Kevin Freeman: In Second Chronicles, chapter 34, a boy becomes king

Kevin Freeman: In The Book of Second Chronicles, chapter 34, there's an amazing recounting of how a once lost nation returns to God. It's the story of how a boy is made king and eventually leads his nation back to truth. The the boy, of course, is Josiah. The kings before him, were wicked, worshiping idols and money and idols made out of money. God's temple was treated more like a bank than a house for worship. Then along came the eight year old king. For the longest time, I had a Veggie Tales version of Josiah in my head. You know, it was Junior Asparagus and he was in the temple, he was kicking around a soccer ball and accidentally he knocks over a dusty old book and ho. He's discovered the word of God. That's how I pictured it until I actually read 2 Chronicles, chapter 34. You see, Josiah did not find God's word until the 18th year of his reign. That was when Josiah determined to repair the temple. He was 26 years old, still young, but certainly not a boy. Now I imagine all of his servants assumed that the king wanted him to go collect taxes to repair the temple. That, after all, is what kings do, they tax the people. But this time was different. The king wasn't going to collect taxes. Instead, he wanted to get the gold, silver that was in the temple out of the temple to give it to the people so they would repair it. He wanted to remove the idols. He wanted to turn a place once used by money changers back into the house of God. The key passage, I believe is found in 2 Chronicles 34:14, which states, now, when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest uncovered the book of the law of the Lord as given by Moses. In other words, when Josiah had the right attitude about money, they found the word of God. This matches with Luke 16:11, which is read in my Bible because Jesus said it basically, if you're not faithful with your unrighteous mammon, no one will trust you with true riches like God's word. I share all of that. To introduce you to our special guest on Pirate Money radio, who will be here to tell us why America needs to read the Bible and what she's doing about it.

Marnie Freeman: Chapter 34 has blueprint for returning a nation to God

But before bringing her on, I must welcome our co hostess today, the remarkable Marnie Freeman, love of my life. Welcome, Marnie.

Marnie Freeman: Thank you. I'm always glad to be here with you.

Kevin Freeman: Now Marnie, you know why I went through 2 Chronicles 34?

Marnie Freeman: Yes. It's all about the money.

Kevin Freeman: Yeah, I've covered that when I got that revelation. That's been kind, ah, of a life verse for me. and that's also my chapter to read later this month as a part of America Reads the Bible. This is an amazing, massive project that we'll be focusing on today. I believe that chapter 34 has a blueprint for returning a nation to God based on the public reading of Scripture. Marnie, speaking of public reading, would you read to us second, Chronicles, chapter 34, verse 30?

Marnie Freeman: Yes. Going on to your point that you just read. After they brought out the money, which was gold, silver, biblical money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest uncovered the book of the laws given by Moses. But what did they do next?

Kevin Freeman: That's what I want you to read. 3430.

Marnie Freeman: That's right. The King Josiah went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites and all the people great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of, the book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord.

Bunni Pounds is the founder of Christians Engaged

Kevin Freeman: Sweetheart, I think that's a great way to introduce our special guest, Bunni Pounds. Would you do the honors?

Marnie Freeman: Absolutely. Now, we've known her for a long time. We've known her well. She's the Energizer Bunni. That's what we call her because she is a powerhouse that never runs out of batteries. So she is a founder of Christians Engaged, as well as senior vice president for Family, Policy alliance and Family Policy Alliance Foundation. And that was founded, I Understand, by Dr. Dobson, and she is the author of Jesus and Politics. Good book. One Woman's Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession. And it absolutely is a mudslinging profession.

Kevin Freeman: Politics.

Marnie Freeman: That's right. And she has an upcoming book, in 2026, stepping up to Lead Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah. And I think Nehemiah is one of her favorites to teach on, if I'm going to guess so.

America Reads the Bible is calling American people back to daily Bible reading

Kevin Freeman: Welcome, Bunni. You're doing an amazing thing with America Reads the Bible. Tell us about this project.

Bunni Pounds: Well, number one, I love Kevan and Marnie Freeman so much. I miss hanging out with them every day. I'm so thankful, Kevan, for you being on our advisory board of Christians Engaged. And Marty was a longtime board member until we merged with Family Policy Alliance Foundation. I was limited to my Board members, or she would have been on there too. anyway, I love you guys so much. America, reads the Bible has just been an amazing project to shepherd the last 16 months. it started out with me having an encounter with the Lord at the Museum of the Bible two years ago, where Ezra stood up with the scroll and he read, the book of Moses. And it hits me when I was watching that at the Museum of the Bible, I just finished this draft of this new book on Nehemiah, that this is the problem with the modern American church. Like, we need to have an Ezra moment. We have forgotten our identity. We've forgotten who we are. So when we're trying to get people to repair the walls of a nation and run for school board or share the gospel at their local chamber of commerce, we don't have enough internal fortitude to get it done because we're binge watching Netflix all day long.

