Trump Judges Are Excellent For Religious Liberty: We call it, “Good News Friday” because it’s a chance for David and Tim to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. We don”€™t often hear good news from major media, however, here on WallBuilders Live, we love sharing news worthy of celebration! Tune in now to learn more!

Air Date: 08/16/2019

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

Listen:

Download: Click Here

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. David and Tim have been compiling good news stories over the past few weeks, and we’re going to dive into as many of those stories as we possibly can today for this Good News Friday. 

We encourage you to go to the website WallBuildersLive.com and share the program with your friends and family to give them some good news as well. Also while you’re there at WallBuildersLive.com, click on that donate button and make that one time or monthly contribution that makes this program possible. We appreciate you doing that and coming alongside us. 

David, Tim, let’s dive into some good news I believe David”€™s up first.

David:

I’m going to look at federal judges. In previous Good News Friday programs I brought judges up before, and I keep looking at judges because we continue to get good news from judges, and to me that’s significant not only from a constitutional standpoint and a policy standpoint, but also in looking at the Bible.

Judging a Nation by Its Judges

When I look at versus like Proverbs 14:34 says, “€œRighteousness exalts a nation, but sin reproaches the people,”€ I know from that that we need policies that God can bless, the righteous kind of policies. 

I also know from Isaiah 1:26 that God says, “€œThe righteousness of a land is based on the judges in that land.”€Â 

If God sits in heaven and looks down on earth as He does, and he says, “€œCan I bless that nation or not?”€Â 

A lot of what He looks at is going to be the kind of rulings you get from judges. So if you have a judge that says, “€œHey, we think you can kill an unborn child up to any point,”€ and God says, “€œNo. Enough! That life belongs to Me, and you’re killing an innocent life. That’s innocent blood you’re shedding, and I can’t bless that.”€Â 

Or if we say, “€œMarriage is any way we want it to be.”€Â 

God says, “€œNo. I told you. Marriage is a man and a woman. I can’t bless that.”€Â 

So many issues as judges tend to have the word, and we love to sing the song God Bless America, but my gosh. Give Him something to work with. Give me some policies He can bless. What I’m seeing in this administration is I’m seeing more positive kind of judges appointed than I’ve seen in any administration in my lifetime. There’s been nothing close to this. 

I’ve talked before that, going in this election, I was hoping that we would maybe get 50 percent of these judges being good guys that would have positions that are constitutionally sound and positions that, morally, God could probably bless. 

And we’re probably running over 90 percent right now. 

A Lot of Really Good Choices

Now, I just use 90 percent. I say it’s higher than that. I can think of only two or three decisions that would have been the other direction from these new judges. So it’s really been good. 

I’m looking at an article here that we’ve now had one hundred and twenty seven judges confirmed that have been nominated by President Trump. Of those hundred and twenty seven judges that have been confirmed, this analysis says they’ve been excellent for religious liberty. 

So it’s various law professors at various universities talking about this how good these judges have been. We’ve actually seen a Supreme Court decision five six weeks ago that really rolled back about 50 years of religious hostility, as it said, “€œYou know, instead of automatically assuming a religious activity is unconstitutional, we’re going to automatically assume that it is constitutional, as you can prove otherwise.”€Â 

So we’ve now changed the default position, and that’s been from these new judges. So that has been really, really, really good news to see that. 

By the way, of these hundred and twenty seven new judges, the President has appointed more Court of Appeals Judges than any other president in the same period of time. As a matter of fact, he’s appointed two times as many as any previous President in the same period of time. 

Vetting Good Appointees

So the Senate has done a very good job of confirming these kinds of judges. The President’s done a really good job of listening to the people who are nominating good judges. Our friend Kelly Shackelford has been very entrigol and helping recommend the right kind of judges. They vet everyone, they’re all the searches on them and read all their previous decisions from whatever they’ve done in any previous court, and they’ve been really good at pointing out which judges are good and which are bad. 

And the administration has done a great job of listening to conservative, constitutional attorneys who we want on the court. 

