Rick Green [00:00:07] It's Good News Friday here on The WallBuilders Show. Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. Rick Green here with David and Tim Barton. Appreciate you joining us. Be sure and get some more good news and our other programs at Wallbuilders.show, our website for the radio program, and then wallbuilders.com for all of our other tools and resources and upcoming events this summer and throughout the year, a lot of great things happening. And in fact, we're doing all of those things. So we'll have lots of good news programs next year as a result of the seeds that will be planted. So thank you for being a part of that. Wallbuilders.com to get signed up for our emails or to make that one time our monthly contributions. Let's jump in guys. Good news today. David's getting us started. 

David Barton [00:00:42] Well, I've got a follow-up story to a good news story we had earlier. You may recall that the Sean Duffy who's over the Department of transportation had restored the picture of Jesus. To the Merchant Marine Academy. Merchant marine academy is one of our surface academies the Naval Academy or the Air Force Academy or West Point, et cetera. And so the Merchant Marine Academy. They had a complaint from Mikey Weinstein, who has been notorious with Democrat administrations. He can pretty much call the military and get any religious kind of toned item taken out almost instantly. And so he did that with, when Biden was there. And with Trump back in, Duffy said, no, we're taking that picture of Jesus out of the basement. We're putting it back up on the walls. And that picture of Jesus, just to put this in perspective, that's no little portrait. That picture is 10 feet high and 19 feet wide. So we're talking one that's bigger than. I don't know, a living room in most houses, biggest two bedrooms in a lot of houses. So it's a really, really large picture. Uh... It was done during world war two by merchant marine man And by the way, if you ever want to see kind of a movie. About the Merchant Marine World War II. There's a movie called The Battle of the North Atlantic has Humphrey Bogart. And just a number of old, old time star actors in it. But it is really, it was done in the war, it was down in 1943. And it was showing the sacrifice that was being paid by all these guys that are. They don't They didn't even have guns on their ships back then. They were to be accompanied by naval ships that would protect them. But by 43, they started putting guns on the ships because they're carrying all the supplies to the troops. Obviously, they'd become the target of all the enemy ships. So it's a great movie, World War II, it's black and white movie. In this painting done in 1944 during the war. You have a sea and there is a boat of sailors and they're lost to sea They're distressed, can't really find their way. And Jesus is in front of them with his arms outstretched to them. And they're all appreciative and you can see that. The kind of the changes on their face when they see Jesus. So it's a real inspirational painting. And it's interesting just in. I saw some of Duffy's words about this and I saw some from those at the Academy and I thought it'd be worth. Worth reading some of this. So the story that the pain is called Christ n the water And Duffy posted a video about it. And he talked about how many of the midshipmen came up after the dinner where he announced that Jesus was coming out of the basement. And they came to him and he said that. It was such raucous applause and such enthusiastic. He said when I talked about taking Jesus out of the basement and putting this historic picture back in the place of prominence. The young midshipmen lost their minds. They were delighted that Jesus would be put back. And so it so inspired him that he made his own copy. So now. What Sean's got in the Department of Transportation, when you walk in, he's got that same big 10 foot by 19 foot painting up on the wall behind his desk. And so now there are two of those, so. I think that's pretty cool that. Mikey Weinstein tries to get it taken out. Now there's twice as many as there was before he tried. He probably should have left it alone. But there was one other report I thought was real good here. And it was from one of the midshipmen who was talking about, he said, this is a big deal to me personally. Because he's come to see that that painting is a symbol of God's faithfulness to him. And whenever he was having a tough class or tough test and he was fearing that he was sinking academically. He would go and stand in front of that painting and get the inspiration that the Lord was there to take care of him. He said, I remember many times when I used to pray underneath that painting. When I was on the verge of failing the class or I had a big test or I was worried about something. He said, I prayed underneath that painting. So to me, it's very significant. It's a very important painting. And I think it's an important part of the school's history. So just a little bit of follow up on that good news. Friday that we had a week or so ago, maybe two weeks now. And more to the story and so. Sean Duffy has now made that something in the Department of Transportation building as well, which is great news. 

Rick Green [00:05:04] So it multiplied is what you're saying. So they tried to strike it down and it multiplied. And I was thinking actually about what that that Keleshaker for book he used to put out or report he'd put out every year about hostility against religion. And, you know, we're having so many wins right now. It's just good to remind ourselves, man, 10, 15, 20 years ago. It was just incident after incident after instant against religion being in the public square. And now... You know, we're getting incident after incident of it being restored. 

