Religious Couples Have Happier Marriages: 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. We don”€™t often hear good news from major media, however, here on WallBuilders Live, we love sharing news worthy of celebration! Tune in now to learn more!

Air Date: 05/31/2019

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, 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 and President of WallBuilders, and my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.

It’s Good News Friday! I’m always looking forward to Good News Friday. It’s a chance for us to catch up on a lot of the great things that have happened in the previous few weeks.

Sometimes you think there’s nothing good happening, but that’s not true. There’s a lot of great things happening! So David and Tim compile a lot of these news stories you’re not going to hear about in the major media, and then try to catch us up on Fridays with what we call Good News Friday.

We’re going to dive into a ton of those in just a moment, but I do want to recommend you visit both our websites today. WallBuildersLive.com is our radio site. That’s where you can get a list of our stations across the country. You can also get archives of the last few weeks of programs, including those Good News Fridays.

So, if today is not enough, if you want more good news, go to the archives and click on some of those past Friday programs, or grab some of the Foundations of Freedom Thursday programs, where you ask the questions and we dive into foundational principles, or those interviews we have Monday through Wednesday. It”€™s all available right there at WallBuildersLive.com.

Franklin Graham

Then over to WallBuilders.com there”€™s great information available for you there as well. A lot of great tools things you can use to equip and inspire yourself and others to be better citizens, to live out your citizenship, and live out your freedom in a biblical way and be a part of the solution helping to restore America’s constitutional republic, one of the most important things you can do.

When our founders gave their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honor, that means, yes, they gave of their money, and so we’re asking you to donate to help this program grow, expand, and reach more people. You can make a contribution to the program there at WallBuildersLive.com or WallBuilders.com. Just click on the Donate button. That helps us do our training for pastors in Washington D.C., where we take pastors from all over the country to our briefings in D.C. several times a year. We train legislators, we train young people. All the things we’re doing, you become a part of it when you make that donation. So make a one time donation or become one of our monthly donors. All available right there at our website.

Let’s get into some good news today. David Barton has our first piece of good news. 

David:

I’ve got good news that comes actually from Franklin Graham, and I will say that Franklin Graham, as I’ve watched in the past few years, he’s become more bold and more courageous. He’s more outspoken without backing down on what the Bible says about things, and he’s taking the Bible and applying it to current events. He’s not just doing biblical inspirational moments with, “€œThe Bible says this,”€ he says, “€œHere’s what’s in the news. Here’s what the Bible says.”€

Democratic Candidate Fiasco

That type of application of biblical principles to current events, I think it”€™s really, really good. I’ve actually, in the last month, seen some interesting polling where the church continues to be moving in the wrong direction. But there’s a counter movement coming back that’s much more conservative, much more biblically oriented, where it looks like there is a growing element within that within the Christian church that is becoming much culturally relevant.

That’s been a real issue we’ve seen for years, that people were leaving church because they say nothing useful is coming out of it.

“€œMy pastor won’t talk about anything that’s going on. I don’t know how to apply biblical principles to daily life. I’ve got other stuff I can do.”€

So, within that framework, here comes Franklin Graham. He really is kind of becoming the epitome of what the old black robe regiment used to be back in the founding era, where the pastors would speak out on the issues of the day, or what the King was doing, or what the governor said, or whatever it is.

This instant I want to point to with Franklin deals with what’s going on in the presidential primaries right now. Of course, there is not much of a primary on the Republican side. I think one Republican said he’s going to run against Trump, but basically Trump’s going to be the nominee.

So all the positioning and posturing right now is on the Democrat side. There are different kind of flavors of the month, some guys rise and fall, they were really popular and now they’re plummeting. Bato”€™s a great example of that. Other guys are doing better than expected.

Some Bad Theology

But the South Bend Mayor, Buttigieg, has been an interesting kind of figure because the two profiles he’s running on are, “€œI am an outspoken, openly devout Christian. And by the way, I’m also a homosexual Christian.”€

And for those that know the Bible, that’s a little bit difficult because the Bible says, “€œI’m sorry, homosexuals won’t enter the kingdom of heaven.”€

So how can you be a devout Christian and be practiced in the lifestyle? The Bible says you will not get to heaven. He’s been asked about that, because as what he calls a “€œdevout Christian”€, he’s also for abortion right up to the moment of birth, right up to infanticide.

