Transcript

Preborn needs your help to provide ultrasounds for pregnant women

>> Bobby Roza: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, preborn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr.

>> Walker Wildmon: We inform religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions no matter where they are. We quit.

>> Rick Green: Sacred honor is the courage to speak truth, to live out your free speech.

>> Don Wildmon: We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope.

>> Jeff Chamblee: This is at the Core on American Family Radio. Welcome to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green.

Rick Green: America's Constitution coach speaks with Julie Pickren on textbook fight

I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution coach. Thanks for joining me today. I've got Julie Pickren with us today. She's on the State Board of Education in Texas, right in the middle of that big fight we had, Brandon hall on a week or two ago right after the vote that initially took place. Well, it turns out, of course, we've got a lot more work to do. There's going to be another big meeting in June. And so we wanted to have a conversation with Julie to find out how, to plan for this thing. So Julie Pickering with us. And it's, it's actually not. I don't want people that are listening outside of Texas to tune out. Don't think that just because this is a State Board of Education in Texas battle that this doesn't affect you. It does. most states follow either California or Texas in terms of the textbooks because it just costs so much to go through that entire process and then it's that way for 10, 12, 14, 15 years. So this is huge for the whole nation. Very important to pay attention to this one. Julie, thanks for coming on today.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes, Rick, thank you so much. Love to be with great patriots like yourself and wall builders.

>> Rick Green: Well, you have been in the trenches fighting for truth and just getting good history back into the classroom and good resources and my goodness, what a battle. And, we're just so thankful for you and what you've done to be steadfast throughout this. And, looks like some victories, looks like some things that are going to take some more time. The battle certainly not over, but we had to get you on to just give kind of an update on what happened at the, state Board hearings in the last couple of weeks and what you see coming and how people can help.

Rick Green: Hundreds showed up to support against Council of American Islamic Relations

So a lot to cover in a short period of time, but I guess just start with a recap of what happened over the last couple of weeks.

>> Julie Pickren: So. Yeah. So, Rick, at our last Texas State Board of Education meeting just a couple of weeks ago, we saw a tremendous outpouring of support from wonderful patriots like yourself and the Bartons and many great grassroots organizations, not just around Texas, but. But around the country. And just hundreds, of people showing up to the Texas State Board of Education. Really great people who love America and who love Texas and care about true education being taught, true history being taught to students in Texas. and great people testified. And, we had a freedom rally at the Texas State Board of Education, which, by the way, we had over 300 people at the freedom rally in the lobby of the Barbara Jordan Building on the Capitol grounds. And the mainstream media was there, and they refused to cover it. Not one mainstream media, news outlet would cover that rally with all of those great patriots and great speakers there. So, you know, there, It's always. The fake news is going to try to hide the narrative or change the narrative. You know, the Washington Post put out an article, falsely titled, that we refuse to listen to parents, voices and, people's voices on wanting the Islamification of Texas public education, social studies and history. But that's simply not the truth. You know, myself and many of our other members, we sat through almost 20 hours of public testimony listening to everybody that came, except for, in my case, I got up and walked out when the terrorist decided to. To testify on what they wanted, on what their demands were for public education. And when I use that word.

>> Rick Green: Thank you for doing that. That's a. That's exactly what I was going to say. That's a meaningful word. That is a designation given by not only our governor, but Governor DeSantis in Florida by the president. Yeah. We're talking about a. Literally a designated terror organization that wants to have input on our textbooks.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes. I don't. I don't throw that. That term around lightly. That that term is a significant. As a significant, meaning. So, yes, it is a foreign, terrorist organization as designated by Governor Abbott, who is under investigation of our Texas Rangers and Texas DPS and the Texas Attorney General's office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. I mean, these people are under active terrorist, investigations by our state and our country. And so whenever they sign up to testify on behalf of their terrorist organization. That is literally care, the Council of American Islamic Relations, testifying on what they want in education. And my constituents, the over 2 million, constituents that I represent in Southeast Texas, they do not want me listening to or they do not want to entertain or what a terrorist organization wants their children being taught.

>> Rick Green: It's really shocking that, that we didn't have more pushback, you know, that there, that any board member would want to hear from an organization like that. But that tells you what we're up against and why having you and Brandon and the others, stand against this is so, is so important. Julie. It's a long, drawn out process. You guys spend literally years working on these standards, going through all kinds of committees and feedback and, and you, know, it's not easy. This is a difficult, difficult process. What would you say is kind of a. Could you give me a 30,000ft view of the timeline of like these standards won't actually be in the classroom for a couple more years, I think, if I understand right, and so you've got an ongoing fight to keep what y' all got in, in the last meeting, and to prevent bad stuff from getting in and just to see this thing through. Can you get, can you give us kind of a blow by blow of what this looks like?

