Good News Friday In Washington

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to the intersection of Faith and Culture. This is the Wall Builder Show. My name is Tim Barton. I am the president of Wall Builders. I'm joined by my dad, David Barton, our third amigo, Rick Green, who normally is with us, the founder, CEO of Patriot Academy. He is on the road. Dad, you and I are up in Washington, DC on today, July 3rd. So much fun stuff happening up here. So many events that we get to be part of. And honestly, just helping uh inform the individuals up here, the audience, the crowd, uh, some of the faith foundation of the nation. Now, for those listening, today is Good News Friday. And every Friday on the Wall Brothers show, we try to bring you good news of what's happening from around the nation. Uh, it just so happens that this week we are up in the nation's capital, and there is some really good news of things happening in the nation's capital. Uh today, not in the nation's capital, but somewhere that I really wanted to be. Dad, you and I uh were invited to actually go to South Dakota. Uh, Governor Roden up there, uh, somebody that you've known for a lot of years. I I've known for several years, not nearly as long as you have. Uh, but they're doing a huge event tonight at uh the Mount Rushmore National Park. And the fireworks show is going to be incredible. President Trump is there. Um, we really wanted to be there, but we found out that uh if we went there, we would not be able to get flights back to DC in time. And uh, what we heard is the airport's basically closed tomorrow for 4th of July. Um really just traffic is shut down. Uh, and so we decided we wanted to be able to be here 4th of July, but I'm saying this because I'm gonna try to watch, I'm sure lots of people are gonna be streaming tonight, um, the event at Mount Rushmore. But there are dad so many fun, patriotic things happening this week. Actually, yesterday you and I had the chance to lead a Capitol tour uh with some of our really good friends up here in Congress, Congressman Josh Burkin and Congressman Mary Miller and multiple other Congress uh people we knew that were there. But we are in the midst of an incredibly historic moment and event with a resurgence of patriotism, with so many people, even conservatives who don't know the history of America with the connection to faith, that the biblical foundations that are so hungry to relearn this. It's a really fun time right now in the nation and certainly here in Washington, D.C.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, it is a remarkable historic time. And, you know, years from now, I think it'll even be more um more memorable than it is now as it kind of the tone settles into America and hopefully as America continues to move in a positive direction. A few years from now, people will look back on this, people who are not um, I guess, not connected today and don't think that this is something to celebrate. I think a few years from now, this is going to be a really remarkable, memorable event.

Declaration Draft Debated 250 Years Ago

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And by the way, just for history um context, uh as we're looking this day, 250 years ago, this is the day that they started debating the language of the Declaration of Independence. Uh Thomas Jefferson's been cloistered away for 17 days, working on language, putting it back and forth, scratching out stuff, adding new stuff. And by the way, if you wonder what that looks like at Wall Builders, we have just done a reprint of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson's own handwriting, all his scratch-outs, kind of looks like a Google Doc where you can see John Adams made some edits and Ben Franklin made edits, but that that is what they're debating today in Congress 250 years ago. Uh they've taken that handwritten document of Jefferson that he laid on the table, four pages long, right in front of John Hancock and and the other members of Congress, and now they're going through clause by clause, discussing it, talking about it, debating it. Uh, this is where they come up with some new grievances to add, and they take out some of the ones that Thomas had, but it still retains 75% of what he wrote. So it is it's uh a fascinating historical day to think about it, but it's a terrific day to be in Washington, D.C. in preparation for all the stuff that's gonna happen tomorrow.

Pastors Waking Up To Lead

SPEAKER_02 4:08

All right, so Dad, normally on uh Good News Friday, we're taking good news from around the nation. This week we have highlighted America's 250th uh and so many good things um that have been happening. Uh, yesterday we had Pastor Josh McPherson on with us. Um, and and there is literally an uh undercurrent swell of revival happening in Washington State, one of the most liberal states in the nation. Uh we are seeing God raise up pastors. We're seeing pastors be awakened. Pastors that uh some really good-hearted, Jesus-loving, Bible preaching pastors that had not really been awakened to be engaged in the culture are now waking up to engage in the culture at new levels. Uh well, it's just it's so encouraging for so many reasons. One of the things that I heard pastor Josh Howardson um from Lake Point in Church in Dallas say many times, and I think it's so spot on, it's an easy, succinct way to say it. If the godly people won't lead, the godless people will. And when Christians have decided not to get involved, it creates uh a space, a vacuum for ungodly people to step in. And if if there's not godly people to promote godly policies, and you have godless people promoting ungodly policies. So the fact that we are seeing pastors and Christians wake up is incredible. Now, all this to say, we are good news Friday, so we do want to get into some good news. And Dad, I haven't looked at your stack. Uh, I have no idea what you have and where you want to go, but I feel like uh it would be appropriate to say that today we might need to prioritize, or maybe we should, acknowledging right 4th of July coming tomorrow. What are good news things from rolling America? Now I'm saying this, I'm gonna give you about 10 seconds if you need to peruse and if you need to reorganize to make sure that what we are doing, highlighting, celebrating some of the good news America-related things, but in the midst of the craziness, there's good things happening in America. So, Dad, where are we going and what is the good news happening in America?