There’s just so many positions he”€™s taken that don’t seem to line up biblically.

When he was asked about that he said, “€œWell, God doesn’t have a political party, and I understand that I’ll stand before God and I answer to Him, not to other people and their opinions.”€

So, with that framework that God doesn’t have a political party, Franklin Graham came back said, “€œYou’re exactly right. God does not have a political party, but he does have very clear stances on a number of issues.”€

God Has Opinions

This is part of what Franklin tweeted, he said, “€œButtigieg is right. God doesn’t have a political party, but God does have commandments, laws, and standards He gives us to live by. God doesn’t change His word. It”€™s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Buttigieg made the comment, “€œthe condition of my soul is in the hands of God. Mayor  Buttigieg is exactly right. His soul is in the hands of God. So is everyone’s. He also says that he is a Christian and wants to become the first openly gay president in American history. What’s wrong with that picture in reality? Being a Christian isn’t just a title we select or a church membership. It’s a faith in God and His Word that transforms our lives to be more like the one we follow Jesus Christ.”€

It really came out and really called  Buttigieg on that, and I think it’s a great move for us to be able to say, “€œAll right here’s what you said but here’s what God’s word says.”€

Tim:

Well, and speaking what God’s word says, one of the things we can point to is first Corinthians 6:9, where were Paul actually does write to the church in Corinth and say that no homosexual enter the Kingdom of God.

The Unrighteous WIll Not Inherit the Kingdom of God

But the verse is broader than that, because Paul—let me just read it. First Corinthians 6:9 says, “€œDo you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Neither fornicating, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetousness, nor drunkards, nor revolvers, nor extortions will inherit the kingdom of God, and such were, some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.”€

What’s significant even theologically is when Paul is talking about this, he’s talking about people that are openly embracing this kind of behavior.

We’re in the reality of human existence. No human is perfect, and every single person is gonna make a mistake. Every single person has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is something that, yes, nobody’s perfect, but Paul makes a distinction and says, “€œYou can’t be a follower of Christ and continue to embrace this kind of lifestyle that is very contrary to Christ.”€

Which is where Paul says in Romans, that we were predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That’s what Franklin Graham points out, is that we’re supposed to look like Jesus, and there’s certain things that don’t look like Jesus, so we can’t pride and brag ourselves what the Bible calls sinful existence and sinful practices.

At the same time, imagine we’re being godly as we are promoting our sin. It’s not just that he’s a homosexual. If President Trump was still living of the lifestyle of sleeping with different porn stars, absolutely, we say, “€œNo, that’s totally wrong.”€

Forcing God to Fit Our Mold

We even can look back and say what he did was totally wrong. What he did absolutely was wrong, but one of the things we do believe as Christians is that you can be forgiven. You can be redeemed. You can become a new creation, that old things can pass away. All things become new. We pray that’s what’s happened for President Trump.

We don’t see that same kind of lifestyle and behavior from him anymore. We would pray the same thing for mayor  Buttigieg, that he would have an encounter with God and he would say, “€œYou know what? I want to become like Jesus.”€

There were certain sins that Jesus says we shouldn’t walk in, but this is where, I think, Franklin Graham is great at pointing out a lot better of what the gospel message means. In the modern culture we tend to try to form God in our own image and say, “€œNo, this is what God embraces. God just loves us all and accepts and embraces us all, and it’s totally fine.”€

Well, we forget the Bible says, “€œNope, there are works of the flesh that are sinful works, and because of those sins the wrath of God is going to come. Judgment will come and the people that embrace sin in their lifestyle, they’re going to have to go to that judgment. That’s not something that God endorses and condones.”€

It’s really unique to see someone with the status of Franklin Graham come out and say, “€œGuys, here’s what the Bible says,”€ and bring moral and biblical clarity to a culture where biblical truth has become very subjective and relativistic instead of the objective word of God that it was written to be.

A Christian With an Unchristian Lifestyle?

Rick:

Yeah. I couldn’t agree with you guys more. Like you said, David, at the beginning.

He’s just, over the past few years, been such a great voice, and he does it in a loving way, but he doesn’t mince words and he quotes scripture and applies it accurately, and he doesn’t shy away from these tough issues.

