Good News Friday today on WallBuilders Live! Tune in now to hear about some of the good things that have been happening around the world recently. In this episode, we discuss things such as passing the Anti-BDS bill, how a flight attendant stopped a sex trafficker, a fun way to remember the 10 Commandments, and so much more! 

Air Date: 04/28/2017

Guests: 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.  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 because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Welcome

Rick:

You found your way to the intersection of faith and the culture, this is WallBuilders Live! Where we”€™re talking about these hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, all from Biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

That conversation here with David Barton, America’s premiere historian. Also, Tim Barton national speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. And my name’s Rick Green.  I’m a former Texas state rep.

Today we’re talking about good news because every Friday we try to do some good news. We call it Good News Friday. I like it because it’s a little pick me up. You know, you’re fighting the battles out there all week long and you”€™d like to know that there are some victories. So, David, Tim, you guys have a stack of good news. Let”€™s try to get through as much as we can. Who’s going first?

America Is Rising Up Again

David:

I’ll take it first, Rick. I want to go first over in the Israel direction. I was with a good friend from Israel recently and he was talking to some of the generals there. He was in the military, really significant position and arrested a bunch of terrorists or whatnot.

And he asked the Israeli military, “€œWhat are you going to do with ISIS? And they said, “€œAre you kidding? ISIS is just a bunch of terrorists in Toyota pickups. We’re not worried about them.”€

And I thought, “€œWhat a what a different attitude that is.”€ That in the case of Israel they know how easy it is to take out ISIS terrorists. It doesn’t really give them grief. Now, what gives us grief is we refuse to go in and take them out. But you do notice that you have not heard of any reports of ISIS doing anything in Israel.

Tim:

That’s true.

David:

There’s nothing going on with ISIS in Israel. They’re doing stuff all around.  They’re doing stuff in the United States, but they don’t do stuff with Israel. Because Israel would just knock them for a loop. Well, I think there may be a sea change going here. Here’s a report I just saw.  I had not seen this before. You know who our new secretary of defense is, right?

Rick:

That’s Mattis?

David:

Mattis, General Mad Dog Mattis. First day he went in they struck ISIS 31 times on the day he went in. In the first 24 hours, he was in, they hit ISIS 31 times.

Rick:

So they’re basically saying, “€œHey guys, the game just changed.”€

David:

Yeah. “€œYou don’t want to be messing with us. We’re gonna send you the Israel message here.”€

And you know what we did after Assad when Syria used chemical weapons?  I was so impressed with how that Trump instantly put between 30 and 50 missiles into their air base. Didn’t take out planes, didn’t take out lives.  He took out their fuel depot and he took out the runway.

He said, “€œWe did this from out in the Gulf.  We sent these missiles in.  We landed right on the dot of where we wanted to be. Don’t mess with us.”€ And I don’t think you’re going to see another chemical attack coming any time so soon from Assad.

So, we’re starting to send messages to these guys, “€œYou don’t want to mess with us.”€ Which sets a whole new tone change for our foreign affairs.  Now, our reporting is so sloppy over here that I had not heard anything about this stuff. But when I had my friend from Israel tell me the way the Israel generals deal with ISIS it reminded me of what I saw here.

Trump Is Changing The Tone For The Nation

So, in the same vein, I have to back up to something that Trump did I thought set a different tone as well. And back when he issued that executive order that says, “€œLook, we’re going to do advanced screening, heightened screening, heightened vetting for these seven countries that have so many terrorists in them. We want to make sure terrorists don’t come into the United States.”€

So he issued this executive order for those seven nations that are very ISIS heavy nation’s, terrorist-heavy nations.  And then at that point in time, we did not have Jeff Sessions as the secretary of the Department of Justice.

So the acting secretary at that time told Trump, “€œWell, I’m not going to defend your executive order.”€

Wait a minute, you’re part of the executive branch. That’s what the Justice Department is there for and you’re not going to do that? Well, instead of putting up with it Trump fired her on the spot.

And I was cheering for that because generally you asked for a resignation and you allow them to resign if they want to. Not him. He said, “€œYou’re gone. You’re not going to do what you’re supposed to do, you’re not going to protect Americans. You’re not going to defend them from terrorists. You’re out of here.”€

50 New Pro-life Laws

So that was a good tone but that tone appears to have gotten outside of Washington, D.C. as well. And so far we have 50 new pro-life laws that have been introduced in the States since Trump’s been elected. So it’s like there’s a whole attitude sea change starting to happen in the nation that people are starting to get more aggressive and figuring out that we don’t have put up with this nonsense. We can do some things and be aggressive.

