Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. This is the WallBuilders Show taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Education, obviously a hot topic, which we'll be getting to today. I'm Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. You can learn more about us at our website, wallbuilders.com. Wallbuilders.com. And then for the radio show, wallbuilders.show, if you want to just download it directly from our sight or listen there, and then of course, all podcast apps, you can go there and listen to WallBuilders as well. Just search for the WallBuilders Show. Guys, we've got Kirk Cameron coming in a little bit later with us today. Talk about his new books with Riley Gaines and others at Brave Books. So, we'll talk about that in a bit, but, you know, we didn't get a chance yet to just talk about the environment out there, the atmosphere, a third assassination attempt on President Trump. A lot of talk about, you know even the ballroom at the White House now potentially because where they were having this event was clearly not easy to secure or wasn't very secure. And, and then of course the irony of it being at the same place where president Reagan, where that assassination attempt happened. Wow. Was that 45, 40, yeah, 45 years ago. So anyway, a lot to cover guys for just first your reactions from Saturday's assassination attempt and, and people actually saying they were disappointed that he wasn't. I mean, it's crazy what the left is willing to even say publicly about their willingness for violence. 

Tim Barton [00:01:30] Yeah guys, to me it's one of the big indications of the infiltration of Marxism into the ideology and therefore the conversation. One of the things that as Christians we have to do a better job of understanding is obviously our worldview teaches us that what has gone wrong with the world is sin and the solution to that as a savior. And so when we see people, there can be evil actions and evil deeds, people doing evil things. But we recognize, man, what they need is Jesus, ultimately, as opposed to when you look at, at the Marxist ideology, the worldview, the propaganda being promoted and really been infiltrating academia for the last 60, 70 years, easy to identify it for that long. When, when they've been demonizing the Founding Fathers. And so we have to cancel these people. And it's now gotten to the point where you have a significant percentage of liberal young people, I think it's like 40 something percent, like it's, it's a crazy number where they think that using violence is acceptable means to stop people that are promoting things that you think are ideologically bad. And the reason is because they don't see the world as broken by sin and in need of a savior. They see it through the Marxist lens of oppressed versus oppressor. And if you are on the wrong side of the issue, you are an oppressor, therefore, you are evil, and the appropriate response to evil is that you need to, at times, take up guns. You need to do whatever it takes to stop those people. And so this is a weaponization quite intentionally. And I say intentionally, the people behind it know exactly what they are doing from a high level, but then there's a lot of susceptible people that have bought into Marxist ideology. And they are the willful idiots. And I don't mean to say a negative term if, you know, homeschool parents are listening and you're like, ooh, watch your language. That's not my phrase, right? This, the useful idiots is the phrase that was adopted, recognizing by people in this Marxist movement, among others, that we have to have people that we can use for our ends to our goals and that's what we are seeing happen before us. And then you have these, these political news commentators that have come out and they've said, Hey, you know, we don't condone violence, but president Trump brought this on himself. He's the bad guy. And so instead of condemning the evil actions in this situation, again, they're still blaming who they view as the oppressor. So we have to recognize part of what's happening is not just political differences. It is fundamentally a spiritual different and a world view difference. This really is Christianity versus Marxism at some very high and basic levels and certainly a lot of spiritual components in there as well. So it's important that we identify this is the ideology that we're up against and also why we talk about that the value and benefit of home education and sometimes the danger of public schools because this is what public schools have been propagating. This alleged shooter received an award for being a teacher of the month, and has bought into this ideology so bad that thought it was appropriate to try to assassinate the President and other members of the Cabinet, et cetera, et cetera. This is the danger of Marxism. It is an evil ideology, it is anti-God, it is anti-Christ, and it's why we have to work to oppose it. 