>> Julie Pickren: I can, I can kind of give you a little background information where we're headed. But one thing that I want to address first is that the reason why you have so many people sitting in that room, so many of our State Board of Education elected members sitting in that room and dialoguing with CARE during their public testimony and even expressing support for CARE in public testimony is because they have actively sought out and received CARE's endorsement for their campaigns. And it's both sides of the aisle. It's not just Democrats, Democrats and Republicans that have asked CARE for their endorsement and that CARE is actively campaigning on their behalf. Okay? So that's why only a couple of us walking out of that room because many of those State Board of Education members sitting around that, that you shaped a circle or sitting in that room, they are actively in their campaigns are actively endorsed and supported by care, Democrats and Republicans. Okay, so now let's go.

>> Rick Green: That tells you how tone deaf they can be and how few people are, you know, what we call men and women of Issachar that understand the times and know what to do. I mean, this is a significant, issue on every front, let alone education. But anyway, I digress. Go ahead.

>> Julie Pickren: CARE has sent all the members of the Texas State Board of Education to every single one of our campaigns. A, a request to support us, a questionnaire to fill out. You fill out the questionnaire, you send it back to them, then they have to interview you. And then after they interview you, they decide on whether or not they are going to endorse your campaign or not. Okay? So even Democrats or Republican elected officials who said, oh, I didn't realize CARE has endorsed me, they that is a lie because you have to submit the questionnaire and they have to interview you to receive their endorsement. So they fully know that they are being endorsed and supported by care, which by the way, I can tell you my campaign has never responded to anything from a terrorist organization. We have not responded to an email. We have not responded to a request for an interview. We have not responded to anything. Seven does not entertain, listen to or negotiate with terrorists, period.

>> Rick Green: Nice. I love it. I love it. Okay, so let's now let's go back to the process and what you need help with, what the board will be doing over the next few weeks and months, frankly even years, and help our listeners know where they can plug in and help.

Texas State Board of Education took up rewrite of social studies standards in 2122

>> Julie Pickren: Okay, so I'm going to take you back to 2020, 2021 and 2022 so you can understand how we got to here today. So in, 2022 is when the previous, before me and a few other members were elected, the Texas State Board of Education, they were, they took up this full rewrite of the social studies standards, what we call teks, Texas Essential knowledge and skills. It's our standards, okay, for the state of Texas. And so they took this up, this kindergarten through 12th grade rewrite, and let's just say the wills came off the bus. The groups that were the work groups that were put together by that existing state board of education in 21 and 22A, those groups were populated with the teacher unions, the taxpayer funded lobbyists, all of the organizations that oppose, that oppose parental rights and oppose our traditional values and oppose our Texas values and that support critical race theory, support Marxism, support that children belong to the government. That is who was populating those work groups which we have come effectually to, term them as the woke groups. Okay, so, the work groups were populated by those taxpayer funded lobbyists and those teacher unions. So they delivered standards in 2021, 2022 to the Texas State Board of Education that were fully woke. I mean in those standards it was going to teach that the Texas Rangers, our most elite police force in Texas was a racist and oppressive organization. It was going to teach that the Alamo was founded in racism, in slavery and racism. I mean, I could just give you a whole list of those standards that were filled with critical race theory. They were filled with woke indoctrination. They were filled with a, Marxist worldview of Texas and America. And that to get those standards defeated, I mean that was an all hands on deck. Even, Governor Abbott was so wonderful to help us defeat those , those woke standards because the Texas State Board of Education at the time, in 2022, that was chairman Ellis, and he was fast tracking the approval of those standards. He was calling for special meetings to fast track that approval. But thank God we the people stood up. And you know, Rick, I always say the powers with we the people. So we the people stood up and we defeated those standards. I believe Patriot Mobile to that meeting delivered 8,000 signatures. And there was a very big push for us to start with those very woke Marxist indoctrination standards from 2022 But this state Board of Education, this new State Board of Education that we swore into office in 2020, we were elected in 2024 and then sworn in 2020, sorry, 2022 and sworn in 2023. This new state board of education, we started at zero. We started with a brand new even framework. We went back to the basics because we said, how did that go off the rails so bad in 21 and 22? We really wanted to address the problem at the root. And the root was that there was not a good framework in place that represented state laws on what is required and not allowed in social studies. So we went back to the very beginning and adopted a brand new framework and a framework that that includes what state law says has to be in there. That kindergarten through 12th grade social studies must be taught through a patriotic lens. It must be taught through that America is exceptional and Texas is exceptional and that we are in the noblest experiment of humankind. Also that it has to, contain Old Testament and NewSong Testament scripture. Because state law says whatever you're teaching social studies kindergarten through 12th grade, you must use Old Testament and NewSong Testament for the enrichment of knowledge. You know, our Moses law is a real thing. Our, our legal system, our laws are clearly come from the Old Testament and based on the Old Testament. You know, like in Texas, we have the Good Samaritan law. Well, what. How do you understand the Good Samaritan law if you don't know what a Samaritan Is we have the Baby Moses law in Texas. How do you know what the Baby Moses law, the intent and what that is if you don't know the story of Baby Moses? So just a lot of things like that that we wanted to get back to original intent with teaching our social studies. Also that we have to use primary documents. And so there's a whole list of primary documents that by law we must teach students kindergarten through 12th grade. Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, U.S. constitution, presidential speeches. There's a whole litany of primary documents now that we must teach. So we adopted a brand new framework last year in 2025, we adopted a new framework to build from. Then we went to the Texas State Board of Education. We paired up my members. two members would get together and we would nominate a content expert advisor in social studies. So Pastor Brandon hall and I, we paired up together and we, it was so funny. We didn't even have to like talk about it, who we wanted, whatever we both said. I said Brandon, who do you want? He goes, David Barton. He's like, who do you want? here's who do you want, Julie? I said I want David Barton. So we were unanimous on that from the get go. We didn't even have to discuss that or you know, compromise or anything on that. We both knew exactly that we wanted one of the leading historians in in America to help educate children in Texas. And that was David Barton. And so everybody put forth their content, who they wanted their content advisor to be. And so we've had it. We had a good consortium of advisors that that rep. That represents the Texas State Board of Education because we are a ten foot five Republican board. We're two thirds majority Republican board. And so two thirds of the content advisors tend to have more of a conservative or what I call Texas values or Republican worldview. They do not have this Marxist critical race theory worldview. And so, because that's representative of the board. So anyway, so they went to work starting to help develop taking our framework. They went ahead and started developing key topics and, and themes through which they brought back to the Texas State Board of Education, which we have had full audit, and amending authority over all of these documents I'm telling you about.

