “€œWell done. You’ve been faithful in a little; I’m going to make you rulers over much.”€

And, we want to be like that. We want to enjoy our freedom; but, we want to live it, protect it, and make sure we’re passing it to the next generation.

If you’re listening to WallBuilders Live! on a regular basis, I will assume you’re that type of person as well. And so, I want to thank you for being that kind of person; and, I want to challenge you to use this week, celebrating our independence, celebrating July 4th, use this week as a reminder of how precious freedom is.

Take the opportunity to share the good news of how freedom can be saved in our country. Share these radio programs this week. Go to WallBuildersLive.com today and make a donation in honor of Independence Day.

And, maybe that’s your way of saying “€œthank you”€ to David Barton for founding WallBuilders, and to Tim Barton and myself and in our whole WallBuilders team. You can say “€œthank you,”€ and you can help us do what we do by making that contribution.

As a listener-supported program, you are a partner of ours when you make that contribution. And, it helps us to expand this message and do even more to save our country.

Thank you so much. Celebrate July 4th and Independence Day. Teach these things your kids, your grandkids, and the people in your life. God bless you.

And, tune in the rest of this week for some more July 4th Independence Day celebration programing. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live!