David Barton [00:05:05] You know, one of the things that was interesting to me is I was looking, even now, a couple days after, we're several days downstream. And I was shocked at the number of teachers that on their social media were saying that it was so bad that it failed. I mean, this, it needed to happen. If only he had been killed. And I mean teachers, I was lookin' at elementary through university level, just the number, the amazing number of the teachers who were just disappointed that he was not killed and that the attempt wasn't successful. Which says a whole lot, Tim, to what you're saying about the indoctrination with Marxism. When you have people that rejoice in the murder of someone else, rejoice in the death of someone, and they are teachers. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 6:40, He said every student, when he's fully trained, will be like his teacher. So parents, check it out. Are you sure you want your kids to grow up with this kind of mentality? Cause it sure came out and it's not saying every teacher, I'm not even suggesting every teacher. But I am suggesting and I am saying that an unbelievably high number of teachers did this. And I, you know, I might expect to find one or two or three, but to find the scores and scores and scores that were posted publicly with them, certainly they're not stupid. And they've got to know that that's inappropriate at most levels and several of them lost their jobs over it, which good for them. But still, they're just, they're not, well, I hope they're not stupid, maybe they are more stupid than I think they are. But to post that kind of thing and think there's no consequences is crazy. So that's, that's what's there. But I've got to say when I watched the press conference at that night, cause we were watching other programs that was interrupted and here's what's going on, I was, the two things really struck me. And one was when Trump said, you know, I was going to roast you guys tonight. I had remarks. I had really hard-hitting remarks. You weren't going to like it all. And he mentioned that. And then the rest of the press conference, all he did was talk about positive things and about unity and about coming together and about how we can cooperate. And, and it was just such a different, the acknowledgement of what he was getting ready to tell the media. And then what he did on media was just such a remarkable change and reversal. And then throughout the press conference, the way he handled the questions that came at him and he didn't call them dumb and said, well, that's the kind of question I get, I mean, it was all real respectful of the media and it had just as such a wholesome tone for something that happened and he wouldn't speculate and he wasn't crying wolf. He said, well, I don't know if they were after me or not, but I know they were here with a gun and you know, just things that were not about him and I was really impressed. 

Tim Barton [00:07:54] Well, guys, one of the things too, that, that struck me is some of the video footage that came out showing the, the posture, the response of some of the men in that were in that room, where President Trump, as it's all unfolding, I saw a lot of memes, where, you know, people are so nervous and he's just looking calm and the meme is like, this must be your first time, looking at the rest of the people, right? Where Trump's like, Hey, this is unfortunately, this has become something that has almost been normalized coming from the Democratic side. And when we hear this nonsense that, hey, there's extremists on both sides, okay, that's like saying there's extremist Christians versus extremist Muslims. The extremist Christian, even though I agree, like I think there's some Christians that or not properly upholding what the Bible says, they're totally wrong, but they're not going and bombing and killing and beheading people. It's a false equivalent when people say, well, you know, Christians and Muslims, there's extremists on both sides. No, that's not the same equivalence, number one. Well, that the follow-up, the number two, when people say, well, people on the right are extreme, people in the left are extreme. No. You're crazy. But one of the things that has been accused of people on right is this toxic masculinity and certainly, in some of the news media that we run in have highlighted this. I certainly have not seen this covered from anybody on the left, but on the right, they point out that, hey, when this was going on, you have Pete Hegseth leaning over his wife to protect her and keep her safe. You have Stephen Miller, right, leaning over, protecting his unborn child. And I think it's his wife. I don't know if it's girlfriend. I don't know the dynamic of their relationship. And this is not to cast aspersions on him. But the point is, you had men who were not fazed by this where RFK Jr Just sits there by looking around the room Dana White from UFC was like this was one of the greatest things I've ever been a part of. These were men not intimidated by the situation who for the ones who like have their wife their girlfriends there their instinct is to protect them. And we've been told by the leftist, you know, progressive Democrat media, whoever, for, for so long that, oh, toxic masculinity, well, no, masculinity that was unintimidated by an evil person trying to do something evil, that their instinct was to protect the weak and innocent and vulnerable in the room. It was another good display that I think there's a lot of, there's a lot points we could draw from. And Rick, I know as you do a lot work with the all students, you talk about what biblical masculinity looks like and what the role of the guy and how guys should lead, et cetera. And we honestly had some pretty good examples of that on display in the midst of yet again, another one of these crazy moments where a crazy leftist wants to come kill conservatives and Christians. But saw some real masculinity on display. 

Rick Green [00:10:55] Yeah, man. And I'll give you, some people are going to think this is cheesy, but just another example of masculinity. So I guess, let's see, it would have been yesterday, Kara, my wife and, and, um, the, my girls got invited by some of our Patriot Academy grads that work at the White House to go on the White House lawn and be there for the speech with the King and the Queen and hold up signs that say no Kings, no, I'm kidding. They didn't do that. But anyway, so they. They go, they go to this thing and Kara sends me a picture and she says, it was raining and she said, look at all of these wimpy men standing under the trees, taking the spaces that the ladies should be standing under. So, it was not Pete Hegseth and not Stephen Miller and those guys you're talking about, it was a bunch of these other, anyway, it, it was just masculinity and chivalry and that sort of thing, you know. It needs to come back even more, but at least our leaders at the top, we're doing that and, and making a good example of what should be done. And I, I was like you, Tim. I was seeing all these posts and you know, people were commenting on it and thankful for it. But you know back to even just this whole idea of what you were saying, the Marxists and their willingness to even blame Trump for the assassination attempts, even George Clooney gave a speech over the, I guess it was the next day. And he was getting some award and he made it sound like he was given a, we need to not be violent, let's all come together, but he dropped in these lines about if you sow and foment this stuff, you will reap the whirlwind. In other words, he was saying it's Trump's fault. Trump somehow sowed the anyway, and then that's their game plan. And they're, some of them are subtle about it, like Clooney was, and still it's a Marxist, you know, propaganda and then others are just, you know blatantly, we wish that he had been killed. So, I, I do think, like you said, you know, and David, I mean, it's.. the President's response was so classy and even, you know, one of our Patriot Academy grads that works on advance was right backstage when it all happened. And she said the same thing, just the way that those guys carry themselves and the whole team, it was just so impressive. Um, So we are very blessed to have the leadership that we have for sure. 