Kevin Freeman: Right.

Bunni Pounds: So the reality is, the reality is that, we need an Ezra moment of scripture that can really make, a difference in our own personal lives. So I had this crazy idea. Wouldn't it be awesome if our national leaders from all spheres of influence, all demographics and denominations would humble themselves and say, we need the Bible every day to make it. You need the Bible every day to make it. And what if we did that in the backdrop of the 250th birthday of America?

Kevin Freeman: That's amazing.

Bunni Pounds: That's World War II. 8.

Marnie Freeman: I don't think it's a crazy idea. It's amazing. It's beautiful, and our country needs it.

Kevin Freeman: Well, we hear 2 Chronicles 7, 14 all the time if my people. And we need to humble ourselves and pray. But, you know, a lot of that doesn't happen until we get God's Word. And that's why we read the Josiah passage from 2 Chronicles, because until he went out and read, you know, Josiah was the last good king of Israel, before the Diaspora and before they got shipped off to Babylon. And you're talking about when they came back and rebuilt. And in both cases, it was a public reading of God's Word that sparked that awakening. We need more than a revival. We need an awakening. And. And Bunni, I think you've got the secret sauce to make that happen.

Bunni Pounds: Well, we're believing, Kevan, for God to breathe upon his Word. You know, Romans 10 talks about faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Literally, faith is generated by the word being spoken, being read, being proclaimed. And we believe that's going to happen over America. So what this is going to look like is April 18th we're going to have an opening celebration at Mark Batterson's church, National Community Church. This is going to be a 90 minute program that's going to be broadcast and livestreamed through Great American Pure flicks in front of their paywall to everybody in the country that wants to live stream it. Churches. We've got over 500 churches and universities signed up to livestream this special celebration. And, and the Bible reading as well. So Patricia Heaton, Cabinet Secretary, members of Congress, Candace Cameron Bure from Full House, our national spokesperson, Cameron and BJ Arnett, also our national spokespeople. All these fears of influence people, David Barton, Tony Perkins, etc. Will be humbling themselves telling their testimonies related to the Bible and calling the American people back to daily Bible reading. Leland's going to do worship. Phil King's going to sing Heal Our Land. It's going to be awesome. I get to call the nation to repentance and preach the gospel. It's going to be a beautiful night. Then we go into 9am to 9pm for seven full days, 84 hours. Genesis to Revelation. Almost 500 national leaders, six cabinet members, the White House chief of staff, governors, six governors, 20 members of Congress, Hollywood people, farmers, schoolteachers, single moms, you. I mean this is going to be epic. And I love that God is bringing together his people in the spirit of John. Seventeen people will be able to experience this live in the room. We have 12,000 tickets for you to come to the Museum of the Bible. Guys, come sit in this Bible reading. Bring your kids and grandkids, and also live stream it in your communities and your churches and your family rooms.

Kevin Freeman: Oh, that's fantastic. M. We're going to have to cover more about that. but we started with the money. You got to get the money part right. And I need to mention this. We need to have our hearts, right? And to do that, we have to be faithful with our unrighteous mammon. There are only three things you can do with your money. You can give it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. Here at Pirate Money Radio, we work to explain solutions that support all three areas in a way that promotes liberty, security and values. Patriot Mobile is a mobile phone company. They support the Pirate Money radio program. Patriot Mobile uses US carriers including AT&T, Verizon and T Mobile and operates on both Apple and Android phones. More information about the economic war room and Patriot Mobile is [email protected]. that's PirateMoneyRadio.com afr so we got to get our money part right.

America can invest in the future  through America reads the Bible

Is there a place that we can give, spend, or invest in the future of America through America reads the Bible? Bunni?

Bunni Pounds: One, hundred percent. I need another $100,000 to finish off a $1.7 million budget. So come on, friends. And we want to help people know the Bible, disciple them in the Bible. And I want to say 14amazing ministries are giving away all their discipleship and Bible reading programs for free.

Kevin Freeman: Oh, that's amazing, Bunni. All right, so we have a giving opportunity here. We'll talk about this and more when we come back right after the break. We're talking about reading the Bible publicly to turn America back to Christ. We'll be right.

Kevin Freeman: Marnie and I have been talking with the great Bunni Pounds, we call her the Energizer Bunni, about an amazing project that takes place later this month. America Reads the Bible. And you've got to stay tuned to this. There are all these churches, 500 churches will livestream it, but you can go to americareadsthebible.com to learn more. And there's a place to give, to support. I mean, Bunni, you just said you raised 1.6 million out of the 1.7 million you need. God is clearly in this. That's amazing. Congratulations.

