Fasting, Life and Cybersecurity - on Good News Friday!

Rick Green: 0:07

This is the intersection of faith and the culture. WallB uilders comes from that scripture in Nehemiah that says arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach. Just think about it practically, folks. Back then, if you didn't have those outer walls, you were run over as a city here today, in our nation. Obviously, borders are important as well, but what we mean by WallBuilders is the fact that you need the foundation, you need the strength of a society, you need the truths that make a society strong instead of the lies that weaken a nation. So WallBuilders has been around for nearly three decades now, rebuilding the foundations of America, bringing back the truth about what makes our constitution so strong, what makes our Declaration of Independence? Why are those principles something so powerful and so true that they changed the entire world? It had such an impact on everyone on the planet because of what America became and was able to do in exporting freedom around the world. That's what WallB uilders is all about. You can go to our main website today at wallbuilders. com or to our radio site, wallbuilderslive. com. There, on the radio site, you can get archives of the program. So if you missed some shows last week or previous weeks, it's all available there on the website.

Rick Green: 1:15

Throughout the week we typically have interviews and on Thursday we'll have a foundation of freedom program. That's where you send in questions, you can email those to radio@ wallbuilders. com and then we try to get through as many of those questions as we can on Thursdays. and then Fridays we have what we call Good News Friday. It's a chance for us to just go through as many stories as possible that have happened in the last few weeks or months. You don't typically get good news on programs like a news program or certainly major media. You typically only get bad news. We want to highlight a lot of those good things that have happened, so we reserve Fridays to do that, and that's what today is Good News Friday a chance for David and Tim Barton to just go through as many stories as possible. Their Good News stories stacks are way bigger than we can ever get to all of them, but we'll get through as many as we possibly can today.

Rick Green: 1:57

All right, guys, despite all the amazing interviews we get to do here on the Wall Builders Show, Friday is still my favorite day. I know Thursday should be my favorite day, right? You know? Constitution, Constitution Coach, all that good stuff. But I love Fridays. You guys have so much good news to share and it's always about topics that are broad, so it's not just one particular area and you tend to go all over the country. So now that I started the program like this, I hope you all have some good news in a broad way from all over the country. Where are we starting, David?

David Barton: 2:26

Actually we're starting in the church, which is not always where we start with good news. We've seen from Bard and others how that a lot of the church has really gone woke and gone left, et cetera, and a lot of the church no longer even recognizes its central commission. I was talking to a medical professional today and we were having a conversation. He was limiting the fact that people go to church to be spiritual but they don't live it out outside of church. Once they get outside on Monday, through Friday, through Saturday, that's real life. Then I go to church on Sunday and he's talking about the lack of disciples. We've got people who profess Christ, their converts, but they don't live it out and they don't share that faith with others. And so we've been looking at really how the church is diminishing in influence. It's not really significant in most communities. The question I asked pastors is hey, pastor, if you stood up on Sunday morning and announced we're going to shut the doors of the church, we decided we're not going to exist anymore. This church is going away, as when we dismissed today, on Monday morning, would you have civic leaders lined up at your door saying no, you can't leave, you're too invaluable to the community. You're too important. We got to have you, you got to stay. Most civic leaders would never even know if a church closed in the community because it's not providing very much impact outside the church. And so, within that framework, just a couple of weeks ago I was in a situation where I was hearing a church talking. It's a mega church and a lot of times you don't expect really strong conservative leadership from mega church. And now we know there's exceptions to that. What Jack Hibbs does in Chino Hills, the Cavalry Chapel, there I mean phenomenal what they've done. I think you can point to him for three congressional districts out there in California that he helped flip in the right direction to conservative Christians. He does terrific stuff, but most churches are not like that, and so I was real surprised to hear this pastor stand up before the church and say hey guys, three weeks from now we're going to start a 21-day fast in the church.

David Barton: 4:22

Now fasting is not talked about in many churches, probably most churches, by way of any experience I have, I don't hear that. I don't see it on TV, I don't see any kind of feeds on that, no social media. But it's sad. You know, most people probably don't even know what fasting is. So for the next three weeks I'm going to teach you what the Bible says about fasting.

