Welcome And Good News Friday

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Builder Show taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And it's Friday, so we got good news coming your way. We love good news Friday around here at Wall Builders. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton, and they've got a lot of good news to share with you. If you didn't get to hear any of the programs earlier this week, be sure and visit our website, wallbuilders.show, and then make sure you share any of those programs, but certainly today's program. Get some of this good news in the hands of your friends and family. Let's jump right into some good news. David, what's our first piece of good news?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, guys, this first story involves the good news is that it could have been a tragedy and it wasn't. And the news is a little late getting to us because of the fact that it was kept by the police for a while and they had to get some footage and release some things. But it took place in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. I've been there. I love Pauls Valley. It's kind of a country part of Oklahoma. This kind of a mid-sized city, a little South Oklahoma City and north of Dallas Fort Worth area. I've been through there so many times. Just great people. But there was an attempted shooting at the school there in Paul's Valley. There was a guy who had studied the Columbine shootings from back in, what is that, 99 maybe? I mean, a long time ago, where the went in and shot three 13 students and killed a teacher and you know had it all planned out. And this guy had studied that and wanted to do the same thing. And so it's real providential. First off, it ends as a good story. He did not he did not kill anyone at all. Did shoot someone, but the one he shot turned out to be the hero. Um so in the way this worked out, this guy went into the school. He had studied the Columbine, the way it went. He had uh two loaded pistols with him, all mags with him. And when he got into the school, uh he saw uh uh a student and and tried to fire at him, and his gun misfired, which I don't know what kind of gun it was. That's not necessarily easy to do with today's guns, but that's the first providential thing is he pointed at a student and didn't fire. So he went over behind a vending machine and cleared his action and came back again and then saw another student and fired at that student and missed. And so talking to students and and whatever, as this is going on and he's firing and missing. Um, what happened is the principal heard the shots and instead of calling for the cops, he ran right at the guy. And he ran at the guy. The guy shot him as he ran at him. Um he survived, but he took the guy down, pinned him and held him. Another teacher came and helped jump on him and pinned him and held him until the police got there. What really could have been a bad tragedy turned into having a hero for a principal who ran ran to the sound of gunfire. Always think of Job chapter 38, where he talks about the war horse that when he hears the sound of battle, he runs to it, not away from it. That's the way this principle was. And this principle was very open that it was God who gave him the courage to do it and helped him take the guy down. It's just it's it's really a good news story and what could have been a really bad tragedy. And I'm just amazed that the the guns he had misfired the way they did. I guess it could have been pure incompetence, but with so many of the guns today, it's it's really kind of hard to be that kind of incompetent. So I kind of think it's real providential. But a lot, a lot of kudos to the courage uh of the principal from Paul's Valley ended up a great story in what could have been a huge tragedy.

Christian Faith Echoes From Space

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Oh man, you gotta love stories like that. Very, very good news. Tossing it over to Tim, man. What's your first piece of good news today?

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Well, guys, this one is going uh outer space, uh circling the moon. This is dealing with the Artemis II astronauts, and specifically, uh there was a this article that highlights something that happened on day six of the mission. Hey, Tim, can I ask you, do you know why they called it Artemis? What why did they call the missions Artemis? Do you any idea? Uh I don't. I uh I would have to look that up, which certainly I can do, and maybe while you're doing your next article or when we're on break, I will try to look that up. Or Rick might look that up for us at some point. But I don't know why it's Artemis, and probably lots of people out there listening right now know exactly what it is, and they might be laughing or rolling their eyes that we don't know that. But I will just tell you, George Washington didn't call it that. That's why I don't know. If this was something early history, I might know it better. I don't know why they're calling this space uh mission Artemis.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Well, we did have no we did have a founding father named Artemis Ward. Maybe it was named after him some way since it's the 250th.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

