Why Flag Day Matters

SPEAKER_02 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. Rick Green with David Barton and Tim Barton. Our websites, wallbuilders.com and wallbuilders.show, wallbuilders.com for virtually everything except the radio program, which you get over at wallbuilders.show. Super easy to share with your friends and family and uh make sure that they're getting this good information as well. A lot going on as usual. This upcoming weekend, of course, more 250th activities. The White House will be abuzz with the UFC fights and a lot of other things going on in DC, but it'll also be Flag Day on Sunday, the 14th. So we we got uh Bill Federer coming on a little later to give us some of the history on Flag Day. And man, this is one I know virtually nothing about, guys. Uh David, I've I've I I mean I consider myself a you know a red, white, and blue American. I love the flag. I love doing the Pledge of Allegiance, but I the only part of the history of the of uh Flag Day that I know is the you know 1954 putting under God in the in the pledge and Eisenhower. Everything else, I have no idea when it started. So this is gonna be a fun program.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

It will be. And Tim would normally be with us, but he had a full day. He did uh, I think he did three speakings and led a tour in Washington, D.C., may still be doing that at the Capitol, but he had a full day. So you and I are going to cover this one, Rick. But flag, flag day actually, it's it's one of the really, really, really old holidays, or at least commemorations that goes almost back to the Declaration of Independence. Uh, some of the first flags came out with Massachusetts. They had their flag for their militia, and they had their flag for their Navy. And it's really the kind of first American flag comes out of the Continental Congress. And Continental Congress asked one of the signers of the Declaration to design that flag, Francis Hopkinson. And so Francis Hopkinson was, he's a fine arts guy. He's the guy who did the first um purely American hymnal, set the 150 Psalms all to music. He was the organist at uh Christchurch in Philadelphia. And by the way, 15 signers of Declaration attended Christchurch. So for those who hear it's their atheist agnostics deist, that's a lot of people going to church who don't believe in God, which is crazy. But, you know, I say that facetiously because they they were strong Christians. So it goes back to Francis Hopkinson as the start of the flag type of stuff. And no, Betsy Ross did not do the first flag. That rumor came out in 1876 on the 100th anniversary by some of her descendants, one of whom was her uncle to sign her declaration, George Ross. And they said, Yeah, yeah, our our our ancestor Betsy did that. No, sorry, that's about a hundred years too late. So nonetheless, Francis Hopkinson kind of designs the original American flag. They changed it later with some additions and some changes, but nonetheless, flag day goes all the way back almost to the Declaration of Independence.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Wow, man. I did not realize that. I really did I thought it was you know like l in the 19, you know, mid-1900s. So all right, this is gonna be fun. Bill Federer will be with us when we come back from the break. Stay with us, you're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

A Revolutionary War Chaplain Story

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This is Tim Barton from Wall Builders with another moment from American history. After the final victory at Yorktown, the Continental Army awaited the outcome of peace negotiations with Great Britain. Pastor Israel Evans, a chaplain in the Army, proposed to George Washington that they build a structure where church services could be held during the months of waiting. Washington approved the plan and urged his officers to ensure that the soldiers attended service. Pastor Evans further knew, if we were to secure the liberties they had fought for, town education would be crucial. He declared, Every parent and every friend of the freedom of his country ought to be attentive to the improvement of our youth and the principles of freedom and good government. And then the people will stand fast in their liberty for a long time. Our schools today need to return to teaching the principles of freedom and good government in order for America to survive and prosper. For more information about Pastor Israel Evans and other colonial patriots, go to wallbuilders.com.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Welcome back

June 14 1777 And The Flag

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to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. Thanks for staying with us on the Wall Builder Show. Our good friend Bill Federer back with us. So many great holidays this year to learn from and a course in the 250th, getting to dive deep into some of these. And we got one today I know nothing about. I literally have no idea what the history is on Flag Day and how it got developed and how we should properly honor it. So who better to call? Bill Federer. Bill, hey, brother, thanks for coming on, spending some time with us.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Hey, Rick, great to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Well, thanks for doing this, man. And and uh and I know we're gonna get you on in another week or two about Father's Day as well. So we'll we'll air that one uh closer to Father's Day, but Flag Day's coming up in just a few days. Um, what is the history of that and and how should we properly celebrate it?

