Hey, everybody, welcome back to The Covenant Eyes Podcast. We're so glad to have you joining us. We're still at NRB and having a blast. Rob. Oh my goodness. We have met so many incredible people this week. It is I mean, the stories we've heard is just been amazing. So it's been a good week. It has, it has. And now we're about to dive into a really fun topic where we're going to have a very special guest, Brad Dacus Did I get that right? Yes. Awesome is joining us. And you have an unique background because you are an attorney, is that correct? Yes, that's right. But I'm a Christian too. But you're a Christian, I really am. No. Yeah, yeah, I want. To learn more about this because often attorneys get a bad rap. Sometimes. But, you know, I believe that you've got a story to tell us and how you got into this industry. Yeah, it's really interesting because originally I was going to go to seminary and because everyone knew Brad was going to be a pastor someday, I was just I came to Christ in third grade on fire. And yet I when I prayed to seek the Lord's direction, I had a strong and strong desire to go to law school. I thought, this must be a calling. It doesn't make sense why you have such strong desire to law school. The more I seek the Lord, the farther I, you know, did not go so many go to law school . So I did. And, God, in his providence knew exactly where he was going to have me. I ended up getting into religious freedom work not too long after law school. I started a Pacific Justice Institute in 1997. And by God's grace, he just raised it up. Now we have 36 offices, coast to coast. Wow. And, we do, all our work without charge. We have over 300 and over 200 cases in active litigation as I speak. Unbelievable. Yeah, it is, and, yeah, and we have to handle thousands of requests for assistance every year, without charge. And one thing that makes us so unique is, you know, of course, number one is our huge footprint. No organization of our kind has this huge footprint. And one of the reasons we have to have a huge footprint is that we don't just cherry pick a few high profile cases that are going to be good for development purposes. Now we have a ministry heart. Our goal is to make sure that everyone gets help, that no one's left on the side of the road. So because of that, we have to have a big footprint. Footprint. My motto is, I want to make sure that Satan has no place to go for vacation. And, so we want to make sure we hold every government agency, every school board, etc., every school district accountable for what, they're doing or not doing. And, defending parents in terms of religious freedom, parents rights against the government, sanctity, human life, and empowering churches and church ministries to be able to boldly share the gospel and expand their ministries unabridged. Wow, Brad, that is an amazing ministry. I had no idea it was that large. That is incredible. Yeah. God, we've really grown a lot. Yeah, as we've responded to the needs, God has blessed that. And, it's been a really exciting ride. Good. So over time, culture's really been shifting. I mean, you know, since you've been around and you've had here your organization, you've seen a lot of changes. And I would imagine that you're probably seeing a lot more infringements on parental rights, a lot more activism in our schools and having to step in and support parents and, and families. How is technology also affecting all of this? Well, it's it's been outrageous. So when we had the pandemic hit, they a lot of parents saw how technology was being used. The kids were at home on Zoom calls, and I know someone in particular who they they said, oh, let's I'm just going to watch my second grade second grader Zoom here. And, and her mouth dropped and was shocked, you know, and so what do you what does she do? She says, okay, we're pulling our kids out of this public school. And, and many Americans think, okay, that's the answer, and everything's going to be fine. I'll put my child in a Christian school. Or even better, I'll put my. I'll homeschool. Where? Total control of the inputs, because, you know, I'll have the homeschool and we'll I'll see what they see on TV and we'll see what they. Yeah. What they read, what books. And here's the sad thing. What they don't realize is there those children are so vulnerable. If those kids are allowed to use their laptops, or they get cell phones instead of flip phones, and they can pull on their all kinds of garbage, and they're not protected any more than if they were in a public school in Los Angeles. And so that's why we have Pacific Justice Institute. And I've talked about on a on the radio show, I've talked about what you guys do about. And because they say, oh, yeah, so that's why homeschooling is great. And I said, okay, no, no, no, homeschooling is great, but it's not safe if you're not taking the proper measures to protect your kids. Regarding the internet and cell phones. And, and I talk about a number of things, like how parents should, probably not have that. The kids have cell phones, give them flip tops, and then have the monitoring for the, for their laptops, for the computers, for the internet. And that's one great thing about what you guys are doing. And I've, I've talked to I've taught you guys even knowing I've been talking about it on my own programing, on my own shows, because I so strongly believe in what you're doing. Oh, God. We appreciate that. You know, one of the major issues we're running into is, you know, the porn industry and these major platform media platforms, they are just unwilling to address the issue of porn on their sites. We hear a lot of arguments happening about this being free speech. I'm sure you have an opinion on that from a legal standpoint. Yeah, yeah. Let me just say, first off, parents have that discretion. Is the Supreme Court is distinguishing between adults and minors. Minors do not have a constitutional right to pornography or obscene materials. So this is the. But this is what, the American Library Association and public schools and the teachers union, they push this garbage saying, oh, kids have a right to see and explore whatever they want to look at. No, because it's harmful. It's dangerous. The studies show that it's harmful and dangerous. And by the way, some parents say, well, I've got this little thing over here and it'll filter against pornography. Whoa. It may filter against pornography, but is it filtering against a thought and ideas? Is that pornography? Is that obscene? No. Is it dangerous? Very dangerous. And the stats show it. And that's why one reason they need these services that you guys have, which is so important. Let's talk a little bit more about Pacific Justice Institute and some of the things that you do. Obviously protecting parental rights. That's a big one. And religious freedom, you know, where are we seeing the most infiltration against our religious freedom and culture in from our government? Well, well, first off, we have government censorship. And it was diabolical, deliberate, and I think even potentially unconstitutional or criminal, what we saw take place during the last administration, I it's shocking. You think you were reading a novel of some totalitarian state and how they were using their government powers to censor, to influence, to finance political operatives. So we've seen government atrocities in this regard. We see it in public schools. We at Pacific Justice. We have taken on cases, suing public schools for harassing kids. So are there other issues out there, Brad, that the the public that people really don't even identify? Yet. Things like AI. Oh yeah. What's what's the next issue coming up for you guys. Well let me just say as far as I goes, we're watching it like a hawk. There's a lot of great things that can be utilized with this tool. And if it's out there, let's take full advantage of it. Sometimes Christians are a little slow for our own demise. Let's take full advantage of it. And we're working on some things behind the scenes right now dealing with AI. But at the same time, we need to understand, how extremely dangerous it is, you know, in terms of indoctrination. If they're able to, through AI to influence masses with false information, with, a video of someone, a pastor saying hideous things, and the pastor really isn't there, and they're really not talking, but it's their voice is their face. It can be extremely hazardous, even for national security purposes. So that's something moving forward. Awesome. How do you, our listeners, get connected with your organization? Maybe they want to learn more about, some of the cases that you're working on. Or maybe they need help. How do they get connected or. How to protect their child's being taken from CPS? We've got a great article, 12 Steps to Protect Your Kids, things like that. Yeah. Our e-newsletter, they just go to our website PJI.org. P for Pacific. J for justice. I for institute.org. PJI.org. We do all our work without charge free resources. We're here to help and God bless you. That's amazing. That's wonderful. You so much for your work. We appreciate that. Thanks for joining us today for an interview. We, are really excited to share the message with our listeners. So thank you. And thank you for what you're doing. Yeah. You didn't tell me to say anything positive about you. You didn't say promote us. I say that from my heart and my gut. Oh, I thank. You because I know how important what you do, is. And, we're going to continue to, to talk you up and appreciate the work you're doing. We appreciate that. And likewise. Thank you. Thank you, listeners, for tuning in to today's episode of The Covenant Eyes Podcast. We'll see you again next time. God bless. Take care.