Bunni Pounds: It's been an absolute, miracle on every front. I mean, I can tell you story after story, Kevan, of God's faithfulness and stepping up and grabbing a hold of this vision. And I, and I want to say also to the 125, you know, ministry partners that we have in this thing that have helped to fund some of, you know, some percentage of this, them giving of their treasure, saying they'll market it. Pushing together as one body of Christ has just been awesome. And the. And the universities are going to be streaming this. Regent Colorado Christian and others, and churches that are really putting the whole heart and soul in it, prison fellowships, even gonna have prisoners read the Bible in 84 prisons around the country while we're doing this. And the country of Malawi is gonna be reading. The leaders of Malawi m are gonna be reading the Bible over 84 hours while we do this. God is breathing on this, and I can't say enough about his faithfulness.

Kevin Freeman: Malawi.

Marnie Freeman: I'm starting to cry already because a

Kevin Freeman: dear friend, who was a young lady that we knew from the moment from before we got married, she actually Founded a library in Malawi. She a Christian woman. She's passed and gone on to be with the Lord. She's a miracle baby. She should not have survived weeks, let alone the nearly 30 years that Ah, she did. but we absolutely love Elizabeth and Elizabeth's library. But you mentioned Regent too, and Michele Bachman, Dean Bachman, former congresswoman. Is she reading?

Bunni Pounds: She is, yeah. She's going to be reading one of the theology professors and then CBN is a major discipleship partner and they're putting up five readers, Abigail Robertson and many others.

Marnie Freeman: Robertson, wow. Well, tell them what you have.

Kevin Freeman: no, no, we were working with Regent University on something special. I love that school. Maureen. I visited recently and we're working on something special there.

Marnie Freeman: But, well, I'm excited about all the guests that you mentioned, Bunni. I mean you have like you said, Candace Cameroy, but we have Dr. Ben Carson who's, we have, you know, a special heart for him in the, in the pirate money radio and economic war room. you have Media Row. You're going to have other activities including an artist and is she from Canada? So M. Mindy Oton. So you've bringing in 66 paintings, right? That will, that touches your heart, doesn't it? Touches my heart.

Kevin Freeman: 66 paintings, number one. It scares you to think about producing that many paintings.

Marnie Freeman: It does.

Kevin Freeman: as a very careful artist, but, very excited.

Marnie Freeman: But they've got all these other activities, other meetings, other things happening around the reading of the Bible, around this event. Not only going through Museum of the Bible, but I wanted to know more about the paintings and could you talk about that real quick?

Bunni Pounds: Yes. anybody can go on our website and get a three hour window of time to sit in the Bible reading. But we have our own private art gallery with Mindy oton's amazing 66 paintings. She painted a painting for each book of the Bible related to the Messiah showing up in symbolism in each book of the Bible. They're amazing.

Marnie Freeman: They're beautiful.

Bunni Pounds: Time to. Time to revive. Kyle Lance Martin is her cousin and they actually commission these paintings as Kyle spoke and taught through the Bible for two years. So Mindy will be there. Kyle and his team are facilitating all of this. And may I say, time to revive. We wouldn't be here without them. They're bringing 40 missionaries and volunteers to help us staff this throughout the week. And it's going to be an amazing time. And then also the Dead Sea Scrolls are there at the Museum of the Bible while we're there. It's the first time in 75 years there on the East Coast. so people can get a ticket to the Dead Sea Scrolls on top of their general, museum ticket and experience all of that while they're there. They can get multiple day tickets. you can come sit in the Bible reading seven days a week if you want and experience the whole Bible. I. We have, notices that people are taking off work and planning on sitting under the Bible, reading from their home or even at the museum. So it's going to be fun.

Kevin Freeman: if you're going to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States of America, there's no better way to do it than go to Washington D.C. and hear the public reading of God's word. You can learn more about [email protected] Now Bunni's gonna stay with us for the full hour. Marnie, we've got her for the full hour. We've got a whole lot more to talk about, including Christians Engaged and your new book. So we'll be right back with the great Bunni Pounds right after this break. Join us and learn about America Reads the Bible,

Mike Carter: Pirate Money Radio, helping you give, spend and invest in ways that align with liberty, security and values.

Kevin Freeman: Bunni, how big is America Reads the Bible event

Welcome back with your host, Kevan Freeman.

Kevin Freeman: And I'm joined by Marnie Freeman. That's going to be a busy week for us.

Marnie Freeman: It's going to be busy.

Kevin Freeman: You're taking a group that's going to Washington. I'll be there for part of it. Then I've got to fly and speak at the Christian Chamber of Commerce. And then I got to fly and speak, at an event here in Dallas. but it's going to be a crazy week. But you.

Marnie Freeman: We're bringing students standing strong to, to, America Reads the Bible.

Kevin Freeman: Oh, fantastic.