David Barton [00:05:29] Yeah, this is like, man, this may be really too old for you guys. Tim may may know just because he was raised in the same house. And I had it, but. There was this old saying that don't throw me in the briar patch. And it was the briar rabbit kind of stuff. And it's almost like, oh, Mikey, Mikey. Please, please, you know. It is like, he, he throws you in the briar patch and it's actually better for you. So come on, Mikey, keep taking this stuff down because this administration. They may double up or triple up or quadruple up or who knows what they may do. So it's not going the way he wanted for sure. 

Rick Green [00:06:00] Good stuff. Yeah, hopefully a lot more victories like that to come Tim. What's your first piece of good news today, man? 

Tim Barton [00:06:05] Well, this one is something that I think was floating around social media much of the week. The headline of the article says, 2,000 young people in UK encounter God at all night prayer gathering, a sense of holy awe, and the article highlights that there are signs of a spiritual shift becoming more evident around the world, but in this case in the United Kingdom. It was put up by CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and they said the UK was a difficult place to share the gospel. For decades. But in the last six years the Brits have seen Identifying as Christian and church attendance among 18 to 24 year olds increase. From 4% to 16% now. When you think about 16% Identifying, it doesn't seem like a lot, but when you went from 4% to 16% in six years, that's an incredible growth in amongst 25 to 34 year olds and went from 4% to 13% and they're calling this part of the quiet revival because It's not something that I'm really up until this last week with this video of 2000 people that were packed out in a church singing worship songs raising their hands just going after the worshiping God and Jesus that they they highlight there was Not just worship there were salvations. There was deep repentance people came seeking healing and miracles, etc. But  I saw this video and up until then I hadn't heard much of anything especially not really over the last six years that that really at least was big enough that I could remember what was going on over in the UK? And so what's happening in the uk? It really is unique It's something that the article even highlights things that we have seen just this trajectory happening around the world that God is on the move. And he's stirring the hearts and minds of people, drawing them back to him according to an inner varsity. An evangelical Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses, Decisions for Christ Rose by 33% last year, and this is talking about on university campuses. Then on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, they report its highest number of salvations Since the pandemic. And the international ministry accrue. Recently surpassed one million mark and commitments to faith globally so in the United States on college campuses, high schools. I mean, just kind of every metric from some of these groups that are tracking it, they are seeing significant growth and increase and people turning back to So this is really encouraging. Yeah, you know, guys, we've talked now for several years about the idea of us seeing signs and remnants of us being in a great awakening one of those kind of long-term Reformation kind of revivals and I We've gone through this a lot. I don't want to rehash all those things. I don't want to wear people out, but I know we have people that are listening. New all the time, didn't catch some of the old ones. And when you look at reformation and revivals and buying... By revivals, we're really talking about like awakenings, the first great awakening. In America from 1730 to approximately 1770, the Second Great Awakening from approximately 1800 to 1850, give or take. The awakenings, these reformation movements, they lasted for decades, it wasn't just a weekend service, a weekend revival. But it was over a course of time, and it- really looking specifically in America at the first and second Great Awakening. It was times of great tumult. It was a lot of Friction there was a a lot disagreement. There was a lot of conflict but in the midst of it all there were debates over truth and morality. There was a drawing of people to God, there was a restored and renewed hunger and vigor for God in many people, and maybe even ironically it wasn't the majority of people that had this incredible revelation from the first and second great awakening. During the second great awakening at the heart of the awakening nearly every single major nomination In fact, I think it was every major nomination in America split largely over the issue of slavery in the middle of The Second Great Awakening. So it wasn't the most unifying time in America, but it was clear that God was on the move. And I'm saying that because As we're looking at what's happened in culture in America and even around the world It is so clear and evident that God is on the move that that hearts and minds are being changed. And even though we're seeing major cultural battles, that things that we never thought we'd have to debate, like boys and girls being actual things, I mean, just mind boggling the idea that we're having to say, no, boys shouldn't be competing in girl sports, that that should be a separate thing. We didn't think we had to have these debates, but in the midst of having these debates. We're debating truth and morality just like we're done in the first and second Great Awakening. And so there's a lot of things that are just so similar to what's going on. But the reason I'm saying all that is because we've been talking about this for years. And so we're continuing to see things like this article that's highlighting not just in the U.S., is there some major shift? People being drawn to God and having heart and mind changes but even around the world and in this case over in the UK where there was again this video has been around social media this last week where two thousand people packing it was Saint Church's Hackney location is with the title that they identified here in the article but they were there to worship God, their salvations, there was deep repentance with the article highlights. Really cool stuff and it's very clear that God is on the move. 

