Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to intersection of faith and culture and talk about a collision of faith and culture in a positive way. What an amazing, amazing inauguration day. I'm Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. David and Tim are in Washington, D.C., there for the inauguration. And we're recording about 12 hours after the inauguration, just like yesterday. We recorded that program 12 hours before. And with the travel and everything else has just worked out this way. David and Tim, there's no way we're going to get it all in in our 30 minute program today. But what an amazing, amazing inauguration. I'll be honest, guys, I've been on an emotional rollercoaster all day in tears, literally. When many of the things happened, especially some of the executive orders that were done, some of the things Trump said in his speech, just greatest I faithfulness being played five minutes before the inauguration. It was just I mean, just the recognition that God is faithful in that moment. I broke down before they even started. So, yeah. What a day, guys. What a day. 

Tim Barton [00:01:05] It was incredible. Like all of us, we've been texting a lot of people throughout the day. Some of them were up in town. Some of them are congressional friends. And then people from all around and. And literally, when I started hearing Grace, I faithful as I'm on several group threads and was like guys they're playing great as a faithful as right now piano like this is this is crazy. It's incredible that they're, you know, playing these Christian hymns. It really was fun to see that. And even big picture of the inauguration, two things that were so clear and evident in my mind was the priority of faith that putting God forward again, which certainly the opening prayers, certainly maybe even more. The closing prayer. 

Rick Green [00:01:48] Yes. Man. 

Tim Barton [00:01:50] You know, just incredible. But even when President Trump acknowledged that when he was in Pennsylvania, he knew in that moment that God had saved him for a purpose. God saved him to make America great again. And that recognition of God, the connection that he is here on purpose for a reason. God has a plan, a purpose for his presidency. So the prioritization of faith was so significant and very notice in my eyes. And then the second thing is the prioritization of America and her people first. And that was so clear with so much of what he said was going to happen. And and we can get into some of those executive orders that have been rolling out all day. Wait, we will get an even more Senate confirmation them. There's just been so much guys I'm really excited for Friday for good news Friday. There are so many great things that we can talk about. But going back to this inauguration to see to see the day that. 

Rick Green [00:02:48] Tim, what was that phrase you just use? Because I want to repeat that the yeah, the prioritization of faith even when they saying my eyes have seen the glory, you know it just had a different ring to it. Right. 

Tim Barton [00:02:59] so good. Yeah. Yeah. And and I chuckled as well. This is, this is unrelated. It was a cool part of the inauguration when Carrie Underwood gets up there and you know, God bless whoever the sound tech is, you know, every Hey. 

Rick Green [00:03:15] Justin, our producer, could feel their pain. We've all been in production enough to know, you know, whenever the buttons aren't working and the sounds and and everybody stand and everybody knows the whole world is watching as she steps up things like. 

David Barton [00:03:28] Did you guys see the news announcement that has now been posted at Fort Wayne? What, in Alaska? That's his news service assignment. 

Tim Barton [00:03:36] Well, I just I thought every every church sound check right now is like having these triggered emotions. As you know, the whole church is turning around, looking in the sound booth. Go on, figure this out, get it right. But then for her to be able to just say she mouths off, first of all, I can just I can sing a cappella. And she invites everybody in and I chuckle because I thought, you know what? Right now, all of this, the military choir that's there, they're all putting on their resume that they performed with Carrie Underwood. Right. Because because they're all on the road trying to sing together. It was such a great inauguration, so many wonderful moments. But again, the prioritization of God, the prioritization of faith and then the prioritization of America and the American people was so prevalent. And it's so encouraging that we are now shifting in our nation to put God and the American people as a priority. Again, really encouraging. 

David Barton [00:04:34] And I want to back up to even before what you guys acknowledged, because I'm going to go all the way back to my college days, back when I was a music major and back with that music major. I had a hymn knowledge, of course, and it was taught by a professor, a Mennonite out of Kansas, and he just went through and did the history of all these great hymns. So you guys got great as our faithfulness, but you got to go back earlier than that to all the other hymns that were going and like for the Beauty of the Earth and all these classical traditional hymns. I mean, there were some there were some good stuff going. It was it was fun going back in here. It was like a pre-service of the church or something. It was really interesting. Yeah. 