So I think it’s great that we’re just having an attitude change, a sea tide change in the way we’re dealing with ISIS, the way we’re dealing with Assad, with foreign affairs, with our own Justice Department. It’s just nice to see some common sense coming in.

Rick:

It’s kind of the opposite effect.  There were so many times over the last few years when the president would take an action, or the State Department would taking an action and all I could think about was the negative repercussions down the road because of how it weakened us in the world’s eyes and all those things. It just wasn’t what was happening at that moment.  It was how does this affect us down the road?

Now, it’s the exact opposite. Now when Trump takes these actions I’m going, “€œOk, that’s a good repercussion for two years down the road, five years down the road.”€

It’s just like the attitude towards Reagan when he came in it was, “€œHey, this is someone we can’t mess around with. He’s not going to cow down,  he’s not going to cower away, he’s going to fight back.”€  So that’s a great signal to be sending to the rest of the world so that they know we mean business just like you said.

Very quick break.  We’ll come back with some good news from Tim Barton when we return. Stay with us.  You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment in American history.  America is a special and unique nation. The average length for a constitution in other countries is only 17 years. But we’ve had ours for over two centuries. Our 4 percent of the world’s population produces 24 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and every year.  We produce more inventions and technology than the other 96 percent of the world combined.

In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville of France came to America, traveled the country, and in his famous book, “€œDemocracy in America”€ reported,  “€œThe position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional.  It may be believed that no Democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one.”€

This is the origin of the phrase “€œAmerican exceptionalism”€ and affirms that America is unique because of the distinctive ideas on which we’ve been based. Including in inalienable rights, individuals, and limited government, and the importance of religion, and morality. For more information about American exceptionalism go to WallBuilders.com.

Flight Attendant Stops A Sex Trafficker

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live, Good News Friday today. Thanks for staying with us on this good news. Tim Barton is up with some good news. Where are we going to, Tim?

Tim:

Well, this one is related to airlines. Certainly, airlines have been in the news recently with United Airlines with the incident a couple of weeks ago where a passenger did not want to get off and give up the seat. I think there was a flight crew that was having to go up to get on another plane so that the plane that was on a holding trying to get off could have a crew to take the flight.

And so they had asked four people give up their seats. And this one individual said, “€œI’m not giving up my seat.”€ And then “€œPlease come on,”€ and then drug the guy off and just all this ordeal that unfolds. So, there’s been a lot of drama around Airlines recently.

Well, this is something that is related to airlines. It happened a couple of months ago. Really a cool story, some good news. This was a flight attendant who was part of a group of airline ambassadors. Airline ambassadors are trained specifically to help notice sex trafficking victims.

And so there was a lady on an Alaska Airlines flight, a flight attendant.  And she’s going down the aisle and she sees a very well-dressed man with a girl who looks like she hasn’t showered and bathed in a long time.

The flight attendant said that it looked like she’d just been put through pure hell. She just looked miserable. And so her alarm bells start going off, “€œSomething’s wrong. This isn’t good.”€

She tried to engage the older man and the young girl in conversation. The older man got defensive, “€œWe don’t want to talk. Leave us alone.”€ So she went back to the bathroom and wrote a little note. And when the girl was going back to the bathroom the note was in the bathroom. The girl then replies in the note, “€œI need help.”€

So this flight attendant was able to phone ahead.  They had police waiting when they landed, and this was something that she was able to help save this little girl. But come to find out,  this airline ambassador program for training flight attendants to recognize sex trafficking victims. It’s been going on since 2009 and they’ve arrested more than two thousand- law enforcement has.  This is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  They’ve arrested more than two thousand human traffickers and they’ve identified more than 400 victims just in the last year. And that includes things related to the Super Bowl when there are big events going on, and people think they can make money with sex trafficking.

I think what happened, it did catch a little bit of attention. This is back in February. It did catch a little bit of attention on some news programs. But if our listeners haven’t heard about this, this is a really cool deal.

Well, now airlines are engaging in what is recognized as a world problem of sex trafficking. And you have flight attendants who are now being trained to identify and help in these situations.

And so this was a really cool story where a flight attendant was able to rescue this young girl and the older gentleman, this guy who was involved, the part of the sex trafficking operation he was arrested.   This is really a neat thing that now airlines and their flight attendants are being trained to help stop this problem of sex trafficking not just in America but even around the world.

Rick:

That’s good stuff. And like you said, sometimes they’re in the news for bad things. Here’s a great example of a good thing. And even on the rescue side of this whole thing, often the airlines help once a child is rescued out of this world help in terms of even getting them to these treatment centers and things around the country. So they do play a good role in this fight.

