Voting As Christian Stewardship

Rick Green 0:07

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the WallBuilder Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective, which is exactly how you should consider your vote. Your vote should be biblical, historical, and constitutional. And yes, that assumes you will vote. I know most people in this audience probably are, but you got to be a force multiplier. Help get your friends and family out as well. Make sure you're telling everybody only, well, less than two weeks now, guys. Less than two weeks. Chad Conley with us today. So we got David Barton, Tim Barton, Rick Green, or Chad Conley all in one place. And well, not really. We're all all over the country. But we're together on radios. Or less than two weeks away, Chad and uh and David, you guys are out doing uh Faith Wins events all over the place. How's the response from pastors in both in terms of numbers and then what's the attitude out there?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Well, they it's interesting. The attitude seems to be good. Uh the numbers seem to be good. We've had really good turnout with pastors at at these events designed specifically for pastors. They're not necessarily public numbers that we're trying for, we're trying to get pastors there. Because in a lot of the races where that that Chad is selected, where we're working, these are races that okay, congressional districts is about 760,000 citizens in that district. These races are likely

Pastors Can Decide Tight Races

SPEAKER_01 1:20

to be decided by less than a thousand votes. And that means that five, six, seven churches can supply the margin of victory in these three quarter million sea household race kind of things. So we've been in those districts, targeting those districts. Uh there's been high energy that we've seen. Now, you know, we won't know till after all this stuff is over. We don't know exactly what the other side is doing for turnout. But we do know that right now there's some high energy on our side, and there's also a number of pastors getting involved that have not been involved before. So that's a positive thing also, is it's starting to bring some people in that have not been part of the engaged uh process previously. So I I think we're seeing some good things. Chad, what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, um, as you guys, y'all know this. Um midterms when uh one side has the White House, you're always fighting an uphill climb and it's turnout, it's apathy, it's oh, we won. You know, it's the same thing we've always fought in the midterm. If you remember uh Bill Clinton uh in his second midterm uh race, I think he lost 54 seats in the House. Obama in his second midterm lost 63. If Trump loses four and loses the majority, they're gonna claim it's a repudiation of everything. But strategically speaking, I we looked at, and my buddy Bob Crawford did some analysis, we did some analysis, about 43 races that are in what we call our run-up the score place where we know Christian turnout makes a big difference. And of those, I think we have a dedicated pastor in 35 of those, and we didn't have the bandwidth to hit all 43, but we've hit most of them. Since July 10th, I've now to I think tonight's meeting was 94th. Tim, when I'm with you, coming up here next, I think it'll be you have have done 96 meetings in 21 states since July 10th, uh, just all of the country trying to be in them. But the the top 35, 21 or 22, and my math may be off, but it's 21 or 22, are in that thousand vote margin. So when you do a pastor meeting with 10 or 20 pastors, you're literally talking about the ability to move the needle in most, if not all, of those races, and that's what we've been targeting. Trying to be strategic, trying to be specific, and trying to go right in that district that if we run up the score of the dormant votes in the churches, we have moved the needle.