I, you know, that would be interesting. I I I doubt that's the case, but but yeah, you know, we will look it up. Uh we'll see what we can find out. But this one, uh, it says Christian song wakes up Artemis II astronauts on day six of mission. Uh, and the article goes through several details about the mission, uh, but a couple paragraphs I want to highlight. It says in a message posted on Facebook, Christian musician Toby Mack reacted to a report from the New York Times highlighting that astronauts participating in Artemis II mission began their sixth day on the journey by listening to the song Good Morning, which he, meaning Toby Mack, produced in collaboration with the late Christian singer Man Disa. And he has some comments on it. Uh and the the article goes on to break down how uh some of these astronauts uh have have spoken out about Christianity and some of their faith, specifically Victor Glover, uh is the one they're highlighting in this article, and uh specifically on Christianity and God's role in creating the universe, uh, is part of what he talked about. And they asked him if he wanted to share anything about Easter. He said, I don't have anything prepared, but when I read the Bible and I look at all the amazing things that were done for us who were created, uh, we're in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe and the cosmos. Only goes with this. Uh and what one of the things that's kind of cool the article highlighted uh is he said, before I go and even get in a plane to go on a flight. So this is not in space, just in general. If he gets on a flight, he says, I always say a prayer, I always think about my family. God doesn't really have to have a concern for my patriotism, but I am an American and we are blessed to be born in America. Uh anyway, the the article, when it was written, they have not made it back from space. But now, obviously, we've hopefully people have seen some of the videos, some of the interviews of these astronauts coming back from space, and the very clear Christian message. In fact, probably uh later on in one of our stacks, we might even have some of the articles highlighting more of some of their commentary uh from a faith perspective. And even one of the astronauts, uh, when he commented on on seeing a cross on one of the chaplains, he he teared up. Uh and he's not a person of faith per se, but it was just so moved after coming back from space. So there are a lot of really positive faith stories that have come from this. This is just one article highlighting that on day six, the astronauts woke up with a Christian artist song, uh, which is kind of the cool thought to think about. That that was what the astronauts woke up to on day six of their mission.

Acronym Overload And Cultural Sanity

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah, I gotta tell you guys, I I loved watching the clips from you know, not only the amazing video and pictures and all those kind of things, but just the gospel being proclaimed from outer space to the entire planet. Uh just amazing, absolutely amazing stuff. Loved it. Um, you know, and and those are the heroes that we're looking for. Absolutely. 100%. David, next piece of good news, man.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Okay, guys, this one is going to sound like satire, but this did not come from the Babylon Bee. This is not satire. And I know they've talked about how that it's gotten to where in recent years so much of what they write is sarcastic satire actually becomes the headline, but this is not one of those. So I'm going to read you the title of a report here. The the title of the report, the report. Now, this is the title, the official title or official report. It's called the M M I W G2S L G B T Q IA plus National Action Plan. Now, if you can remember that, or even better, can you decipher that? And I'll come to that in a minute. But who prepared this plan? Well, this plan was prepared by the, here's the title, by the 2SL GBT, QQIA plus subworking group. So what was known as LBTG, LBTGQ, LTG, LGTBQ IA plus has now gone off the rails. Uh let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen letters in their acronym for their name. The good news is if you have to know the name to join the club, they'll have no more members from this point out because nobody can go over what well, Matt Walsh, who who did the thing, what's a woman, recall that from a few years back. Matt Walsh dug in and said, Well, here's here's what it means. Now, here it is again. M-M-I-W, G2L, S-G-B-T-Q-Q-I-A plus means missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning, intersex, and asexual. So apparently they've added all what they call the murdered people in the LGBTQ community, and murdered is now a queer identity. So it's just crazy nonsense. I mean, these guys keep getting weirder and weirder and more out of touch, which, Lord willing, that means they'll have less and less being drawn to them and following the movement that they kind of started a number of years ago. This is just absolute insanity, which I think is a good piece of news that these guys are kind of outing themselves at how crazy they are. All right, guys, I know you got a lot more good news.