David Barton [00:11:14] You know, it's one of those things, too, where the- Um, so, so rarely do people recognize when they're in a revival. Tim, you mentioned that. But it's interesting, I've seen a lot of writing now on how it appears that in England and in America. Something spiritual is happening in both nations. And even in England, they're starting to get some good court decisions now, which they have not had in a number of years. And as you point out, the young people there, and we talked just a couple weeks ago about the growth and the rise of young people here in America, how they're responding to the gospel, especially young men. So that would be really good for that country. To be able to have an awakening because right now they're more secular than France and more secular than Germany. And they shouldn't be with the heritage they've got. 

Rick Green [00:11:56] So we've got good news not only on the God consciousness the recognition being able to have displays, but also on actual conversions baptisms And now we gotta make sure that we make disciples, right? So we gotta take it to the. Next level as well. Gonna take a quick break when we come back. We've got more good news for you folks. Stay with us. You're listening to The Wall Builder Show. 

Rick Green [00:13:21] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday. Jumping back over to David for the next piece of good news. 

David Barton [00:13:26] Where we're going to move from kind of the... Spiritual sphere to the political sphere although those two things are not separate and I'm not meaning to suggest they are. God's gotta be involved in everything. But what I find here about this article is it's a very interesting article on the polling that's happening right now. And the poster here and this from the Trafalgar Group. He's talking about how that the mainstream media right now is that things are so good in the country right now and so good with the people. That the mainstream media has actually changed the way they're doing polling. And so he's talking about all these fake polls that are out there. And how. And this is the point I thought that he made that was really good. When you look at polls across elections. And on election night we talk about which ones we think are reliable, which are not. But the ones that consistently rank as the most accurate polls out there.They're groups like. Well insider advantage and trial figure and Emerson and Rasmussen and You know, there's all these polls that time after time, over several elections in a row. They've been the closest and been the most accurate for reporting what actually happened. And What did what? What Traviger and I guess his name here is Robert Cahaly.  If i pronounce that right he is talking about the fact that you're not getting any of those polls cited by the mainstream media. They're siding. One off poles, two off poles. Poles that are some. Brand new group somewhere. Because they have different numbers from what all the mainstream guys have. And so he was, he points out how that Newsweek and USA Today and Vanity Fair and Guardian in all these different groups. Are not using the normal polls because they're not giving the good news. On all these others they're talking about how the Trump in in trouble the people are with them and they're not back in his decisions and And they're telling pollsters they made the wrong decision when they voted for Trump and he's doing the wrong thing and he's just calling his fake polls. And talking about how inaccurate they are when compared to the others. And so. I think two really good comments from what we would consider at least a far left and a center left, two different media groups, but on MSNBC. MSNBC theCommentator there said, Trump voters do not regret their vote. A recent survey found that 92% of Trump voters are satisfied with how they voted. And the University of Massachusetts Amherst survey found that only 2% of Trump voters regretted their vote. So... It's like that's not what you're hearing on the mainstream news that you're having this this Voter regret Trump. People wish they hadn't voted for him and then here CNN. And it said despite low approval ratings. CNN's chief data analysis Harry Inton shared that Trump is still handling the presidency better than Americans believe Democrats would. And so when you put Republicans and Trump up to Democrats.  It's 45% think Trump's doing a good job and only 12% think that Kamala Harris would have done a good. So the numbers when you put them side by side are quite striking. And I think that that's good news that things are going so well. That they're having to make up polls and come up with numbers and use groups they've never used before trying to find something to sustain their position. So I think this really is deeper maybe thanmost people think at this point, which I think is great. 

Rick Green [00:16:50] You know, part of what's surprising on that is, is just because Trump's moved so fast, like normally you would expect the public to have whiplash a little bit or at a little of shock or more would turn against him or there'd be more, oh, wow I didn't vote for that. I'm actually, instead, seeing the opposite on social media. Everybody keeps saying, that's what I voted for or I voted for that. Yes, I'm glad that happened. Anyway, really, really good stuff there. Alright Tim, what's next man? 