>> Rick Green: No, they do all this work but it still gives you the chance to review and edit and y' all can take what you want and what you don't.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes they are. It is merely a suggestion to this Texas State Board of Education of this Is we, this is what we think should be key topics and themes. And then we hold a meeting about it where we hear public testing testimony over it. It's published for the public, the public can come and testify on it. They can email us what they want or what they think changes, what should be added, what should be deducted. And so then we have a meeting about it, we make our amendments. And so then we adopted key thing, key themes and subtopics. So that was the next part of the process. Then after that then we formed our new work groups. Well there was a big push to bring back the existing woke groups work groups from 21 and 22 which.

>> Rick Green: Quick break folks. Stay with us. We'll be right back on At the Core. At the Core podcast are [email protected] now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.

Julie Pickren: We started fresh with new work groups in 2022

We're back here on at the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green jumping back in with Julie Pickren

>> Julie Pickren: Woke groups, work groups from 21 and 22 which we said, no, we're going to start fresh because of a lot of the members that approved those teacher unions and taxpayer funded lobbyists to populate those work groups in 2022 those members aren't on the Texas State Board of Education anymore. There's a lot of new members on this board like myself and we wanted the authority to approve who we, who we wanted out of the applicants to serve on those work groups. And so we started with brand new fresh work groups. I think we got some really great people appointed to those work groups, people that were fair minded, that weren't being pushed a narrative by a taxpayer funded lobbyist or weren't being pushed a narrative by their teacher unions. And even you know, in 2022 we had problems with leaks. What happens inside of those work groups is supposed to be confidential and stay inside those work groups. And we saw in 21 and 22 people that were members of the teacher unions were going back to their unions and reporting on what was happening in those work groups. And then those unions were sending out these newsletters and the public, Joe Q. Public was finding out about decisions made and things happening in the work group before the elected officials even knew before the Texas State Board of Education elected officials who were, who were elected to decide these things and, and legislate on these things before they even knew what was happening. So there was, we really worked very hard, at least I can tell you I did for SBOE7 to make sure that qualified professionals Were put on those work groups. But it wasn't just professionals because they were part of a union or an association really, that they. I reviewed. I'm telling you, Rick, I had over 100. I think I had over 140 applicants. And I went through myself personally, every single resume, every single application, and reviewed it all because I wanted people that had great credentials, that were. That, understood the. The power and understood the, the need for teaching social studies correctly to our children. These are future voters. These are future citizen Texas in America. So we have to get this right. We have a lot of great homeschool moms that really, I mean, if you want to talk to somebody who really knows education and who really understands, what's needed in standards, talk to a homeschool mom. I mean, these, these moms, they are really gated and they have done the deep dive and education on what's best for their children. And then also they have a lot to contribute to the state of Texas. So I was very happy to put some homeschool moms in those work groups, as well as senior teachers.

>> Rick Green: that's good because they should have some influence on that. Yeah, absolutely.

