Finding Leadership - on Foundations of Freedom Thursday

Historic Quote:
President Thomas Jefferson said I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves. And if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.

Rick Green: 0:35
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders taking on the hot topics of the day, but looking at them from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. We appreciate you joining us. You can learn more about us at our websites, WallBuilders.com and WallBuildersLive.com. The live is the radio site and then the other one, WallBuilders.com, is our main site. The name, of course, comes from the scripture in Nehemiah arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach. We're rebuilding the foundations of America. We're doing our part to make sure that we come back to those founding biblical principles that made America the greatest, most powerful, most free, most benevolent nation in the history of the world. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach and a former Texas legislator, with the honor of serving here with David and Tim Barton. David is America's premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. Tim Barton is a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders and again, you can learn more about all three of us at the website. And, of course, we want you to share the program as much as you can, because that's the best way to get the truth into the hands of as many people as you possibly can. It's hard for people to find truth today. I mean, let's face it, we're being lied to by the government, lied to by the press. You got to have some discernment and you got to find good sources. Well, obviously we're biased, but we think WallBuilders is a great source, and you tell us the same thing when you send in your notes. So thank you for doing that, but be sure and share this with the people that you know, because they need truth as well. Alright, guys, jumping into those questions from the audience. It's a repeat writer. Would that be the right way to say that Sovereign is reaching back out from Monrovia, Liberia? He said thanks again, ever so much for that article you linked me to on the land dispute issue in the country. It helped me a lot. I normally hear from the program that you guys can accept a request to do a program and I would really like you guys to do a program on what to vote for in a president, because Liberia is presidential election is upcoming on October 10th and I think the program will benefit the society. Also. Our Liberia Constitution is, as you know, almost a copy of the US Constitution, so it would be relevant for us here in Liberia if you guys do. Thanks, looking forward to hearing from you. I'm betting you guys are not going to go to the Constitution. You're probably going to go to Exodus and tell us what to look for in a leader and then we can talk about presidents specifically. But we've got those four things that we know. Exodus 18 tells us Go ahead, guys.

David Barton: 2:51
Well, there are several things here that are really fun. Monrovia, liberia all of that goes back in the 1820s and at that time President James Monroe, who was part of the American Colonization Society, was president when the American Colonization Society bought land in West Africa as a safe place to be able to send freed slaves and those that were intercepted in the waters out of the slave trading and send them to a place where they were not going to be picked up again and sent back into slavery. So at that point in time they named the country Liberia Liberty and the capital was Monrovia James Monroe. So the Africa Squadron actually set off the coast of West Africa and tried to stop ships. In between there and about 1870. The African Squadron, which was fighting the slave trade, they were able to stop some 1600 ships carrying slaves out of Africa and they freed about 150,000 slaves off those ships. And so that was part of the purpose of Liberia was having a place that you could safely take people to be safe and out of appreciation with America. Not only the name at Monrovia after James Monroe, but so much of it was, as Sovereign said, set up on a basis of the American Constitution. They basically copied the American Constitution and they copied the American currency. I mean, they used dollars, that's the exchange, and so there's a lot copied there and, unfortunately, don't copy America when it comes to elections, presidential elections Because the things you need to know about a presidential election is the foundation, and the foundation is religion and morality, and it seems like we have started forgetting that in some of our recent presidents, that that you need to start with religion and morality as the first basis.

