Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's The WallBuilders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. We are in the middle of a three-part series with Tim Barton speaking at the Pro-Family Legislators Conference on the importance of as we enter into, or we're in the Middle of the 250th anniversary of the country, that we return to those righteous roots that made us great in the first place. We have to understand the foundation. So, let's jump back in with Tim Barton. At the Pro Family Legislators Conference. If you missed yesterday, don't worry about it. Just go ahead and listen today. It's still great information right where we're picking up. You're still gonna get a lot out of it and it's still a great program to share with your friends and family, but you can always go get yesterday's program at our website, wallbuilders.show, wallbuilders.show. And of course, any of these programs that take, any of the presentations that take more than one program, you can piece them together right there at the website. So let's take a really early break in the program today before we pick up with Tim. At the Legislators' Conference, so stay with us, folks. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:02:15] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. As I said before the break, let's jump in with Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Tim Barton [00:02:21] September 6, 1774, the very first motion was to open with prayer. Now remember, John Adams is the one who wrote Abigail about this. And John Adams says it was Thomas Cushing who made the very first motion. And when he made the motion, there were some debates because we weren't sure that we could all agree together. Then Sam Adams stood up and he said, he's no bigot. And as long as we choose a man who fears God and loves his nation, then that man can lead us in prayer. And he suggested the Reverend Jacob Duché. And actually, September 6 was the first meeting, but they have, this is when they have the discussion, the debate. So, they send for the Reverend Jacob Duché, he doesn't show up till the next morning. And the records of Congress, and by the way, the guys who were there all kept journals, including John Adams, and the records of Congress indicate that that opening prayer lasted for two hours. Now I don't know how spiritual you feel, but I would sure like to know before I showed up at a two-hour prayer meeting. I love Jesus a lot. I would just like to mentally prepare myself for two hours of prayer. Like this is this is a big deal. And let's also point out. The men who were in that room were not chosen because of their spiritual prowess. They were chosen because of their political understanding and their voice. And they said, these are the ones we want to lead us in this political opposition, what's going on. And these guys show up and I'm saying this again, this is not the most spiritual guys in America. But this is how much the tone was, that this opening prayer goes on for two hours and actually this is when they identified, they also had, they read from four chapters of the Bible and what John Adams points out to Abigail, he says, that they read the Book of Common Prayer. The Book of common prayer was an Anglican prayer book written back in the 1600s, nearly 100 years before this, but it had assigned chapters to be read every day. So, it's a Bible reading plan. So, they read these scribe chapters and John Adams says, Abigail, it was as if God Himself had ordained those passages to be read, or specifically one he pointed to. Now, I'm telling you all this. I would encourage you; you can go look up this letter. It's September 16, 1774. It's about a week after it happened. You can go read, and there's lots of these John and Abigail Adams I'm going to reference. So, you can find them in the writings of John and Abigail Adams, but here's part of what he told Abigail. He said, Abigail, I must beg you to read that Psalm. Read the 35th Psalm to your friends. Read it to your father. To remind you, Psalm 35 is one of the Psalms that David wrote while King Saul was chasing him, right, trying to kill him. And David says, God, I've done nothing. And he seeks my destruction, Lord, you rise up, be my shield, my buckler, my strong right arm. On he goes for 28 verses. And this is what they read that morning. And here's what's cool. In the letter, John says, Abigail, you must remember. That we had just gotten word that the British Navy had surrounded Boston Harbor and they were bombarding Boston Harbor. And so, as we read this, it was as if God Himself had ordained it to be read. Now, again, this is so cool because this is John Adams literally laying out, not only did they pray, they read the Bible and God spoke to them specifically from the Bible, and they were so encouraged from it. And this is why he says, I must beg you to read that Psalm. And we want everybody to read it. Read it to your friends. Read it your father. He writes her another letter. And in this other letter, he tells her something else Congress did. He says, Abigail, we've appointed a continental fast. Millions will be upon their knees at once before their great Creator, imploring His forgiveness and blessings, His smiles on American counsel and arms. Again, he's telling her one of the decisions and actions Congress took. And he says, we've appointed a day of prayer and fasting. And when he says this section, it's almost like I can see him almost excited. Abigail, millions of people are going to be praying. This is incredible. Now, there's only about 3 million Americans at that time. So for him to think millions are praying, he is assuming everybody's going to pray, which might be a little naive, right? That might be, a little over assessing the situation. However, it does... It does give us an indication of what he thought about their culture at that time. That, no Abigail, like if it's time to pray, we know everybody's going to be praying for this. What's interesting is as you track this idea of the Continental Congress calling the people, the government calling the people to pray. This