Welcome to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio
Abraham Hamilton III: Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III: This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III: It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.
Abraham Hamilton III: Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III: God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name and I'm excited, to be here another day. I'm joined by producer extraordinaire, often imitated, never duplicated, the real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's program.
There appears to be a resurgence in Christianity in America and in some ports
At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to make that transition with intentionality, recognizing the primacy that God places on the family, allowing that reality to guide and inform and instruct your engagement with your families, adopting and embracing the reality that God has called his people to be executors of his commission. If you are listening to me and at this very moment, you would say, hey, but you know, if I were to pass right now, I don't know where I would spend eternity. I simply want to encourage you to refuse to harden your heart as the Lord draws you. I was reading some statistics, interestingly enough, that there appears to be a resurgence in Christianity in America and in some ports, portions of Western Europe. And I believe a lot of it is resulting from people recognizing the vacuousness of this world and realizing that there is an eternal echo in our hearts. For those of you who are not yet members of the eternal family of God, the scripture teaches that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God having none better to swear by, that he swore by himself that God put on human flesh, invaded human history, lived a sinless life, and the person, Yeshua, the Messiah, Jesus the anointed one, died on the cross not for anything that he'd done, but for our sin and that he was resurrected on the third day according to the scriptures. If you believe that, if you confess that with your mouth and, and believe it in your heart. Now this belief is not an easy believism. It is a genuine phenomenon that is in your heart, you can be saved and you can begin the life of a Christ follower because that life begins at regeneration, being born again. Now this belief, having our eyes opened to the truth, that Jesus is in fact Messiah, it is a work of the Spirit of God. It is God who works within us to open our eyes and remove the scales from our eyes and to open our hearts to embrace this. And if you place your faith, your confidence in Jesus Christ for eternal life, you will live forever. You will live forever. However, the opposite is also true. If you reject the finished work of Jesus Christ, if you reject what he has done for you, then eternal damnation is your future. There are only two options. And there's some of you listening right, listening to me right now. You know the Lord has been drawing you. Don't resist him. Surrender. Surrender. You might have a lot of questions. What will life look like on the other side? And God is so good. He is a question answering God. But don't allow the questions to cause you to reject what you know to be true in your heart. That you are in desperate need of a Savior. Nobody has to tell you that mankind is sinful because you know for a fact who you are. The real you. And the real you is you. And nobody else is around. If you ever wonder why do, why do I lean towards sinfulness? It's because of the sin nature. It's because of the sin nature. And there's only one remedy for man's sinful condition, that is Jesus Christ. Surrender your life today. Admit that you're in desperate need of salvation. Admit that you're a sinner. Confess that reality. Believe on him who took upon himself the punishment that we all rightly deserve. And then you be, then you'd be able to enjoy the free gift of salvation that is available to each person by grace alone, through faith alone.
Jeff: One of the features of regeneration is a desire for holiness
To the word of God we go first. Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8. This is something that I've been just meditating, on in my own heart. You know, David, cried out, oh Lord, how I love your law. It is my meditation day and night. You know, I know the world has a psychobabble descriptions of meditation, but we need to be very diligent in refusing to allow this. The world. Empty your mind. And that's not biblical meditation. We don't empty our minds. We feast upon the truth of God's word that drives us towards the character and attributes of our God that overflow in us through gratitude for who he is and what he secured for us. And we ponder these things. Well, you'll Recall, the book of Acts tells us that the apostle Paul was able to have a short time in the city Thessalonica. only a couple weeks. But the Lord by His grace, opened the hearts of many there to salvation, which caused a church to be formed in the city of Thessalonica. And when Paul was away, he ended up conferring with them by epistle, by letter. And one of the things that he communicated to the Thessalonican believers was, is what we're going to read here first. Thessalonians, chapter four, verses seven and eight. And this is what God's word says. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. The King James renders the same verse in verse 7. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. But to holiness. And he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but rejecting God, who gives us His Holy Spirit. The thing that I've been pondering and meditating on is that one of the features of regeneration, when we are born again, God gives us, for the first time in our human experience, a desire for holiness. For holiness. I'm pointing this out because we live in a time period where, as I referred earlier to easy believism, you know, greasy grace. Some people describe it that way to where people have used grace as an excuse and a justification for all manner of sinfulness. But I just want to drive us back to what the word of God says. He didn't call us for the purpose of uncleanness. And the reference to call there is, a reference to the effective call of salvation. God didn't call us out of the tomb, you know, like Lazarus come forth. He didn't call us who were dead in trespasses and sins to newness of life in him for us to live lives of, uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. Holiness, a heart disposition of holiness, is one that is not comfortable living lifestyles of sinfulness. One who is called to uncleanness is grieved, but not just, oh, shucks, no. Grieved to the point of change. God has not called us to uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. I want to simply ask the question, do you have a desire for holiness? Is there a yearning inside of you to become more and more like God? Day by day, day by day, day by day, you know, one of the blessings. And this actually is A means of grace. The body of Christ is a means of grace. God has provided his ecclesia, his called out ones, the assembly of the called out ones to aid the individual believer in growth in holiness. Growth toward holiness. One of the things that should transpire as a result of interacting with members of God's family, that it should provoke you to want to be more godly. That's what biblical fellowship should result in. Not just yucking it up, having a good time. And listen, I love having a good time. I like to laugh. I crack jokes. People don't. Well, you guys believe me, y' all hear me cracking jokes on there. but in day to day lives, some people surprised because he was always so serious. Jeff, I tell you, I like to have a good time, but when you interact with the Lord's bride, man, you should walk away desiring to be more godly. I want to be more godly. I like being around brothers that provoke me toward godliness. That's one of the major things that I employ to determine who I'm willing to be friends with. Does this brother make me want to be more godly? Does his walk with the Lord inspire me toward wanting to be more godly? Or is this brother carnal? That's a real, real thought. It should be a real thought for all of us. I'm not trying to be an old mutt of, fuddy duddy stick in the mud, but I'm going to tell you, man, the puritans had some things right. I'll say some of the puritans had some things right. The desire for holiness is a desire that is, that is, that is produced in us as a result of the spirit of God at work within us. The spirit of God at work within us makes us uncomfortable with sin. One of the not so secret secrets of sin is that it's the opposite of a plant. It grows in darkness. One of the things that many people.
Abraham Hamilton III: Who.
Abraham Hamilton III: Curate lifestyles of sin is that they also curate lifestyles of secrecy. Secrecy and deception. Keep it concealed, don't expose it. Well, what happens in that scenario is that sin grows in the dark. You know, like plants need water and sunlight, right? Sin takes darkness to grow. One of the blessings of the body of Christ, which is why I described it as a means of grace, is that the Lord gives us guidance to confess our sins one to another. But in this greasy grace kind of climate, you don't hear people talking about holiness, let alone desiring holiness. People want the Lord to bless. Bless me, Lord, bless me indeed. They're talking about largely accumulating material things. Well, a blessing from the Lord is one that provokes you to righteousness. A blessing from the Lord is a brother that say, man, listen, you know that's not right. A blessing from the Lord is for our sisters to have a sister to say, you know that's not right. The Lord conveys to us in his word. God has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness or impurity. God has not called us for that. He's called us to holiness. Holiness is not something that, oh, you know, that's, that's what the old school. No, God is the one who calls us to holiness. And in case you don't recognize it, he transcends time, culture, circumstance.
How do you navigate the notion of varying cultures when you're a Christian
Someone asked me the question not too long ago, well, how do you, how do you navigate the notion of varying cultures when you're a Christian? And I simply say, God is God. Saying transcends culture. God doesn't want us to automatic reject culture, but what God wants us to reject is sin. So if there are certain aspects of your culture that you recognize that are clearly sinful, guess what God requires of you and of me. Now, we don't want to be, you know, legalistic and unilaterally determine everything. It is but the resistance, resistance of legalism is not a license to just kind of have a pendulum swing where we go all the way over here. No, God has given us clear standards. That's what he requires of us. As to what he requires of us in our lifestyles. He has not called us to impurity, to uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. Do you have a desire for holiness? You do you have a desire to grow in righteousness, in thought and in deed? If not, if not, thanks be to God. The Lord has said that we can come to him and ask. So if you recognize as I'm speaking right now, that you do not have a desire for holiness, I would simply challenge you to go before the Lord and say, lord, I do not have a desire for holiness. Will you give me a hunger and a thirst to walk up right before you?