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Well, June 14th, 1777, is when the Second Continental Congress selected the 13 stars and 13 stripes as our national flag. Uh they're in the midst of this war against the most globalist powerful king that the planet had ever seen, the king of England. And um uh and so this was the the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag has a little bit different history. That started in 1885. Um, Union Army Captain George Thatcher Bulch, B-A-L-C-H, he wrote the first version of the Pledge of Allegiance. Uh, and he had also been the um auditor of the New York City Board of Education, and he authored a book, Methods of Teaching Patriotism in the Public Schools. Maybe we ought to republish that. Uh, but the year was 1890. So he's responsible for the movement to put flagpoles in front of the public schools. And his uh pledge began with a salute to the flag. I give my heart and my hand to my country, one country, one language, one flag. And um, now that was 1890, um is uh when he published his book. Uh but shortly after that is 1892. 36-year-old Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, he does his version. Now he's ordained in the Baptist Church, Little Falls, New York. Um, he is a staff member, abuse companion. And so in September 8th, 1892, he publishes his draft, comes out just in time for the 1892 um Columbus Day, all right, 400th anniversary of 1492. And it was encouraged to be recited by the students with prayers, patriotic speeches, the singing of uh My Country Tizethe. Uh Samuel Francis Smith wrote that uh in 1831. And I love the four stanza of that song, our father's God to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing, Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy life, protect us by the mighty great God, our king. And then they were also encouraged to read Benjamin Harrison's proclamation of 1892, let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country. Uh, let there be expressions of gratitude to divine providence. And so uh they recited it. And then in 1916, Woodrow Wilson declares national flag day. And he says, I call your attention to the approach of the anniversary of the day upon which the flag of the United States was adopted by Congress. Therefore, recommend throughout the nation, the 14th day of June be observed as Flag Day with special patriotic exercises, our thoughtful love of America, comprehension of a great mission of liberty and justice, um, that uh done in the city of our Lord, uh, the city of Washington in the year of our Lord, 1916. Um, so now we we have it, the the pledge, the flag 1777, uh, the first pledge in 1885, and then 1892, and then we have Woodrow Wilson making National Flag Day. Then we go to 1954, Cold War. We have communists, uh, atheists, and the Knights of Columbus lead an effort to get one nation under God into the Pledge of Allegiance. And it's public law 396, and Eisenhower signs it. And uh the section seven says the following is designated as the pledge of allegiance to the flag. A pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Such pledge should be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart. However, civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention, men removing their headdresses, persons in uniforms shall give the military salute. Eisenhower stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, recited the pledge for the first time with the phrase under God, which of course is taken from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, uh, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom. And then in 1979, the uh Capitol, uh, under the authority of Congress published a pictorial history of the Capitol. And in there it has a comment regarding the pledge. This pledge attests what has been true about America from the beginning. Faith in the transcendent, sovereign God was in the public philosophy. The American consensus, America's story opens with the first words of the Bible. In the beginning, God, we are truthfully one nation under God, our institutions presuppose a divine being, wrote Justice William O. Douglas, 1966. Only a nation founded on theistic presuppositions would adopt a First Amendment to ensure the free exercise of all religions or none, the government would be neutral among the many denominations, and no one church would become the state church, but America and its institutions of government could not be neutral about God. That was 1979, and that was the U.S. Capitol publishing that.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Um

How The Pledge Spread In Schools

SPEAKER_02 9:49

and and Bill, let me let me ask you real quick.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

So were we doing when they did that in 18 uh what'd you say, 79 was when the first 1885 is when the Union General Balch uh is the one who composed the One Heart, One Hands, one night.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

How did it catch on? Like how did people and and were we doing recitations in schools and things like that, or did that come a lot later?

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Um it was definitely a patriotic period in America's history. Um, you know, you had Woodrow Wilson giving out Bibles to all the soldiers in World War I, uh Woodrow Wilson having a day of fasting. Uh imagine that. Um, and um, and so the the patriotic fervor, uh, the population of Christians in America was in the 90 percentiles. I even was, you know, for for 30 years, I've been going to the CIA.gov website, and they have a world fact book, and it lists every nation in the world and every imaginable statistic, including America. And um, and one of the amount of variable land, gross national product, HIV death rate, among all this. You look up, you know, uh Japan, it's 80% Buddhist, and India is 80% Hindu, and Pakistan is 90%, Saudi Arabia is 100%. Um, but you looked up 30 years ago, I looked up the United States and it says that we were 94% Christian. Now it's going down to 60 some odd percent with going in the wrong direction. Um, but back in 1950, um, we were close to 98% Christian.

