Embracing Biblical Realities on Good News Friday

Rick Green

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the WallBuilders Show, where we're taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Appreciate you joining us today. Be sure and visit our website, wallbuilders.com, and specifically, I'm going to ask you to consider making a donation there. We are able to reach a lot of people across the nation and, frankly, around the world because of our supporters. We're a listener-supported program, so please consider doing that today. Don't actually ask for that that often, and you know it might be a small donation. Maybe you can do $5, give up a coffee for the day, or perhaps you can come alongside us on a monthly basis. We would greatly appreciate it. Check it out at wallbuilders.com and just know it's supporting not only the radio program but our pastors conferences, all the different things that we do to influence the culture. You become a part of that when you donate. You're literally locking shields with us, marching into this culture, war with us and helping to be salt and light. We're bringing the light into the darkness, dispelling the darkness. We're bringing the salt and preserving the meat and bringing out the best flavor in the culture, and you're a part of that when you donate. So check that out today at wallbuilders.com and, while you're there, be sure and hit the store as well. There's a lot of cool materials for you to get into your family. These are basically ways to change the inputs that have been poisoning America. We want to get the good inputs in instead of the bad inputs, and too often in our culture all we get is the negative. All we get is the cultural Marxism and all the lies. Wall Builders does a phenomenal job of countering those things and doing it in an entertaining way.

I hated history and government until I found David Barton, until somebody gave me a cassette tape yep, that long ago and I was able to see history through the eyes of the people that lived it. So you can get some of that as well. So check all of it out at wallbuilders.com. All right, David and Tim, as always my favorite day of the week.

Because, well, partly because you know it's just optimistic and I like good news. You know, I like to know we're winning in some areas, whether it's local, you know, county, state, federal, wherever it is. But that we're having some victories makes me more willing to engage, and I know that's flesh right, because we're supposed to be duty, as our results are God's. We do our duty, no matter what. I don't know about you guys. I don't know that I could have done the John Quincy Adams thing. 17 years, no victories. Man, show me some wins, or I'm going to hire a new pitcher and get a new team on the field, or maybe choose another sport. I might even go to some non-sport like basketball. Anyway, looking forward to the good news, guys.

Starting off with an insult to your favorite sport.

Tim Barton

Well, that might be how the Astros are feeling right now. Right, the other team from Texas struggling in baseball. But you know, rick, even going back to John Quincy Adams going for 17 years without any major victories, there were a lot of little victories along the way. Of course we know this, but I want to make sure anybody listening if they don't know the story of John Quincy Adams we mentioned some of his story yesterday, two days ago, sometime this week we talked about the John Quincy Adams story.

But John Quincy Adams, after he was president, he first goes to Congress. He identified that the vast majority of Congress was either in favor of or ambivalent to ending slavery. They wanted to keep slavery there. They didn't really care. He said there's only about 20% of Congress that was really against slavery and one of the things in the First Amendment that you have the right to petition Congress for a redress to your grievances. And he became the political face or the political leader of the anti-slavery movement in Congress. And so as different anti-slavery individuals around the nation wanted to have petitions to end slavery, they would send them into Congress and John Quincy Adams ended up being the guy introducing many of those petitions.

The records I don't remember if it was the records of Congress or his journal that highlighted this. I think it was the records of Congress that identified one day, just as an example. One day and Dad you remind me it was one day a week, maybe it was on Monday, whatever day it was, it was one day they could present petitions. Do you remember which day that was of the week?

David Barton

No, and it varied some they would set a day, but it was one day a week generally.

Tim Barton

So he shows up this one week with over 900 petitions against slavery and if you can imagine when the majority of Congress is either in favor of slavery or they're ambivalent to ending slavery, they don't want to hear all these petitions every single week against slavery.

David Barton

And let me add too, it's not like today. Congress gets thousands of petitions a week and never even look at them. They don't know. Back then they felt a responsibility that if they got a petition, this is a First Amendment right of the people. They had to have a hearing on it. And so here they got 900 anti-slavery petitions in one week. And you're talking about hearings on this?

