Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the WallBuilders Show. Appreciate you joining us today. Got Mary Miller with us. Congresswoman from Illinois will be joining us a little later, doing a fantastic job in Congress. Great friend to WallBuilders and Patriot Academy and just a great family up there in Illinois as well. They do a lot of great ministry in their local community. Good folks. So anyway, Mary will be with us later. I'm Rick Green. I'm here with David and Tim Barton right now. And guys, a lot, a lot going on this week. I feel like we're we've been able to kind of catch our breath a little I don't know if y'all are feeling the same thing and start to you know, kind of process all that's happened in the last week and even start to kind of, be able to, to not measure what's the word I'm looking for. Maybe, maybe analyze a little bit. The response is out there and, oh man, I'm so encouraged. There's such a harvest out there. There's an amazing shift happening. Churches were full this last Sunday, you're just seeing some really cool stuff out there, right? 

Tim Barton [00:01:02] We really are. What we're seeing is the report from churches that this is the biggest Sunday they've had this year with the exception of Easter. So this is a second biggest Sunday of the year. And I also speculate this will not be the only Sunday that a lot of people are coming to church looking for answers and help. In the sense of I think there were some people that were challenged by what happened this last week with Charlie Kirk's assassination. And maybe they didn't muster the courage to make it to church this last weekend, but maybe right in next weekend or two weeks, I think for about the next month, there's going to be a trickle coming in of people that are coming to explore what's happening with faith. And Rick, to your point, it's one of the incredible things that we are seeing God so clearly and evidently on the move in the nation that some of the great posts, I I think even on Friday, we talk about on Good News Friday. Some of the different posts by people that were talking about going to church and asking for help and directions. Well now we've seen people that went to church and then posting some of their experiences. These are people, by the way, that generally were anti-faith, that they were never going to go this direction. And in John 12, Dad, you referenced this last week, where Jesus is setting the disciples up for His coming death and He says, unless a The grain falls to the ground and died unless that seed falls to ground and dies, it doesn't produce fruit. But if it dies or it falls to a ground and die, it can produce this incredible harvest. And that is certainly part of what we are seeing happen. There's an incredible harvest, which guys, as a side note, this is not really where Mary's going today. Mary- It really is one of those kind of almost good news kind of stories of what she's doing that we are going to celebrate and talk with her about today. We had her actually with us last week at the pastor's briefing. We, Dad, you and I were at the pastors briefing when we got news that Charlie Kirk was initially been shot. Ultimately, he was murdered. We didn't know he was dead yet at the time. But Mary Miller was the first congressman we had there with our pastors. And and she was sharing some of what was going on we said oh we got to have you on the radio to talk about this but not to digress on this guys I am very interested also looking at some of the response from churches this weekend there were a lot of people that were posting if your pastor doesn't address Charlie Kirk. Right as this incredible Christian martyr which ultimately he was martyred for his faith. That's the reason he was killed for holding a biblical position. People now are accusing him of being this extremist and racist and blah blah blah. Ultimately, that's not what he did. The last several years of his life, if you go back and analyze, he was not a radical in anything he believed. He believed what generally fundamental Christian beliefs, theological positions, it wasn't crazy or extreme to say there's two genders. To say that there's male and female and what biological sex is and the best thing you can do is get married and have kids. He was not an extremist but not to digress, it's interesting, there were a lot of people posting on social media that they were going to find a new church because the pastor, the staff, they pretended like none of this happened and actually just yesterday I was doing an event. And was talking, there was lots of pastors there. I was talking with pastors afterwards, and I said, you know, I think a lot of pastors don't realize how out of touch they are. When, I was talk to specifically a youth pastor, but there were lots of pastors in the room, I said to this youth pastor how many of your kids saw the video of Charlie Kurt's assassination? He's like, oh, every single one of them. Before we started service, every kid was talking about it. And I said right. And so, if... every single kid in your youth group is talking about something, and then you get up and pretend like it didn't happen, it makes you seem incredibly irrelevant in the conversation. And I think this last weekend, there were some pastors who really missed an opportunity to be relevant to what was happening in culture, to show connections of scripture. And I do think it's going to be interesting, guys, as we're talking about this incredible move that's happening, it's going to be interesting to see how many pastors are gonna be at the forefront helping lead people through this with this kind of emotional rollercoaster they're on and how many pastors are gonna pretend like it never happened and what's gonna be the impact on their church? I do wonder if it's kind of like COVID with some of the pastors that have the courage and boldness to stand up and lead and some that were kind of sitting in the back seat. And I know this is not really where we're going with Mary Miller, cause really, or Congresswoman Miller, we're really highlighting the good things happening in the nation and some of what she's doing. But I do wonder if some of these pastors are are exposing themselves for the lack of relevancy and their connection to their people. They're not shepherding their people with where their people are. They are pretending like it didn't happen. And I am curious to see if there's going to be some negative consequences in some of these churches, as were some churches like in COVID. Some churches grew exponentially significantly in some churches kind of dwindled away, I'm curious if this will have a similar effect. 