seems unusual for most people, but I would point out this was a very common thing in early America. By 1815, there had been more than 1,400 official government-issued prayer proclamations. Now, this is a really good thing to note as well, and by the way, those are from the New England states alone, not even including some of the southern states, because there's not as good of historical records to know how many they did on different years. This is the New England States alone. But here's what's worth noting, people today often say, well, the Founding Fathers weren't really religious or they were atheists, agnostics, deists, all these thoughts and arguments that are there. This is one of the easiest things you can point to and just ask a few questions. Because remember, an atheist is someone who says, there is no God. An agnostic says, well, there's no way to know if there's a God. And a deist says, well there is a God, but he's not really involved in our world anymore. If you're an atheist, agnostic, and deist, you know what you're never gonna do? That! You wouldn't do it one time much less 1,400 times. So, here's my question. If someone's like, well, I mean, they were, you know, secular guys, separation of church and state, atheists, agnostics, deists. My question is, then why did they pray all the time? Right? Because if you're people who if you don't know if there's a God or if you believe there isn't a God, or if you think well, we don't need God a part of what we're doing Then why were they always having days of prayer? And just to note this, if you look just during the American Revolution the Continental Congress issued 15 prayer proclamations during the American revolution. There were two kinds of proclamations One was prayer and fasting one was for prayer and thanksgiving And these are actually kind of logical. The first one was for prayer and fasting because they recognized we're going to war with the most powerful military in the whole world right now, we need God's help, let's have a day of prayer and fasting asking for God to involve on our behalf and what's going on and so they have a day of prayer in fasting. And it actually wasn't very long after that that they recognized, I think God's actually helping us. Well, what is the appropriate response if God has helped you do something? You need to go back and tell God, thank you, set day of prayer and thanksgiving. And it wasn't very long after that, they're like, we really need some help. They had a day of prayer and fasting. It went back and forth. 15 times during the American Revolution the very first one as I mentioned was a day of prayer and fasting and what's also really cool About this is again go back to the letters of John and Abigail Adams It wasn't very long after this day of Prayer and Fasting that John writes Abigail and he says; Abigail It's incredible the things that are going on. Now this letter is October 26 1777 if you want to look this up because in this letter says Abigail There's so many things happening right now. He says Colonel, Colonel Green, The British were coming to town and his militia actually repelled them and then Colonel Smith, he went and they attacked the British fort, we took the British fort from them. And he's just going through these things that don't really make sense. And they really don't make sense if you understand that he said militia on the first one. Now the Continental Army wasn't very good yet, really wasn't very good, militias were less. 

Rick Green [00:09:51] Quick break everybody, stay with us, we'll be right back on The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:11:01] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show, jumping back in with Tim Barton, speaking on righteousness and how righteousness exalts a nation and how we get back to that foundation that made America great. Let's go back to the conference with Tim Barton. 

Tim Barton [00:11:12] Right? The militias were like, hey, has anybody got a gun? OK, cool. Bring your gun and let's get together. That was a militia, right? Like these were not professional trained. A lot of times there's some faulty logic in this because as a country boy, I got a lot of my friends and I'm like, it's like the Redneck Patrol and we're like, boys, we'll get our guns. We're gonna solve all these problems. It's like, I appreciate the heart behind this. I'm just telling you, if you're going up against the Navy SEALs, we're all dead, right? Like if you were going up against professionals, your redneck savagery ain't gonna work, okay? This is their militia. They're going against the number one military in the world. Well, then John Adams in this letter says Abigail, it's amazing. He says, we just destroyed a 64 gun British man of war ship and 20-gun British men of war ship. Now this is way more impressive, because we did not have an official navy yet. Great Britain was the number one military power in the world because they had the number-one navy in the word. They controlled the seas. And when we were British colonies, that was our navy. When we separate from Great Britain, all of the naval vessels, the war ships go with them. Right? We don't have any war ships. Once we separate, we start trying to build them. But early on, what happened is because we had business owners in America, they did have some shipping vessels for their business. So, we took whatever naval vessels we had, we would take whatever cannons we could find, we'd put those on, cannons on the shipping vessels or whatever boats they were. And that was how we fought back at the beginning as we're trying to build some of these frigates and some of the bigger things. If you ever go to Washington D.C., go to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, up on the third floor, they have one of the original ships from the American Navy, it's from 1776. It's called the Gunboat Philadelphia. It looked kind of like a rowboat with some cannons on it. Right? Now, again, perspective. John Adams is like, Abigail, it's amazing. We just destroyed a British naval vessel with 64 cannons and one with 20 cannons. Now, why