Transcript

American Family Radio thanks sponsor, Preborn for supporting pro life efforts

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

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

>> Jeff Chamblee: This is At The Core on American Family Radio.

The Core is celebrating America's 250th birthday next Saturday

>> Rick Green: Welcome to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution coach. Appreciate you joining me today. We got some other folks joining us today, including Rick Metaxas, Dr. Bob Pearle. It's gonna be a good day, folks. So we got a lot of great information to share with you. It's the 250th, we're, what are we, a week away? Yeah, yeah. Eight days away. Nine days away from, from the 250th birthday of our nation. Don't forget. It goes for a whole year though. So it's from July 4, 2026 to July 4, 2027. So kick it off with your celebrations this year. It's literally next Saturday. So not this coming Saturday, but next Saturday. And if you don't have one planned or one that in your community that you're going to throw one yourself, just invite a few friends over, read the Declaration of Independence and celebrate our nation's independence while committing your life, fortune and sacred honor. And that's how we get another 250 years for America.

Let's jump into our first interview. We got Bob Pearle with us. Dr. Bob Pearle, Birchman Baptist

Let's jump into our first interview.

>> Rick Green: We got Bob Pearl with us. Dr. You know, you're like Jon Witherspoon. You have to call Witherspoon. The Reverend Dr. Jon Witherspoon. So I'm going to call you the Reverend Dr. Bob Pearl, Birchman Baptist. It's good to see you, brother. Thanks for coming on.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Good to see you. Thank you for having me.

Your book, Courageous Church, encourages pastors to be courageous

>> Rick Green: Well, I'm excited about your book, Courageous Church. We are, you know, of course, at wall builders, constantly working with pastors that are courageous but also trying to get more of them to be courageous. And you're teaching them how to do that in this book. So thank you for doing the book. Thank you for being a pastor that does this. I could feel it in your church. You know, you have a congregation that is salt and light. They're not sitting around being sugary and dull. They're salt and light. So you could write the book because you're doing it at your church.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Well, it's important for us to understand that, we have a responsibility here in America. We have been given many, many blessings and freedoms from God, and we have a responsibility to follow in the steps of our forefathers, not just in our country, but even as a Baptist, following in the steps of our Baptist forefathers who were courageous, that gave their lives for certain truths of scripture. And so that's the same thing that we see in, the founding of our country, how they gave their lives, and then those who serve our country, how they have given their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy.

>> Rick Green: Well, and you give that history in the book. You go back to the early church, the Reformation, courage on American soul. You walk through all that so that we can know we stand on good, solid ground. The only problem I have with the book, I love the fact that Jack Ebs did the forward, but you got this guy named Tim Barton that did a, did a recommendation, in the book. I don't know if we can. If we can be. I'm kidding. He's.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yeah, he's a great guy. He, you know, he.

>> Rick Green: Tony Perkins, Rhyen from Liberty, Rhyen Hebron, Rick Metaxas. You got a lot of great folks in here.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yeah. And all these guys, too, have been at our church, and our church. I want to make sure that our people are exposed to these kinds of voices in our culture that are willing to stand and to remind us of the blessing and responsibility we have.

>> Rick Green: I don't think this is just for pastors, though. This is for all of us. We need to know when our pastor speaks on this, that they're standing on solid ground as well. So it's a great gift to a pastor, I would say. I would encourage people to give it to their pastor to encourage them to be courageous. But we in the church need to know this stuff, too, right?

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: This was not written simply to pastors. This was written for everyone, particularly people in the pew, and more particularly for those who claim to be believers, because it very clearly shows our biblical responsibility. And this was written to be an easy read. It's not an academic book. It just was written, as God put it on my heart, to Encourage people to stand. You know, courage actually can be contagious.

>> Rick Green: It can? Yeah.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Just like fear can be contagious. And so when people who want to speak up, they feel like, oh, I can't, or something, when someone next to them speaks up, it gives them courage. And this is what I'm trying to do, I love it, is raise up courageous people. And I talk about the church because I, as a pastor, believe that the social pathologies that we have in our country are because pastors have abrogated their biblical responsibility in preaching the truth and standing for truth, and they have swallowed that lie that, you're not supposed to talk about politics and all that. Well, it's not politics. These are biblical issues. Abortion is not a political issue. It's a biblical issue. Transgender is a biblical issue. Marriage is a biblical issue. And it's not that the church is getting in the path of the state. It's that the. The state is encroaching upon the responsibility of the church. And just because people in the. The quote state say it, you've got pastors that are afraid to stand. And, you know, people in the church, if they'll get this and read it, they can give a copy to their pastors and say, pastor, I believe that. That you could, help us in this and call our people to stand.

>> Rick Green: Yeah. And say, pastor, I believe you're courageous. I want to give this to you as a tool to help with that courage. You said, you know, that most of our societal, or really every one of our societal ills is a result of the church abrogating, the responsibility. It's almost. Instead of being salt, because the salt wasn't there, the meat is spoiling. You look out there in the. In the culture, you see all these problems, but they do. They stem from the church not being there to preserve the culture.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Well, Jesus also said, we're the light of the world. You ought to put a basket over the light. And that's what's happened. I think too many churches have a basket over them, and they're not letting their light shine, in the world, because light exposes. Just like salt helps enhance flavor, light exposes darkness.