Federal Workers Push Moral Education

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Well, I want to go back to yesterday. Yesterday I spoke to a group here in DC called Feds for Freedom. These are all federal employees. They work in different agencies across the scope of the federal government. And so within that group, there are some 9,000 individuals that are part of that group. That's a lot of federal employees that are committed. And what they wanted me to address was education and how that education is supposed to be founded on religion and morality. Now, I've got to say, I don't know that I get that many requests from pastors to address that. And here I get requests from all these folks and all these various cabinet-level departments saying, hey, let's get back to pointing out that religion and morality has got to be the basis of education if we're going to be a free nation. And I just found it remarkable that people who work inside D.C. on a daily basis have have acknowledged and recognized that if you don't have religion and morality, you can't have freedom. And I I expect to hear that more from us than I do from somebody inside of Washington, D.C. And the guy who's leading this is, I mean, he's really significant, uh, a name that is very important in D.C. And he and all the other folks that were there as speakers yesterday, it was it was just a remarkable time. So having said that religion and morality, and this just go goes back to George Washington's Farewell Address, if you want political prosperity, which we have had for uh two and a half years two and a half centuries now, you can't have it without religion and morality. And that's been certainly under attack for the last few decades. But to hear people in the federal government say, hey, we've got to get back to this, especially in education, because if you don't have an education, you probably don't get it the rest of your life at the same level with the same influence. And so saying that, I've got a poll in front of me that indicates a good moral shift in America, which is good news for freedom.

Poll Shows Shift On Late Abortion

SPEAKER_00 7:46

And this happens to deal with abortion. Uh now, in this case, when Dobbs' decision came down a few years ago that put abortion back in the hands of the states, at that point, you have about 53% of Americans who think that they're that abortion should be legal in all circumstances through all nine months. So America was a majority pro radical pro-abortion nation at that point in time, basically no exceptions, and through all nine months. But the poll that is out now shows that that has been dropping since that point in time. And for the first time in a number of years, those who believe that that abortion should not be legal through all nine months now outnumber those who believe that it should be legal. So that's not a dramatic shift. I wish I could say it was a 30-point shift. It's not. But it is a steady decline and it is a steady movement over the past several years coming back in a direction that is more moral, more religious, and therefore will produce greater freedom and greater stability in years to come for America. So I think that's a good piece of news. Again, it's not a blockbuster piece of news because I again I wish I could say that we're down to only 13% of Americans or whatever. It's not that. But for the first time in a number of years, those who would be considered pro-life through nine months are outnumbering those who are considered pro-abortion through nine months, and that's a good shift, and that's a positive direction for America to take.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Well, that is really good news. What it tells us is there's certainly work to be done. Um, that this fight is far from over, and uh that this fight really needs to be won on multiple levels. It needs to be won uh legislatively. We need to pass laws protecting life from conception until natural death. We need to pass laws that recognize the value of the inalienable right to life, even as the founding fathers identified. Uh so legislative work needs to be done, but certainly there needs to be a lot of educational work. Um, people need to understand, like the science of this is not complicated. When people uh ignorantly want to say, well, it's just a fetus, it's a clump of cells and tissue, all of that is so illogical because dad, right now you and I are clumps of cells and tissue, right? Like it's it's so illogical. And fetus is a Latin term meaning unborn child. Again, all of these arguments are so nonsensical when you begin to break down the just intellectual consistency of the argument to say, wait a second, if that if that's the argument, look at where it applies, and it doesn't make sense. So we have to help people understand uh the intellectual inconsistencies of the pro-abortion position, uh recognizing um the flaw in the arguments, but then also in churches, we we have to have more churches that are teaching something that uh unfortunately is far too confused in the Christian church. This should not be confusing, but far too many Christians are not fully pro-life. And again, then this is not a confusing issue, biblically speaking. So the fact that Christians are even remotely confused on this and percentage shows that a huge percentage of Christians uh don't hold pro-life from conception. Um, I mean, even through nine months of pregnancy, and certainly not until the end of life. So Christians, we have to do a better job of making disciples, pastors. We have to do a better job of teaching the the whole truth, the counsel, the word of God. I mean, just read Psalm 139 in church every now and then, uh, Jeremiah 1.5, there's some very basic verses or even Genesis, right? Where God formed us male and female in his image. So many things that are basic Bible. So I would say that there's some very practical steps we can take to make progress on this, but it is good news that there is a shift taking place, even though it's small, but we can help enact a greater shift. All right,