Jeff Chamblee: Three simple words, Uplift, inspire and encourage. Perfectly identify American Family Studios. Since 2011, we've created documentaries, animation, films and audio to uplift, inspire and engage encourage individuals and audiences worldwide. Reclaiming media from the filth Hollywood and the world. Push on us and our children. See what we have to offer your family when you visit americanfamilystudios.net americanfamilystudios.net.
Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into The Darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner, an American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton welcomes Walker Wildman Walker to the Hamilton Corner
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton iii. And I'm here in studio. Delighted to have in studio host of at the Core on American Family Radio, which can be heard here at 1 to 1 to 2pm Central Time, 2 to 3pm Eastern Time. Vice President of AFA, CEO of AFA Action. I am speaking of none other than Mr. Walker Wildmon Walker. Thank you for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner.
Walker Wildmon: Good to be. Good to be in the Hamilton Corner. Good to be in the Hamilton Corner. And it's been a while. I know you and I get together during Share a Thon on the final day, but otherwise good to be back in the program.
Abraham Hamilton III: awesome.
An upcoming episode of AFA at Home discusses education in America
I wanted to have you on because there is an episode of AFA at Home that is soon to be released on the streaming service stream.aca.net and I wanted to invite you to have a conversation about that. First, what is AFA at Home?
Walker Wildmon: We started AFA at Home in the months following Covid, the COVID pandemic. And we noticed a, a lot of people obviously were spending time in their home. So we wanted to get content into their home through online streaming, which was kind of spiking at the time with just people not having anything else to do. And so we started producing AFA at Home content. And some of it had to do with the election in 2020. Early on we've done one on spiritual warfare and then the most recent one you're talking about, which you're actually one of the panelists on there, along with a couple others, is discussing education in America. And what we're going to do is this is coming out on the 15th of May this month, on May 15th, and it'll be free for at least a week on our stream [email protected] but we basically look at the panel looks at, education in America, talk a little bit about early America, colonial America. What was education like? Was it like what we see today with a school on every corner? Or was it, you know, was government involved in the early, role of education in America? How has homeschooling or private options played a role? So we kind of look at the history of it just to give everybody some context. Because one thing that's a misconception is education today. That's how it's always been, right? And one fascinating truth that we uncovered as we talk through it on this episode is that, this mass education system, or I call it almost this like, industrialization of education, where you kind of mass produce the education model. It hasn't always been this way, where you've got dozens of schools in every city, especially larger cities, and, heavily government subsidized and heavily regulated from the top down, all levels of government. So this is more of a modern phenomena. And so we get into all that, which is a very fascinating, discussion. But the most important thing that we do is we talk about what forms of education work, which ones have been proven not to work over time. And then we also talk about, also importantly God's role and the Bible's role in education, which has been kind of a lost art, broadly speaking, in our country.
You're one of the panelists for this episode on education
Abraham Hamilton III: Can you give us a preview? I mean, you mentioned that I'm one of the panelists. Yes. but other people that are participating in that were panelists for this episode.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. So we brought in, and I don't have these listed in front of me, but I think I've got them all in my mind. We brought in a lady named Julie Pickering from Texas. She serves as one of the Texas State Board of Representatives. I think she's over one district. I think it's District 7 in Texas, which is a couple State Board of Elections, education.
Abraham Hamilton III: I'm sorry.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Texas State Board of Education. It's an elected position in the state, not appointed by the governor. It's an elected position and she serves a district which in this case is the Houston, Texas area. I think she has a couple million kids in her district under her purview.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, that's not surprising because Houston has Harris county in total, has about 5 million people in it. And Houston proper, several million just in that one city.
Walker Wildmon: And she talks a little bit about this in the video. Her, districts, her region or her district in the state has, been one of the fastest growing in the country to your point, with the population growth in, Texas. so we brought in Dr. Jamison Taylor, one of our colleagues here. we also had in, Toby Paxton. She does school board research for I Voter Guide. So she's kind of in the know on how these elections work, how people get in charge of school boards and other administrative positions. You were in there. And then we had a few others as well. So it was a great, conversation. We had a lot of different backgrounds there represented, which helped people be able to speak in to the issues when it comes to education.
Ryan Walters is the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Education
Abraham Hamilton III: What about the, gentleman from Oklahoma?
Walker Wildmon: Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
Walker Wildmon: I can't believe I missed him. Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma State Superintendent, of Education. That's another elected position in Oklahoma. And so he was there. He's been a very outspoken critic of our modern education system. He's done a lot of reforms in the state of Oklahoma. One of the major reforms he did within the last few years is introducing, the Bible, back into the public education system in the form of whether it's a history subject or other subjects, introducing, the Bible. And he went about this through a creative way because anybody who studies constitutional law, unfortunately, with different rulings and different laws, you have to go through some hoops to figure out how to get the Bible back in the classroom, which is very unfortunate. But, they introduced it in Oklahoma as a historical document, which it is. It is. The Bible is a very key historical document. A lot of our founding fathers had their own copies of the Bible. And, the Bible was read before Congress. And so the Bible is. It's not an exaggeration to say it's a historical book as well in this country. And so they've introduced the Bible as an educational document, and an educational study. And so that's how they've gotten the Bible back into their public schools in Oklahoma. So. Yes, Ryan Walters was with, ah, us as well.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. I mean, and that's not foreign. You talk about the Bible being a historical document. The Bible is one of the most influential sources in the shaping of our.
Walker Wildmon: Nation, in our building. In the world.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. In the entirety of the world. Absolutely. And I often reflect on the fact that I mentioned this fact in this recording, that the earliest forms of formalizing education directly were connected to communicating the Bible. Like Harvard University was literally formed to train pastors. Literally. That was its express purpose in 1636.
Walker Wildmon: And scripture's still etched in their stone on their buildings.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.
Walker Wildmon: They don't acknowledge it, but it's there.
Abraham Hamilton III: In one particular building. They've allowed the ivy to grow over it. So they can't see the engraving on the side of the buildings, but it's right there.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. That's telling, isn't it? It's almost a spiritual, analogy or metaphor of how that's happened there. But to your point, when you look at the. Ah, and this is why we wanted to do this episode, on education.
Episode seven of AFA at Home on education will be available May 15
Once again, we're talking about episode seven of AFA at Home. that'll come out on May 15th. It'll be free for a week. [email protected] you can create a free account. But the, this is a big Topic with President Trump coming in, signing the executive order to try to disband or abolish or very much shrink the Department of Education at the federal level. And then, you know, we had the Loudoun county controversy a couple years ago following Covid. That really brought, kind of, woke up a lot of parents in a positive way, our awakened parents to some of the filth that was being taught in our public schools. So I think this episode is really going to serve as a, as a knowledge base for how do we get here, where do we come from, what's worked, what hasn't worked? And I really am encouraged by a lot of. There's really a surge, a statistical surge in private educational options and specifically Christian educational options, following Covid. So I think that that's encouraging. We obviously need to keep that trend going. But a lot of people are waking up to the reality that the way we've been doing education the last 100 years is fundamentally not working. We're spending a ton of money. And of course, the ultimate, unfortunate stat is that children are suffering. that's kind of the ultimate point, is that children aren't being served well. And we've got to get also moral Bible teaching back into the classroom, even at the public education level. Because when you look at our founding fathers, they understood that all knowledge comes from God, and they wanted, students in the early universities and the early, schoolhouses in America. The Bible was the central textbook because not only did it teach morality, but it taught basic literacy and it taught basic values that were good for society. And, ultimately, when you look at our founding father's writings, there's a quote out there. I forget which founding father it is, but he was writing about the purpose of America. Why are we founding this nation? And one of the primary reasons that the founding fathers, had a lot of consensus on was for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, how can you propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the world, which is the Great Commission, if you don't know the Bible, Right. So that's another reason that the Bible was a central textbook in America's early schools. And so, a lot of this is kind of foreign to some people. You know, the Bible is a textbook in schools. I thought we couldn't do that. so that's why we had this discussion. And, we're, hopefully educating a lot of people on the subject.