Tim Barton [00:05:13] And so that's funny you say that because I in a text thread, I was with one group of friends. I literally said, I bet some of these are hymns too, and we just don't recognize them. Yeah, that's. Yeah. So, you know, in fairness, some of those if we would have heard the words, we might have been like, yeah, I've heard that one. I know that one. But I'm glad you were able to identify even more because that it just it had that vibe and that feel like it was a very spiritual moment and something's happening. 

David Barton [00:05:43] And one of the lines that Trump said and then I don't recall an inaugural address with more quotable soundbites than what Trump had, I wrote down 8 or 10 that are just powerful. They could be they could be the mantra of his administration for the next four years. But one of them, he said, We will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution and we will not forget God. And so that was one of the statements that just finding out what his administration is going to do it. Those are his three priorities. And so it's interesting. In his first inauguration, he had seven people pray. He had five here, two to open it and three to close it. And there were supposed to be four to close it. And they ended up canceling one just not long before all this happened. And it was in a mom. And they found out that he supported Hezbollah and said, no, no, no, this is not going to be part of the inauguration. So I interviewed five, but even up front with Cardinal Dolan and then Franklin Graham at all. Franklin Graham's prayer was one of the most politically incorrect prayers I've heard in a long time. It was like, I don't care who's in the room, I'm just going to pray what's supposed to happen. But it was so cool. 

Tim Barton [00:06:57] Well, even his intro into that where he said President Trump these last four years I know have been very dark for you. And there were so many moments when you just you felt it was almost a cringe moment for President Biden and Kamala Harris as they're being called out that these last four years have been the worst. But God saved you, protected you. So even for Franklin Graham to drop a little bit of that heat in the beginning I thought was so interesting now. Correct. But not politically correct. Dad, to your point, and certainly some of the things that were in some of those prayers, they were correct, but not as politically tempered as maybe CNN would have preferred. 

Rick Green [00:07:39] That's right. They weren't they weren't the typical political. No, no, not right. Like the normally have at these kind of not just inaugurations, but all the political events the three of us have been through a million times. It's usually this Kumbaya, hold hands, be a shallow as you can so you don't offend anybody. That's not what we got. Now. 

David Barton [00:07:55] I tell you, the rabbi, the prayer, the rabbi. Yes. They prayed. Every Christian could have jumped up and shouted amen with that. It was a powerful scriptural prayer. And it again was politically incorrect. I mean, he went after Israel in a positive way. God bless and Israel and after the enemies of Israel and, you know, God kind of hit them and it was so strong and that way. But then the the the the black man, the black pastor, that prayed. My goodness. It was like you were listening to oratory and rhetoric class all put together. I've never heard so many great phrases and so many curvaceous. I have never heard the word curvaceous used with mountains and valleys. It was awesome

Tim Barton [00:08:38] Well after the miracle. Right. 

Rick Green [00:08:41] They started with one. 

Tim Barton [00:08:42] Right. Right. But then the let freedom ring and again, in some of these text threads, we had people joking and they were like, I feel sorry for whoever prays after him. Right. And if somebody else. Right, somebody else was joking, they're like, why did you put right your fourth runner to run second or third like that. That's not where you put your guy who's going to finish the track race in his relay. And nonetheless. 

Rick Green [00:09:08] It was very much like the reenactment with Henry Highland Garnet that you guys created in American history, black and white. Right. Was that same feeling and that same passion combined with he even quoted MLK several times in a way that it was just so good. It was so good. And and really your. Go ahead. 

David Barton [00:09:27] I mean, did you see Trump's reaction as he walked away from the podium? Trump reached over and grabbed him, pulled him in, hugged him, looked at his face, talked to him, pulled him and hugged him again. And it's like this is what it was like. Trump was going to break down emotionally in a very positive sense. It was just fun to watch the interaction Trump had with that pastor and that prayer. It was awesome. Yeah. 

Rick Green [00:09:49] So good. Beautiful, beautiful, the whole thing. And and Tim, you alluded to this earlier. Even our David, in talking about the quotes from Trump, it was all business, right? It was not this was not soaring rhetoric as much as it was punchy rhetoric that was really, really good. And I felt like it, to your point, Tim, you know, with with Joe Biden and and Cruz sitting right there by him, it was it was almost like A12 punch over and over and over again, like literally punching them for the bad policies that did social damage to the country. Yeah. Now he's going to turn it around. 