David Barton [00:06:25] Well, Tim, it's interesting, on Monday, I was talking to a number of pastors. I did several pastors meetings, Sunday, Monday, et cetera. And in doing those pastors meetings it came up the same kind of thing you're talking about. And there were a lot that missed the opportunity to be relevant. And there was even, I think in addition to what you're saying about relevance, I think there's another thing that's starting to come out. And as I was listening on Monday to a lot of the media coverage, And of course I'm listening mostly to conservative stuff, but they're playing clips from much more liberal areas. And there's a lot of claims out there about Charlie that are nowhere close. And I was actually riding with a really good friend and this really good friends had been in political office and he was up, opportunity to be elected about a month ago and he lost the election by about six votes. And he had two pastors stand up in that election that was going on and said. Hey, this particular guy, he's really mean and he really did this and he said this and whatnot. And so the crowd kind of went against my friend. And what's interesting was after that election, just what a month or so ago, somebody went to one of those pastors and said, have you ever talked to this guy you talked against? Have you ever met him? They said, well, no, I've never met him. No, I never talked to him. So how is it that you stood up and said this stuff about him that's so negative when you've never meet him and you've never talked to him? And the pastor really felt quite convicted over that and actually called my friend and now they've become good friends. And he had been told all this wrong stuff about my friend. And I say that the same way with Charlie. Some people have got this idea because of what the left has said about how hateful he is. And then now we're starting to see longer clips played of Charlie and what he's saying, what he is doing, how he handled adversaries and how he handle those that attacked him. And I think it's also going to undermine, not only pastors who miss an opportunity to be relevant, but I think its gonna undermine a lot of media voices and sources that people have been listening to, because they're now seeing evidence that's quite the opposite of what they're hearing. So I think there could be a lot of good things that come out of this long range. But Tim, back to what you're saying. Mary Miller, when we were with her, and of course you mentioned she was the one that opened things up the day Charlie was murdered. And Mary has stood up in Congress and worked with President Trump and said, okay, we need to codify this thing of genders and what they are in men and women and sports. And so she has introduced a bill that's expected to go through the House, has the support of President Trump. She can tell us more about it, but it's dealing specifically with gender issue and codifying some of the things that President did in that executive order. And that's one thing we've seen really happen really well this year. There's so many executive orders that Trump has come out with, Congress has been able to turn into federal law and codify. And that's really good because that means it can't be overturned just by the next president that comes in. Congress is gonna have to get involved and that makes it much more difficult to reverse this stuff. So Mary Miller out of Illinois, great lady, and Tim, we were together. What'd she tell us? She's got eight kids and 25 grandkids or something of the sort? I mean, she is such a great lady. Great family, strong family. 

Tim Barton [00:09:44] Yeah, sevenids, homeschool mom, now tons of grandkids. And then she said, you know, if she can handle homeschooling seven kids, then she's not scared of anybody in Congress. 

