Standing For Truth In California – With Pastor Jack Hibbs: What’s been going on in California concerning chants to Aztec and Mayan gods? What about the proposal of laws banning Christian or pro-life police officers? Who is leading the way in fighting insane ideas like these? How is the attendance at open churches in California? Tune in to hear from a culturally engaged pastor with a backbone, Jack Hibbs!

Air Date: 04/07/2021

Guest: Pastor Jack Hibbs

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:

He found your way to the intersection of faith and the culture. Thanks for joining us today on WallBuilders Live. You can learn more about us at our website wallbuilderslive.com. We’re always taking on the hottest topics of the day, giving people truth and courage, but always from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

My name is Rick Green. I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s constitution coach, and have the honor of being here with David Barton. He’s America’s premier historian, and our founder of WallBuilders, and Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. 

And guys, excited about today’s program, Pastor Jack Hibbs will be on with us later in the program. We have pastors, we have senators, we have Congress, we have all kinds of people on the program, always looking at that biblical, historical and constitutional perspective.

People can be a part of that solution, they can actually help us to educate more and more people, give them that truth and courage and equipping by simply going to wallbuilderslive.com, share the program with friends and family, donate there at wallbuilderslive.com. 

Those donations help us to reach more people because we can get on more radio stations, we can train more pastors, train more legislators train more young people. It’s a great way to help save the country, folks, you can be a part of the solution at wallbuilderslive.com.

And David, Tim, a lot of people from across the country, they do that. They actually share the program. That’s their way of being a force multiplier. Others donate to the program. Sometimes it’s a monthly donation of 5 bucks or 500 bucks, but it’s a great way to participate. And a lot of people are, you know, they’re acknowledging that we got challenges, we got problems, and they’re looking for a way to be a part of the solution.

Engaging

Tim:

Yeah, we’re really grateful for the people that have come alongside and partner with us on various levels. In fact, for those of you listening today, we are very grateful that you take the time to listen, because it means that you care, and you want to get engaged and be part of the solution for the culture. That is as an organization here with WallBuilders and WallBuilders Live and with Patriot Academy, and we are praying constantly, that God would lead and guide and direct us, that God to use us to make a difference. 

And we’re so grateful for the people that come alongside to help support us as we are trying to engage in some of these cultural battles, and then equip people to be able to engage in those battles in their local areas and local arenas to help parents and grandparents know how to have conversations with their friends and their peers and even with their kids.

And just all the things we do, we are so grateful for the people that support what we do, obviously, those that give financially, but man, so much those that are praying for us. So often, guys, when we travel and speak, we’ll have people come up and talk about the fact they listen to us on WallBuilders Live and they’re praying for us. And we do not undervalue prayer. 

We are so grateful for people that pray for us along the way and then Rick, even as you mentioned, those that are letting more people know about the show, that are helping get this information out there wider to make a difference in culture. So we’re so grateful for people that have already been coming alongside supporting us. So for all of you listening today, we say thank you for your support and what we’re doing.

David:

You know, and you mentioned, equipping locally in and training locally, and certainly the church is ground zero for that. I mean, that’s where that most important training and equipping happens. And so, we’d like to highlight pastors that are engaged in that and talk about victories that are happening across the country when they do engage in that way. 

If the Church had Done Their Job…

You know, sometimes it’s easy to just say, well, if pastors have done their job, or if the church had done their job, the culture wouldn’t be the mess it’s in. That’s true. But we need to point out that there are tons of pastors out there that are engaging, that are continuing to be salt and light and setting that example. And there’s so much we can learn from them and try to duplicate that across the country.

Tim:

Yeah, there’s a lot of churches who are engaging culturally, we’re not seeing that from all churches, unfortunately. But one of the pastors who is absolutely engaging culturally, somebody that we’re going to talk to later Jack Hibbs in the program and Jack Hibbs and many of our friends who are pastors in California have a very unique scenario. In the midst of these COVID shut down, in the midst of the lockdown orders, different governors have responded differently. 

And certainly, California has been one of the more restrictive of all of the states. And this is not the only issue we see happening in California. There’s some major spiritual, moral, cultural issues, educational issues happening in California. 

And so for the listeners in California, and especially for our pastor friends in California, they have had some unique challenges with navigating through all of what’s been going on in culture.

Rick:

Yeah, Tim, let’s take a quick break. When we come back, we’ll talk about what’s been happening in California over the last few weeks. Stay with us, folks, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. Founding Fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson originally worked closely together but later became ardent opponents. This troubled Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration, who knew both of them very well.