Early Voting Data And What It Means

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Well, guys, one of the things that we're definitely seeing right now is an increased number of people voting in early voting, uh, which generally is is an encouraging sign. It doesn't always indicate it's gonna be uh conservative or Republican as opposed to Democrat and liberal. And and frankly, uh when you look at early voting in Texas, uh some of the record-breaking turnout has been in very liberal places. So so down in Houston, uh in Dallas, um, places that that typically are far more Democrat. They have had a very strong and actually kind of record-breaking turnout, relatively speaking. But we're seeing increased voter turnout across the nation. Uh, I'm looking at stuff now that says uh in Georgia, the first day uh voting was 40% higher than 2022, which was the last midterm election. Uh it's uh past a million votes, and that's 12% ahead of where they were in 2022 at that same point where they are now. Um, North Carolina's up 38%, Iowa's up 61% uh in some of the counts, Maine's up, Virginia's up, Ohio is up. So people are are showing up all over the place. And some pundits are looking at this and going, hey, the fact that you have so many people showing up in some of these major Democrat-run cities, this shows that Democrats are gonna have a huge turnout. But the thing that's interesting about some of the data is when you look at the people that are showing up to vote, it was like 3% of people that were not that had not participated in the previous election, meaning 97% of the people that voted were known voters in that area. So it's it's not necessarily indicative that there's an overwhelming majority of something shifting one way or the other. And what we're seeing now is uh I do not watch CNN. Uh, however, I'm seeing a lot of CNN clips on some of my social media feed where some of their analysts are looking at the data and going, man, you know, it it seems like Republicans have a lot better chance than we thought. And I think what we're seeing right now with early voter turnout is to some extent indicative of that, even though there certainly are places where there's a lot of Democrats showing up and voting. Uh Chad, to your point, I am seeing so many pastors that are speaking up that have I've never seen some of these pastors say anything before. And I am seeing more courage coming from churches and pastors than I've ever seen. And as you mentioned, with some of these pastors meeting, in fact, I think it's tomorrow uh morning, I guess, is when we're gonna be together up in Michigan. And I guess at lunch tomorrow, whatever it is, we're doing events together with pastors. And even if if in a room full of pastors, if we have 20 or 30 pastors, but those pastors go back and they encourage their people to get involved, and they have 10 or 15 people from their churches who get involved who maybe weren't gonna vote, but now their pastors encouraging them to, and they're gonna go vote their biblical values. That's enough to swing things in many of these local elections and even some of the statewide stuff. That's enough to make a difference in some of the states. When we look back in Texas, uh, when when Ted Cruz beat Beto at Rourke back in 2018, and and when they called the race, it was less than 1% that Ted Cruz was up. Uh initially, Beto had been up for much of the night, but Ted Cruz ended up winning by like 200,000 votes. I think it was 214,000 some of the votes that Ted Cruz won by. That's in Texas with millions and millions of voters. That's a Senate, a statewide Senate campaign. And the fact that it's only 200,000 votes, that that is not as significant. And this again, Texas, a huge state, population-wise and just landmass. This is a big place. When you look at places like Michigan or some of the other states, Chad, where you've been, uh Dad, you've been traveling with them as well. Rick, you and I have been all over the place. And some of these places, it is a far more narrow 10,000, a 20,000, a 30,000 point difference. And when you get pastors showing up, getting their people involved, which we are seeing at incredible rates and paces right now, there's a reason to be encouraged. It does give a lot more optimism and it makes sense why even on CNN, they're having to admit, guys, this might be a lot closer than we thought.

