Religion Is An Important Part Of Most Americans”€™ Lives: We call it Good News Friday because it’s a chance for David and Tim to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. In this episode, we talk about why this NFL star testified of God’s grace. That Religion is an important part of most Americans”€™ lives. How Gen Z has horrible news for the Left. And more!

Air Date: 01/18/2018

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

Listen:

Download: Click Here

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, always doing that from a Biblical, historical, and Constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. And my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————–

 

Check out WallBuildersLive.com to find out more about us in the program, stations across the country we’re on, and archives of the program over the last few weeks. Then head over to WallBuilders.com, our main website, where you can get all kinds of great tools for yourself, your family, and your friends to equip and inspire them to be better citizens.

Make sure you check out the opportunity to come alongside us here on this program by making a donation. You can do a one time donation, or you can do a monthly donation which really helps us to plan for the year”€™s new projects, new stations, all the different things we want to do to expand the program. Every dollar you donate is an opportunity to expand the message of WallBuilders, which is rebuilding those foundations that made our nation great in the first place, and you will be helping to ignite a fire in our country. So check that out there at WallBuilders.com and vote with your dollars by supporting us. Speaking of good news, it’s Good News Friday!

Carl McCarter Appointed Ambassador to Kenya

This is the one day of the week for WallBuilders Live that I look forward to most, because it goes into the weekend with great, positive information of victories across the nation and around the world, most of which you probably haven’t heard about from the major media.

So, David, Tim, I know you’ve got a lot you’re gonna be firing at us. Let’s jump in.

Give me some good news.

David:

Well, let’s start with something that happened in the recent weeks leading up to the beginning of this new Congress, and the closing weeks. There’s a guy named Carl McCarter. Carl McCarter was a Senator, a state Senator for the state of Illinois. Good guy, good friend. He”€™s been part of the ProFamily Legislative Network, so he’s been in the network for a number of years. He is now the new ambassador to Kenya, which is a really good deal.

They held him up for eight months because—you”€™ve got to watch guys like this. He’s conservative, and he’s a Christian, and he actually has Christian values, and—my gosh—we can’t have somebody like that representing the United States! And so he did get through the Senate. They fought it all the way, but it did get confirmed. So right there in December there was a package of, I think, 18 ambassadors that got confirmed and a bunch of other cabinet level and sub-cabinet level positions.

Kenya Made a Stand

Democrats had held up so much in the way of confirmations that it was going to take eleven years to get confirmed what Trump has nominated just for open positions. So you can talk about government shutdown all you want, Democrats are doing a great job of at least trying to shut down Trump’s side of the government and not letting his people get in.

But Carl McCarter getting in is a really good deal. So that’s great.

And by the way, that’ll be such a difference for the people of Kenya. You may remember, we talked on programs four years ago, particularly when Hillary was Secretary of State, that the people of Kenya and the pastors are very active there.

It’s a very religious nation, and in their constitution the people put in that they do not want to do abortions, period. That’s not part of Kenya. It’s not what they believe. That’s not what they believe as a Christian people.

And then Hillary, with the Office of Women’s Initiatives that she created, went and said, “€œNo, no, no. You can’t get State Department funding unless you take that prohibition on abortion out of your constitution and unless you start promoting homosexuality.”€

So she made very clear that the Office of Women’s Initiatives, as she explained, existed to promote abortion and homosexuality across the world. So Kenya had real problems with that, as you can imagine, with us telling them to change their constitution. But here a guy goes into Kenya, Carl McCarter, who actually has the same beliefs as Kenyan people, and he represents the government of the United States. This is going to be a great, great thing for him.

85 Trump Judges Confirmed!

He grew up with lots of connections with Kenya, so it’s a great thing along with that group that got confirmed in December. We’re now up to 85 judges that have been confirmed by the Senate, Trump nominated judges. There’s still probably about 120 left to go, but there’s 85 judges, and that’s the most in two years for any president in the modern era.

So that’s good news as well. So, good news out of Washington D.C. in terms of appointments and confirmations of appointments made by President Trump.

Rick:

That seems to be a recurring theme.

He’s been so much more effective at getting that done. Everybody thought, “€œOh, he doesn’t play nice, or people aren”€™t going to work with him, he’s never going to get anything done.”€

But yet he’s managed to get more good people appointed, and have to compromise less, meaning when choosing between nominees, the nominees that won are strong and have good principles. It”€™s going to be tougher to get good ones through the Senate than one that’s kind of wishy washy, but he’s made the better choice most of the time and gotten them through. That’s been good news going on for a little more than two years now.