Tim Barton [00:17:14] Well, I've got a couple and I'm trying to pick which one I want to do. This one follows along the line a little bit of what I had before the break. This is highlighting something that happened in California at the beginning of this month that the headline says record 7,750 baptized in California and largest water baptism in US history It more than 7,000 people were baptized Saturday. Now that I'm reading the article off Huntington Beach, California and what organizers called the largest single-day baptism event in American history. This is the second year they've done it last year 6,000 people were baptized along Huntington Beach, but this year it's a record 7,750 people were baptized. There were 30,000 there in attendance. There was worship music from Bethel, Cody Carnes, Carrie Jobe were there helping lead worship and a pastor, Mark Francie of Ocean's Church, he was hosting kind of this whole event and he told the crowd, you're part of the largest water baptism in American history. And ask this rhetorical question, right? I mean, who thought? God was gonna do this right here in the United States of America and of course, you know, everybody's excited and cheering but what's also super cool that article breaks down some details. The first person baptized on that Saturday was a 71 year old woman named Joanne. She told organizers she'd considered baptism for 40 years, but kept procrastinating. And finally decided that now was the time at 71 years old, she needed to make this happen and got baptized. And this is 

Rick Green [00:18:44] 40 years of procre- I thought I was bad about cleaning my room. Man, 40 years. 

Tim Barton [00:18:49] For anybody listening right now. Right? If you are a Christian, if you have not been baptized, it's not too late. Right? This is... Jesus told the disciples to go make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So after we have that conversion, we're this idea that we become Christians, the next step... In that discipleship process of what the Bible laid out was we should go and be baptized that that is a very logical practical step from the Bible and we don't need to get into those depths of theology although I love it. We could talk about it, but it's not too late If you haven't been baptized go be baptized the organizers for this are Baptize America And I think actually guys we talked about maybe having somebody from the organization on the radio program here in the next couple weeks to let us know some of what's going on. They have more events planned. They want more churches involved. But at least for this moment, what happened in California, the largest baptism event. In U.S. History, 7,750 baptized. That's super cool. 

Rick Green [00:19:49] Yeah, man, let's let's try to get them next week because like you said, there's still a lot of people out there that may not forget what you said the lady's name was, but you know, 40 years of procrastination. 

Tim Barton [00:19:56] Joanne. 

Rick Green [00:19:57] Joanne yeah, thank you Joanne for setting a good example of getting it done even at 71 years old so that that's a superb what we'll start talking about the new dates they have coming up All right, David, what's next, man? I know Tim was trying to decide. I thought about, you know, us letting him cheat and do two in a row. But, um... My name's not David. I would never do that. 

Rick Green [00:20:18] Yeah, he'll be like, this is just one piece of good news with 17 sub parts. Yeah. 

Tim Barton [00:20:22] He's like they're all kind of related so I'm just gonna read all the articles in my stag and Tim stack and stay big we don't care 

Rick Green [00:20:28] That's right. We figured out his relation. They're all in this timeline. They are all in the universe or whatever they call the Marvel world. 

David Barton [00:20:34] Hey, does that sound like a little jealousy going on there? Yeah, you wish you could do that. I've got one on legislatures. We were talking, I guess, a week or so ago about how so many of the state legislatures are wrapping up their sessions now. Some have Texas is a 140 day session every other year. Some states have a 60 or 90 day session now, they'll have a 30 or 60 day session next year. And so a lot of them are coming to the close of their sessions with a lot of stuff happening in those sessions. And here's one I was looking at that. In the state budget, they're passing the state budget, the governor is about to sign it. And in this state budget, they have actually... Done a 55% decrease in abortion funding. From what they did last year. And so at a time when we've talked about how so many states are not moving in a pro-life direction and the state initiatives have not been good. Here you got a state that has reduced abortion funding. 55%. Which is from last year. And that's the biggest cut in the state's history. They've never had a cut that big in state history now you guys tell me which state this is. 

Rick Green [00:21:47] It's going to be a liberal state, Tim or he wouldn't have asked us. 

David Barton [00:21:49] That's right. It's gotta be. It's a trap. Is a trap. So which is it? 

Rick Green [00:21:57] No, um... 