>> Rick Green: Yeah.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: And so, you know, we've all been. Been around when you're in the yard or something and there's a brick that's been in the grass for a long time, and it's sun is shining, and you move the brick, you notice all of the critters underneath there run to the darkness. Well, that's what light does. It exposes the evils and, and all in our society, and why it is important for believers and pastors in particular to stand and declare that life.

You've got a chapter in your book about standing together and community

>> Rick Green: Amen. M. I saw, on Amazon, you have both the Kindle version and a printed version. Do you want people to go to Amazon to your website? Where's the best place to go to get it?

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Probably it's just easier to go to Amazon. That's faster and everything. Most people have, accounts with Amazon

>> Rick Green: and easy to do. You know, you've got a chapter in here about standing together, courage and community, finding other people that will also stand or even being the one to start that, like you're saying, and it be courageous. A friend of mine is a pastor in Vegas, of all places. He said something to me a few weeks ago that has stuck with me. He said, you know, iron, sharpening iron is so important, but you can't sharpen iron with a marshmallow.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: That's right.

>> Rick Green: That's what I thought of when I read that chapter in your book. I'm like, you've got to get around some other iron or you've got to be iron yourself.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: That's right. And that's the thing, as people see leaders and their pastors and others in community standing, it encourages them to stand, because it paves the way for them. And so it says, hey, I can do that. Because most people, know what's right to do. They just need encouragement to do it

>> Rick Green: and know they're not alone.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: that's right.

>> Rick Green: And the church really was the epicenter of the community and the founding of this country. It was the place where everything emanated from that and we sort of seeded that ground. Do you sense that there's some waking up and an effort to reinsert ourselves into the culture as we should have?

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yes, yes. In the founding of our country, you know what they did? The first thing that they did was build a church. and the community was built around that. And what happens then? They came there for worship. But then when they had their meetings of the community, what we would call government meetings or organizational meetings of the community, any community problem, where'd they meet in the church? It was all in the church. The church was the center of the community. And that's the way it should be. Now today we have, we have lost that emphasis. And so this is the one thing that I'm pushing to try to realize, get, people to realize that we need to put the priority back into our biblical responsibility in the church. Amen.

>> Rick Green: Amen.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: The Church is the only institution that God has given a promise of perpetuity. governments are going to be gone. The church is going to always be here. parachurch organizations, as good as they are, they're going to be gone. They come and go. The Lord's church, the gates of hell will never prevail against it.

Texas governor appoints Dr. Pearle to commission on marriage and family issues

>> Rick Green: Before I let you go, tell us a little bit about your new gig. the governor has appointed you to a commission here you're a part of now.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yes, I've been very privileged. The governor has, appointed me to this Texas Commission on Marriage and Family. And that goes because of some of my involvement there. When, the Supreme Court redefined the definition of marriage, that now it's not just between one man and one woman, and they usurp their responsibility because that's the church's responsibility. I said then I no longer recognize the government's involvement or understanding of marriage. And so I had submitted, through my representatives, some. Some, marriage proposals. And because of that, other people had done some things. And so the legislation.

>> Rick Green: Not, Not. Not a proposal of marriage to someone.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: No, yeah,

>> Rick Green: I submitted marriage proposals to some state legislators.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yeah, yeah, no, no, no.

>> Rick Green: Obviously, some ideas, some proposals, some ways we can turn trying to put marriage

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: back into the centrality of the church, getting it out of government hands and going back to where it was before the government got involved in it. And so as a result, there were other, introductions to the bills and so forth relative to marriage and family and so forth. So the legislature passed this. This, law establishing this commission. And so the governor appoints three, the lieutenant governor appoints two, and the speaker appoints two. And I was fortunate enough to be appointed by.

>> Rick Green: So you guys will spend the next year researching, getting together, working on these proposals that potentially could become legislation?

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Yes, we are.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: We are to look to make recommendations to the next legislative session on, on the issues with marriage and family.

>> Rick Green: I. I wish we did more of this. Having pastors involved in that. In that process. Of course, we got a handful of pastors in Congress and state legislatures, but, man, I love the fact that you're doing that. Dr. Pearle That's a. That's a fantastic. It says a lot about our. Our legislature creating that commission. Your willingness to go down there and, and be involved for. For years. You've done this for decades. You've literally been in this arena, helping to be salt and light and not. Not saying to yourself, oh, well, I'm only going to worry about my church and my family. You've actually paid attention to the community as well by getting involved in what's going on with the state. So thank you.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Thank you. I just see that as my responsibility as a pastor.

