Rick Green [00:00:00] Let. Read. Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It's WallBuilders Live, where we're talking about the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. If you were listening yesterday, then, you know, this week we are doing biblical citizenship in modern America. That's our new constitution. Core citizenship course. It's a biblical worldview course that is being taught in living rooms and churches all over the nation. It has David Barton, Tim Barton, Kirk Cameron, Matt Staver, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Congressman Barry Loudermilk, David Harris Jr, Carol Swain, Michele Bachmann. All these folks commenting on what it looks like to make sure that your society and your nation follows the biblical commands on how we should form a society and nation. So let's jump right back in where we left off yesterday. This is biblical citizenship in modern America. 

Speaker 2 [00:00:58] It counts right now. I mean, don't don't you agree? I'm understanding now more than ever that the things our founders told us, the things George Washington said, all those inspiring words, that it is up to a moral and faithful people to keep the republic. And if the church doesn't have the courage and the backbone required, we'll lose it. And it kind of sounds like great words in a bit of a vacuum when we've always had such an abundance of liberty. But now in our country, we're seeing the winds change and we're realizing that our churches are shut down and we're in rebellion against the government for us to meet and sing to our God. These are different days and now is the time. I personally want to learn how to become a biblical citizen in modern America because I'm on the team and I'm ready to fight to win for the sake of our kids, our grandkids. And the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know you are, too. 

Rick Green [00:02:05] the ay you said that is like David Barton always say, hey, you know, we're just fellow citizens. We're sojourners learning together. That's what I love about doing things like this. We get to sharpen each other's counters constantly, learning from each other and then taking it out there and sharing it with your friends and family. You're going to have so many "ah-ha"moments as we go through this event in a lot of the videos. You know, I'm sitting there with David Barton and he goes off on something I've never heard of before, and I'm the one sitting there in shock. Or worse yet, he gives me some test from third graders. I can't even spell the words, let alone answer. And he's going, That's how far we've gone down in our education. So I'm usually the guinea pig with with it with Barton. But we have a great time. It is fun to learn. Like this is not like I don't know about your high school government class, but my optimum learning position in high school when I was in government or our history was this. I mean, I slept, I drooled on the desk. It was boring. I didn't learn anything. This course is not going to be like that. We are going to have fun. It's going to be education. It's going to be inspiring and probably most important, at the end, we're going to have action steps, things you can actually do. 

Speaker 2 [00:03:00] See, that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for action steps because I think a lot of people, just by virtue of the fact that people are here, people are watching, taking this class and myself included, we're in we're already on board with with the idea that we need to be the force. That's right. The resistance against tyranny. What we want to know is what do I do, right? What do I do? 

Speaker 3 [00:03:21] You know, it's funny because within the human nature is the desire to do. But if you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, then you're not going to get the fulfillment out of it. But we have a we have a great, great privilege in this nation where we know what biblical citizenship is. We know what we've been given. Because, look, we are living in the greatest experiment the world has ever known. But we have to protect that. And to protect it would be to share it with others, Get others on board. If you would. 

Rick Green [00:03:49] Let's let's start with why every citizen should pay attention. You know, you're an actor. Okay. What made you think I want to I want to pay more attention to history and government and being a citizen. What what what was the big shift for you there? 

Speaker 2 [00:04:03] You going? To be honest, it was my kids. I wasn't interested prior to having children. Life is great. Things are cruising along. I live here in Southern California. We got the beach, we've got the mountains. You know, I, I wasn't in between jobs for for a good chunk of time. And then you have kids and you start to realize that they're going to grow up in a world that is looking like it's heading in the wrong direction. And when economists and pastors and politicians are telling you that it's only a matter of time before it gets worse and worse, and there's nothing ultimately that we can do to change it. And there's those who have that fatalistic view, even of the scriptures, that the whole thing is going down the drain. There's nothing we can do. I'm like, Really? I'm going to tell my kids that kids the best days are behind us and you guys have really got a bad deal coming. But I'm going to I'm going to be raptured out of here. And for you, you got four year. 

Rick Green [00:04:57] Olds bawling at the dining room table. 