Rick Green [00:09:55] Oh, that's right. And they're, they're great kids, man. I've been up there to speak for them at their, at their farm, their ranch. And they do this great father, son retreat. In fact, I think it's this, this coming weekend or next weekend. And, and, just good folks and her husband and youngest daughter has actually been down to do Patriot Academy's constitutional defense course. So that you're right. I mean, they've just an amazing family and she's got such poise. I mean I love watching her on the house floor when she's, you know, speaking, she's just got class, man, and she, and people listen and pay attention, great communicator as well. Up. Good stuff, we'll take a quick break. We'll be right back. Congresswoman Mary Miller with us here on The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:11:35] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Always good to have Representative Mary Miller with us from Congress. A great family. Her husband, Chris, serves in the Illinois Legislature. We just love this family and I've had the chance to be out there at their place. So Mary, thank you. God bless you, Congressman, for coming on. Thanks for some time today. 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:11:51] Well, you're welcome. I'm glad to join you to talk about my legislation. 

Rick Green [00:11:56] Well, I can't, but you know, it's hard to believe you even have to pass a bill like this, right? We're still kind of pitching ourselves going what happened in the world that you've got to literally define biological reality for people and, and make it the law of the land to not, you know to not do the things they've been doing, so thank you for doing it. I know you have to sometimes wonder, wow, is this why I came to Congress? And, uh, but it is, it really is. There's an evil that has, um, uh and a deception that has allowed a lot of pain to take place in our country and it's time to right the ship. 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:12:24] Well, I can tell you what happened is we kicked God out of our society and out of her schools, we tried to kick him out of our government and, you know, we decided we were going to redefine, male and female, redefine marriage, redefine good and evil. And, but anyway, thank God that we have president Trump and he was at the museum of the Bible. And yeah, he was basically standing up for religious Freedom. And then, you know, allowing some of these school children to share how they've been persecuted in public schools. And I love that he invited secretary Turner to the microphone and then secretary Turner is calling on the United States to pray for the country. So big things happening. 

Rick Green [00:13:13] Now, Mary, you're talking to a Texan here, so a Texans always going to take a chance to brag, but Scott's a good Texan, man. He was a state rep here in Texas. We love Scott. He's so good. I love him. But yeah, very, very exciting. Before we get to the legislation, you hit on something that's so important. The reason we're here is because of a rejection of God and adopting moral relativism. And Benjamin Rush said back in the founding that philosophers, you know, get unmoored. In other words, we aren't anchored to anything. And that's essentially what happened. We kicked God out. There's no truth. There's not right and wrong. So anything goes. And we try to tell people 20 years ago that we would end up here, you know, literally rejecting science and biology. Are you noticing a tide turning? I mean, even when a Joe Rogan says, and I'm going to pick Jesus over the big bang and comes from a very libertarian, even, even at first leftist, then libertarian to saying, wow, that didn't work. We're in crazy land now. I need something solid to stand on. Are you sensing that? I mean, as a member of Congress, you're, you around even these members from all kinds of districts, are they beginning to wake up and realize we're in La La Land at this point? 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:14:21] Absolutely. And I think under Joe Biden, um, where, how he went after, patriotic religious Americans. I think that that caused the Christian churches to become a little stunned and to quit sitting in the corner and being silent. And so, you know, we're, you know, the scriptures tell us, and Jesus told us and Paul to stay awake. And so instead of woke, we are awake. And we're unashamed of our heritage, which our country was founded on both faith and freedom, faith and family and on our Judeo-Christian values. So we have a great leader in the White House and he surrounded himself with people like Secretary Turner who are calling the country to prayer and calling us back to the Bible because the event took place at the Museum of the Bible, very significant. 