Marnie Freeman: So we've got. Bunni was probably going to say, and maybe she already did, but. 475 readers. Did I get that number right? Bunni?

Bunni Pounds: We're almost to 500 now. I think it's almost, it's like 494 as of today. But yes, it is massive.

Marnie Freeman: I mean, this is exciting. Like I have dreamed of something like this. I mean, I didn't have this whole vision that you had, but something as big as this to speak over our country to break the craziness that is going on and to reveal the truth of Christ.

Kevin Freeman: What better time than our 250th anniversary? This is. I can't think of a better way to celebrate both your love for God and your love for America.

Marnie Freeman: I love America and to be a

Kevin Freeman: part of this event.

Marnie Freeman: That's right. I love it.

Kevin Freeman: So, Bunni, you pulled it all together. We watch you and we've watched you grow from a very small, idea startup that came really. You shared it with us in the studios of the economic war room with, our dear friend Tracy Bradford and watched it go from a. Well, it's a small startup. We'll be in a church here and a church there. And then, okay, we're going to expand to the, the entire state of Texas. And then now it's national. And then it's gone super national. It's gone beyond that. you know, you work tirelessly and your husband is a saint. and, and we love you and we love your family, but, you know, how's it coming together? I know you see the hand of God in it, but it also requires a whole lot of work on your part.

Bunni Pounds: Yeah, first of all, my husband is a saint. We just celebrated 30 years of marriage and, congratulations and three grandkids. And yeah, Tim just lets. He says the same thing you guys say. This is the Energizer. Bunni, I'm just going to let you run. You know I love you and bless you. but yes, it's been a lot, if you can imagine, Kevan and Marty, you know that I ran for Congress in 2018. How busy a million dollar race for Congress is. This has been double that for my life. It has been, an unbelievable crazy schedule. if you can imagine, I think I did 250 Zoom meetings last year to try to get ministry partners and celebrities and people onboarded. it was nonstop. And then trying to raise 1 1/2 to 2 million DOL budget for Christians engaged and then raise another 1.7 on top of that for this project. God has been so faithful in that. But with, an event like this, you can't really staff up. So you've got to have amazing contractors and people because it's a one, one time shot. And Jamie Thompson, who has been my sergeant in arms on this thing, our Director of America Reads the Bible. Her, her husband Krish, her daughter Allie have given up their life, literally.

Marnie Freeman: They are amazing. They are amazing. Yes.

Bunni Pounds: We have another, friend, ah, Carly Gonzalez, our CEO's daughter that's working tirelessly. And our whole team, we have 20 on our team of Family Policy alliance and Christians Engage. Every single one of our employees have taken on extra tasks related to this event. So if you can imagine having 500 readers that are busy that don't check their emails, that have to have reader agreements, headshots, titles, have to show up on time, have to get all their tickets together, have to get their people together. It's a massive undertaking.

Marnie Freeman: okay, tell us, tell us you're not proud of us for having ours in early. Like, we had all it in early.

Bunni Pounds: Yes, you are way ahead. You are not on the problem children list.

Marnie Freeman: Oh, thank you.

Kevin Freeman: Well, Bunni, we're so proud of what you're doing.

Bunni Pounds: We love them.

Kevin Freeman: We're so proud of what you're doing here. and this is a turning point for America. And I don't just say that lightly. as I read 2 Chronicles 34, and I've read it a lot, and I've read it on camera, and I'm gonna be reading it in Washington. It is absolutely. I was gonna say painfully obvious. It's not painfully obvious. It's godly obvious that reading the public reading of scripture is for the turning of the nation. Whether that was the nation turning to God under Josiah or the rebuilding of the nation as it came later with Ezra and Nehemiah. It is absolutely essential you have the public reading of Scriptures. And if you're a believer, then you understand and know that. Go to americareadsthebible.com to learn more if you want to be part of this event and you have an opportunity to. We have more with Bunni Powell when we come back. We'll be talking Christians engaged and your responsibilities.

Kevin Freeman: Being engaged in politics is like giving, spending, investing

Kevin Freeman: You know, we talk about giving, spending, and investing. That's what investors do. That's when you get money. You're going to give it, you're going to spend it, you're going to invest it. There are three words, three simple words for Christians. Responsibility. To be engaged in politics, it's like giving, spending, investing, only it's prey. Vote and engage.

Marnie Freeman: That's investment.

Kevin Freeman: That is your duty as a believer in Christ and a citizen of this country to pray. Vote and engage.

Marnie Freeman: We're supposed to be salt and light.

Kevin Freeman: Salt and light.

Marnie Freeman: That's a way to be salt and light.

Kevin Freeman: Yep. In our culture, in our politics, in our families.