Speaker 2 [00:04:59] I'm like, I'm like, really? Is that really the message that Christians have told their children for thousands of years? And then I went back and I began learning from my friend Dr. Marshall Foster and David Barton and Rick Green that hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, Christians had a very different perspective on the future. I mean, think about it. A thousand years ago, 1500 years ago, things were much, much worse for you as a Christian. I mean, you've got kings ruling your kingdom that declare themselves to be God on Earth. They have complete tyrannical control over the people. The economy is broke. There's nothing like what we have today. If ever there was a time that they thought the world was over, it would have been a thousand years ago. And yet we have pilgrims who said, Wait a minute, we've got a Bible. And my Bible says that all authority was given to Jesus Christ, both on heaven, in heaven and on earth. And and they said, let's take these principles. He promises to be with us and let's go build a new world. And we think the gospel is going to overtake sin and we're going to find that blessing is going to come as far as the curse has affected the world. And I'm thinking, yeah, that's the kind of Christian I want to be. 

Rick Green [00:06:13] I've got to interrupt here. We're going to take a quick break. What you're listening to is biblical citizenship in modern America. It is a free course. It's an eight week course. You can get it at biblical citizens.com today. You can become a coach. You can host it at your church in your living room. We're bringing it to you all throughout this week, actually. So five separate programs this week on WallBuilders Live and we'll be able to squeeze in week one and week two. There are eight weeks total, but you're going to hear some fantastic presentations even just during these first two weeks. So let's take a quick break. We'll be right backa Wallbuilderslive 

Rick Green [00:08:50] Welcome backto WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us today. We are listening to biblical citizenship in modern America. We're going to dive right back in where we left off before the break. 

Speaker 2 [00:08:59] I want to be the optimistic, positive Christian that believes the greater is he who is in me and you and my kids. Then he who is in the world and of the increase of his government and there will be no end

Rick Green [00:09:15] That is a viewpoint that is so needed right now. Because even now when people look around and they get depressed about what's happening, you're going, wait a minute, if we were in 1863, it was it would be a whole lot worse than what we're dealing with. 

Speaker 2 [00:09:24] My goodness. 

Rick Green [00:09:25] Right. If we were in their situation, far worse. But we were. I mean, is it fair to say we're spoiled? I mean, we really we've enjoyed freedom so much for so long and we haven't had to pay the price for it. But now all of a sudden, when we start to experience a little bit of tyranny, we almost become like, you know, snowflakes and want to run to our safe spaces. Instead of saying, Hey, let's learn. How can we win? How can we be like those pilgrims that came over and went through so much to try to launch freedom? 

Speaker 2 [00:09:49] That's right. One of the things that you and other historians have taught me is that the Pilgrims came over and they landed in a wilderness with nothing but some Bibles and some chickens, and they built the template for the greatest country in the history of the earth. We are here in a virtual Paradise in California, United States, the greatest country in the world. We were born into this many, many of us with. Churches on every corner and everything else, and we're letting it all fall through our fingers. So we have a different mindset than they had. I mean, they fought for liberty. We're fighting from liberty and we're just watching it go. Afraid of those who are just writing the narrative before us. But we've got a book that already wrote the story long before they showed up. And it says that Jesus wins, Right?  now I sound I sound like, boy, I'm on board with the whole like, I like I got it all understood. But I'll tell you what, I don't I don't understand the steps and the strategy for the how to for everyday citizens like you and me. I get voting and we need to continue to do a better job at that. But I also understand that we got to get more involved in the things that those quotes told us. Education and law and government and arts and. And entertainment and medicine and military and everything. 

Rick Green [00:11:17] Well, before we get to the action steps, let's lay a good foundation of what the principles are that will produce that. And then we'll talk about how to do those those action steps. And that was you went on a journey really with your movie Monumental, and you rediscovered the secret sauce. I mean, you went back and found the formula that was not in 1776, 150 years before that. 

Kirk Cameron [00:11:38] That's right. 

Rick Green [00:11:39] Before you go to the to the monument itself, tell us what surprised you most. And then we're gonna take a quick break. We're going to come back, get the whole story. But I'm wondering if there was one thing at all because you discovered a lot in the movies. Fantastic. I want to recommend it. But what was your number one shock? 