Tim Barton [00:13:05] Well, and guys, I know we need to get to Kirk Cameron and we want to talk to him about some of what they do with the Brave Books, but I do want to point out there's a video recirculating now taking the internet by storm this week of Ilhan Omar talking about the Aliens Sedition Act. She says, this hasn't been used in America since World War 11. Now, if you haven't seen it online, it's hilarious. It's from a year ago, it's made its kind of re-release debut. This week and it's taken the internet by firestorm. But the reason I bring it up is the left is the one calling conservatives, calling Christians, these fascists, these Nazis. They're calling them all of these derogatory terms. And this is coming from people who don't even know what World War II was. If you don't understand World War II, you sure don't know what's a Nazi and what's a fascist and everything else. Yet again, an indication that this is just a propaganda of Marxists trying to label their opponents as evil to then justify the actual evil actions of people on their side who are trying to stop the Christians and conservatives, etc. So yet again, the reason you should not listen to these progressives on the left on so much of what they say is because they have no historic context. They have no constitutional understanding. They're just making these accusational claims for propaganda purposes for their ends and they should be disregarded as ignorant people who don't know what they're talking about because in most cases, that's exactly what they are. 

Rick Green [00:14:40] Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, guys, let's, let’s talk about how to raise up kids that aren't as the Marxist term with, I guess it was Stalin useful idiots. We want kids who aren't useful idiots and actually know what freedom's all about and are pro-America. Kirk Cameron is going to talk to us about some of the new Brave Books available right now. So stay with us. We'll be right back with Kirk Cameron. 

Rick Green [00:17:07] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Our good friend, Kirk Cameron back with us, another great book. Man, like you don't have a million things to do and you're out there writing books all the time, but I'm glad I'm good. Hey Kirk, welcome back, man. 

Kirk Cameron [00:17:19] Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me back. It's always great to talk with you and hear about all the great things that you're doing. 

Rick Green [00:17:25] I'm excited. So this one, you already did, you know, a book for adults about being brave, but now you've got a kid's book about being brave. This is cool. 

Kirk Cameron [00:17:33] So, the background behind this is obviously some people remember that I was going to public libraries reading books, counter the Drag Queen story hours, and we were reading to kids about faith love and the importance of family and trusting your parents and praying to God. Well, right now kids are being totally indoctrinated, just steamrolled in schools, being taught to be embarrassed and ashamed of America. That it's actually a horrible country, which of course we know is not true, but that's what the enemies of America want our children to believe. And I believe that it's Gen Z now has less than half the population who is actually proud to be American. So, Ben Carson, Riley Gaines, and I have teamed up and created... Something to push back and recapture the narrative where it counts the most. And that is in our homes where we're raising our kids. And so the three of us have each written a book. Mine is called Built by the Brave. And they've each gotten a book that talks about the faith of our Founders, the accomplishments of our Founders. And I'm talking about the courage of our Founders. And it's actually a beautiful little book that explains the whole story of the Monument to the Forefathers. And I play a history teacher and I take this whole busload full of kids up to the monument in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and this one little kid thinks, oh, boring history. And so he takes a nap and while he's napping the fifth figure of the monument, whose name is Liberty Man, he comes to life and he crawls down off the monument and he wakes the kid up and he said, so you think history is boring? He said, come with me. And he takes him in this time machine back to the Battle of Gettysburg and back to The Revolutionary War and the Battle at Lexington Concord. And he takes him back to Mayflower and the Pilgrims and shows him that the people who built this country were brave and courageous and full of faith. They were freedom fighters. And he wakes up from this dream after going on this adventure, telling all his friends how cool history is and how he's proud to be an American. 

Rick Green [00:19:54] Oh, it's brilliant, man. This kind of ties a lot of the things you've been doing for the last 10, 15 years together. I mean, that's pretty cool. 

