The Ben Shapiro Show - How the Church Can Solve the Foster Care Crisis | Bishop W. C. Martin

00:00:00.000 Unfortunately, we've had to edit out some important information because Big Tech won't let us say that sort of thing.

00:00:05.000 To listen to the full uncut show, go to dailywire.com slash subscribe.

00:00:09.000 And my question is to a lot of people, how do a child know what love is when no one ever taught them love?

00:00:16.000 How do a person, a child, know what a mother and a father is when they don't understand because they've never been taught?

00:00:23.000 We got to reach and get them, teach them, show them, demonstrate it, and let them be a part of our family because this is what God is calling for the church to do.

00:00:36.000 Bishop W.C.

00:00:37.000 Martin is an American pastor, author, adoption advocate, and the inspiration for the upcoming Angel Studios and Daily Wire Plus film, The Sound of Hope.

00:00:44.000 As the pastor of Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Possum Trot, Texas, Bishop Martin and his wife Donna adopted four children and ultimately persuaded their entire community to do the same.

00:00:53.000 Ultimately, under Bishop Martin's spiritual leadership, one small Texas town adopted 77 children.

00:00:59.000 Out of the foster care system and into loving families.

00:01:01.000 Today, Martin leads the Church to Child movement as the founder of Saving a Generation Ministry, preaching across the nation to move families to consider adoption.

00:01:09.000 He also serves as a national ambassador for the Global Orphan Project, which works to administer care to local children and equip orphans for adulthood.

00:01:16.000 In today's episode, Bishop Martin and I discuss the problems within the current foster care system and the role of the church in successful adoption stories.

00:01:22.000 Bishop Martin also shares personal anecdotes about raising his adopted children and a few behind-the-scenes moments from the making of the movie.

00:01:28.000 Don't miss this heartening conversation about family and faith with Bishop W.C.

00:01:32.000 Martin, the real-life inspiration for the upcoming Angel Studios and DailyWirePlus film The Sound of Hope.

00:01:36.000 Welcome back to another episode of the Sunday Special.

00:01:39.000 Fisher Martin, thank you so much for taking the time.

00:01:49.000 Really appreciate it.

00:01:50.000 It's a blessing to be here.

00:01:52.000 So let's talk about your story.

00:01:54.000 Obviously, it's an unbelievable story now in the movie Sound of Hope, but let's start at the very beginning.

00:01:59.000 What was your upbringing like?

00:02:01.000 Well, it was my wife started this, you know, because after the death of her mother and all of that, she wanted to do, she said that the Lord spoke with her and told her to give back.

00:02:16.000 Uh, to a child that doesn't have what her mother gave them.

00:02:21.000 And it was kind of hard convincing me in the beginning, but after I saw that she wasn't going to give up, I decided that it was been at my best interest, you know, to go ahead on and follow suit with what she wanted to do.

00:02:34.000 And once we got in, I mean, my whole life changed because I did not know that all this was going on.

00:02:43.000 For me to see life, the beauty of life, and to look at what I have witnessed in the eyes and the mind and how the abuse and the neglect and the turmoil that have happened.

00:03:00.000 If anybody have any love of God in their heart at all, This will definitely do something to you, inwardly.

00:03:07.000 This will open you up to the point to understand.

00:03:12.000 My life wasn't like that.

00:03:14.000 I mean, I got nine brothers and one sister and came up dirt poor, that if you didn't kill it, you didn't eat it.

00:03:21.000 If you didn't raise it, you didn't eat it.

00:03:24.000 But at least I had food to eat.

00:03:27.000 But to see a child in this United States, Hungry.

00:03:33.000 I really believe that God got an indictment against many of us that we have not done due benevolence when it came to the children.

00:03:42.000 It really tore me down.

00:03:45.000 And when it did, it made me aware That if this is happening in our little area, just to think what's going on in this whole world.

00:03:53.000 And that we are allowing this thing to keep on going, keep on going, keep on going.

00:03:59.000 Because the foster and adoptive system is swelling every day.

00:04:02.000 More and more and more children going in, more and more children being abused and being neglected.

00:04:08.000 and that it's got to be something.

00:04:10.000 And I'm going to be honest with you, this is not a state problem.

00:04:13.000 This is not the president problem.

00:04:15.000 This is not Congress problem.

00:04:16.000 This is the church responsibility to make the difference in the life of a child.

00:04:22.000 So Bishop, it's one thing to look at a problem, then it's another thing to do something unbelievable

00:04:26.000 like what you and your community have done.

00:04:28.000 So, can you talk about how you came to that decision?

00:04:30.000 You mentioned it with your wife, essentially taking a foster child into your home.