>> Julie Pickren: Absolutely. They're taxpayers, they're paying taxes and, and they may not choose to send their children to public school, but they're still paying taxes for their local public schools and for the state of Texas and still have a vested interest in, great citizens being produced in the state of Texas. So, yes, I just, I was so happy that I had really great applicants. I could put people anywhere from, people who serve in our regional and our education service centers and our regional education service centers who maybe are retired out of the classroom but have 25, 30 years experience with social studies. The teachers who are actually in the classroom and who are teaching social studies to homeschool moms who do a lot of research to make sure that their children receive the best education and want to contribute to Texas public education and to curriculum experts that, applied. So really a great, across the board representation of people that truly care about social studies. So then everything moved over to the work groups. And the work groups, they took in the advice of the content experts. So the content experts, were. Participated at those work group sessions. They made themselves available, mostly in person at the work group sessions. And the work group, as the work groups had questions for the content advisors, they were there to help them out and assist them on, you know, what, they were thinking on topics and themes or framework that we had adopted. mind you, by the time the content advisors get to the work groups, to advising the work groups, the topics and themes have already been approved by the Texas State Board of Education and the framework has been approved by the Texas State Board of Education. So the content advisors are not advising the work groups on anything that has not already been approved by the board. Okay, so then they're all kind of working together, developing standards. the work groups who are predominantly teachers, they have, you know, their input on what they're recommending. And also during this time, the Texas Education agency has sent out a survey to all the teachers across Texas, social studies teachers and government and civics, kindergarten through 12th grade. And, social studies teachers across Texas, where we receive back or Texas education agency received back more than 5,000 responses. So this is a lot of teachers taking time out of their day to respond on what do they want in social studies. So more than 5,000 responses. The overwhelming consensus was our current social studies standards are too generalized. Teachers don't understand what is a mastery of that TEK look like. Whenever you test me in star testing or whatever is going to replace star testing, the standardized assessment. What does mastery look like? Because we don't understand what mastery is because the TEK is too general. So overwhelmingly they said we need standards. We need texts that are more specific. So then we come back to, so then we come back to the work groups where they started, revising standards, and putting standards together to bring to the Texas State Board of Education. And so that is the standards that were presented to us at our April meeting. That was. That originated with a framework that was Texas State Board of Education adopted. Then the content advisors advised us on what they thought would be good, themes and topics. We amended that. We passed a. The Texas State Board of Education passed a themes and topics, subset to the framework. Then that went to the. Then that went to the work groups. The work groups drilled down with content advisors, help to create standards for every subject. Kindergarten through 12th grade social studies. So think about kindergarten through 5th grade social studies. Then you get into junior high, you get US History, Texas history. you get world history, world geography, personal financial literacy, literacy, economics, government. There's. There are so many courses inside of this kindergarten through 12th grade space. And so they brought us standards for all of those courses, at which time in the April meeting, we went through all of those standards, made amendments, made changes, and really passed on. First reading in April, a Fantastic kindergarten through 12th grade Social studies product. Now is it perfect? no. And the world of education, there's no such thing as, as perfect in the world of business. I'm going to take my business background. We always say that perfect is the enemy of done right. You could forever go on making it perfect, but this is just truly an exceptional product that has never been done in Texas or has been done, as far as I know, in America the last 60 years. Because for the first time we put amendments in there where we are teaching the black Robe regiment. You know, fourth grade, I put an amendment in there to introduce the black robe regiment in elementary. And then I came back with an amendment in, junior high to teach what is the black robe Regiment? Because, you know, you cannot understand the Declaration of Independence unless you understand the sermons from the Black Robe Regiment. Because each of those grievances, each of that list and the Declaration of Independence came directly from a sermon from a black Robe Regiment pastor that had been preaching that up to 20 years before the Declaration of Independence. And even England recognized the importance of our black Robe Regiment pastors on, the founding of America. Because even England said it is the thunder from the pulpits of the churches in America that is lighting the fire of freedom. And so when you even have England recognizing the importance of it and that we can directly tie the grievances in the Declaration of Independence to Black Row regimen sermons, our students should know that. They should understand, well, where do these ideas come from? Where did these grievances come from? You really need to understand the why. Because if you don't understand the why, if you don't understand 120 church members being persecuted because they wouldn't bow to a king in England who risked everything, that risked their lives, that risked everything to get on a boat to come to America to help for, to establish a new world based on the word of God. You don't understand the faith and you don't understand the why on, why the pilgrims at Plymouth did what they did. You don't understand. You don't. You can't get to understanding what makes America so exceptional and that we are founded on Judeo Christian values. So that's.

The Texas State Board of Education will meet in July to discuss social studies standards

That was my main intent. I think I offered up over 20amendments that passed, in our meeting in April to the social studies to really put insert, you know, patriotism and founding documents and the why. What makes America the noblest experiment ever and what makes us the greatest nation in the history of the world? And what makes Texas the greatest state and the greatest nation?

>> Rick Green: So, Julie, what happens next? You guys are going to meet again in July. Will this get taken up again?

>> Julie Pickren: Yes, Rick. So in. And we'll take it up the last week of June and we will take up the second reading and final adoption of the social studies standards, all the standards, kindergarten through 12th grade. But that is going to be a contentious meeting because we already have the Democrat members of Texas State Board of Education and a few Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education saying that they do not like what we adopted, for first reading in April, two, weeks ago. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Are they going to come back with a full substitute document? In other words, standards written? Maybe the, maybe the WOKE standards that were written in 2021, 2022, are they going to come back with those and try to substitute those in which, when you substitute it in, that's a full substitution. That's not amendments, that's saying we're going to set aside the current, adopt the current document that has been approved and substitute in a brand new document to start making amendments on. And the reason why we do not want to substitute amendment is because the standards that we adopted last week or two weeks ago, they are very good standards. They have patriotism, Western civilization, the importance of teaches the Judeo Christian, influence on the founding of America and the founding of Texas. It keeps out the radical Islam, keeps out the Marxist indoctrination, keeps out critical race theory. So we have a very good set of standards right now. But if they come back in June and they want to substitute back in the 2022 standards, it's going to be the opposite of that. It's going to be standards that the foundation is in, you know, a Marxist worldview, critical race theory, very WOKE standards, very generalized standards so that anything can be taught to a child.