Oh, no, they weren't happy, 

Tim Barton

And John Quincy Adams also. He's one of the presidents that we tell more of his story in the American story Building the Republic, and so for people who want to know more, they can go find in the book. If you already have the book, you read it. You're going to know part of this story already. John Quincy Adams was such a believer in the Constitution and that a congressman was supposed to represent his people that when, when he even got petitions he thought were wrong, that he thought were dumb, even petitions attacking and criticizing him, he would present those petitions because he said this is what you're supposed to do. You represent your constituents, represent those that are from your home area, and if this is what they want presented, I'm going to present it. Well, let me back up. So, as he's presenting these anti-slavery petitions, congress determines that they need a new rule. So in the rules committee they pass a brand new rule and the new rule said that you cannot bring up any issue that's been previously dealt with, specifically the issue of slavery, and in the rule it actually identified specifically the issue of slavery, and in the rule it actually identified specifically the issue of slavery. This is part of the rule and that rule became known as a John Quincy Adams gag order. Right, we're going to shut this dude up. We're tired of hearing this.

Well, as he continues this fight. Eventually he does, when more and more congressmen to his side, and maybe not just him. There's a lot of people in the movement, there's a lot of new congressmen elected, but eventually Congress is no longer. The majority are either in favor of slavery or ambivalent to ending slavery. The majority of Congress is now in the position that they think either slavery is wrong or at least we should be able to have the discussion. And so they repeal that gag order. And it's really great his sentiment on it, dad, you will probably know his quote better than my recollection of this. But he didn't want to be prideful, right? He's like God forgive me, but that felt really good when they voted to repeal that gag order. Is that kind of?

am I remembering that?

David Barton

 Right, that was it. It's like God forgive me, but it's nice to finally have a victory, 

Tim Barton

oh, man. It was so nice. Well, he ends up having multiple victories along the way, multiple victories along the way. He just doesn't have the major victory of ending slavery. He's also, during this time in Congress, he's the one that argues the Amistad decision in front of the US Supreme Court, where the Supreme Court at that time, the majority of the Supreme Court, is comprised of Democrats that are very pro-slavery, many of them actually even own slaves, and he ends up winning that Supreme Court decision that the Supreme Court identified that these slaves that had been taken on this ship Amistad, that they had fought for their freedom, trying to defend themselves because they'd been illegally kidnapped, that instead of them being charged with mutiny, which was a death penalty, they actually were recognized as defending themselves, and so they were able to get off of this death charge.

All this again to say there was a lot of little victories along the way. But, Rick, to your point, if you only have your eyes on the main cause, like, well, if we don't end slavery, nothing else matters, it would be so easy to be discouraged along the way for John Quincy Adams because you would miss, you would overlook, all of the other significant victories along the way that, as you're growing an anti-slavery lead in Congress, you're growing that movement in Congress, as you are actually helping get the rules of Congress changed more favorable to have a discussion against slavery, as you're actually helping do things even at the US Supreme Court. Those are significant wins. But if the only thing you see is, well, we haven't ended slavery yet, it would be easy to be discouraged, and I say that one in the context that, even as we have Good News Friday, this is where this becomes so important. It's easy to look and go yeah, but Biden is still president, right, or we still have these issues in America. Oh, there's no doubt there are still some major issues. There's still some major giants in the land, so to speak, that still need to be conquered. But there's also no doubt that God is moving in this nation, that great things are happening all over this nation, and we shouldn't overlook the great things because we haven't defeated some of the major giants that ultimately, in this land, need to be defeated Again. All that to give context.

John Quincy Adams had a lot of victories along the way. He never saw slavery ended in his lifetime, but God also used him to lead a movement to influence a rising generation, the Abraham Lincolns of the world, the ones who actually ended slavery. Where Lincoln serves that the last term that John Quincy Adams is in Congress? Lincoln, it's his only term in Congress. And what are the odds that the only term Lincoln has in Congress is the last term of John Quincy Adams, where he hears John Quincy Adams give all these impassioned speeches against slavery. He sees him the leader of that movement. John Quincy Adams dies and Abraham Lincoln is a guy that ultimately carries the torch that ends slavery in America. Again, incredible what God did through John Quincy Adams. But we can't overlook the little victories along the way. A lot of good things are happening in the nation right now.

David Barton

So some of those stories that help us not lose heart and help us hold strong. I've got two here that are great. They both deal with what's been happening in college campuses, where the pro-Hamas rallies seem to be multiplying and seem to be taking over and getting so much support from universities and from professors Of course, alumni haven't liked it We've talked about that in recent weeks where these universities are losing a lot of funding. But here is what I've been waiting for. This happens to be at Ole Miss. So Ole Miss. They have a pro-Hamas rally there and as part of the pro-Hamas rally, they're saying death to America.

