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- [00:00]
Martha Stewart
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Public Investing Representative
Guaranteed Human support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com this is Martha Stewart
- [01:07]
Martha Stewart
from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret when prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is thanks to Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Wet it, set it, prep it done. Available in the Reynolds Wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon and Costco.
- [01:49]
David Bleez
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this,
- [01:52]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
but anyone can get the same Premium
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David Bleez
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Ben Berkwam
It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have
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David Bleez
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Mint Mobile Spokesperson
you to Mint Mobile today.
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I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
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Michelle Backus
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes
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and fees, extra fee full terms@mintmobile.com let's
- [02:20]
Mood.com Spokesperson
be honest, buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com that's mood.com mood ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door. No medical card, no hassle. And here's the kicker. The quality is better than anything you'll find at your local dispensary. Yeah, I said it. Whether you're into edibles, concentrates, flour or just looking to explore, you'll find it all at Mood. And it's not just the variety that makes them stand out. Every product is sourced from small American owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order. Just head to mood.com that's M-O-Ood.com to get started.
- [03:25]
David Bleez
It's a great weather Day, Washington, D.C. live from the National Mall, you're watching America's Voice News Freedom 250 rededicate coverage throughout the day. And we have Michelle Backus with us, David Bleez from Patriot Mobile, Ben Berkwam in the field, Neil McCabe, people filing in. Thousands of people filing in as they prepare to gather on the National Mall here on a Sunday to pray for our nation. Head of America's 250. David, I wanted to talk to you about with the onset of another Memorial Day this weekend, right. And people think about barbecues and the beach, but what it's really about, right. I was at Arlington National Cemetery. I saw the changing of the guard yesterday. 410,000 or so soldiers buried there. An interfaith, you know, cemetery for those who served and gave their lives here. And how does today play into that and the message of the Judeo Christian Beginnings of the Americas?
- [04:25]
Gary Hamrick
Yeah.
- [04:26]
David Lees
Well, I think it's just important to realize that freedom requires sacrifice. And yeah, it's great when we can come together and have a barbecue or, you know, have our families come together. I think that's important because what we're doing is we're celebrating family, we're celebrating freedom, but we have to also celebrate celebrate. And at the same time, there's many times grief there. You know, anybody who's lost a loved one knows that those Christmases are different because it's not only bringing the people around the table, but it's people who are not there. And it's the same with Memorial Day. There's a celebration and a grief of the reason we have these freedoms is because people gave their lives for our freedoms. And just like we're rededicating America in this 250 year Jubilee, it's also Something that we're doing because we realize that people have sacrificed for us to have religious freedom, to have freedom of speech. I quoted John Adams earlier. There's another great John Adams quote where I'll just kind of summarize it. He said, if you lose the liberty that we toiled and fought for, I shall repent in heaven for half the troubles that I took to secure it. So he's basically speaking to us later generations saying, I hope you understand how much we had to sacrifice for this freedom, and I pray you do well with it. If you don't, if you end up losing it, I'm going to repent in heaven for half the trials that I had to try to secure it for you.
- [05:47]
Michelle Backus
You know, people talk a lot about the separation of church and state, but in my opinion, they overlap. And I think a lot of people, because we're trying to get younger people to come to church to be more passionate with within their faith, but a lot of people don't want to hear the politics side of that. How do you mesh them together? How do you handle that?
- [06:05]
David Lees
Well, I think if you read the Bible cover to cover, you're going to see that there's a lot of religious leaders, what we would call godly men, prophets that were assigned to positions of government. You have Daniel, who's the number two to a foreign king. You have Joseph, who rises up in power, second most powerful man over all of Egypt. Are we going to tell Joseph, like, hey, don't get political? It's like, no, he is anointed by God for such a time as this. Esther's another one to influence politics. And the reason that I think we need to understand the Bible's role in politics is because it affects people. Politics affects people. You know, how we vote affects the lives of Americans and all over the world.
- [06:50]
David Bleez
I like that the Christian community in America today is on Abash at a party about that, that now they're saying and been maybe for the past 10, 20 years or so. I feel more that we. It is political, you know, that you have to get engaged. And, you know, I feel like, though
- [07:07]
Michelle Backus
a lot of pastors are nervous to cross that line, I still see it today especially, I don't want to alienate your congregation. And that's the issue because we want younger people coming to church. We want liberals, Republicans, anyone to come to church. So what would you tell pastors that are scared to cross that line?
- [07:24]
David Lees
Well, I think we always look to Jesus, right? And Jesus shared really hard truths, but he also did it with Such grace. And I remember hearing a pastor one time say that Jesus was really harsh with the ones who had pride, the ones who thought they had all the answers. But he was really gracious to those who realized that they were sinners, that they were on the outside, that they needed help. And so in the same way as pastors, whether you're standing in front of a liberal or conservative, if there's someone standing there who realizes they're flawed, realize they need help, we can meet them with absolute grace. We don't need to shove truth down someone's throat because we're all broken people. But oftentimes we see Jesus speak with radical truth, aggressive truth, towards those who think that. That they know everything. The Pharisees of the day, who were the religious leaders who thought, we know the way and stop ruining it for us. And I think that's the tension that we have to hold as passionate.
- [08:22]
David Bleez
Yeah, I was in a press briefing at the Pentagon and Pete Hegseth talked about the Pharisees, you know, meaning the elite media, you know, and they got all offended and they were attacking them on it. But, you know, it's important to note that biblical literacy was important for the founding Fathers to incorporate into the founding documents. But the Constitution, although it doesn't reference God and it's a secular document providing for freedom of religion, also has the roots in it. And it's interesting to note the Constitution mirrors the covenant in the Old Testament, I believe. Right. And it's part of Hebrew scripture adopted later by the Puritans in New England. I just wanted to add and ask you, David, about. Gary Hamrick is going to speak with us from the Cornerstone Church here, and he makes some interesting comments. He's going to talk about repentance. You brought up national repentance, rebuke lies of gender confusion and marriage redefinition. How important is that?
- [09:20]
David Lees
Yeah, everything starts with repentance. I mean, if you read the Gospels, the call was repent, be baptized, be filled with the Spirit. It's repentance first, because if you don't realize your need for a savior, then you won't accept one. And so I think all of these historical days of prayer and fasting, you'll also always see it was a day of repentance. And that what it does is it. It brings us back to our. Our reality that we're. That should be humble. We should be humble, realizing we are flawed, we need help, we need God. And so it all has to be of repentance or else there is no salvation. Someone who doesn't know they're drowning doesn't need a life raft.
- [09:59]
Michelle Backus
That's actually a good point. You know, I see a lot of younger people that are now getting baptized at my church in West Palm Beach. I'm not sure if you noticed that as well. There's a bit of a revival going on.
- [10:08]
Paula White
I think totally.
- [10:09]
David Lees
There's a revival in America, there's a revival in the next generation. There's even. They're calling it the silent revival happening in Europe because again, this, this seek for, seeking for authenticity, for true life change. I think we're done with the fake. I think we want Jesus and we want God's presence.
- [10:25]
David Bleez
Yeah, especially in Europe they feel like they're under assault. And we can get into that, what's going on. But we want to go back out to the incredible Ben Berkhwam. His most comfortable, his most comfortable environment is out in the field amongst the hard working people of America. What's up, Ben?
- [10:43]
Ben Berkwam
Hey guys. You know, especially in these situations, it's like a family reunion. So everyone you see, I got my friends here, Amy and Kovan from California, San Diego, Vietnamese, legal immigrants that came here, escaped communism to come here. And I've seen you all over the country at all the different Trump rallies. You're always so excited about America, but in particular today, a rededication of America to God. What does that mean for you?
- [11:09]
Mood.com Spokesperson
It means so much rededicated. It's just we need people to get on board, need to have faith in some sort. Because with socialism and communism, they don't believe in any religion. They want to wipe out the religion. So rededicate here is just great for everyone. We encourage everyone to continue to get out, get involved in any church and go to church, attend church and be a good citizen.
- [11:35]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, Amen. And Kovin, you know, you look at America, the direction of America, you guys came here, escaped communism to come here and now we have pro communists. You've got, you know, Zoran Mandami in New York City, who's. They call themselves socialists, but really they're communists. How concerned are you about that, that, that cancer coming into America.
- [11:55]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
They're very sorry for them. You know, they don't know nothing about the communists. They talk real good, but turn around like In Vietnam, after 50 years, the young kid, they still pick up the all of the tractor and sell it for survive of the day. So they don't believe in that one. But lucky in the us, you know, that get the God they always beside that one and love it. American and love the country. So that one, that's great.
- [12:25]
Ben Berkwam
What's your prayer for America, Amy?
- [12:27]
Mood.com Spokesperson
I pray peace for America and worldwide. And I'm so thankful to have President Trump in this. Look at this. President Trump is world peacemaker, our president. And this year is the midterm election that we need to get the right candidate and governor. So we root for Steve Hilton for governor for California, to make California golden again.
- [12:55]
Ben Berkwam
Well, God bless you both. It's an honor to be with you. We see you everywhere. God bless you and these folks out here. God bless you guys. Come here real quick.
- [13:01]
Mood.com Spokesperson
And God bless Ben for what he has been doing. We love you very much, Ben. Thank you.
- [13:06]
Ben Berkwam
You, it's an honor. Oh, we've got Abraham Lincoln. We got big old Abe here. Come on, Abe. Oh, Cal. Okay, we got California. Where are you guys from?
- [13:14]
Yaakov Boyens
We're from Washington State.
- [13:15]
Ben Berkwam
Washington State? You flew here just for this? Tell me your name.
- [13:18]
David Lees
My name is David. This is my wife Laura and Kimberly.
- [13:20]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Kimberly.
- [13:21]
Yaakov Boyens
Washington state.
- [13:22]
David Bleez
We, we heard it on.
- [13:23]
David Lees
President Trump says, hey, we should all
- [13:25]
David Bleez
get together here on the Washington Mall.
- [13:26]
Yaakov Boyens
And that's exactly what we did. We bought tickets the next day.
- [13:29]
Ben Berkwam
How important is this for you, for. For America, for your family? And you look at Washington State. I'm a guy who escaped California. I moved back to America. I live in Arkansas now. But you know, Washington, California, Oregon, all these places that used to be so great, used to be God fearing, and they've just been taken over by the devil. How do you. How important is this, Dave?
- [13:49]
David Lees
It's critically important and it's a critical, important thing for all Americans to join together and unite underneath the beliefs that where our country was founded on.
- [14:00]
Ben Berkwam
Amen.
- [14:01]
Amy (Event Attendee)
Amen.
- [14:02]
Ben Berkwam
Mom, daughter, you want to say anything? You guys like being like my wife and. Yeah. My girls. Yeah. God bless you. Thank you for being out here. God bless you. God bless Washington. All right, Abe, come here, Abe. Oh, come on. Come on, everybody. All right.
- [14:17]
Martha Stewart
USA to here. Come on.
- [14:19]
Ben Berkwam
I love it. So we got California representatives. We had Washington, we had Iowa. We have all 50 states, not 51 like Obama said, all 50 states represented. Talk to us about today and the importance.
- [14:30]
Martha Stewart
Oh, my gosh, how we have prayed for this moment that God would be back in our country. And this is going to be a pivotal moment that we will remember. All of us here will remember the day that God was brought back into our country. And let's bring them back into the schools. Let's not get rid of our money. God's name is on all the money. Let's keep them in circulation. They took away the penny. Don't let them take one more thing. We need to keep God's name and circulation. But yeah, we praise God for a president that believes in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So we thank you. And again, we are voting for Steve Hilton in California. We're taking it back. We're taking it back, right?
- [15:12]
Amy (Event Attendee)
Yeah. We're very happy to be here at this event. Let me ask you where you are from. California originally. I'm from Romania.
- [15:23]
Ben Berkwam
I am on a former communist country.
- [15:27]
Amy (Event Attendee)
Exactly.
- [15:28]
Steve Rice
Yeah.
- [15:28]
Amy (Event Attendee)
And Vietnam, a communist country, too. And we know what it means to live under the communism and we don't want to see it coming here. The communists, you know, especially the young generation, they look very, very say, oh, the socialism is very good. It's not. It's one step before communism. And look at every communist country in the world is not good. Go stay there one year and let me know if you want to have communism in America. Then we can talk about communism, you know, and they don't know what it means, Communist, you know, and those times in Romania, if you say something about government, about even if you go to preach the gospel on the street, they arrest you, they put it in jail, and you never know if you come out alive or dead from the prison, you know, that one is communist. And we don't want to see it here. And that's why we are here to pray for America, to pray for this country, to pray for the president and for the administrative, this beautiful administration that we see so many great things that he did for this country, you know, a lot, and especially for the Christian too. That's a, That's a miracle, you know, to have President Trump again, he for the second, that's a miracle. We thank God for this and thanks because he saved him a couple of times, you know, that means that God still have work to do with him in this country. And we are so happy for this. And God bless America. God bless our President Trump and the whole nation and America first.
- [16:57]
Martha Stewart
Amen.
- [16:57]
Ben Berkwam
Amen.
- [16:58]
Mood.com Spokesperson
God bless Ben for what he does
- [17:00]
Michelle Backus
in the neck of the world.
- [17:02]
Martha Stewart
We want him back in California.
- [17:05]
Ben Berkwam
No promises on that, but God bless you guys. By the way, speaking of, you know, standing up for things you believe in, Patriot Mobile, you guys continue that. We're. They're one of our sponsors today. We got two major sponsors today. We got Patriot Mobile and Preborn. Get the right phone. Support the businesses that support the values you believe in and support the organizations that want to save babies by the way, look at this. All beautiful, unaborted babies that turn into people. That's. That's what abortions do. They kill children. That would have been children of God, and they are children of God. So stop killing babies. But support companies like Patriot Mobile. God bless you, guys.
- [17:40]
Martha Stewart
Parents are born in China.
- [17:41]
David Bleez
China.
- [17:41]
Martha Stewart
My parents were born in China.
- [17:42]
David Bleez
Yeah, yeah, we know all over there.
- [17:45]
Martha Stewart
There's nothing wrong with immigration as long as it's legal.
- [17:47]
Steve Rice
Exactly.
- [17:48]
David Bleez
Yeah.
- [17:49]
Martha Stewart
We love you.
- [17:50]
Ben Berkwam
Yes, yes. Just come legally. All right, I'm going to keep talking to the crowd, guys. Everything. They're moving in here. They're getting their seats. They're getting their spots. This, the show is supposed to start in about, I think about 10 minutes, 10:30 Eastern Time, somewhere around there. By the way, Jonah, you were talking about, we got these big. These events here. What is that for? It's the. The Great Fair. So I was thinking it had something to do with the Fourth of July, but you're wondering. Behind me, we're on the Capitol Mall. You don't usually see all this building. You see the Capitol behind the. The structure back there, but apparently June 1st. Is that when it starts? Sometime in June, there's going to be the. The Great Fair that's coming back here as we lead into the Fourth of July. A lot coming here in Washington, D.C. but it's starting today as we rededicate America back to God. Back to you guys.
- [18:38]
David Bleez
Thank you so much, Ben. And remember, 400,000 Southeast Asians and Vietnamese perished fleeing on small boats to Hong Kong and other places to fight and to flee godless communism. And this program is about to start here. So we're going to throw the stage right now for rededicate. 250. A National Jubilee of prayer, praise and thanksgiving.
- [19:07]
Worship Leader
Be revealed in this place that he draws us to himself as we worship him. Jesus said that if I am lifted up, I will draw all men and women unto myself. So we're going to lift up Jesus in this house today. Amen. Would you stand with me? I'm thankful that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
- [19:28]
Gary Hamrick
So let's sing and declare.
- [19:30]
Worship Leader
Celebrate from a place of joy. Come on, join in. Come on. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let's sing. This is the day you made. So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it. This is where I believe
- [20:09]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
that you
- [20:10]
Worship Leader
are more than enough. You're more than enough for me. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence. I have everything I need. You declare the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Come on, you believe that today. The joy of the Lord, the joy, joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul. Bless his name all that is within me say the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Jesus, come with me. God, you are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, bless his name, all that is within me, say the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, I got the joy of the Lord. Let it rise up. Let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit, let it pour out with no living overflowing Holy Spirit, let it rise so. Let it rise up like a river and overflowing Holy Spirit, let it pour out with no. Holy Holy Spirit. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, bless his name all that is within me say oh my soul, bless his name all that is within me say oh my soul, come. Bless his name, all that is within me say joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my name. Oh, I got the joy of the Lord. His joy is our strength. Jesus, you worthy of our praise.
- [24:32]
Choir/Vocalist
O.
- [24:46]
Worship Leader
Kings and kingdoms will bow down. And every chain will break his broken hearts declare kiss is great. Who can stop the Lord Almighty. Come on say Our God is the lion, the lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Every knee will bow before him. Our God is the lamb, the lamb that was slain for the the sins of the world. His word breaks the chains. Every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb. Oh, every knee will bow before him. No one like you Jesus. Open up the gates. Make way before the King of. God who comes to S.A. the cap lives. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Our God is lion, the lion of Judah.
- [26:28]
Public Investing Representative
Support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt from renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers. Growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. Work it screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures this
- [27:29]
Martha Stewart
is Martha Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret. When prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is thanks to Reynolds Kitchens Countertop Prep Paper. Wet it, set it, prep it done. Available in the Reynolds Wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon and Costco.