00:04:34.000 You had kids of your own already.

00:04:36.000 That obviously is a massive decision.

00:04:38.000 I have four kids of my own.

00:04:40.000 The idea of bringing in a child into the dynamic that I have with my kids, the amount of attention, the amount of love and care Here's the sad part.

00:04:47.000 have to lavish on somebody who's already had such damage done to them. The dynamic of the

00:04:52.000 family that's so changed. Can you talk about all of that?

00:04:56.000 Here's the sad part. My biological son was born with severe brain damage. Now, if you

00:05:04.000 think about it, why would you bring in other problems when you already got a boatload right

00:05:10.000 there in their own home of what you already got?

00:05:13.000 But you know, sometimes I think we have to look beyond ourselves and look beyond where we are and to reach out into this world.

00:05:21.000 It's more or less like what Jesus did for us and the suffering that he went through for us that we may have a better life and a greater life.

00:05:29.000 The trauma of bringing a child in your home.

00:05:33.000 It's not an easy task.

00:05:35.000 It's not, and you don't get these gerbil babies.

00:05:38.000 You don't get those that don't have no problem.

00:05:40.000 All that, if you are in the system, they got some problem.

00:05:44.000 They got some trauma, lying, stealing.

00:05:47.000 I mean, every conceivable thing you can, they can do it.

00:05:50.000 That age doesn't matter because they have given me a PhD in child psychology

00:05:57.000 because we had to deal with so many different issues that they are having that was going on in the line.

00:06:03.000 But you know, I look at this thing like this.

00:06:08.000 Many times, Lord, why would you come into a place like Possum Trot?

00:06:14.000 To show this country something.

00:06:16.000 And I think that the answer is, is that God said, I'm coming to the least because I'm bringing the least in.

00:06:24.000 And I'm coming to those don't have no ulterior motive, but to show love and compassion and wisdom and knowledge and allow them to have the freedom to have a mother and a father.

00:06:37.000 Because if you ever come to Plasma Tribe, which I wish you would come, You will see ain't nothing out there but just woods.

00:06:44.000 That's all you see.

00:06:45.000 Trees and thickets.

00:06:48.000 That's all out there.

00:06:49.000 Nothing else out there.

00:06:51.000 But you know, it's not where you are.

00:06:53.000 It's what you're doing where you are.

00:06:55.000 And I thank God today that he has given us a purpose in life that we can show this world that if I can do it in Possum Tribe, you can do it anywhere in this country.

00:07:07.000 So Bishop, maybe you can talk a little bit about the kids that you adopted.

00:07:10.000 What sort of issues did they have?

00:07:11.000 What was it like on a personal level bringing them into your home?

00:07:14.000 Well, it was difficult.

00:07:15.000 Very difficult.

00:07:17.000 It was very hard.

00:07:18.000 It wasn't easy at all.

00:07:19.000 I had to, you know, almost be a policeman in my own household.

00:07:24.000 My first adopted son, he went in the bathroom one day and he gone He was going to burn up the garbage, but he lit the fire right there in the bathroom.

00:07:34.000 And I just happened to walk down the hallway and saw my bathroom on fire.

00:07:38.000 And lo and behold, it didn't burn the house down because I caught it in time.

00:07:42.000 My first adopted daughter, she was still like you wouldn't believe. 1.00

00:07:48.000 And I think that what it was, they had been hungry, and she had to feed her little brother, so she had to steal food downstairs, and she developed this habit of stealing.

00:07:58.000 But the thing of it is, I don't fault her.

00:08:01.000 I don't look at her.

00:08:02.000 It wasn't her problem.

00:08:05.000 This was like opposed upon her, that she didn't deserve that.

00:08:10.000 But it was imposed upon her that this would happen.

00:08:14.000 But she learned, and when we first got both of them, My wife showed her to the cabinet and showed her, look at the food we got.

00:08:24.000 Open the icebox, look at the food we got.

00:08:27.000 We ain't already heard about that she was a very good thief, that she could really steal and make you believe it because she was so cute and she could look in your eyes and make you believe it, that she was not guilty. 0.98

00:08:39.000 And all the time, that little girl was guilty as I don't know what.

00:08:43.000 Because she did steal that stuff. 1.00

00:08:45.000 And the way I found out about it, I told my wife, I said, something in this room just ain't right.

00:08:51.000 And where they were sleeping, some of these rooms, I don't feel, I just know something ain't right.

00:08:56.000 So I went in there one morning after they went to school and I turned that room upside down, looked under the bed, there was a backpack.

00:09:05.000 Full of old food that she had just hoarded and put in that backpack.

