Satanic Temple Loses Battle On Abortion Law:  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!

Air Date: 04/05/2019

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; it’s WallBuilders Live! And,it’s Good News Friday. 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 the media but here on WallBuilders Live we are about to share with you just some of the good things happening right now.

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.

Visit Our Websites

Today we are going to dive right into some good news; and, by the way, if you like this today and enjoy getting all this good news, go to our website WallBuildersLive.com and look in the archives section to get some of the previous Friday programs as well as more good news there. So, you may need to catch up on some of the good news over the past few months; and then, you might want to  scoot over there to those Thursday programs. That’s what we call Foundations of Freedom Thursday; you get to dive into those foundational questions, looking at them from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

And then, Monday through Wednesday, we have all kinds of great interviews. So, all of that’s available at WallBuildersLive.com. And, while you’re there, look at that donate button and think about it. Don’t just hover on it; click it and make your contribution to WallBuilders Live!

It’s what makes this program possible, and you get to come alongside us; and, just like the Founders, giving of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. It takes money to do these things and finances to spread the word and equip and train, which we’re doing with pastors, young people, and legislators. And, you can be a part of that by contributing today at WallBuildersLive.com; just click on that donate button.

Let’s dive into our Good News Friday. David Barton’s up first. David, what’s our first piece of good news?

The Second-Largest Protestant Denomination

DAVID:

We’re going to go to what is the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. And, that is which denomination?

TIM:

The Methodist is my guess.

DAVID:

The Methodist is correct. Do you have any idea how many members they have?

TIM:

No.

DAVID:

Rick?

RICK:

I would not even have guessed Methodist; so, I’m already losing on this test. But, I’m going to say now–just to spit-ball and throw it ou–there 12 million.

DAVID:

You’re talking about the Southern Baptist; that is the largest protestant denomination. We’re talking the second largest, which is seven million.

RICK:

Which means I need to lower my answer.

DAVID:

That’s right.

RICK:

I got my little hint from my co-host here. I’m going to say 8 million.

DAVID:

Right. {laughter} No, it is 7 million. That”€™s 7 million American Methodists;  there are about 12 million Methodists worldwide. And, Methodists are very, very strong group in

Africa.

A Civil War in the Methodist Camp

And, that’s where most of those other 5 million are, is in Africa. So, interestingly enough, the Methodist had their International Methodist Convention here recently; they do this every couple of years. And, in doing it this year, they almost had a civil war; or, at least a civil war has been threatened by the losing side in this thing.

And, the Civil War was over–drum roll–what issue?

TIM:

Abortion.

DAVID:

No, not abortion

RICK:

Marriage.

DAVID:

It was over marriage.

RICK:

Because, we’ve seen we’ve seen a couple of denominations split over this issue, right?

The Traditional Plan

DAVID:

Well, this is what a bunch of the losing side is threatening to do. The overall Methodist, 56 percent of the Methodist delegates at the International Convention, which is held in the United States, voted for what’s called “€œThe Traditional Plan,”€ which upholds marriage as a man and a woman. Which is only traditional for 5,500 years, the history of man’s; it”€™s only been traditional that long.

So, they voted to uphold that. Now the 44 percent are wanting to pick up their ball and go home to start their own denomination. So, they are threatening civil disobedience against the Methodist stand and the Methodist discipline and positions. They have claimed that this is going to destroy the church.

So, what you have here is a denomination that nobody really thought was going in the direction of biblical positions. And, the position that traditional Bible followers, believers, denominations, countries, nations have had for literally thousands of years, the Methodist Church has upheld that position of the Bible.

RICK:

And, I would not I would not have bet that direction; so, this is very good news.

We watch these denominations split over this; and, I thought they would’ve gone with the culture.

DAVID:

Yeah. We would have predicted the other way. Now, a couple years ago, the Methodist denomination also voted to change their position on Israel. They reaffirmed their friendship with Israel, which is not where they have been.

Methodist Founders

They also upheld their stance on life, which is not where the Methodist Church had been in the last 20, 30 years. Back in the 1960s, the United Methodist Church came together, and they’d been moving fairly liberal ever since then. The Methodist go all the way back to George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley; they really are the founders the Methodist Church in America.