>> Rick Green: Yeah. Amen. I hope other pastors will do the same. The courageous church standing Boldly for truth in a Cowardly World Forwards by Jack Gibbs. Bob Pearle. Go get it@Amazon, dot com. I know David and Tim send their best. They love you and, and we appreciate you coming on the program.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Thank you.

Eric Metaxas has a new book on the American Revolution

>> Rick Green: Next up, Rick Metaxas. Always good to have Rick Metaxas on the program. New book out, Revolution. Rick welcome back.

>> Eric Metaxas: Excited to be with you. it's, it's important to be with like minded people. It's, good for the soul. Thank you.

>> Rick Green: Well, not just in, in person, I'm telling you man, all of the controversies in our own movement and with what people call the right, which I think is a weird definition now, but your post and your show and the things that, the positions you've taken and the stances you've taken against so many of the poisons and evils that are now coming from. I don't even like saying our side because I don't think they really are anymore. But I just want to say thank you, man. You've offered wisdom and discernment. honestly, you and Jeremy Boreing right now, I think are two of the most important voices for our movement because you're bringing sanity to a lot of this conflict. I know it's not our topic today, but I hadn't got to talk to you in a while, so I just wanted to want to tell you.

>> Eric Metaxas: It's all related, isn't it? It's all related. I mean, my book on the American Revolution is kind of like where how have we drifted? We need to know our story. It's not, it's not optional. It is vital. Vital. I mean, that's why I wrote the book. Because I realized most of us either don't know the story or forgot parts of it or whatever. And I, I mean, the reason, Rick that I wrote is because I looked around, I thought, you know, there's a lot of books on the revolution, but there's not one book that tells like the whole story. I said I got to tell the whole story so you don't have to read 12 books. Here it is. And honestly, it is the greatest story. It's so. Yeah, I mean, it's not the greatest story ever told, but it's like, you know, second greatest. Yeah. Birth of this country is just almost an unbelievable miracle in history. And we need to understand that because. Because that's real. That's not just, you know, patriotic hyperbole.

>> Rick Green: That's right, man. And, and you're, you know, 250th, obviously perfect time. we're, you know, 40 years out from Reagan warning us of, quote, an eradication of the American memory that would lead to an erosion of the American spirit. That's clearly happened. So you're bringing back the memory in order to help get the spirit back. And, and we got a lot of people right now that, you know, apparently America's the bad guys in history. You know, they've got this negative black pill twist on every. Everything we've ever done as a nation, so. Well, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Rick Batakis, our guest. You're listening to at the The Core of Walker Wildmon and Rick Reed,

>> Announcer: America's 250th birthday. It's a great excuse to have some extra cake and ice cream, but we can help your celebration go well beyond that. Show your patriotism with America 250 apparel that will become a memento of this special year. We also have special episodes on AFA Stream to help underscore that America is a Christian nation and help you find God in the Constitution. Find all of this and more in one place. Afa.net topics250at the core podcast are [email protected] now back to at the The Core on American Family Radio.

>> Rick Green: We're back on at The Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. Thanks for staying with us. Jumping right back in with our interview with Eric Metaxas.

Eric says telling the story of the American Revolution in a truthful way is needed

Rick you know, we were just talking about how they black pill everything, and I think starting where you are and even telling the story of the revolution in simply a truthful but passionate and inspiring way is needed. That's, I definitely couldn't have said it better myself. That's exactly what my goal was. And it's funny, too, because when you tell it straight, it is the most inspiring story. We need to hear this. And what we've been hearing for the last 40 years has been a lot of kind of negative blathers or slightly negative blather. And I thought for the 250th, we need the whole story in a kind of definitive way. And honestly, I forced myself to watch the Ken Burns PBS thing, you know, and it's shocking that they managed to make the American Revolution seem like, meh, not that big of a deal. Yeah, it's. You have to actually work hard to make a great story seem, eh, not that great. And that they did it though. They managed to succeed, to make the American Revolution be like, you know, who won? Like, I don't know. Like, it's kind of sad. But, you know, it happened. I mean, it's crazy. It would be like if you watch Rocky or Braveheart in a version that you're like, yeah, it's unclear who the good guy is. Like, really tell that story in that way. So this book is meant to be an antidote to all that. And listen, the thing is, it's not like, I mean, you know, that I'm a radically conservative Christian, but the book is just a standard history book. You can give it to anybody. They don't have to be on the same page as we are, because it's true. What I'm writing is not making a case for what we believe. It's just telling the truth. When you tell the truth, you tell the story without skewing it. It makes its own case. And that's. To me, it was overwhelming. I have to say, Writing it, researching it, it was overwhelming to see how God's hand is involved in this country and how the founders were motivated by God and godly principles. I mean, we kind of know that. But when you actually see it for yourself, the way I did writing the book, I was overwhelmed. I was absolutely. I said, this needs. Every American needs to know this. This has been taken away from us and we need to know it. And, you know, people who maybe aren't sure of it or don't know the details, I wrote this book for them. It's like, here it is. You tell me what you think. Like, this is. It's pretty clear that they understood what they were doing was like a mandate from God to create a government where the people govern themselves. They don't look to a man like King George III as their king. They look to God as their king the way the ancient Israelites did in the Sinai Covenant. That's the narrative. And they all got it, including Jefferson and Franklin. They all understood this is what we're doing. And it's never been done in human history, but we're doing it now. I mean, that's a big deal. And we need to know that well,

>> Rick Green: and to tell it in the, you know, like the good, the bad and the ugly, all of it, we learn from. From all of it. And the stories are just so overwhelming. It's not like, you know, one. If you had one instance of, of say, you know, the hand of Providence being seen or one of the founders saying that, and that's your whole story, is nothing but that. Yeah. Then you could go, man, but, man, it's just over and over and over again.