Bunni is the founder of Christians Engage, a Christian advocacy group

And so, Marnie, I want to turn it over to you and let you kind of interview Bunni because you were a founding board member. I've been on the advisory board. And being on the advisory board is one I get to show up at the great dinners and meals and get to hang out with really cool people like Ted Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, and others. I get some really cool opportunities there and I get to give my advice every once in a while. But the hard work, the working board, you were on that board, you were a founding working board member and Bunni is the founder. So I want you to, talk about Christians Engage.

Marnie Freeman: So Christians Engage. Their mantra is pray, vote and engage. But so what, Bunni, would you, how would you describe Christians Engage? Tell me what you do and how it grew from Texas to national, maybe international someday. You never know.

Bunni Pounds: Well, we wanted to have a strong call to action for every Christian that's being awakened that, you know, we, we live in the greatest country on the planet. Right. Our Constitution has outlasted every constitution in world history and we've been given a gift to steward our nation. I think we could all agree, Marnie, that we are thankful we don't live in North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba right now.

Marnie Freeman: Absolutely.

Bunni Pounds: What are we going to do to say thank you to God and have gratitude for that? Well, we have to participate at the beginning. We pray. We absolutely need to talk to God about the things that are happening in our country. If we don't have devotion to Jesus, what do we have? But then we, need to pray for our elected officials that absolutely need prayer. And we need to pray for our country. And then we need to vote in every election. Just like showing up when every time the doors of the church are open, we need to be showing up and voting biblical values, knowing what the Bible says on topics, and then aligning that to the party platforms and also the candidates that we choose to vote for. And then we absolutely need leaders raised up. We need to be running for office, we need to be advocating, we need to be engaging in some form. At the very least, share the gospel with your fellow neighbors. Right. Love your neighbors. Well, so that's what we do. We've built a 50 state get out the boat system around the country. And we just hit, ah, a million Christians in that system that we get to serve, to text and email them around every election. and then we do a lot of other things as well. But that's the main thing that we do is mobilize and educate and disciple Christians to be good stewards.

Marnie Freeman: So people can go sign up on your website to be part of that system. Right? Because I get a reminder to go vote and it's, you know, how far down does it go? So state level, city level, how far down does that go? Because you're right, people need to, yeah,

Bunni Pounds: we cover all the congressional races, Every state, state level race, on the local levels. We're talking to local, communities on a statewide basis still. But we hope to have the funding soon to go county to county.

Marnie Freeman: Well, and you guys, our listeners just get out for every election, all the way down to school board to city to county and everything. Go vote for every election because they are ruling your life. And you want to have say in how that goes, whether you're going to follow Christ or whether you're going to put someone in that follows a whole different ideology.

Kevin Freeman: Right. And I love this. It's not, it's not a political group per se. Christians engaged as a Christian group and advocacy. Why we need to be involved is because it's our Christian duty to be salt and light.

 Christians Engaged has a pledge to vote, pray and engage

So you have a pledge on there, Bunni, tell us about the pledge and how can people take it and what does it mean? Do.

Bunni Pounds: Yes. it's our commitment. It's our saying. It's not a blood covenant. Just say, I will pray five minutes a week for my nation and we'll send a video to you every Monday and a prayer point. And then, we'll vote in every election. If you remind us. We'll vote in every election and then we'll start engaging. Right. It is just a simple commitment and it's really powerful. we actually have a new video that just came out, that will be going on our homepage of our website to kind of make this clear for people. but those simple three words can literally change the country we believe. and it is our stewardship and our responsibility. So take the pledge to pray, vote, engage, and join a million Christians or more that are making that commitment, to do that ongoing. And 92.6% in the last general election voted in the last election. That's an amazing statistic of our database and the people that are making that commitment. 92.6% of them voted in the last election.

Marnie Freeman: Oh, go ahead.

Kevin Freeman: I want to point out there are a lot of people in North Texas and other parts of the country that are concerned, because there's been a rise in other religions here in the United States. And we see, a rise in really weird old false religions, but we also see a rise in Islam and other things. And I look at that and I say, well, they're very engaged. Why aren't Christians engaged? And Vonnie, you started this to make certain, not to put anyone else down, but to make certain that Christians stood up. And I think that's so critical. You can learn [email protected] when we go to the website, what will we find?

Bunni Pounds: You're going to find over 100 products in our faith and civic engagement library. Everything from videos to white papers to, just so many resources for pastors and ministry leaders. You're going to find 50 state pages that show you how to register to vote, vote, how to connect with our family policy councils around the country. You're going to find a Gen Z program, you're going to find a church outreach program that's continuing to explode. and so many in our Christians Engage Academy, you can get a subscription for $10 a month and get all of our classes for free and train yourself and your families. it's amazing the stuff that we've been able to produce in the last six years.

Marnie Freeman: It is amazing talking about biblical justice, biblical economics. There's great classes there and there's also even a campaign school basically in a box ready to go to help someone get into office.

