Trump Backs Push For Bible Classes In Schools: 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. Tune in now to learn more! 

Air Date: 03/15/2019

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

 

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! Where we”€™re talking about today”€™s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, always doing that from a Biblical, historical, and Constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker and President of WallBuilders, and my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author. You can get more good news at our website, WallBuildersLive.com, by clicking on the archives and listening to those previous Friday programs.

You can help make good news available to more people by going to the website and clicking on that donate button and making a one time contribution or a monthly contribution. This allows us to spread this good news and put out more information, to do the DVD and the curriculum, and the training programs whether it’s youth, or pastors, or legislators, all the different things we’re doing. It happens because of you so thank you for being a supporter of WallBuilders and making that contribution at the website today.

Alright, here”€™s David and Tim with some good news. I get the opportunity to coax these guys into sharing good news and keep us on time on the program. So what a dream job I have. Guys, I’m looking forward to today. Hit me with some good news.

David’s up first.

David:

Now, wait a minute. You don’t have to coax us into giving good news. We like giving good news!

Bribery of Sweets

Rick:

You’re right. Well, I kind of feel like I’m the goalie. I try to keep the ball in the right place and just bounce it back. It’s almost like a ping pong match with you guys sometimes, just, “€œBoom!”€ Back and forth, back and forth.

Tim:

Rick, I can say I coax best with sweets and desserts. Maybe Dr. Pepper?

Rick:

Dr. Pepper on its way.

Tim:

I tell you, just slide something across the desk my way and I will be happy to give you some good news for candy, Dr. Pepper, some ice cream, some cookies… I don’t make this difficult for you, but the coaxing should be easy.

Rick:

I think, David, that Tim just broke federal law. It’s called payola, and he just required me to to give him certain things before he would say good news on the radio program. Can I turn him in for that?

Tim:

Why is that federal law?

David:

Why is this suddenly a federal issue that we’ve got going here?

Rick:

  1. Back to good news—

Tim:

By the way, was not the workman worthy of his hire? Do not muzzle the ox while he shreds out the grain?

David:

There”€™s some verses for you to think about. And by the way, can I address your mixed metaphors of being a hockey goalie playing with ping pong balls?

Tim:

And why are you messing with peyote. That’s weird.

Rick:

I think next time I’m just going to say, “€œWelcome to WallBuilders Live. David and Tim, go!”€

David:

  1. We’ve had fun. Sorry about all that, guys. Let”€™s get back to the good news.

Rick:

I’m not doing a very good job of being the goalie, or whatever I said.

Over 70 Freedom of Religion Bills Passed!

Tim:

We’ve scored on you so many times it’s embarrassing.

Rick:

First time listeners are going, “€œWho are these guys and what is wrong with them?”€ Obviously, we have fun.

Longtime listeners are going, “€œYep. That’s them.”€

David:

Okay. I’m going to take us back to something we’ve covered on a few programs over the last two years, and that is how the number of religious liberty bills had been passed at the state level have absolutely skyrocketed. Three years ago there were four pieces of legislation passed over the last two years, there”€™s somewhere close to at least 70 now.

Rick:

A religious liberty bill, what do you mean by that?

David:

A religious liberty bill can be a number of bills that protect religious expression, whether it be conscience bills for, let’s say, foster care providers as Mississippi and Tennessee and others passed to say, “€œIf your conscience says, “€˜I can’t support the homosexual lifestyle,”€™ then you don’t have to, as a foster care kind of program, place children there.”€

Or it could be a a bill about a kid praying over lunch at school.

One of the issues has been what are called Bible Literacy Programs. Now, what happens is the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts have said, “€œHey, it’s OK to teach the Bible as history.”€

There are four major curriculums, that I know of, that teach the Bible in public schools as a an elected course for students, called the Bible and History and Literature. I know one of the programs is now in twelve hundred school districts and about 200,000 students have gone through that course.

The Bible is Back in Public Schools

What’s happened, as word has gotten out that these bills are starting to pass, it has driven the left through the roof. All sorts of organizations, whether it be Freedom From Religion Foundation, or the Baptist Joint Committee, or all these anti religious groups, have come out saying, “€œThis is terrible. They’re trying to cram Christianity down the throats of our kids in public school.”€

They have really launched an aggressive attack against the legislators that have been introducing these bills. And we’re talking about probably 15 to 20 separate bills here that have been passed in 60 or 70 different locations, so two or three bills can be passed in one state, maybe 25 or 30 states have passed something. They have really gone after these guys, and they’ve been trying to interview some of the groups who have helped pass those bills around.

