In this episode of Washington Watch, Tony Perkins debates current international tariff challenges with insights from White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt and Kansas Senator Roger Marshall. With tariffs as steep as 300% from neighboring countries like Canada, the conversation turns to reciprocity and potential legislative changes to support American industry. Meanwhile, a stimulating discussion ensues regarding international religious freedoms and the pressing need for the U.S. to act in the wake of escalating Christian persecution in Nigeria.
SPEAKER 10 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 02 :
You have a 100% tariff from India on American agricultural products. You have nearly a 300% tariff from Canada on American butter and American cheese. This makes it virtually impossible for American products to be imported into these markets. It’s time for reciprocity, and it’s time for a president to take historic change to do what’s right for the American people.
SPEAKER 03 :
That was White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt earlier today discussing President Trump’s pending tariff increases. Welcome to Washington Watch and thanks for tuning in. Well, coming up on this Monday edition, Kansas Senator Dr. Roger Marshall joins us to talk tariffs, tax cuts and federal legislation defining what it means to be male and female. Yes, believe it or not, we live in a time when reality itself sometimes needs legislative protection.
SPEAKER 01 :
We have been we’re obviously focused on taking back the House. We only need three more seats to take back the House. And there have been a lot of resources put into these races.
SPEAKER 03 :
That was Congresswoman Susan DelBene on CNN this morning discussing Florida’s special elections, which are scheduled for tomorrow. Now, it’s not just Florida. Wisconsin also has an important election tomorrow. Matt Carpenter with FRC Action will join me with all the details. And should pastors be free to speak from the pulpit on political issues? Well, for years here at the Family Research Council, we’ve been working to remove the so-called Johnson Amendment from the tax code so that pastors can be free to speak to all issues that scripture touches upon. Well, today, legislation was once again introduced to eliminate language placed in law by Lyndon Johnson back in the 1950s. It was former FRC team member and now North Carolina Congressman Mark Harris who introduced the bill along with Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. And Congressman Harris joins us later to explain. And finally, you likely recall the revival at Asbury University that began in February of 2023. Well, in the two years since, other campuses have reported spiritual stirrings, suggesting a broader move of the Holy Spirit. Even on secular and Ivy League campuses, there have been profound moves of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Carter Conlon, General Overseer of Times Square Church in New York City, has been a part of many of these gatherings, and he joins us later with a report that I think is going to encourage you, so you don’t want to miss that. All right, it’s Monday. And what does that mean? Well, it means the seventh episode of God and Government is out today. Here’s the question. How should Christians engage in public policy debates in a world where right and wrong, it becomes objective? Do you know how to do that? Well, you can find out in this week’s episode exclusively on the Stand Firm app. If you don’t have the app, I can help you out. Text COURSE. Text COURSE to 67742. That’s COURSE to 67742. And I’ll send you a link. All right. President Trump’s broad tariff implementation named Liberation Day is only two days away. The president says this will help boost U.S. manufacturing while recouping some lost profits. And the Senate is also slated this week to move forward with a budget plan that is aligned with the House, which will become the vehicle for President Trump’s policy agenda. Here to discuss this and other issues is Senator Roger Marshall, who serves on the Senate Committee on Finance and on the Budget Committee. As an OBGYN from Kansas, he is a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus and the Pro-Life Caucus. Senator Marshall, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 11 :
Tony, it’s great to see you. It’s been too long. My goodness, I think we’re starting like day number 69, 70 of Trump, and it’s been a whirlwind. I know you’ve been following everything that President Trump has accomplished here. Promises made, promises kept. I’m so proud of our efforts up here.
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s been a lot of good things that have occurred. A lot of eyes this week are on Wednesday, so-called Liberation Day, where there’s going to be some tariffs rolled out. What should we expect?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I think we’re already seeing results of that, that more and more foreign entities are bringing in their corporate manufacturing back to America. SoftTech, a corporation from Japan, recently announced a trillion-dollar investment. It’s going to add 100,000 jobs to America. So as they do more AI, they can set that up here. They have a choice. Do they do it here? Do they set up in Asia? They’re afraid that they’ll face tariffs if they don’t do it here. We’re seeing that in big pharma, the same thing as well. So we’re already seeing it happen. And then I think secondly, I just want to focus on national security, that President Trump is doing part of this. One reason is to get Canada and Mexico more engaged in stopping the flow of fentanyl, getting China to stop making its precursors. And then just overall, it’s a good idea, I would think, to protect, to make sure that we’re able to make steel and aluminum, things like that in this country, automobile parts. So we’re going to see jobs coming back to America. President Trump knows what he’s doing. We got this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me ask you to talk about the manufacturing and you talk about national security as a doctor. You know, we back during COVID, we discussed this many times. But when we had China. actually released the virus, but also had the manufacturing of personal protective equipment for medical providers and then slow walking that, in fact, blocking some of that to the United States. Are we going to see some of that manufacturing along with the pharmaceuticals coming back to our shores?