- [28:13]
Mood.com Spokesperson
Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about Mood.com that's M-O-Ood.com Mood ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door. No medical card, no hassle. And here's the kicker. The quality is better than anything you'll find at your local dispensary. Yeah, I said it. Whether you're into edibles, concentrates, flower or just looking to explore, you'll find it all at Mood. And it's not just the variety that makes them stand out. Every product is sourced from small American owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order. Just head to mood.com that's mood.com to get started. At EasyCater, we believe every workday gets better with Great food. The 9am staff meeting. How about breakfast burritos and lots of coffee? Big client presentation at noon. Let's do Mediterranean bowls. Accounting's gotta work late. Keep them pepped up with spicy noodles. With Easycator, you get a huge variety of favorite restaurants with tools to help meet dietary needs and stay on budget, all on one platform. So make every workday better with Easycater. Start an order@ezcator.com.
- [30:02]
Worship Leader
Every knee will bow before you Jesus Come on, let's declare it together who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord? Every voice I say who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Strong and mighty awesome who can stop the Lord? Our God is the lion the lion of Judah he's roaring with power and fighting our battles Everything bow before him Our God is the lamb the Lamb that will slain for the shields of the world his prophet break Everything bow before the light Every
- [31:31]
Choir/Vocalist
before.
- [31:38]
Worship Leader
King of kings and the Lord of.
- [32:00]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
I believe God wants to move in
- [32:02]
Worship Leader
our midst today he wants to change our hearts Turn us towards him. Come on. This is our prayer and our declaration today let's sing together. We've come for a move of God We've come for the Holy One all we want, all we hunger for is you. We've come with the expecting hearts undone Knowing who you are Lord belong for what only you can do so Holy Spirit come like fire on the altar A fresh wind blowing through we're going to stand here to do we encounter you make us an offering make us an upper room we're going to stay here until we encounter you Till we encounter you. Make us desperate Tear our idol down we repented this is still your house God you meant it when you said you pour your spirit out so we say Holy Spirit come light fire on the altar A fresh wind blowing through we're gonna stand here to be encountered you to make us an offering make us another room we're gonna stay here until we encounter you do we encounter you? Till we encounter you Is God come and move in this place Pour your spirit out afresh on the earth today. Come on. This is our declaration and our prayer. Say it out. We need a move of God we need a move of God do you believe that? We need a move of God we're hungry. We're destiny Lord, open the heaven you sing it out.
- [34:47]
Choir/Vocalist
We we need a move of God
- [34:49]
Worship Leader
in our nation we need a move of God in our families we need a move oh God. We're home. We're dead Lord, open the heaven we need a move in this city we need a move in our hearts we need a move, oh God, we're love, we're desperate, Lord. Broken the heaven. A fire on the altar A fresh wind blowing through. We're gonna stay here until we encounter you. Make us an offering and make us an offering you. We're going to stay here until we counter you. A fire on the altar, A fresh wind blowing through. We're going to stay here till we encounter you. Make us an offer. Make us another room. We're going to stay here till we count again. We need a move, oh God, we need a move of God, yes, we do. We need a move of God. We're hug, we're dancing. Come on, take it out. We need a move of God. We need a move of God, yes, we do. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate, Lord. Open the heaven, yeah. All my words fall short. I've got nothing. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing each song as I offer you. But each song must end and you never, never do. So I throw my hand, praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's not much. I have nothing else fit for a
- [38:14]
Choir/Vocalist
king
- [38:16]
Worship Leader
except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. I've got one spot. I've got just one. Come on, sing it out with my arms stretch you wide. I will worship you. So I throw up my hands. I'll praise you again and again. All that I have is a holiday. Hallelujah. I know it's not much but I've nothing else before. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. You've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your soul. You got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on, my soul, don't you get on. Lift up your soul. Lift up the name of Jesus. Get up and praise the Lord. Lift up the name of the Lord. Our praise is a weapon over the spirit enemy. We lift up our voice and we
- [40:51]
Choir/Vocalist
praise the name of Jesus.
- [41:02]
Worship Leader
No one higher than you love. Come on, sing it out. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. We are hallelujah. So I don't mind. Praise you again and again. Song that I have is.
- [42:33]
Choir/Vocalist
Hallelujah.
- [42:52]
Worship Leader
Glory.
- [42:59]
Choir/Vocalist
There's nobody like Jesus. Of exaltation. I was born to lift the name above all name. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no Jesus. Who else is a world? Who else is There is no Jesus. You are the God of the ages. Yet you chose to make my heart indwell. You healed my brokenness, Showed me your glory. So I have songs and things not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no only Jesus. Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you.
- [45:11]
Worship Leader
Jesus.
- [45:12]
Choir/Vocalist
Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no way. Holy Jesus, Holy lord, holy word. Hey. A lamb of God anointed one who wasn't dancing this to come. He's seated on the throne above. Holy Holy Righteous one who shed his blood. You proved to us the father of love Jesus Christ be lifted up. Holy Holy Lamb of God anointed one who walks and dance to come. He seated on the throne above. Holy Holy right. Just one shed his blood. You. You prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up. Who else is a worthy of? Who else is a worthy of? Holy Jesus? Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Like there is no way Holy Jesus and Lamb of God anointed one who was in dance and then to come. He's seated on the throne above. But I just want to share his love. You prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you Jesus else. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only Jesus. There is no one. Only Jesus. O you jesus. Oh you worthy of our. Praise. Oh you worthy of our praise. Sam. For the lord God almighty rain. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Holy holy are you God almighty. Lamb what is the lamb? You are holy Holy are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the lamb. You are holy Holy are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the lamb. He's worthy. Thank you father. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Thank you God, you worthy. Sam. Lamb who was slain. Holy holy. Sing a new song to hell who sits on heaven's mercy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Holy hope is he. Sing a new song to heaven Heaven. Holy holy Holy is our God Almighty who was and is.
- [52:51]
Public Investing Representative
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Martha Stewart
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- [55:04]
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- [56:12]
Michelle Backus
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Mood.com Spokesperson
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Michelle Backus
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Mood.com Spokesperson
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- [56:32]
Choir/Vocalist
You are my happy face and I will adore you. Jesus, Clothed in rainbow of a living color.
- [57:13]
Worship Leader
Glory
- [57:16]
Choir/Vocalist
to you the only wise care and holy, holy, holy. There's a Lord God Almighty who was
- [57:34]
Worship Leader
to come.
- [57:39]
Choir/Vocalist
With all creation. I sing praise to the king of kings. You are my happy king and I will adore you. Wonder at the mention of your name Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water. Ram, Sing Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the one God almighty. Praise you the king, you are my everything. With all creation. I sing praise to the king of Korea you in this place today
- [60:27]
Jason Rapert
God,
- [60:27]
Worship Leader
would you let your glory fall in our lives? Would you let your glory come in our nation? Would you turn our hearts back to you? Your word says that who may ascend the hill of the Lord it's he
- [60:42]
Ben Berkwam
who has clean hands and a pure heart.
- [60:47]
Worship Leader
So God we ask, we seek, we pray for more of your glory, more of your love, more of your holiness and righteousness evident in our lives. Can we make this our prayer Together we invite Jesus into this place.
- [61:12]
Ben Berkwam
Sing it out with me. Give us clean hands
- [61:17]
Worship Leader
so give us clean hands and give us pure hearts. Show us that's where the miracle starts. On what I want beyond what I see. Change for my world beginning in me. It's my prayer God holy surrender Lord do what you will in me
- [62:00]
Speaker at Event
this
- [62:00]
Worship Leader
life as a vessel my life as in all for you can have it all, you can have it all. You can have it all God, you
- [62:16]
Ben Berkwam
can have it all.
- [62:18]
Worship Leader
You can have it all God, you can have it all, you can have it all. Only we call all the we see. All that we ask we lay at your feet. Spirit of God, would you move on our praise. Heaven and earth collide in your name. Take it all God, you can have it all God, you can have it All. You can have it all, God, you can have it all. You can have it all, God, you can have it all. You can have it all. You can have it all. Oh. God. This is our declaration. Pour out your spirit on our praise. Let revival fill this place. Stir up our faith for greater things. Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray. And all this to lift up and proclaim Jesus Christ the highest lamb. Send us your power like the flame. Lord, we ask receive. Pour out your spirit.
- [64:06]
Choir/Vocalist
Pour out your spirit.
- [64:08]
Worship Leader
Pour our flame the revival fill this place. Stir up, Lord, we ask, we sing, we pray. Darkness to lift up and proclaim Jesus Christ the highest. We pray, Lord, we ask, we see, we pray. Lord, we ask, we see, we pray. You can have it all, God, you can have it all. You can have it all, God, you can have it all. You can have it all, God, you can have it all. You can have it all, have it Pour out, God. Pour out your spirit. Let revival fill this place. Stir up our faith for greater things, Lord, we ask, we sing, we pray. Darkness to lift up
- [65:32]
Choir/Vocalist
Jesus.
- [65:32]
Worship Leader
Jesus Christ. No other name, no power like the flame. The Lord we ask, we see, we pray. The Lord, we ask, we see, we pray. Lord, we ask, we see, we pray. Lord, we ask, we see, we pray. Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray you say Lord, we ask, we seek. Lord, we ask. God, we ask, we seek, we pray. Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray.
- [66:24]
Choir/Vocalist
Sam.
- [66:50]
Worship Leader
Moving in eyes I worship you.
- [66:58]
Paula White
I worship
- [67:01]
Worship Leader
you are here working in this place. I worship you. I worship you are here moving in our way. I worship you. I worship you are here working in this place. I worship you. I worship worship Come on every voice way make miracle work Promise me light in the darkness my God, that is who you are. Way make miracle work Promise me light in the darkness my God, that is who you are. You are here touching every heart I worship you. I worship
- [68:26]
Steve Rice
you.
- [68:26]
Worship Leader
You are here healing every eye. I worship you. I worship you are here turning lives around. I worship you. I worship you. You are here in the every high as you are. I worship you. I worship you. Way make miracle work promise keep light in the darkness my God, that is who you are. You are way make us way make miracle work promise keep light in the darkness my God, that is who you are. That is who you are. Oh, that is who you are. That is who you are.
- [69:53]
Choir/Vocalist
We say
- [69:56]
Worship Leader
that is who you are. That is who you are. See that is who you are. Jesus and that is who you are.
- [70:16]
Choir/Vocalist
Oh no.
- [70:17]
Worship Leader
Like you that is who you are. That is who you are oh. That is who you are. That is who you are. Way make mistakes My God. All things are possible. Way Maker. My God. Come on, sing it again. Way maker. Way maker. Come on. Let our faith be activated this morning as we're believing for more as we're believing for revival. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are that is who you are
- [71:57]
Choir/Vocalist
Sa. The greatness of the Lord is beyond compare all splendor and glory forever he is holy the greatest of the Lord is beyond compare yes, it is the friendship of the Lord is beyond compare the friendship of the Lord is beyond oh, Jesus, my treasure, abide with me forever the friendship of the Lord is beyond compare. The faithfulness of God he will never fail the faithfulness of God he will never fail My hope is in you, God the rock My life is built on the faithfulness of God he will never fail Amen. The kingdom of our God he will never end the kingdom of our God It'll never end the greatest one who was an instant power the Lamb of God is seated on the ground Eternally he reigned Sing the same. The love of God is trium over all the kingdom of the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. The greatest of the world
- [75:21]
Michelle Backus
is beyond.
- [75:48]
Choir/Vocalist
Compare the grace of the Lord is beyond compare for splendor and glory for forever. The greatness of the Lord is beyond.
- [76:37]
Worship Leader
To make this song our prayer together today that Christ would be magnified in our lives Sing with me for were creation suddenly articulate With a thousand tongues to lift one cry Then from north to south and east to west we'd hear Christ be magnified. Were the hol echoing his evidence his name would burst from sea and sky from the river us to the mountaintop we hear Christ be magnified Come on all over this great nation let's declare this together oh Christ, be magnified we let his praise arise Christ be magnified in me Lord Christ, be magnified the altar of my life Christ, be magnified in me. When every creature finds its sinful melody Every human heart native cry in a one in rapture Christ, be magnified Open magnificence magnify oh Christ, be magnified we let his praise arise Christ be magnified in me oh Christ, be magnified the altar of my life Christ, be magnified. Come on now from our hearts we make these declarations that we will serve and trust Jesus fully Come on, declare with me I won't bow to idols I'll stand strong and worship you and if it puts me in the fire the And I'll rejoice cause you're there too I won't be formed by feelings I hold back to what is true and if the cross brings transformation and I'll be crucified with you Cuz death is just a doorway to resurrection Life it's our joy Resurrection your suffering I'll join you in your and when you return in glory before the angels every say My heart will still be singing
- [80:19]
Choir/Vocalist
My song will be
- [80:24]
Worship Leader
Christ be magnified we let his praise arise Christ be magnified. Christ be magnified the altar of my life Christ be magnified Come on, one more time say oh Christ be magnified where the land is praise is right Christ be magnified in me oh Christ be magnified from the altar of my life Christ be magnified in me oh be magnified Jesus.
- [81:31]
Choir/Vocalist
Hey, let's have some fun. Let's sing this together.
- [81:34]
Michelle Backus
Come on.
- [81:34]
Choir/Vocalist
Every voice we sing Rejoice, rejoice Rejoice everything that has bread Rejoice, rejoice Rejoice for everything that has breath. I was created for a purpose an instrument that magnifies out of the shadows, out of the darkness I'm walking in his marvelous alive. So he said rejoice that everything I have. Again I say again I say rejoice rejoice again I say can I say rejoice. Over your priesthood we glorify and bless your name. Oh what a To lift you up and give you praise. To lift, lift you up and giving you praise to lift you up to lift you up and give you praise. Reh. Let everything I have cause you are worthy, you, God, you are mighty God, you are awesome and holy. Made to worship you. We sing this together. Never going to stop, Never going to stop Never stop giving you praise. Come on. I've never fallen to stop Never going to stop, Never stop blessing your name Never going to stop, Never going to stop Never stop giving Pray I'm never going to stop Never going to stop Never stop blessing your name forever stop Never going to stop Never stop giving you praise I'm never going to. Rejoice Rejoice
- [85:10]
Worship Leader
everything that I.
- [85:18]
Choir/Vocalist
Everything I have cause you are worthy God, you are mighty Lord, you are awesome and holy. What can I say? Rejoice.
- [86:05]
Steve Rice
Ra.
- [86:31]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in prayer with Pastor Samuel Rodriguez.
- [86:57]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
On this 250th anniversary of our nation's founding. We gather to prayerfully declare the following.
- [87:04]
Ben Berkwam
Here it is.
- [87:06]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
America is not done with God
- [87:12]
David Bleez
and
- [87:12]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
God is not done with America. So join me, please.
- [87:18]
Yaakov Boyens
Let's pray. Let us Pray.
- [87:20]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
Father, we come before you today. Today, not merely to remember, but to rededicate. Not just to reflect on history, but to realign our future. Your word declares in Psalm 89:14 that righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, and truth and love go before us as attendants. So today we come together to rededicate America to you, the God of righteousness, the God of justice, the God, the God of truth and the God of Love. Righteous Lord, we come before you prayerfully acknowledging that a righteous nation recognizes the image of God in every human being without exception. As a result, let America affirm the dignity of life in and out of
- [88:04]
Worship Leader
the womb,
- [88:09]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
While simultaneously protecting religious liberty for all. Justin Holy God, with reverence and humility, we ask that justice flow in this land. Let justice roll like a stream as America defends the vulnerable, confronts injustice with courage and ensures that fairness is applied to all. Author of the truth with conviction and clarity. We ask you to help us remember that our rights come from you and not from man. That what makes us exceptional is embedded in the following algorithm of liberty. It's God over man and man over government. Remind us, O Lord, that we are created equal and endowed by you with life, liberty and purpose. And we beseech Thee, let the truth found in the finished work of Jesus Christ set us free. So with surrendered hearts, we ask that love define us. Teach us to love you with all that we are, to love our neighbors as ourselves and to follow the radical calling to love even our enemies, fully cognizant of the fact that perfect love expels all fear. So finally, we recognize that there is a battle in America. Yet the battle is not primarily between the donkey and the elephant. The battle is between the serpent and the lamb. And your word reminds us in Colossians 2:15 that the lamb already defeated the serpent. And because you are the God of righteousness, justice, truth and love, we proclaim by faith that the most powerful spirit in America is not the spirit of Jezebel. It's not the spirit of Pharaoh. It's not the spirit of Goliath. It's not the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar. It's not the spirit of Herod. The most powerful spirit in America is still the Holy Spirit of Almighty Go. I submit this and pray this in the holy, righteous, triumphant name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- [90:32]
Worship Leader
Amen.
- [90:50]
David Bleez
Welcome back. You're watching Real America's Voice News. If you're just joining us, we're covering the Rededicate Freedom 250 event here in The National Mall. And we've got a terrific set here with Michelle Backus, Ben Berkwam and we have David Lees from Patriot Mobile Faith. What an incredible day here. They kicked off the events. Thousands of people have been streaming in and to the Washington National Mall here. Beautiful weather day for a national jubilee of prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Isn't that right, Michelle?
- [91:24]
Michelle Backus
Yeah, One day under God. We're seeing a ton of people still coming in as it just kind of opened. Doors opened at 9:30, so we're still seeing people shuffle in here. A beautiful day. But we've been talking about it all throughout the day. Right now we are in a revival. We're seeing younger people especially start to come back to church. Even young men actually. Young men more so than young women, Ben?
- [91:46]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, well the sad statistic along with that is that actually the fastest growing religion among women is Wicca witchcraft. And that, you know, that's one of the things that scares me. I mean it doesn't scare me. It's just one of the things we have to be aware of that this is the battle. It's good versus evil and it's God versus the devil. And so we got to keep standing up. By the way, I haven't said this yet today but huge thank you to thank you. Not shank you. Thank you. I'm not, not, not shank like I got told when I was in England when I went up against the jihadists down there.