Kevin Freeman: You know, I learned economics at my church in Tulsa. It's the one we grew up in, Asbury at the time is Asbury United Methodist. It's now Asbury Church. But they played free to choose from Milton Friedman on Sunday nights. And I sat there with wide eyed listening about free market economics from a biblical perspective. And recently Marnie, you and I went and taught biblical economics at Charis College in Colorado Springs, which was great. People don't realize that the Bible has a lot to say about economics and justice and all of the things. Charlie Kirk got it. He did, he understood this and he was out there telling people to get engaged. He was sharing the gospel every single day of his life and he was encouraging people to get engaged. And Bunn, you're carrying on, you were there with him, but you're carrying on that tradition through Christians Engaged. How can one get their church involved? Because I loved Asbury. I mean Milton Friedman was not a Christian, he was Jewish, but he was speaking from biblical truth and so they featured him. How can a church get involved and participate? Because we know we've got a lot of members, people listening on many of the different outlets, whether American Family Radio or Real Life Network or others. How can churches get involved with you?

Bunni Pounds: Well, walk in and talk to your pastor and say, you know, they're very busy, you know that they're overwhelmed, but you can come alongside them and you can help them. And you've got this, a great ministry called Christians Engaged that will just preach, pray, vote, engage and will not split their church, but will Educate people on civics and biblical values. And they will get all of the classes for free. As a church body, as a strategic partner, they get their own pledge page to push people to pray, vote, engage, and know which of their members are making that commitment. and then we help them and mentor them and help their people run for office or help them get involved in advocacy or connect with our family Policy Council. So there's a lot of things we can do with the churches. And so many pastors that are being awakened right now, they're not typical political pastors. They're ones that are trying to make, statements on this. We're helping them along the way to make those statements and make them right.

Marnie Freeman: It's just doing what God has asked you to do, getting involved. that's what it is.

Kevin Freeman: You know, I've got a lot of friends that are not believers, and I share the gospel with them, but a lot of friends who will say, well, if you Christians would actually show up and vote, you religious Christians, why don't you do it? And they point to these surveys that show that many, many people in church never vote. I trust God. And they never. And you know what that means? We lose the culture wars. That means that we lose the chance and the opportunity. Bill Federer said it best. He said the number one most important thing we can do is share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the number two most important thing we can do is preserve the liberty that allows us to do the most important M thing. And, Bunni, you're doing that. Look, I appreciate and love everything you're doing. We've got a couple more segments.

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Kevin Freeman: How do you distinguish between an awakening and a revival

Mike Carter: Welcome back to Pirate Money Radio with your host, Kevan Freeman.

Kevin Freeman: Yeah, Marnie, you and I are talking with Bunni Pounds, but we've also been talking with the great David Barton, Bill Federer and so many others. And they all say the same thing. We need more than a revival. A revival is not enough for America. We need an awakening. Bonnie, how do you distinguish between an awakening and a revival? And your project America Reads the Bible, how does that produce an awakening?

Bunni Pounds: Well, I'll put it in the terms we were just talking about earlier as Ezra and Nehemiah. I believe that, you know, personal revival is devotion, running back, repenting of our sins, running back from complacency and apathy. We're praying for that with America Reads the Bible. Right? We're praying that complacency, apathy get broken off the hearts of the American church and that the American public realizes that they need the Bible, they need the foundation of Scripture, wisdom for their families, their lives, their livelihoods, goods, etc. that's the beginning. I believe that's revival. but Great Awakening, we're talking about a culture change. We're talking about the people that are experiencing revival. You know, I pray all the time, God let me burn and let the everybody watch the fire burn. Right? that when that reality hits the church, what happens is leaders get raised up, people go into culture, people make changes. You know, bars get shut down. Right? Citywide things happen. We see this throughout history. The first Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Jesus revolution, right. So many times in our history. and so what we're believing for is that it changes culture. As we're seeing right now, I believe we're seeing the, the beginning seeds of revival. I'm barely going to say we're seeing little tiny seeds, right? But when you see Bible sales surge, when you say, I saw a survey just yesterday, the Gen Z's turning off their phones more than any other generation before. They are turning off their phones, they are turning off devices, they're trying to have authentic relationships. They're tired of it. So we believe that America reads the Bible, will create Ezra's. And then we, the. What we're believing for is Nehemiah's to arise. That will change the culture and rebuild the walls of a nation. That's what we need in our country.

Marnie Freeman: I just envision chains falling off people and then walking forward to Christ. I just see it in my mind's eye. It's going to be so Powerful. And is that, I see those seeds now as well. And I also see that in your 1630 program, which is amazing. Gen Z, if you guys know anybody that needs to get involved in 1630, Gen Z. It's near and dear to my heart.