And they were huge, huge, huge Bible guys, Bible inerrancy guys: “€œWhat the Bible says is what we’re going to do.”€ And, all the way through most of the 1800s, the Methodist Church was one of the most evangelical churches out there. You had bishops like Francis Asbury, Methodist evangelist who rode 130,000 miles on horseback.

You had evangelists like Harry Hosier, for whom the Indiana Hoosiers are named. He was a black evangelists, a Methodist. You have so many things the Methodists did.

They were a huge leader in fighting for the rights of black Americans and equality for everyone. It was in Methodist churches that the suffrage movement got started. That’s where the abolition movement was really the strongest.

So, the Methodists have been very socially engaged, but always from a biblical position. But, after they made the merger in 1968, they started moving away from biblical positions and started doing kind of the progressive thing. And so, here in the last two cycles, the Methodist Church is starting to come back in a direction now.

Back to the Bible

Obviously, there’s 44 percent that disagreed with this. You know, I found one of the statements from one of the 44, one of the leaders in that group, who said, “€œIf the traditional plan,”€ which is the plan that marriage is man or woman. “€œIf the traditional plan is voted in,”€ which it was by 56 percent, “€œit will be a virus that will make the American church very sick.”€

I’m not sure that that’s the right word I would use. Going back to the Bible is not what makes you sick; it’s what makes you healthy and well. So, obviously there is a sizable percentage in here.

And, some of them are threatening to perform gay weddings and “€œmarriages”€ and keep ordaining gay clergy and homosexual or lesbian clergy et cetera. So, there’s that. But, others have said, “€œWell, we’re not going to do anything for a while; we”€™ll see what happens in two years at the next conference and whether we can push some of this back.”€

Missionaries to the United States

They’re going to take the two years to really work on this. But, it’s interesting that we saw, starting probably 25 to 30 years ago, a number of foreign nations started sending missionaries to the United States. South Korea, Nigeria, and others said, “€œYou know what? You guys brought the Gospel to us, and it really looks like you need help right now.”€

“€œThe United States leads the world in violent crime, in divorce; and, it leads the world in all these wrong categories. We’re going to send some Christian missionaries to work with you guys.”€ And so, there are so many large churches now that are led by Nigerian pastors.

And, the South Koreans have got so many strong works going. That’s one of the faster-growing religious aspects in the Asian community. So there’s a lot of stuff going here.

Support for Marriage and Israel

Well, it’s interesting to see where the support for marriage came from; and, it was from the African delegates that came to the international meeting in the United States. And, really the position on Israel that changed two years ago was because Jewish people in Israel. We actually talked to the deputy secretary of their global affairs, of foreign affairs, and her thing is that her assignment is to try to get nations to like Israel.

She went to the African Methodist and said, “€œAmerica has the money in the Methodist church, but you guys have the votes. What don”€™t you guys get involved? You don’t have to be anti-Israel because you guys in Africa aren’t. Why do you let the American church push the entire global-Methodist community in the wrong direction?”€

So, there are a lot of Methodists in America who are very pro-Bible, very conservative, and still believe what the Bible teaches. And, they joined with so many of the delegates from the African nations to really try to bring the Methodist church back to a biblical foundation. So, that’s good news that that actually prevailed and there were a number of American Methodist who joined with African Methodist and said, “€œNow we’re going to uphold our tradition of being Bible-loving Bible-following people.”€

RICK:

Very good news. Quick break guys. We’ll be back in just a second for more good news.

Stay with us, folks. 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.

RICK:

Welcome back; thanks for staying with us on WallBuilders Live! We’re doing Good News Friday today, which means David and Tim Barton have been collecting good news stories from across the nation and around the world.

And, David was first shared with us the vote out of the Methodist Church upholding marriage as part of the tenets of their faith, as being followed in a biblical format instead of the new kind of cultural trend of anything you want it to be. So, that it’s a very good piece of good news.

We’re going to turn over to Tim now. Tim, where’s your first piece of good news coming from?

