Welcome everyone to Family Talk. It’s a ministry of the james Dobson Family Institute supported by listeners just like you. I’m Dr. james Dobson, and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined us.
Well, welcome back to Family Talk. I’m Roger Marsh. You know, we are truly living in some unprecedented times here in America.
And amidst the chaos, you may find yourself praying for the Lord to do a fresh work in our country. Well, perhaps now is the greatest time to pray. And in just a moment, we’re going to hear part two of a powerful and informative conversation.
Today, Gary Bauer is joined once again by the honorable Michele Bachmann. They’ll be discussing the state of our nation and why it is crucial for every Christian who is eligible to vote to register, pray and vote and then share with others why it is so crucial to let our voices be heard as we stand up for biblical values in the public square. Now, before we begin today’s program, this reminder, there are still a few spaces left for our exclusive online screening event of the powerful documentary film called Letter to the American Church based on Eric Metaxas’ book featuring that same title.
This online event takes place tomorrow night, Thursday, September 26th at 630 p.m. Mountain time. And in addition to watching this remarkable film in community, you’ll also hear from the Honorable Michele Bachmann as well as the two Christian filmmakers who were compelled to make this documentary. Now, the event is free, but you must sign up today to take part.
Go to drjamesdobson.org/americanchurch to sign up. That’s drjamesdobson.org/americanchurch and you can be registered. And now, let’s join Gary Bauer and his guest, Michele Bachmann once again, as they discuss how voting in this year’s presidential election will help to protect biblical values that’s starting right now here on Family Talk.
Well, welcome to Family Talk, my friends. It’s great to have you back with us. Michele Bachmann and I had a great conversation yesterday, and she has been gracious enough to come back today so that we can deal with a lot of the other issues that you as a Christian citizen are gonna want to examine and make decisions about as we approach that important election day.
Michele, thank you so much for being back with us today.
Thank you, Gary. I look forward to it.
You know, I guess we ought to just start out right at the top because as I recall, president Trump actually visited a crisis pregnancy center at one point.
yes.
Which was, I believe, something that had never happened before. But I remember just a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to see a video again that reminded me that Vice president Kamala Harris went to minnesota, I believe, to Minneapolis, and visited an abortion clinic. And the governor that she ended up picking as her running mate was also at the abortion clinic.
And they stood there at this clinic dedicated to destroying the lives of innocent unborn children. And they hailed the workers at the clinic as American heroes.
They did. And Tim Walz also just in this last legislative session, he defunded every pro-life crisis pregnancy center in minnesota. Planned Parenthood gets a billion dollars a year across the nation.
Minimum. A billion. And so you have these little small crisis pregnancy centers that are trying to offer an alternative of life to women in a pregnancy.
And we used to give them minimal grants in minnesota. Tim Walz got rid of every one of them. So you can’t have a more extreme ticket than Harris-Walls.
Because it’s not just us saying it. The rating agencies that rate US. Senators, rated Kamala Harris the most liberal senator in the US.
Senate. More liberal than Bernie Sanders. That is very difficult to reach that ranking.
The number one most liberal senator in the US. Senate. That’s Kamala Harris.
But Tim Walz is the number one most liberal governor in America. So you’ve got the most radical, extreme, culture of death presidential ticket we’ve ever seen. And then you’ve got president Trump, who is on the other side.
And he has proven when he was president, his pro-life credentials by the judges that he appointed. And those judges in turn rightly overturned Roe versus Wade and sent the abortion issue back to the states, where each of the states now are grappling with it. And it gives each one of us an opportunity to weigh in and contend for the unborn in our own states.
Well, you know, those judges, Michele, did something else too. I’ve had some legal eagle Christian experts tell me that, thank God this is true, that the current Supreme Court is the strongest religious liberty court that we’ve had in decades. And again, just like on the life issue, the issue of religious liberty is incredibly important to Christians in America.
And because of his three court appointments, we’re winning religious liberty cases at the Supreme Court by six to three votes. And that’s important because we’ve got folks in office, including the current administration, that are attacking religious liberty in multiple different ways, trying to force Christians to participate in things that violate our conscience.
We are seeing right now a global call for denial of free speech. Free speech goes hand in hand with religious liberty. these are people who only want one voice heard.