Patriot Academy Leadership Training Message

Franklin Graham Urges Trump Toward Christ

SPEAKER_01 10:28

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show. Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America? We're looking around for leaders of principle to step up, and too often, no one is there. God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They're crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America, in the halls of Congress, in business, in the film industry, in the pulpit, and every area of the culture. They're leading effectively and impacting the world around them. Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation, and now's your chance to experience this life-changing week that trains champions to change the world. Visit Patriot Academy.com for dates and locations. Our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a Citizen Track for Adults. So visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America. Join us in training champions to change the world at Patriotacademy.com. Welcome back to the Wall Boulder Show. It's good news Friday. Let's jump back in. Tim, what you got, man?

SPEAKER_02 11:43

All right, guys. This is one dealing with President Trump and Franklin Graham. Uh I chuckle because earlier this week, uh there certainly was a lot of hubbub. My my actually Monday started very early in the morning. Uh I had a call from a friend uh up in Congress, and they were very concerned with the president's post that very, very similar imagery to him looking like Jesus. Um and then that has been talked about a lot this week, so I don't want to uh open up a can of worms and a rabbit hole necessarily to dive down into. Um it is a post that President Trump pulled back, and then there's been lots of thoughts and comments about it. Uh however, before all that hubbub, and again, not trying to get in the weeds on this, I think there's some context and some nuance, um, and and also recognizing that, man, one of the great things about something happening in this administration is President Trump does have some really great people around him, uh, some people of very strong faith and conviction. And you always want leaders who are surrounded with good and godly people. That there's a reason that when you look at the Bible, like King David had Nathan and Samuel, and there's prophets around God's chosen political leaders, these kings, whoever else it might have been, because they were speaking wisdom in a situation when it's sometimes the king, those leaders they needed some godly wisdom or counsel, and sometimes that meant even changing some of the decisions they thought they were making. I say all this because we do know some of the people that uh spoke directly with the president about this, encouraging him, sir, this is the way people are taking it. It's not good, it's not a good look, here's why. And President Trump pulled down that post, which is very unusual for the president to do. Nonetheless, he did it. So one of the things that certainly we ought to appreciate is some of the people that President Trump does have around him that the people got as they're using in great ways. But let me back up. So, before all of this hubbub with uh President Trump posting something, uh Franklin Graham had actually sent him a letter all the way back in October of last year. But President Trump posted that letter on social media on Palm Sunday. And what is significant about this, and I say this because there's a little context where people uh saw the imagery certainly looking like uh President Trump, right, AI version and put him over what looked like a depiction of Jesus, and that's why rightfully so a lot of concern with that. With that being said, um one of the things that President Trump has a long record of is saying that he's not sure that he's gonna be into heaven, he's not sure he's good enough, etc. etc. Right. So lots of lots of communication, whether it's hyperbole or a joke or right, whatever it is, Franklin Graham took it to heart. And Franklin Graham, and this is again, this was October of last year. Uh you can look this up and President Trump to make it very easy for you, posted it on a social media on Palm Sunday, but he posted Franklin Graham's letter. And in this letter, Franklin Graham, first of all, was congratulating Trump on helping secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But in the letter, he goes on to urge President Trump to seriously consider his eternal state, to accept Jesus as his savior and cease trusting in his own works if he hopes to go to heaven. Uh, the a few comments from the letter. He says this week you commented in the media that you might not be heaven-bound. And uh let me skip down a little bit. Maybe you responded in jest, but it's an important issue to know for certain that your soul is secure and will spend eternity in the presence of God. The only one who can save us from hell is Jesus Christ. You can't save yourself. I can't save myself. Anyway, on and on on the goes. And what is great is not just that Franklin Graham sends him this incredible letter where he is laying out for the president, sir, right here, here's the way it works. It's not just great that he did that, although that is great. It's also awesome that President Trump posted that on social media. Now, how much he read and took to heart, we don't know. Uh again, you know, maybe he was saying some things in jest previously, maybe he was serious. We don't really know. But the fact that Franklin Graham did send him something with great clarity, and and the letter is really good in so many areas, and then that President Trump posted it, it is also really encouraging. Now, I know as I'm as I'm putting this out there, there is a little maybe nuance imbalance for people who are going, well, it doesn't matter he did that because he had this post this week. Look, I get it, but we still are celebrating when good things happen, we want to acknowledge good things happen. And President Trump posting a letter from Franklin Graham, which gives a very clear outline of the path of salvation, biblically speaking, how it works, that we are not good enough, but Jesus came and through his sacrifice, his blood, we can be forgiven. Uh we can have regenerated hearts, et cetera, et cetera. All this incredible stuff in the letter that the president posted. Guys, that is really overall really good news.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, it's incredible that you know, God blesses our you know, people to have that opportunity to speak into to leaders' lives. And uh it's actually incredible, even even having the national conversation on these things. So certainly thankful for Franklin Graham in that in that role. Uh David, what's your next piece of good news?