And what happens is the Hamas protesters get surrounded by thousands and thousands of young men who attend Ole Miss. Now that would be intimidating the self, because it was only about a dozen pro-Humas protesters. Now they're surrounded with thousands and the young men start singing Star Spangled Banner and they start chanting we want Trump. So clearly very conservative stuff coming through here. I love that.

That's how you beat the bad stuff, we're told in Romans 12, 21,. You overcome the evil with the good, and I've been waiting for students to step up and start saying, hey, we love America, we love the American flag, we're going to support this stuff and the fact that it was young men stepping up, this is really good, because we've talked in previous programs and a lot of folks kind of regretting the loss of masculinity. Well, it appears to have resurfaced in Mississippi, ole Miss. So I love that and, right with it, jump out to UCLA and so UCLA. They've had the pro-Hamas protesters going out there and how bad Israel is, et cetera, and I love this. Somebody raised the money, they put a giant screen outside UCLA, right by where all the protesters are, and they started playing all the footage that was recorded back on October 7th and so 

Tim Barton

Specifically the footage that was made public.

That's right, because Israel does have footage taken from some of the cell phones from some of Hamas terrorists of the evil they did. That's not public because that's too graphic and also because they didn't want it to be disrespectful to the families that that was their family members that had things happen to them. But the public footage that is not confusing, right, it's not confusing who the bad guys are. It's not confusing who the victims are. And yet people that are still saying that Israel is the aggressor, Israel is committing apartheid, whatever the accusations are, it's clearly not supported when you see the footage yeah, not supported when you see the footage 

David Barton

yeah, and the footage they were playing. It included the Hamas terrorists gunning down unarmed civilians and then boasting about the body counts, how many they've killed, and that it even had footage of the Israeli children who were shot up and then dragged across floors and all the blood and all the body parts, et cetera. And so this is some of the footage they literally were showing during that time parts, et cetera. And so this is some of the footage they literally were showing during that time. And so now the protesters who are saying Israel is bad are looking at all the stuff that Hamas is doing and maybe the first time they've ever seen it. They've been indoctrinated enough.

They may not have seen this, but I love the fact that people went to the leadership at UCLA and say, hey, that screen over there, did they have a permit to set that up? And, yeah, they had a permit. And how long? Well, today, well, it's been up several days. Yeah, it has. And they didn't try to take it down. They didn't say they were going to, they said they gave them a permit and, yes, it's been up several days and there was no motion to pull it down. So I love the fact that it appears that even some of the leadership at UCLA appears to be letting students and other groups push back against this pro-Hamas stuff, so that's good news on at least two fronts.

Tim Barton

And then this is also where we've seen the iconic photo of the fraternity, these boys, who were holding up the fladg as they were getting things thrown at them, it’s a little silly, it is not a justified comparison being kind of reimagined as the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima right when you had the Marines doing that back in World War II, and you see this rise of patriotism in a lot of college campuses. And one of the things we talk about whether it is we talk about the devil often overplays his hand and goes too far. We've seen a lot of leftists do that to overplay their hand. They push too far and the pendulum is always going to swing back and it can only go so far before it comes back. And I think we're beginning to see that pendulum shift on a lot of not only college campuses but a lot of areas around the nation. And so there is a lot of good news. In the midst of the craziness and chaos on college campuses, there's a lot of good news happening as well. A lot of people are waking up, and so a lot of things to celebrate.

Rick Green

Yeah, I was. I was thinking about when that the videos first started coming out of that big screen being played at UCLA. You know how often we talk about these kids are being raised in this cultural Marxism and it's being poured into them day after day after day on campus and they're just not hearing the other side. And I wonder how many kids just really had no idea how bad October 7th was, the fact that there's still all these hostages. I mean all of these things. So I love that. I don't even know the right way to describe it Propaganda, warfare, that that that you know, actually truth war that we're engaged in, and whoever came up with this idea and did that absolutely brilliant should be doing that on all of these campuses, everywhere. There's any of this protesting Very, very good stuff. Okay, quick break, we'll be right back. We've got more good news. Folks, stay with us. You're listening to WallBuilders.

Break.

Rick Green

Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday. Let's jump right back in Tim. Where are we headed next?

Tim Barton

Well, this one goes to the UK and the title of the article says UK's National Health Service to declare sex a biological fact. Major shift from gender ideology and this is one of the first 

Rick Green

those bigots.

I can't believe they would actually side on science and biology throughout human history and not with the crazy people of the last 15 minutes.

David Barton

I'm shocked, Right, but it is to some extent shocking, but it is great Britain doing this.

