Rebuilding Foundations That Last

Liberty doesn’t survive on autopilot. We explore how America’s founders tied the survival of a free republic to public virtue formed by Christianity and Scripture—and why that insight matters for the next 250 years. From the colonies’ covenantal beginnings to the Constitutional Convention, we walk through vivid moments and primary sources that show a living dependence on God rather than a sterile secular frame.

You’ll hear how artist Howard Chandler Christy, studying the founders’ words, painted a Bible open to Matthew 5 into his massive Capitol canvas, capturing the moral atmosphere of the Convention. We revisit John Quincy Adams’s bold claim that the Declaration laid government’s cornerstone on the first precepts of Christianity, linking July Fourth to the mission of Christ. And we let Benjamin Franklin—often labeled the least religious—surprise us with his call for daily prayer, his belief that “God governs the affairs of men,” and his warnings drawn straight from Scripture.

The conversation presses into a practical question: every law reflects morality, so whose morality shapes our policies? We outline a clear, constructive standard grounded in timeless truths—human dignity, restrained power, strong families, justice with mercy—summed up in the proverb that righteousness exalts a nation. Finally, we take courage from Nehemiah’s blueprint for rebuilding amid opposition: start where you are, work shoulder to shoulder, and invite God into the work He authored.

If you’re hungry for a principled path to cultural renewal rooted in history and Scripture, this one’s for you. Listen, share it with a friend, and tell us where you see foundations worth restoring. Subscribe, rate the show, and leave a review so more people can join the conversation.

Chapters

• 0:07 Setup And Episode Context
• 1:04 Founders On Religion And Morality
• 3:45 Christianity As The Constitutional Atmosphere
• 6:41 The Bible In The Convention Painting
• 11:16 God’s Role In Government And Morality
• 16:20 Covenantal Roots Of Early Colonies
• 21:34 John Quincy Adams On July Fourth
• 26:14 Franklin’s Call To Prayer