David Barton: 4:44

And he went through and he showed how Daniel had it fast of what he called the dainties, the stuff you really like, the stuff you really enjoy. Daniel wasn't on a bread and water fast and food fast, he was just saying, hey, there's stuff I really enjoy, really like, and for the next 21 days I'm going to set that aside and use that as a time that during that time I'm going to turn toward God. So it's like, you know, if you really enjoy coffee, it's like for the next 21 days you set aside coffee, you're going to fast coffee, but you're going to take the time you drink the coffee and use that time to pray to the Lord. And pray to God, hear from him, see what he's got to tell you, or, if you like I don't know Dr Peppers or whatever else you like. It's like sitting that aside for 21 days and taking that designated time you would have spent on that soft drink or that food or that dish or whatever and seeking the Lord in that period of time.

David Barton: 5:34

And one of the things you find biblically about fasting is it's kind of like resetting the system. You know, every once in a while we've got to reset the phones because they're just not working right. We reset the electronics. That's what a fast does. It resets you spiritually. It helps you start getting your priorities in order again. It lets you hear from the Lord, let them talk to you. You're taking time to shut down, and it's not just when you're in church on Sunday, this is throughout the week and that's why it's significant 21 days For 21 days, you're going to set aside a part of time and say, hey, God, in this time, what I would have been doing this.

David Barton: 6:06

What do you want me to hear from you? What do you want me to do in my life? What do I need to read in your Word? And it is such a good way of being God conscious and I thought that was a piece of good news. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've heard of churches, especially a mega-church, a mega-church that's on national TV calling for a time of fasting for all of its people and then explaining why fasting is important. Out of the Bible, you know, Jesus was real clear to the people in his day. He said look, when I'm here, my disciples are not going to fast, but when I'm gone my disciples will fast. Fasting's a big deal. I should be part of the Christian life and discipline and that was just terrific news to me to hear that announcement from that church.

Tim Barton: 6:46

And dad, to echo that too. It's worth noting that Jesus, I think he's in Matthew, Chapter six, where he's teaching the disciples about prayer, and he says and when you fast, don't be like these people. When he says, when you fast, the assumption that you are going to be fasting. But one of the things that, dad, you taught me years ago, the Bible is very clear on in Deuteronomy, chapter six, verse 24, it says that Moses is reminding the Israelites that everything that God commands us, it's for our good, for our benefit. And as you're mentioning fasting as great spiritual value, it's super interesting to see all the studies that talk about the great physical and emotional and mental benefits to fasting, where it doesn't just reset you spiritually, it can actually do beneficial things for your physical body, for your mental and your emotional state as well. And so this is just one more example where I think it's great that we literally can point to scientific studies that affirm that what God said is actually good for our bodies. And certainly when God causes to do something, there's often so much more significant, deeper spiritual things.

Tim Barton: 7:54

And, dad, to your point, I don't remember the last time I heard a pastor talk about fasting, much less do a multi-week series on the importance of fasting.

Tim Barton: 8:04

But if we go back even into Chronicles, where God was reminding the Israelites, if my people who are called by name will humble themselves, we'll see my face turn from their wicked ways. Well, part of the idea of fasting is how we humbled ourselves before God. That's one of the things the Bible teaches and so even when we go to the, if my people verse when it talks about humbling yourself yeah, absolutely, that could prefer to posture, but humbling yourself so often was part of a fasting process which even we see in the New Testament with fasting. And if we wanna see God move in America, if we wanna see God move in the world, if we wanna see God move in our lives, in our family's lives, prayer and fasting needs to be a significant part of who we are and what we do. And, dad, it is really encouraging to see a significant church and pastor take a very strong, bold stance, say let's get back to what the Bible says and do what the Bible actually says.

Rick Green: 9:01

Okay, so this is gonna be my question for you guys. I know it's not Thursday, it's Good News Friday, but do you the kind of the popular thing now is to fast from something but not everything? Is that something that you guys recommend? Or if you, I know we're not a church, we're not doling out doctrine to folks, but is the benefit of being focused on the Lord and the benefit of the restart that you were saying, David, does that only happen whenever you really shut down everything you're like totally fast, you don't need anything, or you just do a juice fast or whatever? I know this is really technical, but I'm really curious what you think.

David Barton: 9:41

No, actually, as Tim mentioned, there's a lot of medical studies on it. What you're finding out and what was being proposed by this pastor is that Daniel fast, where you give up one specific dainty or something that's and that's what the King James version calls it dainty's Daniels he had these dainty's you give that up for that period of time and you take that time and focus. And I know other people who go on these extended 40 day fast with no solid food. For 40 days. They'll do juices or whatever, but no solid food for 40 days. And, man, they come out fired up and rejuvenated.