The culture of death voice. They don’t want biblical worldview. And if you’ve got Harris’ walls, you’ve got an anti-religious liberty world for people of faith.
And let me tell you, it wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes if they’re elected for them to begin putting all of this in place. They didn’t waste any time when Joe Biden and Harris came into office to shut down pro-life avenues and to shut down religious liberty and freedom of speech. And it won’t take 10 minutes more if Harris and Walls get in as the next administration.
You know, Governor Walls gave an interview not too long back when he said, the freedom of speech isn’t guaranteed. It doesn’t apply when it’s misinformation or hate speech. And Michele, sadly, because of the lack of good constitutional law being taught in our schools, a lot of people go, oh, well, yeah, the freedom of speech can’t include hate speech.
Well, wait a minute. Of course, we’re not haters. Christians aren’t haters.
But if you say the freedom of speech doesn’t include hate speech, somebody then in government has to decide what hate is. And we know from recent experience that if you say, oh, I don’t know, the border ought to be secured. Oh, you hate immigrants.
That’s hate speech. So we can’t allow these people to play with words and seduce us, particularly Christian voters, into thinking that there’s something wrong with free speech and we have to have government regulate it. That is the path to a disaster and the loss of our liberty.
Well, the founders gave us one of the most precious documents every American should know about and every American should fight for. It’s called the Bill of Rights because the United states government, the whole concept was to limit government, give government the least amount of power, just barely enough so they can do their job, and then give the rest of the power to us as individuals. As individuals and as churches and businesses, we should have maximum power.
Instead, that’s been inverted on its head, but the Bill of Rights, the very first right is freedom of religion and freedom to exercise a religion, freedom to have a voice, freedom to write and print. That includes going on the Internet. And so this is something that government can’t even touch.
The Bill of Rights is something that belongs to every one of our listeners, Gary. It belongs to you, me. It was given to us as a gift.
It’s a birthright.
It’s a birthright. Government can’t take it away from us. And yet you’ve got Harris and Walls who are cavalier about this, who say, oh, you don’t agree with me?
Well, too bad. Only my opinion is going to be heard. People don’t realize, Gary, how far down the road we have gone in America under Biden and Harris to have our religious freedom and our freedom of speech curbed.
And let me tell you, if they get in, it will be so restricted, we may not even recognize our way of life and we may have a very difficult time even communicating to each other because of all the avenues of communication that would be shut down, because they’re being shut down already. Gary, you and I could do a whole show just on this issue, and it’s that important. But for now, before the election, people need to understand there couldn’t be a greater compare and contrast between the Trump Vance Ticket and the Walls Harris Ticket on this issue of religious freedom and freedom of speech.
This is a gift that God gives to us. And again, we’re not trying to be partisan. We’re not trying to be political.
We’re saying that in this instance, in the natural, there are two completely different parties that hold completely different views. One of the views is biblical, and one of them isn’t. And that’s where we need to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.
Not screaming at people that we disagree with, not shutting down people that we disagree with. But we need to be wise. And the most important way we can be wise right now is to have knowledge and register to vote and go into the voting booth and vote according to what the Bible says.
You know Michele, one of the issues that I think some Christians struggle with because the left has come up with arguments, including some of the progressives in the church itself have embraced arguments that use the Bible to essentially support the notion of open borders. And this is a big difference between the two candidates. Our listeners will remember that Donald Trump ran on the idea of build a wall to secure our borders.
And he was subjected to unbelievable hatred because he wanted to do what every country tries to do, which is secure your borders. And one of the things we will hear said many, many times is that jesus loves migrants. jesus loves immigrants.
Well, jesus loves everybody. jesus loves taxpayers too. And I don’t think there’s a Biblical case that you can make that says that it’s a Christian thing to bring millions of people into your country that you haven’t been able to vet, knowing that among them are going to be some criminals, gang members, drug dealers, and then set those individuals that have come in by the millions, many of them probably decent people, but nonetheless, and those people then end up victimizing Americans of all races.
What is the correct Christian view on this issue? Because I think it’s the position that Donald Trump has.
Well, it is the position Donald Trump has, and we need to know that in both the New testament and in the Old, the Bible talks about the boundaries of nations and that God has placed a people group into the boundaries of the nations and the parameters of a nation are very important to God. He said that he sets those boundaries. So it’s unlawful to violate those boundaries.