So again, it’s great news we’re now up to 127 judges confirmed, and they have had a huge impact on public policy already, with only decades more of good news to come. 

Rick:

I have a prediction to make. I know, Good News Friday is supposed to be about stuff that’s already happened, and we’re not really into the whole crystal ball thing, but my prediction is that, because of that good news you just gave, we’re going to have a lot of good news to share in the next two, three, five, ten years because of the good decisions that we’ll get from those good judges that have been appointed.

So this is great news not just for what’s just happened, but what it means for us going forward. Quick break guys. More good news when we come back. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

American History 

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. Many today wrongly claim that our Founding Fathers were largely atheists, agnostics, and deist. 

Certainly some Founders were less religious than others, but even they were not irreligious. Consider Benjamin Franklin, definitely one of the least religious among them, yet, when the delegates at the Constitutional Convention hit an impasse in their deliberations it was Franklin who called them to prayer, invoking numerous scriptures to make his point. 

As he reminded them, “€œGod governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured in the sacred writings that, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this.”€Â 

So, even the least religious of America’s Founders urged public prayer in dependence on God. For more information about the faith of the Founding Fathers go to WallBuilders.com.

Good News From Israel

Rick:

We’re back now on WallBuilders Live. It’s Good News Friday today, which means David and Tim Barton have been compiling all of this good news from the last few weeks and months. We can never get through it all, so they both got these huge stacks here in the studio and we’ll see how much we can get through today. But David’s already got a good piece of good news for us on the judges. Tim, what’s your topic about today?

Tim:

Well, guys, this relates to the Bible, but specifically something in Israel. One of the fun things is we’ve had opportunities to go to Israel and see so many of the archaeological sites. We had a friend tell us there are more than 37,000 archaeological sites in Israel. And what he points out that is is significant about these sites is there’s not a single site that contradicts what the Bible says. Now, not all 37,000 sites are listed in the Bible, but every site they find that is in the Bible is where it should be. It looks like what it should look like, the time frame, the different things they find there. 

Well, they have have now uncovered something yet again in Israel. So as we mentioned 37,000+ of these archaeological sites. They have found what is believed to be the Watchtower from the biblical King Hezekiah”€™s time. There”€™s actually an article I have, and there’s pictures of what looks like the IDF out doing work—and the IDF is the Israeli Defense Force—they’re out with some some picks and shovels and they’re digging around to kind of uncover more of this tower. 

The Watchtowers of King Hezekiah

But then they actually have verses associated to when it talks about these watchtowers that are there from the time of Hezekiah. Just one of the things that is is very comforting as a as a believer, to be able to look to the Bible and and know that it is trustworthy, reliable document. 

There’s a lot of reasons why we can trust the Bible, whether it’s a biblical graphical test, the internal evidence, the external evidence. Well, this is one of those things that when you look at external evidence, when you look at archeological findings and how much information, or how much of these sites right they have in Israel, and of the more than 37,ooo sites, there’s not a single one that contradicts what the Bible says. And now they have found yet another one that affirms what the Bible says, even back to King Heekiah, and one of these Watchtower. 

So cool that they’re finding in Israel how it does affirm our faith, and if you are listening and you’ve never been to Israel, this is a trip of a lifetime. You want to take it. WallBuilders periodically will lead trips over to Israel and have people come with us as we go, and we have friends that are in Israel, and we have some pretty special tours even if you never go on a trip with us. 

Exploring Israel

If you have a chance to go to Israel and see the sights. One of the things that—my wife was an elementary teacher for several years. One of the things they would do is they would get VR goggles, and Google Maps has this app where you actually can go to the world. You type in where you want to go and with these VR goggles. Essentially, a phone that becomes a set of goggles. You insert the phone into these goggles and then your phone is giving you this kind of 3-D tour. 