David Barton: 10:15

And not everybody can do a 40 day fast and you certainly wouldn't expect a kindergarten person to do that. Maybe if you've been fasting for 20 years in your life, you worked yourself up to that. But that fast of Daniel is such a good starting place and that's why I was so impressed with what he did was hey, take and fast part of it. And I recently went in for some medical treatment where the doctor told me and he's not a Christian, not a believer, I don't know that he knows what a Bible is but he said hey, you just need to know.

David Barton: 10:41

Medical evidence now shows that if you'll fast 18 hours three days a week, if you'll just kind of shift your eating time, maybe two between four o'clock and 10 o'clock at night and fast the rest of it, he says it will do phenomenal things for your body if you'll do that and that's a secular viewpoint, and he was saying I ought to be doing that maybe three times a week. So back to your question, Rick. It's not an all or nothing kind of thing and you don't have to jump in on an extended fast of 40 days. It can be small things but it's getting God conscious and it does make a difference.

Tim Barton: 11:12

And dad, even as you illustrated, like the Daniel fast, giving up dainties. You know, depending on what you look up and even some of the spiritual climate and some of these different spiritual leaders, there's a lot of books on fasting, but some people might say the Daniel Fast is fruits and vegetables only, or I mean there might be different thoughts behind it, but the point is in fasting you're giving up something that you want, that you like, that you crave, right. It's not like when you're a kid and your parents are like, hey, we need to fast, and the kid says I'm gonna fast broccoli, right. Like I'm gonna give that one to the Lord, I'm not gonna eat broccoli for the next month, like I don't know what a fast is. But finding something that is significant to you. And then one of the things, even as a kid, when I was learning about fasting in our church, it's part of our culture that we were in, what we did, and so this is how I grew up. But the idea we were taught as kids is every time you crave that thing, let that craving be a motivation to drive you to God in prayer, and that's part of how it can grow you spiritually is that you are taking that desire and you're turning it back to God.

Tim Barton: 12:14

And so there's lots of things you can fast. There's people that will do a social media fast, which I think would be really healthy for a lot of people these days, right, that just live on social media, that their emotions, their mind is so directed by social media. That could be a really healthy fast, right? Maybe take your family on a weekend retreat. Everybody fast technology for the weekend. That would wreck so many young people's lives. They wouldn't know what to do, going several days without technology, but it could be one of the healthiest things for them.

Tim Barton: 12:42

And so there can be fasts that are more than just a specific kind of food. But it's giving up something unto the Lord to take that time and dedicate that time to the Lord. And that's where there can be some humbling yourself along the way, because I mean I really want this, but I'm gonna give it up because God is more important, my faith is more important. I'm gonna fast this thing to seek God in whatever area I might be, seeking God in All right guys, with a quick break, we'll be right back.

Rick Green: 13:07

We've got more good news and I think, Tim, you're up next as soon as we return. Stay with us folks, You're listening to The WallBuilders Show.

Tim Barton: 13:17

Hi, friends, this is Tim Barton of WallBuilders.

Tim Barton: 13:19

This is a time when most Americans don't know much about American history or even Heroes of the faith, and I know oftentimes for 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 outlined the leaders of faith that had gone before them.

Tim Barton: 13:34

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 and our faith as well. I wanna 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, and 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 wallbuilders. com that's www. wallbuilders. com.

Rick Green: 14:20

Welcome back to Walbillars. We're doing good news today. It's Friday, and if you need even more good news after we get done today, be sure to check out our archives. Go to our website at Wallbuilders. com, get over to the program and you can listen to more good news there. Tim, you're up, man. What's our next piece of good news?

Tim Barton: 14:36

Well, this one's coming out of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The title of the article says Appeals Court unanimously rejects Joe Biden's bid to turn ER doctors into abortionists. And this goes back to when Roe vs Wade was overturned in 2022. The Biden administration, in an effort to promote abortion and force abortion in states, did a mandate in tying government funding, federal funding and Medicare funds, saying that if you don't for emergency rooms, if they don't offer abortion services, that a Biden administration will withhold that federal funding and what I mean, just so many silly things about this, and silly is probably not the right word, it's more evil. But instead of just saying dumb so often I'm trying to find a different word but really just so dumb what they said in the Biden order that came out, the mandate that came out, the Biden administration described abortion as 'a necessary stabilizing treatment for pregnant women'. Now, as bizarre as that is, let me give you a few details and then I'll go to some of that mandate and address why it is dumb on so many levels. But the great news is there was a unanimous decision that came from the Fifth Surgery Court of Appeals. Judges Leslie Southwick, Kurt Engelhardt and Corey Wilson unanimously ruled that federal law does not require hospitals to commit abortion.