David Barton [00:10:20] That word you just said is what I was going to say, too, because Punchy as I was super impressed with Trump's straight ahead conviction and courage, there was no retaliation. And but with with Biden is sitting right off his left shoulder, the closest guy to his left shoulder. He says, I'm going to fix all the immigration problems that we've had for the last four years. And I'm yeah, it's going to be drill, baby, drill. I mean, he just went through it was like a tick list of everything that Biden had done wrong. And he did not pull punches, but he did not try to hurt him. He wasn't trying to to embarrass him. He just was laying out the convictions. This is the agenda. This is what's going to happen. And I was absolutely impressed with his I don't want to say gentle courage, but it was with his truthful courage that was real clear. He's not trying to embarrass the guy, but he's not going to back off what's right and what he's what he's got to do. 

Rick Green [00:11:15] It was the resolve in the way that he did it. You know, my dad texted me. Right. Right. When it was over, In his words were he said I was blown away, that he was so direct and to the point. And even to say that about Trump, who we know is always like that. But it was even beyond anything that we expected from him. You know, we've said it before here on the program, guys, but, you know, the left radicalized Donald Trump to to a point that he is so resolved. You look at his face when he's sitting there waiting when Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar's saying all her nonsense about malice towards none and blah, blah, blah, like, where was that four years ago? Right. But you look at Biden was asleep. If you look over at him and you look over at Trump and Trump just had this impatience about is like he's literally like a. A racehorse in the gate going, okay, let's get over. Get past the pomp and circumstance. I'm ready to get to work. And there's just a resolve there that I don't I've never seen in a president in my lifetime. And because of all that they did to him, and we know this, all things work together for good for those who love the Lord are called according to his purpose. Donald Trump for such a time as this. God has raised him up and he's got the right mindset and attitude. And it's a beautiful thing to watch. 

David Barton [00:12:21] You know, I may have been the only person in America that really liked the fact that every time Donald Trump talked about the country, he talked about our republic. I did not hear the word republic from a single Democrat. All day there were always about saving the democracy. But I did not hear the word democracy come out of Trump's mouth. All he talked about was republic and man as a constitutional distinction. That is huge. The Founding Fathers hated democracies. There have been democracies for thousands of years. It's always been the worst form of government. And, you know, right down there with communism and and tyranny, etc.. 

Tim Barton [00:13:01] I mean, I think some of the dictators that there might be some other forms of government that have done as much evil or destruction. But to your point, it certainly is one of the worst. And the founding fathers were definitely against it. 

Rick Green [00:13:13] And it's so annoying when our own leaders are constantly in it. And I know, David, you're probably not I don't even know if you're on X. You probably I know you're probably not watching my X messages, but that's what I put. I mean, five minutes into this thing, I was like, okay, who? Why did they let Amy Klobuchar get up there and say, democracy 50 times in the opening of the thing? And then to your point, Donald Trump used the right terminology. So what a contrast. Hey, guys, quick break. We'll be right back. We're celebrating the inauguration not just of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, but of freedom and of common sense even talked about that. It's just great to see this day in America. We'll be right back. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:14:54] Welcome back to the WallBuilders  show being broadcast in Yes, the Republic. That's right. Not the democracy, but the American Constitutional Republic. And guys, restoring the republic is what this is really all about. I wanted to ask you, David, because I saw a clip on On Flashpoint last night. We had a clip of Floyd Brown talking about revival and reformation. And you taught this a long time ago. You even had a whole presentation on it and a Yes, cassette tape on it. But if there's a true revival, then there'll be reformation. There'll be change in the behavior of Americans. I know we feel like there's a revival right now. Do you see a reformation coming? Is that you know, to Tim's point earlier, the prioritization of faith is necessary for that to happen. Do you have a sense that we could go there? 

