Welcome And How To Share

SPEAKER_03 0:07

This is the Intersection of Faith and Culture. Thanks for joining us today on the Wall Builder Show. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Websites are wallbuilders.com and wallbuilders.show. If you've missed any shows recently, go to wallbuilders.show. That's also the place to share the program. We really appreciate all you folks out there that are force multipliers, sending it to your friends and families. Maybe even, you know, take the link and post it on your social media channels. Great way to let other people know about the truth that we talk about here. Always taking on hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And people need that today. So you got to cut through all the noise out there and find truth. So be sure and share the WallBulder show with them. And then WallBuilders.com for everything else, including some really cool swag for the 250th. So make sure you get your coffee mugs, shirts, all that good stuff. But then just the educational materials and things that are available and events coming up, pastors' briefings, all kinds of great things. Wallbuilders.com to find out more. David Tim,

Why South Korea Matters

SPEAKER_03 1:00

we got our good friend Rob McCoy coming on later, going to be talking about religious liberty, not just here in the US, but in South Korea. Actually, a pretty, pretty powerful story he's going to be sharing with us. But it's a good reminder, and I hope people really listen today. This will be a great reminder of how precious freedom is and how rare religious liberty is and the ability to not have the government micromanaging everything in your life, including when you open your church. So it's going to feel a little bit like, you know, uh 2020 is is back as we hear some of these stories of what's happened in South Korea. But uh gonna look really looking forward to having Rob McCoy with us a little later.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, you know, it's a really interesting thing that's going on now in the nation is we we were talking even last week about the fact that now that Trump has cut out a lot of the funding to other nations um that that that went really in social things, that those other nations have been having much more conservative elections now that we've cut out a lot of the funding that went through USAID. And so you're seeing nations of Venezuela, I mean the president of Venezuela was just giving a sermon that sounded like a a Bible um, I don't mean a preacher, because a lot of times I hate to say it, I'll be careful how to say this, a lot of preachers are not very well grounded in in the thoughts of God in government. Uh, but this this new president of Argentina is, and he was going through biblically talking about government, and he sounded like someone that was teaching, I don't know, through Patriot Academy or something else. It was really, really cool. So we have that, but on the other side, you have South Korea, who's been a man, been an ally for a long time. Of course, they were real dependent in the Korean War, and right after World War II, we America went in and tried to save them from communism and got communism kind of isolated and held north, but they've been in the South. But I've been watching the last several years, and they've come into open borders. They've started being like progressives in America, and they're inviting everybody to come in, and they're letting the people that come in vote in the South Korean elections. So they're being flooded with people who don't agree with their values. And and well, I've just watched South Korea turn in a really bad direction the last several years, and and you know, what Rob's seeing there, it's it's um it's pretty amazing.

The UN And Fighting Communism

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Now, Dad, remind me real quick, when when we talk about the Korean War, uh, even back up at the UN, the UN was formed to try to not just like stop war, it was wasn't it focused on something like an ideological bent of nations a certain way? What was the UN designed to try to stop the growth and expansion of?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, I think it was something called communism.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Uh that seems like so the UN is tasked coming a group of nations coming together saying we don't want communism, uh, which is also part of why America gets involved in the Korean War, uh, because communism is infiltrating into Korea, uh, and there were Koreans saying, hey, help us. It's just interesting um that literally part of the origins of the UN, that the obviously uh part of the reasons for America getting involved in the Korean War was to oppose communism because people used to recognize how evil that was. And unfortunately, that kind of what you're alluding to, part of what we've seen happening over in South Korea is the embracing of some of the ideology that has already destroyed most of North Korea, and it's infiltrating through uh a lot of honestly, uh not just bad ideology, but through a lot of people moving into the nation that, as you mentioned, through some of their open border policy. I think a lot of Americans forget that the reason the UN and many other things were put in place, and the reason there were certain alliances and opposition was because we had, as the world, we had seen what communism had done in nations. We had seen the death and the destruction communism brought to people, and we recognized how evil communism was and why it needed to be opposed. This would be one of many history lessons that should be revisited to help people remember the destructive nature and power of communism, why we should stay away from it. But that, as you mentioned, uh our friend Pastor Rob McCoy, um, who has been someone, I'm just sounding the alarm on some of this, but he's actually even had some time over in South Korea to see some of this firsthand.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

You know, and Tim, you were mentioning that the lessons that we can learn looking back in history.

