Prioritizing Righteousness At Voting Time – Applying A Biblical Worldview: Is it really that important to show up and vote? Is voting a Biblical value? Do you know how to apply Biblical priorities to your candidate selection? Could we determine who Jesus might vote for? Does righteousness impact nations as well as families? Do you know how to communicate the importance of a Biblical worldview to your family? Tune in to hear the answers to these important questions and more!

Air Date: 11/02/2020

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. It’s WallBuilders Live, where we’re talking about today’s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, looking at those things from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. My name is Rick Green. I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. 

I’m here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders, also with Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. And we’re really thankful that you’re listening today. We hope you’ll go to our website today at wallbuilderslive.com, consider making a contribution there. You can get into the archives of our program and listen to some of the programs over the last few weeks.

Alright, David, Tim, I can’t believe we’re already here. Tomorrow is the election. We’ve had so many programs this year talking about November 3rd, and then what’s going to happen and where our country is going to go as a result. So kind of leading into tomorrow, there’s probably a lot of our listeners out there, even to listen to this program that have been debating whether or not to vote or debating whether or not to, how to decide who to vote for. 

So maybe we just need to back up and talk about voting in general, why it’s so important to show up tomorrow, and why this is a biblical command. We’re actually following biblical commands to be a good citizen and to choose our leaders.

Tim:

And let’s say that for some people, you’re listening, you know, I’m clear on this, I’ve already voted, then part of what the discussion we want to have is to give you ammunition and ideas for conversations with your friends, with some of your family, with people, presumably maybe in a couple weeks, you could hang out at Thanksgiving. Unless you are buying into the social distance nonsense and you don’t want to see your family or maybe strategic move; like sorry, family, you can’t come, social distancing, maybe that’s strategic, I don’t know.

A Christians’ Responsibility

But we want to have a conversation about the priorities we should have when it comes to elections and the responsibility we have as Americans, the responsibility we have as Christians for engagement in this process. And right now, there’s a lot of different voices around the church that are speaking out, and they’re saying a lot of different things. There are some noted theologians who have come out recently saying that you can’t vote for Donald Trump. There’s a lot of noted theologians who have come out saying because of the policy issues of Donald Trump, you have to vote for Donald Trump because of the policy issues of Joe Biden, you can’t vote for Joe Biden.

But we see even inside of the church, there is a split on these issues. Because ultimately, there’s a confusion of how do we prioritize issues when it comes to politics? And for a lot of years, guys, we’ve talked about the biblical positions on priority becomes relatively clear. One of the things that Jesus highlighted in the New Testament is that righteousness should be a concern for us as individuals and part of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5:6, he said, “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”.

You go to Matthew 6”33, he tells his disciples, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then everything else gets added.” There’s very clearly this notion that for individuals, we should pursue righteousness, that to be right with God, to do what is godly, to behave in a godly, righteous manner. And righteousness as individuals becomes very important.

David:

And Tim, as you said, seek His righteousness, this is what a biblical worldview is. A biblical worldview is seeing things the way God sees them, not seeing things the way you see them. We all have our own priorities what we think is important. The bigger question is, is my priority a reflection of God’s priority?

If not, then I need to change. Don’t expect God to change his priorities. We need to conform to His image, not conform Him to our image. We’re made in His image, He’s not made in our image. And so, Tim, as you said, conformed to His righteousness, that’s the way we should be thinking. How does God see the issues in this election?

Righteousness Exalts A Nation

Tim:

Well, and so first of all, this notion of righteousness, right? So we’re talking right now, but individually, but righteousness impacts families, and impacts communities and impacts businesses, and impacts even nations. And this is something if you go back to Proverbs 14:34, it tells us that righteousness is what exalts a nation, sin is a reproach to any people. But if righteous is what exalts a nation, then this is where it becomes significant, because we know that righteousness is important for us as Christians, and righteousness is outlined in the Bible. Okay?

So it’s not something that’s subjective. Dad, as you were mentioning, it’s not something that we can say, well, here’s what I think, here’s how I feel about the issue. For almost any topic you can identify, the Bible is going to give you guidance if not very specific commands on those issues. The Bible is pretty clear on moral behavior, on interaction, on relationships, on human sexuality, on even gender on. You go down the list, the Bible gives guidance on these issues, and so this notion of righteousness is outlined in the Bible. But the idea from proverbs 14:34, it says that the way a nation is exalted is through righteousness.

And so if you’re looking at America, and you’re thinking, man, America needs a restoration of righteousness. Well, first of all, you’d be correct because yes, we do. We need righteousness in this land desperately. There’s a lot of things we’re doing that are not a reflection of godliness, and we’re putting ourselves in a position that God can’t Bless America when we’re doing ungodly things. So we need to correct course, in many areas.

