Rick Green: 0:00
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It's the WallBuilders Show where we are taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach and former Texas legislator, here with David and Tim Barton. David Barton, America's premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. Tim's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders and he's also giving a presentation at the ProFamily Legislators Conference. But we're playing it here on the WallBuilders show Now. He gave it a few weeks ago but we wanted to bring it to you. We did that last week actually one of his presentations and this week for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we are sharing with you another of his presentations. So if you missed yesterday, it's available right now at our website which, as we mentioned yesterday, is a new link. It's WallBuilders.Show . That's where you can get the archives of our radio program. You can also get summaries of the programs. You can share it with your friends and family. Check it out today, WallBuilders.Show. But for now let's jump right back into Tim's presentation at the ProFamily Legislators Conference, picking up where we left off yesterday.

Tim Barton: 1:10
If you look at Benjamin Franklin, in 1773 he wrote a letter to the Reverend Dean Woodward. He explained a disposition to abolish slavery prevails in North America that many of Pennsylvanians have said their slaves at liberty. Even the Virginia assembly have petitioned the king for permission to make a law for preventing the importation of more into that colony. This is 1773. He says we're already setting our slaves free. This is before the declaration that this movement is already going. He says we're setting our slave framfields. In Pennsylvania, Virginia, they're actually trying to stop the slave trade. Now what happens? This request, however, will probably not be granted, as their former laws of that kind have always been repealed. Most students, especially today, they're learning nothing of the anti-slavery movement or momentum that was happening. That led to the largest grievance in the original draft. Now that did not make it into the final version. Why? Because in the the final version of the declaration, John Ancock, who was the president of congress, said they would only include in the final version what was unanimously agreed to. He said because if we put things in there where there's disagreement, the king might be able to come in and pull us apart by our own local, separate interests. So it has to be unanimous. Jefferson wrote that as they were. As they were debating over the declaration, they got to the anti-slavery grievance which he was pretty clear that was the one he thought was the most important. As they got to that grievance he said there were two colonies that opposed it. George in South Carolina said that up to that point they had not tried to do anything against the slave trade or slavery, so they didn't think that grievance needed to be included because that wasn't a problem they had with the king. Jefferson limited in his writings he limited that there were not more founding fathers from the northern states who tried more ordinarily to convince the southern founding fathers from George in South Carolina to join, because he said we could have ended that evil in that moment had they joined. Now they didn't, so it didn't make it in the final draft. However, it's worth noting 11 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of it. The vast majority of founding fathers are on record, not just in this vote, like in their lifetime, multiple things we can point to for all of them. They're on the record being anti-slavery. Most people don't know, but this is why. Let me go back to Benjamin Franklin. Super easy example. You know why no historian considers Benjamin Franklin a racist, even though he owns slaves. Because not only was he one of the ones in Pennsylvania who freed his slaves even before the declaration he was the one arguing and promoting the abolition movement because 11 years later, when he is at the Constitution Convention, he's one of those founding fathers not only signs a declaration, he's there at the Constitution signing the Constitution. At the time he's at the Constitution Convention he was also the president of the Pennsylvania abolition society that was seeking in slavery, not just in Pennsylvania but in all 13 colonies. This is a guy who had slaves freed as slaves becomes a president of an abolition society and, by the way, I could tell you that story for many founding fathers. But today we don't hear the story of the abolitionists, we hear the story that all of America's racist. That is just dumb on lots of levels, right, I mean genuinely. The vast majority of the founding fathers came out against slavery and yet we're telling students well, they can't memorize the declaration because it's racist. No, it's not, it is the opposite of racist if you would do a little research and do your homework. But we're not telling kids that today. So kids are thinking we're the most racist there ever been. But let me, let me. Let me also walk you back to another thought. The founding fathers said we owe these truths to be self-evident. That means they thought these truths were obvious. Well, here's an important time to ask a question Obvious to who? Because they weren't obvious to the king. That's why we were separating. It's interesting Because, as Americans, we generally think well, like, yeah, these truths are obvious. It's obvious we're created equal. It's not obvious. The most the world, india still has a class system to this day. Right, I mean the people that believe in reincarnation. You come back and it's based on your class and your level. If you go to any major Muslim nation in the Middle East or Africa, they don't believe in equality between men and women or between Islam and any other faith. I mean, equality is not a normal thought for most of the world. Do you think Putin believes in God-given rights? Do you think they believe in God-given rights in China, north Korea, saudi Arabia? I mean really. Well, we're pretty naive that we think, oh, these are universally understood truths. No, they're not. These truths are only understood by people who know the Bible. When the founding father said we all these truths to be self-evident, it's because they were so influenced by the Bible and it's so shaped their thinking they were like guys. This truth is obvious. Well, where do we get the idea that we're created equal? It's Genesis 1, 26 and 27, that God made them in his image, male and female. He created them. And also, word of note, the Bible never tells us what shape, size or color Adam and Eve work. You know why? Because it doesn't matter. When we are seeing a culture that is saying, based on the group, you are in right, based on how you identify and we're placing value on that, you can know that is one of the most ungodly, un-christian things ever. Why? Because remember what the apostle Paul said that in Christ there's no Jew or Gentile, there's no male or female, there's no Scythian's flavor, free, we are all one in Christ. See, this notion of creating equal. That is a Christian idea, that is a Bible idea. It's not a universal world idea.