- [92:17]
David Bleez
I remember that.
- [92:18]
Ben Berkwam
I remember that. But thank you to Real America's voice. Obviously Patriot Mobile, but just our network just giving us the freedom to do what we do, to praise the Lord and to stand up on his righteousness. By the way, David gave me this new shirt. I love this. It looks like Led Zeppelin or one of the, you know, 80s band. But it's the Jesus tour.
- [92:40]
Michelle Backus
You have to flip it. You have to model it in the back.
- [92:42]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell us about this David.
- [92:44]
David Lees
So this is the Jesus tour. On the front there's a donkey. There's a donkey and a white horse because the first coming son of Joseph was on a donkey and he's coming back in Revelation riding a white horse. And he's coming not, not just for, for grace, but for judgment. And that's why we all have to be ready. And then the back is the tour dates and it's every spot that he hit from Bethlehem. And the last tour date you'll see is the Son of David Returns tbd. We don't know what day that's going to be. We knew all the other days, but we don't know when that date's going to be. And so just a way that we can, you know, do what we're doing here, celebrate Jesus. This is.
- [93:19]
Amy (Event Attendee)
This.
- [93:20]
David Lees
This is a Jesus tour, right?
- [93:23]
David Bleez
Yes. And our nation was influenced, founding fathers of founding documents, especially the Declaration of Independence, with references to our creator, referencing four times to a higher power and to God. And this is a chance for everyone across the nation to gather in honor of our Judeo Christian foundings. But I wanted to talk about this incredible lineup of speakers we have as they're getting underway here. And so many great speakers. You know, Sam Rodriguez, and I want to get into that with, with Ben over here out of Sacramento. Millions of Hispanic followers. Sadie Robinson Huff of Duck Dynasty, facing her own challenges with her own new child and saying how it doesn't matter what your role is, but you need God and use your testimony to spread the words. And Gary Hamrick out of Cornerstone Church, who talks about this national jubilee, a prayer and repentance. And Robert Jeffress, who was in the Oval Office with Trump a few days after the Iran conflict, started talking about the Bible and, you know, the correct interpretation of what it means, you know, whether you can go to war or not. And some of that, you know, tension between Trump and the Pope. But, Ben, I wanted to ask you, what does it mean? You're from Central California, Fresno, San Joaquin Valley. A lot of Hispanics. Sam Rodriguez, millions of Hispanics have turned to him in recent years. Can you talk about that a little bit?
- [94:52]
Ben Berkwam
Well, look there, this is. You look at our country, and there's all this divide that we see happening. The enemy wants that. The devil wants that. In fact, I met some friends, these black ladies from Chicago, as they were coming through the door, I got an interview with them. We'll be playing that a little bit later. But, you know, I asked them, I said, I said, you know, talk about the division of the Democrats are trying to do. And the lady stopped me and she said, no, it's not the devil or the Democrats. It's the devil. And we got to remember that, that whether you're Hispanic, you're black, you're white, whatever gender, you are all two of them, that we are called to stand together. And so there is revival happening in many places around America. And I just pray that that, that unity. When you talk about one nation under God, one of my friends down there mentioned it when they said that this is what heaven's gonna look like. We all come together. It's like we all know each other. That's what. That's what we really want to see. And so you're seeing that in California. You're seeing that all across the country. And I think that that's really what the purpose of today is.
- [95:51]
David Lees
Yeah. It reminds me of a pastor once said that there is no such thing as the spirit of racism. There's only a spirit of division. The enemy would try to divide us on eye color if we all had the same skin color. He'd divide us on hair color if we all had the same eye color. So the spirit is division, and the enemy doesn't care how he divides us as long as he tries to divide us. And so that's something we need to keep in the forefront.
- [96:15]
David Bleez
Yeah. Michelle, what are your thoughts on, you know, these. These churches having a little bit of a revival about getting more people? I noticed my church. I'm in the Catholic Church in New York. More people are coming to. To Mass.
- [96:27]
Michelle Backus
Well, I think a lot of people are also looking for connection. You think about it, we all have our phones. We're glued to them. Unfortunately, you can have interaction through a screen, and it's making a lot of people lonely, which is why I think you see so many people going back to church. In fact, I see a lot of younger people saying, maybe I can meet my spouse in church. It's a way to have that human interaction and that connection that I think we've lost over the past couple years. But also, I think people are looking for purpose and community, especially when there are darker times or things they don't really understand.
- [96:57]
David Bleez
Yeah. I talk to my youngest and their friends, and they're having a hard time meeting, you know, men and men, maybe women, because their phones, their face is buried in their phone all the time. They've lost their communication skills. There's no courtship going on. So it can be lonely existence. Right. And people are meeting people, people later.
- [97:13]
Michelle Backus
I, you know, I'd love to hear the chat, because I know we have the. The chat up right now. If anyone actually met their spouse in church. I met someone the other day who actually did. That's what my mom told me. My mom said, you'll meet your husband in church.
- [97:24]
Ben Berkwam
Well, I met mine at the Olive Garden, but I can't say I. I would definitely recommend church. I was lucky.
- [97:28]
David Lees
I was one of the Irish Olive Garden. Right underneath.
- [97:31]
David Bleez
I met mine on the high school bus.
- [97:34]
Ben Berkwam
But you know what? Actually, one more point to that. When I mentioned about witchcraft at all, I. The devil's always trying to Fill those holes. You know, we're talking about an empty, broken culture and they're looking everywhere else or they're, you know, you got all these leftist feminists that are wearing the burkas now, and it's like, it's. But it all comes back to there's an emptiness and they're searching. That's why the. The real church needs to be there to speak life into this. Just like the song behind us. Speak the holy name of Jesus. This is. This is where the church has to come in and be light in the garden darkness because there is such a hunger and sadly, too many people look the wrong places.
- [98:08]
Paula White
Yeah.
- [98:09]
David Bleez
Yeah. We're gonna go to a break, and when we come back, we're gonna have a fresh lineup of speakers coming to the stage here. Great speakers. Today's Freedom 250 rededication is sponsored by Patriot Mobile. We have David Buizon, Patriot Mobile faith with us. And a portion of every dollar goes towards organizations and the ministries and to defend our God given rights and expand the kingdom both on offense and defense. Right, David?
- [98:37]
David Lees
Amen. Offensive defense. We need them both.
- [98:38]
David Bleez
All right, so when we come back, we got more great stuff. And also we want to give a shout out to our sponsor preborn. A $28 sonogram or ultrasound can save the lives of a newborn which may be otherwise aborted. So thank you so much for the sponsors today and we'll be right back with you.
- [98:56]
Choir/Vocalist
Amen. Amen. Wow.
- [99:00]
Michelle Backus
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I am so thankful to be here. I can't help but think of the Psalms when it says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
- [99:14]
Choir/Vocalist
Amen.
- [99:15]
Michelle Backus
God, we come before you today and we're so thankful to stand here today in our nation's capital and bless your holy name, God, as we rededicate ourselves to one nation under God. I pray that your spirit would fall on this place, God. I pray that every heart would be captivated by your glory. God fix our eyes on you, Jesus. Take away all distractions and let it just be about you. For your name and your renown is the desire of our souls. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
- [99:47]
Choir/Vocalist
Amen.
- [99:49]
Michelle Backus
What an incredible opportunity it is to just have a day in our country dedicated to the Lord. How many of you are grateful for that? I want to take us back to a story in the Old Testament. It's in Second Kings, chapter 22. And it's a really powerful story because it's a moment in history where a nation was being rededicated to God. And it was by a king who might have been a little unlikely, because this king, his name was Josiah. And when he became king, he was only 8 years old. And he became king at 8 years old because the generations before him had led the nation so far away from God, it became such an ungodly place. Everyone was doing things that was right in their own eyes. And so they had gotten rid of his father and thought, even the eight year old will be a better fit for king than his father was. And so Josiah at 8 years old became king. And that's where we're going to pick up in this story. In 2nd Kings 22 it says Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedida. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And he walked in the ways of David, his father. And he didn't turn to the right or the left. Now this is really amazing because his father didn't do that, his grandfather didn't do that. But he had heard about his father David. He had heard about this man after God's own heart. And he knew that David led a nation under the hand of God. And Josiah thought, we need to be a nation under the hand of God. I want to do things like David. Because when the, you know, when the nation was under David, it was under God, it was blessed. And so Josiah started simple things that 16 and then go on to 26 and he begins to clean the temple out because he's like, we got to get rid of all this destruction that's been done to the temple over these years. And so they begin to purge the temple of all the ungodliness. And as they cleaned the temple, the high priest Hilkiah actually rediscovered the lost word of God. The word of God had literally been lost on generations because of how evil they had turned, but yet it was rediscovered in this time. And the high priest brings the lost word of God to Josiah and he begins to read the word of God. And as he read the law of the Lord, it says that this king Josiah tore his clothes in repentance before the Lord. He couldn't believe how far away the nation had got from the intention that God had really laid out for it. And he thought, we got to get back to how it was meant to be. And so he said, we got to go inquire of the Lord. And with repentant hearts they went to the Lord and asked for God's forgiveness on their land. They wanted to be a nation that rededicated themselves to God. But they knew they needed the forgiveness of God. And out of God's goodness and kindness, God forgave them. And he said, there will be peace back on your land. And out of the gratitude of Josiah's heart, he began to rededicate the nation to the Lord. And this is what it says in 2nd Kings 23. Then the king sent. And all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went to the house of the Lord and with all of the men in Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, all the people great and small, he read in the hearing all of the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and he made a covenant before the Lord to walk with the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his stature, with all of his heart, with all of his soul, and to perform all the words of the covenant that were written. And all the people that day joined Josiah in a covenant to the Lord. That was a nation under God. That was a nation with a radical transformation, because they came to the Lord with repentant hearts and said, God, we want to have this the way that you intended it to be. God, we want your hand on this nation. And I just wanted to read that story today because what a blessing it is that the Word of the Lord is not lost in our day. What a blessing it is that we stand in our nation's capital and I get to hold up a Bible in the air. What a blessing it is to live with that kind of freedom. But although the physical copy of the Word has not been lost on us, I do wonder sometimes, has it been lost on us? Has the value of the Word been lost on us? Has the awe and the wonder that we are one nation under God been lost on us? Have we forgotten what a blessing it is? Have we forgotten the cost it would be to not be a nation under God? Has the Word been lost on us? I want to tell you a testimony of my grandfather, Phil Robertson. He went on to be with the Lord this last year. But his testimony is one that's inspired me because his testimony is one that the Word of God got lost on him. He was in his 20s. He was married man with three boys at the time. My father was one of them. And the word of God got lost on him. He was living A life to please his own desires. He was pretty much doing anything and everything to just numb out his own pain. He was addicted to alcohol. He committed adultery against my grandmother. And he was actually. He owned a bar at the time. And one day, out of just the anger in his heart, got in a fight with a man. And because of that fight, it caused him to have to run from the law. So my grandfather, at one point of his life, was running from the law, running from his family, running from all the pain of the world, and he was running from God. Now, I'm going to stop there in that story for a second, because if you know of my grandfather's legacy, that's not the legacy he left behind. You can't hardly think of my grandfather without my grandmother and their 50 plus years of marriage. There are four boys that they raise who are incredible men, 19 grandkids. I'm one of them. Clearly, his legacy didn't end the way that it started. So you ask yourself, how did something that started so bad turn out so good? I want to take a minute to tell you about this word today that you might have heard, this jubilee, this concept of a jubilee. Because today we celebrate that. And the concept of jubilee actually comes from Leviticus 25. And it's something that's important to our nation. These words in Leviticus 25 are literally engraved in our Liberty Bell. And this is what it says in Leviticus 25:10. It says, and you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land and its inhabitants. It will be a jubilee for you. And each of you will return to its property, and each of you will return to your family. Family. God was laying out this idea of a jubilee to the people of Israel. And he was saying, Every 50 years, there's going to be a national reset. All debt is going to be canceled, all slaves are going to be free, all people are going to return to their family. And there's not going to be an opportunity for generational poverty to continue. This is what the Lord set before the people. But as you can imagine, logistically that is a crazy thing to set forth before a people. How does everyone return to their family? How is all debt paid? How could this possibly happen? And people wonder, did a jubilee ever actually happen the way that God intended it to happen? Because that kind of sounds logistically impossible. And maybe you wonder that today we're here in this beautiful place, doing this amazing thing, but could it really be a jubilee for our nation? Could it really be that we turn to the Lord. Could it really be a rededication? And I want to tell you that the jubilee was actually fulfilled in its fullness in Luke 4. In Luke 4 it says that Jesus returned to Nazareth, where he was from, and he had been brought up there. And it was his custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Jesus that day. And he unrolled the scroll and he found the place where it is written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering the sight to the blind. And he set at liberty those who were oppressed. And to proclaim the year of the Lord's freedom. Jesus basically said, this is what the Spirit of the Lord has been upon me to do. And this is the jubilee. This is the year of the Lord's freedom. This is the good news to the poor. This is to proclaim liberty to the captives. And as he rolled up the scroll that day, and he gave it back to the attendants and sat down and said, all the eyes of the synagogue were on Jesus. And Jesus says these words today. This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. I am the jubilee. I set the captives free. I give good news to the poor. I give sight to the blind. That's the anointing on me. And so I have good news today. You don't have to wait 50 years for it to happen again. You don't have to wait for anyone. You just have to surrender your life to Jesus. And in surrendering your life to Jesus, that's the greatest news on this world. That our one nation under God, that God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that if we believe in him, we will not perish and we will have eternal life. The good news today is my grandfather is experiencing that eternal life. But the even better news is he didn't have to wait for heaven to get to that eternal life. Heaven started here on earth when he gave his life to Jesus. And I'll tell you what happened in my grandpa's life. He did the hard thing, like the jubilee says, and he went back to his family, back to the people that he sinned against, back to the people that he hurt. And he humbled himself and he asked for forgiveness. Just like Josiah asked for forgiveness unto the Lord, just like we as a nation asked for forgiveness. My grandfather went back to his family after finding forgiveness in Christ and being baptized publicly, making a church declaration, he went back to his wife and asked forgiveness from her. And because she was also a woman under God, walking with the Lord, she was able to offer my grandfather the forgiveness that only you can find in Jesus. And those two people raised a family under God, one man under God, one family under God. And it actually was able to impact a nation for the glory of God through my family's TV show, where we put prayed to Jesus in every single episode that we had. But my dad always says, even if it never touched a nation, even if my father's repentant heart and his radical transformation in Christ was just for our family alone to experience revival, then it was worth it. And so I want to encourage you today, this day is not just about rededicating our nation to God, but rededicate yourself to the Lord. Rededicate your family to the Lord. And in doing so, one person under God, one family under God, it will lead to a nation under God. It's a powerful thing that Josiah was able to read out the entire scripture and the entire law. But I'll say this. Jesus Christ sums it up into these simple things. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And if you do that, the world will change. You say, that's too simple. That's what Jesus said. That's how he lived, and it changes the world. I want to end with what Joshua said. Joshua urged a nation to come under God, the one true God of heaven. And they said, we want to do that, Joshua. We want to do a covenant just like you're doing. And he said, no, no, you can't just say you're going to commit yourself to the Lord because God's a jealous God. You can't say, I'm going to, you know, trust in God, then have all these other gods. He said, you actually have to commit yourself to the Lord if you're going to say those words. And so I just want to say today, as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord, and I hope you will, too. Praise God. Thank you.
- [111:48]
David Bleez
That was Sadie Robinson Huff from Duck Dynasty fame. And something that I read a quote from her about a month ago or so, was she talking about putting her kids on TV and how she felt about that and the risks of doing that? But she told her mother, I want to show that, because I want to show how I raised my kid is how my mother, you, mom complimented me growing up and took care of all the things. And I think about that with my own kids and grandkids, how I see my kids interact with their kids. It's a very special moment. But she's had some struggles. She had a baby that had some, you know, issues, medical issues, and the mother helped her through that. And what a strong family. Right, Michelle? And she talks about not being afraid to spread the word.
- [112:38]
Michelle Backus
Yeah, yeah, definitely a strong family. And I think we all know in times of turbulence, it's very easy to turn to faith, and she obviously stressed that as well. But it's also important to talk about faith in times of good. Right. Times of happiness, when you're not asking God to grant your prayers. And I think that's extremely important. She has a really successful podcast, actually. And what a great role model for younger women. I. I don't think we have a lot of those right now. We have Cardi B. Yeah.
- [113:06]
David Bleez
And she's 28. She's a young woman, and she's very strong. Right. Strong family.
- [113:10]
Michelle Backus
Well, and. And that's the issue. Right. You have society saying that young women aren't going to be fulfilled as mothers. I'll tell you what, one of my best friends had an unexpected pregnancy, and she said it's the best thing that's ever happened to her. I have a million stories like that. But it goes to show she's a great role model for this generation and younger women.
- [113:27]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah.
- [113:28]
David Lees
When it goes back to the understanding that we are responsible for our families first. I mean, even the New Testament talks about how to choose an elder, a leader of a. Of a church. And one of the stipulations is they have to have one wife, and they have to have a household where the children are growing up and honoring the Lord, because then what it says is, if they can't manage their own family, how could they manage the family of God? How could they manage the church? And that was brought into the early foundations of our nation, too.