Kevin Freeman: You know, a few years ago we were in church and they say if anybody has your Bible and people lifted up their phones and they started looking at the. And I don't mean to denigrate anybody, it's very convenient to have that, but it bothers me every time. I will turn on my phone every once in a while and I'll look and it'll say that my Bible app is updating. I'll say, what are they updating? I don't want any changes to the Bible. What do they mean they're updating? It is important. Get a, written copy of the scripture. Probably 10 or 12 or 20 of them. Have them all over your house. Have them in every room. Have them open and looking. Here at Liberty Hawk Ranch, we put them in all the rooms. This is important to have the Bible available to us. And I happen to have with me the KJVER King James Version. Easy read. And the reason I have this particular. The first time I bought it was to read it at America Reads the Bible, where I get to read two, Chronicles, chapter 34 as a part of almost 500 people reading the Bible. That's coming up April 18th through the 25th in Washington DC. Bunni, we've got about a minute left.

America Reads the Bible is live streaming the Bible over seven days

Tell us about America Reads the Bible.

Bunni Pounds: So every family room, every business, every church, every university, every community center needs to be live streaming the public reading of, Scripture over seven days. An opening celebration April 18 as we repent, go back to the Bible as national leaders. And then we read scripture from 9:00am to 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time for seven full days. This is the greatest opportunity, guys, you will ever have to share God's word with your community and the people around you. Think of your kids, your grandkids, your everybody in your life, your employees being impacted by just the faith rising in their heart because of scripture. We will never have this national moment again. Believe me, we will never be able to, to galvanize all these denominations and all these people again in the way that we're doing it because of the 250th birthday. Take advantage of this. Register for the livestream. Come to dc. It's going to be an amazing, epic moment.

Marnie Freeman: You don't have to go through the Bible in one year. You can go through in how many hours? All right, 84.

Kevin Freeman: 84 hours.

Marnie Freeman: One week. Be done with it.

Kevin Freeman: We're talking about with the great Bunni Pounds. We've got one more segment to talk about. America Reads the Bible. America Reads the Bible and Christians engaged. This is your opportunity to change the world. We'll be right back.

Mike Carter: Pirate Money Radio helping you give, spend and invest in ways that align with libert security and values.

Kevin Freeman: America Reads the Bible celebrates 250 years on July 4

Welcome back with your host Kevan Freeman.

Kevin Freeman: And we're talking about some great American opportunities and great American events to celebrate this country, but celebrate God's word and our passion for Christ. April 18th, 25th in Washington D.C. at the Museum of the Bible is America Reads the Bible. You can Learn [email protected] But also, on May 17th, the President has called us for a nation to turn to God and to repent. So we read the Bible, then the present. It's like the Lord lined all this up. And then of course on July 4th, for the third time, we get to celebrate the 250 years which we know would not exist without the reading of God's word. We know it wouldn't exist without the commitment of believers. Even Benjamin Franklin, some say the least religious of the founders, realized that we have to have prayer if we're going to have a successful constitution. And he called the entire Constitutional Convention, which was collapsing to prayer and gave us the longest constitution in modern times, in history of the world, probably longest serving constitution. We got. Bunni, tell us about, where do people go? Where can they follow you and learn more about these amazing events?

Bunni Pounds: Well, just type in right now americareadsthebible.com guys and go to our social media. America Reads the Bible on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter, all of that. but just look at the caliber of people. And I want to say to the all the readers that are coming on their own dime, they are traveling there by with their own money, they're getting their own hotels. We're not paying for any of this. I have 16amazing worship leaders. Danny Goki, Leland Kim Walker Smith, Meredith Andrews, Klaus Kuhn, Bethany Stevens, Brooke, you know, so many, Marty Getz, in the messianic Jewish world, right, coming to lead worship and lead prayer moments at the end of each hour on their own dime. these are heroes. The people that are participating with this, believe me, are our heroes. The ministries, Franklin Graham doing our welcome, doing the gospel presentation at the end of the book of Revelation, you know, Colton Dixon and John, ah, Cooper of Skillet and you know, you know, Shonda Pierce and all these people that are coming and participating and are reading the Bible, just have blessed my heart. The humility. I, mean, I have hope, guys. I know we, we dog on the American church all day long, but I'm telling you, I have hope because God is moving with simple, like, humble people that know they're only reading the Bible. They're not commentating, they're not preaching around it, they're not doing anything else but reading God's precious word. And it is blessing my heart to no end. And I believe that it will bless your heart. And some of you need to take off work and sit under the public reading of scripture and read the whole Bible in the week. That would be a powerful thing. So check it out at America Reads the Bible.

Marnie Freeman: The whole Bible in a week. And also, yes, you gave your website America Reads the Bible. But what is Christians Engage website?

Bunni Pounds: ChristiansEngage.org take the pledge to pray vote engage and help us raise you up to be a leader. We want you to be a leader, people. Come on, let's go.