Going to take a quick break.  We’ll be back with more good news.  David Barton up next on WallBuilders Live!

Patriot Academy

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Israel Is Not Apartheid

Rick:

Thanks for staying with us on WallBuilders Live, Good News Friday today. And more good news available at our website WallBuildersLive.com. David Barton is up with good news.  What do you got?

David:

Hey, you guys know what the BDS movement is, right? With Israel.

Tim: Boycott Divestiture and Sanctions.

David:

Yeah.

Rick:

Those are the people that are against Israel right?

David:

Those are the people that are against Israel. They say that Israel is an apartheid nation, that they’re practicing apartheid, and that they’re oppressive. They go on and on. And not the case at all.

As a matter of fact, it”€™s the Palestinian government that oppresses Palestinians, not Israel. Israel gives them free electricity, free all sorts of stuff. And Palestinians, unless they’re a terrorist, Palestinians living in Israel really like living there and they like living in Jerusalem. Which is why Jerusalem is such a peaceful city under Israeli control.  It’s the Palestinian held areas that have all the, really, all the problems going on.

So, what happens is Israel built a fence between those Palestinian areas and their areas inside of Israel that Israel has told the Palestinians, “€œYou guys can control this area. You can have this Palestinian-controlled area. It’s our nation. But we’ll let you control these villages and whatever.”€

And so what happened was there was so much car bombings, so much attack, so much theft, so much crime, coming out of there that Israel built a fence around those areas. And since they built the fence crime has dropped 97 percent coming out of those areas. So it’s not Israel that’s doing apartheid.  It’s the Palestinians there doing crime.

Israel Is Good At Building Walls

Tim:

Are you suggesting that Israel built a wall?

David:

Oh, Israel did. And by the way-

Tim:

And the wall made a difference?

David:

And by the way, I had people from Israel contact me and say, “€œHey, can you let President Trump know that we’re really good at building walls that work here. Our wall is working.  We want to bid on the contract on the southern border.”  So they have great technology.

Tim:

You know, I’d feel pretty good if Israel did build our wall on the southern border.

Rick:

Yeah, no doubt. That would be my choice.

David:

They are really good there. Well, we’ve actually helped, through a charity that I work with, we’ve actually helped build some walls in Israel around Jewish settlements that are being attacked by Palestinians. And the walls have all these sensors on them. And they’re there you know chain link fence kind of walls. But the crime has gone down in those Jewish villages since they’ve been able to have these walls to keep Palestinians from doing crime.

Tim:

Also, if Israel is able to build these walls to protect them from some of the terrorists around them, the wall certainly can protect us from some of the cartels.  I mean, if it can protect from those ISIS terrorists it can protect from the cartels too. So yeah, Israel might be a really good option here.

The Bill That Passed Unanimously In The House Of Representatives

David:

And Israel has proven how well these work. But the Palestinians are claiming there’s apartheid and whatever. And so in his parting gesture of help for the Palestinians and really for terrorists going out, Obama did this thing orchestrated with the U.N. where that they passed that that bill that really went after Israel.

But that was kind of like his gift to the Muslim world going out. So what’s happened is across campuses, the United States, particularly funded by individuals like George Soros and funded by Palestinian groups and others. They have these PDSA movements going that says, “€œWe want this college and all the kids on it and all the businesses to boycott Israel. Anything made in Israel. don’t buy it.”€

So that McDonald’s, and Dan, and yogurt and all these businesses that help Israel, “€œNot only should you boycott, we want you to divest. If this university has any of its investments in companies that do business with Israel we want them to divest. We don’t want the university having any of its money in companies that do business with Israel.”€

And then sanction, “€œWe want this university to pass sanctions against Israel.”€ Like we passed sanctions against North Korea or against Iran, etc.

So, what’s happened is as some of these universities have started to do this and some of these businesses have started to do this. And some of these businesses are working with people who target Israel. You’re having a real flurry of state legislators across the nation passing the anti-BDS bill that says in our state, South Carolina, for example, we have, I don’t know, $2 trillion in assets and we will not use our assets with any company that does BDS with Israel. If you’re going to target Israel we don’t want to share our state funds with you. Whether it be pension funds, we put them in a company that’s going to try to make money on our pensions. We’re not going to use you for that because you make money off our money.  That”€™s the way business works.

And so you’re having all these states, you know, South Carolina, and Indiana, and state, after state, after state, in the last couple of years has really been moving on Ohio and all of these states.