SPEAKER 11 :
Absolutely, Tony. And I want to add to the story there is that China actually sometime in early January, after knowing the virus was released, went out and bought up all the personal protective equipment all across the world. They’re already making a lot of it. They bought up what they could as well. Then they got to market up as well. But really, for several years now, we’ve been trying to move those manufacturing processes back to America. And I’m sitting here thinking of Greenland, something else that’s a little bit controversial. But we need those rare earth minerals to make a lot of these pharmaceuticals, to make IV solutions. It’s the building blocks for so much that we use in medicine as well. But indeed, we’re trying to move those building blocks back to America.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, Senator, let’s talk budget. You’re on those committees that deal with the budget. The Senate, I understand, is coming into kind of the same view as the House with one bill. There’s going to be, I think, movement this week. It’s critical because that’s the vehicle by which most of the president’s agenda is going to be advanced.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, think about this again. Promises made, promises kept. We’re going to lower taxes and slash spending. So lower taxes, slash spending. That was part of what President Trump ran on. So that’s what we need to do is get this reconciliation bill across the finish line. Again, we can do this with 50 votes in the Senate. Very rarely can we do anything with 50 votes in the Senate, but we can slash taxes. We can eliminate taxes on tips, taxes on overtime, taxes on Social Security. That’s saving money for hard-working Americans across the country. And then if we don’t extend Trump’s original tax cuts, that’s going to be a tax increase on hard-working Americans as well. So this is our opportunity to lower taxes and slash spending.
SPEAKER 03 :
What are you hearing from your Republican colleagues? Are they ready to move forward on this? Do you think you’re going to have the votes to advance it?
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, I think so. Again, the magic number is 218 in the House and 50 on the Senate side. And I think the question is, how much spending can we slash? How many taxes can we cut as well? And I think trying to make those two mesh and eventually balance the budget. I think that there are several balls in the air here right now, including the president wants us to work on the debt ceiling. So a lot of balls in the air. We’ve got to bring these all together. And this is when President Trump’s leadership is going to come in handy. I think Speaker Mike Johnson doing a great job. And over on this side, John Thune doing a great job as well. So it’s going to take a lot of leadership, but I think we can get the job done.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, Dr. Marshall, I’m going to ask you a question for a physician. You delivered about 5,000 babies, as I recall, correct? Yeah, that’s right, Tony. And those babies, did you assign them their gender at birth?
SPEAKER 11 :
Tony was actually, you know, my people ask me what I miss most about obstetrics, and it was that moment the baby was born. And every baby that I delivered, as I cleaned the baby off and was stimulating it to cry, I would say a silent prayer for that baby. And then as soon as the baby started crying, that was the crowning event, right? To hand that baby to the mom and dad and say, it’s a boy, it’s a girl. And nobody ever gave me the baby back and said, hey, we don’t want to sign a sex yet. I think it’s just hard for me to imagine here I am eight years later and we’re arguing about this. So I love what President Trump did on the first day in office in executive order to say that if you make sperm, you’re a boy. If you make oocytes, if you make eggs, you’re a girl. And what we did this week was introduce legislation codifying, putting into law what President Trump did with that executive order. It’s a boy. It’s a girl. Can you imagine?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s important. And we’ve talked about this many times on this program since the Trump administration began. He’s done a lot of good things by executive order, but those can be undone. by the next administration if there is a change in administration. So codifying these are very important. You and Congresswoman Mary Miller introduced legislation—we wouldn’t think this is necessary—but defining male and female. It’s the Defining Male and Female Act, codifying what the president has done. But explain a little bit more why that’s so important for federal purposes.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, to your point, no one’s promised tomorrow. We don’t know who the next president is going to be. But the Democrats aren’t giving up on this issue. By the way, I don’t think it’s an 80-20 issue. I think it’s a 90-10 issue. But nevertheless, the Democrats are just digging deeper and deeper in this hole. So I think it’s important long-term that we codify this. And why it’s important to me, and I think Christians everywhere, is that we protect the rights of those young ladies. We protect their safety. And we protect their dignity. I don’t think we’re spending near enough time talking about protecting the dignity of ladies, of girls. No one yet can look me in the eye and say, hey, I think it’s perfectly fine to have a biological boy in the shower with these young ladies. So we need to protect their rights, their safety, and their dignity.