Certainly at WallBuilders we’ve been one of the groups willing to share these bills with legislators who are interested and want to protect religious liberty. As these groups have come after sponsors like WallBuilders and other organizations nationally, there’s been a lot of national media attention wanting to interview.

The groups have said, “€œNo, we don’t need the national tension. We don’t need our brains beat in by leftist media organizations and whatnot.”€

A Fair USA Today Interview?

I was contacted by USA Today and another outfit, and said, “€œYeah, I’ll do an interview.”€

Tim:

You don’t mind getting your brains beaten in.

David:

My brains are already beaten in. Look at Wikipedia, my brains have been beaten in. This was not a big deal to me. I just tried to de-escalate it, and tried to get the narrative back away from what the left said. I will say that over the years —I’ve done media interviews—some of the most fair interviews I’ve ever had have been with The Washington Post and The New York Times.

That seems really, really weird. Really weird to say, but they were the people I dealt with—and it’s not every reporter there—but the people I dealt with at that national level desk they were very, very, good. Very fair. They didn’t use the articles to promote their own agenda.

They actually sent the article to me and said, “€œNow I want to make sure that I got what you said right. I want to quote you right.”€

They were really, really straight up. When I did the one with USA Today, I really tried to de-escalate it and take the narrative away from the left, because what they’re saying is not true. It’s not trying to put Christianity in the schools. As a matter of fact, it just protects religious expression, period. It doesn’t choose any religion.

So as I point that out, the article came out from USA Today, and it was a straight up really fair article. They really did a good job of not injecting a tone and just reporting the story, reporting what’s out there, even the controversy that’s out there.

“€œStarting to Make a Turn Back?”€

And lo and behold it got picked up by the White House, and President Trump actually tweeted about it.

He said, “€œNumerous states introducing Bible literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back?”€

Great. Wow. White House endorsement on getting Bibles back in schools. It was really, really cool to see all the media go on about that.

Now that Trump has done that, all of the sudden I’ve got, here in my hand, a stack of articles that have been very neutral and very fair, and it’s a complete tone shift. That USA Today article that came out, that failed to promote any agenda and just actually reported the news—if you can imagine media outlets doing that—and I’m not saying that USA Today does it, I’m saying this reporter did a very excellent job of being a journalist rather than an evangelist.

It’s just great to see the White House jump on board.

The President didn’t have to say anything about this, but he tweeted, and he tweeted that it’s really good to get the Bible back in schools and back in the hands of the kids.

Rick:

Very, very good news. Let’s take a quick break and we’ll be back with more good news. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Red, White, Blue, and Green

Hey friends, a special event is coming to you. It’s called Red, White, Blue, and Green and it’s a stage show. It’s our opportunity to bring history to life, to bring the Constitution to life, to equip and inspire you and your family, and the people at your church and in your community, to get involved and do more. To be given true action steps on what you can do right there in your backyard to preserve freedom for future generations. It”€™s going to be a fun evening. We’re going to laugh and learn together and get educated. There”€™s gonna”€™ be lots of great music, and presentations, and inspirational stories. It”€™s called Red, White, Blue, and Green. You can make it happen right there in your hometown. We’re gonna”€™ be filming live in Thousand Oaks, California, on the evening of March 23rd, and streaming it all across the nation.

You can be the one to bring it into your community by streaming it to your church, or in your home, or even just watch it individually if you like. Go to ConstitutionCoach.com today and you’ll find out more. ConstitutionCoach.com. The event is on March 23rd. We’re hoping you’ll participate with us and help us restore America’s Constitution.

A Very Large Texas Church’s Prison Ministry

Rick:

Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday.

Before we move on to more good news, David, that article you’re talking about from USA Today, we”€™ll have a link today, so folks can get to it right there at WallBuildersLive.com. Click over there and read it, but very good news, and not only, first of all, that the report was accurate, but that the President picked up on it. Just another example that he was faking it in the 2016 election when he went to Liberty University and had Robert Jeffress, the pastor at First Baptist Church with him.