Great Choices Being Made

David:

Yeah, you’re right. And I’ve kind of commented that probably 90 percent of the people that he has nominated and have been confirmed would be people that we would have loved to have nominated ourselves. It’s not that we get 10 percent of what we hope for, or 20 percent, or 30. We’re getting 90 percent of what we would do ourselves. So that really is not the kind of squishy, moderate, mainstream Republican kind of stuff.

It really has been much more on the conservative/constitutional side, which is really good news.

Rick:

Quick break guys. Tim Barton’s got our next piece of good news. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Moment From American History.

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. American Patriot Paul Revere road to alert Americans of the impending arrival of the British. But he also sought patriot leader Samuel Adams and John Hancock to warn them that the British were seeking their execution.

Adams and Hancock were staying with the Reverend Jonas Clark in Lexington. When they asked Pastor Clark if his church was ready for the approaching British he replied, “€œI’ve trained them for this very hour. They will fight and, if need be, die under the shadow of the house of God.”€

Later that morning 70 men from his church, faced several hundred British in the first battle of the War for Independence. As Pastor Clark affirmed, “€œThe militia that morning were the same who filled the pews of the church meeting house on the Sunday morning before.”€

The American church was regularly at the forefront of the fight for liberty. For more information on this pastor and other Colonial Patriots go to WallBuilders.com.

The STory of Benjamin Watson

Rick:

We”€™re back on WallBuilders Live. It”€™s Good News Friday today, and our next piece of news good news is coming from Tim Barton. Tim”€?

Tim:

Guys, this is one from the NFL, and there is a tight end for the New Orleans Saints, Benjamin Watson. He’s somebody we’ve talked about on the program before on a Good News Friday.

He and his wife are believers, they are pro life, so many things about him, his character, his attitude, that we really appreciate. He’s somebody that has been part of the Saints pretty significant successful history over recent years. He and Drew Brees have been teammates a long time this season.

Drew Brees threw his five hundredth touchdown, it was a big deal. Benjamin was the guy that caught that, he’s going to retire this next year.

There were some interesting things, the social media kind of carried some of this, that went viral for a little bit, with the fact that he and his wife are pregnant now with twins number six and seven—baby six and seven all the way.

David:

Wow.

“€œFaith is Important to Us”€

Tim:

Big family. Actually, he was asking for prayer because they’d had miscarriages a year before, had a couple miscarriages within four months. But he shared his wife’s social media posting, and here’s what she said on Facebook.

“€œI rest on Second Corinthians 12:9. “€œBut He said to me, “€œMy grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”€ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness that Christ”€™s power may rest on me.”€

And that’s what she posted sharing about these miscarriages, sharing about being pregnant.

Benjamin Watson says, “€œI’m so proud of my wife for transparency. We’re trusting in God in these moments. Faith is a big deal to us.”€

He also had a post talking about what he’s gonna do after he retires, and they have a foundation that is called One More, and it’s devoted—and this is their statement—it is devoted to, “€œSpreading the love and hope of Christ to one more soul by meeting real needs, promoting education, and providing enrichment opportunities through charitable initiatives, and partnerships.”€

And guys, as much as we have looked at the NFL, and as much as we talked about the problems across the board with some of the perceptions, and we’ve talked about Colin Kaepernick many times here.

Kaepernick Didn”€™t Give Up Anything

Even Nike and their campaign, and their slogan. When they pay a guy millions, and millions, and millions of dollars and their slogan is, “€œBe willing to give up everything.”€

No, he didn’t give up everything. He has a bigger contract with you than he ever had in the NFL.

There’s some weird components and elements to the NFL. Certainly things that we’ve seen, although we recognize and appreciate it, the NFL is a business. They have the right to make decisions.

But we then have the right to not support some of those decisions. However, sometimes it gets lost almost in the shadow, or the ripples in the waves of the big splashes that’s happening.

We kind of lose sight of how many good guys there are in the NFL with pro family, with pro life, pro-Israel… so many good guys. Benjamin Watson is just one more example of those good guys in the NFL who are so pro faith. Who are guys that we can get behind, and cheer for, and actually feel good about cheering for them because of their values, their character, and their integrity. So this was just a great article pointing out an example of someone who is very much open to God and excited about their family growing.

He asked, “€œHey, please be in prayer for my wife.”€

And so we definitely can join him in praying for his wife and their growing family as all this happens, but kind of a cool story about Benjamin Watson.

How Important is Religion in the Life of Most Americans?

Rick:

Very good news. We got time for a short one, David, if you got one.