- [114:00]
David Bleez
And, David, before we go to Ben out in the field again, I wanted to ask you. You know, there was this struggle the founding fathers had between the Age of Enlightenment, which believed God is the Creator and the divine power, but didn't interfere. And what. They weren't revelational, you know, and my question to you is, and they balance this document, Right. They crafted the constitution that remains secular, but also address the religious freedoms and have this framework that incorporates the Judeo Christian ethic.
- [114:30]
Choir/Vocalist
And.
- [114:31]
David Bleez
And when she was talking about up there, you know, does God intervene? Right. And if you have a child who's struggling. How do you explain to somebody that, you know, life takes its course regardless of your faith?
- [114:45]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah.
- [114:45]
Worship Leader
Yeah.
- [114:46]
David Lees
I think it's nearly impossible to read the Bible and say that God doesn't intervene, but he doesn't always intervene the way that we want him to intervene. I believe it was James Madison, but it might have been John Quincy Adams that said, all I'm supposed to do is to honor God and do what Scripture tells me to do. And God takes the outcome, so he will intervene. But how he intervenes is not up to us. We're just called to be good stewards. We're called to be faithful. They did have this early rest, wrestling with, you know, the. The Enlightenment. They were influenced a lot by French literature, but they also had this biblical value. The problem is, a lot of us, we read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, and the Bible verses go right over our head.
- [115:24]
Yaakov Boyens
We have no idea.
- [115:25]
David Lees
We just think they're, you know, beautiful sayings about. About law. But they were grabbing all of these things from the Old Testament. I mean, that Isaiah 50 talks about that God is lawgiver, he is judge, he is kings. That's the three branches of government. They saw that in Isaiah, the. The, you know, two witnesses in due process. That's out of Leviticus. So they were grabbing all of these things. Everyone would have read that document back in the day and been like, this is a. This is based on Scripture. We read it today completely biblically illiterate, and we're like, wow, what a cool secular document. You're like, it's not a secular document. It was written with that tension in mind. But it's truly a document that's based on some foundational biblical principles.
- [116:06]
David Bleez
Yeah, Michelle, maybe repentance is a form of that intervention. Like when Andrew Dean said he survived 9, 11, and he didn't live the righteous life before that, but afterwards he made up for it and joined the Cornerstone Church.
- [116:19]
Gary Hamrick
Right.
- [116:19]
David Bleez
And maybe there's a calling and that's the intervention, right?
- [116:23]
Michelle Backus
Yeah. Well, everyone's journey is different, Right. We've all spoken to people that have found God in extreme, seemingly dark times and have been able to turn their lives around. That's a really great example of that. But it is important, that first step, right? Asking for repentance, believing God, accepting God into your life. And. And that's why I think it's so important what we're doing here today, what we're doing as a nation, honoring God and getting back to a day of prayer.
- [116:46]
This is important.
- [116:47]
Our country is healing Right, right.
- [116:50]
David Bleez
So we have Ben Berkwam out in the field again with some more great guests. Ben, what do you got?
- [116:56]
David Lees
I think Ben's taking a photo right
- [116:58]
Michelle Backus
now that is not local.
- [117:01]
That is a national celebrity, guys.
- [117:03]
David Lees
But he is there with my, I believe my boss Jenny story with patriot mobile.
- [117:08]
Jason Rapert
Are you with Jenny?
- [117:09]
Ben Berkwam
God bless you.
- [117:10]
David Bleez
There he is.
- [117:10]
Ben Berkwam
Before I come to you, hang on one second. Look at these beautiful, beautiful Americans over here. Real quick, I just want to get. What's your name? Where are you from?
- [117:18]
Michelle Backus
I'm Kathy Moore from, from Butler, Pennsylvania.
- [117:21]
David Lees
Oh, God bless you, Butler.
- [117:22]
Michelle Backus
We were there. We were there.
- [117:24]
Choir/Vocalist
We were there.
- [117:25]
Worship Leader
Praise the lord.
- [117:26]
Ben Berkwam
God's hand over President.
- [117:27]
Michelle Backus
13 rows back. We meet in my house to pray every Wednesday night. And we were all there praying that day.
- [117:34]
David Lees
Wow.
- [117:35]
Michelle Backus
J13, right.
- [117:37]
So this is our assignment for today
- [117:38]
Mood.com Spokesperson
is to be here.
- [117:39]
Ben Berkwam
Amen. God bless you.
- [117:41]
Michelle Backus
I'm Denise Tabacki. I'm also from Butler. I'm running for state committee as well. If you want to vote for America first bible first they could go.
- [117:50]
Choir/Vocalist
Oh, that's a tough one.
- [117:52]
Michelle Backus
Facebook, you know, go to the BCRC page. Bcrcpa. I'm the internal vice chair of Butler county republican committee. Hi, I'm Madeline Petras. I'm from Butler, pa. Ii. I was also there in Butler on
- [118:06]
Mood.com Spokesperson
that faithful day and I'm on staff at victory family church in.
- [118:10]
Martha Stewart
Okay.
- [118:11]
Michelle Backus
I'm Judy bookhammer. I'm her sister and I'm not from
- [118:14]
Speaker at Event
Butler, but I'm from Clearfield, Pennsylvania which is near Penn state state college.
- [118:18]
Mood.com Spokesperson
I'm a high school math teacher that
- [118:19]
Michelle Backus
leads bible study and prayer and worship in a public school. Hi, my name is Alyssa Preston and I'm an educator in Sewickley, Pennsylvania at a small Christian school.
- [118:31]
So doing the lord's work every day
- [118:35]
Ben Berkwam
in our education. And we need more patriots in our.
- [118:38]
David Bleez
Absolutely.
- [118:39]
Ben Berkwam
In congress and in our country.
- [118:40]
David Bleez
I'm Joe Kaufman. I'm running for u. S. Congress in Florida's new District 25 from, from Boca Raton down to Miami Beach. I'm proud to be here with my, with my Christian brothers and sisters. I myself am Jewish, but I, I love the fact that our founders, our
- [118:57]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
founders were Christian and they founded this
- [118:59]
David Bleez
country on, on Judeo Christian values. And we need to stay that way because Judeo Christian values mean freedom for the, for the west. Overseas you have communism and socialism that frowns our religion. But you know what?
- [119:13]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
They also frown on freedom.
- [119:14]
David Bleez
So we need to stick together and
- [119:16]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
spread freedom throughout our country.
- [119:18]
David Bleez
America, thank you so much.
- [119:20]
Ben Berkwam
God bless Israel. And God bless America. On that note, let me come over to Jenny. We're going to get back on stage here in just a minute. I'm rocking the Patriot Mobile hat.
- [119:27]
Martha Stewart
Oh, I love it.
- [119:28]
Ben Berkwam
I love it. We've got David Belise up on stage with us. How important is today for your family, for America, for your company?
- [119:35]
Michelle Backus
It's amazing. You know, everyone is being knitted together.
- [119:38]
Mood.com Spokesperson
I was at a prayer house last
- [119:39]
Michelle Backus
night and we were all talking about being watchmen on the wall.
- [119:42]
Mood.com Spokesperson
All of us, from the least to
- [119:44]
Michelle Backus
the most, we all have something to
- [119:45]
Mood.com Spokesperson
do to build this kingdom and to
- [119:47]
Michelle Backus
bring the United States back to the reality that this is a Christian country. Right? And we are just so excited and so blessed to be here. We waited in a long line and we're so. We want to get up there and start watching everything. It is an incredible event. Look at the lines behind us. Look at how many people have come here just to celebrate our Christian heritage.
- [120:05]
Mood.com Spokesperson
I mean, this is wonderful. So thank you for having me on,
- [120:08]
Michelle Backus
but I'm running to my seat because
- [120:09]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
I want to go start watching it.
- [120:12]
Ben Berkwam
God bless you. God bless Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile use promo code RAV but again, today is about Jesus and supporting companies, though, that support the values you believe in.
- [120:20]
Michelle Backus
Thank you so much, guys.
- [120:22]
Ben Berkwam
All right, I'm going to keep them. Hang tight real quick. I promised these guys over here I was going to come over and talk to them before we go. Okay. I just want to get. What's your name? Where are you guys from?
- [120:30]
Michelle Backus
My name is Savannah angel and we are from Rome, Georgia.
- [120:34]
Ben Berkwam
I love it.
- [120:34]
Michelle Backus
Yep.
- [120:35]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Beautiful day.
- [120:35]
Ben Berkwam
You came out just for this?
- [120:36]
Michelle Backus
Yes, just for this.
- [120:37]
Mood.com Spokesperson
Yeah.
- [120:38]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Rededicate the country to God.
- [120:39]
David Lees
That's right.
- [120:40]
Ben Berkwam
Raising your kids right?
- [120:41]
Michelle Backus
Yep. That's right. That's right.
- [120:43]
Steve Rice
Enoch.
- [120:44]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Yes.
- [120:47]
Steve Rice
My name is Mark Love. I'm from Bunker Hill, West Virginia.
- [120:49]
David Bleez
My wife and son Mark are over there as well. Came out just for this, for sure.
- [120:55]
Ben Berkwam
Lynchburg, Virginia, about three hours south of here.
- [120:57]
David Bleez
Really happy to be here. Really happy to rededicate the country to God. Really, really awesome. Well, only Jesus can save the world, so I'm really, really happy to be here and really, really happy to. To be putting all this into. Into God. So. Excellent.
- [121:15]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
Anyone else?
- [121:16]
Ben Berkwam
Where are you from? What is today? Philly?
- [121:18]
Chris Wiley
Philadelphia.
- [121:19]
Ben Berkwam
Talk about a place about our founding, but also that needs Jesus again, huh?
- [121:22]
Michelle Backus
Absolutely. And it's my birthday, so I feel.
- [121:25]
Martha Stewart
Happy birthday.
- [121:26]
Worship Leader
What's your name?
- [121:26]
Michelle Backus
Suzanne.
- [121:27]
Ben Berkwam
Well, on behalf of our entire audience, millions of people across America, we just want to say happy birthday.
- [121:33]
David Bleez
Suzanne, thank you.
- [121:33]
Michelle Backus
And I'm thrilled to be here today.
- [121:35]
Paula White
Amen.
- [121:35]
Michelle Backus
It's a beautiful event.
- [121:36]
Worship Leader
Amen.
- [121:37]
Ben Berkwam
God bless you.
- [121:37]
Michelle Backus
Thank you. Yes, absolutely.
- [121:39]
David Bleez
All right.
- [121:39]
Ben Berkwam
Well, guys, it just keeps going. We're going to keep talking. I had one more wait. One more lady over here waiting. I've met you before.
- [121:45]
Michelle Backus
Yes, we've met because I'm the Texas director for Rare Foundation. Rise, align, ignite, reclaim. This is a rebirth of America moment. It's the finest moment for the church, especially the church in America. It's time to arise, shine, for your light has come. For the glory of the Lord has risen upon you and me. And we're going to take our identity
- [122:03]
David Bleez
in Christ and stand and position ourselves
- [122:05]
Michelle Backus
for such a time as this while
- [122:07]
Martha Stewart
he does the battle for us.
- [122:08]
Speaker at Event
In Jesus name.
- [122:10]
Ben Berkwam
Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. God bless America. By the way, you guys are talking about people that follow now. I'm drawing a blank on her name. Stacy. Gosh, everyone's gonna be mad at me.
- [122:20]
David Bleez
My.
- [122:20]
Senator Tim Scott
Wow.
- [122:21]
Ben Berkwam
Who was the last girl that was talking up on stage? Sadie. Sadie, my wife and my daughter Olivia. Happy birthday. And to my wife, beautiful wife, Billy and Chloe and Lillian, I love you. I'll see you soon. But they love Sadie as well. God bless you guys. We're gonna keep talking to folks as they're out here. Everyone's coming in. The line is incredible. I'm going to post that video in just a minute. Goes around the corner. They're coming through the security over here. This entire place is going to get filled up. It's just getting started. Goes till 8pm if you're anywhere in the area, I think you could still come out, Come here. Be a part of this. Rededicate America to God. Dave and Michelle, back to you.
- [122:55]
David Bleez
Thank you so much, Ben. And we're going to go back to the stage to Pastor Gary Hamrick. He's a senior pastor at Cornerstone Chapel, one of a dozen pastors scheduled to speak today on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand
- [123:10]
Gary Hamrick
all other ground is sinking sand all
- [123:14]
David Bleez
other ground is sinking sand Friends, let us rebuild our lives and let us rededicate this nation on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- [123:25]
Dr. Robert Jeffress
God bless you.
- [123:26]
David Bleez
And God bless the United States of America.
- [123:50]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Dr. Robert Jeffress.
- [124:07]
David Bleez
Thank you.
- [124:09]
Dr. Robert Jeffress
In March of 1776, as the American colonies stood on the brink of war against the most powerful empire in the world, it was the second Continental Congress that called for a day of fasting and prayer. The day would be May 17, 1776. Exactly 250 years ago today. It would be a day, our forefathers said, when we would call on God. It would be a day that we would repent of our sins. It was a day that we would boldly ask God to give us victory over our enemies. As my friend Gary Bauer notes, these leaders who loved our country and loved our God would be called Christian nationalists today. And it is a title they would have gladly embraced. By the way, if being a Christian nationalist means loving Jesus Christ and loving America, count me. They were bold about their Christianity. They weren't ashamed of it. They knew that it was their Christian faith that compelled them to love this great country and those who resided in it. And it was their Christian faith that made our forefathers realize that the fate of our nation did not rest alone in the strength of our armies, but in the power of our God. A few months after that day of fasting and prayer, on the eve of America's independence in July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, and he predicted that this would be the most memorable epic in the history of America and that there should be annual celebrations that would include pomp and parade, sports and shows, but it would also include sacred acts of devotion to Almighty God. 250 years later, we are here to fulfill that vision. Our great president, President Donald Trump, has planned a year of celebration as we have a time of sports and shows and pomp and parade, nobody can plan a party better than President Trump. But President Trump also wisely believed that this celebration should begin with those sacred acts of devotion to Almighty God. And that is why he is the one who has called us together today to rededicate our lives to God. The President believes that we need God. You and I believe that we need God individually and together as a nation. And may I tell you a secret that the left does not want you to know. Our forefathers knew they needed God as well, and they weren't too proud to admit it. Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin? He said, the longer I live, the more I see convincing proofs that God governs the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God's notice, can an empire rise without his aid? Except the Lord build the house those who labor, labor in vain. We need God. Why do we need God? Listen to me. Today is not just a day to remember history. It is a day to remember the hand that wrote our history, the hand of Almighty God. It was God who guided our forefathers. The same God, who promises to give us guidance if we will ask Him. The same God who gave us victory over our enemies in the past. Promises to give us victory today if we will depend upon Him. And the same God who breathed life into this country 250 years ago. That same God promises to raise us to new heights if we will rededicate ourselves to Him. What does it mean for us as a nation to rededicate ourself to God? How does a rededication like that take place? The same way it happened 250 years ago. It starts with a prayer. It starts with you. It starts with me. My predecessor at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, the late W.A. criswell, said it this way. He said, I am a part of a nation, maybe a small part, but I'm a part of a nation. And the nation cannot repent unless I repent. The America cannot be saved. The nation cannot be saved unless I am saved. And America cannot rededicate herself to God unless I rededicate myself to God. The fire, the flame, the devotion must begin in my heart. Some of you may remember that years ago we used to sing a little chorus. A little chorus that went like this. Lord, send a revival Lord, send a revival Lord, send a revival and let
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Mint Mobile Spokesperson
it begin in me.
- [129:47]
Speaker at Event
That is the hope.
- [129:48]
Dr. Robert Jeffress
That is the prayer of every Christian who loves God and loves America. May God bless you. And may God continue to bless these United States of America.
- [130:03]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Thank you very much.
- [130:22]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Dr. Carlos Campo.
- [130:37]
Gary Hamrick
When Joshua stood before the formidable walls of Jericho, he learned that the greatest weapons are not forged by human hands. But given by God. An ancient ram's horn. The word of the Lord and the shout of faithful people. Proved more powerful than any fortress. The walls did not fall by human strength. They fell through faith, obedience and the power of God. Today, standing here on the National Mall, we declare no wall, no weapon formed of hatred, division, violence or despair. Can ultimately stand against the purposes of the Almighty God. In a time that's too often marked by rancor and division. We pray today that the walls separating neighbor from neighbor, nation from nation and heart from heart. Will come tumbling down. Not through anger, but through truth, humility, justice, love and peace. And may future generations say that in our day, on this day, God once again brought down the walls that tried to to divide his people. So let's count it down and shout Hallelujah. 3, 2, 1. Are you ready to make a shout unto the Lord? Three, two, one.
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Worship Leader
God bless you.
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Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the Stage the United States Air Force Band Ceremonial brass.
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Choir/Vocalist
Sa.
