Specific Things You Can Say To People Who Disagree With You Politically: Do you ever feel stuck and don’t know what to say on political and cultural issues? Donna Lippoldt is on with us today to share strategies on how to answer tough questions. This is to equip you to encourage every single individual out there to engage in conversations that will move the culture to a positive direction.

Air Date: 08/12/2019

Guest: Donna Lippoldt

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.

That’s how you get the right answer on any question, especially some of those tough questions we have in the culture today. That means the church has to be vocal; that means we as Christians have to know what that Biblical worldview is and then how to articulate it in a way to have a positive influence on the culture. 

David Barton is with us. He’s America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Tim Barnes with us he’s a national speaker, pastor and President of WallBuilders. My name is Rick Green. I’m a former Texas legislator. 

We appreciate you joining us. Be sure and check out Wallbuilderslive.com to find out more. 

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We are a listener-supported program. So thank you as listeners for supporting us. 

All right, David Tim, we’re always talking about this intersection of faith and the culture, but often it’s hard for us to articulate our faith in this culture. 

What Should I Say?

I don’t know how many times you guys hear it. I hear heard all the time: what do I say? How do I communicate with my friend that wants to know this? Or they’re asking this or how do I challenge them? 

That is a common question: what do I say? How do I say it? 

I guess it’s a lack of teaching apologetics, but I mean I ask that a lot. How do I deal with this particular issue? How do I word this?

Statistically, Conservatives Are Very Cautious In What They Say

Tim:

Rick, it’s really a question because there are so many issues that keep popping up in culture and we want to present information the right way. One of the things that oftentimes you see is people who just start talking before they have all the facts and information don’t always do a good job.

In fact, the reason the hashtag fake news became a thing is because people started saying things before they knew what they were talking about. This is something, dad, you and I have talked about many times. 

Conservatives are very cautious in what they say and when they say it’s because statistically, and this is just statistically: there’s gonna be people that are progressive, liberal, conservative, constitutional. However, you identify libertarian whatever. 

There’s gonna be people that fall in different camps. But statistically the majority of people on the conservative side don’t want to speak to an issue unless they have, Rick is you have mentioned, the apologetics. Whereas, statistically on the other side, you see liberals who are free to say whatever they feel or think or want whether or not it’s backed up by actual factual information. 

There Are Some great Apologetic Voices Out There

But there’s not a lot of places that people readily can go to find the information or maybe the apologetic training they’re looking for to know how to answer these questions. There are some great voices out there. Conservative voices who really answer some of these questions very well. 

Whether you’re looking at Ravi Zacharias or William Lane Craig or Ben Shapiro, we can go down a list of these kinds of names of people who are very well-spoken, who answer some of these moral, biblical, cultural questions very well but how do we as individuals get the training we need other than maybe watching some of these YouTube videos?

There are some books out there, in fact, there’s a new book coming out that actually helps do some of this very thing.

There’s A New Book Coming Out That Will Help With This

David:

It’s really good because it’s written at a level that every citizen can take information and use it.  

You have Ben Shapiro’s and Ravi Zacharia’s and the others, but you don’t have to go through all the Ph.D. training, the years of training they went through. 

There are some issues that we can all speak to that we can all have input about there. There are some questions that we get asked that we don’t know how to answer necessarily. And so this new series is coming out. 

Donna Lippold is from Kansas and worked in the government there for a number years and was with the governor etc. She dealt with the faith community. 

There were so many questions of faith people were asking and didn’t know how to answer and particularly about cultural issues. So, she has started this series of taking a cultural issue and go, okay, what should I say about this? When they say this, how do I respond? When I hear this argument, what do I say? 

This will equip every single individual out there with the right things to know and to say to be able to engage in any discussion, that will help move the culture in a favorable, positive direction.