is that amazing? Because if this is what your Navy looks like, right? Like... Did you row really fast in their direction? Cause like it doesn't make any sense. And this was John Adams point is that what is happening right now makes no sense at all. Something beyond us is happening. This is a big deal. In fact, there's another letter that John Adams writes not long after this where he says, Abigail, I was eating dinner tonight and there were men at a table eating dinner behind me and as they were eating dinner, they were talking about all these things going on and one of the men stood up and he pounded the table and he said, we can't forget the most important thing. And then he gave his explanation. And this is John writing says, and I think it's the best explanation of what's actually going on. Here's what John wrote Abigail that he said, I think is the best explanation that that man had said. It appears to me the eternal Son of God is operating powerfully against the British nation. Right? And context again, they're at the table and they're trying to figure it out. This guy stands up and says, you can't forget the most important thing. And you're like, all right, he says, Jesus. Because that's the eternal Son of God who was operating powerfully against the British nation. Now, let's also point out when John Adams says Abigail, I think this is actually the best explanation for what's going on. That doesn't come from someone who thinks we don't need God in government. That came from someone who knew, if God doesn't intervene, we will never succeed in what we're trying to do. Let me go further, because as the Revolution goes on, George Washington, actually, if you read his writings, and you can even just do a, get on like archive.gov, and you go to the letters of George Washington and it has just like the thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands, and you do a keyword search and you actually can put  parameters around the years that you are searching, and in the American Revolution, look up the word "providence" from George Washington's writings. And see how many times he talks about God's providence directly intervening. And also, to get some clarity in this, one of the stupid arguments today is that if the Founding Fathers used words like providence, this was one of the ways we know they were deists. Because providence is an impersonal word for God, therefore they were deists, now that's dumb for lots of reasons. Let me give you two. Number one, the Geneva Bible was the Bible of the Reformation. The Geneva Bible is the Bible that influenced the pilgrims when they come to America. The Geneva bible is a Bible in America at that time. The Geneva, Bible uses the word providence 144 times. So, to suggest someone is a deist for quoting a word that was in a very prominent Bible at that time and in that Bible 144 times like that just seems crazy. Yeah, let me give you maybe even a better example. George Whitefield, most famous of evangelist in the First Great Awakening. We have three of his original sermons in our collection. Super cool. One of the sermons, the actual title of the sermon is Zacchaeus Climbed a Tree to See Providence for Himself. Now, if you don't remember, Zacchaeus was a wee little man. And a wee, little man was he. Climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord Jesus. He climbed up to see Jesus. Whitefield says he climbed the tree to see Providence for himself. Why does it matter? Because when you have the most noted evangelist, First Great Awakening, and he's saying that Providence and Jesus, like those are synonymous in what we're talking about right now. Providence was not a secular term for God. Okay, but Washington, 1778, in this letter, he writes General Thomas Nelson Jr., a letter. Thomas Nelson, Jr. Was a signer of the Declaration from Virginia. He joins the Continental Army, ends up becoming a major general in the American Revolution. Washington, and these are these are guys that are friends from Virginia. Washington writes him a letter and he's reminding him of what's going on. Here's what Washington told him. Washington said the hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. Now, this is Washington saying God's hand up to this point. Now this is 1778. So, we there are many miracles yet to come that we know in the revolution. But up to his point, he says God's hands have been so obvious. That if someone sees this and they're not acknowledging God's hand, they have to be worse than a non-believer or they might just be wicked to not acknowledge what God's doing. But his next part is my favorite. He says, but it will be time enough for me to turn preacher when my present appointment ceases and therefore, I shall add no more on the Doctrine of Providence. When George Washington is like, guys, I've seen enough miracles I could become a pastor. But that's literally what he says, right? He says, but for right now, I'm gonna focus on being the general and try to win this war. This is how obvious God's hand was, and George Washington is like, I could become a pastor after all I've seen. Right. God's hand was obvious. When the Revolution finally comes to an end, 1793, it's with the Peace Treaty of Paris. The Peace Treaty of Paris is signed by these three Americans. On the left is John Jay, the middle is John Adams, the right is Benjamin Franklin. The document they signed is still on display in Washington, D.C., it's in the State Department, it's on the sixth floor, it's called the John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room. On the Left, you can see there are four signatures, The one with the blue ribbon, that's David Hartley. He was the British ambassador. Then below it, you have John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay. What is worth noting about this, not only that this document ended the American Revolution, it brought peace between us and Great Britain, and it really kind of formally established America as an independent nation. What is so significant is the title of this document. In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity. 