Kirk Cameron [00:20:01] Yeah, it's really cool. So, if people want to get in on this as part of celebrating America's 250th anniversary, go to Kirk250.com, I think that's the landing page, Kirk250.com and get the America Wins Bundle, which is three books, one from Dr. Carson, one from Riley Gaines, one for me. There are signed copies of those books and they come with. Cool little mementos like a model of the Saturn 5 rocket that took Americans to the moon. It also comes with a little model Wright Brothers airplane, harkening back to the advent of flight because of the Wright Brothers, and all kinds of other cool things, American flags and all kind of stuff. America Wins Bundle. 

Rick Green [00:20:47] America... I'm looking at right now so that was quick you were right, Kirk250. You're not actually 250 years old yet right? Yeah. But Kirk250. But we are in fact celebrating the 250th of the nation all year long. I love this! Look at you got all kinds of cool stuff in the package and so you can get all the books. Man, you know this is, Kirk, this is this is what we need to be doing during the 250 this is a window of opportunity to ignite patriotism once again. And you're, you're touching the core of it. You know, the fact that we were built by the brave, which inspires bravery, right? So, when these kids learn these stories, then they're going to want to be brave. 

Kirk Cameron [00:21:25] Yeah, that's exactly it. We want kids to be proud to be Americans, and we want to tell them the real story, not this trash, twisted narrative that they've been sold in schools, because essentially the extreme left has captured the institutions. They've got Hollywood, they've got the music industry, they got the public-school systems, and where we can fight back before we recapture these institutions, is where the battle is actually won, and that's in our homes. So, think of all the homeschoolers. Think of all those who are recognizing what's going on in our culture, and they're taking back a leadership position with their kids' education. This is the way to do it. Read to them the true stories of the true American heroes and what they were made of. And we can give kids a future and a hope. 

Rick Green [00:22:19] Love it, man. It's a great story to tell and has to be. Man, you nailed it! That's where the real fight is. We have to instill this in our, in our children and our grandchildren. Speaking of grandchildren. So not just parents out there that need to do this. Grandparents. What a great gift to your kids and your grandkids to get these books. Kirk250.com is the easy link to go to. Kirk250.com. Kirk Cameron, keep it up, man, keep churning out this good content and let's educate a country back to patriotism. 

Kirk Cameron [00:22:48] I'm right there with you. Thanks for all you do. God bless you, bro. 

Rick Green [00:22:52] That's Kirk Cameron, stay with us folks, we'll be right back with David and Tim Barton. 

Rick Green [00:24:03] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Kirk Cameron for joining us as well. Of course, Brave Books does a fantastic job on this topic and many others. So, check that special out that we talked about and get those books back with David and Tim. And of course, you know, education, obviously a very important topic. We talk about it a lot here. We've had several shows talking about even the State Board of Education in Texas, because what goes into those textbooks is determined by the standards and whether or not you talk about heroes and whether or not, you hold America out to be the good guys. Even as Tim was talking about in World War, as Elan Omar said, 11, which I missed eight or nine of those somewhere in my education. Anyway, if you go back and into all of these stories, how you tell them and whether or not you bring out the American heroes is so important guys. 

David Barton [00:24:49] And you know, heroes really are important. We talked about before the Bible does biographical history. You get the story of David and you get the stories of Samson. It doesn't give you all the years and all the names of all the people they fought, but you get their stories and that was so important. God made us that way to respond to that. That's why testimonies are so important is telling your story. As scripture says in Revelation 12:11, you overcome by the word of your testimony, telling your story. And it's so interesting that in Texas, if we were doing these, we had so many heroes added back in. And then it went to the teacher for them to review. And they took most of the heroes out because they had never heard those names and they didn't want to have to learn those names and teach those names to kids. And so, you have genuine heroes who have done remarkable things in history and the teachers are canceling them because they have such a bad education that they don't know who they are and they don't want to learn it. So it's really crazy, but this thing of telling stories and learning to heroes. That really is the essence of what makes history a wholesome study. 

Tim Barton [00:25:47] Well, yeah, Dad, recapturing these stories should be something that all of us as God-fearing, Bible-loving, and hopefully America-lovin' patriots, we ought to be going back and making sure as we celebrate the 250th anniversary... Man, let's make sure we help our kids know some of the great American heroes and also that we help make sure, more importantly, they know the great Bible heroes. The Bible heroes were inspiration for America's founding heroes, and we got to help our kids learn both. And of course, Brave Books is a great place for kids to be able to have some fun, entertaining, inspirational stories in a safe way. So, we definitely support what they're doing at Brave Books. 

Rick Green [00:26:28] Kirk250.com is the website to go get that special we were talking about. Kirk250.com. Appreciate Kirk Cameron joining us today. Appreciate all of you listening. Be sure and share it with your friends and family on your podcast apps or at Wallbuilders.show. You've been listening to the WallBuilders Show.