When Churches Leave The Public Square

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Another one that I think is really pertinent is South Korea, and we'll we'll see what Rob shares on this. But South Korea, uh, several decades ago was very actively involved in in governmental things there. It had become a very strong Christian nation. There was one pastor, uh Paul Yonggi Cho. He had a million people in his church, and he told the political leaders, he said, look, the ones of the ones of you that that act the most biblical, that's the ones I'm gonna get behind and support. You know, there's a million voters in his church. So it was like, we need you to be biblical. And the church is in South Korea, like it has in America, is really backed out of being involved. And the big churches started saying, well, you know, that's government, we don't do government. So and what's happened is the the progressives came in and now they're bringing the communists in, and as a result, they're losing their freedoms, which is the same thing we've been seeing in America in so many states. So many of the states that are now blue, there's they had significant Christian numbers in those states. Oh, we don't do politics, we don't get involved in that stuff. And so they let the progressives come in and take over the schools, take over the government, and now they're very blue states, not because the people in those states, I saw numbers this week that in some of the very blue states that are having ballot initiatives this fall on whether men should be involved in women's sports, 56% of Democrats say that no, men should not be involved in women's sports. So there's still a lot of people in those states with the right values, but they just have been uninvolved for so long that now they've given power over. And that's a lot of what's happening in Korea as well. So the result is, and Rob will share some of the stuff that's going on there, but it's a really good microcosm of what America's been doing, and it's a really good forewarning for us of what may happen if we don't wake up and get back involved and get some good leaders in.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Pastor Rob McCoy, our special guest. Stay with us, folks. We'll

WallBuilders 250th Anniversary Resources

SPEAKER_03 7:03

be right back on the Wall Builders Show.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Hey guys, this is Tim Barton from Wall Builders. I'm gonna let you know about a special landing page we have on the Wall Builders website. If you go to wallbuilders.com, there is a little box that says Wall Builders is celebrating 250 years of American freedom and independence. Click on that little box and it will take you to the landing page for 250 years of America. And on the landing page, there are several different little boxes you can click on. One of them is for events, it'll let you know of some major events that are that are coming up that are going on that you can actually come and participate in. You can come here. My dad or I give speeches, telling the stories about the birth of the nation, about the founding fathers, the faith connection in America. There's also a tab for resources that you can click on, and it will take you to lots of different speeches and sermons and documents and proclamations from the founding era. And then there's also a little tab that will take you to the wall builder store with lots of resources, all the things that maybe a hat you want to wear, a shirt to wear, or other wall builders products to read. This is the place to go to celebrate 250 years.

Rob McCoy Joins The Story

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Our good friend Rob McCoy back with us. Pastor, love you, brother. Thanks for some time today.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Love you too, Rick, and thank you for the time. This is this is cherished, and I'm so grateful, man.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

Well, man, I we've been so uh just honestly enthralled and and enamored with uh the outpouring of support for Pastor Saan, the story. Um enjoyed being with you on Flashpoint the other night and getting caught up on what was going on. Um, just amazing how God is moving and setting up the right meetings and the right people, but such a travesty as far as what's happening in South Korea. And we had you on a couple of months ago to talk about it, but can you give us a couple minutes just review of how this thing went down and and really the danger that we're in with losing South Korea to the communist and and obviously specifically and personally for Pastor Son and his church? Of course. Thanks, Rick. I will I will.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I'll I'll I'll bring you up to speed. Um so you know, I didn't know my earbo ear earlob from my elbow when it comes to Korea, but about four years ago I was invited to come over by Mina Kim, who has set up what's called Build Up Korea, which is the equivalent of Turning Point USA, but it's uh it was happening in South Korea, uh a conservative uh youth movement, and it was really Christian run. It was outstanding. So I went out there and I I participated for about four years at their annual conference. And I got a chance the very first year to meet Pastor Seon, who is the pastor of the largest church in Busan. And he's the only church in Korea that stayed open during COVID and they came after him heavy, but he he defied it because he knew that the church was essential, and all the other religions weren't affected, just Christianity was targeted.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

And so, um by the way, I gotta say, Pastor Rob, when I watched the clips of him, the news interviews, the things that happened, he's basically the South Korean Rob McCoy. I mean, come on. He's essentially he did there what you did in Thousand Oaks and in California, and for the rest of us across the country, as you were doing your fireside chats throughout the insanity and helping to educate people, he took a stand in South Korea in much the same way, you know, that you did in California. So I could see why you guys would hit it off.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Well, he that you're gracious. Uh the consequences for Pastor Stone were far greater, but we did hit it off. I felt like you know, we'd been separated at birth. He's 62, I'm 61, so there's a chance we could have been brothers. My dad was over in Korea. I don't know, anyways. But but we just we felt like we've been brothers our whole life. And um so I when when I approached Charlie, um I I asked Charlie Kirk if he wanted to come to Korea and see what was happening with this conservative youth movement. And I I knew he was gonna say no, because he just doesn't like to leave the U.S. And he said yes, and I was shocked. So we came over uh to Korea, and the first thing I did was introduce him to Pastor Sohn, who I told him all about. And Pastor Soan, obviously, with a new administration, the previous president had been imprisoned and this new administration, a socialist,