It’s a very cool feature, and an aspect there’s lots of different ways to do it, but you don’t even have to always go to the Holy Land to to get an image of what it looks like. So even if you take a VR goggle tour and experience that, do what you can do to discover more of the Holy Land. But certainly if you have a chance to go on one of these trips to Israel, go on a trip to Israel. It will strengthen your faith. 

As we’re talking about these 37,000+ archeological sites, it’s one thing to read it in your Bible and have an idea of what it looks like. It’s totally different when you are on location and you’re going, “€œOh my goodness! This is the place it actually happened!”€Â 

It really does strengthen and reaffirm why we believe what the Bible says, because the archaeological evidence is there to support those ideas.

Be Sure to Check Our Website to Join Us Next Time We Go to Israel

Rick:

Oh, and you guys have taken a ton of people over to Israel. We’ll have trips in the future, WallBuilders will be taking people back. So a great way to know when one of those is coming up is to get on the email list, you can do that a WallBuilders.com. You sign up for the e-mail list or make sure you’re following our Facebook page and we’ll keep you posted on when those trips happen again in the future. We’ve got a lot more good news to get to today, folks, so stay with us. We’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

Pastors Only Briefing Trip

Tim:

Hi, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders and I want to encourage all the pastors out there with a unique opportunity that we’re presenting it WallBuilders. We’re doing a special tour just for pastors that you can come and learn more about the spiritual heritage of our nation. Not just seeing the sights but understanding the significance of what they are and what they represent. 

We get to go to the Capitol at night.  And, we get to see the spiritual heritage of our Founding Fathers, of who we are as a nation, where we came from. We bring in congressman that will tell you about current legislation, about our religious liberties  and freedom, and what’s going on in Washington, D.C. 

If you’re a pastor or if you want to recommend your pastor for this trip, you can go to our website at www.WallBuilders.com. And, there’s a link that’s for scheduling.  If you click on that link there’s a section for pastor”€™s briefing. There’s more information about the dates, when it’s going, and how it’s going to happen. If you want to know more about our nation, our religious liberties, our freedom, our spiritual heritage, this is a trip you want to be a part of.

More Good News On Judges!

Rick:

It’s Good News Friday right here on WallBuilders Live. We’re diving into the stacks David and Tim have been collecting over the last few weeks and months, and David Barton has got the next piece of good news so far we’ve been talking judges, we’ve been over to Israel, so what’s our next piece of good news, David?

David:

We’re going back to judges, and talking about judges, and good judges. I mentioned that somewhere north of 95 percent have been really good judges. When I look at a conservative, constitutional, God fearing kind of perspective—things that I think God could bless and things I think the Constitution authorizes and what a judge should be doing. 

I’ve got to point out that in the U.S. Senate, although a lot of the confirmations a move forward, U.S. senator Josh Holley from Missouri, who used to be the former Attorney General, now he’s a U.S. senator from Missouri. He’s been a guy that has derailed two of these Trump nominees. 

And you look at it, and you say, “€œWow, that’s really unusual for a Republican to take on a Republican president.”€Â 

Well, Josh did it for the right reason. One of these nominees had a very bad position on abortion and did not think that life should be protected. At least, that was the case they argued, was not protecting unborn life. 

And another one he derailed, the most recent one, involved religious liberty stuff where you had a person who has been nominated who had shown hostility toward religious liberty, and they said, “€œNope, that’s not who we want in the court.”€Â 

Going Against Your Own Party 

So in stopping and derailing this, which is extremely unusual for a Republican to stop a Republican nominee, or a Democrat to stop a Democrat nominee, he has stopped two Republican nominees in the White House, and the White House refused to defend that nominee when he stopped him. 

It’s like, “€œOh, well if you’re pointing that out, yeah. That’s not who we thought that was.”€ I’ve got to give kudos to the White House for not trying to stand them up and bring them back, and I’ve got to say, kudos to Josh Holley for having the courage to stand up and go against his own party precedent for what’s right with religious liberty and life, which I think that’s really, really significant, and that’s part of the reason why we’re seeing such good judges confirmed to the court is we’re getting good nominations, and the President is cooperating. 