Well, Texas has just joined the ranks. And so Texas joined the ranks passing this. And Texas has trillions of dollars in assets. We have the land fund and all these other things and we’re saying, “€œWe’re not going to do business with anybody. We’re not going to let any business make money off of Texas money if you’re going after Israel.”€

So it passed in the Senate by a margin of 25 to four. I don’t know who the four knot-heads were that thought it was ok to boycott Israel, our one solid ally we have in the Middle East who helps us against terrorists  We’re going to go after them?

And when it got to the House of Representatives it passed unanimously in the House. Not a single vote against it Democrat or Republican. That’s a huge message kind of a vote that happens there. So that’s good news that this stuff about whacking back against Soros and these others that are trying to take down Israel is starting to turn the other direction.

Rick:

That’s excellent news! Quick break, we’ll be right back. And this is why we say, “€œGood news across the U.S. and sometimes around the world.”€ So here’s a great example of around the world. Stay with us.  We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live!

Avalon Project

Tim:

Hey, guys, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders. I know you hear my dad and Rick talk a lot about our Founding Fathers about the original intent of our nation, a constitutional heritage that we have. And really we’ve seen how far we slipped away from that. And I know a lot of us as we hear my dad and Rick talk think, “€œI wish there was a place that I could go where I could see these documents and I could read and learn about the Founding Fathers firsthand.  See the things they did.”€  

I want to give you some websites today that can help you accomplish that very thing. If you get online you can go to places like Library of Congress and you can look under their century of lawmaking or historical documents. You can go to the Avalon Project, to the Founders Constitution, Google Books, or even the internet archives.  

Or you can just go to WallBuilders.com. We have a section for our WallBuilders Library. And under that section, we have different subgroups for historical documents, historical writings, even a place where you can get helpful links to find out more information about other websites.  Where you can do research for yourself and find the truth for yourself. Friends, this is the time that we need to know who we are and where we came from. WallBuilders.com is a great place to go.

A Fun Way To Remember The 10 Commandments

Rick:

Welcome back, thanks for staying with us on WallBuilders Live, Good News Friday, today. We”€™re almost out of time, not quite. We”€™ve got one full segment here. But really want to encourage you to visit the website WallBuildersLive.com. If you like this good news not only you can listen to more as you go to those archived programs but you can share it with your friends and family. Be sure and do that. Tim Barton is up, Tim what is our next piece of good news?

David From Switzerland

Tim:

Well guys, as I was looking through my stack of good news I found an email that we got from a listener that’s been in my stack of Good News. And then apparently got a little bit lost in the shuffle. But this one actually comes from someone out of the nation. This is from David over in Switzerland.

David:

Switzerland?

Tim:

Which I’ve never been but I feel like, David if you’re listening, if I ever come I’d love to hang out. So I don’t know what it’s like, but I think I want to come visit you at some point. My wife and I might get over there.

David:

I’m amazed at how much mail we get from other nations.

Tim:

We do.

David:

You know, podcast and otherwise. We are heard on military bases all over the country. We get letters all the time from military guys across the world. But I have been really surprised at how many letters we get from other nations. And I’m going, “€œGuys, this is American history and Constitution and-“€ “€œYeah, but we learn a lot for our country.”€ And I thought, “€œWow.”€

“€œYeah, but we learn a lot for our country.”€ And I thought, “€œWow.”€

And I thought, “€œWow.”€

Tim:

Well, what’s interesting in this in this e-mail he says he was actually visiting in Texas. He heard you speak in Dallas and when he went back home in Switzerland he became a faithful listener. So let me read part of his e-mail. He says, “€œI was listening to an old show from the 20th of June last year and it was about the Ten Commandments.”€ So this probably would have been Steve McGough. When we were doing, I think more or less every month we had him on doing one of the Ten Commandments, highlighting the  Ten Commandments last year.

So let me read part of his e-mail. He says, “€œI was listening to an old show from the 20th of June last year and it was about the Ten Commandments.”€ So this probably would have been Steve McGough. When we were doing, I think more or less every month we had him on doing one of the Ten Commandments, highlighting the  Ten Commandments last year.

He says, “€œOne of the statements was that only one in five hundred of the Promise Keeper Men could name the Ten Commandments in order. I remember a friend of ours in the USA, Mr. Joseph ***, and his young children he taught them the Ten Commandments years ago using their body as a way to help them remember. It’s a way that I think people will never forget.”€

So he goes through and explains how they learned the Ten Commandments in order pointing to different parts of the body. So he says, “€œNumber one is the forehead. And there are no other gods before me.”€ So, I guess you’re pointing to yourself on your forehead and that’s me.