Tim Barton: 16:05

And what happened is Biden went and found, seemingly, an obscure mandate. They came in order that came from Ronald Reagan, dealing with emergency rooms and hospitals, and that they were supposed to provide treatment. It's part of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and essentially they were saying you can't turn people away if there is someone that shows up in need. And the Biden administration took it and the Biden administration mandate says if a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department, including certain labor and delivery departments, is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, which is the Emergency Room Medical Act, that abortion is a stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition. So if a woman shows up, the doctor thinks she might be pregnant, then they are required to provide the necessary stabilizing treatment, which would be abortion under this mandate.

Tim Barton: 17:08

Now I don't understand how a woman showing up pregnant, the way to stabilize her pregnancy is to abort the baby. Right, like you are absolutely going full 1984 Animal Farm, changing the definition of words, trying to say that stabilizing treatment for a pregnant lady is murdering the unborn child. That's what they tried to do. Fortunately, the fifth surrogate said that's utterly ridiculous, which also, kind of as a side note, this article points out that even every single pro-life state already there's a national law that directs doctors to intervene in a life-threatening situation for a pregnant mother.

Tim Barton: 17:51

Now some of the OBGYNs we've talked to would say that they don't go in seeking to terminate the pregnancy, they don't go in seeking to murder the unborn child. They go in seeking to save the mother's life, and the mother is the priority, because if you can't save the mother then that child is likely going to be lost anyway. It's a little bit like if you are the parent on an airplane and the cabin loses pressure, the oxygen mask dropped from the ceiling. You're supposed to put on your mask first and then help the child, because if your mask doesn't go on, you probably can't help the child. That's the idea. They try to save the mother's life first and then go to the child.

Tim Barton: 18:24

But there's already federal law in place that says doctors can intervene in a life-threatening situation to save the life of the mother. So this Biden mandate was not only semi-redundant but it was absurd to say that life-stabilizing care would be to abort a child. Good news again Fifth Circuit Court unanimously said that's ridiculous, that is not what the law says and that will not go into effect. So that is the good news coming from the Fifth Circuit.

David Barton: 18:52

And let me throw another perspective on that. I think, Tim, this is really the Fifth Circuit shutting down, Biden making more abortion clinics, because abortion clinics have been closing by the dozens across the United States. But because of the Health Care Act under Obama, if you're a hospital, you can't turn down people who come in for medical treatment. So you come in and say I'm pregnant, I need to be relieved of this condition. They will do that and charge you nothing, as if you went to Planned Parenthood and you have to pay something. So this is a way really to offer free abortions for people who don't want to have to pay for it, for Planned Parenthood, and since there's so many Planned Parenthood clinics going out now, this is a way to create new abortion clinics, because under that federal health care law you can't turn people away. If they come to the hospital. You can't refuse treatment because they don't have insurance. You've got to treat them, and so the federal government is now going to pay for abortions, and I don't think it's not only good news at that level. It's good news that this also keeps thousands of hospitals from becoming thousands of abortion clinics. It was really, I think, a direct attack against the DOB's decision, but it really is great that it worked out this way, alright. Well, david, that's back to you as well. On the next piece of good news Well, I'm going to a US district judge and it also deals with the decision of that judge. So we're still in the federal courts and this deals with something that Texas did. Last year, governor Abbott

David Barton: 20:14

He ordered all state agencies in Texas, which includes our universities, all state-funded stuff to not use the TikTok app on any of the state devices, any government devices. You cannot use the TikTok app. Now, this is something that's caught on in a lot of states, because TikTok is a very popular app. It's a very popular social media platform. If you've seen a lot more TikTok ads, it's because more states are banning it, because this is a Trojan horse for the Chinese government. They get all these kids on there, all these adults on there. They're connecting people, they're offering business connections and the Chinese are mining the data, the private data of individuals, and it's going to the Chinese. That helps them know how to target us, how to manipulate us, how to exert outside influence in our elections or anything else, and so a number how banned any state use. Now they're not banning use of individuals over TikTok. That's not something they can do at this point. It would take federal intervention and showing a security problem, national security problem, which they're working on. By the way, they have proposed in Congress right now. There is a law proposed in Congress that would ban any type of social internet networks from using TikTok because of the intelligence that goes out of the United States of China.