But now the question becomes, how do we identify or even prioritize righteousness? Because we can go down the list of things that God cares about, and as we’re voting, maybe some candidates do a better job with one area, and a different candidate does a better job with a different area. So which one should I vote for? If they both are promoting things that maybe reflect godliness in some area, how do I prioritize righteousness?

Where Did God Start?

So dad, we’ve talked for a lot of years about how you look at the Old Testament, when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and God gives them command, God actually gives them some priorities, even the commands He’s given them to help them know, what is the foundation we build on? Like, where do we start? What is the most important thing to start with? God actually gives that to the Israelites in the Old Testament?

David:

Yeah, he does. And actually, let’s cover that after we come back from break. There is clear guidance on those issues, and on the prioritization of those issues.

Rick:

Alright. Stay with us, folks, we’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

ChristianVoterGuide.Com

Hey friends, Rick Green here with a final challenge to you for voting in the 2020 election. This is your opportunity to let your voice be heard and your values be counted. Don’t miss this opportunity. And certainly don’t use the excuse of well, I’m not sure about all the other candidates on the ballot. I know President, maybe Governor or Senator, whatever is happening in your particular state, but I’m not sure about some of these other ones.

Listen, go to Christianvoterguide.com, Christianvoterguide.com, click on your State and it’ll take you to voter guides in your particular state, and you can take those into the voting booth with you. It’s your opportunity to be informed about the candidates. So, just simply tells you where they stand on the issues, and that way you can make an informed decision about who is the candidate that is best going to stand for Biblical value.

No perfect candidates, right? There is no perfect candidate. There are an unrighteous; no, not one. We’re all flawed jars of clay. Don’t dare stay at home and not vote because you refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils. There is always going to be a choice between the lesser of two evils. Yeah, it’s just how it works.

Show Up And Vote

Because we are, in fact, all flawed jars of clay. But we can do the best we can with what we got. Where we are, there a lot of great candidates running for office, there are a lot of candidates that have stood up for righteousness that have done great work and we need to keep them in office. And then there are others that need to be thrown out because they’ve shown bad fruit. So make sure that you’re casting that informed vote. Go to Christianvoterguide.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live, and it’s the day before the election. We’re talking about why it’s important to show up and vote. And talking about biblical guidance on this, and Tim, you were talking right before the break about biblical guidance on choosing righteous leaders.

Tim:

Yeah, Rick, one of the things that is very evident in the Old Testament when the Israelites in Exodus, they’ve been slaves in Egypt, and Moses comes, he deliver, he brings them out. When God gets them out of Egypt, God gives them a whole list of commands that cover really almost every imaginable topic.

David:

Yeah. And then those topics, imagine, by the way, the thinking that’s going behind here, because God is building a nation from the people who don’t know and dislike to be a nation. They’ve been in slavery for 400 years, how do you think as a slave for 400 years? You think like a slave. God sees what they’re going to be what they’re going to become.

Does God Care About Our Laws?

Tim:

Not only thinking like a slave, they’re thinking like an Egyptian in a slave mindset. Because the Egyptians, they didn’t believe in the God of the Israelites and the God of the Bible, and even their cultural practices or their worship practices. It’s interesting, when you go through some of those early books in the Old Testament, and God’s telling them, hey, we’re not going to eat those kinds of things, we’re not going to do these kinds of things, we’re not going to sacrifice that way, why would God have to tell them not to do those kind of things? Because that’s what the Egyptians did.

And so not only are they having to overcome this slavery mindset that’s become the norm for them, they’re thinking like a slave because they’ve been there for 400 years. They’re also having to overcome thinking like an Egyptian in the midst of thinking like a slave.

David:

And so what happens is God gets him out in the middle of the wilderness, he’s destroyed the Egyptian army so there’s nobody chasing them. But at the same time, they have no clue where they’re headed. So God stops them there at the mountain, they’re in camp there. And it’s while they’re there, that God gives them a total of 613 laws. The 613 law and remember, these guys have no idea what their future is to be. God sees it.

He knows they’re going to become one of the greatest nations in the ancient world, one of the strongest and really one of the most different nations for liberty, freedom, other things, but they don’t know that. And so God gives them these laws and say okay, here’s what you do with immigration, here’s what you do with economics, here’s what you do with family, here’s what you do with marriage and sexuality, and on it goes. And so they get this complete code of laws, which is why Tim mentioned earlier, the Bible really does address everything we face today either in principle or in specific command.