00:09:12.000 Because she figured that if she ever get kicked out, she wouldn't have food to eat in that backpack.

00:09:18.000 Because after all, her and her little brother was in nine homes in one year.

00:09:24.000 And those children really went through hell.

00:09:27.000 I mean, they went through total hell.

00:09:30.000 I look at some of the trauma that they go through, and I'm wondering how would we fit in a category of going through so much hardship and so much trauma, not knowing where you're going to get your next meal in.

00:09:44.000 And a child that goes through some stuff like that, man, it's got to be criminal for any child to experience a life like that.

00:09:53.000 So, obviously, this story started with you and your wife, but then it expanded dramatically in your community.

00:09:58.000 Can you talk about how that happened?

00:10:01.000 Did people look at what you were doing and they just wanted to copy you?

00:10:03.000 Or did you start preaching about it?

00:10:05.000 What exactly happened to turn your community into, effectively speaking, the adoption capital of the United States?

00:10:11.000 When we got our first two, there was one boy, a little boy that came in before, we were the second one to get.

00:10:17.000 The first little boy that came in, my wife's sister got him, and his name was Nino.

00:10:22.000 And Nino came in, and then a month or two later, we ended up getting Tyler and Mercedes.

00:10:30.000 And when we got Tyler and Mercedes, then we carried them to the church, and everybody was, the members started saying, how did y'all do that?

00:10:36.000 What y'all doing?

00:10:36.000 How you do?

00:10:37.000 So, they said, we would like to do this.

00:10:41.000 But we can't, we had to drive 120 miles round trip to take in Texas what they call pride classes.

00:10:50.000 And we did that, and we had to take like about 16 weeks of it.

00:10:53.000 You go to class every week, and they teach you how to deal with hard, with children.

00:10:59.000 So after we did that, we got a little boy and a little girl, and getting them, members start saying, we would like to do that, but we can't drive no 120 miles to take no classes.

00:11:09.000 So, I went to the state and asked them, would they be willing to teach classes in our church?

00:11:16.000 And the lady told me, she said, well, if you can get me eight families, I'd be willing to teach a class.

00:11:22.000 But when I done, I found out that adoption was not a man-made thing.

00:11:30.000 It was a God thing.

00:11:32.000 Moses was an adopted child.

00:11:34.000 Esther was an adopted child.

00:11:37.000 Jesus, a lot of folk don't believe, but Jesus was an adopted child because Joseph was not his biological father.

00:11:44.000 The Bible said that the Holy Ghost told Joseph, Don't be afraid to take Mary as your lawful wedded wife.

00:11:52.000 That she is caring is holy.

00:11:56.000 So I looked up and then looked in Ephesians and found out that all believers Who believe in God has been adopted.

00:12:06.000 So it wasn't a man-made thing.

00:12:07.000 It was a God thing.

00:12:08.000 He started this because he knew that we was going to need a way back to God.

00:12:13.000 So God himself created adoption.

00:12:15.000 So I just started preaching about it and telling them, and I mean, I started preaching like a crazy man up there about adoption and letting people know the beauty of it.

00:12:24.000 And how God adopted us and brought us back into a loving family, into His royal family.

00:12:29.000 And the church caught it, and they caught on.

00:12:32.000 And when I went back to the state, they asked for eight families.

00:12:36.000 The first time, I gave them 13 families who was willing to adopt.

00:12:41.000 The second time, I gave them the rest, which made up 23 families that adopted, and we ended up with 77 children in a small church.

00:12:51.000 Very small, but out in the woods.

00:12:53.000 And it don't, if people look and do the math, it don't add up.

00:12:57.000 It just don't add up.

00:12:58.000 How on earth could a little church out in the bushes, out in the boondock, out in nowhere, make a move like that?

00:13:06.000 Well, I tell you, if God is for us, who can be against us?

00:13:11.000 If God said we can do it, we did it.

00:13:14.000 Without, and it was not easy, and I'm not gonna sit here and tell anyone this was a easy road to home.

00:13:22.000 No, it wasn't.

00:13:23.000 It was hard to home.

00:13:25.000 But if you stay in the process, if you just stay with it and stay with God.

00:13:30.000 He's gonna make it right, and he's gonna bring you through it.

00:13:33.000 So today, we don't have anymore in the community that I know of, because some got their own homes now, and some of them in college have gone on and made careers out of what they've done, and realized that they are somebody now.

00:13:49.000 They got an identity, and this is what we need to do.

00:13:53.000 We address ourselves with God, and He's looking at us as being His children.

00:13:58.000 So God want us to do the same thing, to reach out and bring these children out of this system and to teach them and to show them.