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, it is. It is a safety issue. It is a dignity issue. But at a much deeper level, it’s a truth issue. I mean, it’s reality. There are two genders, male and female. And when we deny that, what we’re denying is broader truth. And that’s a very dangerous place for a society to be.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, you know, I think the pastor comes out and you, Tony, to talk about these subjects. But ultimately, I think this is a spiritual issue. And people are saying that we are God, that we get determined whether this is a male or a female. So they’re rejecting the perfectness of God. You know, God knew us, made us perfectly. In the womb, we were made perfectly perfect. So they want to reject what God has given us. I think it’s a very slippery spiritual slope as well. Even just this week, my daughter sent me something that my grandson saw. It was basically grooming kids to be transgender. I had no idea it could get this bad. Just encourage everybody to pay really close attention to what your children, your grandchildren are looking at. And my daughter is watching it like a hawk, but somehow this got snuck in there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Such good advice. Parents need to be watching, guarding, protecting what their children see and hear. Senator Marshall, we’re… just about up against a break, but you’re the first interview for this week. And I want to ask you this question. What are you looking for this week? What’s on your radar screen? And what should our folks, our listeners, viewers be praying about and thinking about as we start this week?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I think probably Thursday night we’re going to be up all night working on the next step of this reconciliation process to help get President Trump’s agenda across the finishing line, promises made, promises kept, to lower taxes and to slash spending. So I just lift President Trump up in prayer that we would do justice, that we would love mercy and walk humbly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Roger, it’s always great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us and appreciate your fight for truth on Capitol Hill. Thanks, Tony. Great to see you. Thanks for your prayers. All right. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, I encourage you to be praying for members of Congress. And we try to highlight on this program many of the men and women of faith who have been called by God to to government and they’re serving in some key roles. And so when you see them on this program, most of them, we’ll have others, but most of them are brothers and sisters in Christ fighting for truth on Capitol Hill. So pray for them. Coming up next, Matt Carpenter with FRC Action joins me to preview two critical special elections happening tomorrow in Florida and a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. So don’t go away.
SPEAKER 07 :
At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That’s why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone. The congressman also stressed that 89% of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
SPEAKER 07 :
Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. The Biden administration’s removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians.
SPEAKER 07 :
Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
SPEAKER 03 :
These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
SPEAKER 07 :
Bishop Wilfred Onagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
SPEAKER 08 :
We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
SPEAKER 07 :
FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
SPEAKER 06 :
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We’ve created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 12 :
Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. All right, the website is TonyPerkins.com. But better yet, best way to keep up with what’s going on is the Stand Firm app. Go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. You can have Washington Watch right there in your pocket, along with our news feed, The Washington Stand, which brings news and commentary to you from a biblical perspective, and my daily stand on the word devotional. All that on the Stand Firm app and more. So… Download the StandFirm app today. Last night, Elon Musk held a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to fire up the Republican base for tomorrow’s pivotal election in the state when voters will get to choose their next Wisconsin state Supreme Court judge. Musk also handed out two $1 million checks to two people who had already voted in that critical election. Hmm. It’s kind of hard to compete with that. Along with Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, all eyes are also glued to two special elections in Florida. Now, these are Republican seats. It’s replacing National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who President Trump originally nominated to be attorney general, but he had to step aside. So what’s the polling show in those races going into those elections tomorrow? And quite frankly, why does it matter? Well, It matters a whole lot. But here to talk more about that, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter. Matt, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Tony. Okay, let’s start with the two special elections in Florida. And as we explain who the candidates are, what the polling numbers show, remind our viewers and listeners of the margins that House Speaker Mike Johnson has to work with at the moment.