Diet Coke Versus Drano Stakes

SPEAKER_00 7:54

You know, I think something, Tim, that to your point is every basically every meeting we do, there are new pastors because I've been challenging our pastor teams. I want you to bring guys who are skeptical, ones who've never been involved. Let them hear me or David Barton or Tim Barton, hear us speak and and make the case for why Christians have to be involved. And I really think something that struck me, I know this from the Holy Spirit, I didn't come up with it myself, but it kind of struck me as an analogy. I think a lot of Christians and particularly pastors think, well, you know, there's not no difference in the parties. Now, everybody who's educated knows a big difference, but they say, well, it's just no difference. It's like having Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. And you know, a lot of times I can't disagree with them because certainly my party that I claim does things I don't agree with, that happens all the time, right? I don't think this is election is about the difference in Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. I think this election is between Diet Coke and Draeno. And you may not like Diet Coke, but Draeno will kill you. And I think the things that the left is embracing is like drinking Draeno for the country. And I really think this is down to a good versus evil. When you look at the issues, and that's why I believe pastors are waking up, Christians are waking up, they see the embracing by the left of the transing, the full LGBT plus plus plus, the the socialism, communism, Islamism, that it's crazy what they're embracing. Oh, it's okay to have these filthy books in the library, but the pastor can't read it at the school board, like our friend John Amachuku, who got kicked out of a Statesville, North Carolina school board meeting for reading what the kids were exposed to. So they wouldn't censor the book, quote unquote, from the five-year-old, but they censored the pastor from reading it. And there's such a hypocrisy on the left, and I believe that's what's causing the awakening. The other thing I think we need to recognize, and there are two parts of this, and your Dad just mentioned this a little bit ago, Tim. I think Trump's making a difference because he's out selling the positives that the media refuse to tell. But the second thing is I have seen a hesitancy, a reluctance even from our side's political consultants to talk about the cultural social issues. But the numbers that are moving are because I'm seeing Republican candidates talking about the left embracing the sexualization of your children, the mutilation of your children, the transing of your children. I know in my state of South Carolina, that state race uh in the Senate race between Darlene Graham and Annie Andrews has turned already because Darlene's ads are about Annie Andrews' hypocrisy and embracing of the trans your kids now trying to walk it back. The more they're talking about the social issues, the more our people come out. The reluctance by the consultants to talk about it has always been something that's made me mad. They're scared of it. But the truth is our people want to hear the red meat stuff. They want to know that candidates stand for something. If you can't stand for the truth about boys and girls, what are you gonna stand for? That's bringing our voters out.

Rick Green 10:50

I don't know how you do it, Chad. I don't know if you came up with the Draeno thing, or if you heard that somewhere, or if that was just now off the top of your head. But I've been looking for a metaphor and you just gave it to me. That's the perfect one. Because it's perfect for me too, because I don't like Diet Coke at all. I don't even like Coke. I like Dr. Pepper. But uh that's perfect. I mean, that's exactly we have people that are literally choosing to drink Draeno because they don't want to drink the Diet Coke. I mean, it's perfect analogy, brother. That metaphor, whatever that is.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

It had to be a Holy Spirit thing.

Rick Green 11:22

I love it. I love it.

How To Listen And Share

Rick Green 11:24

Hey guys, let's take a quick break. There's so much more to cover. So many things happening here. And I think we all kind of feel a shift even in the last few days. Uh, this is the time to pour on the momentum and encourage people to get out and vote. We'll be right back, folks. You're listening to the WallBuilder Show. Hey friends, Rick Green for the WallBuilder Show. Encouraging you to share the program with friends and family and listen to it on the podcasts that are out there. There's so many options out there for you to listen to in the car or from home or while you're working out. You've got Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Castbox. I mean, there's so many options. And we just want to make sure you know we've worked hard to get it out there and make it available for you on all those different apps. Everybody's got their favorite app, so choose your particular app. And if it's not on there yet, email us, radio at wallbuilders.com and let us know about your favorite podcast app. And we'll make sure WallBulder's radio is listed there. But you can listen and most importantly, share it with your friends and family. That's how the program grows. That's how we get more truth in the hands of as many people as possible. And then, of course, wallbuilders.show, super easy place uh to find all of those podcast apps and to just download right there from that website as well as be able to share it with your friends and family. So check it out today, wallboarders.show, or just go directly to your favorite podcast app, listen to the WallBuilder Show, and share it with as many people as you possibly can. Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Chad Connolly sitting in with us today. So you got Chad Conley, David Barton, Tim Barton, Rick Green, all four of us today. And uh as I was saying before the break, I think we all four sense