00:14:07.000 And my question is to a lot of people, how do a child know what love is when no one never taught them love?

00:14:13.000 How do a person, a child know what a mother and a father is when they don't understand because they've never been taught?

00:14:21.000 We got to reach and get them, teach them, show them, demonstrate it.

00:14:26.000 And let them be a part of our family, because this is what God is calling for the church to do.

00:14:33.000 We'll get to more with Bishop Martin in just one moment.

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00:15:46.000 Well, you must have an extraordinary community.

00:15:48.000 Can you talk about the families in your community?

00:15:49.000 Because obviously you're talking about the fact that it's not a rich community, it's not a prominent community, but it must be an unbelievably special community to have so many parents who are willing to open their homes like that and to hear what you're talking about in terms of biblical morality and then change their lives so radically.

00:16:07.000 Well, the community is a very, very poor community.

00:16:10.000 Very, very poor.

00:16:12.000 But instead of looking at what we did not have, We looked at what we had, and I believe to my soul, and I saw this work, it looked like every time our back got against the wall, God made a way for us.

00:16:30.000 It looked like to me that, and I was one to start this, so whenever there was a problem, even in the schools, They had problems even in the school, and I had to kind of visit all the schools that put fires out all over Shelby County because the kids were disrupted.

00:16:47.000 They were doing stuff and their parents couldn't do it, but I had to go in and make a difference in the lives of children.

00:16:54.000 The community itself rallied around everybody.

00:16:59.000 If we called in the people from Children Protective Services, they were like about 60 miles each way from us.

00:17:06.000 So we had to develop our own wraparound support group, our own wraparound.

00:17:11.000 We'd done that, and when there was a problem came up, we got together in the church, and we worked it out.

00:17:19.000 And we supported one another.

00:17:21.000 We helped one another.

00:17:22.000 We shared one another's burden.

00:17:24.000 If there was a parent who was really going through, We, my wife and I, went and picked that child up and brought him in our home and gave the parents a break.

00:17:34.000 I don't believe that no one be willing to do anything like that today when you already got problems in your home, that you got your adopted children, then I got my son, my biological son, with the problems he's got.

00:17:45.000 I don't believe for one to do anything like that.

00:17:46.000 But you know what?

00:17:47.000 I'm just crazy enough to believe that if we step out in faith, and show the love of God and demonstrate that God will never leave us by ourselves.

00:17:57.000 I'm just crazy enough to believe that we will have the victory in the name of Jesus.

00:18:02.000 So, Bishop, what was it like finding out that a major studio like Angel was going to be making a movie about you, about your community?

00:18:09.000 It almost turned my hair black again.

00:18:12.000 I mean, because I never... Look, we in Possum Tribe.

00:18:19.000 What do you expect?

00:18:20.000 A couple and an angel?

00:18:22.000 And the people that involved Josh and Rebecca and Joe Canetti that got involved in this and worked tireless hours?

00:18:31.000 I mean, no, we didn't have a clue.

00:18:33.000 In fact, to be honest with you, we never did get in this in the beginning for no publicity.

00:18:40.000 We were just doing what we thought people would do.

00:18:42.000 So to find out where all the struggles and all the things, and then here it is, 10 years since we started in the movie business, that they started working on our stuff.

00:18:51.000 Josh and Rebecca started 10 years ago, and here we are.

00:18:56.000 In 2024, God done showed up and letting this country know, y'all get ready, because something is gonna hit this country that's gonna just turn this whole place around, because there's so much good stuff inside that movie that's gonna teach people, even getting along with one another, helping us, and even removing racism and all of this different stuff, all of that is involved in the movie, and how we ought to care for the most vulnerable, Just like Jesus cared for us and showing us His greatness every day of our life.

00:19:29.000 I'm here today because of His grace.

00:19:31.000 I'm here today because of His mercy.

00:19:32.000 You are here today because, and everyone else is here, because God's grace and mercy have kept us through all of our heartaches and sins, and we're still heartaches, just like the children.

00:19:43.000 So, what do we say?

00:19:45.000 Open up your door and say, come on in.

00:19:48.000 So, are there any memorable moments during the filming or during this entire, you said, decade-long production process that stand out to you?

00:19:55.000 There are a couple of things in this movie.

00:19:58.000 We don't call it a movie, we call it a movement of God.

00:20:01.000 During the time that the bishop called everybody, they was going through so much, and we've been through that, and he called everybody to come and stand around the cross.

00:20:13.000 And I always figured that.

00:20:14.000 We sing our songs that it was at the cross, at the cross.

00:20:18.000 When I first saw the light, and the burdens of my heart would roll away, it was there by faith I received my sight, and now I'm happy all day.