David:

Here’s a new national survey out on How Important is Religion in the Life of Most Americans. And for those that say religion is important in their life, what would you say the percentage would be?

Tim:

Well, so I think it could be a little bit of a trick question because it doesn’t say, “€œHow important is Christianity?

So with religion we could include other faiths. Therefore, I think the number could be higher than if you just said, for Christians, how important is it. But how is it? How important is it, period? Or is there scale of it in your daily life?

David:

How important is religious faith in your daily life? Now, I’ll go the other way and say only 15 percent said, “€œIt’s not important in my daily life.”€ So if 15 percent say it’s not important, then you’re looking at a fairly religious nation.

Tim:

I’m going to say it’s got to be up in the 60s or low 70s.

David:

It”€™s 71 percent.

And by the way, can you show me where that national advertising reflects anything close to 71 percent? Religious faith is just not covered in anything. If you were to look at commercials, and look at where the market is, you would think that 15 percent is what runs the nation.

It”€™s Like that 15 Percent Run Everything

Tim:

Correct.

David:

And there’s nothing that shows any faith friendly attitude. The Benjamin Watson story, we bring it out here. Yeah. Where’s the big huge national networks? Where”€™s the ESPN talking about faith, and the NFL?

Tim:

Although we can point out, at the end of the national championship, the college game, where you do have Dabo Swinney, who is very open about faith. I’m sure we have a good news article coming up about that. It just wasn’t at the top of my stack at the moment, however. You do have some people that are sharing faith, although for Dabo Swinney it was a live interview, the media can’t really assess that and get away from it.

David:

No features on his faith, but they couldn”€™t get away from what he did.

Tim:

So it is something that we are seeing, but you’re right. It’s something the media does not highlight, the significance of faith in people’s lives. Although, for most Americans, as this polling indicates, faith is very important in their life. And it’s why on Good News Friday we love highlighting that, because it’s something that resonates with us. It’s just the media doesn’t seem to think it’s important enough for them to highlight.

David:

Yeah. So just because you don’t see it in the media, don’t think that the whole nation is like the 15 percent that’s out there.

There really is a lot more, and that’s a lot healthier than what the perception would be and looking at what’s out there and the open market.

Rick:

Quick break guys. We’ll come back with more good news in just a moment. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

This Precarious Moment Book

David:

This is David Barton. I want to let about a brand new book we have called This Precarious Moment: Six Urgent Steps That Will Save You, Your family, and Our Country. Jim Garlow and I have co-authored this book and we take six issues that are hot in the culture right now.

Issues that we’re dealing with, issues such as immigration, race relations, our relationship with Israel, the rising generation Millennials, and the absence of the church in the culture wars, and where American heritage is, our godly heritage. We look at all six of those issues right now that are under attack and we give you both Biblical and historical perspective on those issues that provide solutions on what each of us can do right now to make a difference.

These are all problems that are solvable if we’ll get involved. So you can grab the book This Precarious Moment and find out what you can do to make a difference. This Precarious Moment is available at WallBuilders.com.

The National Motto is Going On License Plates!

Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. It is Good News Friday today. Next piece of good news is going to come from Tim Barton. Tim?

Tim:

All right, guys. This is from Mississippi, and this is something that came from Governor, Phil Bryant. He announced a move that was coming up, and this is a recent article. Although some of this information does go back a couple of years, back in 2014,

h,e signed legislation that was going to add the national motto, which is, In God We Trust to the Mississippi state seal.

But also, it was something that was going to go on the license plates. And so in 2018, it was something that he announced. This was coming on the license plates. And this is something that he actually just told at the beginning of this year, that in 2019, In God We Trust was going to appear on the license plates in Mississippi.

And so, as much disdain as there has been from people attacking religion, attacking the national motto, and saying, “€œWait a second, you can’t have God on something from a state, or somebody from a nation!”€

You hear groups crying separation of church and state. It really is still encouraging to see that there are states—that there are leaders and governors—who are saying, “€œLook, we recognize some things that go back to the War of 1812.”€

What Francis Scott Key wrote, what Abraham Lincoln promoted, what Dwight Eisenhower says, “€œLet’s put it on our currency.”€

This is Constitutional

This has been a motto for our nation for a long time, that, In God We Trust.

So pretty cool news coming out that says, “€œThis is going to be on the license plates now.”€ As already mentioned, there are groups that are opposing this. In fact, the American Humanist Association said that these license plates are unconstitutional. Now, that is an incorrect statement.

In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has already upheld more than one decision that having In God We Trust as the national motto. It”€™s constitutional that the sheriff’s officers, police departments—they can put it on their car—that mayors can display it in their offices and city councils can display it.