Rick Green [00:15:18] Yes, David was there, and just how cool that is to have go from a place where we've rejected God, and we're kicking the Bible out of schools and all that, to a place where the president is standing in the Museum of the Bible and donating his family Bible to the Museum and talking about and emphasizing the need to get that back into our culture. It's just a great time to be alive, and I love this reemergence of those foundational principles. Let's do talk about the legislation. So this is... Essentially codifying, making it very clear, biological male, biological female under Title IX. So is that, I mean, how does anybody oppose that? What is their argument against you on this? 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:15:58] Well, first of all, the bill is called the Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act. And what I've done is reintroduced it. So the bill addresses both girls' sports and locker room issues, but it also clarifies the definition of sex in Title IX under the Education Amendments of 1972. The purpose of Title IX was to give girls equal opportunities in both education and athletics. And what the left did is try to redefine sex there. And so my bill has a definition section in it and it's going to use biological definitions for male, female, and for sex. 

Rick Green [00:16:42] Amen. Just common sense. I mean, really, in reality, when when you had the bill last time was how close were you? And is it you must be facing, I guess, some opposition within the Republicans. I'm assuming all the Democrats are against this because they've sold out to this crazy ideology. And you can only afford to lose a couple of votes on the Republican side. What what do you think will be different this time? 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:17:05] I don't expect any opposition from the Republicans. I know people call this an 80 20 issue. I think it's a 90 10 issue. I think that's one of the reasons president Trump won is that this made the Democrats look like Looney tunes. And, you know, we've lamented about how legacy media is all in for the Democrats, um, but I think the Democrats are meeting their payday because they have had. No pushback, virtually no pushback on their bad ideas. They haven't had to defend them and they keep going weirder and weirter. And under Joe Biden's administration, they were basically demanding that the American people deny reality and the male female issue was one of the things. And, um, bottom line is it's unfair and unsafe and it would be the end of girls' athletics. President Trump courageously stood up while he campaigned. And then he issued executive order, no men in girls sports. He had a big event at the White House, a celebration. He had lot of moms with their little girl athletes there and we're all celebrating together. And I'm reminded of the great late Adrian Rogers, pastor in the Memphis church. He said that if you take God out of society, you will have chaos the same way as if you took instinct out of a beehive. And we have a mental health crisis in our country, and I think you could go just directly back to taking God out of our public schools. We've told our children they came from nowhere, they're here for no purpose, that they can define good and evil, they're heading to nothingness. I mean, it is a recipe for disaster, and I that we're looking at the solution to all of this. And God is in the restoration business. And that's why I'm so excited to be here and to be under President Trump's leadership. So many great opportunities. And I just want to tell the American people, your listeners today, to ask God to show them the opportunities that they have to be rebuilders on the wall, so to say. 

Rick Green [00:19:21] Amen! Oh, that's exactly what is so exciting about this moment in time because like you said, everybody can play a part. Everybody's got a brick that they can put on the wall and mortar and you know there's something they can do right there in their communities. I love the first line of what you said in January when you presented this back in January. I rise today in defense of women. Man, I mean it is so needed right now and I do feel the tide turning. I think you're right. I think it became the beehive without instinct. We took God out, and literally what Adrian Rogers said is what we've been experiencing. Kind of a Romans 1 thing, too, where everybody's just doing crazy stuff and worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. But people are listening now. I think, like you said, not woke, but awake. And they're paying attention, and so they're supporting things like your legislation and looking for ways to make a difference locally. So thanks for leading the way. What would be the timeline on something like this? Is this? Do you think you'd see it on the floor towards the end of the year, or what do you think? 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:20:22] Well, hopefully under President Trump's leadership, it will be pushed forward, but it's going to be, it's gonna go to the education committee and there'll be a markup and a vote there and then hopefully onto the House floor for a vote. But like I say, I expect 100% support by the Republicans. 

Rick Green [00:20:40] Love it. And this is, does it mirror the executive order? Are they very similar? I can't remember exactly what his did. 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:20:46] Well, it mirrors the executive order of no men and girls sports, but it also includes this definition section at which the Family Research Council and Heritage helped us write this into the bill. 