00:20:27.000 We sing this song a lot of times, but I'm gonna tell you something about standing around that cross, where Jesus died, makes a big difference.

00:20:35.000 When he called everybody to the cross, and began to pray, and began to seek God for the strength of the peoples who are really going through, because there was at a point, All of us one time had thought about giving up, but when we got together and prayed, and had prayer, and prayed for one another, because prayer still works, and when we did that, that was one beautiful scene to me that turned this whole thing around.

00:21:07.000 And then when we looked at the end, Where all of the families, the real families, got together and had a party.

00:21:17.000 To me, that was it all.

00:21:19.000 Because what that did, that demonstrated all of the trouble, all of the pain, all of the heartache, and at the end of the road, there's sunshine.

00:21:29.000 Everybody coming together and just enjoying themselves and eating and rejoicing and thanking God for what He's done for us.

00:21:37.000 And even the children, they are grown.

00:21:40.000 They got their own children now.

00:21:41.000 They bringing them out and just letting everybody see that, hey, look, I'm grown.

00:21:46.000 I got children.

00:21:47.000 And look, I got my parents still with me.

00:21:50.000 And I'm here to thank God.

00:21:52.000 It was one of the most beautiful times that we ever got together and had in this whole movement.

00:21:59.000 Let's talk about what happened to all those kids.

00:22:01.000 So, when it comes to the number of children in foster care, we've got hundreds of thousands of kids in foster care.

00:22:07.000 Their prospects are really, really dim in foster care.

00:22:09.000 The possibility that they're going to go on, have successful, healthy lives.

00:22:13.000 But, you know, giving them a chance at life is something your community did in a way that no other community I've ever heard of has.

00:22:19.000 What was the impact on those kids?

00:22:20.000 It was so great because they now know They have an identity.

00:22:26.000 You know, there was something so strange about the children that we adopted.

00:22:31.000 They did not see themselves as adopted children.

00:22:34.000 They saw themselves as children in their family.

00:22:37.000 That's their family.

00:22:37.000 They've been there all along.

00:22:39.000 And perhaps in the spirit, they have been there all along.

00:22:43.000 But it meant so much to them to be able to look at and say, I got a mother and I got a father.

00:22:54.000 And they have taught me what life is really all about.

00:22:59.000 This is the beauty of what Jesus showed us.

00:23:02.000 I mean, He showed us that in Him, we have life.

00:23:05.000 And that's the way these children feel.

00:23:07.000 They feel like that now, you know, my mom and daddy, I got them.

00:23:10.000 They're going to look out for me.

00:23:11.000 They're going to take care of me.

00:23:12.000 And I got the grandchildren.

00:23:14.000 And it's just a beautiful thing.

00:23:16.000 Even some of the parents that are adopted, they're going on home to be with the Lord, but the children still are there.

00:23:24.000 And they come back home, and they come and recognize, and still believe, and still say, if it had not been for them, we don't know where we'd be.

00:23:34.000 We did a screening in Dallas, Texas, here a few weeks ago, and one of the adopted children was there.

00:23:42.000 And it was so amazing.

00:23:44.000 And she walked up to me with tears in her eyes. 0.60

00:23:47.000 And she told me, she said, Bishop Martin, I want to thank you for saving my life.

00:23:53.000 She got in college and she got a bachelor's degree.

00:23:58.000 in trauma therapy to teach other children that they can make it.

00:24:04.000 She's on her way right now to get her master's degree to know and let them know.

00:24:09.000 She said, I want to be able to stand.

00:24:12.000 I'm going to get an office.

00:24:13.000 I'm coming back to the community and I want to share my gift with those who are going through just like me.

00:24:20.000 See, this is the testimony.

00:24:22.000 That's what happened when we reached out.

00:24:25.000 To be honest with you, we don't know what's locked in that system.

00:24:29.000 We got preachers and teachers and we got psychiatrists and we got, I mean, we got everything locked in the system, but it will never come out until we reach in and bring them out.

00:24:41.000 I'm a pastor.

00:24:42.000 I'm a preacher.

00:24:43.000 I never would have known that if the Lord hadn't reached down and got me out of my mess, what I was in, and I was a bad little boy.

00:24:50.000 I mean, if you tell me, if you bet me, I'm gonna do it.

00:24:54.000 Whether my mama got on my behind or not, I'm gonna do it because that's the way I was built.

00:24:59.000 So, I got that attitude right now that nothing on this earth can stop me from doing what I'm doing.

00:25:04.000 And I don't let nothing stop me.

00:25:06.000 I'm crazy enough to believe that if I go, if God tell me to go through that door, I can go through it.