Abraham Hamilton III: Now you mentioned. I really have a twofold question, but I'll do it one at a time. That episode seven will be available May 15th on AFA streaming service.
AFA Stream allows the organization to release video content without censorship issues
What is AFA streaming services and what is the vision behind providing that as a resource for AFA listeners and supporters?
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, so several years ago, this probably goes back four or five years ago, we were, releasing a lot of video content, but it was mostly in the form of a DVD or we were doing some occasional uploading to your traditional streaming services, YouTube, et cetera. And we actually began getting canceled in many regards. Whether it was on Facebook or whether it was on YouTube. We were having our videos pulled down and in some cases our entire accounts pulled down. And so we saw the writing on the wall about the censorship era. Now, thankfully it's gotten a little bit better. but censorship, is still an issue. And so we wanted to be able to get our content out there in an online digital streaming format without the issue of censorship. So that's why we developed AFA Stream. And you can go over to stream.afa.net to check it out. And so it's a one stop shop for all AFA produced video content. Even of course, your show the Hamilton Corner. All of our major radio programs are [email protected] as well.
Abraham Hamilton III: So you can not only listen, you can watch the [email protected] and you mentioned earlier that an option is to open a free account.
AFA at Home is available for free on AFA Stream
Would you just speak a little bit about that? And then the Great Commission Partner option.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, and before I forget, we did, develop a mobile app. So we have a native mobile app, both on iOS, which is Apple, Android, which is Google Play. So we've got in, Roku as well. So we've got a couple different apps out there for AFA Stream that folks can download. But the account is free. You just need a username and password. If you want to become a Great Commission partner and donate monthly to the ministry, you'll have unlimited access to the content and you can also stream on multiple devices at the same time. I think it's up to five devices. So if you've got the kids watching Ryan Defrates. If you're watching a cultural institute and somebody else is watching this episode of AFA at home, that's no problem there. So the app and then yes, the free account. And of course if you become a monthly partner, you can, have unlimited access to all of the content there.
Abraham Hamilton III: And so with that, would that give the individual access to AFA at Home Episode 7, which will be available May 15. But also the previous episodes that were recorded, right?
Walker Wildmon: Yes, exactly right. So this episode, episode seven, we're gonna make this available for free on AFA Stream. So all you do is need an account you don't have to. Anything you don't have to donate. but then all the other content that's behind the Grit Commission wall, you'll have the access to that as well if you become a monthly partner. So we try to do a little bit of both. We want to incentivize people partnering with the ministry, becoming donors to the ministry, because it takes a lot of resources to produce all this content. But we also want to educate people who maybe can't donate or don't feel like donating at the time. So we have a ton of free content there as well. And this episode is going to be brand new. It's going to be free for up to a week. So we just want to drive people over to stream.afa.net to really start to become familiar with our content.
There has been a lot of momentum in favor of alternative forms of education
Abraham Hamilton III: Now we're in a time, thankfully, we're no longer in the Biden era. Just was revealed this week, Tulsi Gabbard's department revealed a, memorandum from the Biden administration that lowered the threshold for the FBI to open investigations, which included parents who had the audacity to go to their local school boards and say, hey, we don't think these policies are good. Well, the FBI would investigate them and things of that nature. What are some of the things you see now, now that we're in firmly in the Trump era? What are some of the things you see as most prescient, most important, most pressing for people at home to understand and then secondarily to get involved in.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think the biggest opportunity, but also the biggest challenge in front of us is continuing the momentum. So there has been a lot of momentum in favor of alternative forms of education. And when I say alternative, I'm talking alternative to what's broadly accepted in society where. Which is the government institution model. And, the challenge that we have. And granted, homeschooling, when you look at the legal history, which I didn't really become familiar with this until the last few months when I started prepping for this episode. Homeschooling, hasn't always been a thing I'm talking about in America, as far as it being broadly legal and broadly acceptable.
Abraham Hamilton III: Well, it was, and then it wasn't.
Walker Wildmon: They started regulating it. Yeah. So there's been a. It hasn't always been where homeschooling is. There was a lot of legal battles over it and they tried to regulate it, but thankfully there's a pretty solid, homeschooling legislation, on the books now in the vast majority of states. but what we have to do, what's working is having alternative, having multiple means of education, multiple options for children and the private model. We're going to have to get states to get on board with it. for example, in Mississippi we don't have school choice, we just don't. And we're a very conservative state politically, but we just don't have school choice. The education lobby is pretty big here and pretty strong. And so. And there's other states too that don't have school choice. So we've got to expand options for families. We've got to put the options back into the parents, authority and that's the main driver. And whether that's school choice, whether that's charter schools, whether it's vouchers, tax credits, whatever you've got to do to make it to where parents and families are not stuck in the government run schools with no way out, that's what we've got to avoid. And when you give parents options, then it creates competition. And when you create competition, people flock to what works. and what doesn't work is the government run force model that we have now.
Abraham Hamilton III: And I mean it was one of the major things you mentioned, the Loudoun county, debacle. You had the, at the same time that was happening, that's when Governor Glenn Youngkin was elected in Virginia and you literally had his opponent saying that, well, parents have no say in what children learn in their classes. So it seems that people are, are waking up to that reality and, and passionately so.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
Abraham Hamilton III: And one of the things I often emphasize is that concerning our children, we really have one opportunity to serve them. You know, children are growing. You have children? I have children, yeah. My oldest is 14. Now. I can't go back and do 10 years old over again.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. With him, that window of years of formation, for them is very, very narrow window.
Abraham Hamilton III: Very narrow window.
Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank in Mississippi
AFA At Home Episode 7 Just Tell Us one more time where we can access it at the streaming service and the apps that are available.
Walker Wildmon: That's right. Stream.afa.net stream.afa.net Go there, create a free account. Download the AFA Stream app on your device. Check it out.
Abraham Hamilton III: All right, stream afa.net Episode 7 which will discuss education. You do not want to miss it. If you have not yet opened an account. I'd encourage you to go and do so now. Our free account is available. Or if you want to become a Great Commission partner, which would be. Which would mean you would be a monthly financial supporter of AFA and AFR at any dollar amount.
Jeff Chamblee: As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others when we live in a culture where truth is relative? It all starts with God's word. Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank Conference center in Tupelo, Mississippi, June 12th through the 14th, 2025. The theme is Biblical Building on the Authority of Scripture and it's designed to help you acknowledge the Bible's authority and submit to the clear teaching of Scripture. Hear from Frank. Evolution describes what does behave, not what ought to behave.
Abraham Hamilton III: Right.
Walker Wildmon: It doesn't give you oughts, it just.
Abraham Hamilton III: Gives you what does happen.
Jeff Chamblee: Todd Herman God always uses evil for good.
Abraham Hamilton III: He is very intentional and he intentionally.
Abraham Hamilton III: Chose you to live through times such.
Jeff Chamblee: As these and more. The main sessions are for ages 13 and up, while Activate Kids is a separate track for ages 6 through 12. Register for Activate Summit 2025 by visiting Activate. Get your tickets as soon as possible. Registration closes May 11.
Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net Back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Hamilton: The truth is that homeschooling was a standard in America
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. I just want to make sure one thing is particularly clear. The truth is that homeschooling was a standard in America since its founding, long before the creation of what we understand now to be the public education system. That was a later development, with principal figures like early Horace Mann and then John Dewey and others. And as that stuff started to become mainstreamed, you had the promulgation of what was called compulsory attendance laws, which created the truancy regime. But one of the major goals that wasn't stated but was a practical behind the scenes goal was to develop a legal regime that began to outlaw homeschooling. So then that, took root in America. And then you had people like Mike Ferris, who founded hslda, the Homeschool Legal Defense association, who led the battle state by state, county by county, all across America to set the course to where homeschooling will be, legalized once again. So it was then, it wasn't then, it was again, which is why I explained it that way in the previous segment. But I, encourage you go and check that out. There are lots of things happening, I've been mentioning May 22nd through the 24th. I will be speaking at the North Carolinians for Home Education's Thrive Conference in Winston Salem, North Carolina. J. Mac will be there with me as well. then soon thereafter, we'll take the Hamilton Corner to Bourbon A Illinois and Olivet Nazarene University for the Illinois Christian home educators conference. June 5th through the 8th is when that conference takes place for the Winston Salem, North Carolina conference. Simply go to nche.com to register for the Illinois conference. Simply go to iche.org to register there. then after that, we'll have AFA's Activate Summit, which will take place June 12th through the 14th. I told y' all the summer was gonna be busy. June 12th through the 14th in Tupelo, Mississippi. And then the very next week we'll be in Bartlett, Tennessee at the Culture Proof Conference. So it's gonna be a very, very, very busy summer. Later in the summer, we'll be in Phoenix, Arizona, speaking at a conference there. I told you guys, at the very end of June, we'll be in Israel broadcasting from there. So it's going to be a very, very, very busy summer. But the whole purpose of all of this is that there's an urgency because the harvest is truly plentiful. The harvest is truly plentiful. And I'm endeavoring, to do what I can to make my contribution to serving the Lord's purposes in our time. Helping to encourage individuals, helping to encourage families to, recognize that we have to work while it is day. You know, the enemy works overtime. And to get us to play significance and importance on everything else but the things that are most port. Most important. Most important, we have the tendency to allow. To kind of become a background consideration. We let all kinds of other things to take precedent instead of the things that should be most pressing for us. I began the program from first Thessalonians, which I'm trying to get my Bible to turn back open to that passage because it closed on me, in that page, talking about the necessity of recognizing that God has not saved us. He has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness, but to holiness. And in so many instances, And you know what? I didn't bring a picture of this guy. Maybe you can grab it, Jeff. But you have situations, you know, like, yeah, you had a guy. I'm not even going to call his name, but his attire undercut the entirety of his message, you know, and he's, trying to communicate some things, but the very presentation of himself undercuts, undercuts it. And I'll just say, you know, Michael Todd, you know, who has questionable teaching. Maybe you grab. Grab the picture and throw it up there, man. This dude is. He looks effeminate. He looks effeminate on stage. Wearing. Wearing heels, you know, it was just very grieving to me, because what's happened, by and large, in many instances, man is two things, right? So Satan's strategy is two pronged. To keep as many people as possible from being born again, to get as many people as possible to suffer eternal torment and damnation, which he knows is his end. I can tell you that plainly, because when the Gadarean demoniac was possessed by demons, Jesus approached him. And what did the demons say to Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to torment us before our time, Satan? And the demons know that their end is eternal judgment, eternal torment. They know this. So their efforts are to try to get as many people to reject the finished work of Christ so that people will join them in eternal torment when death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. The second prong of Satan's strategy is if he can't keep you from being born again, to try to limit the scope of your impact as a believer. You know, the Apostle Peter said, if these qualities be yours and they abound, they will prevent you from being barren and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a very sobering notion. To think, man, I could be barren. I could be unproductive, I could be ineffective and unfruitful. Well, you might be saved personally, but you have no impact on anyone else. And so what's. What's happened is that we live in a time where, you know, we have megachurches, we have people professing to be Christ followers. But does that profession actually reflect the reality of how one lives Now? It is true that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. And it is also true for those who are saved, there are certain fruit that is made evident in the lives of those who are saved. That's just the truth, man. And so what invariably occurs is we have people gathering in crowds, some of them not even saved. Some of them genuinely are saved. Like, for example, remember Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. He begins his Epistle in First Corinthians, for example, affirming the fact multiple times that these people are saved. They are believers. However, believers that are not discipled could have lifestyles that look just like the world. And so Paul spends the remainder of his Epistle confronting all manner of sinful conduct in the lives of people who, who he had already affirmed as believers. The clear instruction and expectation is that having these sinful lifestyles confronted, that these people were, would repent and would walk and live consistent with a profession of faith.
Many churches are using fleshliness to maintain crowd sizes
All right, so what invariably occurs in our day and age, we have people attempting to not make disciples, discipline learners and lifelong followers, obedient followers of Jesus Christ. We have people that are attempting to create converts and church attenders. And we have many places to where the churches are endeavoring to draw people by the flesh with the flesh. Let me get this new gimmick, you know, using worldly corporate marketing strategies, I got this new gimmick, this fresh, this fresh gimmick to get crowds in the seats. And then what invariably occurs in order, say it differently, what you draw the people with is what you have to continue in order to keep them. So you have continuous exercises of fleshliness that are using to maintain crowd sizes. Oftentimes the purpose of the crowd size maintenance is for one major purpose, making sure the donations continue at a certain rate. And then there are instances where you have genuine believers, many times in many places. But because the entire thrust of the corporate function is toward the unbelievers or to the carnal, you have genuine believers who are being starved out, not being nurtured, not being fed with the meat of God's word that are being starved out. And so you have the prevalence of celebrity culture in Christianity. Got to keep a new gimmick, got to keep it fresh. Why is there such a desire to keep something fresh when the New Testament church is over 2000 years old? What you mean fresh? You said that we have a salvation that's been once and for all passed down to the saints. I'm not saying that we need to be technology or verse and, but we don't need gimmicks for the Lord's bride, for the Lord's body. And so what we've seen in our nation, we have the era of the mega churches. And buildings are being built, buildings are being built, buildings are being built. And simultaneously, our nation is becoming more and more wicked. How does that work? It, it happens because of what I alluded to earlier this week. God is not in agreement with everything that we're calling church. That's why the prophet Amos said, man away. And Amos was speaking the words of God, away with your songs, man, away from me, away these festivals. I'm not accepting this. And that's how we've gotten here, by and large. But it's not over. Remember when the apostle John records the words of Jesus when he confronted the Laodicean church, the church that had a reputation of wealth. But Jesus, diagnosed as being poor and wretched and pitiable, talked about the being neither hot nor cold. Remember that because of the the presence of the aqueduct in the Leo Disiant, they were familiar with the aqueduct because cold water had a function, hot water had a function, but lukewarm water was useless. They knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. But how did Jesus conclude that conversation? He concluded by saying, those whom I love, I, correct. It doesn't have to continue to be this way. In many sectors, we've normalized. You know, really, it's idolatrous, and frankly, it's blasphemous. You know, people that are profane artists and writers and direct all kind of profane, they'll say, well, I thank God for giving me this ability. Ability to do what? To profane his holy name. How many people crack jokes about, yeah, you know, I be in the club on Saturday, but you know, we got to be up on Sunday. And I'm not trying to shade anybody. But for that to be culturally normative, man, that's idolatrous. And frankly, that's blasphemous. Because God says 1st Thessalonians 4. 7. For he has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness. He's not called us for the purpose of impurity. He's called us for holiness. But instead of humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, what we endeavor to do is redefine what it means to be a Christ follower. And so we switch the prerogatives to where we are not servants of God. No, no, God is our servant and we seek to justify ourselves. God is gracious. We abuse scripture like passages when the. When the woman was caught in adultery, let he was out of sin, cast the first stone. He tried to use that terminology, say, hold up, chief, you see anybody standing around, you got rocks in the hand, trying to bust you upside your head with rocks? That was the context that that was recorded in. No, you're seeking to justify a willingness intentional volitional rebellion, but you want to get personal comfort and fire insurance. And m. God knows the difference. Man. One of the evidences of regeneration is that we have a desire for holiness. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in holiness. So he who rejects this, the person who rejects the fact that God has called people from darkness and moved us, transitioned us into his marvelous light, not for the purposes of uncleanness, but for holiness. The person who rejects this is not rejecting man. So if you're listening to me right now, you're bristling at what I'm saying. You're not bristling at me as an individual. And I want to be very clear. I'm talking about those who would bristle at the notion of that God says that he does not save people for the purpose of uncleanness. He saves people that we might be holy and that we would be pure vessels, and that we wouldn't be like snake oil salesmen as we endeavor to execute his commission. But we would communicate to people that we are offering to you the very thing which has been offered to me, that I am encouraging you to surrender and to submit to. The very thing I have surrendered and submit to. And more specifically, not to the thing, but to the person that I have surrendered and submitted to. And the evidence of that is borne out in our lives. For God has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness, but holiness. And he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but rejecting God who gives his spirit to you. Conviction doesn't come from man. M Conviction comes from God. How we respond to conviction is often the delineating factor into who we are in terms of eternal destination. The Lord loves those whom he corrects. That correction that conviction is evidence of God's love. So that we don't go another moment living less than what God has called us to, Holiness is still right. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Welcome to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio
Abraham Hamilton III: Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III: This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III: It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.