Transcript

Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's The Wall Builders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective, and of course a hot topic during the 250th of the nation's history, our 250th birthday. A hot topic would be, how do we last another 250 years should the Lord tarry? How do we restore the foundations? And so, to learn about that, we've got a presentation from Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. The first two parts of that presentation already aired. That was yesterday and the day before, available right now on our website at wallbuilders.show. Today, we will get the conclusion of Tim's presentation. And then of course, you can get all three of them at the website wallbuilders.show and share it with your friends and family. Very early break for today's program, but stay with me just a 60 second break folks. We'll be right back and then we'll jump in with Tim Barton for that conclusion. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:02:04] Welcome back to The WallBuildersr Show, here we go folks, jumping back in with Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Tim Barton [00:02:10] Our constitution, it's only going to survive if we have religion and morality. This is what they're talking about. Because by the way, where do you learn morals? Religion. And when they say religion, morality, if you do a little deeper dive in this and it's not very hard, they actually all of them in their writings clarify what religion and morality means. Religion is Christianity. Morality was the Bible because that's where you learned it from. That's the foundation. What they're actually saying is without Christianity in the Bible, this experiment is not really going to work. And to say that today, people will look at the Founding Fathers. And again, largely people will go, I'm not sure that's really true. Okay, I get it. This is debated today because we don't know the story very well. It didn't used to be debated. If you go back to 19th century historian, Stephen Caldwell, in the 1850s, he wrote a book about the Founding Fathers and specifically about the Constitutional Convention and what was going on there. And here was one of the things he said and assessed from their convention. He said "it was in the spirit of true Christianity that the hospitality and blessings of the United States were offered to all the world. All were invited to enjoy it. The Christian men of that day intended that the nation should continue to be a Christian nation. They did not place Christianity beneath nor over their political institutions. Rather, it was to be the atmosphere which they breathe to administer them. It was the source of their inspiration, and they sought to make the blessings available for human advantage. These institutions and laws were to be the instruments of Christian men for the good of the whole human family." Now, his whole book continues on like this, and I would encourage you again. This is another good resource. Go back and read it. He literally is laying out who they were and what they did. And notice what he said is, these were Christian guys with Christian ideas trying to do Christian things. Today, people would say, I feel like it's a little extreme, but let me just let me give you an easy connect the dot. So, he said, Christianity was the atmosphere which they breathe to administer like who wrote the document. The guys were breathing the atmosphere of Christianity. Now that is a interesting statement saying that like Christianity was the really significant influence on them. Is that true? How do we know? So, this is the painting. Of the Constitutional Convention, it's the most famous painting of the Constitutional Convention. It actually hangs in the US Capitol building. It's 20 feet tall. It's 30 feet wide. Back in 1937 on the 150th anniversary of the constitution, Congress determined there was a empty wall on a massive stairwell actually leading to the floor of the house. And they said, hey, on 150th, we should commission a painter to paint a painting we'll hang up there. This painter was Howard Christie. And as they commissioned the painter, Howard Christie was the most famous painter of that time. Howard Christie had done a lot of the paintings that were used for war bond posters during World War I, so he was a really noted painter at that time, and so Howard Christie is hired by Congress, commissioned to come do this painting, and Howard Christie said that he wanted to study the Founding Fathers a little bit before he did this because he wanted him to try to represent them and who they were and their thoughts, their attitude, their tone in this painting to give it some life. And he identified, he said, when I started trying to learn more about them and I was reading some of their writings and letters, I noticed how much they quoted the Bible and not just quoted the Bible, I also noticed that when they spoke about the Bible, how valued the Bible was to them, how important the Bible was, and he said I started thinking. That if guys knew the Bible so well, they're quoting it all the time, and when they talk about the Bible, they spoke with such veneration and respect. He said, I just wondered, so I went and looked to see, is there a list of resources they had available as they're writing the Constitution? Like, whoa, what do they have in the room? And he said, I couldn't find any list. Now, by the way, to this day, there's still no known list of what books and resources they had in the rooms as they were doing this. He says, but I thought people who treasured the Bible and quoted the Bible that much, they couldn't have had a meeting this important and not had a Bible with them. So I determined to put a Bible in the painting. I would venture to say every one of us have seen this painting and most of us had no idea there was a Bible there. Now, if you go to Washington DC, we actually often will lead tours and the evening spiritual heritage tours showing some of the Christian connection in the Capitol. Super fun. I was up there just two weeks ago with a group of pastors. And I took them up by this painting because it's 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide. Why does that matter? Because that's a really, really big Bible in that painting. Why does it matter? Because Howard Christie actually wrote words in that Bible. You actually can walk up and you can read what it's open to. It's open the Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. The most significant book by the most significant faith figure Jesus giving the most significance sermon in the Bible. At the Constitutional Convention. Now, again, he said, "as I'm studying the Founding Fathers, I'm seeing them do this and I think, well, the Bible is so important it's got to be there." Now. I understand there are a lot of Christians that we deal with. And I say we because all of us in this room have to navigate this. We deal with people that are like, wait a second like, are you suggesting we should have the Bible as part of what we do? And this is for Christians, right? This is not for secular people. This is for Christian right now. I would say for Christians; I want to remind them... When God creates the world, after God made man, God made several institutions, right? Obviously, God starts off making the family. We then know God gives orders to government, and then we know God makes the church. But who was the central player in all of this? God. The idea that we would say we know God created something, but God shouldn't be a part of what He created. Like, you understand how dumb of a proposition that is, right? We would never say, well, God made the family, but God shouldn't be part of the family. God made The Church, but God shouldn't part of The Church. Right? That's, that's dumb. So why do we say that about government? Which by the way, as a Christian, do you know what your entire Old Testament is about? Government. Right? Now, people might say, well, you have a new covenant, like I can go there too. But the point is the vast majority of the Bible is what God deals with. And there'd be people today, Christians, who would say, no, but we don't want religion in government because, well we don't think we should be legislating morality. Now, hopefully all of you in the room already know this, hopefully this is not a news flash for you, but for too many Americans it is. I just want to always pause and be like, okay, so let me explain how legislation works. Every single bill that is passed is passed because someone thought something was right or something was wrong. Every single piece of legislation that means every single piece of legislation is being shaped by someone's morality. It's not a question of do we legislate morality? It's only a question of whose morality are we legislating? And if we are suggesting that we can't influence morality by the greatest moral teacher there's ever been, Jesus, well, then whose standard are we going to use? This is where there are some fundamental flaws and problems. And also, by the way, this is why if you go to early America, early America knew this so well. And I want to walk you through just a couple examples as we wrap this up. If you go back and I'm using this because this is the easiest example that nobody can argue and it takes no explanation. This is not the only example. I could do this for virtually every early colony. But when the Puritans come to America, the Pilgrims come 1620 and 1630, the Puritan's come, they come with John Winthrop and actually John Winthorpe, who is their early governor, he actually delivered a sermon to them before they leave coming over to the New World. The sermon he delivered was A Model of Christian Charity. If you've never read it, I highly recommend you read it. And the last couple paragraphs, I think, are some of the most profound. I'm going to show you only part of one of those paragraphs, but this is one that was very noted. He said, "for we must consider that we shall be as a city on upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal faultily with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to the draw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world." If you read the whole sermon, he's explaining that what we are doing in this new world is, is we are making a covenant with God and we are setting something up. We're telling the whole world; this is what it looks like to do at God's way. We're setting up a community saying, this people can see God's ways work. This is how God's ways happen. And because we're doing that, we're telling everybody to look at us. And if we don't do it right, we're going to bring shame on ourselves, on God. We're gonna become a reproach and a byword. 