>> Rick Green: So you're, you're saying this is, I mean what we've got right now is a big win. We need a, basically an up or down vote in June to keep what you've already got. Basically no amendments, no replacement. We want to go with what you guys decided last week or week before last.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes, exactly. And let me, I'll give you a couple of examples of why it's so important that we keep these standards written the way that we writ, with the way that we approve them in April and not the generalized standards that we currently have. So right now we have a school district in Texas that is teaching that is using grouping books, okay? Books that should, that help children change their gender, LGBTQ grooming books in tier one instruction. And when the state questioned the school district about it, they said, no, it's compliant because it 100% aligns to your TEKs, to your standards. Well, those TEKs and standards are so generalized you can make anything a lie. And kind of. We have the same thing. We had a very large school district in Texas that was using Ibram Kendi's the anti racist. What you know is Marxist propaganda, okay? It's a, it's a Marxist worldview book that they were using it in all of their high schools as a textbook in ninth grade to teach writing and literature and what have you they use in this Marxist book. And so whenever the state questioned it again, they came back and said, no, it aligns with 100% of your teks. So that's why one other reason why we need to come back and we need to adopt the standards that were, finalize on second reading the standards that were approved for first reading in April. Let's get these done. Let's get these over the finish line without any major amendments, without any substitutions so that we can honor what teachers are asking for. To have teks that are concise, that they understand when they're teaching mastery or not, that follow the law, that have patriotism, Old Testament, NewSong Testament, Judeo, Christian values, Western civilization that has all the things that parents and grandparents have been saying that they want in education. Parents and grandparents, so many good things. Yes, they're over. This woke Marxist indoctrination. And we have heard them. We have listened to our constituents, we have read the emails, we have heard them. And that is the fantastic standards that we adopted in April, now in June, we need to hold the line and pass them on. Second reading and final adoption with minimal amendments and no substitutions.

>> Rick Green: Love it, Love it.

Rick: Will there be public testimony at the June board meeting

Julie, last question for you. And I know there's a lot of wrangling that goes on behind the scenes and all the politics and that sort of thing. So there's some things you can't tell us, but tell us how to pray. How can our listeners pray for this meeting? And then how should those that are going to be able to come and testify. Will there be testimony at this meeting? I should have asked that question.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes, sir. There will be public testimony again. You know, state law requires that any agenda item that, that we have, we have to allow public testimony. And so I can tell you we're going to need a lot of public testimony again. We need people to sign up the week before and show up and testify on, that, that June board meeting. I'll probably be around June 22nd, 23rd, 24th, some one of those three days is going to be the public testimony on this. But yes, because I can tell you that the terrorists literally that care, the Council of American Islamic Relations, they are already, they are already training people. They're already holding meetings in mosque around Texas and they're already training people to come and testify on in June what he said. So we're going to need, so we

>> Rick Green: need to be ready and we need to be there in even bigger numbers maybe than what we had in April. well, we will certainly get the word out and as soon as you have that, the date nailed down for when the testimony will be, let us know. We'll announce that on the show, and let people know. Thank you for leading the way. Thank you for letting us participate with you and look forward, forward to getting you back hopefully with a good new show right after that June meeting. Julie Pickren, thank you very much.

>> Julie Pickren: Yes, sir. Thank you, Rick. God bless you. Pray for us. Pray for courage and pray for strength. In Jesus name, Amen.

>> Rick Green: Amen.

Julie Pickren, State Board of Education in Texas, speaks out

Well, that was Julie Pickren, State Board of Education in Texas. Wow.

>> Rick Green: Wow. So thankful for her, first of all, just for her strong stance and, and, and her gift in how to lead in this way and get these things done. So much still to do and we're gonna need a lot of support, we're gonna need a lot of folks that are willing to come in and testify, to write all the things that it takes. You know the old expression, most politicians don't see, the light till they feel the heat. So there's some of those on that board that we're gonna have to encourage strongly to do the right thing. Thanks for, staying with me. We're gonna take a quick break while you're listening to Alexander.

Preborn Network offers free ultrasounds to women facing unplanned pregnancies

>> Bobby Roza: Right now, the voices in our culture are loud, but truth is often silent. And today, preborn needs you to help speak that truth. Women facing unplanned pregnancies are often pressured to act quickly before they have time to pause, breathe, or hear the truth about life, dignity and hope. But I refuse to be silent, and I'm asking you to join me. At preborn Network clinics, a woman is welcomed with compassion and given a free ultrasound. She sees the life growing inside her, often for the very first time. And in that sacred moment, fear gives way to clarity. And she's offered something the abortion industry will never provide. The hope of Jesus Christ. This April, our goal is to have 11,000 gospel conversations in PreBorn Network clinics, trusting God to bring the increase as we remain faithful to speak. You can help make that possible by sponsoring ultrasounds. Just $28 provides one ultrasound. $140 sponsors five ultrasounds for mothers in crisis. Every dollar helps save babies and share the hope of the gospel. To donate, dial pound sign 2250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound sign 250-B A B Y. Or visit preborn.com forward slash afr. That's preborn.com forward slash afrr.