Why Sitting Out Helps The Left

Rick Green 12:56

a shift. We're all out across the country. This is anecdotal, of course, with the people we're talking to and dealing with, but also looking at the numbers and the some of the early voting uh you know numbers coming out and and uh and just a big response. So uh people aren't necessarily sitting on the couch, uh, but but do speak one more time, if you guys will, to the voter that is thinking about skipping a race or sitting out because they don't like uh you know a particular candidate, and we know that the person on the other side of the ballot is literally that Draeno that Chad's talking about.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Well, Rick, I think one of the things that is important to help identify, even when when we're thinking of people that might be sitting out, I I think there's there's contributing factors that are worth acknowledging as well. And then let's get into uh why they're sitting out. But we have seen, we I mean we've talked about this even before we uh started to record today. We we have seen people that have been lifelong Republicans and theoretically conservatives, some of them really strong conservatives that have come out and said, you know what, this candidate that beat me in the primary, uh that this this person who's running for this specific office, I detest them. Yeah, and even though I'm a conservative Republican, I will not vote for them. And I encourage other people, don't vote for this candidate. And so one of the things uh Rick, I think is worth acknowledging is not just that there's some people that might be frustrated or sad or discouraged. I think there's people that are being swayed because there's voices that have been on our side literally for decades that now, because of offense, of bitterness, of whatever it might be, and we talked about this a little bit with uh our our our friend Victor Marks in Colorado in this governor's race, and uh, you know, a person he beat in the primary who is a minister, a pastor, uh, who has been really upset and and and said he's not gonna support Victor Marks, which by default, then, if we're not gonna drink the diet coke, you're saying, hey, don't have that diet coke, have this other one instead. That's Draeno. You literally are encouraging the thing that will destroy, that will poison, which as a side note to remember, the devil comes only to do three things to steal, to kill, and to destroy. When you look at what communism, at what Marxism, at what historically Islam has done, and and we're pretending like no, it's it's all the same, it's utterly ridiculous. And the fact that there are conservative individuals that are encouraging Christians, Republicans, and other conservatives not to vote for the the person on the Republican side of the ballot because they're offended by that person, it is so selfish and short-sighted again. Uh, whether it's because of bitterness offense, like whatever that kind of spiritual hurdle is they're navigating. This is something too that I would encourage people, don't be swayed by some of these individuals that are out there saying, Well, I wouldn't vote for this candidate because blah, blah, blah. Understand the dynamics. And then I think we get into the reality of why we can't sit out. We've talked about it many times in the program that there's a stewardship responsibility that in America that there is no king, there's no dictator, there's no Caesar in America. We the people are king, we're we're the leaders in charge. We have a stewardship responsibility given to us by our creator. There's a mandate from the very beginning that God said, right, fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. We were the ones in charge. And in America, we have a government system that it was uniquely designed, actually following some of this biblical notion that we the people are in charge. We get to determine the course that we are sailing the ship, the destiny of where we are headed. And if Christians sit out, if Christians will not gauge in culture, if Christians will not gauge in politics, the secular will, the world will, the Marxist will, the LGBTQIA plus will. We don't have the luxury or privilege of sitting this out and thinking that America is going to be okay. We have a responsibility to be involved and don't be swayed by voices that are coming from bitterness and offense and saying, Well, I don't like that person, so don't vote for them. Be smarter than that and recognize what is actually at stake.

Rick Green 17:17

All right, guys, I found a I found another metaphor that I like in addition to Chad's Draeno. So I don't know if y'all seen Josh Howerton's post where he says, you know, the vote is not a Valentine and it's not a time to send a message to somebody. It's a time to make a difference. Uh, but it's just so, so good. Uh, just a good reminder. We're not looking for the person that makes us feel fuzzy inside. We're looking for the person that's going to stop the decay, that's going to stop, you know, that's going to be salt and light and literally stop the decay in the culture and preserve uh the meat out there. So if uh if anybody, you know, if you follow Josh Howerton, you've probably already seen it. But I just think these metaphors are picking up, guys. We're finally, finally figuring out how to explain uh the options