Marnie Freeman: This is exciting. I, I am so excited to get to the, get to, the seat of our government and just pray and worship right there. And you know, the Constitution, like you said, is godly. It has, you know, our creator listed, but also all the state constitutions do, too.

Kevin Freeman: The whole country, all 50 states are participating in this. All 50 states are involved with Christians engaged. And Bunni, your message is amazing. But what I see is the progression of God established. I want my word read, and he put it on your heart. America reads the Bible and then he established on President Trump, he says, you know what? I want a dedication Sunday. And then we have our celebration of 250 years. I don't want 250 years to celebrate without 250 more. I want America. If the Lord tarries, I want America to take the gospel as no other nation has in the history of the world. Take the gospel to people around the world. So, Bunni, you've got about 30 seconds. what is your simple message to America?

Bunni Pounds: Be Ezra's. Be devoted to Jesus. Guys, you need Jesus more than ever before, and he wants to be with you. And then he wants to raise you up as Nehemiah's to help repair the walls of a nation. And this nation needs you. It needs you. It needs your gifts, your talents, your life, your heart. Let's do it.

Kevin Freeman: As we read the word of God over the entire nation, I believe there are going to be be healings, people Set free, Marriages restored, families restored. It's going to be amazing things. Now, some of you will have to leave us. Now we say God bless from Kevan and Marnie Freeman. If you're following us on podcast or American Family Radio, stay tuned. Foreign.

Mike Carter: Radio with your host, Kevan Freeman.

Kevin Freeman: And I'm joined by Marnie Freeman and our dear friend, Bunni Pounds.

Bunni, what gives you hope and what's your favorite scripture

Bonnie, what gives you hope and what's your favorite scripture? That's what we like to end with.

Bunni Pounds: What gives me hope is, just people coming alive in God. God, just demonstrating his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and getting to live out that reality every day. my favorite scripture is what I'm reading in America reads the bible. It's John 17, and specifically John 17:24, where Jesus is praying before he goes to the cross and he's saying, father, I desire that those that you've given me would be with me where I am, and that they would behold my glory. You know, there's such an invitation from, from Jesus. You know, he was willing to go to the cross because he desired one thing. He desired Kevan Freeman, he desired Marnie Freeman. He desired Bunni Pounds. He desires you, and that changes your whole thing. It's no longer about a quiet time. It's no longer about legalism or religion. It's about Jesus wants to be with me every day and I get to be with him every day. That reality will change our life and it will make us know that we're fully loved, we're fully accepted, we fully have a plan and a purpose. And it brings us into the story of God where we can do mighty exploits and be strong in our God.

Kevin Freeman: Yeah, it's amazing. Jesus is the word of God. He's the incarnate Word of God. He died for you and he rose again for you. And he brings salvation and healing and strength and answered prayers and families restored. There are so many good things that come through Christ.

Kevin and Marnie say a prayer for Christians engaged and America reads Bible

Marnie, would you wrap us up with a prayer for both Christians engaged, but also America reads the Bible?

Marnie Freeman: Yes, Father. Thank you. That we can. You've called us that if we would receive you, we can taste and see that you are good God, that you love us, that you sent your son to die for us. And people who are listening that need to know him, repent and just accept him as your Lord and Savior. Father, thank you. For Christians engaged, continue to build them and grow them and uphold them and all the staff and team there and with, Just America reads the Bible, their team their volunteers uphold all of them with your righteous right hand God lead them as they are making decisions and anoint them for such a time as this. Lord call in people to view online to come come to D.C. and just enjoy and partake of the word of God which is living and active God thank you for all you are doing for us. That also God it is relationship that we can sit at your feet and just be with you. Just be thank you for being real. In Jesus name In Jesus name.

Kevin Freeman: And I pray a blessing on Bunni and Tim and I pray on Ben and Jamie and Shelly and all the people that you work with. I pray that every aspect of your ministry would be blessed and that that last hundred thousand dollars that needs to come in would come in For America Reads the Bible. And for all of you listening, I thank you for being part of what we're doing here. If you have questions, prayer needs comments Email Pray for our nation. Pray for America to return to God's principles. Pray for America Reads the Bible. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Apple, Spotify this is Kevan and Marnie Freeman joined by Bunni Pounds for Pirate Money Radio.

Experience an unprecedented, seven-day public reading of Scripture from the Museum of the Bible—uniting leaders, churches, universities, and families across all 50 states. Kevin and Marnie Freeman host Bunni Pounds to share how this nationwide event aims to kindle revival, fuel civic engagement, and call America back to God’s Word. Learn how to livestream, attend in person, and support the final funding push to complete this historic initiative. Plus: practical next steps to Pray, Vote, and Engage through Christians Engaged.