Rick Green

We're talking Europe.

Where we saw all this stuff even really before the US right.

Tim Barton

Well, right, and it's been going on for 15 years in Europe, before the US, and this is why it's also significant that you can point to virtually every major European nation that went the wrong direction on these transgender sex surgery kind of issues. They are going the opposite direction. They're banning these sex procedures for minors, saying no, it's dangerous, it doesn't help, it causes more issues along the way. So we are seeing a shift, going a different direction. But what's also kind of interesting about this is that the NHS, which is the National Health Service it's one of the United Kingdom's four major health care systems and they're going to declare that sex is a biological fact, making it a major landmark shift in ideology. Now, part of to me, what's interesting about this is not just that finally, you have major health organizations declaring what should have been clear and not confusing to anybody from the very beginning. They're taking a very strong stand. However, who was taking a stand over there long before any kind of government system?

Well, JK Rowling, who is an incredibly famous author, did the Harry Potter series and even though, for every homeschool family growing up right, probably most of us we were not allowed to do the Harry Potter series because, right, that's magic. We could do Chronicles of Narnia, because that's good magic. We could do Lord of the Rings. That's good magic. Harry Potter bad magic. Right, I'm not going to get into it right now, but the reality is right. You had JK Rowling, one of the most significant stars, most noted people from the UK, who was facing backlash. People wanted to ban her and cancel her and she's been very clear, like I'm not backing down. In fact, even the stars of all of the shows of the Harry Potter series. They came out, they were opposed. We can't believe she's saying this and she's so bigoted for this and they're now trying to apologize and reconcile. And it's just curious to me that this is similar to me of like in America, that the Elon Musk, the Joe Rogan, people that are just having some degree of common sense, right, not that they're the most conservative, but they're just saying the obvious part out loud hey, the king has no clothes. This doesn't make any sense, right? The emperor's clothes? They're no clothes. Right? The emperor's naked right now. What are we doing? 

David Barton

And for those that don't know, that's a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that goes back. It's worth reading. Look it up. It's not long. It is a great historical reference. Go back and read that one.

Tim Barton

And that's the Emperor's New Clothes. I believe it is the Emperor's New Clothes.

Is the title for that. It's been quite a few years since I've gone through that, but right, I mean. This is what's interesting to me is the people that you see leading the leading voices are not necessarily those that would be considered these really strong conservative individuals. It's really noted people who found enough backbone to say the obvious thing out loud. And now you're seeing medical institutions changing position, and probably not just because of what JK Rowling said, but the fact that she is the one that boldly, courageously stood up and took those attacks, that criticism. I think at times you have people like that again the Elon Musk, the Joe Rogans there paving the way, making it easier for some of these institutions and organizations, these medical facilities, to come out and say the obvious part out loud, because now they're not having to courageously be the leaders. They're following someone who was already courageous along the way. Nonetheless, really great that you at least have one of the four major health services in the UK saying the obvious part out loud.

Rick Green

I got to share a little bit from X. Jk Rowling was, you know, being lambasted for this. Daily Mail Online has an article that says JK Rowling is accused of cruelty as she mocks transgender football manager by comparing her to a straight white middle-aged bloke. Jk Rowling's response to that she shares the article and says I didn't compare him to one, he is one. And somebody said how do we get to the point where speaking the truth is seen as wrong? And she says cowardice. So to your point, Tim, it took people of courage. Somebody else says how can you tell? And she says psychic powers, that and the fact he fathered three kids with his wife.

Now I'm going to keep going for a second here, guys. Here's Jordan Peterson sharing JK Rowling's sharing and saying I didn't compare him to when he is one. Jordan Peterson says he's a man. Say it with M A N? N man, and a narcissistic one at that, who fantasizes about being a woman, who and who thinks the world should tie itself into knots to conform with his self-worshipping delusion. Enough, seriously, back under your rock. One more Jordan Peterson goes on to say enough bloody politeness, enough idiot pronoun use, enough mutilization and sterilization and consequent suicide of children at the hands of the psychopathic butchers enabled by the increasingly mad alphabet mob. Enough false, self-aggrandizing compassion. It's high time to stop the lies. Even animals with no nervous system can tell the difference between male and female. Enough. And of course, guys, we know, you know it's like just sharing truth, but it's also pride, like you know. They even say it's pride, right.