David Barton [00:21:58] If you think of the one it would never be, that it can never be. 

Tim Barton [00:22:02] California,. 

Rick Green [00:22:02] You're close. Put it in the top five, but it'll never be that state. 

Tim Barton [00:22:06] Oregon, Washington. New York. 

David Barton [00:22:08] Washing State

Rick Green [00:22:09] Washington State, wow! 

David Barton [00:22:11] Washington, the state has defunded Planned Parenthood by 55%. Cut abortion access money by 55 percent. 

Tim Barton [00:22:20] Wow! 

David Barton [00:22:21] That's Washington State, guys! I mean, maybe that goes with the revival we were talking about earlier and the baptisms that are going on. 

Rick Green [00:22:29] No kidding. 

David Barton [00:22:30] Washington State. And as you can imagine, Plan Parenthood, they are whining about it. They call it devastating.T hat's just, that's a great piece of good news coming out of a state we would not expect. Maybe these good things will just keep happening and keep happening keep happening Maybe that'll give some encouragement to people in Washington state that, Hey, this is not a lost cause. Get back in there and keep fighting because now you've got a little bit of Momentum at least in one area going right direction. So Great news from Washington State. 

Rick Green [00:23:02] Yeah, so unusual cuz in the states like California or Washington, Oregon will often have a good news story, but it's some pocket right some little. County or some area that's red. And saying still but you're talking the whole state you're talking to the state legislature which is extremely liberal up there. So yeah, very good piece of news. All right, Tim, you get to take us home, man. What's the last one? 

Tim Barton [00:23:22] Well, I actually think I kind of finished last Friday with a little tease of this one. I didn't get to go all the way to the details. So I wanted to get to some details before I moved this from my stack. It's of the thousand troops who identify as transgender being discharged. According to the Pentagon, where Trump has come out and said very clearly that this is not part of what we're doing, uh, just that to quote from Sean Parnell, a department spokesman, he said, today, the department will issue guidance to the military department and service ending. Accession of individuals with a current diagnosis or history of or symptoms consistent with... Jim is for you and all non-medically necessary treatment, approximately a thousand service members who have identified as being diagnosed with gender dysphoria will begin the voluntary separation process. And guys, here's where that was interesting. It is not only, as Trump said, we're not going to continue down this transgender nonsense because just to back up... Trump actually banned transgender troops in his initial term President Joe Biden came in and he rescinded the ban for the military and so then There was this incredible promotion and influx. Under Joe Biden and then President Trump in January. He said that nope, we're. We are not doing that where this gender identity thing divergent from an individual sex cannot satisfy the burger standards necessary for military service Pete Hexeth came out. And identified that individuals with a current diagnosis or history of or exhibiting symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria is not in the best interest of the military services and his Uh, not clearly consistent with the interests of national security, but they offered benefits for those that would voluntarily separate or at least they, they said that they could be eligible for voluntary separation pay. And to this point, a thousand of those transgender soldiers have voluntarily signed up for this. And this is something that is there's a lot still that we will have to wait and see how it all plays out, but the fact that we now have A Commander-in-Chief upholding a standard, you have Pete Hegseth. Who is over the military, upholding a standard, over at the Pentagon, helping organize things, and then you have people. That are recognizing, you know what, this is not the place I need to be anymore getting out. All of this is really good news. 

Rick Green [00:25:37] Very good news across the fruited plain hey one last piece of just news teachers out there you don't want to miss the Wallbuilders teachers conference coming up this summer in July. And we've talked about the program a few times, but we have to take education back and we have Educators that know how to make civics and fun and entertaining and exciting and know what the education system is really all about. So we got two opportunities for this July 7th. On July 10th, it's a three-day conference. Monday July 7th through Wednesday July 9th or Thursday July 10th. Through Saturday July 12th and it's practically free. It's not totally free, it's like a hundred bucks, but I mean that's practically free. For three-day conference that's just so you got some skin in the game and we know you're going to show up And and not lose your hundred bucks. So no seriously you for a hundred dollars three days of training like this And it's not just public school or only private. It's anybody public or private school. So go to our website wallbuilders.com and go to the little tab up in the top right and click on initiatives. And you'll see the teacher's conference there. Really great opportunity. We hear just raving reviews from teachers when they attend this. And the students benefit as a result as well. Check that out today at wallbuilders.com. Thanks so much for listening to the WallBuilders show.