Obviously he doesn’t really want anything about our faith in the—OK. So he wasn’t faking it. He’s been the best champion we’ve had on these issues! So great to see that tweet going out”€¦. nobody laughed. You didn”€™t laugh…

David:

No, no. I was going to, but I didn”€™t want to interrupt your time.

Rick:

You let me hang there. Yep. Good work. I don’t agree.

The joke started, but it was born and then died right there.

  1. Tim Barton’s next with a piece of good news. Go for it, brother.

Tim:

All right guys, this is something from one of our friends over in Dallas, Pastor Robert Morris is the pastor of Gateway, in Dallas. They are a very large church.

David:

It’s not a church, it’s a whole city.

Tim:

It might as well be. Yes.

David:

We’re sitting in Alito, which has 2,000 people, and I think they just recently surpassed 35,000 in the church.

Tim:

It’s unbelievable. I was even thinking larger than that. Nonetheless, it is a very large church.

David:

They do have a bunch of campuses, so they’re probably way past that in all the campuses.

Government Prisons Need Jesus

Tim:

I think that they have seven different campuses, although there was an announcement recently. They have a brand new campus, and this was just incredible when Pastor Robert gave the announcement, they have a campus in a prison.

It’s Cofield Prison Campus and this prison has 4,000, inmates 2,000, that are in a minimum security, and the rest are—I guess they actually have medium security and then there’s maximum security—but the rest are upper level security.

Nonetheless, they allow them to attend church. He made this announcement to his campus—to his main campus in Southlake— and told them part of what they’ve been doing.

They’ve been keeping under the radar, but when the prison campus opened, it opened with 300. The number in this article is 300 that were in attendance, and that was back in November.

Since it opened, they’ve had 500 inmates who have said they want to follow Jesus, who have made gospel decisions or salvation decisions as the case is. It is a growing campus in prison. They’re doing all kinds of ministry, and guys, we talk so often about the need to get outside the walls of the church and to make a difference in the community.

David:

Right.

Tim:

One of the things we’ve seen in prisons is that there is such a high recidivism rate. If somebody gets arrested they go to jail and instead of it changing their behavior and demeanor and making them better citizens, they end up hanging out with other crooks and criminals, and they learn from other crooks and criminals how to be better crooks and criminals, and so the majority of them, vast majority, end up back in the prison within just a couple of years.

“€œWho Are People In Need?”€

David:

68 percent is the number. In government run prisons, 68 percent will end up back in prison within three years.

Tim:

  1. That is”€¦ that is huge.

Well, this is something that Pastor Robert Morris and his leaders over at Gateway said, “€œHey, who are people in need?”€ and he was interviewed, and one of the things he said is, “€œAt Gateway Church, we’re all about people because God is all about people. Many of the men and women inside prison have been forgotten by society. We want them to know we love them, and God loves them, and they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.”€

It’s such a cool position, and it reminded me of Matthew 25, when Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and goats being separated.

One of the things that separated the sheep from the goats was how they treated people in prison, where Jesus says, “€œI was in prison and you came and you visited me.”€

This is such a biblical thing, to see a church going and having an outreach ministry in prisons, and really one of the situation where they’re loving what a lot of people would perceive as the unlovable, and they’re having great success.

So absolutely, congratulations, props, kudos to Gateway campus. I know there are other churches that do this, this is just one of the good news articles we have from Gateway. So there might be listeners saying, “€œHey, our church has a prison ministry.”€

A Very Good Model

Well, great job for you. This is something every church, if there is some kind of prison in your community, or in your city, you ought to have a prison ministry. Very much the model for Matthew 25 of looking out for those people. This is so cool that Gateway has a campus, and the response they are getting at that campus is just such a great thing, which is why it needs to be part of Good News Friday.

Rick:

Quick break guys. We’ll be back with more good news. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live. In fact, as Tim said, if you”€™ve got a ministry like that at your church, send us an e-mail. Let us know about it. Some of those stories we might be able to cover on a Friday. Some churches are really answering that call to be salt and light in every area of the culture and in the community. You may have a unique program that’s different from anything we’ve talked about here on WallBuilders Live, showing how your church is once again being the epicenter of the community and meeting the needs of the community. Hey, send us that good news we might get a chance to share it on the program. Stay with us. We’ll be right back on 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.