Tim Barton: 4:35
Well, and I want to interject right here because, as you're saying, don't follow us in America. I was curious for a second if you're going to say don't do mail-in ballots or or like what, might it be coming next with the presidential election? Hopefully there's a little more security in the election system over there that what we've seen a little bit the last couple years here not sorry, I was kind of waving at you because I wanted to throw this in there and then you you were wouldn't be very correct direction of Focusing our religion morality. As we know, the founding fathers were so clear on the foundation of our nation had to be built on Religion, morality. When, when you have George Washington in his farewell address and he says that religion, morality are the indispensable supports, the, the pillars of our political prosperity in America, and in vain with someone claimed the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars? Meaning if Anybody's against religion, morality, they're not really a friend of America. This is probably true for most nations, but certainly for ones that are following the US Constitution on any level. If, if you have people that are rejecting the, the notion of God, that are not understanding biblical principles, then the Constitution won't work well and part of the reason and, as she asked for, maybe doing an entire show on this, I feel like we really could. I mean, guys, we make, we make a whole week series out of some of this with these thoughts and ideas Of what to look for, elected officials, of presidents, etc. But when you look at the US Constitution specifically, the US Constitution was written after the founding fathers had already established the American philosophy of government. The American philosophy of government was Identified, was written in the Declaration of Independence and in the Declaration, part of the American philosophy of government is there is a God, that God has given rights to man and government's job is to protect those God given rights. So if you are a nation that is following the US Constitution on any level, you're trying to use the Constitution. If you don't understand there's a God, if you don't understand that he has given rights to men and if you don't understand that government's Primary role is to protect those God given rights, then that government will not function well under the US Constitution Because it will miss the entire point of why the Constitution was structured the way it was structured. Why did the founding fathers believe in a separation of powers or three branches of government. Well, why did? Why did they set things up the way they did? And it, frankly, it's because of their understanding of the Bible, but also because of their knowledge of what it would take for a nation to function. Going back to their philosophy is if we were Ever a nation that forgot God, that that no longer remembered in animal rights, then government would not do the primary thing it's supposed to do, and that's protect the inalienable rights of its citizens. And this is one of the you know that, as you alluded to, don't follow we're doing in America today. This is, this is one of the main reasons, because in America today, we have elected officials on the Republican and the Democrat side who don't believe there's a God, who don't believe in God-given rights and who certainly don't believe the primary role of government is to protect those God-given rights. That is why we are seeing so many problems in America today, because if all we did was restore the basic idea that we believe there's a God, which means that government is not God, right, that then there's a higher level of accountability than those individuals, those political leaders, and if we got back to the idea that there are God-given rights again, meaning our rights don't come from government. They don't come from elected officials. So in the midst of, for example, covid, when they're telling people they can't go to church, you can't go to a wedding, you can't go to a funeral, you can't go visit your family in the hospital, they're saying that we determine what rights you do and don't have. That is a violation of the basic understanding of where our rights come from. Our rights do not come from government. They came from God and then understanding that the primary role of government to secure those rights. We certainly don't have a government right now that's trying to secure the noble rights of American citizens. And we could point to a lot of things. But we have to look no further than the southern border. With an open southern border, with with fentanyl coming in and with gang members and Nations allegedly emptying out prisons and sending their prisoners into America. We certainly don't have a government protecting our God-given rights, which is the primary function of government. So this is where America certainly gone the wrong direction. It's where we encourage every one of our listeners, especially those who are able to vote in America. It's the reason we have to stay involved in the process, the reason we have to vote to restore this basic foundation or the nation will never function right again. But for people that, even in a different nation, following some of the same general outline, as Much as the founding fathers highlighted religion of morality, this is the, the primary foundation of the nation, which goes back to even the declaration which that there was a creator, he gave rights to man and government's job was to protect those rights. I mean, guys, I feel like we can talk about this for hours, but in my mind those are some of the important Fundamentals to remember. As you looked at elected officials, if you see elected officials who are running and one of them believes in God and one doesn't. One of them believes in inalienable rights and one doesn't. One believes in the role of government to protect its citizens basic and inalienable rights and one doesn't. That that's really all I need to know, because if you don't have the same, if you don't have the correct basic philosophy, then your execution is not going to be right when you get to that political position.