What Can We Learn From the 10 Commandments?

Tim:

But one of the interesting things that God does there as God is revealing so many thoughts to them, including, how do we handle the poor, what do we do with the military? I mean, really, almost every thought you can imagine, God gave them guidance on and sometimes very specific instructions of what to do in certain situations. But in the midst of all these commands, there were ten commands that were a little different than everything else, because they got written in stone. And these were the ones you can look and go, okay, so these were really important to God. This was kind of the foundation upon which everything else was built.

Because if we don’t get these ten rights, which if you’re familiar with the Ten Commandments, the first four deal with man’s relationship with God, the next six deal with man’s relationship with man. So if you don’t figure out how you should interact with God, and how you should interact with man, everything else becomes for free and not a significant. You got to start getting these ten basic things correct. Well, in those ten basic things, there’s a lot of specific guidance that has very relevant information for even how we interact with people today.

Rick:

Well take another break, we’ll be right back. Folks, don’t forget tomorrow, Election Day is why we’re talking about it today. Make sure you show up to vote tomorrow, biblical commands on why we should do that, as always looking at it from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Today, our focus is what are those biblical commands for why we should show up to vote tomorrow? You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Constitution Alive!

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 they 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. And 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 citizens 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 and wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us, Election Day tomorrow. So our topic today is should you vote? And what are the biblical commands on that? Tim, kind of cut you off there as we were headed into break

Tim:

Yeah, and one of the things we’re looking at too, is what should our priorities be as we go to the polls? As a Christian, what should we be thinking about? And this is where we’re given examples from the Old Testament, where God is teaching the Israelites the foundation of how they’re going to build a nation. And when you look at the Ten Commandments, we talked about the first four commands are about man’s interaction relationship with God, the next six are about man’s interaction relationship with other men.

More Than a Prologue

As the Ten Commandment starts off, what in many Protestant circles we know as the prologue, it says, I’m the Lord thy God who brought the out of the land of Egypt, thou shalt have no other gods before me. What’s interesting is his notion starts with I am the Lord thy God who brought the land of Egypt, we have many friends over in Israel, we have many Orthodox Jewish friends, and they actually tell us well, that’s actually the first command that the command that I am the Lord thy God, that is the very first command. And their argument is, if and again, we would kind of call it the prologue and most Protestant circles, we would not necessarily identify that it’s the first command.

David:

And by the way, the Ten commandments are unnumbered, they are a paragraph from start to finish. So any numbering of them is as artificial as superficial. God didn’t put numbers on them. That is a phrase in the Ten Commandments. But Protestants make it the prologue, whereas Jews take the beginning as the very first command. So it’s all the same language. It’s just how we superficially number it.

Tim:

Well, and to our Jewish friends who point this out, it’s a great point. They say, if you don’t start off acknowledging that God is God, then none of the other commands actually matter. Now, I would again, dad, as you pointed out, I would look at both these paragraphs and go, well, okay, the whole thing is from God. So I believe the whole thing, right, the superficial man may contrive into these numbers don’t matter as much as the fact that we recognize and honor, obey these acknowledgments, these commands that have come from God.

But the point they make is, you have to start acknowledging that he is God. Why this matters, and maybe our circle is because we would call this religious freedom or religious liberty, the fact that you can acknowledge who God is, the fact that you’re supposed to be able to worship God according to the dictates of your conscience. The Ten Commandments actually starts off with the fact that you need to be able to publicly acknowledged God.

First Amendment

Well, in America, this is part of the First Amendment. This was religious freedom. Religious Freedom is something that was very important in God’s economy. You see this throughout the entire Bible. God always gave people a choice, but he always wanted people to have a choice to choose, to honor, follow and worship Him. So religious freedom is a big deal, actually part of the Ten Commandments. And as you go through this, it becomes interesting some of the things that God prioritizes.

When he says, for example, in the later commands that you shall not commit adultery, God is working to protect the institution of marriage. Because we know from scripture marriage was something that God created, that God defined as a man and a woman and, that adultery would be something that would tear at the foundation, the core of marriage, God’s trying to protect marriage.

And in the midst of protecting marriage, not only has the Bible outlined and identified what marriage is, that it’s a man and a woman, it’s a covenant between those individuals and God. If you back up a command earlier, it talks about honoring the father and mother. Well, honoring the father and mother, we now have identified what a family looks like, because you have a mom, you have a dad, this is a family.