A Democratic P.R. Problem

Rick:

We”€™re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us through the break. It”€™s Good News Friday today. We’re getting some more good news for you, and David Barton’s got the next piece. Go for it, bro.

Davdi:

Do you remember a couple of years ago when the Democrats had a P.R. problem with an amendment they had in the Democrat Party platform?

Tim:

Yes.

Rick:

Nationally or on State?

David:

Nationally.

Rick:

I remember a national convention where they were”€¦ what was it? They were gonna”€™ take out the oath, or take out… So they were kind of chanting or something, I remember, but I can’t remember what the issue was.

David:

Well, they took God completely out of the platform. God was not mentioned anywhere in the platform at all. Then it was pointed out to them that that’s not where most Americans are. That’s not even close, they said, “€œOK. Let’s put it back in.”€

When it came time to vote to put it back in, the delegates overwhelmingly said no. The chair went ahead and gaveled that it passed, and then they just, you know, had an eruption on the floor because they didn’t want God back in.

Rick:

That’s what it was, booing.  They were booing and booing, that’s right.

David:

Yeah, because they had voted God out, and P.R. wise they said, “€œPut it back in.”€

Booing erupts on the floor. They’ve got this P.R. problem because they are a whole lot further left than they want people to think they are, since people don’t want to be godless.

Americans Don”€™t Want to be Godless

By the way, the word God is in there now. I think the only time it appears is the phrase God-given, hyphenated phrase God-given rights. I think that’s what they put back in. So even that doesn’t reference God persay, it’s an adjective, not the noun. So now that the Democrats have the House of Representatives, we start looking at who the new committee chairmen are and what the committees are going to do, and they start passing the rules, etc..

When we look at the Democratic controlled House Natural Resources Committee, they put out their new rules, and what they put in their rules was, in their proposal, they struck out the use of So Help Me God when you take an oath.

So when you swear in front of that committee, no longer will witnesses have to swear So Help Me God.

Now, there’s a few problems with that. Number one is federal law requires that you swear that as part of the oath. You have to take that as part of the oath when you’re a witness, when you’re a juror, when you’re whatever. They just unilaterally decide that they don’t want that to be part of the oath.

I made some of the arguments for it. For example, when you look at Democrat Representative Jared Huffman of California, he said, “€œHaving that in the oath violates the separation of church and state.”€

Huh?

Republican Strike Back

What kind of reading is that? Because it’s been held all over—even a federal court. Just recently we talked on Good News Friday, a few weeks ago, that a Federal Court just upheld So Help Me God in the immigrant’s oath. So there’s nothing there for separation of church and state. That’s complete nonsense, and word starts getting around and Republicans heard about it and they went ballistic.

You had Liz Cheney out of Wisconsin who’s talking about how the Democrats have become the party of Karl Marx, and they’re trying to remove God from committee proceedings. One of their first acts, they get in power and they start taking God out.

Rick:

I saw that tweet by Cheney, and I thought that was great. She was letting them have it, man. Their showing their true colors.

David:

Absolutely. We’re talking about—this is in the chamber where the most prominent phrase in the chamber is In God We Trust, right there over the speaker’s rostrum.

Word got out on this, and they’ve now backtracked and decided, “€œNow we’re not going to do it. We were just kidding.”€

I love what Democrat Representative Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey says, “€œWell, we don’t want to go out of our way to take it out.”€

It’s like, “€œWe can take it out, as long as it”€™s not out of our way.”€

Tim:

“€œIf it was convenient, it would be fine. But we don”€™t want to go out of our way.”€

This is the Extent of how Anti God the Democrats are

David:

So the good news is it”€™s staying in the oath. It’s a crazy story on why it”€™s staying, but it”€™s staying in the oath. It’s just crazy, the extent to which these national Democrats have to be anti God. And not every one of them is, but my gosh, when they get the chance to exert power, whether it’s in their own party or here on the committee, now that the Democrats have charge of the house, it’s just weird to see where they go.

Tim:

And it is worth mentioning, that not every Democrat does hold that position. It’s just that too many Democrats do, and that is the position the party’s going. We do care much more about principle than we do party. I care much more about where you are on life, and on marriage, and on religious liberty than I do what party you are a part of.