Pastor Sohn Arrest And Pressure

SPEAKER_02 11:05

uh China loving, uh basically communist administration. Uh the minute that they were elected into office, they came after the churches, they raided the churches, and they were they were seeking to put Pastor Soan in prison because obviously he defied the lockdown orders. And he'd also organized a five million person march in the five major cities in Korea against LGBT and the transgender movement and and and gay marriage. Um and and so this that administration was out to get him. And Pastor Soan pointed out to Charlie, it looks like I'm gonna be arrested here shortly, and Charlie said, and I'll never forget it, he said, I won't make promises on behalf of my government, but but I'll do everything in my power if you're arrested to get you out. And that that that uh promise was made four days before Charlie was murdered, and we landed in the US after the Build Up Korea event, and Monday we got word that Pastor Soan had been arrested. I called Charlie and he said, you know, get the arrest warrant and all the details, and we'll feature it on the sh on the program on Thursday on my podcast. And as we know in the memorial service, he actually called Secretary Rubio and informed him what was going on. And then uh we were gonna feature it on that Thursday, and of course, Monday, September 10th, uh an awful day. Charlie was murdered. And Pastor Soan uh languished in prison uh in a three by seven cell in solitary confinement. Uh you know, he he no due process, nothing. And he just languished there for five months, and I kept a promise to a friend, went over, visited him, filled the pulpit in his absence, um, protested out in front of the Kore the South Korean Supreme Court and with pastors who were brave enough to stand in defiance of of that administration. And of course, um the vice president commented to the Prime Minister of South Korea when when he came here to visit, and it was took that simple tack uh that that simple effort and uh Pastor Soan was released. Well, when I was back visiting and celebrating his release in South Korea, I was informed that they were gonna put him back in prison in September. And I said, Pastor Soan, come on out uh to the U.S. and let's let's travel around and get word out about this and try to keep you out of prison. And my goal was to get a a meeting with the president, uh, with with President Trump and a picture with Pastor Soan. And that's that's the whole point. And well, we just found out that's been secured, and we're gonna meet Friday at 2 p.m. So that's that's exciting. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Man, that of course that speaks volumes uh and and and is uh as as good a diplomatic move that you could make to have a picture like that. Um and and I'll also get to show Pastor Son around um DC and and see some of those things. Um Rob, I know I know I I think I've heard you say this, but I know I've felt it. You you're you're basically helping Charlie keep the promise. I mean that's literally what you're living out right now.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Yeah, I mean, um, you know, I miss him. And um you know, it's it's it's the best I can do is uh to honor the promise my friend made. And and I know Charlie would have done this. And you know, to to to President Trump's credit, the man's busier in a one-armed wallpaper hanger. And and for him to take time, I mean, he he's the one that got the Chinese pastor released from prison. I know this is dear to the president's heart. I want to just say kudos to Paula White and and Erica Kirk, uh my son Mikey making calls. You know, the the President is no one's done more for religious freedom worldwide than President Trump. And I I love what Pastor Soan said. He said, Rob, you know, I I had America to come to, but if America falls to what Korea's facing, where where will anyone go? And and Korea has the largest Christian population of any nation in Asia, a third of their population of 59 million is Christian. And overnight, I mean, uh this nation was founded by by American Christian missionaries. The half of their founders were educated by these Christian missionaries. They came to the US to study our republic, our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence. And they've rewritten their history. They've they've removed the history of their founders, and and China now Chinese don't require a visa to come into the country anymore, and they and they can buy property and they can vote after anywhere, depending on the province, from three months to four years. They're they're they're turning the country over to China without a shot being fired. And President Trump, he's wise to this, and and uh he's he just he gets it. And so I I just can't thank him enough for making time in his busy schedule to take a picture with a pastor of all things. Just precious.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

He really has Yeah, and you're right, he has led on religious liberty around the world in a way we we've never seen. And you know, so many people thought he would be terrible on that issue. He's turned out to be the best that we've had on that issue. Uh Rob, I know it's not the you know, necessarily the to the topic, but you know, South Korea is I mean, literally literally right next door to one of the worst communist regimes ever. How do they not you know it was such a contrast for all those years, that's 60 years now, 70 years now? I mean, how do they fall into socialism and communism after seeing such benefit of capitalism and a f free enterprise system? I mean, I think about us as a nation, we're kind of you know, we're spoiled, we're getting soft, but for them, they've been facing the threat of communist North Korea right across the border, and they're still giving into this. Well how how do you describe uh explain that?