I watched as this mayor became more and more popular in these presidential elections, and the media has just been fawning over him, and it’s all been this you know just lovey dovey, wonderful news, and how great he is, and to have a Christian leader that was willing to say, “€œHold on. Time out. This idea of standing up and saying, “€œHey, I’m a Christian but I’m live in an anti Christian lifestyle,”€ isn’t right.”€

Somebody has to speak up against it, and man, I love seeing his Facebook post and his other comments out there because there are so few leaders, especially of his stature, who are willing to take on those tough issues knowing that he’s going to be attacked for it.

Thank God for a godly voice like Franklin Graham. Quick break guys. More good news when we come back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Comedy and the Constitution at Front Site

Hey friends, Rick Green here. Have you ever wanted to laugh while learning? Would you like to actually have some humor included in your education about the Constitution? Well, that’s what Brad Stine and myself do in what we call Comedy and the Constitution.

We do it all over the country and can bring it to your community. But, we’re doing something we’ve never done before. We’re taking the Comedy and the Constitution Front Site in Nevada, and we’re going to combine it with the Constitutional Defense Program we’ve been doing for a couple of years.

Now, the Constitutional Defense Program is where you actually get some constitution training and some handgun training to you learn how to defend yourself and your family. You’re going to get all of it: the constitutional training; the opportunity to laugh with Brad Stine, God’s comic comedian, and you’re going to the handgun training at Front Site.

This is a one time event happening June 3rd and 4th. There’s still time to sign up; but, space is very limited. So, if you want to be on the range with us, then you’ve got to get signed up right now at RickGreen.com. Find out more; it’s going to be a great event on June 3rd and 4th. So, get signed up today at RickGreen.com.

When Religious Couples Pray

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live. It”€™s Good News Friday today, catching up on some good news from the last few weeks. Tim Barton’s got the next piece. Tim?

Tim:

All right guys. This is titled When Religious Couples Pray, and it’s actually recounting information that different counselors, like colleges, have done research and data, and in the midst of their counseling and working with couples they’ve identified that, for religious couples, one of the greatest benefits they have as couples is actually prayer.

They’ve documented that couples who talk about how they used prayer in their daily life, and they pray for their spouse, and they go through and they listen—all this is documented—they list some of the benefits and the positive outcomes, and they say, “€œWell, couples that pray together tend to be more forgiving of each other. They have better trust and unity in their relationship. There’s less infidelity in those relationships when you are praying for your spouse. There is increased relationship satisfaction and commitment.”€

Enhanced Intimacy, Communication, and Commitment

They say that prayer may lead to greater mindfulness of the effects of one’s actions on a spouse, so you think more about how your actions will impact your spouse based on what you’re doing. It lessens anger and frustration to your spouse or from your spouse. Prayer can be a self soothing and de-escalation practice. Prayer has also been associated with improved conflict resolution for religious couples. It’s brought enhanced intimacy commitment and communication are also positive effects. That prayer appears to confer on a marriage relationship. It just goes through this list and the list keeps going it’s it’s a pretty extensive article and this is based on their findings from the studies that these various groups have done counseling religious couples. And they say one of the best things religious couples can do for their relationship is to pray together and pray for their spouse.

And they list all the benefits and I thought this is just such a neat confirmation that we know the Bible tells us that we are supposed to be people that pray that we are actually prayer and fasting is supposed to be a normal part of our life. Jesus actually, when He was teaching the disciples to pray in Matthew 6 before he gets into what we know is the Lord’s Prayer, which starts off with, “€œOur Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,”€ as He’s teaching that he actually preface it.

He says, “€œWhen you pray, don’t be like the Pharisees.”€

He says, “€œWhen you fast, don’t be like the Pharisees,”€ so the implication is that we are going to pray we are going to fast.

Once Again, Studies Show God is Right

But here’s what, to me, is so cool. There are studies that are showing the positive benefits of doing what God and Jesus told us we should be doing.

Guys, all of us are married. As married men, we understand we want to be people that are praying for our families. We want to pray for our spouse and our kids. But now we’re seeing that there are very practical benefits when we do pray for our spouse.

The way we’re able to interact, that the level of intimacy, and forgiveness, and unity, it’s just very cool to see an article identifying this.

So I would encourage every listener out there, if you’re in a relationship, whether you are dating, or you’re engaged, or you’re married, maybe you’re single and you want to be married one day, start praying for your spouse. There are practical benefits of praying for your spouse, praying for your mate, and this is an article identifying many of those benefits. So just a pretty cool article.