Abraham Hamilton III: Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III: God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name and I'm excited, to be here another day. I'm joined by producer extraordinaire, often imitated, never duplicated, the real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's program.
There appears to be a resurgence in Christianity in America and in some ports
At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to make that transition with intentionality, recognizing the primacy that God places on the family, allowing that reality to guide and inform and instruct your engagement with your families, adopting and embracing the reality that God has called his people to be executors of his commission. If you are listening to me and at this very moment, you would say, hey, but you know, if I were to pass right now, I don't know where I would spend eternity. I simply want to encourage you to refuse to harden your heart as the Lord draws you. I was reading some statistics, interestingly enough, that there appears to be a resurgence in Christianity in America and in some ports, portions of Western Europe. And I believe a lot of it is resulting from people recognizing the vacuousness of this world and realizing that there is an eternal echo in our hearts. For those of you who are not yet members of the eternal family of God, the scripture teaches that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God having none better to swear by, that he swore by himself that God put on human flesh, invaded human history, lived a sinless life, and the person, Yeshua, the Messiah, Jesus the anointed one, died on the cross not for anything that he'd done, but for our sin and that he was resurrected on the third day according to the scriptures. If you believe that, if you confess that with your mouth and, and believe it in your heart. Now this belief is not an easy believism. It is a genuine phenomenon that is in your heart, you can be saved and you can begin the life of a Christ follower because that life begins at regeneration, being born again. Now this belief, having our eyes opened to the truth, that Jesus is in fact Messiah, it is a work of the Spirit of God. It is God who works within us to open our eyes and remove the scales from our eyes and to open our hearts to embrace this. And if you place your faith, your confidence in Jesus Christ for eternal life, you will live forever. You will live forever. However, the opposite is also true. If you reject the finished work of Jesus Christ, if you reject what he has done for you, then eternal damnation is your future. There are only two options. And there's some of you listening right, listening to me right now. You know the Lord has been drawing you. Don't resist him. Surrender. Surrender. You might have a lot of questions. What will life look like on the other side? And God is so good. He is a question answering God. But don't allow the questions to cause you to reject what you know to be true in your heart. That you are in desperate need of a Savior. Nobody has to tell you that mankind is sinful because you know for a fact who you are. The real you. And the real you is you. And nobody else is around. If you ever wonder why do, why do I lean towards sinfulness? It's because of the sin nature. It's because of the sin nature. And there's only one remedy for man's sinful condition, that is Jesus Christ. Surrender your life today. Admit that you're in desperate need of salvation. Admit that you're a sinner. Confess that reality. Believe on him who took upon himself the punishment that we all rightly deserve. And then you be, then you'd be able to enjoy the free gift of salvation that is available to each person by grace alone, through faith alone.
Jeff: One of the features of regeneration is a desire for holiness
To the word of God we go first. Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8. This is something that I've been just meditating, on in my own heart. You know, David, cried out, oh Lord, how I love your law. It is my meditation day and night. You know, I know the world has a psychobabble descriptions of meditation, but we need to be very diligent in refusing to allow this. The world. Empty your mind. And that's not biblical meditation. We don't empty our minds. We feast upon the truth of God's word that drives us towards the character and attributes of our God that overflow in us through gratitude for who he is and what he secured for us. And we ponder these things. Well, you'll Recall, the book of Acts tells us that the apostle Paul was able to have a short time in the city Thessalonica. only a couple weeks. But the Lord by His grace, opened the hearts of many there to salvation, which caused a church to be formed in the city of Thessalonica. And when Paul was away, he ended up conferring with them by epistle, by letter. And one of the things that he communicated to the Thessalonican believers was, is what we're going to read here first. Thessalonians, chapter four, verses seven and eight. And this is what God's word says. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. The King James renders the same verse in verse 7. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. But to holiness. And he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but rejecting God, who gives us His Holy Spirit. The thing that I've been pondering and meditating on is that one of the features of regeneration, when we are born again, God gives us, for the first time in our human experience, a desire for holiness. For holiness. I'm pointing this out because we live in a time period where, as I referred earlier to easy believism, you know, greasy grace. Some people describe it that way to where people have used grace as an excuse and a justification for all manner of sinfulness. But I just want to drive us back to what the word of God says. He didn't call us for the purpose of uncleanness. And the reference to call there is, a reference to the effective call of salvation. God didn't call us out of the tomb, you know, like Lazarus come forth. He didn't call us who were dead in trespasses and sins to newness of life in him for us to live lives of, uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. Holiness, a heart disposition of holiness, is one that is not comfortable living lifestyles of sinfulness. One who is called to uncleanness is grieved, but not just, oh, shucks, no. Grieved to the point of change. God has not called us to uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. I want to simply ask the question, do you have a desire for holiness? Is there a yearning inside of you to become more and more like God? Day by day, day by day, day by day, you know, one of the blessings. And this actually is A means of grace. The body of Christ is a means of grace. God has provided his ecclesia, his called out ones, the assembly of the called out ones to aid the individual believer in growth in holiness. Growth toward holiness. One of the things that should transpire as a result of interacting with members of God's family, that it should provoke you to want to be more godly. That's what biblical fellowship should result in. Not just yucking it up, having a good time. And listen, I love having a good time. I like to laugh. I crack jokes. People don't. Well, you guys believe me, y' all hear me cracking jokes on there. but in day to day lives, some people surprised because he was always so serious. Jeff, I tell you, I like to have a good time, but when you interact with the Lord's bride, man, you should walk away desiring to be more godly. I want to be more godly. I like being around brothers that provoke me toward godliness. That's one of the major things that I employ to determine who I'm willing to be friends with. Does this brother make me want to be more godly? Does his walk with the Lord inspire me toward wanting to be more godly? Or is this brother carnal? That's a real, real thought. It should be a real thought for all of us. I'm not trying to be an old mutt of, fuddy duddy stick in the mud, but I'm going to tell you, man, the puritans had some things right. I'll say some of the puritans had some things right. The desire for holiness is a desire that is, that is, that is produced in us as a result of the spirit of God at work within us. The spirit of God at work within us makes us uncomfortable with sin. One of the not so secret secrets of sin is that it's the opposite of a plant. It grows in darkness. One of the things that many people.
Abraham Hamilton III: Who.
Abraham Hamilton III: Curate lifestyles of sin is that they also curate lifestyles of secrecy. Secrecy and deception. Keep it concealed, don't expose it. Well, what happens in that scenario is that sin grows in the dark. You know, like plants need water and sunlight, right? Sin takes darkness to grow. One of the blessings of the body of Christ, which is why I described it as a means of grace, is that the Lord gives us guidance to confess our sins one to another. But in this greasy grace kind of climate, you don't hear people talking about holiness, let alone desiring holiness. People want the Lord to bless. Bless me, Lord, bless me indeed. They're talking about largely accumulating material things. Well, a blessing from the Lord is one that provokes you to righteousness. A blessing from the Lord is a brother that say, man, listen, you know that's not right. A blessing from the Lord is for our sisters to have a sister to say, you know that's not right. The Lord conveys to us in his word. God has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness or impurity. God has not called us for that. He's called us to holiness. Holiness is not something that, oh, you know, that's, that's what the old school. No, God is the one who calls us to holiness. And in case you don't recognize it, he transcends time, culture, circumstance.
How do you navigate the notion of varying cultures when you're a Christian
Someone asked me the question not too long ago, well, how do you, how do you navigate the notion of varying cultures when you're a Christian? And I simply say, God is God. Saying transcends culture. God doesn't want us to automatic reject culture, but what God wants us to reject is sin. So if there are certain aspects of your culture that you recognize that are clearly sinful, guess what God requires of you and of me. Now, we don't want to be, you know, legalistic and unilaterally determine everything. It is but the resistance, resistance of legalism is not a license to just kind of have a pendulum swing where we go all the way over here. No, God has given us clear standards. That's what he requires of us. As to what he requires of us in our lifestyles. He has not called us to impurity, to uncleanness. He's called us to holiness. Do you have a desire for holiness? You do you have a desire to grow in righteousness, in thought and in deed? If not, if not, thanks be to God. The Lord has said that we can come to him and ask. So if you recognize as I'm speaking right now, that you do not have a desire for holiness, I would simply challenge you to go before the Lord and say, lord, I do not have a desire for holiness. Will you give me a hunger and a thirst to walk up right before you?