So even schools can display this. Public schools. This is not unconstitutional. It’s no surprise there is pushback against this, but still cool, coming out of Mississippi, that on their license plates is going to appear the national motto In God We Trust.

Rick:

I’m just…I’m just trying to digest how a license plate is unconstitutional. Right?

What an individual chooses to put as their little message, or motto, or state university, whatever kind message around their license plate, or even in this case printed on the license plate, it just amazes me how far these people will go to remove any mention of God.

It”€™s Ironic

Tim:

It’s just how much they hate something they claim to be fictitious. It”€™s quite ironic.

Rick:

Yes, that’s great.

David:

But either way, if you look at the license plate, you have to have a 42 power microscope to be able to read it on the license plate. It’s not like something that’s a neon sign.

Tim:

And you know guys, I don’t think I would oppose a license plate that said Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, right? I like that. I don’t have such disdain for something like that. Now, by the way parental advisory, I’m about to say somebody is not real.

So if any parents are like, “€œWell, my kids don’t know that yet,”€ this is your disclaimer. So for 30 seconds, turn it down.

No, I don’t believe Santa Claus is actually coming to town every Christmas.

But it doesn’t offend me if you want to believe that. But the the attitude from the secularist groups, from the humanist groups and these atheist groups to say, “€œWe hate something so much that we don’t believe is real, that we won’t even let you talk about it. We won’t let you choose that, we won’t let you promote it.”€

There’s a great irony from people that claim to be so tolerant. Nonetheless this is kind of where that situation is. And Rick you’re right. to be offended that somebody could choose to have the national motto on their license plate because it mentions God it real, really is kind of a ridiculous position, no doubt.

 

Rick:

All right guys quick break we’ll come back. We’ve got a full segment left of good news for you. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Front Sight Training Course

Rick Greens here, from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Greene, Tim Barton, David Barton, have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution?

They’re raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. Go to my website right now at RickGreen.com. You can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at Front Sight, or Larry Elder, or Tim Barton and myself out there. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family. It is a fantastic place to train. They train 30 to 40,000 people a year, and they’re just wonderful to work with. You can go with us. We’re headed back out.

We’re going to have a great time out there, and if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we’re going to treat you. If you’re a donor of WallBuilders, you”€™ll be able to go to this Front Sight class for free. It normally cost a thousand dollars, go to FrontSight.com right now. You’ll see that it’s a thousand dollars to attend their two-day class. You are going to be able to go for free, if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders Live.

So, check out that information at RickGreen.com and join us. We are going once a month for the next three months. You can pick one of those classes. All of our previous classes have filled up. Make sure that you get online today and get signed up. Whether you’ve never shot before, or you’ve shot your whole life, you will enjoy this class. You”€™ll enjoy the fellowship. We’ll be training on the range during the day and studying the Constitution at night. What a great combination. Check it out today at RickGreen.com

What is Generation Z?

Rick:

Welcome back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live. It is Good News Friday. If you have enjoyed the program so far today, we have a lot more good news right there at our website WallBuildersLive.com.

Click on the archive section and you can scroll back through those Friday programs to get more good news to share with your friends or family as well. All right. One full segment left to good news here, David Barton is up next. David, what’s our next piece of good news?

David:

We’re going to talk about GenZ, and by the way Tim, define GenZ.

Tim:

Well, generally speaking that is high school and down these days. It’s people that were born in the early 2000s going forward for a little bit. These definitions change periodically because millennials—there are several different date options for when they came—and then they want to have gap groups between millennials, which is GenY, to GenZ.

So it is a little convoluted nonetheless. Generally speaking, it is people that were born in kind of the 2000 ish area going forward for the next, I guess, 10 or 12 years is kind of how long they want to put that timeframe on.

Rick:

It sounds like we may have as many generations as we have genders now, that’s getting confusing.

Tim:

Yeah. Well, because what happens is, just like gender, people say, “€œWait a second, you can’t tell me what my gender is. You can’t tell me what age group I’m in. I don’t define myself as a millennial! I’m a baby boomer! I’m a 14 year old baby boomer.”€ No, not hardly.

Bad News For the Left

David:

So now, this article kind of puts them back to the mid 90s. For the purpose of this discussion, we’re going to say that you could be 24 year years old for this.

Tim:

This polling is certainly older than what I’ve seen. So I’ve seen it start as early as 98, but you’re saying maybe it starts in 96?

David:

What they’re saying in this article is measuring from 95, so say—

Tim:

No, no, I don’t agree with that. I think millennials are still rockin all the way to 96, possibly 98, but I’m going to let it slide for the sake of your article.