SPEAKER 15 :
Tony, the word tight almost feels like an understatement. In a 435-member country, Representative body, it takes 218 for a majority. That’s the exact number in the House Republican Conference to the Democrats, 213. And you’ve got four vacancies right now. You mentioned the two in Florida in our first and sixth congressional district. And you’ve also got two on the Democrat side where you have members from Texas and Arizona. who’ve passed on. So I believe those special elections to fill those seats have yet to been called. So all eyes tomorrow on how these races in Florida pan out.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, these are two very solid Republican races or districts, but Democrats are spending a lot of money in these races because obviously there’s going to be a lot of interpretation, if you will, of the results. So give us the rundown. Let’s start with the first congressional district to replace Matt Gaetz.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, so this is a Florida panhandle district in the Pensacola area. It’s probably the most conservative or conservative deepest red district, arguably in the nation. This is a district that President Trump and Matt Gaetz both won in excess of 30 points. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hit 40 points. So in that race, you’ve got Republican Jimmy Petronas. He’s the current chief financial officer for the state of Florida, longtime Politico down there in the Sunshine State. And then you’ve also got Gaye Vallemont, who’s a longtime Democrat candidate there. She challenged Matt Gaetz in 2024. Now she’s running for election there. She has vastly out-raised and out-spent Petronas there, about six to one. She raised just north of $6 million to Petronas’ $1 million. But again, it seems like, as you pointed out, this is a very Republican district. I don’t think that cash edge is gonna get her over the finish line. And I’m hearing, some signs of positivity, a lot of encouragement for the Petronas team at this point. All expectations are that he will win. And as you kind of alluded to earlier, it’s, it’s our, have you, have you met expectations? If you, if it’s a safe Republican district and you’ve won it by 30 points, if you win it by 15 points, does that say something else? So that’s kind of where I think the DCCC and the Democrats are trying to point to in a race like like CD1 there in Florida, did Republicans hit their margin?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s important because when we look at the next race to replace Mike Waltz, who’s now National Security Advisor, that Democratic candidate has raised and spent even more money than the Republican.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, yeah, he’s raised nine to one there. He almost hit $10 million. His name is Josh Wheel. He’s a first-time candidate out of kind of the south of Jacksonville district. here in the 6th District, running against Randy Fine, who’s a longtime member of the Florida legislature. He’s currently a Florida state senator. And he has raised just shy of a million dollars to Josh Wheels, almost $10 million. So as you pointed out, Democrats are just shoveling money into this one. And frankly, if you look at some of the early voting turnout there, At the get-go, when early voting kicked off, Democrats actually led in early voting in a number of counties there at the beginning of it. So there was some caution there. How was this going to pan out? Since then, Republicans have outpaced the Democrats in all the counties. So it’s about an R plus five now. If you look at just the voter turnout, if you assume a Republican voter is a Republican voter, all signs look to a very slim, modest, lead for Randy Fine going into Election Day. So it all comes down to Election Day. That’s what we say in the politics business. It’s who shows up.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And folks, that’s very important. If you live in the first or the sixth congressional district of Florida, that you go and vote tomorrow if you’ve not already voted. And there is an I Voter Guide available that shows you where the candidates stand on the issue. FRC Action has a link to all of that as well. All right, Matt, we just have less than about a minute and a half left. Let’s go to Wisconsin, talk about what’s on the ballot there.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, this is a statewide election. If you live anywhere in Wisconsin, you can vote there. You’ve got a Republican. It’s a nonpartisan race, but you can kind of infer where a candidate is. I guess we’ll say conservative Brad Schimel versus liberal Susan Crawford. Susan Crawford has been involved in the abortion activism there in Wisconsin for a while. And that’s central, frankly, to this election. You’ve got Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice shoveling money into Crawford’s election there. The polling is very tight. It depends on which way you look. Sometimes it’s within the margin of error. There’s been a few polls that have shown it tied. And there are other polls that show Crawford with the lead. It’s a state Supreme Court in Wisconsin that currently has a four to three liberal majority. So this would be a chance for conservatives to flip that. And you’ve got cases on everything from abortion, as we just mentioned. We expect a ruling out of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on it. on an abortion case in the near term. But you’ve also got important election integrity, specifically with mail-in drop boxes, and then also potential for redistricting. So that gets at, again, that balance of power there in Washington, Tony.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, very quickly, Matt, where can folks find FRC Action resources for these elections?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, go to frcaction.org. We’ve got voter guide information there. Go find the iVoterGuide.org. link there. You can see school board races in Wisconsin. You can figure out where the candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court are on the issues. We’ve also got Florida Special Election voter guide there as well.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, Matt Carpenter, thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, folks, when we come back, giving pastors the freedom to speak. That’s next. Don’t go away.