World Bank Backs Off Climate Loans

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Dad. So the first thing in my piece of good news, it's something Rick and I talked about this some on Wednesday. And so I'm not gonna really spend much time with it. I just want to acknowledge that the headline says a look at the major Supreme Court decisions this term. And Rick and I talked about there were some good, some bad, and some ugly decisions that came down from the U.S. Supreme Court. Um, some that are logical and common sense that we really should rejoice in, some that are uh maybe illogical that are not common sense we should scratch our heads about. But ultimately, there is some good things that came down. Uh, but I want to start with something recognizing again what the the Trump administration has done with some of the people that President Trump has appointed. So our US Treasury Secretary is Scott Bessant. And uh the World Bank has changed some rules and policies because of the influence of President Trump of Scott Bessant. And one of the things this is the headline, what one of the things they changed is as World Bank drops rule that nearly half its loans must be climate related. Now, this is just dumb for so many reasons, thinking that was the rule that we will only approve new for a loan if it's a something climate related. Um, which again just shows the woteness that was there that we we we don't we don't care if it elevates lifestyle, if it brings people out of poverty, right? I mean, you can go down the list. If it doesn't save the climate, which now there's more and more evidence coming out, coming to the surface of how much garbage the the quote unquote scientific data surrounding the uh climate-related catastrophe has been. So that's really good news. But uh, under pressure from the Trump administration, the World Bank is stepping back from its commitment to fund climate-related projects and the development of the world. Now, there's way more in this article. Uh, I'm not gonna take time and go through all of it, but I do want to just acknowledge what is so great about this is President Trump has not only helped bring uh greater levels of freedom with his leadership, the people he's appointed uh in America, whether it be religious liberty or uh economic freedom and choices, removing some of the vaccine mandates, some things that that are actually logical, but that promote freedom. But now America is continuing to help bring freedom to the rest of the world for people around the world that want to get a loan for a business, for a project. They don't have to prove at least nearly half of them, no longer, because that's what the standard was, that nearly half of these loans you had to show it was climate related. And the fact that's being removed, this is great in America, but again, showing how what happens in America is impacting the rest of the world. Uh, and as we get ready to celebrate 4th of July, I am so grateful that we have a president that is working to bring more freedom to America, but also around the world. Now, Dad, I know you have a large stack. Uh let's take a quick break and we'll come back and you can keep running through some of these good news articles. You are listening, everybody. Hang on. We'll be right back. You are listening to the wall builder show.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

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, of religious liberties and freedoms. Go to the wall builders website and bring a speaker to your area.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. This is Good News Friday. My name is Tim Barton. I'm the president of Wall Builders. I am joined by my father, David Barton, the founder of Wall Builders, and we are going through some good news things happening in America. Uh, hopefully, some things that help us as we're getting ready to celebrate Fourth of July. Maybe as you're listening right now, you are already on a long weekend. You're already thinking of the things we're going to do to enjoy freedom this weekend, and maybe even thank God in the midst of that process. Dad, what is your next piece on your good new