>> Eric Metaxas: Not only that, but they said it. I mean, George Washington could not shut up about how we have seen Providence over and over and over. This is the man who lived it. He knew it. and he's the one. They say he was a deist. We know he was not. And if only because of those statements. But it's like this guy knew this is a sacred cause. If we honor God, we have a covenant relationship with God. If we honor God, he will honor us. And the big thing that comes out of my research, which I really didn't know before, is that the British were really wicked. I mean, it's not just like they were the other side. They were barbaric. The way they fought the war. I mean, our men would surrender, they would bayonet them to death. I mean, you see this over and over. This is like the Japanese in World War II. Like the Nazis.

>> Rick Green: Look what they did to Dr. Warren, Dr. Joseph Warren. I mean, it's horrific. Yeah.

>> Eric Metaxas: I mean, you're. You know this stuff. I didn't know it the way you know it. And so doing the research, I was astonished. But it's over and over. And it's not just a few instances. It's the entire war. The British were wicked. And they were really not just. I mean, the Christian. The Americans were like radically Christians. Most of the leaders were radically Christians. The British were not just not Christians, they were anti Christian. They were. They were irreligious, godless, mocking the faith of, you know, the Boston, Massachusetts, Christians. I mean, it really is. I had not seen that before, that they really were. If you're watching this movie, you'd say, oh, those are the bad guys. Like, they're really bad.

Eric Metaxas: What do you want people to take away from Revolution

What they do, the way they treat their prisoners, the way they treat those who surrender, what they do to win the barbarism. That's what pushed a lot of people on the fence over to the American side because they said, these are evil people. They're hiring the Hessians and the Native Americans to terrorize and torture the civilian population. You think those are the bad guys? Our side would not do that. And if anybody did do that, Washington would come down on them like a pile of bricks because he was absolutely, committed to fighting this war in a way that honored God. And I did not know that. Rick you know that stuff. But I'm telling you, most Americans, we don't know that. So the more I researched it, the more I thought. I have not known the depth of the story or the spiritual nature of it. It's just astonishing to me, but it's also very inspiring. It makes me happy that we're at a moment where people will get to know this stuff.

>> Rick Green: Well, I was trying to. I came over the number, but one of the grievances in the Declaration is about what you just mentioned. You know, I'm basically sticking the savages on them, and that were barbaric. I mean, there's a whole grievance in the. In the Declaration about that. Listen, Rick I know you well enough to know you don't. You don't write a book like this just to tell the story. You want people to have a takeaway, and you want them to act on it. And I'm assuming it has something to do with reviving that American patriotism. What do you want people to take away from the revolution, from the birth of America?

>> Eric Metaxas: Well, honestly, I was overwhelmed. Writing this book now sounds like, again, hyperbole. I, knew that I wanted to tell the story and tell it straight, right? I want to tell the story straight so the generation of Americans can say, if I read this book, I got the whole story. Everything that's important is in this book, Right? Because there's so many books out there. So many books. I just want to put it all in one book. And obviously, I want to be readable and fun. There's crazy, funny stuff. There's amazing heroes and some despicable villains. But in the course of writing it, you know, when I started, people said, what's your angle? I said, I have no angle. I just want to tell the story of America and the birth 250 years ago. But the angles that came up make you realize this was a spiritual birth, that God's hand was in this. This was not just some nation. And the reason the book is titled Revolution and not American Revolution is I said, there has never been a revolution that was a real, true revolution that succeeded. That gave the people what it claimed. The French Revolution is a bloodbath. The French Revolution fails miserably. They say, oh, we want egality, fraternity, and liberty. We want liberty. Guess what they got? They got a dictator, an emperor. They got rid of the king, and then he's replaced by with a bloodbath followed by a dictator emperor in our, revolution, which is the only successful true revolution, which is why the book's called revolution, is we got rid of one monarch and turned to the monarch, God directly. It's going back to the Sinai Covenant. So people need to get that that's real. That's what the founders understood. This is not some Christian version. This is what the founders understood. And when on August 1st, Samuel Adams gives a speech on the steps of Independence hall, he says, we have this day, restored the sovereign. In other words, we had a bad sovereign. We had King George iii. We restored the true sovereign. So we're going back to the Sinai Covenant 3,000 years earlier, where we get rid of Pharaoh, we come out of Egypt, and we look to God as our king. That's the narrative. And even the most, the most. How do I put it? the most secular, the least religious figures like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, they understood this narrative. There was no doubt that they got this when they created a seal for the country. Franklin comes up with, the Israelites in the sign.