SPEAKER 13 :
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It’s true that all ideas have consequences, but we’re less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our world view. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us on this Monday. Since 1954, our nation’s tax code has included a provision restricting the religious freedom and free speech rights of every clergy member in America. It’s the so-called Johnson Amendment. It was the brainchild of then Texas State Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. before he became vice president, then later president. So why is the Johnson Amendment so problematic, and what can Congress and the president do to eliminate it? Well, here to discuss this, Congressman Mark Harris, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and two other committees, including the Committee on Education and Workforce. He represents North Carolina’s eighth congressional district. He is also a pastor and previously led the pastor in church ministry here at the Family Research Council, and he knows all about this. Congressman Pastor Harris, welcome to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, Tony, it’s great to be with you. It’s a little different than how I envisioned that we were going to be able to talk today, but literally my plane just landed about eight minutes ago, and I jumped in, and we’re just beside a parking garage coming to you to talk about this today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, that’s how it works when you’re in Congress. So let’s talk about this. Working with the majority leader, Steve Scalise, who had introduced this previously, and the speaker who was a part of it previously, you’ve now taken over in the House to carry this important piece of legislation. Explain what it does and why it’s so important.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it’s critically important. Tony, as you mentioned, when you go back and you look at the context and the history of why it’s desperately needed, you go all the way back to 1954 and this has been used as a from the time the Johnson Amendment went in place that. really created a black cloud, if you will, over pastors and pulpits across America using the C3 status that you have, that tax-exempt status, as almost a wedge that would cause pastors to feel like if you spoke about a political candidate, or in any way, shape, or form influenced what was happening in the election, that they were going to come in and remove your church’s C3 status. And because of that cloud that has been there, there’s a lot of pastors that have stepped back, unfortunately, from being willing to speak to those issues. And what we’re hoping to build up is it really clarifies and will codify once and for all that the intention should never have been to silence the churches in America, but rather pastors are free to speak, thus saith the Lord God, when they’re delivering their messages. And if they feel like that they need to speak on those issues and speak and call out candidates and call out elected officials, then they don’t run the risk of knowing that the IRS is looking over their shoulder and is somehow going to come down on them and penalize them. So as long as what they’re doing is, again, within the normal work, such as preaching sermons and doing the ministry of the church, they should not have any threat of the IRS coming in to try to remove that C-3 status. And this bill is going to do that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, what this does not allow for the critics who want to say, well, we don’t want the church becoming a political operation, another quasi-political party. This does not allow a church to use financial resources or anything else to promote a candidate or a campaign. It simply allows the pastor to preach the Word of God from the pulpit as it touches on issues or if it touches on individuals.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly right. I mean, nobody is setting out for the church to become a super PAC or anything like that whatsoever. We’re opening up what pastors have done for the first 150 years of our nation’s history. Pastors felt that freedom to preach Election Day sermons, to call out elected officials that were not following those biblical principles. That freedom needs to be restored. And there have been too many months that go by every election cycle around September or October when myself as a pastor and other pastors across America would get that letter from some group and an individual that was writing to threaten the pastor that, you know, it’s coming election season and you can’t say certain things and you can’t do certain things. And let me tell you, that’s wrong. to create that kind of threat. And I’m praying that this is going to bring that clarification. We’re going to bring freedom to the pulpits once again. And I think the American public is going to be very excited to know this has taken place.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, Mark, I think it’s very important people understand how this has been utilized by groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation. As you said, they’ll send letters out right before an election saying, now, if you talk about candidates, you could lose your tax exemption. And we know that they stretch the truth, if they even touch on the truth, but it intimidates pastors who don’t have legal counsel in their churches. And so this just removes that so that they have the freedom to preach the word of God as the Lord leads them. All right. Final question for you. We’re up against a break. Got about a minute and a half left. I think prospects are pretty good in the House. What does it look like?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, the prospects are good in the House. As you mentioned earlier, Leader Scalise shared with me the opportunity to lead this bill. It has come up in the House before, and we really feel like the momentum is there, and we’re going to be able to pass it. My good friend Senator Lankford over in the Senate is introducing the companion bill as well, and it’s going to be important. There’s no reason this should not have bipartisan support to simply open up the pulpits of America. and to give people that are preaching the freedom to know. Again, this bill clarifies and codifies it once and for all.