It”€™s just that one party happens to be very anti marriage, and life, and religious liberty, and one tends to be more favorable toward it.

Although neither party is always good toward it. But, for example, we’ve had Good News Fridays before about a Representative from Florida who was a state Rep., who’s a Democrat. That’s right. But she’s incredibly in favor of life, and of marriage, and of God.

A Pro God, Pro Life, and Pro Family Democrat?

David:

She got the bill passed in Florida to put In God We Trust up in the classrooms.

Tim:

That’s a great point. So we are not just promoting one party over another. No, we go back to what George Washington said in the farewell address. Principle should be more important than party.

But when one party is so anti America, and anti God, and anti principle, that’s when it becomes a problem.

Rick:

Hey guys, quick break. We”€™ve got time for one more piece of good news. I’m going to let y’all arm wrestle over who gets to give it. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

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.

Whose Gun is Bigger

Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Last segment of good news for today, but you can get more at our website WallBuildersLive.com.

They didn’t arm wrestle. It turns out that Tim’s Glock is bigger than David’s Glock, and therefore he wins.

Tim:

Hashtag accurate.

David:

I dispute that. Mine is a 40 cal, his is just a 9 millimeter.

Tim:

However, mine holds 17 rounds in the normal mag. I have the extended magazine, so I have 21 rounds.

David:

My extended mag gives me 10. So he wins on on sheer volume of shells.

Rick:

David’s argument was he only needs one.

Tim:

But then he lost that argument.

Rick:

Alright Tim, where are we headed?

Tim:

  1. This is actually in Texas, and this relates to a Justice of the Peace, Judge Wayne Mack. He’s from Montgomery County.

David:

And by the way, he is a great guy. He is a really, really cool guy.

Tim:

Well, the problem is he was doing something that the Freedom From Religion Foundation did not like.

David:

Oh, I probably like him even more now then.

Rick:

Right. If they didn’t like him, we probably like him.

Tim:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an atheist group, not in the state of Texas. However, this judge, in the state of Texas, he decided he’s going to open up his—and he”€™s a Justice of the Peace. So this isn”€™t even a big time judge, so to speak.

David:

Well, it is because of the county he’s in. The county he’s in has, I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of folks, so it is a huge position in that county.

Opening a Courtroom with a Prayer

Tim:

So big county. But I’m saying in the sense of Justice of the Peace is not normally you’re highly sought after elected position in the sense of the way we recognize that political position.

But you’re right. Big community, big city.

However, he opens his courtroom with prayer.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said, “€œWhoa you can’t pray. Just because the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate opens all of their meetings with prayer, just because our federal government does that, doesn’t mean you can do it now.”€

They didn’t say that in their argument. I’m just pointing out the irony of their argument. What was interesting is this went to a federal judge, the federal judge dismissed a lawsuit because they said, “€œYou’re not in the state of Texas. You have no standing.”€

David:

Good for them!

Tim:

You can’t sue some judge from another state for the way he conducts his courtroom in another state, when you’re not even in that state.

So it is great that they recognize they have no standing. It does raise the question: When are they going to figure out that they should just mind their own business in their own state?

But they’re so into promoting their agenda of anti religion that whenever they see any kind of religious expression, they’re against it.

It’s also worth noting that he is very strategic in how he does this, because it’s a multi faith, chaplain led, invocations so multiple faiths come and do this. It’s a chaplain, so he doesn’t do this. So all things that are constitutionally recognized and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld as being permissible.

They just didn’t like it, but the good news, as it stands, he gets to keep opening his court with prayer.

Trump Backs Bibles in Public Schools and More on Good News Friday!

Rick:

A lot of good news today folks. More on our website, WallBuildersLive.com. David and Tim, thanks so much for gathering those stories for us, we encourage people to visit the websites, and while you’re there click on that donate button. Make that contribution. Your contributions are what make the program possible, and also all the other things that we’re doing with WallBuilders, from training young people, and pastors, and legislators, and getting good information out there to be a part of the solution. Folks, be a part of helping to restore our Constitutional Republic, contribute to WallBuilders today. We appreciate you listening to WallBuilders Live.