How Prosperity Turns Into Apathy

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Well, it's a it's a total illustration of the titler cycle, you know, the Scottish historian who said every democracy goes from uh bondage to faith, faith to freedom, freedom to abundance, abundance to apathy, and then apathy back to dependence. And South Korea became a nation in 1948, and they were the poorest nation on the face of the earth. They had been enslaved by the Imperial Japanese. America defeats Japan. Uh Korea becomes a nation in August of 48, and then of course Russia uh comes down and and establishes North Korea with the Chinese, and so there's two separate nations, they're both the poorest on the earth, and then we know the Korean War establishes, and then we have thirty-six thousand, what, six hundred US military personnel die to establish a thirty-eighth parallel. And and and the North gets communism and the south gets gets freedom. And if you look at the Korean Korean peninsula at night, the North is dark and the South is lit with industry, and they go from the poorest nation to the sixth wealthiest, and with that abundance comes apathy and and um and you know, the communism takes over gradually and then suddenly. Uh similar to the sun also rises with um uh Ernest Hemingway, it it happened gradually, then suddenly, and that's that's what's happening overnight. Uh these folks, but but I I wanna I want to share with your listeners real briefly that the the silver lining in all this is seventy percent of the youth, 18 to 30, um that inspired by Charlie are are in defiance of this current administration. Uh they they see that communism is not the way and we need to back them and encourage them. And there's hope for this country. They have a negative birth rate, but these young people, they're they want their country back, and and they want they want to get married early and have kids they can't afford and and re-establish this this Christian blessing upon their land.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Wow, man, it's an it's an incredible story. So thankful um that you were able to connect with them and and have this personal relationship, but then also you know, to bring this warning to our country that we can absolutely go that that way as well. And so we'll be praying for your meeting on on Friday, uh, praying for for favor for Pastor Son. Uh, remind me his son's name again. I know we've we've had him on Flashboard before.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Well, so uh he's got two sons. Um they were both on the pro well, yeah. So so chance is his youngest son, and this is funny. I always young son is the oldest son. Yeah, and and so I I have Young and Chance, and then Mr. and Mrs. Soan uh with me. So we're taking care of the four of them, and we've been going across the country. And uh gratitude and thanks to pastors across the country who have who have encouraged them and blessed them and supported them and and the people who back this visit. Um, it has been fruitful, and I'm so grateful. And I quite honestly, your listeners and all the folks involved, especially Flashpoint, uh they they quite honestly could be used of the Lord to save South Korea.

unknown 19:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Wow, man. Well, thank you. Please tell the whole family, the wall builders uh radio audience loves them praying for them. And uh we'll be praying for your meeting on Friday. Pastor Rob McCoy, always a pleasure, sir. Thanks for coming on. Love you, Rick. Bless you, brother. You too, man. Stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Jefferson Draft Declaration Resource

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Hey guys, this is Tim Barton from Wall Builders. I want to let you know about a new resource that should be a tool in your toolbox. This is the reprint of Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence. Now, there's lots of reasons it would be cool to own a reprint like this, but one of the things that I want to highlight is not only is this a reprint that is in Thomas Jefferson's own hand in cursive, it shows some of his edits along the way, which is really fun, but it also shows what Thomas Jefferson thought was the most significant grievance in the original draft. It's the longest grievance, it's the last grievance. It was a grievance against the slave trade, arguing actually also against slavery, and arguing for the humanity of all that were in slaves. Thomas Jefferson thought that was the most important. Now, it didn't make it in the final draft, and we will explain why in the resource pack that you get when you order one of these copies. But friends, this is something that you want in your collection. Go to wallboulder.com and look for Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence.