>> Rick Green: Yeah, that's right.

>> Eric Metaxas: and Jefferson comes up with the passing through the Red Sea. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, everyone understood what this was. And so to me, that's the takeaway, is to understand that our founding is. It's inescapable, that God's hand is in it. And that all of those men understood that. That's, to me, the key. That's how they saw it. even if you don't see it that way, you need to do the honor of. Do them the honor of seeing how they saw it. And when you see it, most people are going to be convinced, yep, they got it right. And I have not been taught this, you know, in school or I haven't heard this on tv.

Eric Metaxas: We're in the third existential crisis of our history

This is very important that we kind of get back to what is our DNA. When, you know, when, When, When. Yes, when. When Lincoln. I start my book with, you know, quoting Lincoln in my introduction, that Lincoln says we were a nation conceived in liberty, Conceived, there's a moment of conception in liberty, and dedicated the proposition all men are created equal. What about this conception? What about the DNA in that moment of conception? And have we followed that? And the fact is, to some extent, we have. But lately we've gone off and we need to know what is the DNA? When we started, what was the idea of liberty in the mind of these men that gave their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor? So I, want to kind of get people back to understanding this is the actual version. This is what the founders saw, which has been Secularized. I don't need to tell you. I don't need to tell wall builders it's been secularized. So I said, I want to write a book that kind of encapsulates it in a way that's very readable, that you could give to anybody who maybe isn't where we are, and they'll get it. So that was the goal. Revolution by Rick Metaxas. Anywhere books are sold. Rick can we get it back? Let me. Let me just. Let's close out with that. Like, can we recapture that American spirit and that foundation you're talking about?

>> Eric Metaxas: Taxis have no doubt that that's God's will and that we will get it back. But we are in a war, spiritual war. It's the third existential crisis of our history, the revolution. Things didn't look. God's hand was with us. We prevailed. The, Civil War, it wasn't looking so good. God's hand was with us. We prevailed. We're in the third existential crisis. So it is a war. It's a spiritual war. It's a strange thing we're going through, but I believe God is with us. And part of my writing this book is to recall us to what do we need to know? To fight, to pray to, you know, and I don't mean fight with weapons. I'm talking about fight as citizens for what is right and true. to me, that's why Longfellow wrote Paul Revere's ride in 1860. He said, how are we going to get through this existential crisis? We need to look back to 1775. And the reason I wrote this book is to look back in the Same way to 1775. We need to understand who we are, and we need to reanimate the spirit that got us through the first existential crisis for the third. So I'm seriously hopeful. I don't just say that. but we have to understand it's a fight. But you know what? God called us to the fight. He made us for the fight. So I am genuinely hopeful that via prayer and all of the men in the revolution, they look to God. They said, if we look to God and honor God, he will give us the victory. If we fight our way, we will lose. That's where we are today, man.

>> Rick Green: Beautiful, brother. I never, ever thought. I didn't even realize Longfellow's poem was that long after. but the fact that it was, you know, like you're saying, right before the Civil War, to remind us who we are always good Having Rick Metaxas on. Appreciate it. Get the book. We're gonna stick with the theme and still talk about the things that made us great as a nation and how to preserve it. Craig Seibert is our next guest and has a ton of new books coming out. I mean, they're already out, just out in the last couple of months. Phenomenal material. Much of it based on what we do at Wallnua Builders and. And Patriot Academy. Super excited about it. Craig, thanks for coming on, man. Great Constitution, coach, man. You probably put. I bet you put thousands of people through constitution classes. Biblical citizenship. Just a great patriot. And, love how you teach, man. Thanks for coming on today.

>> Craig Seibert: Well, you're welcome. And thank you for the tools to get it done, Rick we're making a difference in the Southeast, and I know there's coaches like us all across the country advancing the cause.

Craig Seibert has some great new tools for the 250th anniversary of American Revolution

>> Rick Green: Well, and now, speaking of tools, you've got some great new tools out for the 250th. Great time to do that. And then, of course, always trying to give people a way to, you know, walk through the founding fathers and the documents and all those things, and people are listening like never before. This is a great opportunity to put these things in front of them and then give them some action steps on things to do with it. So you've got a great package of tools that just came out just a few weeks ago. God's providence in the affairs of men and nations. Celebrating the 250th anniversary. it's just. I just think your timing's perfect, bro. And you've been in the trenches for, you know, well over a decade teaching these things. And now to put this out in the 250th, just wanted to highlight it and let people know about it. so kind of walk us through, man, how you ended up creating these specific tools for the 250th.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, so, you and I both go back to David Barton and cassette tapes. So, David and then Bill, Federer, your friend and my friend have been early pioneers on this, so I've learned a lot. And as you're aware, some of the, sermons from American history have been published over the years. And I've got some of those books. Obviously, Wallnua Builders has a lot of these sermons on their website. And what I began to think about is I just wanted to master some of these more. And, some of these sermons can be kind of long paragraphs, dense text. And so I began this personal journey of getting some of these Sermons from archives and other places, and kind of bullet pointing them, formatting them just so I could master and understand them a little better. And so what that ended up resulting in is selecting about seven, sermons that actually are in a resource called Courageous Pastor seven Sermons of Spiritual Firepower that Ignited and Sustained the American Revolution. And these seven sermons kind of jumped out at me to kind of celebrate during this 250 period and then produce them in maybe a more accessible format that pastors today could see what pastors 250 years ago were saying, and they might pick up that mantle again and, feel courageous to preach on these topics again.

