Transcript

Dr. Jessica Peck prescribes Hope for Healthy Families on American Family Radio

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck. Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite part of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen. You may open up your phone, watch the news, hear things that are going on in the world and you think, oh, my goodness, how much more bad news can I take? And it feels like the world is chaotic, it is confusing, and to be honest, sometimes it's downright depressing. But the really important thing for us to do is to remember God's faithfulness. And that is our prescription for hope for you today is sharing the history of God's faithfulness. When you look back over history, I disclaimer right here. I have always been a history buff. I love history, always loved history classes. And I know there are those of you out there who think history is boring. And hopefully today we will convince you that is far from the truth. And looking back over history and seeing the ways that God has so miraculously provided his faithfulness through all generations, the way that he has been there before, what he has done, what he will do, that is something that can give us hope to keep moving forward and to counter some of the depressing messages that we hear.

Stephen McDowell is co founder and president of the Providence Foundation

And so to do that today, we have Stephen McDowell with us. He is co founder and president of the Providence Foundation. Now, this is a nonprofit Christian educational organization whose mission is to train and network leaders of education, business and politics to transform their culture for Christ. He has a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master's degree in geology at the University of Memphis, where he was ordained for ministry. And he worked as a pastor until the 1980s when he assisted in establishing the Providence Foundation. He has so many works. He is editor, author of so Many Things. One of the things you may be most familiar with is his study, Restoring America as the Land of Liberty. This was done in conjunction with Kirk Cameron as a follow up course to Cameron's monumental film. He's traveled throughout The United States, 45 nations, six continents, 100 different countries. Absolutely amazing. Consulting with government officials, writing political documents, starting political parties, and established classes on godly Reformation. So, so much wisdom to offer us. He and his wife live in Virginia. They have four children, nine grandchildren. Stephen, we are so honored to have you here today. Thank you so much.

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, thank you, Jessica. It's great to be with you and appreciate all the work you do.

Stephen McDowell went from physics to teaching biblical worldview

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Stephen, that's all. I just said a lot about your accomplishments, but there's always a story that goes there. So what is your story? How did you come to know the Lord and be called into this ministry? I want to know how you went from physics to pastoring to being a curator of history.

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, briefly. you know, I, I grew up in the south, in Tennessee. Grew up in the church like a lot of people did, but I didn't really meet the living God until I got in college. My mom was saved during the Jesus movement. Began to give me Bibles and books and tell me these things. And after a number of years, God chasing me down, he grabbed hold of my life. I was studying physics at the time. I was going to be an astronomer and then went into graduate school, studied geophysics. But during that time, God began to of course, reveal himself to me and show me, the calling he had on my life and felt called into full time ministry. So when I finished my master's degree, I, actually went and pastored churches for about, six years, during which time I began to see that the Bible not only transforms men, but its principles will transform nations. And so if we take the truth of God's word and apply it to our life, we're changed. But if we apply it to our family, our business, our community, our nation, it will change. And during that time, in the late 70s, there weren't so many people addressing those areas as they are today. So about 41 years ago, I resigned my pastorate to help start an organization called the Providence foundation that teaches biblical worldview to teach principles of law, government, education, economics that the Bible gives us, that if we apply them, we'll be blessed. So that's a real short transition from, you know, God encountering me, to studying sciences, to getting involved in pastoring and then teaching biblical worldview.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, it's so encouraging, Stephen, because we've heard from so many guests who were called from, like being a literal bridge builder or like you in geophysics to have a completely different path. And I think that can only be evidence of just a divine calling from God. And to really make you change your life and walk the, the walk, not just talk the talk. I mean, you put your, your, your life where your heart was called to. And I think that's so encouraging. And even to hear that your mom was saved from the Jesus movement. Not too long ago I, I heard Phil Wickham speak, of course, who is a worship leader Today his parents were also saved in the Jesus movement. And just seeing that, continue looking even at the history of that. So if you haven't watched that film with your family, that would be a great film to watch.

Stephen McDowell has a new podcast called America's Providential History

But tell us about your new podcast, Stephen. America's Providential History and what you, what we can expect, to hear when we listen to upcoming episodes of this.