Rick:

Donna is going to be with us when we return. The book is called, What should I say? And the website to get it is cultureshield.com. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Patriots Academy

Rick:

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Patriots Academy is now expanding across the nation and now is your chance to experience this life-changing week that trains champions to change the world. Visit PatriotsAcademy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults.

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Guest – Donna Lippold

Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Donna Lippold is with us. We’re talking about a way for you to answer some of the toughest issues of the day.

Too often we’re silent as Christians because we just don’t know what to say. We’re afraid of offending – all of those different things, and we’re getting some great answers.

Donna, first of all, thank you for what you’re doing. Thanks for coming on the program today. 

Donna:

Oh, it’s my pleasure. 

Rick:

You’ve got a tough task ahead of you here.

Donna:

Well, when you asked David Barton how you can help, and he gives you the outline – it’s really amazing. He’s wonderful to work with.

Rick:

Well, this is a very, very needed thing. This may be touching on the number one reason why our culture has gone downhill is that Christians have not known what to say or how to engage as culture is going the wrong way. 

So tell us a little bit about the plan. We’re gonna talk about the first book that’s out, What should I say? It addresses three issues. We’ll get to that but give me the big picture first: what are you trying to do in equipping Christians here?

People Want To Hear More Apologetics From The Pew

Donna:

Well, when I heard the results of George Barna survey, what God’s people want to know. First of all, the startling statistic that three out of four churches don’t believe the Bible is the word of God. Then he actually surveyed the 24 percent that was left and found out that 90% of the people in the pew wanted to hear more about apologetics so that they could defend their faith.

Yet less than 10 percent of the pastors said that they were comfortable with teaching on it from the pulpit. That’s not an indictment on the pastors because they probably have other classes. 

But these people were saying we really want to hear this from the pulpit. So we decided that it was time to create a series of short books that people could just go to and say, well I don’t know how to approach this or religious liberty or abortion. 

We don’t know how to talk about it; we’re so afraid of offending. And of course, the LGBT is the topic of the moment.

The Religious Liberty Law

Rick:

In your thought process, as you looked at the challenge and the problem and you said okay we know people need those answers and they need to know how to respond and what to say, how did you decide where to go for those answers?

Donna:

Well, actually David and I were together. He was giving me lots of suggestions about experts, so this first one has three authors. 

The next one’s going to have four or five authors. For example, Congressman Frank Wolf worked with then-Senator Sam Brownback to pass the religious liberty law across our nation. 

So I contacted Congressman Frank Wolf, and he was more than happy to address this and talk about it. I have found that to be true across the board, as I’ve talked to 30 or 40 different experts in the subject area.

Rick:

You decided on your first book that came out, to take some real easy non-controversial topics. No one would possibly get upset. For instance, how do you deal with LGBT issues, same-sex marriage? Very difficult issues. Why did you decide to tackle some of the toughest ones first?

LGBT And Same-Sex Marriage Is The Most Important Topic 

Donna:

Well you know because it is so relevant right now and the Christians don’t know what to say. They fear they fear being labeled as hate mongers or homophobic. They needed to be equipped, and we felt like that this was the most important one to start with.

Rick:

You shared in the opening of the book the story of when you were with Dr. Dobson, and he was talking about loving the LGBT community and speaking to some of them. As he was trying to speak in love, they were trying to shout him down. He said I know that you’ve been wounded, I know that you’re in pain and that that silenced them. How did that affect your approach to the book itself?

Donna:

Absolutely yeah. It’s not like we hate these people; we love these people. We care about these people. So we want them to know that we love them. But the first one is, loving my LGBT neighbor in grace but truth. Paul says in Galatians, have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And so we must be equipped to do it in life.

Rick:

That’s the key – it’s both. Not just saying regardless of the issue. Let’s zero in on the LGBT community right now but any sexual sin any other kind of sin, to say to someone that we love oh, that’s okay. You just go ahead and do something that’s going to harm you. That doesn’t seem like like love.