Kirk Cameron [00:11:52] I think my number one shock as I went to retrace the escape route of the Pilgrims, because my idea was if our country is headed in the wrong direction, who can best point us in the right direction? Well, the right blames the left. The left blames the right, the rich blame the poor. The poor point to the rich as the ones causing the problems. The church points to Hollywood for corrupting the world, and the media points to the church as the cause of all the problems and wars in the world. And I think with everybody playing the blame game who who can give us the right answer. 

Rick Green [00:12:21] That was almost a Johnny Cash song. The one on the right blames the one in the middle, the one of the left. Anyway, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. 

Kirk Cameron [00:12:29] Like, where did that come from? I'm thinking now. I'm thinking of all my favorite Johnny Cash song. Sorry. 

Rick Green [00:12:35] I told you it's going to be fun doing this. 

Kirk Cameron [00:12:37] And so I thought, well, maybe it's as simple as we just forgot what made us such a great nation in the first place. And there were people who who basically had a recipe for liberty and justice for all. And they didn't have cell phones. They didn't have the Internet, they didn't have all these things. If only I could talk to them. Well, you know, I didn't have a Delorean and I couldn't go back, you know, like Marty McFly and visit them. So I did the next best thing, and I went to England and began retracing the escape route of the separatists, the pilgrims, as they called themselves. And they they escaped to Holland, where they spent 12 years with their pastor, John Robinson, who taught them these biblical nation building techniques found in the scriptures. And those are the things that they that they tucked away in their hearts and in their minds and brought over on the Mayflower to the new world, and they began living them out. And what surprised me the most was that the pilgrims were not just these, I don't know, in fifth grade, I have this picture that I can just see even right now in my mind, of these people in drab clothes with, you know, belt buckles on their shoes, holding turkey guns and these funny hats. And they were people who were just running from a king because they wanted religious liberty. I learned that these were the radical, freethinking biblical lists who had a biblical worldview and understood that even the government was under the authority of God. And if he was abusing his power, that they needed to do something about that. Because Jesus came to set captives free and came to give liberty, both internally from sin and externally from tyrants. And so they risked everything to come across an ocean and land in a wilderness in the winter so that they could, in essence, lay their faces down in the snow and die so that their children could use their backs as stepping stones to get to a land of promise and liberty. And that's the kind of Christian I want to be a man. 

Rick Green [00:14:45] Man. And that. So what you're saying is they didn't just sit around and complain about whatever whatever was happening with the government. They actually took action. And I always missed that very important point. 12 years of study, basically 12 years of getting ready. We always want the solution next month. You know, right now, immediate gratification, 12 years of preparing themselves before they even came. 

Kirk Cameron [00:15:11] That's right. And they were learning the principles from their pastor. Okay. So these are nation building government principles, political principles, if you will, from their pastor. And that told me that, wow, pastors have sure come a long way. Most pastors won't touch politics with a ten foot pole. But these are the things I have to discuss with my children. These are the things on social media and in the news that really get us riled up. And if there's anyone I want to hear about this stuff from. It's from the man of God who has been given wisdom in the pulpit to educate us about how to see them through the lens of the scriptures. And that's what I love about the Pilgrims. I love it. 