And by the way, I mentioned earlier that Kelly Shackelford is one of those guys who has been vetting all these nominees. And lo and behold, here we’ve got another one of Kelly’s associates that just got confirmed to the federal bench. These are the guys we know, these are two guys we have worked with. These are the guys that have proven their constitutional mettle, they have proven their positions on life, and on religious liberty, that they hold a constitutional position. 

It’s just really cool to see that not only are we having Senators with the courage to stop those that are philosophically not aligned with what the Constitution supports, but that we’re getting the guys on there who are actually working for these judges, and as a result we see what we saw. 

Ninth Circuit Passing Pro Life Ruling

We mentioned a few weeks ago—but it’s worth mentioning again—that out in the Ninth Circuit you actually have the Ninth Circuit, which has long time been been through the worst Circuit, the most anti constitutional circuit out there. We jokingly called them the Ninth Circus for years on this program. I can’t call them that anymore because they have changed with these new judges that have been appointed, and it’s actually the Ninth Circuit, which is where all pro-abortion people like to go to file suits. 

The Ninth Circuit said, “€œNo, President Trump does have the right to defund Planned Parenthood.”€Â 

That would appear to be a pro-life ruling. It clearly is a pro-life ruling came from the Ninth Circuit. So here’s just some more evidence of how the judiciary is changeding.

And Rick, you mentioned in the first segment this is the kind of stuff that we’ll have good news on this come in for years, and years, and years to come as these judges are in the courts.

Rick: 

These aren’t just judges that were going off of just their decisions that they’ve made up to this point in their life. We’re talking guys we actually know, and that we’ve watched be champions take on tough, tough cases. This is as encouraging as it can get on the appointee side of things, and the approval, and in some of them at the district court level, some at the court of appeals level, and of course we”€™re so far pleased with most of what we’re seeing out of the two Supreme Court Justices that Trump’s put on on the bench. 

All This In Under One Term!

So really remaking the court in a positive direction, and just in his first term! Imagine if he gets two terms! The record that he’s set already on these judges, and the track record that he’s shown us, we couldn’t be more excited about a presidential nominating process than what he’s done for so far, and we’d love to see that happen for four years into the future. 

We’re going to take a quick break, guys. We”€™ve got more good news, one more segment coming up. Tim Barton”€™s next. Stay with us. It’s good News Friday on 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. 

The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live. It”€™s Good News Friday today! Here”€™s our last segment of good news. 

We’ve so far covered a lot on judges, also covered good news on Israel, and Tim Barton’s up next. Where are we headed on this one, Tim?

Tim:

Guys, this is from Washington D.C., and actually to the U.S. Senate. This is something that was a bipartisan—at least the introduced bill was bipartisan. There were three Senators, Roy Blunt, Bob Casey, and James Inhofe, who introduced what was the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act. Essentially, what they’re trying to do, is make adoption more affordable for families. 

My wife and I have gone through the adoption process. We adopted a little girl. Absolutely amazing, awesome, we love it. Totally support the idea of adoption. But, as we were getting into this, we were seeing how many tens of thousands of dollars was the price tag of what we were looking at to go to this process. 

We’re going, “€œWait a second, for us to want to help bring in a child who needs a home, we’re going to have to pay you how much money?”€Â 

I don’t understand, why do you need all this money? 

There are a lot of financial burdens or hurdles that have to be overcome for families to be able to adopt. It really is incredible to see that there are people in Congress, in this case three Senators, introduced this bill that is promoting something that really more and more families wanting to adopt. 

So now they have something where you are potentially having a credit, a tax credit, fully refundable, as you are spending money towards adoption is a really great thing as we would promote the right kind of values in the midst. 

America”€™s Economy is Thriving!

Guys, I’ve got several articles on to try to run through. 

The next one on my list is acknowledging that America is continuing to break—every single month we are breaking the record for the longest economic expansion—and this is something as you’ve seen President Trump’s poll numbers when it comes to the economy. 