>> Jeff Chamblee: At the core podcasts are available at afr.net now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.

Ray Comfort of Living Waters discusses controversial billboards

Welcome back to the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green, Rick Green. America's Constitution coach Ray Comfort is with us. Living Waters. Always love having Ray on. Ray, thanks for coming on today, man.

>> Ray Comfort: Good to be on. Thank you. The world's fastest talker. You sound like an auctioneer.

>> Rick Green: Going once, going twice, sold. To the man with the shaded glasses on the street. Sharing the gospel with people all over the world. Hey, listen, you're always doing stuff, but I know we're going to talk about this billboard thing, but first, catch us up on Living Waters. What do you guys got going next?

>> Ray Comfort: Really? You really want to know?

>> Rick Green: Y' all are always producing new documentaries or films.

>> Ray Comfort: We're having an outreach in the 2008 Los Angeles Olympics. We've got these gold coins, a million, being printed. They weigh as much as a golf ball. They've got a runner on one side and the gospel on the other. And so we're, we're going to share that vision of what we're doing in the Olympics, coming up real soon. But 1 million gold coins, people are going to snap them up like hotcakes in a cold day in Alaska.

>> Rick Green: And that's, this. This reminds me of years ago, you always had some kind of dollar bill people would pick up with the gospel. You've always had something to get people's attention. You're a master at it. Love it. what do you think about this billboard thing where these, I mean, they're just basically trying to, you know, refute the gospel and lead people astray and deceive them. and so some guy, you know, climbed up on the billboard and, painted over the knot in Jesus, is not God. What are your thoughts on this?

>> Ray Comfort: Well, I wouldn't advocate doing it, but I just loved that I wanted to do it myself. I'll tell you why, like, 15, 20 years ago, maybe 20 years ago, I was driving in my car, my daughter and my wife were with me. And my daughter says, oh, don't look at that, it's a disgusting billboard. Well, I looked and it was a disgusting billboard. And at ABC we're having an upcoming documentary on Cleopatra. And there's this woman lying and she's just completely in a birthday suit except for a towel across her bottom of her legs. And I thought, that's disgusting. So I went to Home Depot and purchased an 18 foot ladder, went and purchased a huge orange blanket, got a big industrial stapler. At six o' clock in the morning, I climbed up in the billboard and put that blanket over that woman's naked body. And I thought any gentleman would do the same. And then I sent a news release to abc, say, come and get me for wrecking your billboard. I wanted them to take me to court, but they didn't because I was going to say, how dare you come into our neighborhood and put a half naked woman up on a big billboard. So some pervert rapes my wife or my daughter because you're stirring them up with your dirty porn. but they didn't do it. So I don't advocate doing that, but I sure rejoiced in that guy doing that.

>> Rick Green: No kidding. Now what year was that that that happened?

>> Ray Comfort: Probably about 2009 or something like that. It was a long time ago when I, when I was very unwise.

Ray: How easily we are distracted into conspiracy theories or esoteric arguments

>> Rick Green: Well, speaking of, speaking of wise, Ray, talk to us about just discernment among the body of Christ right now. And, and how easily we are distracted into whatever it is, conspiracy theories or just these esoteric arguments, and we just seem really vulnerable. I mean, I guess it's always been that way. Paul warns about it, but we just seem like, it seems like there's more attacks and that we aren't grounded and so we are easily persuaded. Is that the right way to ask that?