God’s Word Is Our Compass; It’s Our Plumbline

Donna:

No, it doesn’t. And you know one of the first quotes in the book is, one morning I woke up and immediately I heard these words: a moral crisis needs a moral compass. 

God’s word is our compass; it’s our plumbline. He says throughout the word he gives this direction. 

He certainly approached the woman at the well in a non-controversial way and express loving concern. 

And so What should I say, is hopefully going to help equip the saints that are just fearful of getting rejected or I just don’t know what to say.

Rick:

I want to tell folks as they’re listening because we want them to get this tool in their hands right upfront. This is not some 500-page book that you’re going to set on the nightstand or the shelf and never read it’s a quick read. It’s like 30 something pages. But it doesn’t mean it’s shallow either.

It’s got good strong principles in it and laid out really well in terms of here’s the basis on which we’re going to teach you these things. Then here’s how you can use these things. It’s laid out really well, Donna.

Donna:

Well, thank you so much. We did a lot of praying about this. We took our time, but we were working with some of the best people. These authors are very talented, and they are passionate about their subject matter, so all glory goes to God. 

The Transgender Issue 

It was a labor of love because I have five children and 15 grandchildren. I just love people, and I know that God has a destiny for all these people that are so confused. 

Of course, the transgender issue is addressed here by Glenn Stanton, and that is the part right now. 

Even the pediatricians just came out last week and said this is child abuse. John Hopkins has stopped doing the surgery. It is critical that we know how to help people through this.

Rick: 

So there are essentially three major topics covered in the book. Well, four I guess because you really do say what Christians need to understand about how to love the LGBT neighbors, and then you cover transgenderism then, same-sex marriage, and then you make a case. Sean McDowell contributes a chapter on a case for natural marriage. 

There’s a lot covered in here and a lot of really good takeaways. 

You were just saying this exact same thing. Before we leave the whole grace and truth part of this topic, you have a great quote in here from Glenn on his chapter, grace without truth becomes mushy sentimentalism. Truth without grace becomes abusive. It really does take both.

You Can Get The Book At CultureShield.Com

Donna:

Absolutely without a doubt. Glenn was very helpful. I talked to him several times, and he just did a great job of encapsulating just how we can do this with grace and truth.

Rick:

Let’s give the website real quick before we go. We’ve got to take a quick break but before we go to break, your website for where people can order the book.

Donna:

Yes, it’s cultureshield.com. That’s the name in my ministry, cultureshield.com. They can buy it right there. They can call whatever they want to do. It is just really easy to buy right on the website.

Rick:

And this is the kind of book or even booklet that you’d want to get multiple copies to give out to your friends and family to equip them as well.

Donna:

Yes, we give a 20 percent discount for anybody that orders 20 or more. And I’ve been sending some out 20 and 30 at a time, so I know that youth pastors, Pat, one of our people just handed it to their pastor and even before he looked at the title he said, I just don’t know what to say.

And then when he saw the title which my daughter said let’s just make it really plain mom, people really what to know what to say.

Rick:

That’s really good. 

What should I say? That’s cultureshield.com. 

Quick break, and we’ll be right back. Stay with us 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:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. We are talking about a new book out called What should I say? Culture Shield is putting it out in the workplace. You can go to get it at cultureshield.com.

As Donna and I were talking before the break, this is not one to just buy one of. You want to buy these in the dozens and hand them out. It will equip people, Christians to understand what to say on some of the toughest issues of the day.

Perfect Tool For Sunday School Classes And Youth Groups

Donna, I couldn’t help but think as you were explaining before we went to break, this actually seems like a perfect tool for Sunday school classes and as you said, youth groups.

I could see a Sunday school class taking three weeks to go through one topic at a time and equip the members of the class.

Donna:

Yes, life groups are picking them up.

Every Legislator And City Council Member Needs This To Make Policy

And you know what, this is another thing, Rick, I think that every legislator needs this and every city council member needs this. Because if they really want to protect and make policy, they need to know the truth before they push the button. 