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Event Host/Announcer
I am honored to stand before you 250 years to the day since May 17, 1776, when 13American colonies came together to observe the first national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. Normally I am heard backstage introducing the many stellar guests like you have seen today here in Washington. But I've been asked to step out from behind the curtain, so to speak, to read the official original proclamation issued by the Continental Congress. And it was drafted by New Jersey delegate William Livingston all those years ago. And I'm going to read it in the language style of the period. In times of impending calamity and distress, when the liberties of America are imminently endangered by the secret machinations and open assaults of an insidious and vindictive administration, it becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart and the most reverent devotion publicly to acknowledge the overruling providence of God, to confess and deplore our offenses against him, and to supplicate his interpositions for averting the threat of danger and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue and posterity. The Congress, therefore, considering the warlike preparations of the British ministry to subvert our invaluable rights and privileges and to reduce us by fire and sword, by the savages of the wilderness and our own domestics to those abject ignominious bondage desirous at the same time to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God's superintending providence, and of their duty devoutly to rely in all their lawful enterprises on his aid and direction, do earnestly recommend that Friday, the 17th day of May next be observed by the said colonies as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, that we may, with united hearts confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life appease his righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness, humbly imploring his assistance to frustrate the cruel purposes of our unnatural enemies, and by inclining their hearts to justice and benevolence, prevent the further effusion of kindred blood. But if, continuing deaf to the voice of reason and humanity and inflexibly bent on desolation and war, they constrain us to repel their hostile invasions by open resistance, that it may please the Lord of hosts, the God of Armies to animate our officers and soldiers with invincible fortitude, to guard and protect them in the day of battle, and to crown the continental arms by sea and land with victory and success. Earnestly beseeching him to bless our civil rulers and the representatives of the people in their several assemblies and conventions, to preserve and strengthen their union, to inspire them with an ardent, disinterested love of their country, to give wisdom and stability to their councils and direct them to the most efficacious measures for establishing the rights of America on the most honorable and permanent basis. That he would be graciously pleased to bless all his people in these colonies with health and plenty. And grant that a spirit of incorruptible patriotism and pure, undefiled religion may universally prevail and this continent be speedily restored to the blessings of peace and liberty and then able to transmit them inviolate to the latest posterity. And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for public worship and abstain from servile labor on the said day. This said by our founding fathers 250 years ago today, may we carry forward in the same spirit of humility and courage, trusting in providence as one nation under God.
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Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Thank you.
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Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Eric Bataxas.
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Mint Mobile Spokesperson
Praise God. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah. Once upon a time, there was a revolution. That's the first line of this new book, which I will not mention today. And I will not ask you to pre order this book today. Once upon a time, there was a revolution. Actually, it was exactly 250 years ago, but 250 years before that revolution, explorers who believed God had led them to this unknown continent came to this continent. When Columbus first reached the shores of the New World, his first act was prayer to the Lord of hosts. Praised be thy majesty, he said, which hath designed to use us thy humble servants, that thy holy names may be proclaimed in the second part of the Earth. 115 years later, English settlers landed in what is now Cape Henry, Virginia. Their first act, their first act was to erect a cross dedicating the land to God and consecrating themselves to the great commission of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Hallelujah. The Bible says, blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord. And no other nation is blessed but that nation whose God is the Lord. When the people of a nation make a covenant with God and honor him, God is faithful. We are doing that today again to rededicate this nation to the Lord of hosts. God's faithfulness was never more evident than in the year 1776, when a group of men created a nation based on the biblical idea that we are all created equal by God. On this very day, 250 years ago, you know this day is history. Today, 250 years ago today, there was a great proclamation. You've heard it. And on this day, 250 years ago, George Washington was in New York City, where I live. And that day he was preparing to face the British. He was unable to know where the enemy were going to strike, so he split his army between Manhattan and Brooklyn. And soon thereafter, the British landed. And at the end of August, they struck. They managed to find a weakness in Washington's lines. They marched through the night. They output flanked the American army, and they routed the American troops. When it was over that day, Washington had his back to the East River. His army and the cause of liberty faced certain annihilation. That is no exaggeration. You can study it, you can read it. You need to know. This is no exaggeration. They were about to be wiped out, and the cause of liberty was about to be wiped out. So the next night, Washington ordered a desperate retreat across the East River. It was desperate. Through darkness and rain, soldiers were ferried across in small boats, back and forth, back and forth, hour after hour. But as dawn approached, thousands of men remained. There hadn't been time to get them across. The sun is rising. At first light, the British will surely see them and destroy them. But then God. But then God did something. Just as the sun was rising, a strange and impenetrable fog settled over the British and American lines. Suddenly. Suddenly, the escaping Americans were as invisible as if it were still night. For three hours, the fog held and allowed every last American to cross over the river into safety. Ladies and gentlemen, that happened. That is not Christian history. That is American history. And just when the final soldier arrived safely in Manhattan, the fog lifted. Many at the time knew it was a miracle. Because of it, Washington's army was miraculously saved and the cause of independence was still alive. Praise God, folks, that is history. You need to teach that to your children. That happened. But in the months that followed this great event, the British continued to press their very great advantage. Washington's army, as it is retreating through New Jersey toward the Delaware, dwindled and dwindled and dwindled in size. Food and clothing were in short supply. On December 31, many enlistments of the remaining 3,000 exhausted men. Do you understand what a small army it is at that point 3,000 exhausted men, many of them. Their enlistments would expire and even more would go home at the first of the new year. So on December 31st, Washington thought, I must do something. What can I do? What can we do? He desperately hoped that what he called a bold stroke before New Year's might somehow keep hope alive. Somehow. So on Christmas night, his entire army rode across the correct rode across the Delaware River. They struggled bitterly with gigantic flows of ice. Two of the forces that he was going to merge with never made it across the river. And his force, the main force, was in fact delayed by the ice. Struggling and struggling, delayed for four hours, destroying Washington's plans to surprise the Hessians at dawn. Surprise was everything. But what could Washington do? They marched and they marched. After crossing, they marched the nine miles through the sleet and the snowstorm to Trenton. Two men froze to death. But finally, at 9am Washington gave the order and the Continental army attacked. But because of the snowstorm at that hour, the Hessians were nonetheless surprised and completely overwhelmed. Washington took 900 prisoners that day. Not a single American life was lost in the battle. Suddenly, against every expectation, suddenly, against all odds, the flame of freedom that again had appeared extinguished, suddenly burned brighter than ever. Praise the Lord. The cause of liberty still lived, as we know, time and again thereafter, as hope was lost and darkness closed in, Providence, which is to say the God of the Bible, intervened. As Washington said over and over and over, Providence intervened and the sacred cause endured. Trusting the Lord is how America came into being. Washington knew it. John Adams knew it. They all knew it. Even Benjamin Franklin knew it. Trusting the Lord was the only way forward for the sacred cause of liberty and for America. And it's hard not to notice as we tell these stories, how often God's Providence came through water. Somehow in the Bible, water, of course, has overwhelming significance. Through the waters of the flood, God cleansed the earth. God led his chosen people through the waters of the Red Sea. And in the waters of baptism, God gives us new and eternal life. We can see God's hand every time our nation was saved, through water on the east river or over the Delaware, through rain and fog, through snow and ice. And when our nation was still young, three decades after the Revolution ended, the cause of liberty once again would triumph where the fire of rockets and the water of the Chesapeake met. It was 30 years after we won our independence. The British challenged us again in the War of 1812, burning parts of that city named after George Washington. You may be familiar with that city. They burned parts of the city, including the White House, which at that time, if you can believe it, did not yet have a ballroom. Yes, it's hard to believe that it would take two centuries for the Lord to raise up a great man, to bring that ballroom finally to stand where it needs to stand. It's extraordinary. We all had to wait 200 years. So after they burned the White House, which I may have mentioned did not at that time have a ballroom, the British turned their attentions to Baltimore and Fort McHenry. Perhaps you heard about it. Francis Scott Key watched the British assault and wrote a rather famous song about what he saw. Now, look, we rarely hear the last verse of that song. I don't think we'll hear it today. But. But in that last verse of the song, Francis Gottke calls America a heaven rescued land. And he praises the God who made our nation and preserved it. And he says in that song, and this be our motto. In God is our trust. That is our motto. It will be proclaimed again and again today and in future generations. As you know, the song that says, in God is our trust is called the Star Spangled Banner. America came into being because we trusted God. We've continued these 250 years for the same reason. We will only continue because we trust God. Our national anthem is a testimony to God's faithfulness. And now it is my great pleasure to introduce two time Tony nominee Laura Osnes and the Joint Armed Forces Color Guard to perform the Star Spangled Banner. God bless you.
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Choir/Vocalist
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we h At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O' er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming and the rocket's red glare the bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there O say does that star spangled banner yet wait O' er the land of the free. And the home of the brave?
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Narrator/Announcer
You might have tracked the army from White Marsh to Valley Forge by the blood of their feet. Those were the words of General George Washington, writing to a fellow patriot. The year was 1777. In the snows of southeastern Pennsylvania, some 18 miles from Philadelphia, our soldiers marched without shoes. We had almost 3,000 men who were unfit for duty because they were barefoot. There was also a shortage of warm clothes and simple blankets. Other than eating a bland mix of flour and water that they called fire cake, General Washington's camp was also on the verge of famine. Even the horses were starving to death. The soldiers tried to build huts to sleep in, but many were developing dysentery and pneumonia, and so they didn't get very far. As the days grew colder, men began to desert. Some 2,000 died. At night, Washington retreated to a little stone house. There, by candlelight, he huddled with a couple of military aides. Earlier, the enemy had triumphed in the Battle of Brandywine, and the future of the battle for American independence appeared grim. Washington wrote to Congress. He said the army might starve, dissolve or disperse, and asked for their help. But there was little Congress could offer. General Washington and his unit in Valley Forge were, in essence, the only semblance of a working American government, and they seemed on the verge of collapse. Even General Washington's local pastor in Philadelphia had lost faith. In a letter to Washington, he wrote, your harbors are blocked. Your cities fall. One after another, battle after battle is lost. The pastor begged George Washington to surrender. Negotiate with the enemy, he advised. If you quit and ask for forgiveness from the king, your character will rise in the estimation of the virtuous and noble. It will appear with luster in the annals of history. Stop the bloodshed, the pastor implored. But George Washington did not lose faith. We know the painting of him at Valley Forge. One hangs in my office, kneeling in the deep snow, his hat and sword nearby, Washington bows his head. Amid all the bleak nights, the loss and despair, the lack of proper support, George Washington performed a profound act. He prayed and on this day of rededicate. 250. Let us follow George Washington's example. Let us pray as he did. Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee. And let us ask our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, as Washington did on that momentous day, so help us God. May God bless you. And may God continue to bless our great republic.
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David Bleez
We had a great rendition of the national anthem, but by Laura Ann Osnis, American actress and Broadway star known for South Pacific and Greece and other. Just a tremendous performance. And then we have Secretary of War Pete Hengseth, who's emphasized revitalizing the US Military and getting away from the spiritual guide and a secular mission back towards religion and letting the chaplain corps do their job. And it was just a fantastic speech about Valley Forge and the bravery of our. Our troops. But we want to get right now to Jason Raper from the American I'm sorry, National national association of Christian Lawmakers. Jason, I've interviewed in the past with you at cpac, and you guys have a really strong agenda, and I'm Sorry for fumbling your name of your organization there. I know you guys for a long time. Tell us about some of the things you have on the agenda.
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Jason Rapert
Well, first of all, one of the main things, and this is a voice of what we've put out in a recent book that we got on the table here, is that we believe it's time to do what we can to save this nation. And part of that is rededicating this nation back to God. And so, as you know, the NACL is made up of local, state and federal elected officials, officials across the entire country. And we're very happy that many of our people are here today. We have Representative Reagan Paul from Maine that is here physically today. Pastor Lorenzo Sewell is on our advisory board. He'll be praying at the end of the day today. And many some people asked me about this as we were coming in today, David. They said, you know, why is it important to be here? Well, the Bible says blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord. The Declaration of Independence, which is part of the celebration. Very specifically, our founding fathers said we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, of which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. They literally then went on to call God three different times in that document. Divine providence, the supreme judge of the world, and nature's God. So when you think about it, when they laid out the first missional scheme statement of the United States of America, it incorporated God specifically. And this day is an answer to prayer. You know, the NACL has been out there for several years and we have been asking for God to send us a president that would stand in the Oval Office or in the West Wing and declare that we are one nation under God. And you know what I got to witness earlier this year at the prayer breakfast, Donald Trump. And it wasn't scripted. I don't think nobody knew he was about to say it. He said we are going to come together and have a day of rededication of this nation back to God. And now thousands of people from all over this nation have come here today. You're witnessing it right here today. Leader after leader getting up, faith leaders and preachers standing up to say that, yes, we are resurrecting that, if you will, that missional, foundational statement, statement that we are one nation under God.
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David Bleez
So good.
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David Lees
Will you talk a little bit about what the NACL does and who, whose hands this book is in right now?
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Jason Rapert
Absolutely. So the NACL is the only faith based, paralegislative organization. All the policy folks out here will know when you think of ALEC and NCSL and csg, etc, these are. These are the. These are the entities where people go learn. What can I go home and file in my home jurisdiction? What can I walk into the well of the Senate and offer? And so we saw a void there. I served for 12 years in the Arkansas Senate. I carried the nation's first heartbeat bill that was passed in March of 2013. And so as I was there when I began to get attacked, I said, where is this national association of Christian Lawmakers? Associations for everything. So my customers, Huckabee said, you gotta do it. Tony Perkins said, this is an entity whose time has come. And so we just cast the vision. In 2020, we launched. We now have local, state and federal elected officials across the entire country. And they have eight standing committees. And those committees meet just like a mobile legislature. They take testimony. They're wrangling the most important issues that are facing the country today. And they do it from openly, from a biblical worldview. And so what are some of those things? Pro life legislation, human trafficking legislation to stop human trafficking, and the Judea Samaria act that's been passed in three states in the last year and a half. That's an NACL model law. So we're working hard to try to reinvigorate what those founders said. So this book has actually got 18 authors of the NACL. My cuckoldy is the very first chapter. Dedication is to Charlie Kirk. David. And in December 24th, I got to hand Charlie Kirk the American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage from the nacl, Maybe the last award that he got to receive while he was alive. So you've got John Hagee wrote the chapter on Israel. Congressman Bob McEwen's in here, Representative John McCravey of South Carolina, on and on. And these are voices. And what we're saying is that in order to save this nation, we have got to recapture the spirit of 1776 and address these issues. And so we believe that today is an important day. People are going to look back on this day. Just as they cited Abraham Lincoln when he called upon God in the Civil War, just as they cite George Washington for having that initial prayer, they're going to cite Donald John Trump for having said, we're rededicating this nation back to God. And I can assure you this, when those people absolutely respond, this is actually a spiritual movement, too. When you see that sweep this nation, then you're going to have people running for office that exude those godly qualities. That we believe is necessary to save the country.
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David Lees
Come on.
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David Bleez
Yeah, Ben, you know, I know how much their agenda has meant to so many pieces of legislation and how do we go forward?
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Ben Berkwam
Well, yeah, I mean that, that's really it. This is, you know, we were talking about that earlier, that lie of the separation of church and state that so many have taken in. Talk to us about that. The critical, the fact that that is a lie. But how important it is for God fearing Christians to take back every layer of government in our country.
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Jason Rapert
Well, you know, we're. If you're a nation of the people, by the people, people and for the people, then our nation is reflected of the values of the people. And you mentioned separation of church and state. I, I've often said I'll pay anyone $10,000 to come and bring me any, any place in the Constitution that actually uses that phrase. It does not. And then they will say, oh well, it meant this. Well, you know what? The 13 colleagues, every single one actually invoked a godly leadership in those colonies. And so for, for this nation, when Thomas Jefferson wrote that letter to the Danbury Baptists. That is a letter. It's not a law. It was not a statute, it wasn't a resolution. It was a personal letter. Now who wants to have our nation guided by a personal letter? He was just trying to call them. He said, no, you're going to be fine. And he used that phrase. But I've guarantee you this person could come back from the grave today, he would fight you over using his personal letter. This is a man who hosted right at the end of this mall, he hosted actual prayer services and church services in the United States capital. So they often misquote that. What's happened is we've had a grave injustice in the United States and that is people trying to erase and wipe, wipe away all of the history and heritage of our country. There's a great book that was written in the 1860s during the Civil War by Benjamin Morris Franklin. And he actually wrote a book said the Christian character of the Civil institutions of the United States. It's a huge title, but it's basically a magnum opus of every single charter in Columbia colonial constitution in any state up to that time. To be honest, since we're talking modern times, I love David Barton and Tim Barton, be it Benjamin Franklin Morris was Barton of his era. And we're very grateful to have that sort of information helps us see those missional documents. Very important.
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Ben Berkwam
Yeah.
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David Bleez
Jason, I wanted to ask you, you know, you've been effective in affecting legislation out there. We're in a culture war. Right. In some ways, the younger movement is getting more conservative, but they're also doubling down on the left. Where do we stand in that fight? And like you said, it's been often misinterpreted. There is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. That's right. Right.
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Jason Rapert
That's exactly right. Well, it's interesting. I'll give you a right now thing that's going on in the country, which I love. 2015, I passed the Arkansas Ten Commandments Monument Act. 2017, we put up that monument. It's an exact copy of your monument in the state of Texas. We put that monument up 24 hours later, David, a man ran over that monument and he said that a voice told him to run over it. He ran over it, destroyed it. We got it back up in 18. The American Atheists, the American Humanist, the Freedom from Religion foundation, the ACLU and the Satanic Temple all sued the state of Arkansas. And I was deposed by all five of them. And they came against this. And if you go to the 2005 Van Orden vs Perry case that upheld the Ten Commandments in Texas, Justice Rehnquist gives you the strongest reasons. You walk into the Supreme Court chamber down at the end of this block, you're going to walk up to the two doors leading into the chamber. The Ten Commandments are etched on the bottom of those doors. And we're putting up, we just put up a new Ten Commandments monument. Tarrant County, Texas. We're getting ready to put one up May 23rd in Rockwall County, Texas. Waller County, Texas, is coming up and then Llano county is not far behind. And so I'm loving the lemon test was was ditched in 22 in the Dobbs case. And we're beginning to restore these foundational things.