Rick Green: 6:26
Our folks quick break today. Stay with us. You're listening to the WallBuilders show. We're sharing a presentation from Tim Barton at the propane legislators conference. We'll be right back.

Tim Barton: 6:41
Hey, this is Tim Barton, with WallBuilders, and, as you've had the opportunity to listen to WallBuilders Live, you've probably heard the wealth of information about our nation, about our spiritual heritage, about the religious liberties, about all the things that makes America exceptional. And you might be thinking, as incredible as this information is, I wish there was a way that I could get one of the WallBuilders guys to come to my area and share with my group whether it be a church, whether it be a Christian school or public school or some political event or activity. If you're interested in having a WallBuilders speaker come to your area, you can get on our website at www.WallBuilders.com and there's a tab for scheduling and if you'll click on that tab, you'll notice there's a list of information from speakers bios to events that are already going on, and there's a section where you can request an event to bring this information about who we are, where we came from, our religious liberties and freedoms. Go to the WallBuilders website and bring a speaker to your area.

Rick Green: 7:44
Welcome back to the WallBuilders show. We're listening to Tim Barton teaching at the pro family legislators conference. We're going to jump right back in.

Tim Barton: 7:51
This is the influence of the Bible. Where do we get the idea that there was God given rights of founding fathers Pretty clear about this. They have point out from the very beginning. In the Garden of Eden you begin to see God given rights. Why? Because God gave Adam and Eve not only the freedom of speech, he gave him the freedom of choice when it came to religion, because they could choose God or not choose God. They could choose what they're going to eat from and where God. God began giving rights to man from the very beginning. This notion of God given rights is clearly identified in scripture. There was not somebody micromanaging. No, god gave rights to people. Where do we get the idea that government exists to protect our God given rights? Because the very first ever civil ordinance ever recorded in scripture, where God gives man directives, how should government operate? When Noah gets off the Ark, amount of air at it was part of what became known as the Noah hide laws and away at covenant. But what God tells Noah is that man sheds blood by man is blood will be shed. So if somebody comes and murders, god tells Noah, we're not going to allow that to happen anymore. Right, so you're going to get people together. You're going to figure this out and you're going to get rid of that guy. The reason was because if someone was coming and murdering, they were violating your right to life. So we're not going to let that government exists to protect your God given rights. These are all ideas from the Bible, and even saying that the declaration the founding fathers are influenced by the Bible might be a different thought for a lot of culture today. It used to be so obvious historically. I can point to so many historic examples, but Clinton Rosseter is an easy one. He was a professor at Cornell University. He wrote a book called the Seed Time of the Republic and in this book he identified the six people who were the most influential coming up with the ideas that led to American liberty. He said that the six main thought leaders are the guys that promoted the main ideas. He said it was Benjamin Franklin, richard Bland, the Reverend Thomas Hooker, the Reverend Roger Williams, the Reverend John Wise and the Reverend John of the Mayhew. He said those six guys are the ones that came up with the ideas that led to American freedom and liberty. Let's point out that four of those six are pastors. Historians used to know where did the founding fathers get their ideas from their pastors? Because we used to know the influence of the Bible was so significant in American culture, the influence of the pastor was so significant. These guys were shaped by the Bible and let me give you a breakdown of this. If I just take John Wise as a super easy example and I'm again using him because he's the easiest example, because it's so obvious John Wise was a pastor from Ipswich, massachusetts, in the late 1600s, early 1700s. In 1717 there was a book of sermons that came out and specifically there's a couple of sermons in there that became very significant to sermons and in those sermons he actually identified in those sermons that taxation without representation is tyranny. He also taught that God's preferred form of government was to be sent to the government. And then he went further and said that all men are created equal and have