00:25:11.000 I'm just not crazy enough to believe that.

00:25:13.000 So, the children that we have now, they see the beauty.

00:25:16.000 They see that they got a home.

00:25:17.000 They see they got a father.

00:25:18.000 They see they got a mother.

00:25:20.000 And they see that they are being loved and cared for.

00:25:23.000 Because no child, this is not the will of God, that no child Be locked in a system.

00:25:31.000 And I want to add this.

00:25:33.000 If the church does not rise up, And fix this problem.

00:25:39.000 God got an indictment against all of us.

00:25:42.000 So I encourage 400,000 children out there.

00:25:47.000 We got way more churches on every corner, and there should not be a child.

00:25:53.000 Churches ought to be waiting on children instead of children waiting on a pimp.

00:25:57.000 We need to reverse the action.

00:25:59.000 So I'm really praying and seeking God.

00:26:03.000 How can we help this?

00:26:05.000 And I really believe that this movement, The Sound of Hope, The Possum Trot Story, is going to cause hundreds and thousands of children to find a lovely home, to know that there was not God's will in the beginning.

00:26:23.000 It was just a neglect and oversight on the lives of people.

00:26:27.000 So, Bishop, obviously very few people have dealt with the foster system the way that you've dealt with the foster system.

00:26:33.000 For those like me who don't know much about the foster system and how it actually operates, what are the biggest problems with the way that the foster system is currently operating?

00:26:41.000 I think that the state needs to re-examine what they did.

00:26:49.000 And the way things were set up 40 years ago, it's not going to work today.

00:26:55.000 We're in a different time, in a different season, in a different era.

00:26:58.000 You're going to have to change with time.

00:27:00.000 And if you're using the same rules and the same thing that happened with my great-great-grandmama and all that kind of stuff, that is not going to work.

00:27:09.000 So there needs to be a change.

00:27:11.000 They need to redo the rules.

00:27:13.000 And I know good and well that they don't want to see children come out hurt, And then find going into more.

00:27:22.000 I understand that.

00:27:23.000 And it should not be.

00:27:24.000 I think parents should be streamlined.

00:27:26.000 I think that they should have a good record.

00:27:29.000 I think that they should have the type of mindset that if I bring this child in my home, it is my responsibility to raise that child and love that child and to help that child through life.

00:27:41.000 But if you don't, if you make it hard, If the state make it hard, people are going to walk around and say, look, I can't deal with making this hard.

00:27:52.000 That's why I thank God for the caseworker that we had.

00:27:57.000 She was one of them kind of caseworkers that she called right, right, and wrong, wrong. 0.99

00:28:01.000 Just because a child walked up and told her, look, I want to be moved.

00:28:04.000 Her name was Susan Ramlin.

00:28:06.000 I want to be moved out of this home.

00:28:08.000 And she knew that the parents was a good parent.

00:28:10.000 She'll tell him, said, look, you need to go somewhere and sit down and start obeying.

00:28:14.000 She didn't just buy into that.

00:28:16.000 And we had one who just bought into all of that.

00:28:19.000 You can't do it like that, because these children do lie, and they do a good job of it, and they'll make you believe what they are saying.

00:28:28.000 The foster system needs to be revamped and needs to be revived, where people are able, good folks, good families, Christian homes, can be able to get these children out.

00:28:39.000 If the state want the children out, then don't make it so difficult that people want to give up before they even get started.

00:28:47.000 That's a bad sign.

00:28:48.000 So I think that for the most part that, and the way they did us, we had to foster six months before we was able to adopt.

00:28:58.000 And after that six months, we moved into the area of adoption, and they didn't waste no time.

00:29:05.000 They went right on and got us in the court and got that thing done and over with, because it was no sense.

00:29:14.000 I think the state did a good job in Texas in doing that.

00:29:18.000 And they didn't make it so hard.

00:29:20.000 They kind of made it easy.

00:29:21.000 They done tightened up a whole lot now.

00:29:22.000 I don't know if they got children coming back in the system, but we didn't let any of them go.

00:29:26.000 We held them children.

00:29:27.000 We was not going to let them go.

00:29:31.000 And we held on to them.

00:29:32.000 When we got Mercedes and Tyler, the first thing my wife told him, said, look, I know you've been in nine homes in one year, but I'm gonna let you know right now, this, the last train to Georgia, you will not be leaving out of this house.

00:29:45.000 But you know, I look at this thing from a different way.

00:29:49.000 And my thing is this.

00:29:51.000 Let's change this thing.

00:29:54.000 Let's change it up.

00:29:56.000 We can't continue to do it the way it's been done because it's wrong.

00:30:00.000 We've got to fix this problem.