People on both sides of the aisle are acknowledging he’s doing a really good job when it comes to the economy and the expansion. And you know, from an economic perspective, there are certainly things we can look at and think, “€œWe like this, we don’t like this,”€ things we agree with we don’t agree with. But what really isn’t as disputable is that the economy in America is doing very well right now.

David:

And with that, Tim, I saw some polling recently that really surprised me, because the economy was doing really well. And in 2018, when the election occurred and we lost a lot of seats, what I saw in this poll just a few weeks ago was that for whatever reason people in America maybe were were so accustomed to having a good economy we don’t think about it anymore. 

Economy No Longer a Voting Issue?

In 2008, the year before Obama was elected, 87 percent of Americans said the economy was the most important thing. Today it is only 13 percent of Americans who think the economy is an important factor in their vote. We’ve always said that economics is what kind of drive elections, but my goodness it seems to be changing. Not quite sure why. Don’t know if it’s because we’re so prosperous we just assume that it’s going to be this way, because it’s now this again, as Tim said, this is the longest economic growth period in American history. Period. And it’s like we just kind of take it for granted. It’s really strange, but man, I think of the alternative, if we weren’t having economic growth, that would not be good at all.

Tim:

When you look at the unemployment numbers, you have the lowest unemployment numbers for minorities that we’ve seen in decades. I don’t know how far back it goes, but there’s a lot of positive things happening across the board business owners feel more optimistic than they felt in their lifetime as business owners. 

You are seeing a lot of positive things. 

And alright, President Trump, like him or hate him, agree with him, wish he would stop tweeting, however you feel. It’s something that we can look at on a Good News Friday. This is good news that our economy is so strong are doing well. 

Trump Sending U.S. Troops to Poland

One other piece of good news we’ll try to get in before we finish is President Trump made an announcement earlier this summer about putting a thousand troops in Poland, and the reason that this actually is a piece of good news is that there are more nations now over in Eastern Europe who are not only being more pro-American, they are embracing moral values, biblical values. 

You’ve mentioned where we’ve had many opportunities to go to a couple nations over in Eastern Europe. We’ve met with some of their political leaders, and they want to do a better job of America being friends with them. 

This is something that they actually are offering to build a military base, they are offering to spend two billion dollars to help build a permanent base. 

Allies Amid Troubled Times

In the midst of a time when there is so much chaos and uncertainty in the world, to now find more and more friends that are popping up who do have the right kind of values, who do have that potential in this case a good partnership, where—if you’re looking for example—this was with Poland. Poland seems to have been the nation who’s had the most wars fought over that land. Maybe of any nation ever. Poland is in a really central location, if we talk about issues whether it be with Russia, or China, or whoever else, we already have some of our troops with NATO that are in Poland. Nonetheless, Poland wants to be better friends with America. It’s good news that, in the midst of what we’re seeing with Iran and so many nations going opposite directions, there are nations who do want to be better friends and they have the right kind of values.

Rick:

We’re out of time for today, folks. That’s all the good news you get on this particular program. But you can get more at our website WallBuildersLive.com by clicking on the archives section. There you can go into those past Friday programs and gobble up some more good news. There’s a lot out there. David and Tim course have some huge stacks of good news we haven’t even gotten to yet, so we’ll dive into more of that next week on Friday.

Trump Appointed Judges In Favor of Religious Liberty!

Also, while you’re at WallBuildersLive.com, be sure and click on the donate button. That’s your chance to come alongside us and be a partner of this program. It’s a way for you to help fund the efforts. We’re literally restoring America’s constitutional republic, and you get to be a part of that. It helps us continue this great work and do the programs here. The Good News Friday programs, Foundation of Freedom Thursday programs, our interviews throughout the week. And all of the things we do to equip and inspire citizens, our Constitution classes, our pastors trainings, legislative trainings, youth leader programs. You get to be a part of that by donating today at WallBuildersLive.com. Thanks so much for your consideration there, and thanks for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.