certain and able rights that have been given to them by their creator. All of those phrases are verbatim in the Declaration of Independence, but his sermons were from 1717. So how do these two sermons from 1717 make it to the founding fathers? Because in 1772 they were reprinted by the sons of Liberty. Because the sons of Liberty, as they're trying to rally and get Americans together. One of them said you know what I think? If people would just read these sermons from John Wise, I think it would help them to understand where we're coming from. So they printed the sermons and they distributed the sermons to all 13 colonies. What's also quite interesting is when you look at the founding fathers coming together in 1776, it is fascinating how many founding fathers in their writings talk about John Wise or in their libraries had the sermons of John Wise Nearly every single one. So what we also can say is virtually every single founding father not only heard the name of John Wise, they had read the sermons of John Wise. So when they get together in 1776 and they do the declaration, they knew exactly who John Wise was, what these sermons were and they were influenced to the point that there are verbatim phrases from his sermons that appear in the Declaration of Independence. This is the influence and this, again, this used to be so well known. Historians used to talk about this B F Moore's in 1864, it's some of the most glittering sentences and the immortal Declaration of Independence are almost literal quotations from this essay of John Wise. It was used as a political textbook and the great struggle for freedom. Historians used to know that like this was obvious. Everybody knows the founding fathers were influenced by their pastors. Everybody knows this Well to point out how obvious it was. 150 years after the Declaration of Independence, calvin Coole was president. He went to Independence Hall and he gave a speech on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration and his speech is online. It actually is a really good speech, totally worth going back and reading. If you ever want to have some, maybe, outlines of a really good speech you could deliver one day, go read this one. It's a real good one. Well, calvin Coolidge, one of the things he pointed out in his speech he said the thoughts of the Declaration can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was writing here was the doctrine of equality, of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights asserted by Wise. Where did they get their ideas? From their pastor, John Wise. Now again, as we talk about this, a lot of people don't think about, like founding fathers, being influenced by the Bible. It's because we don't know them anymore. Sam Adams, if you ask a college student today, tell me one thing you know about Sam Adams, all college kids know about Sam Adams is that that's the beer guy right, which is a really sad thought of his legacy. He was known as the father of the American Revolution. He was one of the leaders of this movement early on. Well, when we think about the Sons of Liberty, he was one of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty and we usually think about the Sons of Liberty with, like the Boston Tea Party, some of those moments. Well, even before the Boston Tea Party, one of the ideas they came up with was the committees of correspondence, because they wanted to try to get everybody on the same page and back then there is no kind of group me, there's no right mass text message, there's no group email. So they said, okay, we're going to write this. They called them a circular. We're going to write this letter and we're going to circulate it through all the colonies.

Rick Green: 13:53
Quick break, everybody. We'll be right back. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show.

Tim Barton: 14:01
Hi friends, this is Tim Barton of WallBuilders. This is a time when most Americans don't know much about American history, or even heroes of the faith, and I know oftentimes 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. 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 want to let you know about some biographical sketches we have available on our website. One is called the Courageous Leaders Collection, and this collection includes people like Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, George Washington Carver, Susanna Wesley, even the Wright Brothers, and there's a second collection called Heroes of History, 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. Welcome back to the WallBuilders.

Rick Green: 15:03
Show. We're in the middle of a three-part series, with Tim Barton teaching and speaking at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. Let's jump right back in. Sam Adams wrote the very first ever Committee of Correspondence.