Rick:

I love this kind of good news, where it’s the scientific proof of the practical application of biblical principles. It’s just cool to watch, and it’s cool to see—and obviously we should do those things just because the Bible says we should do those things—but it’s great to know that God gives us those things, kind of like the Sabbath. He’s giving those things as a gift to us because He’s the manufacturer. He made us. He knows how our brains and our bodies work, and hey, we follow His rules we get great benefits.

Stay with us folks, we”€™ll be right back more good news for you right here on WallBuilders Live.

Share a veteran’s story

We Want To Hear Your Vet Story

Rick:

Hey friends! If you have been listening to WallBuilders Live for very long at all, you know how much we respect our veterans and how appreciative we are of the sacrifice they make to make our freedoms possible. One of the ways that we love to honor those veterans is to tell their stories here on WallBuilders Live.  Once in awhile, we get an opportunity to interview veterans that have served on those front lines that have made incredible sacrifices have amazing stories that we want to share with the American people.

One of the very special things we get to do is interview World War II veterans. You’ve heard those interviews here on WallBuilders Live, from folks that were in the Band of Brothers, to folks like Edgar Harrell that survived the Indianapolis to so many other great stories you heard on WallBuilders Live.

You have friends and family that also served.  If you have World War II veterans in your family that you would like to have their story shared here on WallBuilders Live, please e-mail us at [email protected].  Give us a brief summary of the story and we’ll set up an interview. Thanks so much for sharing here on WallBuilders Live!

The Iran Situation

Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us on WallBuilders Live. Good News Friday today. David Barton’s next with good news. 

David:

Well, we’re going to go look at Iran for a moment. This is an area where that President Trump has really put the pressure on. He kind of rescinded the deal that Obama did, where his administration gave one hundred and fifty billion dollars to Iran and lifted the sanctions, etc.

Trump reimposed the sanctions, and he’s been tightening the noose, so to speak, around Iran’s neck, making it really tough for them. Iran has been documented as the biggest contributor to violence the Middle East. It is their beliefs, and they are exporting their beliefs through all sorts of terrorist organizations over there.

That’s what we see in Afghanistan, Iraq, and in Syria, and all the turmoil and instability. So we attract back to Iran, and what they’re doing specifically in funding that terrorism and exporting it and beliefs.

So the president has really started cracking down on that, and made it very difficult for them as a result. We talked in previous programs about how difficult life is becoming for Iran, how much pressure there is inside the country as people are wanting a change in government that’s making it very hard them, and the president came out recently and said, “€œOK. We’ve had waivers for our sanctions, where that France and now all these other nations were able to continue to import things into Iran, we’re not giving waivers anymore. If you import into Iran any of these things, then we’re not going to do business with you.”€

Crippling the Enemy Economy

What it has done is it’s put Iran on an island, and it has really hurt them because they can’t export their oil. That’s where so much of their money comes, and now no one is buying their oil. So the elimination of waivers has made it very, very, very difficult as a result.

It looks like, internally, it’s falling apart even more. It looks like inflation for this year in Iran is going to reach 40 percent. Imagine 40 percent inflation! You don’t have greater income coming in, but you’re having to pay more for things. So this all leads to internal instability there. Then the president declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. That is their military.

I was talking to one of the guys who, for a number of years, ran the intelligence operation in the United States. He was one of the chief intelligence guys, still very connected to the intelligence community, top secret clearance, and he was saying, “€œWhat makes a revolution within Iran really hard is the revolutionary guard. While the people want a change in government, and they want the elitists out of there that are trying to bring them to war, their guard is so brutal and has so much power—and they keep themselves in power—that people really don’t have a chance of revolution at this point.”€ So the Trump Administration made that a terrorist organization. At that point, the Iranian Guard”€™s response is that, “€œWell, we’re going to start attacking American embassies and interests.”€

Iranian Retaliation and UN Failure

So, remember a few weeks ago when they evacuated the American embassies over the Middle East, and then they sent the carrier task force? That”€™s because the Iranians are really stepping up this stuff. So what’s significant is that the pressure is continuing to build on Iran. It is continuing to reduce their influence in the region and their ability to export terrorism in other countries is falling because they can’t afford to do it anymore. They don’t have the money to do it.