David Barton: 9:47
And I would add to that that there's an element that I think is significant here in America one of our presidents the United States early president James A Garfield talked about. He said now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of the Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it's because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. And it's the same thing with presidential election If you want a good president, you've got to have good citizens. If the citizens themselves tolerate and are loose with certain things, their president will be too. So if the citizens do not understand these God-given rights, they'll elect someone who doesn't understand God-given rights and government will start violating their very rights. Because that constitution is really good it has a lot of good stuff but it's not good in the hands of someone who doesn't understand those principles. John Jay, who was one of our early founding fathers, who helped establish the constitutional understanding through what's called the Federalist Papers. It talks about how the Constitution is supposed to work and operate. He was the original Chief Justice on the US Supreme Court. Here's what he said. He said every member of the state. So every citizen ought diligently to read and study the Constitution of his country. Alright, everybody in Liberia listen up, this is for you, as citizens Should read and study the Constitution of his country and teach the rising generation to be free. By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they're violated and be the better prepared to defend and assert them. There are seven verbs there that are really significant. So he says every member of the state ought diligently to read. So that's it Read the Constitution. But he says read and study the Constitution, get into it, understand why there's separation of powers, understand what it is the courts can and can't do. It doesn't matter how you've been doing it the last 20 years. What does the Constitution say? How was it established? What are the checks and balances? Does the president have the authority to give executive orders that make brand new policies and set aside legislative policies and laws? So read and study. And then it says and teach the rising generation to be free. So as a citizen, you need to know the Constitution well enough so that you can teach it to others, especially the rising generation. It says by knowing their rights. So if you read and study the Constitution and teach it, you will know what your rights are. It says by knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they're violated. So when you know your rights, you can recognize when a leader is violating your rights. When a leader is off track, when a leader is not doing what the document says, it says by knowing their rights they will sooner perceive when they're violated and be the better prepared to defend and assert them. That's the last two verbs, defend and assert. One is defensive, one is offensive. When you know your rights, you can defend those rights, but you can also assert those rights. You can go and defense and offense, saying no, I'm defending these rights and, by the way, I have these rights, I'm going to assert them. So I really point back to citizens as one of the best ways to get the right kind of leaders. And I do agree with what President Garfield said, that our leaders are a reflection of where the citizens are and we have largely had some very constitutionally illiterate leaders. That's because we have constitutionally illiterate people. The numbers we've seen only 32% of Americans can identify the three branches of government. That is not good when you can't even identify the three branches. So, liberia, don't copy America in this way. Go back to where America was really strong when we had that constitution, when you guys picked it up. We were really strong. Go back to the seven things that John Jay said Read and study the constitution, teach it to others, know your rights, perceive when they're violated and defend and assert those rights. If you can do that, you'll have a great set of national leaders. Alright, fellas quick break.

Rick Green: 13:27
We've got more questions coming up. And yeah, I'm wondering, if we took that poll, David, in Liberia, how many of them would know their branches of government? It'd be really interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if they did better than us. Alright, quick break, we'll be right back. More questions from you in the audience? Be sure to send those in. That's radio@WallBuilders.com. We'll be right back.

Tim Barton: 14:27
We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

Rick Green: 15:16
We're back on WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. It's Foundations of Freedom Thursday. Be sure to send those questions in. The next one is not really a question, more of a comment. Guys, we are about to get schooled, get ready. Alright, this one from Scott. He said hey guys, as a native Texan who has lived for way too long in Oregon, I need to correct you. I'm willing to learn new stuff.

David Barton: 15:37
Lay it on me.

Rick Green: 15:38
Yeah, I agree, I don't mind being corrected. Hey, remember Patrick Henry, according to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. Only in this way can we arrive at the truth. And so you know, listen, we're going to have freedom of the debate here. And Scott says I need to correct you guys on your assumptions about the wokeness of Oregon State University. Not Oregon, he said, Oregon State University, he said, while all state universities up here and everywhere are overly woke, osu is much more analogous to Texas A&M. The University of Oregon is the more woke equivalent of the University of Texas Austin. I speak from experience because I went to UT a very long time ago, meaning University of Texas, and I know recent grads from both Oregon schools just wanted to help you all be more accurate in your evaluations of the woke scale. Thanks for everything y'all. Do you provide some sanity in this crazy world? Best, scott, all right guys. So he's basically saying you know, we kind of threw all of Oregon into the y'all got to be even worse than the University of Texas at Austin. And he's basically saying no, actually they kind of have the same, you know, not as bad as, as you know, their version of University of Texas at Austin. So Oregon State University is more like A&M he's saying Texas A&M and then the University of Oregon is more like the University of Texas being way out there. So very interesting. What do you guys think?