Second Amendment Case And Marijuana

SPEAKER_02 15:58

stack?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

It comes from Bill of Rights related material and it deals with the Second Amendment. We have seen over recent years where the court has gotten more back to the original intent of the Second Amendment. They've expanded protection for individuals to be able to own guns, uh, even the states where they dislike guns intensely, very progressive secular states that don't even want you to own a gun, period, make it very difficult for you to do so, don't want you to carry a concealed gun at any point in time. So the the court has gone through a series, I'd say over the last eight to ten years, uh, several significant cases expanding the, or I'm not going to say expanding, securing the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. And that's what the founders intended. And we talked historically, that was basically every single American. If you were a citizen, you were part of the militia. You had your own guns. Um in the revolution, the the military didn't provide the guns. You had to take your own stuff, basically, because we didn't have the money. It was always that way, having your own guns. Well, this was one that first made me scratch my head, and then I read the decision and said, I get it now. And this is where that the Supreme Court, on a gun rights case that was before it this year, said, hey, it's okay for this guy in Texas who uses marijuana to also have guns. And that has been one of the things since the war on drugs back in the 70s. Look, if you're an illegal drug user and you mix that with guns, that's not good. But as Gorsuch pointed out in this decision, he said, look, the the thing, the government is the one who's created this problem because they're the ones who said, hey, we're not going to enforce the marijuana laws. And you now have millions and millions and millions of Americans in states across the United States that use marijuana. And it's like you want us to take guns out of the hands of millions and millions of people. And this guy who's uses marijuana, he's not been charged with any violent crime, he's not been charged with misuse, he's not been charged with public intoxication of marijuana. He is a marijuana user, but he involved the gun in no crime in any way. And as Gors has pointed out, it's it's the states and the feds that are saying the this is a legal drug now. And if it's going to make it a legal drug, the fact that, you know, when I was growing up, marijuana was one of the despised drugs. It was seen as a gateway drug for all the hard drugs, and still is that, by the way. At that point in time, Corsica said, you can't expect us to take guns away from millions and millions and millions of Americans under a law that the feds won't enforce because they don't think it should be illegal and the states won't enforce because they don't think we're not going to be the ones to take guns. And I thought, you know, that's good logic. I I can buy that, that you're not going to take guns out of the hands of millions of law-abiding people who are doing something that used to be a crime a few years ago, but the government refuses to make a crime today. And I thought, okay, I I buy that Second Amendment logic because it's about freedom and about the right for law-abiding people. But as Gors has pointed out, now if you if you bring us a criminal who's breaking the law with a drug and involves a firearm, yeah, that's a whole different case. But this is a guy who's not breaking the law. The federal government has softened up those laws, and states certainly have moved away from it. And so I, you know, I've got to end up being on the side of the Supreme Court on this one because this is not a Second Amendment issue. This is a federal government, state government issue, and the the and the the Supreme Court does not want to see the feds and states take more and more guns away from people. So I'm with them on that. I think it's a good decision.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Well, certainly uh again, things that we have discussed a little bit, we will talk more about. There's a lot of Supreme Court decisions that have come down, um, and it's a mixed bag. There's some really good things uh and some really not good things. Uh and for example, the the one about birthright citizenship, we would look at and go, man, they they totally butchered the very idea of what the 14th Amendment was. It was not. I mean, literally, the guy presenting the bill in the Senate um said, this is not about foreigners coming here and having babies. This is about those who have been enslaved. And so you couldn't get much more clarity. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court got that one wrong. President Trump said, Hey, we have some ideas, some solutions. We can do some things legislatively, and they can. They can enforce laws, all of us to say that we will have many more conversations surrounding this. But anytime we have the U.S. Supreme Court or any court, any government acknowledging, recognizing, protecting the inalienable right to self-preservation, self-defense, the right to keep and bear arms as identified in the Second Amendment, that is good news. All right, I'm gonna try to do this one quick. Um, dad, to leave a little bit of time. And dad, just I'm gonna tease this so you know where we're going. Um, let's finish out with some of the thoughts from John Adams, those letters to between John and Abigail, um, where he talks about the way we should celebrate Independence Day. So let me say my piece of good news, and I'm having to skip some more Supreme Court-related things because again, we'll talk about that more in the future. And we've already talked about some of those

Gen Z Shows Up At Church

SPEAKER_02 20:48

a little bit. But my article deals with the fact it says Gen Z is leading the way on church attendance in small groups. And uh dad, it really is fascinating to me reading the breakdown of who is doing what, and it's this is uh a life way survey, right? Um, and so they are identifying uh by different groups who is uh who is doing what things and interestingly enough, the people that are the most involved in church, I mentioned are Gen Z, but then they break it down between all of the groups as to who is the next most involved. So, Dad, between uh the millennials, between Gen X and between baby boomers, who do you think after Gen Z, they attend church uh roughly 6.2 times per month. And if you think about how many weeks there are uh in a month, that right, roughly four, four and a half weeks in a month, that means they're going more than once a week to church. That's Gen Z. So, Dad, then between millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers, who is the next most active?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh, millennials, the Gen Y, I'm gonna say they were the least active. Uh, I'm gonna take the Gen X, perhaps. I think Gen Alpha probably would be next, but it sounds like they didn't have any stuff. Stats on Gen Alpha. Um, so I I'm gonna leave the the Gen Y millennials out. I would go um X. Maybe X, maybe X.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