>> Ray Comfort: Well, yeah, well, I'm starting to believe in a flat sun. No, I'm kidding. yeah, you know, we forget that the body of Christ is filled with false converts. Jesus spoke of tears among the wheat, foolish virgins among the wise, bad fish among the good, goats among the sheep, they're going to be sorted out on Judgment day. So when you realize that not everyone who names the name of Christ is a part of iniquity, but there are many who are victims, of the modern gospel. It says, come to Jesus, he'll fix all your problems. And they come to Jesus and then they have to be held within the church. Through entertainment and motivational speaking from the pulpit. And they're not converted. Neither are those in the pulpit. And so when you realize that you, you don't wonder where all these conspiracy theories come from. The people who are not grounded in the faith, they don't, believe the Bible fully. When you understand the Scriptures, you don't run off being blown about by every wind of doctrine. You talk about the things that really matter. And what matters is this world is going to hell. And if we've got love in our heart, we'll want to warn them. And the analogy I use, and I even use it with non Christians, and it resonates with them. I say, I'm going to test your character, okay? And they say, okay, you're walking past this wooden building and you look down, it's on fire. It's two stories. And now there's a guy who's a night shift worker. He always sleeps in that room every afternoon. So he's going to be burned to death within about five minutes because you can see it starts to catch fire. And so you get a rock and you throw it at the window. He comes to the window and says, what are you doing? Get out of here. You say, there's a fire in your basement. He says, there is not. Get out of here. I'm going to call the police if you keep this up. He slams the window and walks off. What are you going to do? Say, okay, buddy, burn to death? Or are you going to throw more rocks at that window? Are you going to smash on his door? If you've got love and caring for that guy, you'll scream, you'll throw rocks, you'll bang on the door. And that's the dilemma we've got with the ungodly. They're asleep and they're in terrible danger. If they die in their sins, they're going to be damned in hell. And so God's given us a rock to throw out their window. That rock is the moral law. The Ten Commandments. When you say to someone, do you think you're a good person? They say, yeah, I'm a good person. They're obviously asleep to their sins, so what you gotta do is throw rocks at them. How many lies have you told? Ever stolen something? Ever used God's name in vain? Jesus said, if you look at a woman, lust after her, you commit adultery with her in your heart. Have you ever done that? He says, yeah, so you just told me you're a lying thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer. At heart. And you've got to face God on Judgment Day. Can you smell the smoke? And often people say, whoa, I can see what you're saying. What should I do? So my agenda isn't just to awaken people, it's to alarm them. You don't want to wake up and say, yep, my house is on fire. Thanks a lot, buddy. Go back to sleep. No, you want them to run out of that building. And that's what we want to do with the lost. Say you're in terrible, danger. If you die in your sins, you go to hell, flee to Jesus Christ. And the Bible likens us to firefighters. Or that analogy is applicable in that it says, others making a difference, having compassion, holding them from the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. And what's happened with the contemporary church is that we've lost our way. We've forgotten the agenda of the church. We've forgotten that Jesus saves us from wrath to come. And every human being needs a savior, and everyone's got a will to live. And they're crying out, I don't want to die. So the church has a moral obligation to reach out to them and take the gospel to them. And that's why I'm alive. And that's the only reason I live for.

>> Rick Green: Amen. Amen.

How do you tell the difference between a false convert and someone that has surrendered

We've talked a lot about, the last six months or so here on the program, about discipleship and what to do, once they come in. How did you tell the difference between a false convert and someone that has really surrendered and that wants to be discipled?

>> Ray Comfort: Yeah. Firstly, I believe when someone becomes a Christian, they become a disciple, and then you feed them, nourish them, and make sure they get into fellowship. I see every Christian having the moral responsibility to reach out to the lost. We should stir Christians up and equip them to share their faith. Every single person that gospel command was to all people, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And people say, how do you know which ones to witness to? Well, if they're breathing, eyewitness to them. If they're not breathing, it's too late. And so we should reach out and ask, how can you tell a false convert fruit? You can tell what's in someone's heart by what comes out of their mouth. Jesus said the mouth speaks the abundance of the heart. So if a man is blaspheming and cussing, you know something's radically wrong within his heart. There's the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of praise. The fruit of thanksgiving, the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness and temperance. And the fruit of repentance. If there's no fruit, Jesus said, every tree that brings not good fruit forth, good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire. So every Christian should examine himself and see if he's in the faith. And if there's no fruit, we need to get on our knees and say, God, this is my eternity. This is what I'm going to spend forever. Heaven or hell. I don't want to hear you say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. That would be a, most horrific thing to ever hear. So we examine ourselves and see if we're in the faith. And we look to others. The Bible says, mark those that cause division. Keep an eye on them. Don't toss them out the church, because you might toss out someone who's genuine. But you just watch them and see if they're living in righteousness and they're not, then you can say, hey, I'm a bit concerned for your salvation. When did you last read your Bible? And they'll say something like this, a couple of years ago. When did you last blaspheme God's name? Oh, that was yesterday. You're looking at pornography. Yeah, yeah, I do that a lot. Well, there's no fruit, and he needs to be challenged. And the way to challenge him is just say this one question. Do you think you're a good person? Someone who professes to be a Christian, a false convert, will almost always say, yeah, I'm a morally good person. Why do they say that? Because they don't understand God's holiness. They've never seen his righteousness. The Bible says every man will proclaim, his own goodness. So they need the moral law to their conscience. And tell them that if you lust, you commit adultery. In your heart, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. If you hate your brother, you're a murderer in God's sight. And suddenly they'll begin saying, I didn't realize God's standard was that high. I need a savior. And that's when they repent and trust in him who died for us and rose again on the third day.

>> Rick Green: Amen. Amen.

You've written more books than I've had years on this earth

You've written more books than I've had years on this earth. Maybe twice as many books as I've had years on this earth. But Revival's Golden Key is still my favorite and still, to this day, I think about it for Evangelism and a lot of other areas as well.

>> Ray Comfort: Well, that's got a new title. It's called God has a wonderful plan for your life. The myth of the modern message. In fact, Charlie Kirk. I didn't know that Charlie Kirk amended it just before he. Before he was tragically killed.

>> Rick Green: Oh, wow.