And here's Peterson who no Christian yet, though I think he's getting close. He says enough worship of pride. After all, it's the cardinal Luciferian sin. They just mean self-esteem. Quote, unquote. They just mean self-esteem. He says no, they don't. They mean pride. That's why they use the word, and pride always goes before the fall. Good stuff, guys. I mean, I just saw that last night on Twitter so I didn't know you had it on your good news list, Tim, but you know it is good news. And who would have thought England right? And I wanted to ask you, now that I've filibustered here for a minute do you think that is because of the pain? In other words, enough of these detransitioners coming out and saying how much their lives have been destroyed and because England was unfortunately ahead of the curve on doing these things before us? They're experiencing more of the pain before us and we're starting to get some of that in the US, but do you think that drove some of the changes here?

Tim Barton

I think, unquestionably. You know, as identified over in Europe, they were doing this approximately 15 years before we started doing this in America, and so they have seen the negative repercussions. They have seen the increased depression, increased suicide attempts. They have seen the reality that this did not solve the problems that people suggested it was going to solve. Just let us do what we want, just let us do what we think is going to make us happy, then we'll be happy and then everybody can be happy. And it didn't happen. And so they have seen it didn't work, and so they have seen it didn't work. And so again, you have people saying the obvious part out loud. This should not have been confusing from the beginning, but now that you have all of the research, all of the studies, all of the life that backs up and supports what they know to be true, somebody has to be courageous and stand up. And you know, guys, actually I have the opportunity to speak to some students this weekend and one of the things I'm going to talk about in Revelation 21, verse 8, when it talks about the people that will not inherit heaven, that the people that are going to be thrown into the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, the second death. It identifies the very first ones listed in that group. Revelation 21, 8,. It says, but the cowardly, the unbelieving. It goes to this whole list and it mentions, right, the idolaters, the sorcerers, and I mean it goes through the adulterers, the fornicators, like all the normal things you think of in the list. But the list starts off with the cowardly and the reason that becomes significant is the cowardly are the people who know what is true, they know what is right and yet they didn't stand up.

The Bible says in James 4:17,. To him who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin. If you back up to Numbers 13, it's when the 12 spies, or the 12, the leaders from the 12 tribes, were chosen to go spy on the land of Canaan. When Moses wants to send this right initial group in, and hey, go, go see what's there, come back and report to us. And everybody knows the name Joshua and Caleb.

And one of the trivia games that I love to play with young people is I will read off the other 10 names and I'll say, okay, who are these people? And inevitably right, virtually nobody has heard of those names before. Nobody knows who they are and I'll say, well, those were the before I mentioned Joshua and Caleb. Right, those were the other 10 spies, along with Joshua and Caleb, on the spot of the land they go, oh, and I said, okay, now why do you know Joshua and Caleb and you don't know the other 10 names?

Because the other 10 names lack the courage to stand up for what God had called them to do. Right, you won't know the names of the cowards and the fearful, but the stories, the Hebrews 11, the faith Hall of Fame. We know the people that have the courage to follow where God leads, and God did incredible things through them. And it's crazy that we live in a world that we are seeing God is using all kinds of unlikely people to help bring truth back to the forefront of what's going on. But this is again where courage becomes one of the core values that we need to have in our life the courage to do what we know is right.

David Barton

And Rick. I've got one more good news to add before we close out. It's just kind of personal stuff, but the recent effort to throw House Speaker Mike Johnson out of the chair in the House failed. He is still the Speaker of the House. I think that's really good. I've known Mike for a number of years. I think what we've got here is folks that don't understand incrementalism. You cannot change everything that they won't change as soon as they want it. It's like trying to turn a battleship versus turning a jet ski. We got a battleship. It's going to take a while to turn, but Mike is turning it and he's doing good things. It's not everything everybody wants, so I'm really that to me is a piece of good news, and Mike has got the character, integrity and hopefully the long-term vision to get all that done. We'll see. He's still got such a small margin to work with. He can't get everything he wants done, but he's done a good job of trying to get some things done and that's a start.

Rick Green

All right guys out of time for today, that's Good News. Friday there's more on our website. Go to wallbuilders.show. That's wallbuilders.show. You can scroll down through those recent programs over the last few weeks and get you some more good news there if you like. And also visit wallbuilders.com for some great materials for yourself and your family and share with your friends that are teachers. Make sure they know about our teacher program this summer. Make sure young people know about going to Patriot Academy or to our leadership training program at American Journey. Experience Pastors Conference is coming up this year. There's just a lot going on and you've got to get to wallbuildersc.om to find out more about it and get on the email list there while you're there. Thanks for listening to Good News Friday here on WallBuilders.