So we talk about marriage, we talk about family, which also means that marriage and family are a big deal in God’s kingdom, in God’s economy. That if we even look at a nation, for example, we know that the stronger marriage is, generally, the stronger the family is; the stronger the family is, generally, the stronger the community, the stronger the society and the stronger the nation is. Because the strength of a nation is built on the strength of family, but oftentimes, the strength of the family is determined by the marriage. And so this is why it makes sense that God would care a lot about marriage and family.

Only Two Genders

David:

And notice that in those two commands you just mentioned, Tim, God also identifies two genders as being part of that. He identifies specifically a male and a female gender. And so it’s not just having a relationship and being married, it’s being married as a male and a female.

Tim:

And we could also talk about boundaries on sexuality, that that marriage is between a man and a woman, is where sexuality is supposed to occur. And so there’s a lot of things you can draw from this. But the point is that marriage and family becomes a big deal. Well, if you also look kind of between those commands, there’s a command that says, “Thou shalt not murder.”

And actually in Hebrew, the word murder, and this is where sometimes in English translations might say, Thou shalt not kill, or Thou shalt not murder, the Hebrew word is referencing the shedding of innocent blood. And this is where God was very clear that he didn’t want innocent blood to be shed. And this is not the same thing as self-defense. This is not the same thing as justified warfare. Shedding innocent blood is saying someone who hasn’t done anything wrong, you don’t take their life from them. That was against what God wanted the Israelites to do.

So God tells Israelites, okay, but we’re doing something totally different than everybody else. You’re not going to shed innocent blood. If we look at modern culture, there is an issue in modern culture, where a lot of innocent blood is shed every single day, it’s the issue of abortion, where we know that God is the author, the giver of life, that life is sacred, that Psalms 139 says that God formed us and knit us together in our mother’s womb. Jeremiah 1:5 says, even before we were formed, God knew who we were. It’s clear that God is the one who creates and originate to life, and that God doesn’t want to shedding innocent blood.

Shedding Innocent Blood

Well, that unborn child, their blood, which by the way, a child in a mother’s womb, does have their own DNA. They do have their own blood, it is different from the parents’ blood. They do have their own blood, and God does not want us to shed innocent blood.

Abortion deals with the issue of shedding innocent blood. So already, just from the Ten Commandments, the foundation upon which God tells the Israelites, this is how we’re going to build a nation, this is where we’re starting. And there was a lot of other things that God added to it. God dealt with the environment and the economy, and the military, and God dealt with the poor. And God dealt with all these.

But we started with saying, here’s the foundation. And in that foundation of the Ten Commandments, you have religious freedom, religious liberty, you have marriage and family, human sexuality, you have don’t shed innocent blood. And actually, one of the things we’ve seen looking in political circles is one of the best indicators of someone’s worldview in philosophy is where they stand on the issue of life. Because if you don’t acknowledge that God is the author and giver of life, then you’re probably not going to be right on nearly any other issue.

You’re not going to be right on marriage and family, because if God’s not the author and giver of life, then God didn’t create marriage between Adam and Eve in the Garden, between a man and a woman. And it was a union, a covenant for a lifelong partnership. They’re going to be together serving, honoring God. You’re not going to be right on marriage and family. You’re not going to be right on religious freedom.

Because if God didn’t create and give life, why should we allow kids to pray in public school to a God that we don’t think is real? Well, abortion is probably the best indicator. Where someone is on the abortion issue is the best reflection of their worldview.

Religious Liberty

And so even as we look at political candidates, there’s a lot more we can say to this and probably we’ll say a little bit more after the break: as you look at political candidates, I think it’s unquestioned when you look at the Bible, and God says here’s a foundation upon which we’re going to build, three of the very basic elements that God said are you need to look at the issue of protecting life. We don’t get into some blood, so we protect life.

Number two, we could talk about religious freedom and religious liberty. Who’s going to do the best job of making sure that Christians have the ability to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience? Which means, also, we’re not shutting down churches in the middle of a pandemic, when you can go to Walmart or Home Depot or the liquor store, but you can’t go to church. And number three, protecting marriages and family and even defining those properly. All of these are basic ideas that God put as the foundation of building a nation when we read the Old Testament.

Rick:

Alright, quick break, guys. We’ll be right back for our final segment today before Election Day tomorrow. Stay with us, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Avoid a Party Spirit

This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. Over recent years, elections and politics in general have become increasingly partisan. One party is pitted against the others each advances his own stereotypes. President George Washington believed this was detrimental to the nation.

He declared, “Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party. Its common and continual mixtures are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms. It kindles the animosity of one part against another, and governments purely elective, the spirit of party is a spirit not to be encouraged.”