>> Rick Green: In fact, that's one of the titles you've got. Courageous Pastor 7 Sermons of spiritual Firepower that Ignited and Sustained the American Revolution. I love the title in and of itself. You know it. I forget that Bishop Galloway quote we use all the time, but it's something to the effect of God didn't need men, you know, that were, Oh, was it, shaken by the. By the wind, but. But hardy men of courage. So, yeah, that's what you highlight with those sermons. Who are some of the. Who are some of the guys you use in.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, really terrific, because you and David and Tim have highlighted some of these. But, the. The sermon that Jon Adams called the Morning Gun of the American Revolution was preached by Jonathan Mason. You know his name, and you know this. What's remarkable is it was preached in 1750 when he was 29 years old.

>> Rick Green: Oh, wow.

>> Craig Seibert: Ten years before the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence. And so, just like Jon Wise, they were republishing his sermon 25 years later to be some spiritual fuel for the American Revolution. And, what a time.

>> Rick Green: And Adam said, the Morning Gun. I love that.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, yeah, he fired off. And, he's teaching on Romans 13 and is the best sermon, on Romans 13 that I've heard in generations. Some other highlights in here you can appreciate, Jacob Duche, the, pastor that prayed at the First Continental Congress. There's two sermons in there for him, by him. One of them's to the militia in Philadelphia. Another's at the Second Continental Congress's day of fasting and prayer.

>> Rick Green: Hold that thought, Craig. Quick break. We'll be right back to listening to at the The Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green.

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

>> Rick Green: We're back on The Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green.

Rick Green: Craig Seibert has written a great book on founding pastors

I'm Rick Greene America's Constitution coach. Craig Seibert our guest today, talking about these incredible books that he's got out. And Craig, you were right in the middle of telling us some of the stories of some of the founding pastors that were involved.

>> Craig Seibert: And then, Jonas Clark, our Battle of Lexington pastor, I know you've stood at his desk and I've stood at that desk in Lexington and imagined him preaching on what took place on Lexington. Green.

>> Rick Green: Yeah.

>> Craig Seibert: And then notably the, last two, which ties into this other resource, the dominion of providence over the passions of men. Kind of how we started this little radio interview that was preached by Jon Witherspoon, as you know, signer of the Declaration of Independence, the only pastor to, have signed it. And we just celebrated the 250 year anniversary of that sermon. Just May 17th of this year. You recall this small event taking place in Washington. Rededicate250.

>> Rick Green: Yeah, yeah.

>> Craig Seibert: people observed that that was on the anniversary of day of prayer and fasting. But what was lost in history a little bit is the fact that Jon Witherspoon preached this remarkable sermon on that day. Last sermon in this book is, ah, by, a reverend named Staughton, who preached a memorial sermon for Jefferson and Adam's passing on the 50th Jubilee year of the Declaration of Independence. And as you always Articulate both these men passed on the same day, kind of stamping God's providence on American history. So great book to get the path to motivate them and give them, to preach these things today.

>> Rick Green: I love that idea too. Just, you know, everybody's listening. I mean this is a fantastic gift to give to your pastor. And as Craig said, you know, at the top of the interview, it will show them what pastors were doing in the revolutionary period and what the things were that they were speaking on the fire with which they were speaking, the courage that they had. And of course that courage is contagious. So that was called Courageous Pastor Seven Sermons of Spiritual Firepower.

This book focuses on God's providences during the Revolutionary War period

>> Craig Seibert: So then this ties into the title that you began the show with, Rick God's providence is over the affairs of men and nations. And I just mentioned Jon Witherspoon's sermon to that end. And so one of the motivations for this book was to take that sermon specifically, as well as three additional sermons from 250 years ago where preachers preached on God's providences. And then it made sense to, in this book include what I called 22 of the most notable providences during the Revolutionary War period.

>> Rick Green: So acts of providence where God intervened.

>> Craig Seibert: And this is where. This is just in your sweet spot because you guys talk about this all the time. And David and Tim were an early pioneer on this, you know, bulletproof, George Washington, the fortification of Dorchester Heights and the amazing fog and moonlight, that allowed them to do that Squanto coming into the pilgrim's camp. The Great Awakening, the Battle of Lexington, the Gunboat Philadelphia. And so there's little two page, articulation of each of these 22 providences along with four historic sermons on God's providences. And again, just topics that we don't really address in the church today. God providentially acting in the affairs of men.