David Barton: 16:57
Well, first, I love that we got a correction coming in saying hey, it's not as bad as you think in Oregon, and I've got to say you know that's probably right. It was only a month or so ago that we were doing several meetings in Oregon and as you went toward the east it got so much more conservative back in some of the rural areas and it would make perfect sense to me that they would have a much more conservative state university in Oregon. So many states do, and Texas A&M and University of Texas. That's a good comparison. Texas A&M, relatively speaking, is so much more conservative than UT and it's kind of the same when you get to Oklahoma University, oklahoma and Stillwater Oklahoma State University. So many of the states have a conservative state school and a pretty liberal state school. So I love hearing that about OSU, that they really are much more conservative there. That's good for the future, that's good for the students there and it's just fun to hear about it.

Rick Green: 17:52
Yeah, and of course, not to say that Oregon is not crazy, but at least one of the universities is less crazy, so that's good, that's good, Alright. Next question comes from Esther. She said hello, my name is Esther Malay, I believe is how you would say that I listen to your podcast every day and I learn something new every day. I like hearing that, guys. Her first question is what's the point of the upcoming election when we know the Democrats are going to cheat? So before I even read anything else from her, by the way, she did say thanks for your podcast. Really appreciate it, Praying for you all. Have a great weekend, God bless. Okay, she's got some other questions, but this one's important, guys, because I hear this all the time people saying I'm not even going to participate because they're going to steal it anyway. That defeatist mentality will defeat us. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. How do you wake people up to say, even if there's attempts at cheating there's always been cheating you don't step out or check out because somebody might be able to steal or cheat or whatever. You do the best you can with what you got, where you are.

David Barton: 18:47
One of the verses I would go to immediately is Romans 12, 21. Do you overcome the evil with the good? If there's cheating blood, the system with the good guys. Do what you can on your side. I also point to the fact that I come from a time in American Christianity where we still taught a genuine fear of God that you will stand before God and account for everything you do. And I know out of Hebrews 12 I'll account for every action. Jesus specifically told us in Matthew 12 that we'll account for every idle word. I know from 1 Corinthians 4 that we'll account for our thoughts. So I can visualize myself standing in front of God and Him saying why did you do this? Why did you not do this? How come you said this? And because I can visualize that, I try to conform my behavior now so that I don't have to get embarrassed later. I would not want to stand before God and have Him say you know, I gave you a nation, I gave you a vote. What did you do with that? Well, I decided not to use it. That's not going to be a fun time in front of the master, and so for me, I'm going to vote, even if I know that every single person in the nation is cheating except me. I'm still going to vote because I answer to God for what I do with my vote. I think this is where John Quincy Adams had his mentality that we've talked about so many times, where he says duty is ours, results are God's. How come? He was duty driven? Because he accounted to God, not to the kings of the earth, not to the other citizens, even and now he did account to that because he elected. But his number one audience was God. And I think when we have that mentality that we've got to go out, you overcome the evil with the good. You don't give up, you don't turn around, you don't leave, you don't stop the fight, you don't quit fighting, you double down. And so not only am I going to vote, I'm going to take everybody I know from my church or Sunday School class or my civic group or my gym or anything. I'm going to make sure they go vote. That's how you overcome this. And, Rick, you said it really well the self-fulfilling prophecy in the Book of Job, job 325,. Job said that which I fear has come upon me. When you have a fear of something bad happening, that is like having faith for it to happen. So, yes, we know that Democrats cheat, we know that all people cheat and I have no doubt that Republicans cheat. Anybody who doesn't have a fear of God is likely to cheat. But there are more secular people in the Democrat Party than there are Republican Party. So that's why you seem to have a partisan difference, is you're more likely to have some God-fearing folks in the Republican Party than the Democrat Party. Evidence by the fact that the Democrats, through the last two presidential cycles, have had fights over where they even have the word God in their platform. That's a pretty good indication. So that would be. My answer is you can't predetermine what's going to happen. A lot of warriors who have been really working on elections and election fraud and trying to change that. There have been some 200 laws passed in the last three years that have worked on election fraud. It is becoming harder to cheat in some states. Now, melon Ballas, you're still a problem. There's no question that ballot harvesting is still a problem. But you know what? I even point to Pastor Rob McCoy out in California. He said look, we're in California. They do ballot harvesting out here. If they're going to do it, we need to do it better than they do. Get people organized, but don't ever, ever, ever, ever give up or think that it won't make a difference.