David Barton: 21:31

But it's interesting. I mean, this is not a secret. Tiktok has been part of the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence service for a long time. But now Texas, north Dakota, Iowa, Maryland they've all banned it. In Maryland there's a blue state for you. They've banned TikTok off of all of their state stuff and currently the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security they all banned TikTok from any of their government stuff.

David Barton: 21:56

So it's really good to see that we're recognizing. Hey, this is not a good thing. This is outside, subversive stuff coming into America. Even the Biden administration is acknowledging that. This goes back to previous presidents trying to do this for a while. But I just say that it's good news. But also throughout there, parents just be aware, if you don't keep up with TikTok, you're seeing a lot more ads and your kids are seeing a lot more ads to sign up and what a cool services is and what a cool connecting platform it is. What a cool business platform. That is because they are being targeted and limited and shut down more and more. Don't buy into the ads. The ads are designed to make you buy something and what they're presenting is not what you're actually going to get. Once you get that service, they will mine your data, data mining, data intelligence. So just be aware stay away from TikTok.

Tim Barton: 22:43

And probably we don't need to get into many details. Hopefully, people who are watching this program are already familiar with some of the dangers of TikTok, with what China is doing. But I would point out, it's not just a data. China, from a communist standpoint, they are trying to undermine America and undermine the morals of America, and they do that with the next generation. You can go back to things like the Communist Manifesto. Some of these playbooks are really really old, but one of the things that is very well documented is a lot of the algorithms used, they will offer suggestive videos. Like you like this video, you might like this one. You watch this one, you might enjoy this one.

Tim Barton: 23:16

And so much of what these kids are seeing are things that are very anti-moral when it comes to biblical standard, anti-Christianity, anti-America, anti the moral standard of sexuality where we would say, hey, abstinence until marriage and then marriage is the man and woman that they're seeing the opposite of all of those things. It should come as no surprise, when kids are inundating themselves with this kind of material, that they are the most lonely, the most depressed, the most suicidal, because if they're being told that there is no God, that life is meaningless and just live for pleasure in what you like and what you feel, and you have to identify it. All of these things they are getting. These are the kind of videos on TikTok. Now I'm sure we have friends that would push back and say, yes, but there's really good conservatives on TikTok as well and there's people trying to push back. Okay, again, I get that. But I'm going to tell you that's a little bit to me like when someone says, hey, there's really good teachers in the public school system. There are, but I'm not looking to send my kid to public school because of the system itself, because of the content and the curriculum itself, because not every teacher there is promoting the same values that I believe in. I want to put my kid into place where they're surrounded by the right kind of values, because until they are old enough to have built and developed and established a system of framework and understanding, to have an established worldview, I don't want to throw them into the lion's right.

Tim Barton: 24:41

This idea that I'm not going to send my kids to Cesar to be educated and surprised when they come back supporting Rome, like that, would be counterintuitive. This is part of what happens on TikTok right, and TikTok is not the only app, but certainly it is one of the worst when it comes to content that kids are getting what it's doing to kids that are on it. So certainly this is not something you want your kids to be on it again. I know there's going to be some balance because we know some people Christian families and their kids are making a lot of money off TikTok because they're influencers. I get it, but you're walking a very tightrope trying to say it's a good thing because there is so much negative content on there. Dad, to your point, it's great. So many states are recognizing the danger of this Chinese app and the data mining there and they're saying we're not doing it, we're going in different direction. That's great news.

Rick Green: 26:00

I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please share those things with your friends and family. And as you go into the weekend, this is a great time for you to be thinking about what you're going to do to make a difference in your culture, make a difference in your community. This is the time to sign up as a Constitution Coach. Start hosting a biblical citizenship class right there in your home or right there at your church. Now is the time to do it. This is a fantastic time to do it. I'm going to talk about the history of the country, hundreds of thousands of people going through this course and learning these truths from Kirk Cameron, David Barton, Tim Barton, Barry Loudermoke, Rabbi Daniel Lapp and all these folks, and you can be the one to bring that to your community. Check it out today at www. patriotacademy. com. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great weekend. You've been listening to WallBuilders.