>> Rick Green: Yeah, love it. And it has life applications for today. So you literally go through, you know, you say these things happened then, but hey, look at what this means for us today and what we can do with it.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah. And I like this 1828 dictionary. The care and superintendence which God exercise over his creatures. Divine Providence is often understood to be God himself. So when they used Divine Providence and the Declaration of Independence and spoke about it in those days, they were literally talking about God's presence in their midst. such a cool thought, man.

>> Rick Green: Powerful, powerful.

You have specific resources on faith of founders and highlighting their faith

You have also correct, specific books on different categories of founders and highlighting their faith. So you have one on the faith of the signers, the Declaration, faith of the framers of the Constitution, faith of the presidents. How do you recommend people tackle the information? It's like, there's so much good stuff here. Where do you start and kind of what order do you recommend people go in?

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, so the, the sermon, the highlight of sermons, courageous pastors, great gift for pastors. As you said, providence over the affairs of men and nations. Again, a pastor's gift, a church gift. the three items that you just mentioned, the faith of the signers, the faith of the framers, and the faith of the presidents. You know, David and Tim have done such good work on this, and as you've already noted, they've got a new, book coming out on the 56 signers. And so that's so important. But these three books that are a little more slender have one, page biographical sketches on the signers in the case of the Declaration, the framers in the case of the Constitution, and then for the presidents, not every president was a person of faith, but it has biographical sketches in there. And I have an associate in the Southeast named Scott Saunders that conceived of this idea of, could you take, 30 days? And in the case of the signers, the month of July, the case of the framers, the month of September, in the case of the presidents, during February, and during those 30 days, cobble together a 30 day devotional on the faith of the signers, the framers and the presidents. And then he took it a step further. And this really ties into the Rebuilding Liberty curriculum. Rick and the 222. And even with some of Andrea Justice's work and Kelly Shackelford's work with, First Liberty, the concept is, let's in our local communities have proclamations of faith, the proclamation of faith of the signers, or the proclamation of faith of the framers or the presidents. And so during the month of July or September or February, have youth groups, have trail life groups, have American Heritage girl groups, study this history, but then go down to their local city council and say, you know, we'd like to sponsor a proclamation for our mayor and our city council, to declare these things in our town. And so these, each of these little resources has a nice little proclamation associated with it, as well as a church strategy that's associated with it.

>> Rick Green: Oh, man, I love it. I love it.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah. So to your question, those items could be kind of just picked up and be used as a little church strategy.

>> Rick Green: So you've thought through really Basically, almost like, I mean, this is not just an immediate thing. This is over the next year as we, as we really live out the 250th all the way through July 4, 2027. You know, different ways to use each of these tools and then action items where they can plug in that will make a difference in their communities for decades to come if they go take those actions.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, yeah.

The Documents of Freedom is the last resource we'll talk about today

Hey, and one last item if we've got a minute.

>> Rick Green: Yeah, go for it.

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah. The Documents of Freedom is the. Probably the last resource we'll talk about today. And again, one of the purposes for these is for us to all the advance liberty together and particularly get in the stream of what Patriot Academy is doing and what First Liberty is doing. You know, as you've had, Kelly Shackelford on so many times and talked about First Liberty's victories at the Supreme Court and now with the Kennedy case, giving us so much more freedom in the public, sphere to kind of advance, the original, principles of our founding, Andrea justice specifically has been working on this, Foundations of America Law and Government project, which also kind of ties into the Ten Commandments Project as far as getting a more public display of either the Ten Commandments or our founding documents. And so, there are resources over the years called Documents of Freedom that are out there on the Internet that typically would include the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, but I could not find any that tied together the atmosphere that all these documents were produced in. So the last item that would kind of advance our cause that ties nicely into this idea of advancing these documents of Freedom in a public way is called Documents of Freedom, the American way of life and liberty. And in that it includes the full text of things like the Constitution, the Declaration, but it also includes, George Washington's Farewell Address that Thomas Jefferson said was one of the top four things that should be studied to understand American history. It includes the, complete, Mayflower Compact, the complete George Washington's Inaugural Address. But also woven in there are such things as, a summary of the Great Awakening, a, piece on the pulpit of the American Revolution. one of the items I like the most is Jon Robinson's letter to the Pilgrims and how to get along as they, form this new civil body. And one of the main things he highlighted was don't be offended, don't take up an offense. and then one last thing on this that's kind of getting elevated to the surface is this whole 1607 project where, first landing in Virginia. Robert planted a cross and said, we do hereby dedicate this land in ourselves to reach the people within these shores with the gospel of Jesus Christ and raise up godly generations after us. And David and Barton and Glenn Beck and Bill Federer all spoken an event at first landing two years ago. So a lot of good stuff here and resources that I hope can help us advance our cause.

>> Dr. Bob Pearle: Man.