Do people cross borders? yes, they do. But nations are allowed to set up laws and rules.
You know, it is so shocking, Gary. Donald Trump was trying to build a wall. He had one of the lowest rates of illegal immigrants getting into the United states.
By contrast, under Biden and Harris, now reports are upwards of 20 million illegal aliens. Many criminals, maybe criminal gangs, many people who are mentally ill, certainly impoverished, have come into the United states. What society will countenance this evil?
There is no moral imperative for us to allow this. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The moral imperative is to protect the innocent who are here.
So we have to have a strong border. And of the two candidates, there is no comparison. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will continue the open border that will bankrupt our country.
And I will say the most expensive endeavor any nation can engage in is war. The second most expensive endeavor any nation can engage in is immigration, illegal immigration. It is costing our nation hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that we will never get back again and it’s destroying neighborhoods, destroying the schools and the social service systems.
Donald Trump by contrast will build the wall. He will begin the deportation of these dangerous criminals who get them out of the United states. And that issue alone should let people know what the future holds because with all of these dangerous immigrants, not all, but many are dangerous and even if they are not dangerous, they have no legal right to be in the United states.
No legal right. Where is Tim Walz on this issue? The vice presidential candidate on the Democrat ticket.
He voted here in minnesota and he passed a law to give free college to every illegal immigrant in minnesota. minnesota kids don’t get that. He’s giving that to illegal aliens.
He’s giving free school and he’s giving free college and he’s giving free healthcare and free driver’s license and illegal aliens are registering to vote now in minnesota and he’s not stopping that. So this is where Walz and Harris are coming from. They want illegal aliens to replace us because the illegal aliens who are coming in are almost all impoverished.
They are going on government welfare programs and they know that people who are on those programs will tend to continue to vote for them and for that funding. But I will tell you, it’s bankrupting the United states and causing inflation to skyrocket. Those are issues in the natural, but God speaks to each one of these issues.
You know, Michele, the research in all this is clear. When we say the kind of things that you just said, they’ll accuse us again of hate speech or you’re misleading people, immigrants that actually have lower crime rates than native-born Americans. The fact of the matter is that research just came out of New York City, where 75% of the crime that was happening in the center of Manhattan was being committed by migrants that had been brought in by the Biden administration.
There’s another thing here about the compassion issue.
That’s right. And Gary, if I could just say, by definition, every illegal immigrant in the United states is a criminal.
Exactly.
They walked into the United states intentionally, knowing exactly what they were doing. And they’re coming here because they want to take. My forbearers came from Norway back in the 1850s.
But they had to sell everything they had in Norway and come and live a hard scrabble life and save and build up. There was no public support of any kind. And there were some people who just couldn’t hack it.
So they had to leave and go back to Norway. They couldn’t hack it in the United states. But everything has changed now.
What doesn’t work in the United states is when we combine open borders with the most extravagantly generous welfare state in the history of mankind. That leads to bankruptcy in very short order. And that tanks an entire nation.
Why would we tank an entire nation for unbiblical values? We have the power to put in office people who are gonna enforce Biblical standards. We have to bring our vote to bear this fall.
There’s no question about it, Michele. And what we’ve been trying to do these last two days is to convict the hearts of our listeners that they are called to be Christian citizens. They were blessed by God when they were born in America or were able to legally come to America.
There’s all sorts of places in the world that they could have been brought into the world in, but God wasn’t surprised that they were born or came to America. This is a country with tremendous freedom, built on the idea of ordered liberty under God. So we were given a tremendous gift by God when we were permitted to be a citizen of this country.
And unless we’re going to be in grades, we have an obligation to take care of that gift, to preserve that gift. If we don’t, we will have betrayed our founding fathers and every previous generation that sacrificed for us. And we will have condemned our own children and grandchildren to lesser, less free lives.
And people can just look around, look around your city. Did you build it? There were people who came before you, and they gave to you by building up the greatness of your city.
What about your church? Did you build it? Did other people who came before build that church?
And Gary, what you said is so spot on. We’re just a link on a chain here. Are we going to build up for this next generation?
Or are we going to tear down for the next generation? That’s really what’s at stake right now. Are we going to build up or are we going to tear down?