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Well, this one deals with the war in Iran and how that really is closing down. Uh, you know, there was two weeks there that that they were gonna have this ceasefire, and they talked about kind of coming to an agreement, and two days into that ceasefire, it was really clear that Iran has no interest in giving up nuclear program at all, uh, even though Iran's got its ears completely pinned back. I don't know much of what they've got left anymore. It seems like they had maybe uh close to a million drones and missiles, and they're pretty much seems like that they're running out of those because they had I I think it's now 17 different 17,000 different sites have been hit by by uh allies just wiping out their their supplies in Iran. And so they're not willing to back away from nuclear programs. So that ceasefire lasted two days, and now uh what's happened is Trump is saying, okay, we're not putting up with you closing down the Straits of Hormuz, we're not gonna let you shut down uh oil there. So we've now moved the Navy in there, we've taken over that, and we've just notified every nation that if you're working with Iran, if you have any papers associating with Iran, we will board your ship. You're not going through the Straits of Hormuz, you're not carrying oil out of Iran, it's just not gonna happen. Uh Iran is going to be completely crippled until they they make some agreements. With all that being said, what I'm about to announce is so crazy that the commentators had to put out the New York Times just beat the Babylon Bee at their own job. Now, the Babylon Bee's job is making fun of news stories that are out there. And so Babylon Bee is nothing but satire. Uh sometimes they have a lot of truth in their satire, but it's still making fun of really stupid things in the news. And the stupid thing in the news here comes from the New York Times, and it says that the war against Iran is turning Iran into a major world power. Can you conceivably tell me by what measurement Iran is becoming a world power by having lost every capability they have? This is this is crazy to me. And so again, it's kind of like the story I just did on the now, I don't know, 21-letter LGBT, whatever it is now. These guys are so far out of touch. I'm absolutely convinced that's going to help shift normal people back in the right direction. And so for the New York Times, after all the reporting that's so available and so easy to see, and all the national news covering stuff, for the New York Times to come out and think that Iran is becoming a world power because of this war is the craziest stuff ever. But again, I I love it that the left is, I think, losing its credibility in so many ways because they have gone so radical in so many things that even average normal people can't go with them. So I love that. I think it's really good.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Well, and Dad, I would ask, losing their credibility for who? Uh, because, you know, for so many uh the groups out there, they live in echo chambers and it's only their own people that hear them. And so I think they're being reaffirmed in a lot of ways. However, I do think the people in what maybe used to be known as a moderate middle, I think many of them are looking going, this is crazy talk. What's happening right now doesn't make sense. On the flip side, they might look at some of what President Trump has done, and not that President Trump has done a lot of crazy things per se as far as policy, but certainly the way it gets framed, depending on what you're watching, listening to, all of us is saying, yes, I definitely think more people are waking up, but I think it depends again on who we're talking about. Uh, because certainly the things that we've seen, even this week, with college campuses, students on college campuses, there are a lot of crazy students on college campuses who are still drinking ad Kool-Aid. And I don't know if they're waking up to it, but hopefully maybe some of that modern middle is waking up and abandoning some of the craziness from the left.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Uh Tim, take us home, man. What's the final piece of good news today?