Key States To Watch Election Night

Rick Green 17:56

here. Um okay, give us uh, Chad, what would be your top races to be watching right now and and state turnout, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yeah, I think we're gonna know a lot from New Hampshire and Maine early on on election night, and we're gonna know a lot from Ohio and then Iowa. I'm not sure we're gonna learn much about North Carolina or Georgia. Uh let's face it, our side bailed on both those races early. I think Watley probably just uh didn't measure up, and of course he's running against somebody who's won six times statewide in North Carolina for the Senate seat. Now, who knows what kind of drag that is on the ticket. Georgia, Ossoff raised a ton of money. There was internal struggle with the guy. I'm not giving up on Georgia myself, but I'm watching New Hampshire and Maine. I think Susan Collins pulls it out. Uh, we were in New Hampshire, uh, David and I, we did three, four meetings in New Hampshire, three or four yesterday, I guess, or a couple days ago, whatever it was now. And I I think Johnson Nunu actually could pull out that Senate race. Watch that one. But Ohio and Iowa, if Republicans don't do well in those two, it is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, it it's a big deal too, in that typically, uh for the last several generations, the party in power loses four Senate seats. Republicans have a three-vote majority, so if they lose four, they lose control of the Senate. That stops. We talked uh earlier this week about the how you can't get more judges ratified, et cetera. Uh that would stop the Trump judges and and all the great effect that's had on America with good judges. But actually we're seeing states like New Hampshire where there actually could be pickups. And and the the national pundits have it, no pickups for Republicans, losing four to six seats. And we're seeing scenarios where that there may be a couple of pickups, not just one, but even two pickups. Yeah, Michigan is one that that could easily be a pickup because of what's happening up there with that candidate. And and some of these candidates are are really radical, and now we're seeing unusual things come out, like i i in the race in Ohio. Ohio's one of those battleground states. And and up there you have the the Democrat candidate for governor running against Vivek Ramaswamy, and and in that governor's race, the Democrat candidate what can Chad what's her. Her name is Amy Acton. Amy Acton. The mother of Amy Acton came out with the piece that said, Hey, you know, I love my daughter, but she's a perpetual liar. She's lying about her background, and and it's it's the family doing a piece like that and the can I mean that can shift a lot of stuff. And and so we're seeing some things happen that kind of scratch your head on that and go, wow, that's unexpected. That and so we could actually have some really unexpected results. And again, this is all early voting. We won't know anything until we start counting the ballots. And by the way, if you want to follow the election, Chad, myself, Rick, Tim, we're all gonna be on a couple of networks going back and forth on election night, doing live coverage of all the states. So you, Tim, you want to tell them the the two stations they can watch?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Well, yeah, specifically we'll be on with Victory News and with Flashpoint. Um I would uh think that probably people that have listened to Wall with their show very long, and we you've heard us talk about both of them. Um we we love and appreciate both of them, and we're actually gonna be going back and forth between the studios. Um and so some of us will be in one, some of us will be in another. And actually, we're joined by a host of friends. We also will post on our social media. Um, so you can click on links and follow live stream on social media. You can find it on uh television platforms as well. So for people that still uh have some kind of cable subscription or whatever else it might be, uh, we will have more information on our social media platforms of where you can find us, follow along, track what's happening that night. But yes, we will definitely not just be tracking what happens that night. We'll try to give some analysis and breakdown of what is actually going on. Uh, and and because all of us will have been in a lot of these states where things are breaking down, um, we will be able to give some specific insight on those states, and then we have friends in those states will be. In contact with, as well as obviously tracking everything that the AP reports and everybody else. So we'll try to give a breakdown and perspective of how to uh think about what's coming in and what the expectation is based on what we're seeing. So the Victory Channel and Flashpoint are the two places we're going to be for many hours on election night.