unknown 11:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

98%. And about 2% Jewish. Uh and and it was um what uh 0.1% uh atheist and uh uh 0.01% Muslim. We're talking uh it was a Judeo-Christian country, so that's why during World War II you had Franklin Roosevelt giving out Gideon's New Testaments to all the soldiers by the millions, and he writes the foreword as commander-in-chief. I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces. I um uh Tom Truman signs the um act of congress for the military that they have to attend chapel, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish. That's your three choices. Uh no Satanist, no transgenderist, no Islamist, no, just it's Judeo-Christian. And um and so

Rights Come From God Or State

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we were a a country that realized that if if rights come from God, the purpose of government is to guarantee to you your creator given rights. But if there is no God, your rights come from where? Well, this the government, the state. Well, what the government giveth, the government can take it away.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Yeah, that's right. Take it the take it away.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

So the flag is a symbol of unity. Um that uh we have to, if we're gonna fight to defend our country, what are we what are we doing? We have to have something in common. So that's where you had uh Calvin Coolidge uh was the president in um 1923, and he gave a a great address um where he uh says at Arlington Cemetery, he says, it is the maintenance of our American ideals beneath a common flag under the blessing of Almighty God. Um and we know that Providence would have it so. Um Franklin Roosevelt, 1935, our flag for a century and a half has been the symbol of the principles of liberty and conscience, of freedom of religion, equality before the law, and these concepts are deeply ingrained in our national character. And um I did a whole book on FDR. People say, Why'd you do that? It's like, well, I was running for Congress, and if I quoted from a Republican, all the left-wing media would say, Oh, you're a right-wing fanatic. And so I was like, I was so I went through, I read through all of FDR's justice. He was in office 12 years. He got elected president four times. And so he's like the patron, say, in the Democrat Party. And lo and behold, he was Episcopalian, sort of a, you know, uh, not a really uh definitely not an evangelical denomination, uh, but he he acknowledged Christianity. And so on Flag Day, June 14th, 1942, Franklin Roosevelt said, the belief in man created free in the image of God is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face. We asked the German people, still dominated by Nazi whip masters, whether they would rather have the mechanized hell of Hitler's new order, or in place of that, freedom of speech and religion. We asked the Japanese people, trampled by their savage lords of slaughter, whether they would rather continue slavery or blood, or in the place of that, freedom of speech and religion. We know that man born to freedom in the image of God will not forever suffer the oppressor's sword. And then he closes with a prayer. Uh, God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause to free all mankind. Grant us victory over tyrants who would enslave all men all free men and nations. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. Grant us valor that we shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrines that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong. And so we are a country that has uh a common belief in God. I I love the quote from Eisenhower, but he said, belief in the supreme being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. In other words, belief in the supreme being is the lowest common denominator. That that's what we if to to be a uh an American, you at least need to do that. Now some some understanding. It's supreme being singular, so we have eliminated Buddhism and Hinduism, um, and it's a God who believes in freedom of conscience, uh, which eliminates Islam.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Islam doesn't believe in freedom that you worship God according to dictates your heart. No, you worship God according to the Sharia. And and if you don't, uh you get killed. And um, but so it's the God of the Bible that they're referring to, and obviously that's what it is, because here you have FDR passing out Gideon's New Testament's and Book of Psalms. So it's it was the God of the Bible that that um Eisenhower's root was referring to. Belief in the supreme being is the first and most basic expression of Americanism. And uh Eisenhower also um approved a postage stamp with the flag with the In God We Uh Trust motto on it. And then this is a little personal trivia.