Tim Barton: 22:02
And I would point out I mean, there's a couple more verses I would add. I don't think there's a lot, there's no different thoughts that I would add from what you just explained, but I would point out a couple more verses. The apostle Paul wrote that we should not grow weary and well-doing, for in due season we would reap a harvest if we did not give up. And so often we are overwhelmed by circumstances around us and we see people giving up when we just so many of us we know I mean they would have kept going, they would have kept trying, it could have gotten better if they would not have grown weary and given up. And so that's certainly an admonishment from scripture that we're not supposed to grow weary and doing the right thing. Don't stop doing the right thing because it gets hard. Don't grow weary, keep doing it. Similarly, there are several places in the gospels where Jesus was teaching parables, and in multiple parables there was a master who called servants to account and he gave them things, and it's right to it. And Matthew 20, no, wait a second, is that right? Is it? Matthew 25, parable of talents I'll have to go back and look that up. And Luke 19 is parable of minus Matthew 25, luke 19. There, thank you Perfect. So where Jesus goes to these parables, what's significant is the end of those parables. When he calls the service to account, the ones that got rewarded, he says well done, good and faithful servant. He didn't say well done, good and productive, he said faithful. Well, the reason we could argue they were productive is because they were faithful, doing the right thing. But this is the bottom line is that God is looking for those who are faithful to do what he's called them to do. And if we live in a representative form of government where we have the opportunity to choose and elect our leaders and we know that the Bible tells us in Proverbs 14.34 that righteousness exalted the nation set his approach to the people in Proverbs 29.2, that when the righteous are in authority the people are joyous when the wicked rule of people grown, if we have the opportunity to have righteous leaders, if we get involved, if we will reign faithful this is where I would again point back to what Jesus said in the gospels is if we would be faithful and the little he makes ruler over much. Well done, good and faithful servant. God's metric is much more on faithfulness than on effectiveness as far as the outcome Right. It's not about how much productivity we add, necessarily, but about how faithful we were to do what God had called us to do. And so the two things I would add is don't grow weary and well-doing and be found faithful. That, no matter what. It goes back to John Quincy Adams the duty is ours, results are God's, no matter what I'm going to do my duty, because that's the right thing to do.

David Barton: 24:28
About being weary and well-doing. That reminds me that when the children of Israel had the opportunity to go into the Promised Land, god brought them out of bondage, put them into the Promised Land. The leaders of the people came back and said, oh, this is really bad, there's big giants here. And so they ended up losing their encouragement. They ended up being depressed over what was happening and said we don't want to go in. There's too many giants there. And later and Joshua 14, when they talked about that, they talked about that that was a report that caused the hearts to melt. In other words, they'd be discouraged. So I would say, even when we know there's bad stuff out there and we certainly do, because we're working hard to fix a lot of the cheating going on don't let it get you discouraged. That's a report that causes your heart to melt, and when your heart melts you lose faith, and when you lose faith it's hard to please God. So do not become discouraged in that. Double down and go at it more aggressively, with more optimism.

Rick Green: 25:17
Alright folks, be sure to send those questions radio@WallBuilders.com. The Constitution, the Declaration, how do you apply Biblical worldview? Whatever that topic is that you've been wondering about, we would love to tackle it on a Foundation of Freedom Thursday. You don't want to miss tomorrow. Good News Friday I think we all need some good news going into the weekend. You know there's so much going on in the country, so much of the culture is crumbling, but we are picking up the pieces and we're rebuilding and so on. Good News Friday we get a chance to hear about some of those victories across the nation. Be sure to visit the websites today WallBuilders.com and WallBuildersLive.com. Great resources at both sites. An opportunity for you to share truth by simply taking the links to today's program or any of the tools that you find there on the websites and send them out to your friends and family. Make yourself a force multiplier. Be someone that is helping us save our constitutional republic. Thanks so much for listening to WallBuilders.