In the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us that God has given each of us the ministry of reconciliation. Dr. Rush believed this and set out to bring the two back together. It took a while, but Adams and Jefferson once again became close friends. 

And looking back on his role in helping bring about this reconciliation, Dr. Rush stated, “It will give me pleasure as long as I live to reflect that I have been in any degree instrumental in effecting this reunion of two souls destined to be dear to each other and motivated with the same dispositions to serve their country though in different ways.”

For more information about Dr. Benjamin Rush and his other remarkable achievements, go to wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. And David, later in the program, we’re going to have Jack Hibbs. You’ve spoken in his church many times, you know what he’s doing on the ground there and the thousands of people that are not only equipped, but man, they’re engaging in their states politics.

Chants to Aztec gods?

David:

Well, I’ll tell you, there’s some things going on in California that we read about, but he actually has to live through. I mean, I was just looking at some new standards for California curriculum. And the new standard for curriculum, they’re actually having the California students, they’re looking at going to this curriculum where they actually say, chance to Aztec and Mayan gods. 

Now, if you said chance to any other god, especially the God, Jehovah, God of Christians and Jews, think of the lawsuit you’d have. So what they’re doing and by the way, Aztec and Mayan gods, they’re responsible for the murder of millions literally. And I don’t mean physically, literally, historically, as you had Cortez that went into Mexico…

Tim:

But wait a second, that was mostly from like human sacrifice, so that doesn’t count. It’s totally fine to teach kids to worship a god that probably in the midst of this ritual, they’re ripping out hearts, and they’re feasting on and they’re beheading and lead like that’s totally fine. This is utterly ludicrous that we’re now pretending like this Aztec, Mayan god was some benevolent, beneficial, good thing. 

Crazy Bias

And this is one of the crazy bias things in culture when we’re not honest with the history we teach. It’s one thing to say, here’s what they chanted, and here’s who they worshipped and here’s how they practice their forms of worship with human sacrifice, we’re not even going there. But this is one of the many issues happening in California. This is an educational issue. This is not the only issue happening in California now.

David:

No, and this is a crazy one. And by the way, it’s not like what Tim said on human sacrifices, this is undocumented. I mean, Cortez went through there, and talked about how they would find piles of 30,000 skulls at a time beside the altars where they’ve been doing human sacrifices. 

So you take that and now the chance that the kids are using this chances, Aztec, Mayan gods to say I am going to be a social justice warrior, I’m going to fight decolonization, I’m going to fight for transformation, I mean, all this crazy stuff and they’re chanting to these gods, I have no idea what they’re doing.

And then Tim, as you said so much else going on. Even as you look, they had a law that was proposed just a few weeks ago, that is going to say, well, if you’re prolife, if you’re Christian, you cannot be a law enforcement officer. We don’t want you in law enforcement, because your views are wrong. 

Oh, my gosh, more than half of America is prolife and we’re going to say, well, because your views don’t line up with what we believe here at the state capitol, we’re keeping you out: Christian, stay out. It’s craziness.

Tim:

Well, and the irony is they would say we don’t want Christians because we’re anti-hate and you Christians are hateful. Wait a second. Isn’t that you revealing your bias of hate to say that you don’t want Christians? 

Yes, that seems very inclusive, right? This diversity training, this inclusive training that you want people to have, you’re excluding specific groups that you don’t like. That is not inclusive. But this is the irony of the position. They’ve chosen that Christianity is the bad religion, that because Christian has a traditional moral compass moral value that says that there is a male and female, that human sexuality is best reserved for a marriage between a male and a female.

Removing Christians from the Police Force?

You can go down the list of these things that have been really universally embraced and accepted for thousands and thousands, and thousands, all of known human recorded existence, this has been the way it was. And yet it’s being rejected today, because Christians are viewed as extremists hate groups. It’s utter nonsense, but that’s what they were posing is to remove Christians from the police force.

David:

Now the good news is that Christians in California are now doing things that the rest of us should be doing as well, and that is they stood up. They stood up, they let their voices be heard. There was so much reaction to that proposed law that the sponsor actually pulled the law down. 

So that’s a good piece of victory. It would not have been pulled down if people hadn’t stood up and done something. So good news for that, but that’s again, because you get some churches and pastors in California that actually are leading and Jack Hibbs is certainly one of those guys on the cutting edge of what’s going on in California, and he’s the guy that has no lack of backbone, and he makes it really clear in front of the congregation as well as in front of the community. Really good leader, Jack Hibbs.