Like you said it’s a really short read. They can go through it. They can see what the truth really is. 

We have a lot of statistics in here about same-sex parenting. I mean that is really

difficult. 

It might not seem like it at first, but when those children leave the same-sex home between the ages of 18 and 24, they have an 85% obesity rate. Their suicide rate is really high. 

We tried to really address facts. Did you ever think about what are they like when they get out of the home? Just gently saying it. If someone says, do you think that homosexuality is a sin? And I say, I’m a Christian, and I live by the Word of God.

So it doesn’t matter what I say; it matters what God says to me.

Rick:

That’s exactly right. 

This Is An Answered Prayer

You lay all of that out in the book. There are some fantastic takeaways and ways to be able to engage in these conversations. You mentioned in the book, and I think it’s so true. I mean we all have friends or family that are caught up in the lifestyle, and people struggle with what do I say how do I say it? 

This is an answered prayer for so many millions of Christians out there that have been looking for exactly what to say.

The website is the easiest place to get it cultureshield.com. 

Share with your friends and family.

Donna, I think it would be important too to take on each of these topics in the coming weeks. Either get you back to go through each of them one-on-one or maybe some of your authors that you’ve brought in to do these. 

Donna:

Sure.

Rick:

You’ve got additional booklets coming out. This was just the first three topics, and you’re planning to produce I guess every few months or so.

Donna:

The Next One Is About Religious Persecution And Religious Freedom 

Right. Yes, we have the next one this coming out. It’s about religious persecution and religious freedom. 

We feel like that’s the next really hot topic that we need to be equipped on. Again, our legislators need to know what our Constitution says and so forth. 

I don’t think that we’re really aware of the persecution around the world. So we have some great authors who will be addressing all these things.

Rick:

I love it. Well, thank you so much for an answered prayer. 

Thanks for putting in the effort. I know this could not have been an easy task to take on or someone would have already done it. 

I mean you mentioned that the stats before that George Barna was saying something like 90% of Christians saying, please pastor speak on these things we need to know what to say. Only 10 percent are actually addressing it, and there are lots of reasons for that. 

This is what people are hungry for, and it’s just been difficult to find those answers so I mean you’re hitting right where it’s needed.

Donna:

Well, thank you so much for this, Rick. 

It’s really been an honor to work with David and George Barna, and all of these authors have just been incredible; willing to contribute to this because they see too that Christians need to know how to define the narrative. They need to find a voice.

They need to have courageous conversations. 

When we love, that means that we love deeply and we love enough to share the truth.

Rick:

So many good ones. Courageous conversations, a moral crisis needs a moral compass. Donna’s just packed full of golden nuggets that I think will equip and inspire folks just to preach the gospel and in a loving and truthful way and stand for truth in a very important way in our culture right now.

cultureshield.com is the website cultureshield.com. We will make it easy today and have a link there for you at our home website at Wallbuilderslive.com.

Donna, looking forward to the next booklet in a few months, covering more of these topics with you in the coming weeks.

Donna:

Thank you so much, Rick. God bless you all. 

Rick:

Stay with us folks we’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Front Sight Handgun Training Course

Hey friends! Rick Green here, from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Green, Tim Barton, David Barton – what do all these folks have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution and educate America on the Constitution?

They’re all raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. In fact, if you go to my website right now today at RickGreen.com, you can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at Front Sight, or Larry Elder, or Tim Barton, or myself out there training at Front Sight.

It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family to make sure that you are ready and able to do that. It is a fantastic place to train. They train 30 to 40,000 people a year, and they’re just wonderful to work with. 

And you can go with us! We’re headed back out. We’re going to have a great time out there as the WallBuilders family, and if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we have an amazing deal for you. It’s actually going to cost you 1/10th the normal price to attend this two-day handgun training because you’re going with us. And, you’ll also get the Constitution crash course.