“€œSatanic Temple Loses Battle”€

TIM:

This one is from Missouri. And, the article starts off reading: “€œSatanic Temple loses battle.”€ So, already that’s good news.

When I saw this, I thought Wait a second, Satanic Temple? And, we’ve seen a rise from from young people, from millennials, that are embracing very much anti-biblical ideologies.

DAVID:

It’s an explosion. They’ve grown like 100,000 members in this last couple of years.

Mandated 72-Hour Waiting Period

TIM:

Well, yes. Fromm satanic temples, witches and Wiccans, and all kinds of anti-biblical beliefs. But, what’s interesting about this is Missouri has passed some very pro-life legislation. And, part of the pro-life legislation requires that any woman who’s going to have an abortion have a mandated 72-hour waiting period.

The state has provided pamphlets that detail what an abortion is. In the pamphlet it does say that this unborn child is a actually human child, just an unborn human child. Also, it does require that the abortion clinic offer an ultrasound.

Well, somebody–this is anonymous; so, it’s Jane Doe or Mary Doe,  went to St. Louis, Missouri to have an abortion there. She was pregnant, and they said, “€œWell, it’s 72-hour waiting period. If you want an ultrasound, you can have one; and, here’s a pamphlet if you want to read it.”€

And, she said that violated her rights as a satanic worshiper because she doesn’t believe that life begins at conception. She didn’t believe it was an unborn child in her. Basically everything happened, she didn’t like.

Missouri Supreme Court

She wanted to have the abortion right there at that moment. So, this goes to the Missouri Supreme Court where the judge wrote the decision. The opinion was written by Judge Laura Denver.

And, it says, “€œThe informed consent law neither requires a pregnant woman to read the book in question, nor requires her to pay for an ultrasound,”€ the court ruled. “€œAnd, while Ms. Doe mentions a 72-hour waiting period, she does not allege that the waiting period conflicts with her religion, nor that it was an undue burden. Nor did she seek to enjoin its enforcement prior to the expiration of that waiting period.”€

So, essentially they’re saying, “€œLook; nobody made you get an ultrasound or read the pamphlet. You didn’t even say that the 72-hour waiting period was a problem; so, you can’t just arbitrarily sue in this situation because you didn’t like this 72-hour waiting period, or the sonogram that was offered to you, or the pamphlet that said things you didn’t like that you didn’t even read.”€

So, it really was a kind of silly thing. But, to me not only was it good news that the state Supreme Court upheld this legislation, it was a reflection also that they’ve done some legislation that actually is having some positive effect in the sense of saying, “€œOh, wait a second. We don’t wanna make an emotional decision; let’s make sure we think through this. Here’s a pamphlet you can read more about it; if you want an ultrasound you can get it.”€

So, there are some very positive things. And, we’ve talked a lot about the states that are doing different legislations and the pro-life things that are happening around the nation. Good news is there; in fact, almost every Good News Friday, it seems we’re talking about a pro-life victory somewhere on some level in one of the states of the U.S. or sometimes even internationally.

So, we’ve seen a lot of good things; but, this is just one more example where a state has passed legislation. And now, their court has upheld that this is fine; it is not an undue burden, but that you can wait 72 hours, have a pamphlet and be referred for a sonogram if you want one.

I would say those are not even big pro-life steps, but it’s at least things we’re seeing states do that are having an impact. And, the fact that their state Supreme Court upheld it is good news.

DAVID:

And, with that there’s a couple of things that are coming out and trends. Not only did the state Supreme Court uphold that; but, when you look at all these pro-life laws that are getting passed in the last three or four years–I mean, each year seems to break a new record on the number of pro-life laws passed. So, all these laws are getting passed.

Planned Parenthood”€™s Allies, Wiccans and the Witches

It has been that the primary defendant, or probably the one that we see litigate these laws most often, has been planned parenthood. But, I’ve got to say that over the last three years, the second most frequent group I’ve seen litigating stuff has been the Wiccans and the witches. They have gone after pro-life laws very aggressively.