Therefore, in this year’s elections, do not allow political party to be a deciding factor. Vote for each candidate according to the principles and policies that he individually represents. For more information on God’s hand in American history, contact WallBuilders at 1808REBUILD.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live, final few minutes of WallBuilders Live before the big election day. David, final words before we go into this very important election?

David:

Yeah, Tim’s already covered a lot of the issues that God wrote in stone, which means they are really important to Him. The Bible tells us they were written with the finger of God. So these are things that He himself put down in code.

So as we look to have righteousness, which means think like God thinks on issues, these are issues we need to carry into the polling booth. First off, right up top, you look at issues like life. If someone’s wrong on the issue of life, then that’s not going to bring righteous to the nation, and right on down to religious liberty, conscience, protection, etc.

God’s Covenant Is Eternal

An issue that God also raised before He got them out into the wilderness, was back with Abraham. When He looked at Abraham, he said, you know, this is a guy who’s going to teach his children my ways, I’m going to make a covenant with him. And Genesis 12 says, he made a covenant with him and he said, your children are going to become a nation. And here’s the deal, whoever blesses them, bless your children and that nation, I’ll bless; whoever does not bless your children, that nation I won’t bless.

And by the way, this is not just a temporary kind of a thing. God tells us through the Scriptures, that His covenants are eternal: they last for generations and generations. And so God has made it really clear that if you will be a blessing to Israel, to the children of Abraham, then God will bless you. That’s another righteous and stand. If you want to see a nation blessed that nation needs to be a blessing to Israel.

Tim:

And there is a very clear distinction in these presidential candidates have of their positions of Israel. And sometimes even the positions of the enemies of Israel, which Vice President Biden with President Obama gave more than $1 billion in cash to Iran, who was seeking to destroy Israel in that moment. And President Trump has worked to find and negotiate peace deals with Israel and lots of other nations in the Middle East. So you have a very clear distinction when it comes to Israel of who is working to bless Israel and who’s not trying to bless Israel. It’s a very clear distinction politically.

David:

 The other thing I would point to in the scriptures is when God’s talking Isaiah, and the nation has moved away from me. He said I’m going to get the nation back to me and I’m going to take you back to your very beginnings when you had really good Judges. And so Isaiah 1:26, God tells Isaiah that I’m going to restore the righteous to the land by giving you the right kind of Judges.

The Right Kind of Judges

And so righteousness and the right kind of Judges who make the right kind of decisions is another key thing for righteousness issue. And I will tell you, that President Trump, what he has done with given us Judges who take the same positions God holds on many of the moral issues, mainly the constitutional issues, that allows God to be able to bless the nation. So the type of Judges you get from a presidential candidate or from a US senatorial candidate, those are really important issues of righteousness as well.

Rick:

Well, that’s the issues we should be prioritizing when we choose our leaders. There’s so many different things to think about and consider and it’s just so much more important to prioritize the issues that the Bible tells us are important. And in personality, it’s not near as important as where they stand on these major issues that we’ve talked about today.

So I hope you’ll consider all of that when you’re making your choices, not just for president but for every single race on the ballot. That includes Judges, if you’re in a state that elects Judges instead of having them appointed, and it includes your state legislators, your city council, your school board, up and down the ballot, folks, make sure you’re casting an uninformed vote.

Our values need to be counted. But we need to make sure that those values line up with a biblical worldview, and we need to make sure that were informed in how we cast that ballot, that we know there’s no perfect candidate, we’re never going to find someone that meets everything that we’re looking for in a candidate. So we have to do the best we can with what we got, where we are. We make sure that we don’t stay home out of frustration.

Prioritizing Righteousness On Election Day – Applying A Biblical Worldview

We don’t ignore the opportunity to vote because we don’t think there’s a perfect candidate. But instead, we go out there and we vote for, yes, the lesser of two evils, I know everybody hates that phrase. But the truth is, unless Jesus Christ is on the ballot, you always vote for the lesser of two evils. Because none of us are righteous, no, not one, we are all flawed jars of clay. So again, do the best you can with what you got, where you are.

I’m actually excited to vote. I’m excited about some of the people that are on the ballot, including this president who has done everything he said he would do. He’s actually followed through, he and Mike Pence have followed through on what they said on the campaign trail they would do, and so I’m excited to go in and vote for four more years of good Judges, and good policies and prolife positions.

I hope that you’ll consider doing the same thing, that you’ll look closely at all of the candidates, and that you will let your voice be heard tomorrow. No matter how long the line is, you’ll stand in line and cast that vote. It could be very, very close in many of these States, not just for president, but for the US Senate, for Congress, all the way down the ballot. Please let your voice be heard, and your values count.

Thanks for listening today to WallBuilders Live!