Tim Barton: 15:15
I would highly encourage you to look it up. The very first ever Committee of Correspondence at three parts. It was the rights of the colonists as men, the rights of the colonists as Christians and the rights of the Christians the rights of the colonists as Christians and the rights of the colonists as British subjects. Because what he pointed out is the king is violating our rights on every level possible. He's violating our rights just as men, the rights we should have, is because we're men. He's violating our rights as Christians, what we should be able to do as Christians. And then the king actually had suppressed and removed the British Bill of Rights for American colonists. You don't have that Bill of Rights anymore. That's only for people living over here. So there was lots of things you're dealing with. I want to highlight his second portion of this was the rights of the colonists as Christians and his opening line. Now again, this is the very first Committee of Correspondence ever done. He's trying to get everybody on the same page. This is his opening line from the second part the rights of the colonists as Christians. He said the rights of the colonists as Christians may be best understood by reading and carefully setting the Institute to the Great Lawgiver and end of the Christian Church, which will be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament. His starting line is you won't understand this perspective. You should read your Bible and study the life of Jesus. That's a pretty strong position from a founding father. Well, this was actually a pretty consistent thought from the founding fathers. The problem is today we know so little of their writings and we know so little of their story that we don't recognize how much they were actually influenced by the Bible and by their pastors. But let me take a super, super easy example to give you a connection from the founding fathers in the Bible, a name that we are all familiar with is John Adams. Now, John Adams noted for lots of reasons, but John Adams has several interesting things that he says about the Bible in Christianity. One of the things he identified is that I've examined all religions and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world. Now, this is interesting to me for a couple reasons. Most Christians don't even know what the Bible says, right, much less could they defend what the Bible says. And they certainly don't know what other world religions believe. He said I've examined them all. There is a reason you should have more confidence being a Christian than anything else in life. There is more proof, more evidence. If you've never been to Israel, it's amazing. Well, like change your mind forever about the reasonability of our faith. There's 37,000 archaeological sites in Israel, 5,000 pertaining to Bible-era related things. They have yet to find a single archaeological discovery in Israel that contradicts anything in the Bible. There is a reason to have great confidence in your faith. He said I've examined them all. There's nothing like the Bible. This is absolutely true. This is a founding father doing something that most Christians have never done, which I also could point out. Most Christians have never even read the Bible. Cover to cover right, this was a very common practice for them. He said there's nothing like the Bible. Well, let me go further, because one of the things he wrote is suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts they're exhibited. What does that mean? Imagine if there was a place, he said. Just imagine if there was a place and all they did was just follow the Bible. What would that place look like? Here's what he concluded. What a utopia would a paradise with this region be If they would just follow the Bible. Now we could point out right Even yesterday, when Pastor Ramakoy was helping us learn the 10 commandments right, using our fingers going through yeah, if Chicago would just learn the 10 commandments, their weekends would be a whole lot better. Right Now we could say that for many of the major cities in our nation. But this is the reality Is, if we would just get people following some basic principles of the Bible, he wouldn't make it so much better. That's what he concluded. Well, his son, John Quincy Adams very significant for lots of reasons, became the sixth president, but he grew up in the founding era. Here's one of the things he wrote about his perspective of the Bible. He said, with regard to the history contained in the Bible, it's not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with it as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. He said you know, it's not really impressive to know the Bible. It's embarrassing not to know the Bible. That is the exact opposite in our culture today, because today we are really impressed with people that know the Bible. I mean the reason that we appreciate our spiritual leaders and the ones that we respect and follow and we listen in their podcasts and reread what they write. The reason we respect them is because of how well they know the Bible. Right, that is the influence that we so value. But today, if you don't know the Bible, it just means you fit in with basically everybody else. Here's where I want to give you perspective on this. If I asked anybody in the room today what's two plus two, it would not be impressive for any educated adult to know what's two plus two, but it would be embarrassing for you not to know what should be obvious. This was their perspective about the Bible. If you don't know what should be obvious, like how embarrassing would that be? Well, I can tell you, I think there's a lot of Christians that should be way more embarrassed than they are. Just to not know the book that we say we base our life on. That should be embarrassing. How foolish or silly would it be if we're like you know what? I base my life on? The Lord of the Rings, because I heard it's a really great trilogy. I've never read it, but I heard good things about it. That's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous to say we base our life on a book that we're not intimately familiar with. This was his perspective, but that's the way it was at that time in early America. Now it's also worth knowing, or even asking, where did he come up with these ideas? That he obviously had an influence from his parents culture around him, but his mom and Dad were incredible Alright folks, one more break today.

Rick Green: 20:55
Stay with us, we'll be right back.

Tim Barton: 21:07
This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American History. American Patriot Paul Revere wrote to alert Americans of the impending arrival of the British, but he also sought Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock to warn them that the British were seeking their execution. Adams and Hancock were staying with the Reverend Jonas Clark in Lexington. When they asked Pastor Clark if his church was ready for the approaching British, he replied Train them for this very hour. They will fight and, if need be, die under the shadow of the House of God. Later that morning 70 men from his church faced several hundred British in the first battle of the war for independence. As Pastor Clark affirmed, the militia that morning were the same who filled the pews of the church meeting house on the Sunday morning before. The American church was regularly at the forefront of the fight for liberty. For more information on this pastor and other colonial patriots, go to WallBuilders.com.