David Barton [00:15:37] Well, I want to take one of the statements that that Trump made, and he made it very clear in a very forceful. This is the quote from him. He said, It is the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female, period. Now, that declaration is what you expect with a reformation. You're going back to basic fundamental principles. You're going back to the laws of nature and of nature's God, to natural law to reveal the law. This is a return. You don't have to say John 316 to be biblical. I mean, you don't have to just quote that verse. It's a great verse. But there's a lot of other verses in the Bible. And there were so many statements like that that reflected that sound biblical position. And it's a position that we talk about. We sing God Bless America, but you got to give them something to work with. Or that's something he can work with. When you've got the position, there's two genders because the Bible says so, God says so. Nature said so. There's not 81 genders like the Democrats say. That's all. To me, I see that as steps in the right direction for that reformation and that reformation in know, it's like previous American reformation. It could be 2 to 4 decades in the coming. But all along the way it's going to get steadily better. And then you've got to help train the next generation, the kids that are born one year and the kids that are born two years, three year. It's going to be a continuing process. Every one, every group of kids is born. They've got to learn the truth, which means it takes a while to get those 18 year olds taught. You got to be teaching them for 18 years. So we'll also be seeing this going forward in the next ten, 15, 20 years that this is a reformation. But I think it is I think this is not just a revival. I think that revival is part of it. What we're seeing with faith perspective, you know, we've had some great interviews in the last few weeks, like with the professional athletes and what we're seeing with that and and then with the national championship college football game with two really outspoken teams about their Christian faith and coaches, it's just been a really good thing to see. But we need to see it in policy. And we saw some of that start happening today with what the Trump administration. 

Rick Green [00:17:49] Yeah, I wondered what you all thought about the fact that he he would make that one of the first executive orders and even even that he would say, you know, male and female. That's it. Two genders only, you know, to put that nonsense to rest. 

David Barton [00:18:03] Let me add to it that he had and hardly got done being sworn in when the website that they had up on abortion rights and reproductive rights.gov is now gone. He had that taken down before he hardly got back to the White House. And that's a big change too. That's life issue and that's LGBTQ plus stuff. And those are moral issues and they're big. 

Tim Barton [00:18:28] When there's a lot of websites to guys that that have now changed updated or like a for or for that pages all were available with even some of the initiatives. So a lot of the things that he has said are already being implemented. I do wonder if some of it is almost like, you know, some of this immigration thing where where people have reported there are some people that are already like self deporting because they don't want to go through the process. You know, I think some of these agencies are like that wouldn't fix that real quick. And so I think some of it is is almost self-correcting. Yeah. Just by, you know what what people are saying like having daddy home, daddy in the room, whatever it is. Just the fact that you have a. 

Rick Green [00:19:08] Kids start behaving. 

Tim Barton [00:19:09] That's it, right? You have you have a leader with clear, strong principles and all of a sudden they're doing much more of what they should be doing in what's right. And so that's that's definitely something that is very visible already. And even though I think some of them under cover of darkness on X Island as already posted, you know, the DOJ's just being successful and we haven't done anything yet kind of thing with some of these websites that are already updating. And so that is, as you're mentioning, there are several of them out there. And this is really encouraging and good news. 

David Barton [00:19:45] So, Tim, two of the things you mentioned. One was on immigration. We've already seen that the the app that is out there that the government has to allow people in foreign nations to set up appointments with border officials. That app is not that that's gone. So already they're there helping enforce that. And the second thing you mentioned those I saw that just this evening, there's already been eight different companies file lawsuit or a different entities filed lawsuits against those that hadn't gotten started yet. You know, they're 12 hours old and they've got all these laws. 

Tim Barton [00:20:19] Is there already triggered? 

David Barton [00:20:21] This is this is an agency this is a department for government efficiency. And you're you're fighting government. I mean, just the whole image of that is amazing. But they've got so many lawsuits now and their name got to work yet. It's amazing what's happening. 

Rick Green [00:20:38] I got to ask you guys about some of the executive orders. And of course, we'll we'll talk. We always call balls and strikes here and we always talk about what's constitutional, what's not constitutional and and have no problem saying if something is not. So we'll be looking closer at these roughly 200 of them. Today, I must say my emotional, most emotional moment of the day. Maybe second only to the greatest I faithfulness part was when Donald Trump held up that executive order pardoning 1500 of the six defendants that have been politically persecuted. And it seems we haven't been able to look close at it yet. But it seems he's done exactly what we asked for here on WallBuilders with our friend Barry Loudermilk. Not a blanket pardon for all 100% of them. So in other words, they looked at some of the people that did actually do bad, you know, very bad things that day. I don't know that any of them got pardons. And there may be some they're still going to look at. But for most of them, it was a total persecution. Friends of ours, people we've gotten to know over the last few years that have been so wronged in this. I broke down and ball Guys, I got to tell you, this is justice finally coming. And there's just so many of these people that I've spent time with and talked through and held hands and prayed. And it's just it's it's no longer rhetoric. He actually did it. And he held that when he held that up along with all of those other executive orders on his desk. I thought that was an interesting shot. Right. There's so many of these that he's doing. But man, I'm just so thankful. And I know I've already hearing from a bunch of them that they hope to be released by midnight tonight. And then for him to turn and say to his guys, hey, take this down there right now so they can get started. That was a beautiful thing. 