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Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into The Darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner, an American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton welcomes Walker Wildman Walker to the Hamilton Corner
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton iii. And I'm here in studio. Delighted to have in studio host of at the Core on American Family Radio, which can be heard here at 1 to 1 to 2pm Central Time, 2 to 3pm Eastern Time. Vice President of AFA, CEO of AFA Action. I am speaking of none other than Mr. Walker Wildmon Walker. Thank you for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner.
Walker Wildmon: Good to be. Good to be in the Hamilton Corner. Good to be in the Hamilton Corner. And it's been a while. I know you and I get together during Share a Thon on the final day, but otherwise good to be back in the program.
Abraham Hamilton III: awesome.
An upcoming episode of AFA at Home discusses education in America
I wanted to have you on because there is an episode of AFA at Home that is soon to be released on the streaming service stream.aca.net and I wanted to invite you to have a conversation about that. First, what is AFA at Home?
Walker Wildmon: We started AFA at Home in the months following Covid, the COVID pandemic. And we noticed a, a lot of people obviously were spending time in their home. So we wanted to get content into their home through online streaming, which was kind of spiking at the time with just people not having anything else to do. And so we started producing AFA at Home content. And some of it had to do with the election in 2020. Early on we've done one on spiritual warfare and then the most recent one you're talking about, which you're actually one of the panelists on there, along with a couple others, is discussing education in America. And what we're going to do is this is coming out on the 15th of May this month, on May 15th, and it'll be free for at least a week on our stream [email protected] but we basically look at the panel looks at, education in America, talk a little bit about early America, colonial America. What was education like? Was it like what we see today with a school on every corner? Or was it, you know, was government involved in the early, role of education in America? How has homeschooling or private options played a role? So we kind of look at the history of it just to give everybody some context. Because one thing that's a misconception is education today. That's how it's always been, right? And one fascinating truth that we uncovered as we talk through it on this episode is that, this mass education system, or I call it almost this like, industrialization of education, where you kind of mass produce the education model. It hasn't always been this way, where you've got dozens of schools in every city, especially larger cities, and, heavily government subsidized and heavily regulated from the top down, all levels of government. So this is more of a modern phenomena. And so we get into all that, which is a very fascinating, discussion. But the most important thing that we do is we talk about what forms of education work, which ones have been proven not to work over time. And then we also talk about, also importantly God's role and the Bible's role in education, which has been kind of a lost art, broadly speaking, in our country.
You're one of the panelists for this episode on education
Abraham Hamilton III: Can you give us a preview? I mean, you mentioned that I'm one of the panelists. Yes. but other people that are participating in that were panelists for this episode.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. So we brought in, and I don't have these listed in front of me, but I think I've got them all in my mind. We brought in a lady named Julie Pickering from Texas. She serves as one of the Texas State Board of Representatives. I think she's over one district. I think it's District 7 in Texas, which is a couple State Board of Elections, education.
Abraham Hamilton III: I'm sorry.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Texas State Board of Education. It's an elected position in the state, not appointed by the governor. It's an elected position and she serves a district which in this case is the Houston, Texas area. I think she has a couple million kids in her district under her purview.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, that's not surprising because Houston has Harris county in total, has about 5 million people in it. And Houston proper, several million just in that one city.
Walker Wildmon: And she talks a little bit about this in the video. Her, districts, her region or her district in the state has, been one of the fastest growing in the country to your point, with the population growth in, Texas. so we brought in Dr. Jamison Taylor, one of our colleagues here. we also had in, Toby Paxton. She does school board research for I Voter Guide. So she's kind of in the know on how these elections work, how people get in charge of school boards and other administrative positions. You were in there. And then we had a few others as well. So it was a great, conversation. We had a lot of different backgrounds there represented, which helped people be able to speak in to the issues when it comes to education.
Ryan Walters is the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Education
Abraham Hamilton III: What about the, gentleman from Oklahoma?
Walker Wildmon: Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
Walker Wildmon: I can't believe I missed him. Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma State Superintendent, of Education. That's another elected position in Oklahoma. And so he was there. He's been a very outspoken critic of our modern education system. He's done a lot of reforms in the state of Oklahoma. One of the major reforms he did within the last few years is introducing, the Bible, back into the public education system in the form of whether it's a history subject or other subjects, introducing, the Bible. And he went about this through a creative way because anybody who studies constitutional law, unfortunately, with different rulings and different laws, you have to go through some hoops to figure out how to get the Bible back in the classroom, which is very unfortunate. But, they introduced it in Oklahoma as a historical document, which it is. It is. The Bible is a very key historical document. A lot of our founding fathers had their own copies of the Bible. And, the Bible was read before Congress. And so the Bible is. It's not an exaggeration to say it's a historical book as well in this country. And so they've introduced the Bible as an educational document, and an educational study. And so that's how they've gotten the Bible back into their public schools in Oklahoma. So. Yes, Ryan Walters was with, ah, us as well.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. I mean, and that's not foreign. You talk about the Bible being a historical document. The Bible is one of the most influential sources in the shaping of our.
Walker Wildmon: Nation, in our building. In the world.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. In the entirety of the world. Absolutely. And I often reflect on the fact that I mentioned this fact in this recording, that the earliest forms of formalizing education directly were connected to communicating the Bible. Like Harvard University was literally formed to train pastors. Literally. That was its express purpose in 1636.
Walker Wildmon: And scripture's still etched in their stone on their buildings.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.
Walker Wildmon: They don't acknowledge it, but it's there.
Abraham Hamilton III: In one particular building. They've allowed the ivy to grow over it. So they can't see the engraving on the side of the buildings, but it's right there.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. That's telling, isn't it? It's almost a spiritual, analogy or metaphor of how that's happened there. But to your point, when you look at the. Ah, and this is why we wanted to do this episode, on education.
Episode seven of AFA at Home on education will be available May 15
Once again, we're talking about episode seven of AFA at Home. that'll come out on May 15th. It'll be free for a week. [email protected] you can create a free account. But the, this is a big Topic with President Trump coming in, signing the executive order to try to disband or abolish or very much shrink the Department of Education at the federal level. And then, you know, we had the Loudoun county controversy a couple years ago following Covid. That really brought, kind of, woke up a lot of parents in a positive way, our awakened parents to some of the filth that was being taught in our public schools. So I think this episode is really going to serve as a, as a knowledge base for how do we get here, where do we come from, what's worked, what hasn't worked? And I really am encouraged by a lot of. There's really a surge, a statistical surge in private educational options and specifically Christian educational options, following Covid. So I think that that's encouraging. We obviously need to keep that trend going. But a lot of people are waking up to the reality that the way we've been doing education the last 100 years is fundamentally not working. We're spending a ton of money. And of course, the ultimate, unfortunate stat is that children are suffering. that's kind of the ultimate point, is that children aren't being served well. And we've got to get also moral Bible teaching back into the classroom, even at the public education level. Because when you look at our founding fathers, they understood that all knowledge comes from God, and they wanted, students in the early universities and the early, schoolhouses in America. The Bible was the central textbook because not only did it teach morality, but it taught basic literacy and it taught basic values that were good for society. And, ultimately, when you look at our founding father's writings, there's a quote out there. I forget which founding father it is, but he was writing about the purpose of America. Why are we founding this nation? And one of the primary reasons that the founding fathers, had a lot of consensus on was for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, how can you propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the world, which is the Great Commission, if you don't know the Bible, Right. So that's another reason that the Bible was a central textbook in America's early schools. And so, a lot of this is kind of foreign to some people. You know, the Bible is a textbook in schools. I thought we couldn't do that. so that's why we had this discussion. And, we're, hopefully educating a lot of people on the subject.
Abraham Hamilton III: Now you mentioned. I really have a twofold question, but I'll do it one at a time. That episode seven will be available May 15th on AFA streaming service.
AFA Stream allows the organization to release video content without censorship issues
What is AFA streaming services and what is the vision behind providing that as a resource for AFA listeners and supporters?