Rick Green [00:11:12] Quick break everybody, we'll be right back. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:13:22] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show, jumping back in with Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Tim Barton [00:13:27] But it starts off, literally, he's acknowledging we are making a covenant with God that we're going to do it God's way. And we know that God blesses people that do it his way. And if we reject it, we're gonna fall under all the judgment that comes from rejecting God's standards. This is that foundation. And the reason, again, I want to lay this out, all of the early colonies were formed in a covenantal fashion, every single one. Now, we could argue places like Jamestown, they did not follow that very well. Oh, that's for sure. That doesn't take away from the fact that Robert Hunt didn't start off saying we're doing this for the glory of God. Literally all of them were started covenantal fashion but especially when you go to the colonies outside of Jamestown is a lot easier to show how they believed in that covenantal fashion far more. Again, why I'm pointing this out because the Founding Fathers knew their nation's history. That they understood the covenants that had been made and by the way, when they were birthing things, they continued this on. And a lot of people today, they don't see the connection. And again, I'm going to give you the easiest example that nobody can argue. Like, it's not confusing what the words are. And I'm gonna point to John Quincy Adams for this. And it's because he's the only one. This is the easiest sample. I'm trying to give the really easy just walk-through flow to understand this. John Quincy Adams, he not only was the son of John Adams, he grew up during the American Revolution. He actually, at the age of 10, he is a diplomat with his father over in Paris. At the age of 14 he's a diplomate with a delegation over in Russia. Like he grows up his entire life he serves in the government. Actually, he died in Congress. So literally from 10 years on, he's serving the federal government of America. He's not only a president. He was a congressman. He was Senator. He was an ambassador. He was the Secretary of State, like all of these incredible things. On the 63rd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he went up to Connecticut. He gave a anniversary speech and I want to read you just a couple of lines from this. He starts off making a point, but asking some rhetorical questions. Here's what he said. "Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day?" Now, 4th of July, he's talking to a largely Christian audience and he says now obviously, Christmas is a big deal because we all celebrate Jesus. Why is 4th of July your most significant holiday after that? Now for some of us believers, we might be like, I might put a couple of others in like Resurrection Sunday. Pretty big one for us Christians, right? There might be a few other things I would throw in there, but just he's pointing out. "Why is it after the birth of Jesus that the 4th of July is the most important holiday for you? He says, is it not that in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth that it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?" None of the Founding Fathers thought they were creating a secular government. And this is what he's explaining. He said, we know what we were doing is we were walking forward with these Christian principles and ideals, that's what we're doing in this nation. The reason, by the way, part of this matter is because this is what Christians should do. They should promote God in every area of their life. And if God has led you to government, you should promote God where you are. This was the foundation of our nation. This is not a crazy thought or idea, by way, people point out today and they're like, yeah, but you know, not all the Founding Fathers believe that. Cool. So, let's just take the least religious Founding Father, right? And I'm using that by today's definitions. If you actually study Franklin and the writings of Franklin, not like what people wrote about him, no, no, go back and read his writings. Franklin was far more religious than most Christians I know today. Okay? Now Franklin questioned the divinity of Jesus. There were several Founding Fathers, several minorities, like five, that question the divinity of Jesus, Franklin says, I'm not sure if Jesus was truly the Son of God or if he's just the greatest prophet sent by God here to show us how to live. Franklin revered the teachings of Jesus wasn't sure of the character and nature of Jesus. Now, because I believe when Jesus said, no man comes a father except through me, right? Like you have to believe in Jesus to get to the Father. So, I wouldn't argue Franklin's a Christian. However, thinking that he's anti-Christian, you've misunderstood a lot of things. And there's a lot of reasons I can point you to show that, but the idea in most people's minds is not only that Franklin was a deist, that Franklin was a secular deist. And I would point out both of those are incredibly faulty thoughts for two reasons. First of all, the Constitution Convention, when we are trying to come up with the Constitution and it's falling apart, right? It's not working. Benjamin Franklin, the old dude there, he stood up, the longest speech he gave during the entire convention was on June 28, 1787. And during this speech his solution for them to overcome their problems here's part of what he says: "in this situation of this assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark to find political truth and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us. How has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understanding?" Now, Franklin is suggesting that guys, why haven't we taken time to pray? Like we should probably pray. If you are a deist, you do not believe that God gets involved in the affairs of men. So already we got a problem. If you're a secularist, you don't want God involved. So why are you suggesting maybe we should consider prayer? Let me keep going. He said "in the beginning of the contest with Great Britain when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine protection." Now, again, I know this is familiar. I'm just walking you through a sequence, but let me just slow down for a second. There were six guys that signed the Declaration and the Constitution. The room they're in now, Franklin knows most of these guys, they weren't here back then. He's given them a history lesson. He says, guys, I know you don't know this, during the Revolution, we were in this room and we prayed ...When?  Every single day. 