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David Bleez
Thank you so much for sharing that with our audience. We have Jason Rapert from the national association of Christian Lawmakers. I want to thank you so much for all your hard work. You've been on the ground for a long time. We've seen you for many, many years. And thank you for joining us and everyone out in the real America's Voice news audience. We're going to go back to the stage at the Freedom 250 rededicate, a
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Speaker at Event
thunderous reminder that no law can cancel what God has already declared. The abolitionists believe that dignity does not come from status, skin color or station in life, but from the Creator himself. They stood against a system that treated people as property and proclaim instead that people are precious. They face ridicule, rejection, violence, imprisonment, and even death. Yet they press forward because they understood that righteousness is never convenient and justice is never cheap. The heroes of the abolition movement teach us this eternal truth. Comfort will never correct injustice. Only courage will. We cannot rewrite the past, but we must learn from it. Ignoring history only invites repetition. Remembering it demands responsibility. The danger today is not that we forget entirely, but we remember selectively. If we are to move forward, we must be honest about where we've been. Let us face facts, faithfully teach truth, fully refuse to repeat what we refuse to confront. And so we come to this moment and a call for renewed reference and national rededication. Not a shallow slogan, not a political posture, but a genuine turning back to the belief that we are accountable to something higher than ourselves. To rededicate America to God is not to claim perfection. It is to confess dependence. It is to say that we need wisdom beyond our justice, deeper than our systems and mercies, greater than our failures. The abolitionists lit a fire in this nation and eventually the entire world. They proclaimed the truth, and the truth set people free. Now the question is, what will we do? Will we remember or will we repeat? Will we divide or will we dignify? Will we drift or will we dedicate? Let us leave here committed in three simple, powerful pursuits. Number one, honor humanity, Honor human dignity. Practice persistent courage, and pursue a higher calling. Because when we truly believe we are children of the same God, we won't just remember our history, but we will change our future. Thank you very much, and may God bless the United States of America.
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America has faced more moments when the soul of this nation was tested. The abolition movement did not rise from politics alone. It emerged in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, a spiritual revival that swept across our nation and called America back to God, to repentance and to the truth that every human being is created in his image. From churches, prayer gatherings and camp meetings, a moral conviction began to awaken in the conscience of the nation. And many of the voices God used were women, women of faith who prayed, taught, organized, wrote, marched, and courageously stood against the evil of slavery when silence would have been easier. They understood that faith was not meant to remain within the church walls, but to shape the moral character of a nation. Courageous believers, men and women alike, were compelled by scripture and conscience to stand for righteousness, even at great personal cost. Abraham Lincoln would later call America to a new birth of freedom. But Lincoln understood true freedom cannot survive apart from moral truth and dependence upon Almighty God. Today, as we approach America's 250th anniversary, we are reminded that every generation must decide what it will honor, what it will defend and under whose authority it will live. Freedom is never sustained by power alone. It is sustained by faith, virtue, courage and humility. Before God as we rededicate this nation, may America once again seek God sincerely uphold the dignity of every human life boldly and remember the timeless truth of scripture. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. May God bless you and may God continue to bless the United States of America.
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Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, from Liberty University,
- [174:36]
Paula White
that
- [174:36]
David Bleez
was the great Paula White up on stage here at Republic dedicate Freedom 250 in a long series of events for Freedom 250America 250. In anticipation of our 4th of July coming up, our 250th anniversary of our country. But right now we have the 20th birthday of one of our sponsors. Today, in addition to Patriot Mobile, we have Freeborn again, their 20th birthday this week and Dan Steiner, the president and Steve Rice, the secretary of and founding board member of Preborn Right.
- [175:09]
Paula White
Ben.
- [175:09]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, you know, this is one of those things. By the way, I, I've, I've been yelled at many times. I've gone to the abortion clinics and gone out there and tried to stop the, the women from going in, tried to tell them the truth about that being a live body in them and, and I've gone out to these protests with all these rabid feminists out there attacking me, screaming at me saying no uterus, no, no opinion. That now that was before they couldn't decide what a woman was and now it seems to be all confused. But what is your message? You got two guys up here that care about the life in the womb, that all, all life is precious. Talk to us about the importance of this and how men and women can take part in standing up to protect the unborn.
- [175:51]
Steve Rice
Amen. Good question. The it's an honor to be a part of the pre organization and to see how God has moved hearts of people that have been bought into or confused by the lie that an unborn is not a baby. And yet with a little truth and love that changes their minds and changes eternity. Not, not only the fate of the mother from not having an abortion which is a lifelong trial in of itself, but the life of a baby enters the world. And I know it's been life changing for me to be a part of that. And it never gets old. In fact it gets simpler. What a priority this is. It defines our Culture, it defines who we are, how we treat the most innocent among us. Yep, that's right. And now at our 20th anniversary, we're celebrating 416,000 babies that have been saved, over 106,000 women that have named the name of the chief executive officer of preborn, which is not me, it's Jesus Christ. So we're the gospel champion of the pro life movement. The most important thing the woman needs when she walks into One of our 300 clinics is a new worldview. And only Jesus can do that, a new heart. So only Jesus can give that. He's a great heart surgeon. And that's why we want to introduce all these women to the gospel of Jesus Christ and then come beside them with the help that they need for three years. Maternity clothes, diapers, lots of diapers, cribs and car seats and whatever they need so they can choose life.
- [177:38]
David Bleez
Steve, I wanted to ask you and, and Dan, you know, one of the defining moments of birth of my four children, our four children, was hearing the heartbeat for the first time. But now with my grandchildren, you have 3D modeling out there, which is just amazing at such. In the first term, you start to see the baby taking shape. And you know, how much impact does that have on the girls who come to you for that? And tell us, how do you get them through that process after they may decide they want to keep the child?
- [178:14]
Steve Rice
Willie. An ultrasound brings light into, in a miraculous way, brings light to the subject. And when a woman sees that 80% of women that were headed towards an abortion change their mind because they see the reality of what is at stake and the baby becomes theirs. They become what they are destined to be, which is a mother. So there's a tremendous amount of truth being exposed in that flash of a moment. And the new ultrasound machines have Doppler and so, so you get the heartbeat as well. And that heartbeat is the most definitive thing that changes our mind. We had a 16 year old girl that went to the abortion clinic and she asked to see her baby on ultrasound. And they refused to show her because they knew it would change her mind. So she left, came back to our clinic with her boyfriend. When they saw the ultrasound, they said, he said, he's got big legs. That's just like me, that's my son. And they chose life. That's what happens thousands of times a day. A preborn.
- [179:28]
David Bleez
Praise the Lord. Yeah. So if that couple decides they want to go through with the birth of that baby, do you have a network that you can pass them along through to Help them because, you know, maybe their decision was based on finances or I don't have my father around, or, you know, maybe they're just lost. Maybe they don't have faith. What kind of support services do you offer?
- [179:56]
Steve Rice
Yep, through our. Through our clinics throughout the United States, we have all the coordination that they need. Whether it's a doctor visit, whether it's housing, whatever they would need, we have it for them for free for three years. And sometimes beyond that, all for the glory of God and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so it's one thing to say to a woman shouldn't have an abortion, but it's another thing to say and, yeah, I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna be there for you. A lot of them are alone. They don't even know who the father of the baby is.
- [180:26]
David Bleez
Yeah.
- [180:28]
Ben Berkwam
How do people that are watching get involved with it? I know you guys are, you know, you're nationwide. Are you. Are you in every city? And if they're not, how do they get involved with you guys to bring what you. You guys are doing to their area?
- [180:39]
Steve Rice
Yeah, we have CPCs, pregnancy clinics all over the nation. And they can go to preborn.com. we can hook them up with the local clinic. And here's the deal. For $28, they can sponsor an ultrasound session for a young woman, and they can give the heartbeat to the girl. We'll send them a picture of a baby who was saved, an ultrasound picture, and a story of the mom. Wow, 28 bucks less than that. Deal. Meal to McDonald's, frankly, these days.
- [181:07]
David Bleez
Let me ask you a question. The primary people that you deal with on a regular basis, have you seen a decline in religiosity? Or maybe the families you see more or less, you know, say, broken homes or, you know, people feel more isolated and lonely in the past, in the technological age where people have moved away, especially young people, as we see, I think, families going back to church, Right. And we see young people in colleges getting the conservative message, but the general population out there, what do you see out there? How do you feel about things?
- [181:49]
Steve Rice
Yeah, well, it's a number one, a lack of fatherlessness in these girls, you know, and so they come compromise themselves, looking for love in all the wrong places. And then also young women today in colleges are the most liberal contingent in our society. Charlie Kirk and others, you know, he gets his campaign turned a lot of men back, but not the young woman so much. And so between fatherlessness and the Internet, you know, where they're poisoned with Worldviews that are not godly and, and exalt abortion over motherhood. So that's why we like guys like you, you know, tell the truth.
- [182:28]
David Bleez
Yeah, that's it.
- [182:30]
Ben Berkwam
And one of. So we, we had Roe versus Wade overturned. That, that demonic decision by the Supreme Court originally overturned, but now the fights are back to the states. Has that been easier or harder in your guys's fight?
- [182:45]
Steve Rice
I'm going to let you.
- [182:46]
Jason Rapert
You think that would be.
- [182:46]
Steve Rice
That that is much more difficult. So the, the year after Roe versus Wade there were 80,000 more abortions and the year after that there were a hundred thousand more abortions. And so and then 2025 was even more so 2025 was the highest abortion year we've had in over a decade after Roe versus Wade. Why is that? It's because of chemical digital abortion. The abortion pill that's procured over the age Internet to digital natives, millennials, Gen Z's and Alphas, where they get their entertainment, where they get their friends, where they get the package from Walmart and where they get their abortion pill. And Preborn is the only organization that's standing between those women and the abortion of their babies on the Internet, reaching them every day and sending them into our clinics.
- [183:31]
David Bleez
Yeah. And you wonder about the repercussions of that, you know, using Plan B and other know does it desensitize our human population? People starting families older. You know, we know other countries have a declining population per capita, but here it's kind of it's by choice.
- [183:50]
Yaakov Boyens
Right.
- [183:51]
David Bleez
As opposed to say China with a one kid policy. You know, maybe they're, they're losing touch, you know and then, you know, they turn around at 35 and there's a void right in their life. I want to thank you guys so much for joining us. Preborn.com and people could go on and they can help your cause.
- [184:08]
Yaakov Boyens
Right?
- [184:09]
Steve Rice
Amen. Preborn.com or you can dial £250 and say keyword baby. That's what we're here to do. Save babies.
- [184:15]
Paula White
All right.
- [184:16]
Steve Rice
Be a part of something that'll change eternity.
- [184:19]
Ben Berkwam
Yes. And we're all unabarded babies up here. All of you are as well.
- [184:22]
David Bleez
Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord. At Dan Steiner, the president Steve Rice secretary, founding member, a preborn. We're going to go back to the stage here at Freedom 250 rededicate.
- [184:59]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in prayer with Pastor Jonathan Falwell.
- [185:14]
Gary Hamrick
Good afternoon. We are gathered here today on this solemn place, this hallowed ground to recognize the importance and the value of Almighty God as it relates to this great land that we call home. And as we stand here today, we look back and we hearken back to the words of Abraham Lincoln. And he said these words in March of 1863 while this nation was ripped asunder because of the Civil War. And he said these words. Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God. To confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon. And to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. Today we are here to recognize those words. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Today we gather once again to return to the heart of our nation to repentance and dependence on Almighty God. And so, as we stand in this holy place, would you join with me in a word of prayer? Father, today we gather today to seek your face. To confess our failings and our faults and our sins to you, the only one capable of the forgiveness that we desperately need through the death and the resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ. Today we see division in our nation. We see anger and we see contempt. We see brother against brother, sister against sister. We know that this cannot stand. This is one nation under God. While we come from many places, while we come from many traditions, while our beliefs may differ, our practices may not be the same, we stand together today as one nation to remember that God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Let us come together in our shared desire for this nation to be again, once again that shining city that is set upon a hill. Let us see one another not as foes and enemies, but as partners in this great experiment which is America. Let us gather to discuss our differences. Let us debate ideas, but in the end to stand together as one. Let us recognize the great gift that we have been given. The great responsibility which has been placed upon our shoulders. And as Luke chapter 12, verse 48 states, for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required. We know we have been blessed. So let us seek to be a blessing in our world which is always looking for hope. Again, from the words of President Abraham Lincoln, we humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will in time of prosperity. Fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble. Suffer not one but to trust in you. Help us not to fail in that trust, all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in him and him alone that we put our faith. It is in him and him alone that we put our trust. It is through the blessed gift of Jesus Christ, his Son and our Savior that we stand together today to once again declare it is one nation under God. Let us stand together and point people to the truth and the hope that is found in him and him alone. God bless you and Amen.
- [189:47]
David Bleez
And that was Jonathan Falwell, president of Liberty University. And we have Larry Arn coming up from Hillsdale College. But we're on the ground here with Ben Berkwa, Michelle Backus, Neil McCabe, and we also have with us another David Patriot Mobile Faith. Right. We have David, David, David. Please, please.
- [190:09]
David Lees
Like, please with a B. Yeah.
- [190:10]
David Bleez
And Patriot Mobile, doing great things. One of today's sponsors here. But we have joining us with the Jakob Boyens Ministries today. And you're focusing on human trafficking, right?
- [190:22]
Yaakov Boyens
Yes. Thank you. It's good to be with you. It's good to be with some friends.
- [190:25]
Ben Berkwam
What a great day, huh? And you got your family out here.
- [190:28]
Yaakov Boyens
I mean, family's out here.
- [190:29]
Ben Berkwam
What a beautiful, beautiful day.
- [190:30]
Yaakov Boyens
That's what the country's about, Ben. It's about the nuclear family. It's about the rights and privileges God has given us to be free and to defend it.
- [190:38]
Ben Berkwam
Amen.
- [190:39]
David Lees
Way. And it's big Washington D.C. news because he is the lead pastor of mercy culture. Washington D.C. worship night tonight, launch next Sunday. Is that right?
- [190:48]
Yaakov Boyens
Launch on Pentecost Sunday.
- [190:50]
David Lees
Come on.
- [190:51]
Yaakov Boyens
Let the Holy Spirit fall. The city needs it.
- [190:53]
David Lees
And for those of you who might not know, Mercy Culture, the first kind of flagship campuses in Dallas, right?
- [191:00]
Yaakov Boyens
Fort Worth.
- [191:01]
David Lees
Fort Worth and that.
- [191:02]
Ben Berkwam
Right.
- [191:02]
David Lees
My neck of the woods. And it is known as a bold spirit filled church that is standing for truth. They've done some incredible things in the area of abortion in our state. And I just love to see that that's coming to D.C. will you tell us a little bit about Mercy Culture, how you got involved and then what you're looking forward to planting next week?
- [191:20]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah. Pastor Landon and Heather Shot launched Mercy Culture seven years ago in Fort Worth. Now there's 10 campuses. We're launching O.C. and D.C. the same day. So Orange county and D.C. on the same day. It was a process of God calling us to come to D.C. this great reformation, we carry reformation, we carry justice, we carry a call for life. And this city needs it. DC needs it. So the Lord spoke. I was here on the Million Women March. I was on stage when the Lord said, yes, you're doing this. And so we're launching on Pentecost Sunday for the very reason Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on the upper room 120 on Pentecost. This city needs revival. But it reads reformation. You know, it's out of order, and it needs to be brought back into order. And, yes, standing for the bold truth and the bold Gospel.
- [192:07]
David Lees
Can you explain a little bit of the difference between Reformation and revival? What do those words mean? What are we. What are we praying for? As we're praying for D.C. and starting on the rededication? What are we praying for?
- [192:18]
Yaakov Boyens
I know America cries out for revival, but you cannot have a revival if you don't have, first, a conviction, a core conviction. And repentance. And the process from being convicted of a sin and then repenting to God means you're being reshaped. You're being reformed into the image God created for you. And that's reformation reforming. And the Lord speaks often about, hey, like a clay in the hands of the potter, be reshaped so you can hold the oil. This nation is called to carry oil for the world. This nation is called to be a lamp that does not stop burning. And there's so much biblical reference, and we lost shape, so we can't hold the anointing of God. And so it's a reshaping of back to the original design. Right. And so it's not changing the Constitution. No, it's actually building upon what our founding fathers knew, that, hey, without this gospel, without this word of God, you're going to lose shape and you're not going to carry the anointing.
- [193:13]
Ben Berkwam
Amen. You look at what else, you know, you do. Yaako, you and I met through the illegal immigration and the human trafficking on the border. On the border. Everything that's going on there, you think about what's happening today and the battle that we're in, you know, the darkness that you see. I mean, I don't know. Much worse. We just had. We just had the guys on, you know, trying to prevent abortion, but I don't know if there's much darker than those two things. Killing babies and trafficking children. Talk to us about the work that you guys do, how. How pivotal, how pivotal that is, but also just the reality of how bad the situation is in America and around the world and what people need to know about that, how they can get involved.
- [193:55]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah, there's such an outcry now to stop human trafficking, but still not an understanding. And you know, this year marked our 32nd year of combating human trafficking. 32 years, Ben. My sister was trafficked in 1994. Took us six years to rescue Ilonka. So by 2001 when we rescued her, I was in the rescue. We immigrated to the United States and I never thought there would be trafficking local, but we're the number one nation on earth buying and selling children. So all the children we saw come across the border. The work you did on the border was. You were so far ahead of your time as a reporter on the border, Ben. But those children are sold to American men. So if it's a Guatemalan kid that's missing or the Biden administration lost half a million kids, the traffic to American men and women, it's because we lost shape that I was talking about earlier. Our nation lost its purpose from the pulpit. The pulpit is to blame, not number one. So it's a $58 billion industry in the United States. The NFL is a 12 billion dollar industry. So selling children dwarfs the NFL and the NBA. And it's an abandonment of the word of God that we are supposed to steward children, protect children, turn to teach them the ways of God. Because once you have to rescue a child, which we do every week, we just had a rescue two days ago. Society has failed that child. That child is now climbing a mountain of restoration that must happen through the word of God and so we can do better as a nation. Charles Finney said this Lord, start a revival, but started in me.