David:

So I’m not going to call them GenZ, I’m just going to say for those who might be 24 years old or younger. This article says it’s, “€œHorrid news for the left.”€

Now, what about this 24 and younger year old group would be bad news for the left? Consider what we’re seeing with millennials, and with what education has done, and where it’s turned so much of the nation in a far left direction would be hard news?

Tim:

So I’m going to guess that it could be a couple of things which we see, trends that are very pro entrepreneurship, so they’re not looking just for free handouts. But I would say part of the entrepreneurship is they’re looking for things that show them how to be better entrepreneurs, so they’re more interested in trade schools than they are higher education.

I would think that could be terrifying for the left, because if they don’t go to a university, they don’t have as great of a chance to be indoctrinated. That would be terrifying.

No College + Trade Schools = No Indoctrination

David:

That is exactly what this is. What is happening is the GenZ generation, what they’re calling 24 and down, they’re choosing trade schools at a very, very high rate. The article says Generation Z, the generation coming up after millennials, are proving that they’re going to be the next great generation in terms of not being an ungrateful waste of space.

Tim:

So I know people that resemble that.

David:

That”€™s right. It says, quoting, “€œYoung students are finding themselves drawn to stable paychecks and fields where there’s an obvious need.”€

So rather than going through four years of college, get an indoctrination, and coming out with massive student debt and with only 26 percent of college graduates getting a job in their field right now, you’ve actually got these kids saying, “€œWe want a paycheck. I’d rather have a skill set that I get paid for as opposed to learning some philosophy that doesn’t land me a job.”€

And by the way, the current student debt is one point three trillion dollars, that’s how much. So these millennials are snowed with debt. They are under underwater with debt. They can’t get a job.

And the next generation is going, “€œNot us. We’re gonna get a job.”€

Now if you go into a trade school, what happens in terms of your thinking? What happens in terms of your life experience and other things?

What you tend to get is a whole lot more common sense, because when you get a job and it’s in a trade school, which generally means more of a physical kind of a job, or something that uses skill sets other than just your ideas, although your ideas in entrepreneurship are very important.

Somewhere, Right Now, Mike Rowe is Smiling

Now you’re talking cause and effect, you’re talking income/outgo, you’re talking with principles that do or don’t work. Theory goes out the door now. It all starts becoming practical, and that’s bad news for the left because they look good on paper, and they got socialism looking great until you actually try to live it.

Tim:

And then I would say yes, it looks best on paper. I think I’d argue it doesn’t look good unless you don’t know how cause and effect works.

But it looks best on paper.

When you’re in a situation where you’re having to learn to do hands on things, it’s no longer about philosophy. It’s about the practicalities, and what actually functions, what actually works.

Where you might think, “€œHey, as a welder or as a mechanic, as you know, whatever the case is, a builder of some kind that this is a great idea.”€

And then you try it, you’re like, “€œOh yeah, that’s never going to work.”€

All of a sudden you realize on a different level, not just what a philosophy is, but how to follow through and see what is actually going to happen if we do that.

David:

So it’s a great article. A couple more lines that are worth reading out of here.

It says, “€œSomewhere, right now, Mike Rowe is smiling.”€

Yes, that’s exactly right. All that dirty job stuff that he did. He was just great on that. But here’s our closing paragraph I want to read, it’s really good.

Religion is Important in the Lives of Americans and More at WallBuilders Live!

It says, “€œIf GenZ is turning its back on all of this, then you might actually start to see the edge the left currently has on the populace begin to dull. No more indoctrinated youths taking the sidewalks with picket signs and half baked beliefs, fewer leftist voters blindly following orders, and no more student debt weighing on a populace, in an already troubled economy, greasing the wheels for socialistic beliefs.”€

That”€™s a great, great summary statement.

But that’s what’s happening now with this next generation coming up and going in a whole different direction in what they’re doing and what they think should be their education to get them prepared for job skills. So if this trend keeps going, if GenZers are going this way, that will dramatically alter the leftist indoctrination system we’ve seen at universities in the last several decades.

Rick:

That’s not just good news, it’s terrific news, and a great way to close out our program today. It’s been Good News Friday all day here at WallBuilders Live. You can get more good news at our website, WallBuildersLive.com, and if you’d like us to be able to spread this good news across the country and get more citizens engaged, then go to WallBuilders.com today and make a one time donation or a monthly donation. Come alongside us as a partner and help us continue this great work. We sure appreciate you listening today to WallBuilders Live.