Rick Green [00:20:02] Alright folks, last break for this special three-part series with Tim Barton at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. Stay with us. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show.  

Rick Green [00:21:16] We're back here on The WallBuilders Show for the conclusion of Tim Barton's presentation at the Pro-Family Legislators Conference. 

Tim Barton [00:21:23] So tell me again about the founding fathers being secular, about them being atheists, agnostics, deists. This is the least religious guy saying, guys, we used to pray every single day. Like, this was normal for us. He said, our prayers were heard and they were graciously answered. Again, that's not a deist. Deists don't believe that God answers and gets involved in these kinds of things. He continued, "All of us engaged in the struggle must observe frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived here a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe, without His concurring aid, we shall sit in this political building no better than the builders of Babel, and we shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business." That's the least religious Founding Father. Let me give you one other connecting point in this. Professor Donald Lutz, who did the study Origins of American Constitutionalism, who pointed out, had I included all of the obvious references to the scripture that were in their writings that weren't in quotation marks, the number would have been far higher than 34%. Yeah, I read you 14 sentences. He had one in quotation Marks. Were there some other obvious Bible references? Yeah, Sparrow Can't Fall to the Grounds, The Tower of Babel. Like literally, there's 14 verses he references in there and one of them is in quotation marks. If you just study their writings and it helps if you know the Bible, you would see how clear and obvious this is because why? What is one of the things he says? Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it. This is the challenge I want to give to you. Coming from the least religious Founding Father. As you are going back. Everything that we are encouraging and we want to help in any way we can. Everything that we're encouraging you to do, it can only be done if God's a part of it. And I know you know this, I'm just reminding you, because the task before you is too great. It is! Some of you in very red states, you're like, well, it's not too great in our state. I understand what you're saying. No, but I'm just saying we're doing something bigger than this. And if your vision isn't bigger than what you can accomplish, you're not dreaming big enough. Because the whole nature of God is, with man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. This is where, as we look at the nation now, obviously All the things I've given you, we can footnote, document, resource, all of it. We'd encourage you to get some of those resources available. But let me finish with two thoughts in the Bible. The first one, Proverbs 14: 34, righteousness exalts a nation. Why does this matter? Because you have to understand better than anybody else. If we are trying to make America great again, what made her great in the first place is the foundation that has to be restored. The Bible tells us here's what makes a nation great, doing it God's way. That's what will give you freedom, stability, prosperity, doing it, God's Way. And you have to understand this because if we're not understanding righteousness, then you're not gonna go to the proper resource to find the right motivation for your legislation. This is a hot take, just gonna throw this out there. I would suggest as you're navigating legislation, you ought to be thinking about what Bible verse supports what I'm trying to do right now. Because I want to make sure what I'm promoting is going to reflect something godly so God can bless what we do. Then I would encourage the challenge of Nehemiah. Our name WallBuilders we took from the Bible, a story of Nehemiah. And if you remember the story of the Nehemiah, the walls have been torn down. And Nehemiah 2:17 is where he gives a challenge where we get our name from, where he says, come, let us rebuild that we will no longer be this grace. And so our call is let's, guys, let's be wall builders. Let's rebuild this thing. In the midst of it, I would remind you that Nehemiah had this much encouragement from his constituents. He had this much encouragement, right? From his faith leaders. Read the story. They're like, you can't do it, it's too big, it's to hard, it can't be done. Now, it is also interesting he had one voice encourage him. The highest political leader in the land, who is not a godly man, king Cyrus. King Cyrus gave him cover for him to go do the work. God had called him to do. I'm not saying it's a perfect parallel, but it's pretty close. People told Nehemiah, it's too big, you can't do it. Nehemiah started grassroots campaign. In 52 days, they did what people thought was impossible. There's no doubt, there's giants, there is no doubt, there's gonna be difficult things, but our call and challenge is let's just roll up our sleeves, one stone at a time, let's start rebuilding this thing. 

Rick Green [00:27:15] Alright folks, that was Tim Barton speaking at the Pro-Family Legislators Conference talking about the real secret sauce of what made America great in the first place. And of course, as we know, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Let's build a strong house here in our country. Share this program with your friends and family. Today was part three. So, when you go to wallbuilders.show, be sure that you share today's program yesterday and the day before so folks can get the entire presentation from Tim. Thank you so much for listening to the WallBuilders Show.