Cold War Changes And Under God

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Um Eisenhower approved putting In God We Trust on our paper currency, and the first paper dollar bill within God We Trust was printed on October 1st, 1957, which was the day I was born.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

So no kidding. And um I love it, but the butt anyway, you you probably have some some really cool currency with the within God We Trust on it in your collection from your birthday.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Uh I I I have some, but and nothing that can hold a candle to what uh you and and David and Tim Barton and Glenn Beck have with the American Journey experience. I mean that that's the ultimate uh collection. Um but I did go on eBay and I did buy a bunch of uh 1957 uh dollar bills with um and God we trust own.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Love it. Love it. So I I before I let you go, I d I want I just want to drill a little bit deeper into the just what you said about you know just that basic belief in in God uh being part of what really separates the American you didn't say it exactly like that, but the it's really what makes the American system special. Eisenhower, of course, got that. I mean, like you said, he was in the throes of of of commun you know, fighting communism and and could already see that coming, and and it really is what differentiated us um from the rest of the world. When you say we like we went from ninety-eight percent Christian, you know, down to whatever we're at now in the in the sixties, um I mean that has to affect the American system, mindset, culture, everything. If you if you've dropped by a third those who have that belief that made the country great in the first place, um you can see why we're in the uh conflicts that we are now. So the more that people come to the truths of Christ when they come to these this faith in God, the better chance we have of the country, uh of saving the country, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah, yeah. We have to know what it is we're fighting for. Um

Deconstruction And Civic Amnesia

SPEAKER_01 18:20

you know, Oregon Trail was dedicated by Warren G. Harding in 1923, and he talked, uh he said, Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity. The missionaries, which went to the north uh west, you know, with the Oregon Trail, the missionaries led under the banner of the cross, and the settlers moved close behind it under the star-spangled symbol of the nation. So he says, Look, Christianity goes first, and then we got the flag, and um but the effort to move away from that, you know, 98% uh was documented by Congressman Albert Hurlong, uh, read into the congressional record, but it was Kleon Scousen's book where he lists the 45 tactics of the communists to to destroy America. Number 12, do away with loyalty oaths, like pledges of allegiance. Uh number 17, get get control of the schools, use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda, soften curriculum, get control of teachers' association, put party line in textbooks. That's why the NEA is like so leftist, get control of student newspapers, use student riots to foment public protests, break down cultural standards of morality, promote pornography and obscenity, infiltrate churches, replace revealed religion with social justice religion, discredit the Bible, eliminate prayer, and then discredit the American Constitution, discredit the American founding fathers, and belittle all forms of American culture, discourage the teaching of American history. Basically, it's it's a concept called deconstruction where you separate a people from their past, get them into a neutral where they don't remember where they came from, and then you brainwash them into the future you have planned for them. It's drive neutral reverse. It's a sales technique. If I was a toothpaste salesman, the first thing I would say to you is negative things about the toothpaste you are currently brushing with. You're still brushing with that stuff, haven't you read it? It's gonna eat the enamel off your teeth and dries your gums, and it's like, ooh, really? So now you're repulsed by it and I have you in a neutral, you're open-minded. What are all the toothpaste out there? And then I can give you my pitch from this brand new target control breath frusher stuff. So they go into the classrooms, they and they gotta tear down.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Yeah, you got to deconstruct and tear down what's there first in order to sell their worldview.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

You say, okay, the founders were all bad. They took slave land from Indians, sold people into slavery, and they were bad. Forget the fact they gave you a country where you're in charge. Republic is ruled by citizens, and the word citizen comes from the Latin and Greek, which means co-ruler. And so forget the fact that you're a co-king of the country. Forget all that. The founders were bad, they reject the founders and everything they did. Now the kids are in neutral. It's like, oh, well, there's nothing special about our Christian past. Well, let's have a comparative religion class, and we'll start off with Islam and then we just gee, the semester ran out. We didn't get the time to get around to Christianity. And then they give their pitch for transgenderism and socialism and Islamism. And um, it's like taking out the DNA and and and put it, you know, putting in the new DNA. It's like, you know, replacement therapy.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

They had to tear it down first, then they just replace it. And that's, man, it's happened with with millions. I mean, the hope is then though that that w if we bring truth back and counteract uh those replacements, uh, you know, but it's gonna take evangelism, it's gonna take education, it's gonna take all the things that we're doing, and so thankful for for what you put out in terms of just all of this information that that we lost that we stopped teaching. So restoring civics and that that civic literacy and just knowing where we came from and seeing God's hand and all of it so critical, especially here in the two hundred fifty. It's just a great time uh to do this. Bill Federer, man, I can't wait to get you back for Father's Day. So we'll see you in about a week and we'll We'll uh talk about the history of Father's Day as well. We appreciate you, bro. Oh, Rick, it's an honor to be on with you, and God bless all the listeners. All right, stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David Barton.