>> Ray Comfort: yeah, so it's got that new title. It's called God has a wonderful plan for your life. And it's got a picture of Steven being stoned to death on the front, which is part of the wonderful plan. And, it challenges us to say, is that what we should tell sinners? When James was beheaded, Jon the Baptist was beheaded, all the disciples were killed. Read Fox's book of martyrs for bedtime reading, and you realize the foundation of the church is soaked in blood. And we shouldn't be telling people that God has a wonderful plan because you could be killed, for, Christ's sake. Jesus warned the time will come when people will kill you to thinking they're doing God a favor. The reason we come to Jesus is to have our sins washed away, not to find a wonderful plan. Christianity doesn't offer a smooth flight, but it does offer a safe landing, and that's what matters.

>> Rick Green: Ton of resources [email protected] not only that book with the new title, the, evidence bible, which is a fantastic, fantastic study. man, I remember Bruce Collie of a former San Francisco 49er giving me one of those 25 years ago. Ray. I think it was maybe 20.

>> Ray Comfort: anyway, it's just come out, and it's just come out in leather, which is wonderful.

>> Rick Green: Nice, nice.

Ray Comfort: Doing the coins for the Olympics is two years away

All right. Livingwaters.com Ray, before I let you go, how can people help you with the. Doing the coins for the Olympics? That's two years away. What do we got? Two and a half years?

>> Ray Comfort: Yeah, yeah. Two years away. They could go to livingwaters.comgold and there they could sign up for a newsletter. So when the coins come in and we'll have them, pretty soon we're going to start feeding them out. But you've got no idea logistically how difficult it is both to store and give out a million gold coins. So it's going to take some time, but we're getting it worked out nice. So livingwaters.com gold oh, you got to love it.

>> Rick Green: That was Ray Comfort Living Waters. they do such incredible work. And of course, Ray's always entertaining and so, appreciate his time coming on today.

Liberty Pastors events give pastors ammunition they need to speak on biblical issues

as we're closing out today, last few minutes, I want to Reiterate, what I said at the end of the last segment this Liberty passers eventually, you know, I think most people are starting to understand that one of the core problems in our nation is that the church stopped being salt and light. We bought into this separation of church and state thing and it had so many ramifications and it caused the church to recede, to basically pull back from being the salt that preserves the meat, that brings out the best flavor in the meat. In other words, the culture does better when the church is being that salt. And that's a, you know, it's sometimes, you know, it's a chemical reaction, so it's going to burn a little bit. And you know, it results in a, ah, nation that prospers, that has freedom, that gets rid of evil things. And when it's not there, when the light's not there to dispel the darkness, the darkness wins. And so when you see so many bad things happening in the nation, just recognize that's a lack of the church being salt and light. The reason we do these Liberty Pastors events is because so many of our pastors have been lied to in seminary and even sometimes the deacon board and others that have bought this lie and so they put the pressure on, don't talk about these certain issues, don't influence the culture, and they've forgotten that the Lord is lord over everything in our life. If there's anything the Lord's not lord over, okay, don't preach about that. But clearly that would not be biblical because everything is supposed to be surrendered to him. And so what we do at these Liberty Pastors events is we give these pastors the ammunition they need, the intellectual ammunition that they need, the theological ammo that they need to go back to their churches and speak on these issues from a biblical perspective. Most of the things we talk about at the Liberty Pastors events, they don't cover it in seminary. They don't cover it at most pastors conferences. So it's, it's, it's something they've never really had the chance to interact with other pastors on, to ask questions, to talk about and to hear from experts, people that are, you know, living this, steeped in it. It's their particular issues. Say, say education, you get an Alex Newman that's an, an expert on that, or you want to hear about, money policy and what does it mean to not be on the gold standard? What does it mean to have transactional gold? Or what does it mean to have policies that have create inflation that are then what the Bible would call not honest. Weights and measures, those types of things are what we end up spending a lot of time on. We talk about the Marxist movement within the country and how anti biblical and anti God it is. So the sexuality, all of the different subjects that people have shown shied away from, we dive right into them. We run to those issues. So libertypastors.com, libertypastors.com this next what we call a pastor's camp is in Wichita. And there's room, it's pastor and spouse for virtually no cost. I mean this is again, I think it's $99. I can't remember. I don't run this. I'm just one of the speakers that goes to it and I happen to see an email from my buddy Pastor Paul Blake there talking about it now. I just wanted to shout out, to all the pastors out there if you want to come. Have a good time, have some good interaction, some great bonding with other pastors and spouses and just a great opportunity to hear from some great speakers. Wichita, Kansas, May 11th through the 14th. May 11th through the 14th. And an incredible, incredible opportunity. Libertypastors.com is the place to learn more, to get signed up and, and man, I hope to, I hope to see you there. And if you're not a pastor and you're listening to this, tell your pastor about it. Send them to libertypastors.com and encourage them to meet me in Wichita on May 11th and they will have a tremendous time. All right, we're out of time for today, folks. Everybody have a fantastic day. Walk over back with you tomorrow. You've been listening to at the corps with Walkaway.

Preborn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion

>> Bobby Roza: We'd like to thank our sponsors including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion and every day their network clinics rescue 200 babies lives. Will you join preborn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com afr the views and

>> Rick Green: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.