So he says, “€œNumber one is the forehead. And there are no other gods before me.”€ So, I guess you’re pointing to yourself on your forehead and that’s me.

“€œNumber two is your eyes.  Don’t make for yourself idols.”€ And then in parentheses, it says, “€œYou don’t look at something you shouldn’t look at.”€ Don’t make idols, so that”€™s your eyes.

“€œNumber three is your mouth. Don’t misuse the name of the Lord your God.”€

David:

Speaking profanity, yep.

Tim:

“€œNumber four is your neck.”€ The fourth commandment is to keep the Sabbath Day holy. So when I saw this I thought, “€œWell, how does that apply?”€ And then he explains, he says, “€œBecause the Israelites were always a stiff-necked people.”€ Well, that’s true. They didn’t really want to submit to God.

David:

They had human nature then.

Tim:

It is absolutely human nature. Not just an Israelite problem, it”€™s a human problem.

“€œNumber five is your right and left hand. Honor your father.”  And he holds out his right hand honoring your mother hold your left hand.  And one way is by serving them also with our hands.

“€œNumber six. Hand on your heart you shall not murder.”€ Jesus said murder comes out of the heart. But six is the heart.

“€œNumber seven is the hips.”€ Now, the seventh commandment is “Don’t commit adultery.” So we’re kind of in the right region if we’re going to do something inappropriate. Hands on the hips. So seven is the hips.

“€œAnd number eight is your right leg. You shall not steal.”€ Now, why would you have a hand on your leg for stealing?

David:

Because you run away after you steal.

Tim:

Because after you steal you run fast.

“€œNumber nine left leg. You shall not give false testimony.”€ Which we also say you shall not lie. And he says this actually is often connected with stealing because usually after we steal we lie about it. So don’t steal with your right leg, don’t lie with your left leg.  

And then your feet don’t- and this is number 10, the last commandment. “€œDo not covet.”€ And he points out with your feet you walk around looking at what your neighbor has.

So he goes through from forehead all the way down to our feet. He then says, “€œI hope it helps you as much as it helped us.”€

And with this, it’s very quick and easy to ask, “€œWell, what is number 6?”  That”€™s the heart. Or what’s number eight? And that”€™s the right leg. It’s easy to remember.

“Blessings to you three. Keep up the great work. You have a faithful listener here in Switzerland. I got hooked after hearing Mr. Barton preach at a church in Dallas. As we also watched those sermons regularly.”€

David:

Very cool!

Tim:

David from Switzerland, thank you so much for that e-mail. Great to hear from you. And that is a fun way to remember the Ten Commandments, you bet!

Switzerland’s Immigration Policy  

David:

Talking about Switzerland, when I was in Poland recently I was with a guy who is a citizen of Switzerland as well. And he was talking about how they do immigration over there. And he says, “€œThe way it is in Switzerland- because it used to be in America if you’re going to be an immigrant you had to have someone be your sponsor. You had to have a neighbor or someone to say, ‘You”€™ve got to have the right character, and I’m going to make sure they have a job, etc.'”€ So you had to have a sponsor to come here. We don’t require that anymore.

He said, “€œBut in Switzerland, he loves the way they do immigration. The only way you can be an immigrant in Switzerland.”€ They get citizens. “€œThe only way you can be an immigrant there is whatever neighborhood you’re going to live in. They take a vote of every single person in the neighborhood. And if even one person says, “€˜I don’t like this guy. I don’t like his character.”€™ You can’t be a citizen in Switzerland.”€ The only way you can be a citizen is if everybody in your neighborhood votes for you because they like you and they think you’re a contributor and they think you’re good for the country.

Tim:

You better have a lot to offer to get everybody’s vote.

David:

You better have a lot to offer. And he said that it is one of the coolest European nations ever. I’ve not been to Switzerland, I”€™ve been in a lot of European nations, but not Switzerland. He said it is his favorite of all European nations.

“€œThey’re very patriotic, Patriotism is highest in Switzerland.  They really love their country, and they’re very careful about who they let in. And your neighborhood has to vote and get a 100 percent vote before they let you be a citizen of Switzerland.”€ I thought that’s a great way to do it.

That’s kind of like what America used to do in the old days. It’d be great to go back to some of those the same kind of character traits, character qualities, that you want in your neighbors when you have immigrants coming in.

Rick:

So if WallBuilders Live was a neighborhood and you guys had to vote to let me”€¦ I’m not going to ask a question. We’re going to go out of time.

Tim:

Oh, man, we are out of time.

Rick:

Thank you for listening today. Hope you enjoy the good news!  There’s more available on our website. Be sure to check it out at WallBuildersLive.com. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live!