SPEAKER 03 :
What committee will this? Will this go to the Judiciary Committee?
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s my understanding. It will end up with going to the Judiciary Committee for hearing and then markup, and then we’ll eventually get it to the floor.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. All right. Well, just keep us posted so we can let our viewers and listeners know the progress and where they need to lean in and speak to their members of Congress about this Free Speech Fairness Act. Mark Harris, Congressman Mark Harris, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. Glad you made it on the ground in time to join us here at Washington Watch. Thank you. God bless you. All right, Congressman Mark Harris of North Carolina. All right, on the other side of the break, Pastor Carter Conlon joins me to share about what’s happening on Ivy League University campuses. Pretty profound.
SPEAKER 14 :
What is God’s role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today’s most pressing debates. From the Ten Commandments in Classrooms to the Immigration Crisis of America, we’ll uncover the foundations of our nation’s history and why it’s relevant for today. Defend God’s plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742.
SPEAKER 13 :
The world is hurting. Streets are filled with crime. Families are broken. Sin is celebrated and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back. It’s good to have you here on this Monday edition of Washington Watch. And being that it’s Monday, that means our seventh episode of God and Government is out today. How should Christians engage in public policy debates in a world where right and wrong have become subjective? I mean, we’re talking earlier with Senator Marshall about the fact that we have to define male and female. How do we operate? Well, to find out, you need to watch this week’s episode of God and Government. If you don’t have the Stand Firm app, you need to text the word COURSE to 67742. That’s COURSE to 67742. And I’ll send you a link so that you can watch this week’s episode of God and Government. Our word for today comes from Ezekiel 17, where a parable describes Judah’s rebellion and the dire consequences that follow. They broke faith both with God’s covenant and the king of Babylon’s agreement, showing themselves untrustworthy. Though they swore obedience, their actions betrayed a treacherous heart, prompting God to use Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of judgment. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, said this. He said, quote, those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants, end quote. His words highlight a timeless truth. When a nation or individual rejects divine guidance, they often fall under oppressive rule. This principle echoes God’s response to Ezekiel, where he promised recompense upon those who despised his oath. We, too, face a choice. If we continue rebelling against God, we risk the same fate, being turned over to powers that curb our freedoms. Yet God remains gracious and ready to forgive, offering hope to every contrite heart. If we turn from our rebellion and submit to his authority, we avert the tyranny that follows a hardened spirit. Let us be mindful of Scripture’s clear message and choose faithfulness over defiance. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. I’d love to have you join us on this journey. You might recall just over two years ago, a chapel service at Asbury University in Kentucky turned into a 12-day revival service that prompted students to hit the pause button and turn to God. And it just seemed like continued and continued. Well, since then, college campuses across the country, both religious, Christian, and secular, have witnessed a move of God within their student bodies. Last month, over 3,200 churches adopted more than 6,000 college campuses for the Collegiate Day of Prayer. At Texas A&M University, they filled their 2,500-seat auditorium to capacity with students seeking something more in their lives, something only the Lord God can offer. Well, considering all the attention going into college campuses where we’ve seen, you know, last year the focus was on the anti-Semitic protests that were happening there, this story seems to be being overlooked. Perhaps most surprising is how this is also hitting on some of the Ivy League. Colleges. Joining me now to talk about this is my good friend, Pastor Carter Conlon, General Overseer of Times Square Church in New York City, President of Summit International School of Ministry, and he is also on the board of the Family Research Council. And He not only has a front row seat to all of this, he’s actually in the midst of it, preaching on many of these campuses and seeing these young men and women turn their lives over to God. Pastor Carter, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s always great to see you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks, Tony. It’s great to talk with you again tonight.