Tim Barton [00:22:10] Which, Rick, that actually means there's probably some being released as we are doing this right now. 

Rick Green [00:22:15] That's right. That's right. 

Tim Barton [00:22:16] Which is absolutely incredible. And praise God for that. One of the things I saw that was posted, it might have been men Megan Kelly that posted this, but in the executive order that they they were pardoned and it was with something in the wording was with prejudice so that nothing can ever be brought back against him again because of what happened. But guys, one of the one of my curiosities and I've wondered I don't know that they can and what that would look like. But we hear about these class action lawsuits that people start all the time. And we know for some of these January 6th political prisoners that were targeted that they lost their homes and their businesses, and some of them, like their families, were destroyed. There was great damage. And if we go back to World War two, when you had the internment of the Japanese at the end of World War Two, for many of those Japanese individuals, similarly, in some scenarios, very wrongly imprisoned for what was going on in the midst of of that situation in the world as well, too, for those Japanese individuals who were Americans who were not criminals, were not supporters of Japan or the other side in World War Two, they got a level of restitution and today we might know it as reparations. But it unfortunately, you know, maybe was not the full extent of what they lost. But that's where also something like that makes sense when you have people that have been wronged and the biblical standard, it says if someone steals that whoever the thief was, it was caught. They were pay sevenfold. What was taken from them? There is a biblical model of restitution of what was taken from you gets restored. And I do wonder if there is any grounds in the middle of this that they can have any level of restitution or if if even some of that class action lawsuit is possible. And I don't see how it could or would be in this scenario. But I'm just curious what you guys think. 

David Barton [00:24:16] Yeah. I don't see how you can do a class action lawsuit per se. If it went through the judicial process and the convictions were there. He didn't overturn the convictions and the court didn't overturn them. He just pardoned them. So I think it's going to be tough to do well. 

Tim Barton [00:24:31] But even saying that there were no for the majority of people, not only were there convictions, for many of them, there weren't even trials. So so they were held. Right. As as enemy combatants in this scenario, their due process rights were suspended, etc.. And these are Americans who did in most cases that we identified nothing wrong. 

David Barton [00:24:51] Well, but historically, insurrection is also the crime that used in civil war and trials weren't always held with insurrection. And so, you know, that may be part of the nuance as well. I don't know. 

Tim Barton [00:25:02] Right. But, Rick, you remind me. I don't think any single one of those individuals was charged with insurrection. 

Rick Green [00:25:08] Nobody was charged. Not a single person was charged with insurrection. You know, I tell you one one other area, since we only about a minute left that somewhat similar to this, is the fact that he is, in fact, restoring any military member that was kicked out over the jab and giving them back pay if they if they want to be restored. That's a big restitution slash, you know, reckoning and justice move right there. 

David Barton [00:25:30] You know, that's that's going to be tough for some of those military gasp because now you're talking three years after four years after their jobs, their careers, they moved on. Right. Going back and retraining for military is going to be a tough thing. But I think a lot of will. But it's the right thing to do for sure. 

Rick Green [00:25:44] And maybe they can get take a reserve position in order to get the back pay. Right. Which they deserve. 

Tim Barton [00:25:49] That's right. I think there's going to be a strategic, creative solution because Trump wants these military guys taken care of. And that's part of how you rebuild the military, too. That's right. Taking care of the guys who are active and who are veterans. That encourages more people to want to be there. That's right. Helps them overcome some of this woke nonsense. 

Rick Green [00:26:09] So many of these things we're talking about, restore faith in the institutions, faith in our in our values, faith in our our system and make people want to serve. And guys are so many more things we didn't even get close to. It's going to take a lot to cover everything that happened today. It's a wonderful day in our history. Should be celebrated with with all the pomp and circumstance. But this was so far beyond that. So far beyond just the you know, the songs and the speeches. There's a great depth to what happened today. And God is restoring our nation revival, reformation, all of it's coming. And we get to be a part of it. Thanks so much for listening to the WallBuilders Show.