So all this this tough stuff, this tough bluster by the Trump Administration, really is helping the middle east.

It was great that Israel supplied us with all the intelligence we needed to know that we were about to be attacked, and so it looks like those attacks were all thwarted. So the good news from the Trump Administration is this hard fisted position they’re taking toward Iran is actually helping reduce the violence over there. Now, we’ll see, at some point there may be a revolution within the country, but the guard has to really lose a lot of his power first. But this is moving in the right direction.

By the way, while we’re talking about Iran, I want to point out Iran was just named by the United Nations to be part of the Women’s Rights Commission for the world.

The United Nations: A Great Irony

Tim:

That is probably how we should recognize Iran. They’re leading efforts in promoting women, and in defending women and women’s rights, yes it’s totally how they—no. Not even a little bit. That is utterly stupid. One of the many reasons we point to the U.N. and realize the mockery and the joke of what it has become when you look at the Human Rights Council, and the people on the Human Rights Council are some of the worst human rights violators.

David:

Are you talking about North Korea, or Cuba, or Venezuela…

Tim:

Yeah. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, let’s go down the list of these people that are there.

Rick:

Well, wait, I don’t understand the sarcasm. Aren’t these great protectors of women’s rights countries? These are places where women want to live, and live in great freedom.

Tim:

No, no, no, no, they”€™re not.

David:

By the way, this also underscores Trump’s decision to pull America off the Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Commission and the U.N. is such a joke that he said, “€œWe’re not gonna be part of this. We’re not going to give even the pretense that this council has any positive influence, because you keep putting these kind of crazy guys on it.”€

And here they did again. America got off it because we’re the lone voice. We’re outnumbered by all these other goofs. Now Iran is on the United Nations Women’s Rights Commission Council…it”€™s just crazy stuff. But what the Trump Administration is doing with Iran really is working in many ways, and that’s good news.

Rick:

Quick break guys. We’ll be right back with our final piece of good news for today. 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, and 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.

Religious Couples Proving to be More Happy than Secular Couples

Rick:

We”€™re back with WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. We’ve got time for one more piece of good news. Tim Barton, you get to take us home today.

Tim:

Alright guys. I have a article that’s covering some new data that came out. There was a big study done—there was a joint project from the Institute for Family Studies and The Wheatley Institution that actually related to a massive survey done by the Global Family and Gender Survey. They surveyed 5,000 couples. Actually they did this in eleven countries. It included Argentina, Australia, Chile, Canada, Columbia, France, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

What they discovered was—well, actually, let me backup—what they wanted to look for is they were trying to figure out how our couples were functioning together, and are the new kind of current progressive, secular, social values leading to happier marriages? What they discovered—no surprise to us—is that religious couples actually had the greatest satisfaction in their marriages.

The survey showed data that high religious couples report higher rates of marital and sexual satisfaction than their mixed or secular peers. So they went—when they started this survey—they would break you up into three categories. Either you were religious, you were secular, or you were mixed, and so then what they found is the highly religious were actually the most satisfied.

Interestingly enough, they found the secular were the second most satisfied, and those who were in the middle were the least satisfied. This kind of reminded me of when Jesus talked about how you had to be hot or cold, don’t be lukewarm.

Don”€™t Straddle the Fence

Every cowboy knows you don’t want to straddle the fence. That’s not a fun position to be in. Pick one side or the other, but if you want to pick the side where people are the most satisfied, and moral, and most sexually satisfied, it was from the religious couples.

Yet again, we have confirmation that when the Bible gives guidance and examples, even talks about relationship, and the interaction of relationship, and now husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church, and how wives can love, and serve, and honor, and respect their husbands, and as the Bible gives guidance for this, we have yet more scientific studies more data confirming that what the Bible says is actually true when it comes to marriage relationships.

The best thing you can do for your marriage, if you want satisfaction both relational and sexually, is be more active in your faith. That makes a difference in your relationship.

Rick:

Man, there we go again. So much good news today, again, backing up science and the studies, and everything else backing up that that biblical application in our daily lives actually does produce better results. It works for us personally, and also works for us as a nation.

When you put God’s principles in place, you get so much better results in every single one of these areas. That’s why our programs all about a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective, applying those things gives us a good culture.

Religious Couples Having Happier Marriages and More Good News on WallBuilders Live!

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