SPEAKER 03 :
So let’s I mean, we’re very familiar. Our audience is very familiar with what was happening on college campuses last year with the anti-Semitic protest in the last spring. But we’re now seeing you’ve been seeing this now for a couple of years. You’ve been there quietly seeing, you know, small groups. get larger and places where they literally had the dust out, dust off the pews in some of these chapels and some of these Ivy League schools. But some profound things are happening. Tell us about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it’s wonderful, Tony. We started in 2023. at Yale University. What happened is we have a worldwide prayer meeting at Times Square Church through our Bible school, Summit International School of Ministry. And some of the people at Yale started watching that prayer meeting, ended up getting in touch with us and said, do you think you could do something like this on the Yale campus? So all of the Christian clubs got together. I did an interview with them, and we ended up agreeing. And we came to the Yale campus in 2023. We set up outside. the steps of the church that actually formed that university quite many years ago. And about 1,000 people came out that first year. And we’ve been back two years since. This year we had two consecutive nights. And you’re looking, I think, at video. That’s the altar call. I don’t know if you’re showing that or not, but that’s the altar call at the university. That was just where they crowd surfed one of the Christian leaders. It’s just phenomenal. And we’re seeing that on every campus. We’ve been at Cornell. We had about 200 young people come forward to surrender to Christ at Cornell. We saw it a couple of weeks ago at Princeton. We were there for two nights, the 20th and 21st. Same thing, same response everywhere we’re going, just an absolute outbreak of joy. And now, We have about, at last count, one, two, three, four, five, six Ivy League schools that are in negotiations with us to come and do the same thing in their college campuses as well.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, Carter, let’s talk a little bit about this because, you know, we look at all of the survey, the polling data. We see that these younger generations much less inclined toward Christianity than older generations. But there is a hunger and maybe the absence of this has generated this hunger and thirst that You’ve described some of these encounters with me that you’ve had where there’s been young men and women coming in who have no clue. They’ve never been to a church before. They’ve never heard the gospel before, and so they’re not even quite sure how to respond.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s true. But there’s a hunger. You know, we’re seeing a lot of radicalism in our colleges across the country, as you’re fully aware of that. But a lot of people forget that maybe 80, 90 percent of the students are just normal kids that just want to have a career. They want to have a family. They want to raise it. They want to have a marriage. They want to have a good living. And they’re not given to radicalism, and they’re tired of this stuff, and they just want to really look at all the alternatives. We were just at Princeton last week, and what I was really stunned about at Princeton is about 200, they estimated the crowd size to be 275, that’s from their chaplains, and it was 45 degrees outside, and they sat down on the grass, and they were riveted. to the simple preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even a group of Muslim students passing by stopped to listen, and I’m told some of them were asking for prayer at the end of the event. Simple gospel, nothing profound. I spoke from John 10.10. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I’ve come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. There’s nothing profound about it, but it’s a truth that many of them have never heard before. And if they have, they’ve never been at a place where they’re actually considering surrendering their lives to Christ. We had about 20 students raise their hands to receive Christ that night.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me go back to something you said at the very beginning. What got the attention of some of these university campuses was the prayer meeting that you have each week, international prayer meeting. What role does prayer play in revival?
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, there’s no revival without it. I mean, it’s almost ludicrous to think that we can experience revival without the presence of God or without a dependence on God. Prayer is you and I getting to the point where we say, just come down and defend your own name you claim to be the father to the fatherless and the the husband to the widow the defender of the the impoverished and the imprisoned so we just start praying and say god come down and do what you said you would do concerning our colleges we began fasting and praying as a church in new york city several years ago and we started a specific prayer say god open the iron gates that for decades have locked out and marginalized, minimized and even ridiculed the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, just open these gates. Give us an opportunity to let these young people know that there is a God who loves them. They can have eternal life and they can find an abundant reason for life on this earth through Jesus Christ. And Tony, it’s been amazing. to see the explosion of joy. I can’t explain it. It’s almost like they sit there and stare at you without even moving. It’s almost like Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. And then when the opportunity comes to come forward to surrender to Christ, they literally explode with joy. And it’s the same in every campus. It’s almost like this is too good to be true. You know, one of the things about Ivy League young people is that they’re very success-driven. And the ones that are Christians have a tendency to see the Word of God that way. And so they live with this constant sense of failure. I don’t pray enough. I don’t do enough. And when they hear about the grace of God, when they hear about the completeness of the cross, when they hear about the love of God for them, they just, you know, they might be bright, but they’re just kids like every other kid. And the response is almost overwhelming. I don’t know if you have the video or not, but if you could see the altar call at Princeton last week, it’s just absolutely amazing how they responded outdoors to the gospel.