Rick:

Pastor Jack Hibbs our special guest today. Stay with us, you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Constitution Alive!

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the United States Constitution but just felt like man, the classes are boring, or it’s just that old language from 200 years ago, or I don’t know where to start? People want to know, but it gets frustrating because you don’t know where to look for truth about the Constitution either.

Well, we’ve got a special program for you available now called Constitution Alive! With David Barton and Rick Green. And it’s actually a teaching done on the Constitution at Independence Hall in the very room where the Constitution was framed. We take you both to Philadelphia, the cradle of liberty and Independence Hall and to the WallBuilders library where David Barton brings the history to life to teach the original intent of our Founding Fathers.

We call it the Quickstart Guide to the Constitution, because in just a few hours through these videos, you will learn the citizen’s guide to America’s Constitution, you’ll learn what you need to do to help save our constitutional republic. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, and it’s going to inspire you to do your part to preserve freedom for future generations. It’s called Constitution Alive! With David Barton and Rick Green. You can find out more information on our website now at wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. And from the great state of California, yes, I said great State of California because there’s still a lot of great people there, a lot of God’s people there in California. And one of the folks is seeing that massive growth in the church, Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel, Pastor Jack, love you brother. Always enjoy having you on the program. Thanks for joining us today.

Welcome Pastor Jack Hibbs

Jack:

Thank you, Rick. Thank you very much.

Rick:

Man. You guys are in the thick of it. I mean, you’re right there in Los Angeles area. You’ve dealt with the lockdown, shutdowns, everything over the last year. Your church has been a beacon of hope, still serving the community, still bringing people together to worship. 

You’ve stood against this stuff. And man, it just seems like that the church is growing there despite all of the craziness.

Jack:

It’s not only us, but God is honored, Rick. Way back in May, I just felt God’s strongly calling me to call the pastors of California to open up their churches. And we all did that. Over a thousand churches opened up, and they’re going for it. 

And every church I know of that we’ve talked to have experienced record attendance, including this church. We’re 30 years old and I can now tell you, Rick, that over 29 years of those 30 years prepared us for the year 2020 and now right into 2021.

We are maxed out, last Sunday, Rick, adults only, adults only we saw just under 10,000 adults here on campus. And that’s not including youth and kids. And it’s just over the top. People are coming from all over. They want truth. 

And look Rick, you and I have talked offline before, something’s happened in California. It happened in 2020. It happened in November of 2020, where we had a tremendous election turnout, and Republican seats, conservative prolife believers were elected. And it’s continuing to happen.

Rick:

And I mean, this is at a time when a lot of people say all California is lost and look at the craziness out there. But look at the craziness. I mean, this crazy bill that was going to basically making eligible Christians for being police officers, or if you were prolife, or you had any of these strongly held beliefs and you guys have just defeated that bill, which means yeah, there’s craziness out there. But there’s a lot of good people too and when they stand up, and their voice is heard, they can win.

The Key for Churches

Jack:

And this is the key for churches. And to be honest with you, Rick, I’m not even going to argue anymore with pastors who want to parse out between should churches be involved in politics. That is a failed worldview attempt. The truth is this church got involved in the politics where politics attacks our religion and our faith and our freedoms. And so we stood up against that.

And you’re exactly correct, AB 655 literally targeted Christians who would become police officers or be our current officers, and they would in any way shape or form mention, talk, listen to this post on private media, private civilian conversations off duty, all of these things would be used to incriminate them regarding hate speech. And if their religious views were anything other than what the California legislature wanted to prove as what is acceptable and unacceptable, would be guilty of hate speech.

Thank God, Rick, the state responded, and here’s what every pastor in Christian needs to know. We gave them the tools in California to get a hold of realimpact.us, they could make their voice be heard. We sent out bulletin inserts to churches across California. They could print out giving them the information for them to call their state senator.

Sacramento was inundated with responses, caused the author to pull back and now it’s even questionable if the bill will even go forward. Because people in California, believers and concerned citizens alike stood up together and made some noise for what is good.

Rick:

I remember, Jack, having you on probably, I want to say was two years ago, maybe even four years ago, there was a bill running to the legislature that was essentially going to end homeschooling in California. And you guys did the same thing showed up at the Capitol in person, wrapped around the building–

I mean, in force, and same thing, author ended up pulling down the bill and the legislation was killed because people stood up and let their voice be heard, literally exercise their First Amendment right, of freedom of speech, of assembly of petitioning their government for a redress of grievances.