00:30:02.000 And the way we fix the problem is to get involved.

00:30:05.000 Everybody cannot adopt. 0.83

00:30:07.000 Everybody can't foster.

00:30:09.000 But everybody can be part of and help this process.

00:30:14.000 If you can't do nothing, just pick them up and take them out and buy them some french fries, anything.

00:30:19.000 Let's do this thing because we are able and qualified to do it because God said so.

00:30:24.000 More with Bishop Martin in a moment.

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00:31:19.000 You know, Bishop, one of the things that comes through so clearly, not only when you're talking, but also in the movie, is that, you know, it's very easy for people in society to say things like, well, let's just go do some good.

00:31:27.000 Let's just be nice.

00:31:28.000 But without an orientation toward God, this stuff just doesn't happen.

00:31:33.000 Until you have a community that's oriented toward fulfilling God's will, you can tell people to be as nice as you want, tell people to be as giving as you want to tell them to be, but people are very unlikely to take that step unless they believe firmly in a higher power that believes in them and has given them the ability to do something.

00:31:49.000 You are so right on that.

00:31:51.000 Because see, what is the deal?

00:31:54.000 Believing God changed the dynamic of your whole life.

00:32:00.000 Believing God will let you know who you are, what you are qualified to do.

00:32:08.000 The Bible said that God called us out of darkness into the marvelous light.

00:32:13.000 And if God called us out of darkness into the marvelous light, He got purpose.

00:32:17.000 Everybody that God calls has purpose.

00:32:21.000 You may not be a preacher, you may not be a teacher, you may not be this deacon or whatever, elder, whatever, but God got a purpose.

00:32:29.000 We got a young lady in our church She loved keeping the church clean. 0.98

00:32:34.000 She loved doing it.

00:32:36.000 And she goes down there and spend hours in that church, just cleaning and wiping and all that kind of stuff.

00:32:41.000 She loved doing that.

00:32:42.000 Because why?

00:32:44.000 That's her purpose. 0.64

00:32:45.000 That's what she designed to do. 1.00

00:32:47.000 The purpose of God and everything, the Bible said everything that God done was good.

00:32:53.000 And in the good, there was purpose developed in that good.

00:32:58.000 And when I was raised up, you know, little barefoot boy, you know, and getting into everything and stealing watermelons and all of that kind of stuff out of people's garden, you know, cause I paid the price for it dearly.

00:33:14.000 But the thing of it is, I never dreamed That here I am, a 77-year-old man, in a place that I am right now.

00:33:24.000 And where I am right now, I love it.

00:33:26.000 I thank God for it.

00:33:28.000 I wouldn't trade.

00:33:29.000 I thank God so much from the depths of my heart that He opened the doors up.

00:33:34.000 I don't have to open my own door when I trust God.

00:33:38.000 You see, that's the beauty of trusting God.

00:33:40.000 He's the one that makes the way.

00:33:42.000 He's the one that opens the way.

00:33:43.000 He's the one that does everything.

00:33:45.000 So when you got people, and when you are preaching and demonstrating the power and the love of God in the life of people, and that they begin to catch that vision, They would know then I can do all things through Christ Jesus that strengthens me.

00:33:59.000 Ain't no shame in it.

00:34:00.000 It's just something that you do.

00:34:02.000 I mean, look, we got the power to do this.

00:34:05.000 We got the power to do this.

00:34:06.000 We all are somebody in Christ's name.

00:34:10.000 The Bible says that he called the sun to shine on the just as well as the unjust.

00:34:15.000 So let's get together.

00:34:16.000 Let's fix this problem.

00:34:18.000 Let's empty this system out.

00:34:21.000 Let's open up our hearts, our mind, and our home and say, I don't care what's there.

00:34:27.000 I'm going to go out here and do the will of God.

00:34:29.000 And I guarantee you, when you do it, you're going to see the movement of God in your life like never before.

00:34:37.000 It's easy for us to look at the one that we got.

00:34:41.000 But don't you know that we ought to be Christ-like?

00:34:44.000 He went all out of his way for somebody else, and that's the same thing we ought to be doing today.

00:34:49.000 Bishop, one of the extraordinary things about what you've done and the movie and everything else is that we live in a time in America where there's so much focus on, say, race and divisions based on race.

00:34:59.000 What you've talked about this entire time is just about doing God's good, doing the virtuous and the right thing because God said to do that.

00:35:06.000 And that's race-blind.

00:35:06.000 That has nothing to do with race.

00:35:08.000 And so it really is in God that we're able to We're able to move beyond race and move above race.

00:35:13.000 And you know, I don't know why.