SPEAKER_02 21:35

All right, guys. Well, uh, I have one from the U.S. Education Department. And I don't know why the article doesn't say Department of Education, uh, but I I assume that's who this is. Uh it says they notify students loan borrowers a repayment plan, uh and uh subheadline about 7.5 million enrollees in the Biden administration's defunct sales. A plan will have to enroll in a legal payment plan. Now, this has been a couple of years ago. So unless you were one of those students, you might not remember this, or if they're somebody in your family. Uh and then this might not be the best news for people that maybe were in that 7.5 million. But again, for those that don't remember, President Biden, one of the things he did was tell college students, hey, if you took out a loan, then you don't even need to pay it back anymore. We're just the government's gonna take care of that for you. Now, some people might look at that and go, I think he was trying to buy votes maybe for the next election.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

I I've got to I just hearing this, can you tell me any other area of American life where that you can completely get all your loans forgiven? A house mortgage. I mean, a house mortgage or a car mortgage or real estate you buy. This is so inconceivable to me that our whole culture is if you take a loan, you pay it back, and suddenly we're saying, oh, you guys took a loan, you're all forgiven. This just it blows my mind to even think what how we got there.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Well, and this is one of the great things that there were some very rational people uh that actually questioned Democrats about some of this policy when they said, now wait a second. Like there was a dad who went to the microphone at one of these meetings and said, Hey, so I I've just finished paying off my daughter's college. Do I get a repayment for all the money I just paid? Because, right, had had I not paid, you would have paid it off, but I paid. Can I get a repayment? They're like, oh no, sir, it's not how it works. You're like, this is crazy. The people who actually were working to make those payments, they don't get benefited. And by the way, that this is obviously if there were some college students out there that were working really hard, I am sure, to get their loans paid off. And they were so excited about this. And I get it, man. If somebody was offering you a bunch of free money, you would want to take it. I totally understand that. Does he have the constitutional authority to do it? Absolutely not. And this is one of the things that the article highlights along the way. The U.S. Department of Education uh notified the 7.5 million bars, and this was on March 27th, um, that if you enrolled in Biden's saving on a valuable education, which is the SAFE plan, that you actually uh don't get to remain on that quote exit plan and you have to enter an actual federal repayment plan. The Under Secretary of Education, Nicholas Kent, this is his quote, he said, for years borrowers have been caught in a confusing cycle of uncertainty, but the Trump administration's policy is simple. If you take out a loan, you must pay it back. So instead of some of these promises from some Democrat politicians, they're like, guys, this is not complicated. To your exact point, if you took out a loan, you have to pay it back. And this is something, again, if somebody offers you a free gift, if you're a college student, somebody said, Man, let me pay off your loan, you'd go, My goodness, that's incredible. Thank you so much. So I understand that there could be some incredibly disappointed people for taking out a loan. And we also know that not only could you make a very valid argument that so much of college is a scam because of some of the classes you have to take that do no good for you any way whatsoever in future endeavors and uh your higher ability, et cetera. So sure, we can go through all of that. It's certainly true that a lot of college students are not properly uh discipled to understand what it means when you are taking out a loan of certain scale, and then you right, you have a loan for$120,000 and you have a job after college that pays$30,000 or$40,000, and you're right, your your loan is accruing interest, et cetera. Like that there, they're not always taught this process of how it works. I get all of that, but the bottom line is pretty simple, and I'm saying this because there's a level of uh almost mental comfort to go, oh, we're returning to some level of normalcy that if someone takes out a loan, you have to pay it back. Now, for everybody listening, if you are a student, whether you're in high school or college or right, if you're a young person in life, hey, just kind of a heads up for you. If you take out a loan, you have to pay it back. That's the way it works. The good news is we have a presidential administration right now that is returning to normalcy and actually overturning some of the unconstitutional things from the former administration.

Where To Find More From WallBuilders

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Great stuff, Tim. Thank you, man. Thank you, David. Thank you for all the good news. Folks, there's more at our website. Be sure and check it out, wallbuilders.show, and then our main website, wallbuilders.com. Thanks so much for listening to the Wallbuilder Show.