Rick Green [00:19:17] One last break folks, stay with us, we'll be right back on The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:20:27] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Let's jump back in with Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Tim Barton [00:20:32] When people tell us, no, the Founding Fathers weren't Christian, they weren't religious. Let me just tell you, this is first of all, the weirdest title for a peace treaty I've ever seen. But when you're saying we're doing this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who is the Trinity, right? That's what they're talking about. And this is what made America free and independent nation. Now, let me also throw out that it seems like if this is the document that made America formally a nation because now like we've peace with Great Britain, we're done. It seems like we would at least show this in one history book somewhere. It's in none. I am showing you things that are not historically debated. They're just not historically taught, right? Very different thoughts. And part of why this matters is because again, go back to what John after Thomas Jefferson 1813 and he said that general principles like the way we pulled this off, it was the principles of Christianity. That's not a crazy thought. If you actually know the story. You're like, oh yeah, that's totally what they did. They absolutely did this because of Christianity. And let's go even further because after they get to the Revolution, which is what John Adams largely talking about, once we get the Constitution, George Washington is our first president. George Washington is one of the most significant names that unfortunately is being slandered very ridiculously in modern standards, but he is the indispensable man. George Washington rightfully is the Father of our Nation, because without George Washington, we don't win the revolution. Without George Washington we don't have a constitution, because the constitution convention would have fallen apart. Without George Washington, we don't even know what a peaceful transfer of power looks like, right? Beyond the fact that his military generals wanted to make him the king, and he turns that down, when he's president, he's the one who said, nobody should be president more than two terms, because then it would be like, they're trying to be a king, so I'm gonna step down, I'm a go back to my farm, Mount Vernon. He showed the world what a peaceful transfer..... Because this is the era of monarchs. There's no peaceful transfer of power from one family to another back then. Right? He's doing something so significant. So, he is the indispensable man, the father of America, rightfully called all these things. At the end of his presidency, he delivered his farewell address. Consider the most significant political address any president ever gave. And in the farewell address, it's worth going back and reading for lots of reasons. So much good advice. But one of the things he said in it, of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity. Now, let me just draw your attention to the fact. He's talking about political prosperity, which is the success of America as a nation. That's what we're talking about. He says of all of the things you could do, all the contributions you can make that help America be successful. He said religion and morality are indispensable supports. In the entire farewell address, there was only one thing he said was indispensable. Religion and morality. And then that's interesting because there's a lot of things he gave, a lot advice he gave. He said this is indispensable. He went so far as to say, in vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars. Anybody that opposes religion and morality politically doesn't love their nation. That's the father of the nation saying that. Why? Because he knew what the foundation of the nation was. In fact, this is why John Adams, the following year when he became president, the next year, it's from 1798, he wrote a letter to the militia of Massachusetts, the entire only four or five paragraphs. It's a super easy read. There's a lot of really profound things in it. This is the most famous line from that letter. He says our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is holy and adequate to the government of any other. Now, this is one of the most logical things that we misunderstand in culture. He said, our constitution only works with moral-religious people. Why? Cause our constitution is built on the premise of giving freedom to the people. But freedom only works if you have a moral foundation. I mean, right now, we're seeing it. We're seeing riots in different towns and communities. Like, we are seeing freedom doesn't work if you don't have morality. It's why Chicago every weekend has all these shootings and murders. Like, freedom doesn’t' work if you have a moral underpinning. Our constitution, it's only gonna survive if we have religion and morality. This is what they're talking about. Because, by the way, where do you learn morals? Religion. And when they say religion and Morality, If you do a little deeper dive in this and it's not very hard, they actually, all of them in their writings, clarify what religion and morality means. Religion is Christianity. Morality was the Bible because that's where you learned it from. That's the foundation. What they're actually saying is without Christianity and the Bible, this experiment's not really going to work. And to say that today, people would look at the Founding Fathers, and again, largely people would go, I'm not sure that's really true. Okay, I get it. This is debated today because we don't know the story very well. It didn't used to be debated. If you go back to 19th century historian, Stephen Caldwell, and in the 1850s, he wrote a book about the founding fathers and specifically about the constitutional convention and what was going on there. And here was one of the things he said and assessed from their convention. He said, it was in the spirit of true Christianity that the hospitality and blessings of the United States were offered to all the world. All were invited to enjoy it. The Christian men of that day intended that the nation should continue to be a Christian nation. They did not place Christianity beneath nor over their political institutions. Rather, it would be the atmosphere which they breathed to administer them. It was the source of their inspiration and they sought to make the blessings available for human advantage. These institutions and laws were to be the instruments of Christian men for the good of the whole human family. 

Rick Green [00:26:28] Alright folks, we're out of time for today. Tomorrow we'll get the conclusion, so we've got to interrupt him one more time here. Tomorrow we will get the conclusions of his presentation. If you missed yesterday or you joined us in the middle of today's program, it's available right now at wallbuilders.show. Thanks so much for listening to The WallBuilders Show.