And, at this point–just like this case, I have not seen the Wiccans win a single case yet. I haven”€™t seen the temple of Satan, the Satanic Temple, I’ve not seen any of that side win their cases. But, it is interesting that right now they appear to be the best allies that Planned Parenthood has.

And they’re really aggressive in going after these laws, claiming that it violates their religious beliefs and religious convictions, etc. So, it’s good news the court upheld this and that that’s been the trend we’ve seen in the last two or three years as, although the the Satanic Temple and Wiccans and others have joined with Planned Parenthood to get these laws dumped, the courts keep upholding them on a very regular basis.

RICK:

Hey, we’re going to break here with more good news coming up after the break. Tim, what was the–so, this was a Missouri state law and it was upheld by a federal judge or a Missouri judge?

TIM:

The Missouri Supreme Court is where it was appealed to.

RICK:

So, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld it. And, you said it was the sonogram, and what were the other issues?

TIM:

Yeah, it was a 72-hour waiting period, a pamphlet that the government paid for. And, in the pamphlet, it did specify that this unborn child was actually an unborn child because life begins at conception.

And, then they were to be referred for a sonogram. So, you don’t have to take the sonogram or read the pamphlet. You do have to wait 72 hours; that”€™s the only thing you had to do. But, that’s where they’re making steps go in the right direction.

RICK:

Yeah, those are all so good. Like David said,these are these are some of the laws that have been passed. These incremental steps have been passed all over the country.

So, even here seeing one of the state supreme courts uphold it is very good news.

All right, here we go guys. Quick break and we’ll be back with more good news.

David Barton’s next. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

Join Us for An Important Webinar

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RICK:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday here and WallBuilders Live! David Barton has the next piece of good news.

Double Standard Concerning the First Amendment

DAVID:

It goes back to something that we talked about in recent weeks were Justice Thomas was calling for folks to bring cases back to the Supreme Court that would enable them to look at the way that they treat public officials and those that are in public, either giving them greater or less protection than the average citizen. Basically saying look, for free speech protection, you need to be held accountable if you”€™re a newspaper like the New York Times, or if you’re a public official. You don’t get a free pass just because you happen to me in public more than a citizen is.

And so, it’s in some areas made it harder standards for those papers and public officials to be protected; and, in some cases, it’s made it easier for them to attack and be inaccurate. So, it’s really hurt the First Amendment in both ways in that it creates a double standard, sometimes for protection and other times for actually getting defamation out there, making it easier to defame.

Covington High School kids

We saw what happened with the Covington High School kids back in January with the March for Life, and how they were confronted by the Native American, and how the media took off and accused them of being the instigators because they were having Trump hats on, and of course they were “€œwhite Christians doing all this bad stuff.”€ And, over the next couple days–within hours actually–you started seeing, “€œNow wait a minute; here’s the rest of the video footage nobody’s shown, and this didn’t happen.”€

So, it led to a real problem for the school and those kids. They had to shut down the school for a while because of all the death threats that came against those kids. And so, the dioceses, the Catholic dioceses–and this was a Catholic School, Covington–actually undertook to get law-enforcement-related folks doing an independent investigation.

Is there anything that was done wrong? Anything we or these kids did wrong? Did they make a comment anywhere that instigated anything?

And so, they went through all the available footage from all the sources they could find, private as well as public. They went through all the testimony and found absolutely zero indication that those kids did anything, even though they were in the middle of the firestorm. So, that becomes significant because what the school, and particularly what Nick Sandmann did, was he hired or allowed a defamation attorney to come in and represent them; because, all of the United States these kids were thrown out there and thrown under the bus for all these these things that they were accused of doing, which were wrong accusations that definitely made those kids look bad.

$250 Dollars

So, this attorney announces he’s going after 50 different media outlets and is going to  hold them liable and accountable. Well, now they’ve got this report that says these kids did absolutely nothing wrong, which goes to help prove the defamation point. And, they’ve just announced they’re going after The Washington Post for 250 million dollars.

And, it’s significant that when you look at things like that, these are not just dry shots over the bow. I mean, this isn’t firing blanks to try to scare somebody. This is something that now has significant consequence.