Bring A Speaker To Your Town

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Hey, this is Tim Barton with Wall Builders. And as you've had the opportunity to listen to Wall Builders Live, you've probably heard the wealth of information about our nation, about our spiritual heritage, about the religious liberties, about all the things that makes America exceptional. And you might be thinking, as incredible as this information is, I wish there was a way that I could get one of the wall builders' guys to come to my area and share with my group, whether it be a church, whether it be a Christian school or public school or some political event or activity. If you're interested in having a wall builder speaker come to your area, you can get on our website at www.wallbuilders.com and there's a tab for scheduling. And if you'll click on that tab, you'll notice there's a list of information from speakers' bios to events that are already going on. And there's a section where you can request an event to bring this information about who we are, where we came from, our religious liberties and freedoms. Go to the wall builders website and bring a speaker to your area.

The Pastor Who Influenced Eisenhower

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Man, there's the calendar right there, all the way, like you said, David, at the beginning of the program, from 17 uh 77 all the way uh to even some recent changes. And um, you know, flag day, of course, uh gonna happen this weekend. I I did I forgot to ask Bill well, you know, what as we got into it, how to celebrate it. Like what should we encourage people to do, David, when he kind of maybe listen to this program and share this program with somebody to learn these things. But is it just kind of getting educated about that this history that we're talking about?

SPEAKER_03 23:44

I I think it is, but there's a there's another part I want to add to the story. I mean, he was talking about adding under God the Pledge of Allegiance, and the way that came about, and I think we actually have this part up on our website, but Reverend George Dockry was the the pastor there at I think it was New York, either 15th Street Presbyterian or New York Presbyterian. That's where Eisenhower was going to church. And he was a recent emigrant from Scotland that had just got here, and he said that his kids came home from school that day during the week, and he asked the kids, well, what do you do at school, what'd you do at school? And they said, Well, the same old stuff. He said, Well, what is the same old stuff? I don't I don't know what American schools do. Uh we said the Pledge of Allegiance, had a prayer, had scripture. He said, You said the what? The Pledge of Allegiance. What is that? And they recited the pledge, which at that time did not have under God in it. And he gave a sermon that that week, and it was a typewritten sermon. He read the sermon, which again, it's great to see have that. I think we have it posted online. But he was saying, you know, I've thought about that all week. He said, and and the Russians, and we're in the middle of the Cold War at that point with Eisenhower and the in the White House. He said, the Russians can easily say that they're one nation with liberty and justice for all. And they do say that. It's a lie, but they say it. And the Chinese communists can say it's one nation with liberty and justice for all. He said, America, you're different from China. You're you're different from Russia. You get what makes you different is God. He said you really ought to put under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. And so that was part of his sermon was adding under God because America is so different. We're a spiritual nation, and they're sitting on the front row with President Eisenhower and several members of Congress, senators and reps. And guess what bill got dropped the next week? They get out of church, they go to Congress and said, let's add under God the Pledge of Allegiance. So it's a really fun story. But celebrating Flag Day, a good way to do that is remember that this is about God. I mean, it was that with the Founding Fathers back to Christchurch, the the orchestra, I mean the music director of Christchurch that designs the original flag, and here we are saying, hey, it people think this could be secular. Let's make sure people understand God's a center of here. And that's a great way to celebrate Flag Day with appreciation to God and a recollection that God is the one responsible for the blessings we celebrate at in America all the time. But Flag Day is one of those those times to remember blessings God's put on the nation.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

I I you'll probably remember, David. I don't know if I'm putting you on the spot on this, but didn't Eisenhower say something to the pastor about like it was some line like, I think you've got something there. Or it wasn't like a great idea. It was like, I think you have something there. And then and then he must have gone and talked to some congressmen about it right after that.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Yeah, it it was a thing that it's like, oh, that was so obvious. Why didn't we think of that? Of course. That's what makes America special. And it was it was a an outsider who just thought, you know, you

Flag Day Takeaways And Share

SPEAKER_03 26:20

you guys are different. And I thought that was really good. And bless his heart, you know, me being from Scotland, new to America, taking that bold stand and say, add it to the Pledge of Allegiance. What a good addition that was as a Scottish immigrant coming into America.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Love it. Well, thanks for all the history. Thanks for you listening out there. Those of you that have been listening, share it with your friends and family this weekend for Flag Day. Have a fantastic rest of your day. You've been listening to the Wall Boat Show.