Rick Green 22:21

Well, I just want people to be able to picture all of us as it's basically going to be Captain Kirk and the boys, and we're going to be beaming back and forth between these two locations. So I don't know if that makes Tim, you know, Spock and I'm Scotty or what, but uh David's definitely Captain Kirk. Anyway, yeah, it's going to be a fun night. We're going to run back and forth. Everybody needs to watch. I think it's going to be a night of celebration if we turn out in the next two weeks for sure. And that's really the take-home message today.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, go ahead, Chad. I w I want to say two quick things I think people ought to be watching. Watch Michigan. It won't be an early return state. But our L Ced is such a radical, Islamist, communist, Hassan Piker loving guy that won't even denounce 9-11 terrorists. Watch that one. That would bode well for Republicans if Mike Rogers pulls it off of the Senate. If it doesn't go well in Iowa and Ohio, watch it be a long couple weeks because Alaska results for the U.S. Senate could then boil down to who controls the Senate. Now, I hope and pray it doesn't come to that, but watch Ohio and Iowa will have early numbers on those, I think. Michigan may take a little longer, New Hampshire, Maine. But if it if all those end up being a little bit of a wash and the Democrats have a good night, Alaska could determine it, and it may take two to four weeks to get those results. So I think everybody ought to be in prayer of those states. If the Republicans have a bad night early on, it could sweep around the country. I think we're depending a lot on Trump's uh getting the word out and our late money being spent to expose the left for being radicals. That's what I think we got to watch.

Ranked Choice Voting And Ballot Measures

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Well, I guys, I think one of the things we're tracking too in those ballot measures, I think in Alaska, um, Dad, but remind me if I'm remembering this wrong, but I think Alaska has on for one of their ballot measures again uh to reverse the uh their their voting system of ranked choice voting, which as Chad points out, it it could take a long time for Alaska to know what's gonna happen. Well, part of the reason it takes so long is because of the way they do their voting system, which is ranked choice voting, which is a terrible decision for lots of reasons. We don't have time to get into that today, but I think there's a chance that they can repeal that, reverse that, and go back to standard voting, which is way better. And I say that because ranked choice voting is something that was created and promoted uh to help get more moderate candidates, which actually shifts a state more left and more liberal uh over time. And I think Alaskans have realized that to some extent. But if they get rid of that, then Alaska, apart from being in a different time zone, uh maybe it wouldn't take them quite so long to get those results in. Dad, am I remembering that right? Is ranked choice voting one of the ballot uh measures up in Alaska?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah, they had that on the ballot also two years ago, and it took them weeks to get the final result on that. And it was uh, I mean, it was a squeaker that they kept it. It was a real squeaker, and so they've brought it back. This time they think they'll defeat it, but again, that just uh depends on turnout. But it is Alaska. Maine also has ranked choice voting. Uh we'll see what happens with Maine up there, how that affects their results. But those are the two states, and Alaska has tried it. And in Alaska, everybody who's not a progressive in Alaska, they hate ranked choice voting. They hate the results of it's bringing, and so they're trying to get rid of it. So that is something, and by the way, there's a lot of ballot initiatives. We'll also cover an election night. Four of the states are looking at abortion measures. Uh, a number of the states are looking at no men and women's sports, uh, banning transgender mutilation surgery. There's a lot of ballot initiatives that are very good for us, and if those carry, we'll see a lot of good policy come out of election night as well as good candidates.

Final Push To Get Out And Vote

Rick Green 26:00

All right, guys, I'm gonna close this with one more metaphor. This is from the king of NASCAR, Richard Petty, last night, 89 years old, walked out at the President Trump rally in North Carolina and said, We're in a big race here, guys. Trump is the best driver we've ever had. What we got to do, you got to go pick the best pit crew for him. That's what the midterms are all about. Let's get out and get the best pit crew we can for the best driver in the world. Closing with Richard Petty on the WallBuilder Show. I bet everybody never thought that was going to happen, but hey, we started with Liquid Draeno on today's program. Thanks to Chad Conley for joining us. Faith wins. You need to get him out to your community. Uh appreciate you, Chad. Thanks for coming on, folks. Get out there and vote. Tell your friends about it. You've been listening to the WallBuilder Show.