Another Victory

Jack:

Well, Rick, you know, listen, you’re not really correct about that, but there’s one more other victory that we got the exact same way as we got this one just the other day. And that is the bill that was put forth regarding counseling, that pastors couldn’t counsel someone who wanted out of the LBGTQ community. And we went after that and made noise about that, they had to wind up amending that.

So it just goes to show you that, Rick, this is not some political ploy on behalf of this church. It’s us standing for righteousness for what is biblically accurate, and frankly, it’s what the Bible talks about the church doing good. We are doing righteousness, we are doing good, and God is honoring it.

Rick:

Brother, I got to tell you, I want to thank you for not only your stance there, but we’re doing this new Biblical Citizenship in Modern America course and you were gracious enough to give us an interview on that. And every one of our classes begins with some comments you made during that interview about the role of Christians in the culture around us. And it’s just been such a positive voice and an encouraging voice to Christians all over the country.

So you’re not only helping in California, it’s having an impact across the nation. And I just want to shout that out to pastors across the nation, you can do the same thing, be the catalyst in your community for restoring these biblical values. 

I mean, come on Jack’s doing it in California. All you folks are these other states, you got no excuse. I know, Jack, I mean, the numbers speak for themselves and the growth. You guys are now, you can’t even get them all in the church now you’re doing an outside service as well. Right?

Jack:

Yeah, it’s more wonderful or crazy than what I talked about offline. The answer is yes. We had about 10,000 adults here last Sunday. 

That’s not including youth and children. So that’s putting us at about 14,000 on a Sunday. We’ve added a 1,500 seat outdoor sanctuary with a jumbotron. 

Revival Breaking Out

And now I’m going to be meeting with staff because we’re going to have to add Saturday night services, Monday night services. We already got Wednesday night. We got to do a Tuesday night service. Rick, we got to add a Thursday night service.

There’s a revival breaking out, people that come in, and they come. And now what happens up, for example, our midweek services, when the service is over, people are not going home. They’re staying in the courtyard. 

They’re staying in the parking lot. Young Adults are playing guitars, singing worship songs after services till 10:30 at night. Something is happening. 

And I got to tell you, outside of walking with Jesus 21 centuries ago, I wouldn’t want to budge from where we’re at right now. I could not pick a more thrilling moment to be a pastor, and to be doing church than right now.

Rick:

Amen. Amen. Oh, what a great message. It’s so true, Jack. I mean, a lot of people are wanting to recede from the culture in the face of a lot of the adversity. 

And what you guys are showing is look, when you lean in, when you truly become salt and light, people are hungry for it, man, they’re looking for that truth. So what a blessing, what a blessing. Keep it up.

Last thing just what would you say to pastors out there that might be hesitating about taking those kind of bold stands and speaking into the culture in some of those areas that even people in their congregation may say I don’t want “politics in the pulpit” or whatever their excuses.

But, it’s right in our face all over the culture, these challenges to our way of life and our biblical beliefs? For those pastors that might be hesitating, they know they need to speak but they’re worried, what do you say to them?

Just Get in the Water

Jack:

You know, Rick, I would put it this way. We all here in SoCal, we don’t live too far from the Pacific Ocean. And when we point our car, our feet in that direction, for those of us who know we’re going to get into the water, Rick, it’s not a debate about how cold or how warm the water is. 

It’s not a debate. We know we’re going to get in. So instead of hesitating, we just go in. We don’t go to the shore and dabbler toe there and measure it. We want to get in the water. So we get into the water, there’s no debate.

Or if you want to go fishing, you can talk about where the fish might be biting, or you can just get your pole into the water and get going. And that’s what I encourage pastors to do. Get into the water because that’s where you belong. Or get your pole in the water because that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. 

The fishing is amazing right now. The water is fine, because we are the servants of God. We’re called to preach the gospel in season and out. And right now it might be “an out of season time” with COVID and all that junk. Well, you know what?

 It’s never out of style to preach the gospel of Jesus everywhere now. Quick, the fishing is fantastic, the water’s fine, let’s go for it.

Rick:

Amen. Oh, what an encouragement. I love it, brother. Well, listen, I know that even as you have all those people coming into the church physically on Sundays, also a ton of people across the country can tune in watch your services, they’re easy to go to the website, calvarycch.org. 

And you can watch the sermons from wherever you are across the country. You need that truth. You need that encouragement. And Jack certainly brings it every Sunday. Love you, brother. Thanks so much for giving us sometime today. Look forward to having you on again soon.

Jack:

Love you, Rick, so much. Take care now.