Kirk Cameron [00:17:49] Welcome back to biblical citizenship in Modern America. My name is Kirk Cameron. And Rick and I were just talking about a journey that I took, retracing the escape route of the Pilgrims from England to Holland, where they spent 12 years with their pastor, John Robinson, and he taught them the nation building techniques in the Bible so that they could go and establish a new colony, a new society that would bring heaven's principles to Earth. And these principles, interestingly, were the same principles that were used in the ancient Hebrew Republic under the leadership of Moses. And they apply to us today, and they bring blessing to us today. So continuing this journey, I followed them to Massachusetts. That's ultimately where they come to Plymouth and that's where we know of Plymouth Rock. But I discovered that there was something else that they left for us, and it was a marker. They left for us an instruction manual for how to create liberty and preserve liberty. It was almost as though the Pilgrims knew that man's heart was selfish enough and prideful enough to eventually drift from the essential principles and that we would need someone to pull us back almost as though we would throw the instruction manual out the window, like Rick said, and we would need someone to give us another one. I discovered that they left for us. A giant granite monument. In the middle of a forest, hidden in a place where most people don't even know it's there. It's called the National Monument to the Forefathers. It is the largest granite monument in America, and it spells out the Pilgrim's secret sauce recipe for how to build and sustain a free and just society under the word of God. And most people have never even heard of it. I've actually created a replica of this monument. It's the only one in the world that I know of that is detailed like this. In fact, I hired the best sculptors in the world. This is the Weta workshop, the ones who did all the sculpting for the sculptures and Lord of the Rings and Avatar and King Kong. And they've replicated this in great detail. And I want to show you this incredibly important and hidden monument that is sitting on a hill right now. Tucked behind a forest of trees in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This monument spells out. The recipe for liberty. This is the instructions on how to build a free and just and prosperous nation like ours. Now, just to give you some perspective, if you were to stand next to the real monument, you would at six feet tall come up to right here. So you would come up to this line right here. If you were standing there. And by the way, I encourage everyone to make a pilgrimage to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and go to the real national monument of the forefathers. So here it is, the largest granite monument in America. Our pilgrim forefathers and foremothers felt that this monument was so important that they inscribed these principles. They carved it into granite so that we would never forget and never lose our way. How many of you think that we are forgetting our essential principles and our our first love for this country and its principles? And we are losing our way? That's right. We definitely are. This is our way back home. And I want to decode and decipher this for you. Now, notice there's a lot of detail here. But the most obvious features are the five human figures around this monument. Now, the largest one is also the one at the top. It's also at the very center, the very spine, the very backbone and core of this monument. Now, I'm going to read for you at the very front. This says, this is the national monument to the forefathers. This is erected by a grateful people in remembrance of their labors, sacrifice and sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty. So they made this for the purpose of liberty. What does liberty mean? Freedom. Freedom. That's where Jesus came to bring us freedom and eternal life. And it's two kinds of freedom that they were all about. It was both internal freedom. That's religious freedom, the freedom from sin, the freedom to worship God and external freedom, civil freedom. The freedom from governments that tell you that you can't have your friends come over to your house at Christmas time and sing Christmas carols. Freedom from a government that tells you how to live, how to die, where you'll work, what you eat, what you wear, what kind of music you can and can't listen to. This is the kind of tyranny that they wanted to be set free from. And this gives you the instructions on how to obtain that. So back to the top of the monument. This largest figure is what they believed was primary most important. Her name is written right here. And it says Faith. Faith. We know that George Washington told us that 150 years later, we find that that that faith is at the very heart and soul of this American republic. And our forefathers and foremothers knew this. And it's not just any faith. Notice the details. Faith is pointing to the one true God of heaven. Faith also has a star on her forehead representing wisdom. Faith is also holding a book. And it's not just any book. It's the Bible. Its pages are being blown open as though by the wind. The wind of the spirit of God. Notice that this isn't just faith in any random deity. This is faith in the one true God of heaven and faith in that God's Word, the Bible and that Bible is also very historic in that it is the Geneva Bible. The Pilgrims brought over with them. The first English translated Bible that contained the chapter and verse numbers in the text. So literally, the first time that John 3:16 could be found by going to chapter three and verse 16 was in that Bible carried over by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. And they believe that this faith in God, in His word, must be reason. Toward every aspect of life. We're going to reason about how to be a family through the Word of God. We're going to reason about how to have government through the Word of God. We're going to reason about how to educate our children through the Word of God. Her feet are firmly planted on a rock. And that rock is Plymouth Rock. Faith is primary. Faith would then be manifest in several key ways. To have a healthy culture. And the first way it was manifested. You can see right down here at her feet, it says morality. And morality is a woman seated in a chair. Her eyes happen to be closed. Some of the other figures have their eyes open. They're looking out. But morality is looking inward. Because morality is an internal quality. She's holding the Ten Commandments in her left hand. She's holding the scroll of revelation in her right hand. They didn't believe that morality was a moral standard imposed by a king through external rules. They believed that morality was an internal quality that began with a transformation of your heart. How do I know that? Look to her. Left under her chair. It says evangelist. Why would it say evangelist? In this statue that is on a hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, all about civil liberty. 

Rick Green [00:26:18] Alright my friends. We're out of time for today. We will pick up where we left off so that you can get a really good taste of this and then go to biblical citizens.com and sign up so that you can host this in your home or your church. It's entirely free. Check it out today in biblicalcitizens.com. You've been listening to WallBuilders Live.