If the Supreme Court is willing to look at making the First Amendment standard treat everyone the same and private individuals can’t get away with doing this, then why do we let public individuals get away with doing it? If I couldn’t do this in a private letter or whatever, why do we say that just because you’re a newspaper, you can lie or defame? And so, you’ve got this track moving now that may end up at the Supreme Court again and may be exactly what Justice Thomas wanted.

But, the fact that they’re starting to hold individuals accountable for their speech and behavior–and by the way, this is unrelated. But, I’m going to jump in on the Jussie Smollett stuff , him getting beat up. I love the fact that they did not give him a pass just because he’s a noted star on TV.

The Chicago police said, “€œYou know what? You just filed a false police report; we’re going to prosecute you for that and hold you accountable.”€ He was arrested just like any other individual would have been. And, we’ve seen in recent years where public individuals don’t get the same level of of treatment or scrutiny or even prosecution.

But, I think this is something good starting to happen in America where we’re starting to hold people accountable period, regardless of who you are, or what position you hold, or whether you’re paper, or not a paper, a newspaper or media. You’ve got to be accountable for what you say and do, and I think that really bodes well for the future in America, for people be accountable for what they say and do.

Rick:

Stay with us, folks. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live on Good News Friday.

Moment From American History

This is TimBarton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. In the early seventeen hundreds the Reverend John Wise preached that all men were created equal, that taxation without representation was tyranny, and that God’s preferred form of government was the consent of the governed.

All of which is language recognizable in the Declaration of Independence. Why? Because in 1772 the Sons of Liberty led by Founders Sam Adams and John Hancock reprinted and distributed the Reverend Wise’s sermons.

Four years later, much of the Declaration reflected the language of those sermons by John Wise.  In 1926 on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President Calvin Coolidge affirmed, “€œThe thoughts in the Declaration can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was saying.”€

Few today know that the Declaration was so strongly influenced by the Rev. John Wise. For more information on this and other stories go to WallBuilders.com.

RICK:

Thanks for staying with us today on WallBuilder’s Live! We’re back. It’s Good News Friday, and we hope you enjoyed all the good news that we were able to share today. Thanks to David and Tim Barton for compiling those stories and watching out for that good news.

I love these days; it kind of encourages me. You know, we sometimes can get down if we if we just look at the negative things that are happening out there in our nation and around the world. And so, it’s good to know that when you apply biblical principles and work this wonderful system of freedom that we have, this “€œtalent”€ if you will, that the Master has given us, this talent of freedom; when we work it, we get good results. And, there is very often a bright light of hope when we see those results.

Leadership Training

So, I enjoyed Good News Friday; I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well. We encourage you also look into the opportunity to train the next generation. We’ve got a couple of programs that we recommend.

Obviously, WallBuilders has a phenomenal program in the summer. Now, it’s limited to 18 to 25 year-olds; and, it’s a two-week program that we several times throughout the summer. But, it’s an incredible opportunity for you to literally come alongside David and Tim Barton, work right there in the library, get to hold those original documents, do research, and get trained on all kinds of biblical worldview and application.

You get go over to Mercury One Studios and see how all that works. It’s a wonderful two weeks; so, be sure to check that out today at WallBuIlders.com. It”€™s the Leadership Training Program 18 to 25 years-olds.

Let’s Create More Good News Like the Satanic Temple’s Losing Battle

Then, also for 16 to 25, we have Patriot Academy. That”€™s a chance to go to the state capital near you. We do it in state capitals across the nation.

There are dates throughout the summer. You go to PatriotAcademy.com. Check out those dates. If you’re 16 to 25, check that out and go to one of those academies.

For older folks, we also have a Military Academy. If you’re former military, you can be any age and come on to the Military Academy. And then, we have a Citizen Academy, and that can be any age as well; so, we’ve got something for everyone.

Check it out at PatriotAcademy.com. It’s a chance to really get equipped, trained, and inspired, and actually to do that in the state capital, sitting in the real chairs, at the real microphones, debating legislation and hot topics of the day, and learning how to be a better citizen.

Hope you enjoyed today’s program. Thanks for listening to Good News Friday on WallBuilders Live!