>> Rick Green: So good, so good. I, you know it's just a, it's just a perfect time to do it and people are looking for more and more resources. Of course we got a lot of great stuff at Patriot Academy and wall builders and all that, but we love highlighting other folks that are doing this and you've been a great coach for, for Patriot Academy's constitution classes and I'm just glad to see these, these additional tools out there. I know you've got the Christian, civicstraining.org site. Is that, is that where you want to send people to get these resources or do you want them to go straight to Amazon? What's the best place to get these?

>> Craig Seibert: Yeah, so I can, I can amplify that for you a little bit. Yeah. So Christian civicstraining.org would be a good place and it's got a lot of on demand 3 to 5 minute video training that I often use to complement some of the Patriot Academy teaching I'm doing. They can get them in Amazon, but we actually have created two websites that really highlight what Patriot Academy is doing plus these resources and I think you're going to like these. United States250.org highlights Patriot Academy and all the work that we're doing nationally and has these resources there.

>> Rick Green: Oh cool, you've got a countdown on the page too. Nice.

>> Craig Seibert: And similarly, declaration of independence250.org, some similar content, but again, highlighting what Patriot Academy is doing and highlighting these resources. So those might be more memorable names where people can kind of just drop in, take a look, see what Patriot Academy is doing and see what these resources look like.

>> Rick Green: Love it, man. United States250.org United States250 or we'll have a link today at our Wallbuilders show website as well. Keep up the great work. We'll help get the word out. And let's make the most of this 250th.

>> Craig Seibert: thank you Rick Keep contending. Love you guys.

>> Rick Green: That's Craig Seibert You can get those books at Amazon and I recommend you get all of them. I mean, that's a, that's a library of information that you can go through during the 250th, get you educated, get your family educated. I mean, that's, that's what this is about, folks. This is the, the renewal. This is the year two to rebuild liberty. This is our chance to bring back what the Founders gave us. There's so many things in the Declaration of Independence that when you break it out, you actually read it and you start reading the stories of the Founders. We've also got this new book, Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor, that David, and Tim Barton just put out. You can get [email protected] but there's all these great materials for studying the document that we're celebrating, the book Birthday of the Nation, the Declaration of Independence, but also studying the men that gave it to us and the sacrifices that were made. And that tends to inspire us to want to do the same. I was just. Let's see, yesterday in Colorado at the state capitol, there we were hosting our Leadership Congress. We do these, we call it Leadership Congress. It's basically a mock legislative simulation. We do these around the country in state capitals. And we've, got, Colorado and Indiana and Idaho and Arizona and Delaware and Florida and obviously Texas, because all great things come from Texas. But, my point is, I was in Colorado yesterday and we were doing the final session for the students that had just spent most of the week learning the history of the country, learning how the process works, writing their own bills, debating them in committee, committee and on the House floor, learning, you know, public speaking skills, learning founding Fathers philosophy. We teach the, what we call the LIFT principles. Limited government, individual liberties, free enterprise, timeless truth. So they've just been doing all of that. And then we're closing, we're doing our closing ceremony. In our closing ceremony, we have the students come forward and sign the Declaration of Independence. I mean, I tell them the story of the signing and the, you know, we're in the 250th. I talk about that somber day on August 2nd when they gathered to, put their names on the document because only Hancock and Jon Hancock was president of Continental Congress. So it was Hancock and Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thompson. They signed, during that weekend of July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, but nobody else, everybody else came in August 2nd and signed it. So I tell that story, talk about how Benjamin Rush and Jon Adams wrote letters later talking about it was they believe they were signing their death warrant. How they did it in silence. And then we do the same thing. And so the students come up and sign the declaration. And then they have a military veteran that passes the torture freedom to them. And it spikes the moment that military veteran puts a medallion over them and we give them a torture freedom pin. And it's just a really, really cool ceremony. But we just did something different yesterday that we've never done before. And I think we're going to start doing it at least for all of our leadership congresses this summer and next summer for the, for the 250th. But the students got up and, the alumni students. So a lot of these students will come, you know, two, three, four, five years in a row to the leadership Congresses. By the way. Patriotacademy.com I forgot we've still got some slots open in Delaware. And, we've got our big national one in Texas, still has some slots open. we're headed to see where we're headed next. We'll be in Idaho in a couple of weeks. There's slots there. Anyway, check that [email protected] and send some students to us. I promise you they'll come back later. 16 to 25 year olds. But back to my story. The senators are the ones that have been.

Senators read Declaration of Independence to entire student body at graduation

They're in their third or more year, so they've been at least twice before. And so we had the senators actually read the declaration to the entire student body and all of our guests that were there for the graduation before they signed.

>> Rick Green: It was amazing. And it's just a good. It gave me a good preview for July 4th, Independence Day next weekend, do the same. We've been encouraging everybody, break it out and read it aloud. Have people take turns, read the whole thing. Celebrate independence by reading the document that declared our independence.

Rick Green: Hope you enjoyed our interviews today

All right, folks, we're out of time for today. Hope you enjoyed our interviews today. I'm Rick Green. You've been listening to that before.

>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.