I’ll be teaching on the Constitution; you’ll get the intellectual ammunition that you need to defend the Second Amendment and our Constitution. As well as getting the physical training on how to defend yourself and your family.  

And, this is for everyone – guys, gals, everyone should take this class. No matter how much you’ve shot your whole life or if you’ve never touched a gun, learn how to defend your family. We’re going to be going several times throughout the year, and we would love to have you be a part of that.

Check it out at RickGreen.com today to find out the dates, get all the specifics, and get all of your questions answered. Check out RickGreen.com today to join us on this Front Sight trip for both your constitutional and handgun defense training.

Rick:

We’re back now on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. We’re back with David and Tim Barton. 

We want to thank Donna Lippold for coming on the program and for spearheading this new effort with, What should I say?

By the way, once again, the place to go to get the books is cultureshield.com. Guys, we need to get this in the hands of as many people as we can.

Bring In Experts To Talk About Current Issues

David:

We do. And I thought it’s a great point made that not just Christians knew this but every legislator and every elected official because they deal with the same arguments. 

They hear the same stuff on the other side when they’re in committee hearings etc. They need to be equipped, not only individually but because they are policymakers as well. 

Tim: 

Guys, one of the things we’ve tried to do on WallBuilders Live is to bring in some of those experts. In fact, in our legislative conference every year, we bring in experts on issues to talk about it.

I thought it was a great thing that it’s not just her creating content for this book. She said no, I reached out to the experts on the issues, and we did help her find some of those, but you have people who are very good in their fields who are giving consent for that specific issue. 

It really is some of the best answers you’re going to hear that as Christians, we need to know how to think biblically, how to answer the issue, and how to address it. 

And so not only is it a book that covers the issues, it actually covers it as explained by some of the experts on those topics in the Christian circle.

A Moral Crisis Needs A Moral Compass

David:

I thought that she had some really good points as well, like when she said that a moral crisis needs a moral compass. 

I just had the image if you were lost out in the middle of the Sahara Desert or the Wahhabi desert or wherever. If you have a map and a compass, but your compass doesn’t show what is true north; it’s a relative compass, and it moves wherever it wants to. It means it’s a pretty hopeless situation. 

You really do need a true north kind of a standard. You need a standard of what is true, what is right, and that’s what this provides. It provides a moral compass that gives a direction, it gives you hope, and it gives you the ability to be able to handle some of these things. 

She really has done a great service for the country, and for the Christian community as well. In being able to give some of the apologetics to these issues that we’re facing on a regular basis.

Share This Book With Your Friends And Family

Rick:

The website one more time before we close out today is cultureshield.com. 

You can order the book, you can order a single book, but I recommend you get multiple copies so you can share it with friends and family. 

When you get the book, study it. We call it being a student of freedom. We want to defend this freedom if we want to share the gospel and help make disciples of all men. We’ve got to do it in an informed fashion. 

We’ve got to we got to know our stuff, so we’ve got to spend a little bit of time studying, and you know we’ve just become again a little bit spoiled in our culture today. 

We don’t dive deep very often, and this is a great easy way to start diving deep. To start understanding how to answer these tough questions in the culture today.

WallBuilders Live is all about looking at things from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. We want to help you do that as well and be able to engage in that national conversation that is taking place on these tough issues of the day. 

They’re really not that tough when you go back and look at what Jesus said about them. You look at the Biblical worldview; you look at the constitutional perspective and the historical perspective. There are very good answers there, and we can apply them to our lives today. 

Really appreciate you listening to WallBuilders Live today at our website Wallbuilderslive.com. 

If you would please consider making that one-time or monthly contribution. It helps to support our ministry in what we’re doing here on the radio program, our leadership training with young people, and pastors and all kinds of other groups and legislators.

All the different things we’re doing. 

It’s about restoring and protecting and preserving freedom and passion intact to the next generation. Thanks so much for listening. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.