What America Owes Persecuted Christians

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Welcome back to the WallBulder Show. Thanks to Rob McCoy for joining us and for just all the incredible help that he's been to Pastor Son and and honestly the nation of South Korea, back with David and Tim now. Um guys, that was great, man. I mean, I enjoyed getting a little bit of that that history, and then of course, you know, how quickly this thing has changed. Uh obviously a warning for us in the United States, uh, but we are not just America only here. We're America first, and we have allies around the world that we care about, and and clearly our our brothers and sisters in Christ in South Korea that are facing uh some serious threats here. So really excited about uh President Trump being willing to uh to to see Rob and uh I uh you know I'm just thinking that's that's the best diplomatic message that he could send to South Korea with regard to this issue.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, well, you know, the Bible says no man lives and dies unto himself. You can't be an isolationist and be biblical. Uh you're involved with others. We can't be in isolation and say, hey, this isn't Korea, it doesn't affect us, we're not gonna do anything with it. That's not possible, especially when the Bible says to remember your brethren in bonds across the world. And so with Pastor Son, I mean, being in jail simply because of having those what used to be very American, very Western beliefs, very biblical beliefs for sure, and and now that government has flipped. In such a direction that it takes President Trump's influence, uh, which still is a significant influence in South Korea, it takes his influence to be able to get that kind of change made. Now, you know, there's no guarantee that Pastor Sun's not going to be back in prison when he gets back to South Korea, except I think South Korea does not want to make Trump mad at this point. That would be a really stupid political blunder, and I think they recognize that. So hopefully with with him meeting with President Trump, that is going to uh put uh some degree of insulation around him that will keep him safe when he gets home. But if they do not get South Korea to, and by the way, i just like America, they lost their universities, progressives came into their universities, uh the church became uninvolved, progressives then got into government, and and they're they're the microcosm of what's been going on in America, and they can turn it around as well, but they need to. Uh, but it is so good that that you've had individuals and right around the president step up to him and say, hey, Mr. President, you really need to look at this and do something with it. And that's influence that's that's used well, particularly to help the Christian church in uh in Korea find freedom again.

Trump’s Religious Freedom Record

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Well, Dad, one of the things we we've talked about, it's interesting, and Rick, you uh might want to add in on this and Chime in too is great. Um but we've seen Trump administration in so many ways already take actions to promote and defend religious freedom and to remove funding uh in ways and places that attack um certain uh Christian ideals, beliefs, or um things that would undermine some of those values. So, I mean, Dad, you you kind of mentioned the incredible thing that this is an opportunity that could bolster some of that religious liberty and freedom over in uh South Korea, but it but it it seems to line up with what a lot of Christians have missed or ignored or denied. The reality that this Trump administration has been uh far more vocal and active in promoting and defending religious freedom, uh, arguably, and this is where you guys can chime in, arguably, than any presidency in our lifetime. And part of that might be because we've never seen this level of hostility against uh Christianity since maybe when you have President Obama and Biden, some of their officials and some of uh their their political appointments that have become much more hostile. But but this to me, again, is just one of the encouraging things from the Trump administration, um, reiterating the fact that they have been the most pro-religious freedom and pro-Christian and biblical values of any uh presidential administration we've seen in our lifetimes. What do you guys think?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Well, Tim, you said arguably, so I'm gonna argue with you on it. Uh I I think there was another administration in our lifetime that was very, very good, almost equally good on religious liberty, and that was George W. Bush. However, the enemy was very different back then. You actually had Democrats back then who were not yet progressive. They were still pro-life, they were still pro-family, pro-marriage. So while he did a ton for religious faith across the world and in America at that time, he was fighting a very different enemy. I think Trump has an enemy that is, I don't want to missay this, but it's it's kind of I mean, Bush, I appreciated so much what George W. did, but compared to Trump, it was kind of the minor leagues. Not that he was a minor league president, but the enemy he was facing was more like a minor league uh opponent than a major league opponent now, which is what Trump is facing. So I agree with you that Trump has done more. I think that George W. Bush did a ton, but the the the stakes weren't as high then as they are now. So uh it it is quite remarkable to see Trump weigh in all across the world against really vicious enemies, very aggressive enemies, enemies we've never seen in our lifetime, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

And just being smart about how to do the diplomacy and how to send a signal like he's gonna do with this, you know, be being willing to meet with Patrick's on on Friday. And once again, one of those guys that, you know, a lot of our fellow Christians and and pastors and such that that still to this day have Trump derangement syndrome. Um, I hope that they see how much he's doing for Christians around the world, how much he's stepping in, and uh what a difference it's made. Also for religious liberty here in the U.S. And my goodness, the prosecutions even from our own DOJ uh being stopped and now, you know, um making things right with these uh pro-life activists and just so many things we could we could point to. But super, super thankful. Great uh great opportunity to be be grateful for the president that we have, and then making sure that we do everything we can for the remainder of this presidency and hopefully the next one as well uh to help our our brothers and sisters around the world. Thanks so much for listening today. You've been listening to the WAPOLDO show.