- [195:28]
David Bleez
I wanted to ask you, I was at the CPAC Human Rights Trafficking Summit last year on Capitol Hill and they had a number of legislative accomplishments. One, rescuing a woman from prostitution and getting her life back. Right. So it wasn't just about trafficking across the border, but trafficking domestic domestically. Domestically, Right. Tell us about some of the legislative focus that you are. Protecting students from harmful content, strengthening adoption and family restoration, safeguarding schools accountability, eliminating obscenity in education, of course, human trafficking, preventing abuse and strengthening punishment for exploiting. Have you made any gains on those legislative fronts?
- [196:08]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah, really good news. We have a lot. JBM is our anti trafficking organization, Mercy culture, the church. But in JBM we we've passed 57 bills, 48 states and some of the most significant ones, I'll highlight one of them last year is a bill that got rid of sovereign immunity of superintendents of school districts.
- [196:27]
David Bleez
Wow.
- [196:27]
Yaakov Boyens
What parents don't know is that superintendents in over 30 states in this country still today have sovereign immunity. So we found 6,888 cases of child sexual abuse at school where the case was not reported to outside law enforcement, but was kept inside the school system by the superintendent, where the teachers kept teaching. Because teachers in our country go through one background check for the life of their teaching career.
- [196:53]
David Bleez
Wow, Ben, I just wanted to jump in for a second because I just had Stacey Langdon on my show from Fairfax High School and there was a 19 year old illegal alien, you could be up to 22 years old, maybe groped 13 girls convicted on like three of them. And I was in the county here, just outside of Washington D.C. in Virginia, where they hid the assault on the woman, on the young girl, and then transferred the kid to another high school in Loudoun county. And then he did it again without the parents knowing. Right?
- [197:27]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah. And it's because there's sovereign immunity. And you'd say, in America, how's that even possible? Because we have sent people to this city trusting that they carry the heart of the nation, that they have the will of the people in mind. And the truth is, they don't always. You know, we elect popularity, we elect people we like in this country. And we, we need to get back to a moral compass of saying, hey, are you about the work and the ways of God? Do you align it with the Constitution in the United States? Because if they represent your family, you end up with things like a child gets abused and they don't report it because they don't want to stain on the, on the District because it hurts enrollment.
- [198:04]
David Bleez
Yeah, yeah.
- [198:05]
Yaakov Boyens
And frankly, that's how Sharia is creeping into.
- [198:08]
Ben Berkwam
I was just going to ask you about that.
- [198:09]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah.
- [198:10]
Ben Berkwam
The impact of Sharia on this when you've got child brides and the rest of it. I just want you to restate, though, that statistic on the, the amount of money being made in trafficking compared to the end at the NFL. Yeah, that and that.
- [198:26]
Yaakov Boyens
$58 billion with a B. And it's all tax free. So now think of what that's really worth. $58 billion is the, is the trafficking, domestic trafficking. This is not foreign children trafficking of American children and women. The NFL is a, is a 12 billion dollar enterprise. If you combine the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA combined, it's smaller than selling and buying women and children for
- [198:52]
David Bleez
sex in this country.
- [198:54]
Yaakov Boyens
That's appalling.
- [198:55]
Ben Berkwam
It is. And to the people out there, it's not getting better, it's getting worse.
- [198:59]
Gary Hamrick
It is.
- [199:00]
Yaakov Boyens
And unfortunately for everybody watching, Ben, you know this, I Mean, as much as I want to see an Epstein list. Prosecute. Prosecute the Epstein list. But here's the truth. If you were to take every single person on the Epstein list who did something wrong, you have to go through court innocent until proven guilty. But let's just say you could prosecute all of them and get convictions, right? That does not solve the problem. I want to give you a stat. We did a study of 2,000 cases across the country of actual cases of child sexual exploitation. Okay, here's the statistic. The lowest state is 25%. The highest state is 45.7%, which is California. The lowest state, which is Alabama. 25 to 47% of all child sexual exploitation is done by the caregiver. It's familial. It's in the family, or it's a coach, or it's a teacher, or it's a pastor or a priest, or it's inside Sharia, inside our country.
- [199:58]
David Bleez
Yaakov, how much does the foster system feed into that? Whether it's corruption inside it or the parents that take on these kids, maybe don't give full disclosure about the depravity they may be seeking or whatever. Is that a source of human trafficking in America? Because there's a lot of talk about it. But can you confirm it?
- [200:21]
Yaakov Boyens
You know, so much was said by Ben Accurately that we had state sponsored human trafficking for four years. State sponsored, maybe the largest migration of people maybe since Moses and the Exodus out of. Out of, you know, out of Egypt. They were trafficked. But we still have state sponsored human trafficking. It's called the foster care system. It's CPS, DFPS. 67% of all children today in the system are sexually exploited actively. Okay? They're supposed to do house calls every month. They make one call a year. If it rings and you don't answer, they say they reached out. They call that a touch point. We have children with 13 sets of medication in CPS that has never seen a doctor. The system is so broken. That's why we launched the Way Ranch, which is a reformation of the CPS system in Texas, to say, wait a second, if the taxpayer is going to send money to take care of children, then the children need the therapy. Well, here's what nobody knows. If a mom falls on hard times, she's got a bad boyfriend. He introduces her, he sells her body, and all of a sudden the court says, hey, ma', am, you cannot take care of your child. Your child's going into the system. Cps and all the mothers that have gone through this will tell you CPS or dfps, the system claims full custody of that child until that child turns 18. If that mom sorts her life out, if that mom gets a job, if that mom goes through Liberty University and gets a degree, she's not getting that child back. It's a money making racket. It's not about bringing families back.
- [201:53]
David Bleez
I actually have a friend who adopted, who fostered a lot of children. And he's a great man, great family. And one of the kids that was with him for a couple of years, a brother and a sister, I believe the mother got her act together in Pennsylvania and he gave her back or the state gave the child back. So there are success stories.
- [202:15]
Yaakov Boyens
There are success stories, yeah. But. But the norm is it is a system where children go missing. If you call any sheriff, test me on this. Call Sheriff Waybourn, call Sheriff Lamb, call Sheriff Skinner. Right. Skinner is fighting Sharia like crazy in Frisco, Collin County. But call any sheriff and ask him of the current inmates in your prison cell.
- [202:36]
David Bleez
Yeah.
- [202:37]
Yaakov Boyens
What is the recidivism rate and how many of them come from the foster care system? And it's north of 80%. Sure.
- [202:43]
Senator Tim Scott
Wow.
- [202:43]
Yaakov Boyens
Because when that child graduates the system at 16, 16 and a half, they don't have a credit score. They can't. They can't get credit. They can't rent an apartment. They barely graduate with a GED if they do. And so what happens? They got to fall back into the hands of predatory fingers. We can do better as a nation.
- [203:01]
David Bleez
Have you gotten the attention of the Trump administration?
- [203:03]
Yaakov Boyens
Yes, absolutely. Well, Melania Trump fostered the future. Right. Her initiative fostered the future. The Trump administration, the faith office is doing a lot of work on this. Bobby Kennedy, Secretary Kennedy at Health and Human Services is doing a lot. Angie Salazar and Orr with the migrant ship children, doing a lot. Because one thing to mention, when Ben was on the border, and literally I remember a day with Ben on the border where 87,000, whatever Haitians is sitting under the bridge. Yeah, right. And the Biden administration is like, turn the cameras off. Don't show. Right. Those children were maybe 2 years old and they crossed the border. Now they're 8. Well, when they turn 18, they're illegal.
- [203:42]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah.
- [203:42]
Yaakov Boyens
What are we going to do with. I mean, so there's still battles to fight, but there's huge victories. Huge victories. Currently we have a bill with Congress for the launch of a Constitutional Article 3 Human Trafficking Court where we're going to expedite the process of Prosecuting pedophiles at state level. We have to do that. We can't just say the Attorney General of the United States has to prosecute all pedophiles. I mean, they're in every county, in every zip code.
- [204:09]
Ben Berkwam
How do people that want to help you guys get involved to help you? And what would you say people that heard that statistic? It feels insurmountable.
- [204:17]
Yaakov Boyens
Yeah.
- [204:17]
Ben Berkwam
What's your message to people? Where can they focus their energy to help fight this battle?
- [204:22]
Yaakov Boyens
We have to make the child the first line of defense. And the way you do that is you bring this information age appropriately into the home. We launched a parent toolkit that's on our website. It's free. This parent toolkit is getting international review. We built it for parents to bring the conversation into the home and fortify their children in the home so that the child is the first line of defense. If someone slides into their DMs or some predatory force, use certain language that the child says, hey, mom, dad, I think this is. I think there's a creep here. I think this guy has ill motive.
- [204:53]
Public Investing Representative
Right.
- [204:53]
Yaakov Boyens
And so helpjbm.org is that website and the toolkit is free. And then we have a toolkit for small business to, to make small business what we call safe places like 711 gas station.
- [205:07]
David Bleez
Thank you, Jacob Oy and ministries. I want to thank you so much for sharing the story. Such important stuff. We're going to go back to the stage right now. We have a D Day prayer. And then we have Major General Patrick Brady. He saved 5,000 lives in Vietnam in helicopters. Just an extraordinary story. So let's go back to the stage
- [205:26]
Paula White
by allowing us to be more in this great country. I cannot emphasize enough the role that faith has played in any success I've had. It was the source of whatever courage I had. It was a substitute for fear. It was a constant source for me of comfort, of calm. And it gave me confidence to do things that for me would have other otherwise been impossible. For reasons that escaped me, the good Lord has seen fit to bless my life in so many ways, not the least of which was I had the great privilege to save lives in my youth. I was taught by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, tough group. And they impressed upon us that we should encourage include the good Lord in all our daily activities. I took that habit with me as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam. In fact, I take that habit with me on the golf course, especially on the golf course. But I took it with me as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Where God, honest to God, was my co pilot in over 2500 combat missions. During which we were privileged to rescue over 5,000 wounded men, women, children, enemy as well as friendly. In my second tour, weather and night weather missions were killing more of our crews than the enemy. It was then I had what can only be described as two epiphanies. These were actual visions in which the good Lord showed me rescue techniques unknown at that time and in fact, outside the rules, which allowed us to fly rescue missions in 00 weather conditions at day and at night. In over 21,000 rescues in that unit, none of our pilots were killed at night or in weather. And many lives for sure, that would have otherwise died, they lived. Now, for those rescues during which I was at most a willing co pilot, I received the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross, our two highest combat awards. And I'm told that I'm the only living veteran that's got both of them. Those of us who are privileged to wear this medal, we know that it does not make us. It makes us beholden. We are beholden, first of all, to America's nobility, our fellow grunts, many of whom sacrificed their life that liberty might grow old. We wear it for them. But most of all, we are beholden to the good Lord who saved us so we could serve. At the foundation of the miracle that made America is the courage of our Founding Fathers and the warriors, only with the warriors who made their visions real. And I believe that faith is the foundation of courage. There's no other way that I can explain some of the things I've seen soldiers do in combat. There is no America without faith. I can define my faith. I would not presume to define it for others. I wouldn't try. But somehow it's tied to love and to sacrifice. And I define sacrifice simply as love in action. You take that great emotion and you do something with it. Faith allows us to believe there is something beyond a particular moment, something worth living for and, if necessary, dying for, and someone above and beyond ourselves. The author of all goodness. I've never known anyone with enduring, repetitive courage who is not also a person of faith. And it's a common trait among all the Medal of Honor recipients I have known back through many, many wars. Washington founded the Chaplain Corps, unique at that time, essential to the morale of our troops to this very day. Lincoln prayed before the Battle of Gettysburg. Eisenhower prayed before Normandy. And Patton believed that prayer was a combat multiplier. Now, in some faiths, in my faith, there is a doctrine on grace Amazing Grace. It teaches that there is a treasure chest filled with grace, and it was filled by the sacrifices of Jesus and the saints. It is available to all of us to help us in our daily struggles. We can all draw from that chest of grace through no particular merits of our own, but simply between because of God's love for us. Our freedom is like grace. It's a treasure chest. It was filled by the sacrifice of our great heroes and patriots by our veterans. We all draw from that chest of freedom through no particular merits of our own, but simply because of their love for us. But there's a difference. The chest of grace is inexhaustible because it comes from God. Not so the chest of freedom. It must continuously be replenished by each and every generation. A preacher friend of mine once said that if love is to endure, it must be expressed. We know how important that is in our personal lives, our professional lives. We have to express our love. Same is true of patriotism. It must be expressed as we do here today. And that's why it's vital that we express honor and revere the patriotism and the faith that motivated America's nobility, our veterans. Because that is at the root of the miracle that made us so. May God bless our warriors. Pray for them. And one last thing. I was at the Bible Museum Bible History of Bible last night Bible when I was taught it means basic instructions before leaving earth. It's a great place to go and I would recommend it to all of you. God bless.
- [213:10]
Event Host/Announcer
Fall in love with God's country again. A poem for America's 250th from the American Book of Fables by Matthew Meehan of Hillsdale College in D.C. american Morning if we could till the earth as our fathers did and look on loam that Providence long hid and drink from gin Clear rivers overflowing through meadow traces full of bison lowing if we could step beyond that blackest tillage and wander into hunting ground and village and smoke the peace pipe trading well for furs and find a spring before we die of thirst. If we could make a track without arrest and end at peaceful waters in the west and build the dams and raise the towers up and from them ring the bells for all to sup. If we could dredge the harbor and port the air and send our ships abroad to make things fair and rise above the curvature of the earth and in one step both wax and wane man's worth. If we could do what our fathers did before Then what on earth would we be grateful for? The sun now shines on us to play our part as holy as we orient our heart.
- [214:34]
Choir/Vocalist
Sa. Sam.
- [215:41]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the President's own United States Marine Band. Free country.
- [216:01]
Choir/Vocalist
While the storm clouds gather for crush the sea Let us swear. To land us free. Let us all be grateful for land so fair as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. God bless America Land that I love Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans. God bless America My home sweet home God bless America My home sweet home oh.
- [218:10]
Worship Leader
America Land that I love Stand beside
- [218:18]
Senator Tim Scott
her and guide her through the night
- [218:24]
Worship Leader
with the light of above from the mountains through the prairies to the oceans wide With God bless America My home sweet home. Of america my home.
- [219:05]
Choir/Vocalist
Sweet home. It.
- [219:52]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in prayer with Rabbi Meyer Soloveitchek.
- [220:07]
Worship Leader
Good afternoon.
- [220:08]
Rabbi Meyer Soloveitchek
My fellow Americans. What pleasure a what a privilege it is to pray with all of you on this beautiful day. In 1893, a young Jewish boy in Russia watched as his village was burned in a pogrom, the flames destroying his home reflecting the fires of Jew hatred that fueled this evil assault, flames he would never forget. Soon after, his family fled to the freedom of the United States. As he grew up in America, this young man, Irving Berlin, discovered a talent for singing and songwriting. While serving in the US army in World War I, he composed a song expressing his gratitude to the country that had given him refuge. But he put the lyrics away, and they remained unsung, unknown for 20 years. Then, in 1938, as fascism spread across Europe, Berlin resurrected his composition. It was sung live on the radio and quickly became one of the most beloved songs in American life. Eerily, as was later noted, that broadcast occurred the day after Kristallnacht, the night of Broken Glass, when Jewish homes and synagogues were destroyed across Germany. At the very moment when darkness deepened abroad, America raised its voice, united in the song that Irving Berlin wrote. That song was God Bless America. But God Bless America is not simply a song. Its opening lyrics tell us what it truly is. They read, in part, as Let us all be grateful for a land so fair as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. God Bless America is a plaintive prayer to God that America continue to be blessed. To sing it is to echo the voice of King David, the sweet singer of Israel, who prayed, keep me as the apple of your eye, Protect me in the shadow of your wings. Or in the original Hebrew, shom reni kiishon Bat Ayin Betzel Kinifecha Tastireni in the years that followed 1938, the prayer that is God Bless America was carried by American soldiers who defeated evil, liberating Europe and the world. And it is a reminder, as hatred of Jews makes itself manifest again, that anti Semitism is utterly un American. The power and popularity of God Bless America reveals to us that America's passion for prayer and its love of liberty are always intertwined. From when Americans prayed On this day 250 years ago to World War II when General Patton's 250,000 troops asked of the Almighty that armed with thy power we may advance from victory to victory to September 11, 2001, when Republicans and Democrats joined hands and sang God Bless America over there on the Capitol steps in one of the most poignant acts of prayer in American history. To sing this song is to be reminded that America's story unique. May God bless all of you and may God continue to bless America, land that we love. Thank you very much.
- [224:31]
Choir/Vocalist
Sam. Sa. Sam.
- [225:48]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Pastor Andy Dean.