Rick Green: 22:08
Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. We are listening to Tim Barton teaching at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. Let's jump right back in with him.

Tim Barton: 22:15
View are not familiar with John and Abigail Adams. They are an amazing couple for lots of reasons. There's 1100 letters they row back and forth to each other and really sweet letters. If you are a Hallmark movie person I'm not. If you are, you should read their letters Because I actually think Hallmark make based some of their stories on these guys. John Adams. There's a letter from John Adams where he says Abigail, I'm about to suffocate because I've not seen you in over a week and you were the year that I breathe. You are my sunrise in the morning, you're my sunset in the evening, right, and I'm like bro Right Now. I'm not trying to knock their relationship. That's awesome. I'm just more like the John Wick spectrum of my likings. So, anyway, if you like Hallmark movies, go read their letters. They're great. Nonetheless, during the revolution, John Adams is one of America's top diplomats over to Europe. So John Adams has gone all the time, which means Abigail is essentially a single mom, raising the kids, taking care of the farm, taking care of the business. So Abigail is rocking this whole thing by herself. Well, what's really fun is the church that their family attended is still in existence today. Outside the church they erected a monument that shows Abigail and that's John Quincy Adams, because she went leading him to church. What was very well known about the Adams family is they were going to be in church every Sunday, no matter what right Dad's out of the country, we're in the middle of war, it doesn't matter. We go to church. Who we are is what we do. This is the way he grows up. Well, as he's growing up, as the revolution unfolds, right, you have the shard around the world, then you have Concord Bridge and you have the road back to Boston. Then you get to the Battle of Bunker Hill. John Quincy Adams and his mom, abigail, watched the Battle of Bunker Hill in person. They stood off on a side hill and they watched as the British charged the hill. They watched their family doctor. They watched him, dr Joseph Warren, get bayoneted to death. They essentially called it a murder. He was murdered by the British because the battle was over. He had been injured and they came up and they bayoneted him as a survivor at the end of the war. This is the way he grows up. His father came home one day. Father gets a musket and gives it to John Quincy Adams, who's eight years old. He gives it to him and says you need to start training. The Massachusetts Minutemen used to do their musket drills in front of the John Adams home. When John Adams gives John Quincy a musket and says you need to go start training, it was with the Massachusetts Minutemen. As an eight-year-old he began to do musket drills with the military. That seems super young for us today, but I will tell you, if you are watching war around you, you grow up real quick. When you're watching your family and your friends be killed and bayoneted, you're going to grow up pretty fast. This was the way he grew up. When he was 10 years old he got to go with his Dad on one of his diplomatic missions over to Paris. It was really fun that there's a letter from Abigail that she writes to John Quincy Adams. She says they haven't heard from you in a couple of months. I feel terrible because I want to know if you're okay. I don't know what's happened to you and I hope you're okay. But she writes them in this letter some, encourage me. She says now, while you're in France they're not like we are, so you need to be. Don't be like them. They don't know Jesus. You need to be different. So part of what she says in this letter. It's great. She says adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind and remember you are accountable to your maker for all your words and actions. Now some of us remember I had a grandmother when I was young. I could go play. I could be gone for hours. They didn't know where I was, they didn't care, they weren't worried. But if I was going to play with my friends, if I was going to do something, my grandmother had this finger that would come up. She would say you remember, god is always watching, right Like, you can go have fun, but you're going to still be accountable. This is what Abigail was telling her son God is always watching. 

Rick Green: 26:01
Alright folks out of time, for today we're going to get to conclusion tomorrow. So far this week, this presentation from Tim Barton started on Monday. We got the middle of it today and tomorrow we're going to get to conclusion. You can get all three links at our website WallBuilders.Show that's WallBuilders.Show, I know, for years I've said go to WallBuildersLive.com, no more. Now you go to WallBuilders.Show and you can quickly get the links to each of our programs. You might have missed over the last few days, including yesterday, the beginning of Tim's presentation at the ProFamily Legislators Conference. Today we got the middle and tomorrow, as I said, we'll get the conclusion. So make sure you join us and you share it with your friends and family. Thanks for listening to the WallBuilders show.