Rick:

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

The Courageous Leaders Collection & Heroes of History

Hi, friends, this is Tim Barton of WallBuilders. This is a time when most Americans don’t know much about American history or even heroes of the faith. And I know oftentimes we, parents, we’re trying to find good content for our kids to read.

And if you remember back to the Bible, to the book of Hebrews, it has the faith Hall of Fame where they outline the leaders of faith that had gone before them. Well, this is something that as Americans, we really want to go back and outline some of these heroes, not just of American history, but heroes of Christianity in our faith as well.

I want to let you know about some biographical sketches we have available on our website. One is called The Courageous Leaders Collection. And this collection includes people like Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, George Washington Carver, Susanna Wesley, even the Wright brothers. 

And there’s a second collection called Heroes of History. In this collection, you’ll read about people like Benjamin Franklin or Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Harriet Tubman, friends, the list goes on and on. This is a great collection for your young person to have and read and it’s a providential view of American and Christian history. 

This is available at www.wallbuilders.com. That’s www.wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. And thanks to pastor Jack Hibbs for joining us today as well. Back with David and Tim Barton. 

And guys, that’s what we need more of, more pastors just like that and saying, look, I love how he talked about, it’s not that we got political, it’s that the political issues were affecting the church. And that’s what we’re speaking to.

David:

Well, you know, the other part of that is, there is never going to be anything that is not political in some sense, because it is going to try to implement and enforce someone’s view of what’s right and wrong. So to say that it’s not political, that’s not true about anything. Everything has some kind of policy aspect to it that is implementing somebody’s view of what’s right and wrong.

Political or Biblical?

Tim:

Well, and this is what’s silly too, is that’s the reason that people are arguing that certain values should not be talked about from the pulpit because they’re political. But the reality is, we’ve confused even what’s political and what’s biblical. 

Political is a representation of moral values and moral values are defined and should be defined by the Bible. And so there will always be and should always be an overlap between biblical truth and political laws, legislation, principles, philosophy, whatever the case might be.

Because, right the reason that we believe that murder is wrong, the reason we believe in the freedom of religion, the reason we believe in a free market economic system, the reason we believe in civil rights, there are so many notions that we’ve embraced in society that not every society is embraced, but we embraced them in American society because of biblical truth. But the more we remove biblical truth from the possibilities, the more cultural struggle.

And this is one of the things that that Pastor Jack pointed out with even in California, the churches that are having the courage to open up at a time when they are being penalized for being open, they are thriving, because there are Christians who are hungry for truth. 

There’s a spiritual craving inside, right? There’s the kind of the old expression that everyone has a God-shaped hole inside of them. There’s a spiritual craving that we all have. And on top of the fact God made us to be relational beings, we desire relationship with other humans.

And so when we have a spiritual craving, when we desire relationship with other humans, this is where Church has always been the best outlet. It’s why the author of Hebrews from the book of the Bible says we should not forsake the assembling together of ourselves. We shouldn’t stop meeting. 

And as Pastor Jack pointed out, they’ve had record attendance with more than 25,000 adults. This is crazy. They’ve never seen those kind of numbers. 

Standing

But because this is internal thing that God put inside of humanity that we desire relationships, that there’s a spiritual craving, when Christians and churches are standing up, as Pastor Jack said, for righteousness, this is what is making a difference in California. And this is what more Christians need to be doing around the culture and around the world.

David:

And don’t think that every church in California is having results that Jack is, because so many churches still have not opened. But Tim, as you said, those churches that are opening, those churches that are showing backbone and standing up and showing leadership.

I mean, people responded to that. And that’s going to be true in any state across the United States, whether it’s an Alabama, whether it’s in California, whether it’s in Washington or New York. When you show leadership and backbone, it makes a big difference.

Standing For Truth In California – With Pastor Jack Hibbs

Tim:

And the quote something not from the Bible, but certainly one of the great all time male movies from Braveheart is “Men don’t follow titles, they follow courage.” When you have the courage to stand up and lead, people will follow. 

And this is why as Christians, we want to be the Daniel, we want to be the Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stand up and lead and people can follow, but we got to have the courage to stand up and make a difference.

Rick:

Man, and to have that courage, you need the equipping to act on those things. That’s part of what we do here at WallBuilders Live. Folks, you can be a part of that solution. Go to our website wallbuilderslive.com, share these programs with your friends and family. 

Send them to your pastor, send them to the people in your church, and get them to start acting and being a part of the solution as well. You can also make that one-time or monthly donation right there at wallbuilderslive.com.

Thanks so much for listening to what WallBuilders Live.