Rick Green [00:21:04] And that's so important, Mary, too, for other areas, right? Not just sports, right. We're finally getting some common sense into the law, because that's what they've been able to manipulate, because it wasn't, you know, if there's wiggle room, they're gonna get in there, and they're going to manipulate those words and change them. So you're kind of locking that down as a beginning step to get us back to that sanity. So good stuff, good stuff. Best thing for people to do to help in calling their congressmen, they ask them to support. What do they call the bill again? You said it's the defending women? 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:21:32] It's Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act. 

Rick Green [00:21:35] There we go, Safety and Opportunity for Girl's Act. 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:21:37] The most important thing people could do today, I think the thing that could turn our country the most is find out how your legislators are voting and go vote in the midterms. Go vote in primary elections, get rid of the frauds. There are plenty of them out here and the power is with the people. People, find out how your elected officials are voting and hold them accountable. 

Rick Green [00:22:03] So good. Absolutely. Congresswoman Mary Miller, one of our heroes. We love and appreciate you. Tell the whole family howdy from the Bartons and the Greens and we'll see you soon. 

Congresswoman Mary Miller [00:22:13] Thank you, bye-bye. 

Rick Green [00:22:14] And stay with us folks, we'll be right back with David and Tim Barton. Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks to Congresswoman Mary Miller for joining us today and for filing such an important bill. Of course, guys, we've got our legislators conference coming up in a few weeks. This also needs to be done at the state level. I think you guys were saying that earlier, but to have this codified in the federal law and finally get clear on what a male and a female is, it's a good step forward for sure. 

David Barton [00:23:45] Yeah, it is. And you're exactly right, Rick. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be taken through the state level. And I think you're gonna see a real way. We were talking earlier about some of the impact that Charlie Kirk has had or his death has had. And I thing one of the things you'll see is you'll a lot more boldness now in standing up. And Mary was exactly right. She said, I used to think this is a 80-20 issue and I think it's more like a 90-10 issue. And I that it's even, it's not only a 90/10 issue. But as a result of what's happened with Charlie, you're seeing people stand up with some boldness that we haven't heard from before. And there are people starting to take sides and speak out and say, the insanity has got to stop. And I think you're gonna see some more of that at the state level in states that we didn't expect will end up passing some of this good stuff. 

Tim Barton [00:24:30] Yeah, Dad, to your point, I do think one of the consequences, the impacts of Charlie Kirk's assassination is when we talk about some of these issues that have been 80-20 or even 90-10, it's never really felt like 80- 20 or 90- 10, because the majority of Americans have not gotten involved. And I really do think, right, not to be silly tongue-in-cheek on this, I think Charlie's assassination has been a turning point for us. This is not, in my mind, similar to some level of when Japan decided it was a good idea to go ahead and bomb Pearl Harbor, and we can look back now and go, man, America was primarily isolationist in politics. That was their idea. They didn't want to get involved. They were doing everything not to be involved with. We can look now and maybe have some criticisms of that as well to some extent, when they were wanting to turn away some of the ships, people need and help. However, when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, all of a sudden, the majority of Americans are like, what? We're not sitting by and watching this. And then they were very supportive of the effort to get involved. And I think that's part of what has happened with Charlie's assassination. What Mary Congresswoman Miller is doing is something basic. It's foundational that the fact that we have to codify this seems crazy. But I think now there's gonna be a lot of people to wake up, they're ready to get involved and take action, and they will be so supportive of these basic common sense things, and dad, to your point, I do think there's going to be a lot more clarity on this being not just an 80-20, but even a 90-10, because so many more people are going to get involved and let their voices be heard. 

Rick Green [00:26:08] Yeah, no question. A catalytic, just a seismic shift here in this moment, and everybody can feel it and hear it, and you know, we just want to encourage everybody, don't miss this for yourself. Listen to what the Lord's telling you about your voice and how you can be a vessel and disciple people in your life and learn truth, start studying, but then find your voice, and start speaking to those people in life, whether it's just a couple of your coworkers, your family, you know maybe at your church or whatever platform the Lord gives you. We encourage you to start letting your voice be heard as well. Thanks so much for listening today. You've been listening to The WallBuilders Show.