So so for those listening, so Rick, Rick Green is our counterpart. Um, so that he's a Gen Xer. Dad, you are a baby boomer, and then I am a millennial. So so you think maybe Rick's generation, they go to church next, uh and then who?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I would think that. I would think that, and then I would back up to the boomers. Um, what I'm saying is that that the least religiously active right now are millennials, but that that's what I've seen elsewhere. So tell me. Okay, so here's this here's the data.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

What they found was that Gen Z is the most likely to attend church and worship services 6.2 times per month. Uh millennials are 4.8, Gen X is 5.1. So you're right, Gen X, so Rick's group beat millennials, my group just by hair. The lowest group are baby boomers. 61 and older, it's only 4.5. Now, Dad, this is fascinating to me because when I was growing up, yeah, it was far more common to see like the gray hairs, right? The the the older generations in church, and what we are seeing now, and this is we've talked about it many times. One of the very encouraging things is to see that there is an influx uh uh of young people. And then when you look at the revivals historically, the the Great Awakenings, it so often was young people that were coming to faith. And often these some of these great revivals and awakenings were led by young people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. And I know that's relative saying that they're all young people, but when you think about leaders of revivals and movements, and you look back at like a George Whitfield, when he gets here and he's right in his late 20s and early 30s as he gets going in this thing. So many of these movements were were led by young people. Now, the the the data does go through and point out that uh even though they are the most active going to church, they have a very low uh ranking when it comes to kind of biblical worldview. Uh, they rank uh at the bottom when it comes, and this is a category obeying God and denying self. And so what we're seeing is that they're coming, they're hungry, um, they they love Jesus, they want more, but they they really need some biblical mentors and disciples around them. I say this for everybody listening that it's amazing. If you're a young person, going to church, man, keep going, it's incredible. As you go, look for somebody older than you that can help disciple you in the faith. And if you are an older person, look for ways to disciple the rising generation in the faith. Now, Dad, we're up on

How John Adams Wanted July 4

SPEAKER_02 24:31

the verge. Tomorrow is 250 since a declaration was presented 4th of July. And just as an encouragement for everybody listening, when John Adams writes Abigail about what he believes Independence Day being the most significant historic moment in American history, he actually gave an encouragement for how 4th of July or how Independence Day specifically should be celebrated. Dad, what was his admonition?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Well, he he said it should be with swips and crackers, which is fireworks and cannons, and had all the stuff that you would normally, well, I don't know if we'd put cannons with the way we celebrate 4th of July, but for them, sitting off cannons. Well, guns specifically. He said guns. Guns, yeah, that's right. And so all of that, but it he said also should be definitely commemorated with solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. And so that's, you know what, that's kind of past the go-to-church stage. Uh, solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty is not just going to church. That's really getting down on your knees and doing some um humility before God and say, man, God, have you blessed us? We recognize you blessed us. I mean, it it's it's kind of like what you have when you have fasting and prayer. Uh, act of humiliation. That's why they used to call the humiliation, fasting, and prayer. It's a time to really humble yourself, get before God, acknowledge him as the author of good and author of blessings, and rededicate the nation to him. So John Adams thought all the all the great celebrations should be there that we're going to do, but he wanted to make sure we added to it solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

So many good things. Uh even just in the John and Abigail Adams letters. There's so many other things. Um, friends, if you're interested, you can go to the wall builders website, wallbuilders.com. We have a 250 page. You can click on that from the very top of the wall builders landing page. And it has so many things surrounding the 250. Um, that there's different kinds of uh gear and swag. There's artifacts that you can highlight, there's articles you can read, there's books, there's so much there. But as we get ready to celebrate 4th of July, I would encourage you to follow John Adams' advice. Remember God and what we do, because without God, none of us would be free. God bless you guys. Happy 250. And thanks for listening to the Wallbook Show.