- [226:07]
Mint Mobile Spokesperson
On September 10, 2001, I was just a 19 year old college student living in New York City. That night, I was out drinking too much and chasing a life that wasn't working. When the night ended, I felt empty, far from God and without purpose. The next morning, everything changed. I found myself just 300ft from the Twin Towers as they were burning. Suddenly, people were screaming and the first tower began to collapse and a massive cloud of smoke filled the streets, turning day into night. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I took shelter in a small shop. Within minutes, we were all choking and I realized I might die today. In that moment, life was stripped down to what mattered most. And what mattered most was knowing where I stood with God. For the first time in years, I cried out to God and prayed, Father, because of what Jesus did on the cross, please forgive me. And right then, the panic left and peace took its place. God met me there, not because I deserve it, but because he is merciful. By God's Grace, I led 15 people into a nearby building with more oxygen. When the smoke cleared, I went back out to help. And what I saw that day, I will never forget. Police officers running toward danger, not away from it. Firefighters going into buildings that others fled, and ordinary people risking everything to help complete strangers. I spent the day doing what I could. Connecting a fire hose, carrying oxygen tanks, searching a building and bringing water to first responders. At one point, I stood in a firehouse and watched firefighters hold the hand of one of their own as he lay dying, making sure he wouldn't be alone. That kind of courage, that kind of love, it stays with you. Their sacrifice showed our nation what love looks like in action. God reminded me that day that he is with us even in our darkest hours. In the days and weeks that followed, I witnessed something else happening across America. In the face of terror, we came together as one. People prayed. Neighbors helped neighbors. Churches were filled and many turned back to God. For a brief moment, we remembered something we often forget. Our hope is not in ourselves. It's in Him. That day changed me. I turned back to Jesus, and I've never regretted it. As we reflect today, I'm grateful for God's mercy on me and on our nation then and now. But please don't miss this. The same God who met me in the darkness will meet anyone who cries out to him. Never forget
- [229:22]
Choir/Vocalist
it.
- [229:52]
Event Host/Announcer
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Senator Tim Scott.
- [230:07]
Pastor Samuel Rodriguez
How many, y'?
- [230:08]
David Lees
All?
- [230:08]
Senator Tim Scott
How many of you love Jesus?
- [230:13]
Worship Leader
How many?
- [230:13]
Senator Tim Scott
I can't hear you.
- [230:15]
Worship Leader
I said, how do you love Jesus? Oh, yeah.
- [230:22]
Senator Tim Scott
I stand before you as living proof that prayer, the power of prayer, changes lives. It's prayer that inspires our nation. It's prayer that transforms our world. There is no way to GRASP the last 250 years of America without looking to the power of prayer. You can see it at our Judeo Christian Foundation. You can find it when Americans humble themselves in moments of great joy and times of amazing adversity. From the Civil War to World War II to the landing on the moon, Americans have looked to God for guidance, for peace and for strength. It's this commitment to prayer that powered the civil rights movement. The journey for justice for all was rooted in the black church, a body of believers who refused to let go of God. I refused to let go of God. I know you refuse to let go of God. Amen. In 1955, Rosa Parks did not simply refuse to give up her seat. She refused to give up her dignity before God. She was a deaconess in her church. Her courage was cultivated on her knees before it was acted upon in the streets. Her no was not born of rage. It was born of righteousness. Dr. King did not lead from merely a podium. He led from the pulpit. His dream was not a political speech. It was a sermon. He said, but let justice roll on like a river. Righteousness like a Never failing stream. Amos 5:24. He called America not to be a new nation, but to honor its founding promise. Echoing the words of Frederick Douglass in 1852 in the face of slavery, here's what he said. The principles contained in the Declaration of Independence are saving principles. Can I get an amen? Saving principles. Stand by those principles. Be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes and at whatever the cost. The civil rights movement succeeded not simply because of lobbying in the halls of Congress. It succeeded because the church found itself on its knees before a gracious, loving, amazing God
- [233:44]
Dr. Robert Jeffress
bomb.
- [233:45]
Senator Tim Scott
Churches did not silence the worship. It amplified the worship. The heroes of the civil rights movement sang before they marched. They prayed before they protested. And they sought answers in the Gospel before they sought answers before the law. The civil rights movement was grounded a simple but powerful truth that every single one of us is created equal. Every single one of us created equal before a loving, gracious God. And our rights don't come from the government.
- [234:30]
Worship Leader
No,
- [234:32]
Senator Tim Scott
our rights come from God, the King of kings. I said the Lord of Lords. I said the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. That's our God. Can I hear an amen?
- [234:52]
Worship Leader
Oh, yeah.
- [234:53]
Senator Tim Scott
We worship a mighty God. And by God's grace, instead of staying powerless like in the Book of Numbers when they said we seem like grasshoppers in our own sight. The men and women in the civil rights movement, they prayed boldly, trusting that God was still at work in this great nation. And through him they found the courage in the words of Proverbs 31 to be a voice for the voiceless. At 250 years. I said at 250 years, our God is amazing. America has proven to be resilient nation. When we humble ourselves before the King of Kings, the Almighty God. I'm talking about the same God that sustained Rosa Parks on that bus. I'm talking about the Same God that Dr. King held strong to in his dream. And under that sustaining grace, we are still truly one nation. Always under God. May the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords bless each and every one of you.
- [236:33]
Speaker at Event
Hallelujah.
- [236:35]
Senator Tim Scott
Jesus. I said the name above every name. Jesus. I'm talking about the one that saved my life.
- [236:48]
Worship Leader
Jesus.
- [236:51]
Senator Tim Scott
My King, my Lord and my everything. And may that God whose son is Jesus, bless the United States of America. May he do his work in us. And now it is my honor to introduce a woman who carries forward a legacy of faith and conviction. A faithful witness of the gospel and a tireless advocate for the voiceless. I'm talking about one and only Dr. Alveda King.
- [237:56]
Martha Stewart
Okay, you know the drill. Please sing with Me this little light
- [238:03]
Choir/Vocalist
of mine I'm gonna let it shine
- [238:08]
Worship Leader
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
- [238:15]
Martha Stewart
Y' all are a great choir. Say amen. Hallelujah. I greet you today in the United States District of Christ. Greetings, Greetings. Greetings. Thank you, President Trump, for inviting us to pray. Hallelujah. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, today we come before you as one American family. Grateful for your grace and mindful of our need for mercy. I stand here today as part of the King family legacy, the family of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The prophet you called to lead what history records as the 20th century Civil rights movement. The movement was shaped in the pulpits of America, carried forward on the wings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and sustained by the power of prayer. Faith was the heartbeat of that struggle. When doors of schools, buses, and voting booths were closed, the doors of the church swung wide open. There your people prayed. There we preached. There we sang the songs of Zion and found courage to stand. Heavenly Father, we remember that every major campaign began and ended on bended knee. Prayer is always our most powerful weapon, facing adversity and hatred as we repent and pray. Your people must always pray not for vengeance, but for victory through love. We pray for our enemies as Jesus teaches us, because we all believe the same. Hear our prayers for rededication today. Walls of segregation come tumbling down by the power of persistent prayer. Lord, the same spirit of repentance and revival, please let it rise again in America today.
- [240:28]
Worship Leader
Amen.
- [240:29]
Martha Stewart
May the gospel once again ring from our pulpits. Remind us that every human being bears your image. Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in your sight. All poor born unborn. Heavenly Father called this nation once more to live up to her founding creed. So on this day of rededication, as one blood and one human race, we ask you to return us to the faith of our fathers and mothers. Teach us to pray again, to sing again, and to walk again in faith, hope, and love. And may the gospel of Jesus Christ call this nation to be what you have always intended it to be. A land where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Heavenly Father, we ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, by the power of your Holy Spirit, Amen and amen.
- [241:32]
Worship Leader
Let it shine, Let it shine. Let it shine.
- [241:38]
Martha Stewart
God bless you.
- [241:53]
Ben Berkwam
Yeah.
- [241:54]
David Bleez
That was incredible. Dr. Alveda King. I was with her at the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House two weeks ago of the National Drug Control Strategy Summit. Trump changing the game, reducing overdoses, traffic at the border and other we had a great lineup of speakers. Senator Tim Scott and then Andy Dean who we had on earlier, who was who survived 911 and changed his life and joined the Cornerstone Church in California. And we have Michelle Backus with us, Ben Berkwam on the ground, Neil McCabe and so many great people here. But we have Chris Wiley with us. You're a Navy Seal, you're a veteran and Freedom 250 voice, tell us your story.
- [242:36]
Chris Wiley
Well, thank you for having me on.
- [242:38]
David Bleez
Yes, sir.
- [242:40]
Chris Wiley
Grew up in Long Island.
- [242:41]
David Bleez
We were just talking about we're two miles away.
- [242:43]
Michelle Backus
Exactly the irony.
- [242:44]
David Bleez
Right, right.
- [242:46]
Chris Wiley
Went in the military, became a Navy seal, got hurt, got out fast forward. I'm now running the Lieutenant MICHAEL murphy, Navy oh wonderful.
- [242:55]
David Bleez
I went to your dinner at OA a couple months ago. You did phenomenal.
- [242:59]
Chris Wiley
Oh, thank you, thank you. So right now as what we like to call it, a Veteran Voice For Freedom 250, my whole purpose here is to try to spread the awareness of Freedom250 and what it means to me, what it probably means to most veterans and hopefully all of the Americans out here.
- [243:16]
David Bleez
Right.
- [243:17]
Chris Wiley
So like today we're having an amazing rededication. You know, the rededication 250. So we're, we're rededicating the country back to God and all of our events, our Memorial Day event coming up in Arlington National Cemetery, they're just top rate first class events and it's just trying to promote patriotism.
- [243:38]
David Bleez
Michelle. Yes.
- [243:39]
Michelle Backus
As a veteran and a spokesperson here with Freedom250, what does it mean to the other people that have sacrificed their time and their lives in the military?
- [243:49]
Chris Wiley
Well, it's you know, Memorial Day coming up. All the veterans in a military that sacrificed themselves, they gave their tomorrow's for hour today. That's how what I try to remind myself on Memorial Day weekend. So we do the Murph Challenge. We try to suffer a little bit and remember and you know, do memorial through pain and working out. So we do a lot of different things like that, a lot of hero workouts. So veterans are really behind this Freedom250 just because it's patriotic. There's no politics in being, you know, having love of country.
- [244:22]
Mood.com Spokesperson
Yep.
- [244:23]
David Bleez
That was at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday. And as we come upon Memorial Day, watch the changing of the guard, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the incredible, you know, you know, sacrifices that everybody's made made and serving, you know, in the US military. How do you feel about the Freedom 250 events we covered the Mobile Museum kickoffs. We covered the Freedom 250 plane with original Founding Fathers documents touring the country. Have you seen this sense of pride coming out of an administration prior to this?
- [244:56]
David Lees
I have not.
- [244:57]
Chris Wiley
I have not. I can't remember another time where I've just been overwhelmed with emotion when I get, you know, the news of what this administration keeps coming up with. You know, their plans for the rest of the year are absolutely amazing. Having the National Mall, having the fair, having the sporting event with the two boy and girl from each, each state coming and competing, it's just tremendous. It's absolutely tremendous. And I know that our president right now, that his first and foremost thought is, how do we make America great?
- [245:33]
Michelle Backus
Well, speaking of making America great, our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was on earlier. He's done a ton. And now we see recruitment numbers are back up. We're seeing the DI initiatives out of the military. Do you think that's reinstalling pride amongst younger people that want to join the military?
- [245:48]
Chris Wiley
Absolutely, absolutely. What I try to explain to people is, is, you know, Secretary of War Hegseth, I've done the Hudson river swim with him, so I've known him before he was in this position. All he's doing is reinst, reinstating previous standards. So it's not like he reinvented the wheel to, to make all of the shock and awe. He just said, hey, no, what, what was put in place recently isn't working for our military. It's not making us lethal, it's not making us effective. And what we need to do is go back to what was working. And that's what he did. He went back to what was working. And instantly we watched those numbers for recruitment and for interest in the military skyrocket.
- [246:27]
Michelle Backus
Wait a second, I, I just have to ask this. What's the Hudson river swim?
- [246:31]
Chris Wiley
So we would swim from New Jersey at the open Air Memorial, three and a half miles. We would swim through the Hudson, around the Statue of Liberty, up to Ellis island, do 100 push ups, 22 pull ups each way. So every about mile we'd get out on a barge. So it's a three and a half mile swim across to Battery Park.
- [246:51]
David Bleez
No easy day, right?
- [246:52]
Chris Wiley
No, no easy day. You know, in the Hudson, you know, kind of we have to wash off a couple of times.
- [246:56]
Michelle Backus
I would believe that, yeah.
- [246:58]
David Bleez
I've been in the Pentagon several dozen times since November, traveling with the Department of War across the country. And everyone I talk to, the leadership, not only are they competent and engaged and seem to Be motivated and in unison, but they believe in the mission, like they're allowed to do their job without the political interference of the DEI and other. Right. It's definitely a sea change in the last year or so.
- [247:25]
Chris Wiley
Absolutely. And what I really believe is it's so much easier to do your job when it is a merit based standard, when you know that if, if you perform your job well and to the best of your ability, that you're going to be able to be maybe not even rewarded, but recognized for that. You know, in the past you had no idea what the standard was, what was going to make you promoted or not, because it was just very gray. Now it's a merit based system and if you do your job well, you come in your uniform, you have your hair cut, everything. You know, military is really basic with what they, what they expect of you. But if you do do a great job, you're going to get rewarded, you know, so it's much easier for people
- [248:03]
David Bleez
to have great morale.
- [248:04]
Michelle Backus
What a crazy concept, a merit based standard. You think we're wild for suggesting that?
- [248:10]
Chris Wiley
Yeah, it's like it's so new, right?
- [248:12]
David Bleez
Yeah. It sounds like we suffered maybe a 20 year or 30 year low in, you know, technological advancements, the drone technology. I was at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, changing the battlefields.
- [248:24]
Ben Berkwam
Unbelievable.
- [248:25]
David Bleez
We have to throw back to the stage, everybody. Chris Wiley, Navy SEAL spokesman, veteran for Freedom 250. And we're going to hit the stage.
- [248:33]
Chris Wiley
Thank you,
- [248:35]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
faithful and fallen alike,
- [248:40]
Martha Stewart
for
- [248:40]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
the last eight years of playing Jesus on the Chosen and the Last.
- [248:50]
Michelle Backus
Thank you
- [248:53]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
for the last eight years of playing Jesus on the Chosen and the Last six as a voice guide on the Hallow app. Prayer has been at the center of my life. Not because I fancy myself a saint, far from it. But you know, I am playing Jesus, so I'm going to pray. There's really no getting around it. Because if God hands you the assignment of portraying on a global stage his own son, the Savior of the world, the alpha and omega, the great.
- [249:26]
David Lees
I am
- [249:30]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
and you do not.
- [249:31]
David Bleez
Have faith,
- [249:33]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
Lord help you. But look, God doesn't need prayers from the flawed human who plays Jesus on tv. He wants the prayers of all of his children. Because that's who we are. We are his and he is ours. Whether you realize it or maybe not yet. Our existence on Earth is merely a rest stop between the mortal and the immortal, the earth, earthly and the divine. God has always been there, long before us. He always will be, now and forever, world without end. And he will always be waiting to encounter us, secretly hoping in his divine, limitless sacred Heart that we will humbly turn away from the trappings of this world and seek him first with all our souls, all our heart, and all our strength, not only as individuals but collectively as a nation. His deepest desire for us as a people is to love him above all else and to love one another as ourselves. It is in this rightly ordered relationship that the treasures of heaven are then bestowed upon us here on earth. Psalm 33 assures God's promise to a nation faithful to Him. But the plan of the Lord stands forever the designs of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people chosen as his inheritance. This is the secret to unlocking his blessing and providence. And it costs nothing. You don't have to pay, despite what the Internet will tell you. Some random app. $2aminute to talk to fake AI Jesus. When the real Jesus is right in front of you, arms outstretch, Arms outstretched, ready to meet you exactly where you are in this moment. So do as he tells you. Go to him, all you who are weary and burdened, and he will give you rest. No matter who you are or what you've done, or how long it's been or how bad things might all seem. When you get stuck in the doom scroll of it all, simply stop and pray. And if you still feel burdened, well, maybe it's time to go to confession. There is power in repentance, let me tell you from experience. Rededicate yourself or dedicate yourself to the first time to holiness. Because holiness is what makes us sinners into saints. And perhaps that is what God is asking of us again as a nation, to reopen our hearts to him. So that these shores, once filled with those poor, tired, huddled masses, may forever remain the land of the free and the home of the brave. When I was a boy attending public schools in the suburbs of New York, there were. Yeah, let's give it up for New York. There were. There were so many intense moments in history that could have permanently overwhelmed any child witnessing those events. But there was that almost sacred phrase, that sacred phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance we would recite each morning. One nation unknown, under God. And that gave me a quiet confidence that no matter what was happening around in the world, America would be okay. Because we were one nation under God, under God's protection, under God's covering. For instance, in 1981, when both my president and my Pope were shot within six weeks of of each other, my younger self believed that despite the fear and uncertainty we would endure, we were one nation under God. When pan AM Flight 103 or Black Monday or Chernobyl conspired to fracture our sense of stability and safety, I still believed somehow we would persevere. One nation under God. When my classmates and I sat devastated and speechless watching the space shuttle Challenger explode moments after launch and it felt like the world was shattering in real time in front of us
- [255:17]
Mood.com Spokesperson
in the
- [255:17]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)
midst of the shock and horror, I remained steadfast that we would triumph. Because for 250 years we have endeavored to be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May we be that nation once more. May we rededicate ourselves to all that the Lord is calling us to these next 250 years. And may we, the citizens of the United States of America, never cease praying for our leaders, for each other, for our nation and for the world. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us and pray for us. God bless you all and may God bless America. Thank you.