And this is our moment to exercise our Christian leadership to change the world. And it is really that consequential. It may sound melodramatic.
I don’t mean to. But I think Gary and I have both been involved in this world for decades. And we know the heart of Dr. james Dobson and Shirley Dobson.
Shirley has spent years on her knees praying for this nation. Dr. Dobson couldn’t have given more to contend for children and for this next generation. And so I think that’s why both of us are passionate about this today, Gary, because what happens in the voting booth this fall will determine so much.
And so this is that moment.
Well, Michele, we know we have to vote. Hopefully, anybody in doubt after hearing us will do the right thing and be part of this great debate about what kind of country this is going to be. But we also always, if we’re going to be discerning, we always have to pray and we always have to ask for God’s wisdom as we make these challenging decisions as free men and women, at least still right now, free men and women.
So could you close us out praying for our audience and for Christians in America to rise to this occasion?
yes, oh Lord, we are instructed to pray in John 17. You say, oh Father, I wish they would be one, even as you and I are one. Lord, our nation is so divided, but yet your word calls for unity.
Father, I pray that we would be united as the body of Christ, as we seek to share the Gospel and to see more come to Christ and share salvation. I pray, oh God, that you would cause your people to come together in unity for the sake of those yet unborn, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, for the sake of this present moment, for the sake of the Jewish people and of Israel. Oh Lord, God Almighty, give us the wisdom, remove our vanity from this vote.
And instead, Father, place before us, as you say in your word, I place before you life and death. And God, you say to us, you urge us to choose life. So I pray, oh God, for those who are considering their vote this fall, I pray that you speak to them now, that they must vote, and that you speak to everyone, that we must vote for life.
So I thank you for this opportunity, and I pray for the needs of every person listening today, that you would hear and you would answer the needs of everyone listening to us today. I pray this in jesus’ name, amen.
Amen. Michele, thank you so much for being with us over these last couple of days. This has been, I think, two of the most important shows that we will have in this year of decision.
Let’s continue, to all of you out there listening, to continue to fight for faith, family and freedom, to stand with Dr. Dobson and the james Dobson Family Institute, to work, to pray, to vote, so that this great shining city on a hill can be a nation that God will want to bless for many, many more years in the future. Thank you, Michele, and God bless you.
Well, the best way for us as believers to help others understand how biblical values truly are at the heart of America’s foundation is to vote. And today here on Family Talk, we’ve been challenged as well as encouraged by hearing the second half of a powerful two-part conversation featuring Gary Bauer and Michele Bachmann discussing how Christians who choose not to vote in the 2024 election really aren’t stewarding their citizenship very well. By the way, you will find a literal treasure trove of election-related resource material when you go to our special website drjamesdobson.org/countdown to decision 2024.
Once you’re there, you’ll find special voter guides specifically designed for all 10 of these swing states in this year’s election cycle. You’ll also discover a whole slew of video resources from reels all the way up to full-length interviews while you’re there as well. Interview guests include Kirk Cameron, Dr. Del Tackett, the aforementioned Eric Metaxas and more.
Be sure to go to drjamesdobson.org/countdown to decision 2024 today, and you can access all those materials there without cost. That’s drjamesdobson.org/countdowndashtwodashdecision dash 2024. Now one of the guests who is also featured in our countdown to decision 2024 video series is all-American swimmer Riley gaines.
She discusses her harrowing journey speaking out against the violations many girls and young women are experiencing at the hands of transgender activists. Dr. james Dobson recently authored a statement about this atrocity. He was joined in this effort by Gary Bauer, Senior Vice president of Public Policy here at the Dr. james Dobson Family Institute, along with Dr. Owen Strand, Senior Director of the new Dobson Culture Center, and Joe Warsack, the president of JDFI.
We urge you to read this powerful declaration to protect children, and then sign it and share it with your friends. To read the declaration in its entirety, go to drjamesdobson.org/protect the children. That’s drjamesdobson.org/protectdash the dash children.
Well, I’m Roger Marsh, thanking you for making us a part of your day. May God continue to richly bless you and your family as you grow deeper in your relationship with him. And be sure to join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. james Dobson’s Family Talk.
This has been a presentation of the Dr. james Dobson Family Institute.