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, so several years ago, this probably goes back four or five years ago, we were, releasing a lot of video content, but it was mostly in the form of a DVD or we were doing some occasional uploading to your traditional streaming services, YouTube, et cetera. And we actually began getting canceled in many regards. Whether it was on Facebook or whether it was on YouTube. We were having our videos pulled down and in some cases our entire accounts pulled down. And so we saw the writing on the wall about the censorship era. Now, thankfully it's gotten a little bit better. but censorship, is still an issue. And so we wanted to be able to get our content out there in an online digital streaming format without the issue of censorship. So that's why we developed AFA Stream. And you can go over to stream.afa.net to check it out. And so it's a one stop shop for all AFA produced video content. Even of course, your show the Hamilton Corner. All of our major radio programs are [email protected] as well.
Abraham Hamilton III: So you can not only listen, you can watch the [email protected] and you mentioned earlier that an option is to open a free account.
AFA at Home is available for free on AFA Stream
Would you just speak a little bit about that? And then the Great Commission Partner option.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, and before I forget, we did, develop a mobile app. So we have a native mobile app, both on iOS, which is Apple, Android, which is Google Play. So we've got in, Roku as well. So we've got a couple different apps out there for AFA Stream that folks can download. But the account is free. You just need a username and password. If you want to become a Great Commission partner and donate monthly to the ministry, you'll have unlimited access to the content and you can also stream on multiple devices at the same time. I think it's up to five devices. So if you've got the kids watching Ryan Defrates. If you're watching a cultural institute and somebody else is watching this episode of AFA at home, that's no problem there. So the app and then yes, the free account. And of course if you become a monthly partner, you can, have unlimited access to all of the content there.
Abraham Hamilton III: And so with that, would that give the individual access to AFA at Home Episode 7, which will be available May 15. But also the previous episodes that were recorded, right?
Walker Wildmon: Yes, exactly right. So this episode, episode seven, we're gonna make this available for free on AFA Stream. So all you do is need an account you don't have to. Anything you don't have to donate. but then all the other content that's behind the Grit Commission wall, you'll have the access to that as well if you become a monthly partner. So we try to do a little bit of both. We want to incentivize people partnering with the ministry, becoming donors to the ministry, because it takes a lot of resources to produce all this content. But we also want to educate people who maybe can't donate or don't feel like donating at the time. So we have a ton of free content there as well. And this episode is going to be brand new. It's going to be free for up to a week. So we just want to drive people over to stream.afa.net to really start to become familiar with our content.
There has been a lot of momentum in favor of alternative forms of education
Abraham Hamilton III: Now we're in a time, thankfully, we're no longer in the Biden era. Just was revealed this week, Tulsi Gabbard's department revealed a, memorandum from the Biden administration that lowered the threshold for the FBI to open investigations, which included parents who had the audacity to go to their local school boards and say, hey, we don't think these policies are good. Well, the FBI would investigate them and things of that nature. What are some of the things you see now, now that we're in firmly in the Trump era? What are some of the things you see as most prescient, most important, most pressing for people at home to understand and then secondarily to get involved in.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think the biggest opportunity, but also the biggest challenge in front of us is continuing the momentum. So there has been a lot of momentum in favor of alternative forms of education. And when I say alternative, I'm talking alternative to what's broadly accepted in society where. Which is the government institution model. And, the challenge that we have. And granted, homeschooling, when you look at the legal history, which I didn't really become familiar with this until the last few months when I started prepping for this episode. Homeschooling, hasn't always been a thing I'm talking about in America, as far as it being broadly legal and broadly acceptable.
Abraham Hamilton III: Well, it was, and then it wasn't.
Walker Wildmon: They started regulating it. Yeah. So there's been a. It hasn't always been where homeschooling is. There was a lot of legal battles over it and they tried to regulate it, but thankfully there's a pretty solid, homeschooling legislation, on the books now in the vast majority of states. but what we have to do, what's working is having alternative, having multiple means of education, multiple options for children and the private model. We're going to have to get states to get on board with it. for example, in Mississippi we don't have school choice, we just don't. And we're a very conservative state politically, but we just don't have school choice. The education lobby is pretty big here and pretty strong. And so. And there's other states too that don't have school choice. So we've got to expand options for families. We've got to put the options back into the parents, authority and that's the main driver. And whether that's school choice, whether that's charter schools, whether it's vouchers, tax credits, whatever you've got to do to make it to where parents and families are not stuck in the government run schools with no way out, that's what we've got to avoid. And when you give parents options, then it creates competition. And when you create competition, people flock to what works. and what doesn't work is the government run force model that we have now.
Abraham Hamilton III: And I mean it was one of the major things you mentioned, the Loudoun county, debacle. You had the, at the same time that was happening, that's when Governor Glenn Youngkin was elected in Virginia and you literally had his opponent saying that, well, parents have no say in what children learn in their classes. So it seems that people are, are waking up to that reality and, and passionately so.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
Abraham Hamilton III: And one of the things I often emphasize is that concerning our children, we really have one opportunity to serve them. You know, children are growing. You have children? I have children, yeah. My oldest is 14. Now. I can't go back and do 10 years old over again.
Walker Wildmon: Yeah. With him, that window of years of formation, for them is very, very narrow window.
Abraham Hamilton III: Very narrow window.
Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank in Mississippi
AFA At Home Episode 7 Just Tell Us one more time where we can access it at the streaming service and the apps that are available.
Walker Wildmon: That's right. Stream.afa.net stream.afa.net Go there, create a free account. Download the AFA Stream app on your device. Check it out.
Abraham Hamilton III: All right, stream afa.net Episode 7 which will discuss education. You do not want to miss it. If you have not yet opened an account. I'd encourage you to go and do so now. Our free account is available. Or if you want to become a Great Commission partner, which would be. Which would mean you would be a monthly financial supporter of AFA and AFR at any dollar amount.
Jeff Chamblee: As Christians, how can we even begin to impact others when we live in a culture where truth is relative? It all starts with God's word. Join us for Activate Summit 2025 at Cadence Bank Conference center in Tupelo, Mississippi, June 12th through the 14th, 2025. The theme is Biblical Building on the Authority of Scripture and it's designed to help you acknowledge the Bible's authority and submit to the clear teaching of Scripture. Hear from Frank. Evolution describes what does behave, not what ought to behave.
Abraham Hamilton III: Right.
Walker Wildmon: It doesn't give you oughts, it just.
Abraham Hamilton III: Gives you what does happen.
Jeff Chamblee: Todd Herman God always uses evil for good.
Abraham Hamilton III: He is very intentional and he intentionally.
Abraham Hamilton III: Chose you to live through times such.
Jeff Chamblee: As these and more. The main sessions are for ages 13 and up, while Activate Kids is a separate track for ages 6 through 12. Register for Activate Summit 2025 by visiting Activate. Get your tickets as soon as possible. Registration closes May 11.
Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net Back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Hamilton: The truth is that homeschooling was a standard in America
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. I just want to make sure one thing is particularly clear. The truth is that homeschooling was a standard in America since its founding, long before the creation of what we understand now to be the public education system. That was a later development, with principal figures like early Horace Mann and then John Dewey and others. And as that stuff started to become mainstreamed, you had the promulgation of what was called compulsory attendance laws, which created the truancy regime. But one of the major goals that wasn't stated but was a practical behind the scenes goal was to develop a legal regime that began to outlaw homeschooling. So then that, took root in America. And then you had people like Mike Ferris, who founded hslda, the Homeschool Legal Defense association, who led the battle state by state, county by county, all across America to set the course to where homeschooling will be, legalized once again. So it was then, it wasn't then, it was again, which is why I explained it that way in the previous segment. But I, encourage you go and check that out. There are lots of things happening, I've been mentioning May 22nd through the 24th. I will be speaking at the North Carolinians for Home Education's Thrive Conference in Winston Salem, North Carolina. J. Mac will be there with me as well. then soon thereafter, we'll take the Hamilton Corner to Bourbon A Illinois and Olivet Nazarene University for the Illinois Christian home educators conference. June 5th through the 8th is when that conference takes place for the Winston Salem, North Carolina conference. Simply go to nche.com to register for the Illinois conference. Simply go to iche.org to register there. then after that, we'll have AFA's Activate Summit, which will take place June 12th through the 14th. I told y' all the summer was gonna be busy. June 12th through the 14th in Tupelo, Mississippi. And then the very next week we'll be in Bartlett, Tennessee at the Culture Proof Conference. So it's gonna be a very, very, very busy summer. Later in the summer, we'll be in Phoenix, Arizona, speaking at a conference there. I told you guys, at the very end of June, we'll be in Israel broadcasting from there. So it's going to be a very, very, very busy summer. But the whole purpose of all of this is that there's an urgency because the harvest is truly plentiful. The harvest is truly plentiful. And I'm endeavoring, to do what I can to make my contribution to serving the Lord's purposes in our time. Helping to encourage individuals, helping to encourage families to, recognize that we have to work while it is day. You know, the enemy works overtime. And to get us to play significance and importance on everything else but the things that are most port. Most important. Most important, we have the tendency to allow. To kind of become a background consideration. We let all kinds of other things to take precedent instead of the things that should be most pressing for us. I began the program from first Thessalonians, which I'm trying to get my Bible to turn back open to that passage because it closed on me, in that page, talking about the necessity of recognizing that God has not saved us. He has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness, but to holiness. And in so many instances, And you know what? I didn't bring a picture of this guy. Maybe you can grab it, Jeff. But you have situations, you know, like, yeah, you had a guy. I'm not even going to call his name, but his attire undercut the entirety of his message, you know, and he's, trying to communicate some things, but the very presentation of himself undercuts, undercuts it. And I'll just say, you know, Michael Todd, you know, who has questionable teaching. Maybe you grab. Grab the picture and throw it up there, man. This dude is. He looks effeminate. He looks effeminate on stage. Wearing. Wearing heels, you know, it was just very grieving to me, because what's happened, by and large, in many instances, man is two things, right? So Satan's strategy is two pronged. To keep as many people as possible from being born again, to get as many people as possible to suffer eternal torment and damnation, which he knows is his end. I can tell you that plainly, because when the Gadarean demoniac was possessed by demons, Jesus approached him. And what did the demons say to Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to torment us before our time, Satan? And the demons know that their end is eternal judgment, eternal torment. They know this. So their efforts are to try to get as many people to reject the finished work of Christ so that people will join them in eternal torment when death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. The second prong of Satan's strategy is if he can't keep you from being born again, to try to limit the scope of your impact as a believer. You know, the Apostle Peter said, if these qualities be yours and they abound, they will prevent you from being barren and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a very sobering notion. To think, man, I could be barren. I could be unproductive, I could be ineffective and unfruitful. Well, you might be saved personally, but you have no impact on anyone else. And so what's. What's happened is that we live in a time where, you know, we have megachurches, we have people professing to be Christ followers. But does that profession actually reflect the reality of how one lives Now? It is true that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. And it is also true for those who are saved, there are certain fruit that is made evident in the lives of those who are saved. That's just the truth, man. And so what invariably occurs is we have people gathering in crowds, some of them not even saved. Some of them genuinely are saved. Like, for example, remember Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. He begins his Epistle in First Corinthians, for example, affirming the fact multiple times that these people are saved. They are believers. However, believers that are not discipled could have lifestyles that look just like the world. And so Paul spends the remainder of his Epistle confronting all manner of sinful conduct in the lives of people who, who he had already affirmed as believers. The clear instruction and expectation is that having these sinful lifestyles confronted, that these people were, would repent and would walk and live consistent with a profession of faith.
Many churches are using fleshliness to maintain crowd sizes
All right, so what invariably occurs in our day and age, we have people attempting to not make disciples, discipline learners and lifelong followers, obedient followers of Jesus Christ. We have people that are attempting to create converts and church attenders. And we have many places to where the churches are endeavoring to draw people by the flesh with the flesh. Let me get this new gimmick, you know, using worldly corporate marketing strategies, I got this new gimmick, this fresh, this fresh gimmick to get crowds in the seats. And then what invariably occurs in order, say it differently, what you draw the people with is what you have to continue in order to keep them. So you have continuous exercises of fleshliness that are using to maintain crowd sizes. Oftentimes the purpose of the crowd size maintenance is for one major purpose, making sure the donations continue at a certain rate. And then there are instances where you have genuine believers, many times in many places. But because the entire thrust of the corporate function is toward the unbelievers or to the carnal, you have genuine believers who are being starved out, not being nurtured, not being fed with the meat of God's word that are being starved out. And so you have the prevalence of celebrity culture in Christianity. Got to keep a new gimmick, got to keep it fresh. Why is there such a desire to keep something fresh when the New Testament church is over 2000 years old? What you mean fresh? You said that we have a salvation that's been once and for all passed down to the saints. I'm not saying that we need to be technology or verse and, but we don't need gimmicks for the Lord's bride, for the Lord's body. And so what we've seen in our nation, we have the era of the mega churches. And buildings are being built, buildings are being built, buildings are being built. And simultaneously, our nation is becoming more and more wicked. How does that work? It, it happens because of what I alluded to earlier this week. God is not in agreement with everything that we're calling church. That's why the prophet Amos said, man away. And Amos was speaking the words of God, away with your songs, man, away from me, away these festivals. I'm not accepting this. And that's how we've gotten here, by and large. But it's not over. Remember when the apostle John records the words of Jesus when he confronted the Laodicean church, the church that had a reputation of wealth. But Jesus, diagnosed as being poor and wretched and pitiable, talked about the being neither hot nor cold. Remember that because of the the presence of the aqueduct in the Leo Disiant, they were familiar with the aqueduct because cold water had a function, hot water had a function, but lukewarm water was useless. They knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. But how did Jesus conclude that conversation? He concluded by saying, those whom I love, I, correct. It doesn't have to continue to be this way. In many sectors, we've normalized. You know, really, it's idolatrous, and frankly, it's blasphemous. You know, people that are profane artists and writers and direct all kind of profane, they'll say, well, I thank God for giving me this ability. Ability to do what? To profane his holy name. How many people crack jokes about, yeah, you know, I be in the club on Saturday, but you know, we got to be up on Sunday. And I'm not trying to shade anybody. But for that to be culturally normative, man, that's idolatrous. And frankly, that's blasphemous. Because God says 1st Thessalonians 4. 7. For he has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness. He's not called us for the purpose of impurity. He's called us for holiness. But instead of humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, what we endeavor to do is redefine what it means to be a Christ follower. And so we switch the prerogatives to where we are not servants of God. No, no, God is our servant and we seek to justify ourselves. God is gracious. We abuse scripture like passages when the. When the woman was caught in adultery, let he was out of sin, cast the first stone. He tried to use that terminology, say, hold up, chief, you see anybody standing around, you got rocks in the hand, trying to bust you upside your head with rocks? That was the context that that was recorded in. No, you're seeking to justify a willingness intentional volitional rebellion, but you want to get personal comfort and fire insurance. And m. God knows the difference. Man. One of the evidences of regeneration is that we have a desire for holiness. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in holiness. So he who rejects this, the person who rejects the fact that God has called people from darkness and moved us, transitioned us into his marvelous light, not for the purposes of uncleanness, but for holiness. The person who rejects this is not rejecting man. So if you're listening to me right now, you're bristling at what I'm saying. You're not bristling at me as an individual. And I want to be very clear. I'm talking about those who would bristle at the notion of that God says that he does not save people for the purpose of uncleanness. He saves people that we might be holy and that we would be pure vessels, and that we wouldn't be like snake oil salesmen as we endeavor to execute his commission. But we would communicate to people that we are offering to you the very thing which has been offered to me, that I am encouraging you to surrender and to submit to. The very thing I have surrendered and submit to. And more specifically, not to the thing, but to the person that I have surrendered and submitted to. And the evidence of that is borne out in our lives. For God has not called us for the purpose of uncleanness, but holiness. And he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but rejecting God who gives his spirit to you. Conviction doesn't come from man. M Conviction comes from God. How we respond to conviction is often the delineating factor into who we are in terms of eternal destination. The Lord loves those whom he corrects. That correction that conviction is evidence of God's love. So that we don't go another moment living less than what God has called us to, Holiness is still right. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
0:00 - 15:00. 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 (NASB95). God has called His people to holiness.
15:00 - 31:00. Walker Wildmon, host of @ The Core on American Family Radio, steps into “The Corner.”
31:00 - 48:00. Regeneration produces transformed desires which are exemplified by transformed conduct.
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