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, you have been in, I mean, the Lord’s used you in some really remarkable circumstances, even as pastor of Times Square Church there in New York City, which I had the privilege of preaching at a couple of times. is that you’re right there in the heart of the city and people think, well, this is going to be, you know, another one of those kind of liberal churches. And you were preaching the gospel and you saw the transformation. So the Lord’s been using you in that, I think, preparing you for this type of encounter. Given your, you know, what you’ve seen over your time in ministry, do you believe we’re at a kind of a very, pivotal moment spiritually when you see this happening on college campuses? Is this something unique that we need to really pray into and press into for this could be a turning point for the nation?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, I do. I’ve been preaching for years that we’re going to experience a mercy moment in America. And this mercy moment would come in a time of social upheaval and trouble that we’re experiencing almost daily now. The mercy moment is Acts chapter 27. I’ve actually preached it in a couple of your conferences, Tony. Nobody was interested in what the Apostle Paul had to say until the ship was caught in a storm that it couldn’t maneuver through. And all hope that we would be ever returned to a sense of normalcy seemed to be lost. And suddenly, somebody calls for this man who told him not to take this journey, and everybody’s listening to his voice. I actually wrote a chapter in a book on it called from captive to captain in 10 minutes. He goes from captive in the ship to the captain of the ship. And it’s a moment, I call it a mercy moment, where the collective consciousness of the nation says, what was wrong with Jesus Christ that we have abandoned him? What was wrong with the blessings that he gave us over 400 years that we have somehow seen fit to walk away from? I’m going to be doing a radio special on Independence Day And my thought is going to be, where did we start thinking that we could be independent from God without suffering the consequence of it? And the reality is, I’m just going to give you a time frame. I think we’re in a four-year moment of mercy. And if we don’t really lay hold of this moment we’re in, the darkness on the other side of this is going to be staggering, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 03 :
When you look at these college campuses, these younger generations, Gen Z, what are the barriers for them coming to Christ and embracing the gospel’s message? And how do we overcome that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the barrier is that they’re looking for… Like, in other words, they would say, don’t try to sell me a car that you’ve never driven yourself. They’re not interested in religion in the least. They’re interested in a relationship with God. And the question that they have is, if you claim to have this, how has it worked for you? And the majority of what I’ve been doing on these campuses is, yeah, I’m using different scriptures and different approaches, but I’m interweaving it with the story of my own life, what God did for me and from the basic things of delivering me from fear or depression or teaching me how to be a father and a husband and such like. And they’re just saying, don’t try to sell me it if it’s not working for you. And I’m not interested in a concept about God. I’m interested in God himself. And if it is true and if he is real, how will it impact my life? And so that’s what we’ve been talking about in these campuses.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is kind of counterintuitive, Carter, because, you know, we’re told, you know, if you want to reach a college campus, you know, they’ve got all these social media influencers, you know, that are out there. And they’re usually young. I mean, you’re a little older than most of those college students. But there’s something there. It’s the authenticity. It’s someone who’s actually not just hawking something. that some of their peers might be doing, just trying to get some likes on their social media pages, but someone who actually has walked through this and can provide something that I would think would point to stability that they’re looking for in their lives.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, with Princeton last week, I shared with them, I said, look, I don’t have any more itches to scratch, and I could retire tomorrow, and I told them I could afford to retire, and I could live by the ocean. But the thing is… I care about you. And they know when it’s real. They know when you’re just trying to put a notch on your belt or get, I don’t even know what likes are, but you’re trying to get more likes and such like, and they know when you care. And realistically, they might be bright, but they’re still kids. I mean, there’s still 19, 20, 21-year-olds, and they still want to, I tell them, clump and jump. That’s what I called it at the end of giving an opportunity to receive Christ. I said, I’m so mesmerized by this generation because you come forward. And you don’t dance. You clump and jump. That’s what they do. They just get together in a pile, and they just jump straight up and down. That’s all they do. Some of the students tell me, they said, it’s an awesome way to do things because none of us have to know how to dance. We don’t need to know all the moves anymore. And you’re delivered from the pressure of finding a girl or a girl finding a guy to dance with. And you just get together in a big group and you just jump up and down. They’re doing it at weddings. Every one of these meetings at the end, they just clump and jump. I don’t know how else to say it. And to praise music. I just love it. God has just opened some amazing doors.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is exciting to see. And I appreciate what you’re doing on those campuses, Pastor Carter. And I want to thank you for joining us today. And I will say this. You can put me in the like column. I like it. All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can come out to me. We’ll just see. We’ll do that. We’ll do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