00:35:15.000 And this is, you know, to be honest with you, racism is so demonic because that's the way the enemy does.

00:35:26.000 He's there to divide.

00:35:29.000 God's there to bring us together.

00:35:31.000 So I don't understand why is it that an individual We're just like another individual because his hair is not right or not the same color or nothing.

00:35:44.000 All this stuff is man-made, but he is the kicker.

00:35:48.000 Jesus died for the sin and for the ungodliness.

00:35:54.000 And he died that we may have a right to the tree of life.

00:35:58.000 And what did John 3 say?

00:35:59.000 For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son.

00:36:04.000 So how we think that we gonna get back to God with hatred and malice in our heart?

00:36:08.000 It just ain't gonna happen.

00:36:10.000 Jesus want us to love one another.

00:36:13.000 That's what he died for, to show us that we ought to love each other, help each other.

00:36:19.000 And it ain't about who you are or what you got.

00:36:22.000 It's about all about love.

00:36:23.000 And he demonstrated to them.

00:36:25.000 So I don't understand why this is such a problem.

00:36:28.000 And I will say this in the White House, to the outhouse, to any other house, Jesus died for love.

00:36:37.000 And you're not gonna get to heaven until you start loving your brothers and your sisters and knowing that they got purpose in their life.

00:36:47.000 It may not be the same as yours, but they got purpose in their life, regardless of what color they are.

00:36:52.000 I mean, God, it was His purpose.

00:36:55.000 That we moved to adopt all these children.

00:36:57.000 That was God's purpose.

00:36:59.000 We wouldn't have known then, but the only thing we've done was just went on with the process and let God be God.

00:37:04.000 And this is what this country needs to do.

00:37:07.000 They need a wake-up call.

00:37:09.000 First of all, you can't do this until you get some of this mess out of your heart.

00:37:13.000 And this is what God does.

00:37:15.000 He comes in there.

00:37:16.000 Paul said, God circumcised the heart.

00:37:19.000 In other words, He cut all of this stuff away.

00:37:22.000 And give us a new heart.

00:37:24.000 He moved a stony heart and give us a heart of love.

00:37:27.000 That's what he does.

00:37:28.000 And until we get to that point and reach that point in our life, said, look, I don't care what color he is.

00:37:34.000 He can be in blue, Montana, Halifax, it don't matter.

00:37:39.000 That's still, those are still my brothers and my sister.

00:37:44.000 It is not for me to judge anyone.

00:37:47.000 Cause he deserved the right to the judge.

00:37:50.000 He is the righteous judge.

00:37:51.000 So it's not for me to judge who I can't do that.

00:37:54.000 But all I know one thing that one day we got to stand before God and we got to give an account Of not doing what the Lord said do.

00:38:05.000 Well, Bishop, it's an unbelievable story.

00:38:07.000 Thank you for what you're doing for the world.

00:38:09.000 The movie is terrific, obviously.

00:38:10.000 I've seen it, can't wait for it to hit theaters, so millions of people across the country can see it, engage, make the world a better place.

00:38:16.000 Bishop, thanks again for the time.

00:38:17.000 Thanks so much for what you're doing.

00:38:18.000 God bless you, and we're praying that this movie will reach the hearts of many and bring hundreds and thousands of children and give them a right to live the same thing that God wants them to have.

00:38:31.000 God bless you.

00:38:32.000 Are you sure these people want us?

00:38:42.000 I know they do.

00:38:43.000 You can call me Mama.

00:38:49.000 Oh, Lord.

00:38:50.000 No!

00:38:50.000 No, no, no!

00:38:55.000 If we can't wrap our arms around the most vulnerable, then what do we have?

00:38:58.000 Noise!

00:39:00.000 And the children can't take the noise anymore.

00:39:02.000 The Ben Shapiro Sunday Special is produced by Savannah Morris and Matt Kemp.

00:39:14.000 Associate producers are Jake Pollock and John Crick.

00:39:16.000 Editing is by Jim Nichol.

00:39:18.000 Audio is mixed by Mike Corimina.

00:39:20.000 Camera and lighting is by Zach Ginta.

00:39:22.000 Hair, makeup, and wardrobe by Fabiola Cristina.

00:39:25.000 Title graphics are by Cynthia Angulo.

00:39:27.000 Executive assistant, Kelly Carvalho.

00:39:29.000 Executive in charge of production is David Wormus.

00:39:32.000 Executive producer, Justin Siegel.

00:39:34.000 Executive producer, Jeremy Boring.

00:39:36.000 The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday special is a Daily Wire production.

The Ben Shapiro Show - June 30, 2024

How the Church Can Solve the Foster Care Crisis | Bishop W. C. Martin

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