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, Genesis 1 tells us that God created everything. He created man and woman in his image. We're his highest creation. But we learn from the Bible, God not only created everything, but God sustains everything. He watches over his creation, directing events to make sure that his plan and purpose for man is revealed. This is what providential history is. It's recognizing God in His providence as a plan and purpose for man and that he uses men and nations to accomplish that purpose. And so any view of history that ignores God isn't really true history at all. Now, the history I studied in school, you, know, rarely mention God at all, if any. It's, not enough just to mention him, but it's, it's understanding that he is at work directing. After all, history is his story. And so this is what the podcast is about. It's a recounting of God's hand in history, in particular in America's history. We actually will look back at events leading up to America, but we're going to see what God has done in this nation, as in a, in a bigger picture of what he's doing in history and how he uses individuals, even seemingly insignificant individuals, to change the course of history. So we just started, just at the end of January was our first podcast. We will be having, releasing a new one every week, every Tuesday. And of course you can Hear the podcast afr.net and go to their podcast, tab there at the top and, and you can see all the great podcasts that American Family radio host and. And ours is one of many, but the newest one I imagine is there.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I can't wait. I, like I said, I am a history buff. My husband is a history buff. We love, love, love history. And to hear, of how God has been faithful, those are the stories that really matter.

Stephen McDowell says having a biblical worldview can help drive cultural transformation

And a lot of the work that you do, Stephen, is incorporating understanding a biblical worldview and how that can really drive cultural transformation. So what do you see as important? Why is it important to have a biblical worldview? How are you applying that to areas like education and business and politics?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, first, you know, having a biblical worldview is just viewing life from a Biblical perspective. As Christians we would say, well, certainly we're supposed to do that. But the question is, do we know how to, do we know how to reason from the Bible to science, mathematics, history or economics, government, foreign policy, or training our children, whatever it is. The good news is that God gives us an understanding of the principles of all of life in the Scriptures. And so we weren't taught, I was not taught these in schools, I went to government schools and, and they didn't teach me a biblical worldview. Unfortunately. lots of churches, while they teach theological concepts of truth, often they neglect to teach what the Bible says about, everyday life. And so that's what our M ministry, the Providence foundation, attempts to do. You know, what does the Bible say about law and economics and government, foreign policy or training our children or whatever the area is? Because I believe if the Scripture teaches many, many times, if we obey him and his precepts, it will go well with us. But if we disobey him, then we will go backwards. And I know that, that men want to live in liberty and live in a flourishing condition and God shows us how to do that.

Stephen McDowell has been working with the Providence foundation for 40 years

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you've been working with the Providence foundation now for 40 years, more than 40 years, which is really amazing. What do you see as some of the success stories? What are some of the things that have come out of there that have, that you're most grateful for?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, we, over the last 40 plus years we have written many books and published many books and training courses. They have been read by, you know, over a million different, different people. We've seen people that we've trained. We have a lot of training events. They have, many of them have started new schools, even started universities. Many of them have, have gotten involved in government. God's called them. We've worked help start some political parties in other countries. we have people that have started worldview training centers that are equipping others to apply the biblical faith in their calling. We've seen lots of parents get involved in training, educating, their children. We've seen many pastors begin to assume their responsibility to teach all that Jesus commanded and teach biblical, worldview. you know, we've influenced well known Christian individuals, in, in these areas and many that I would name people people would know. so you know, you know, I look at it this way. The Bible teaches the seed principle many, many times. And all we have done is just planted little seeds with the doors that God has opened. And over time those seeds have produced an abundance of Fruit. You know, in the last 14, 15 years, I've worked a lot in Latin America because God is doing mighty things. And many of the nations in Latin America and work with a number of different groups and churches and organizations, people in politics, to see tremendous change and transformation again, working, helping set up political parties and some of those, countries. And just the transformation I've seen in Latin America in the last 30 years since I've been going there is phenomenal, what's taking place. so we just plant the seed. God's the one that will bring the increase, as the scripture tells us, and we're just happy to be able to play a part in that.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah. That reminds me, when Jesus says in Matthew 17, he talks about for truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. And I think that's really encouraging, Stephen, to see God moving in the hearts and lives of people like you. Even looking at your testimony, to see how the Jesus movement originated and how that influenced your mom and how that influenced your faith and your journey to use the skills and the knowledge and the worldview that you had to influence others for good. And when we come back, we're coming up against a break here, Stephen, but when we come back, I want to talk specifically about your work on looking at America's providential history and how biblical principles shaped the founding of the United States.

Stephen McDowell is the author of America's Providential History

Once again, this podcast coming from American Family Radio, is called America's Providential History, and we would love for you to know about that. And some of Stephen's other work includes Liberating the Nations, Building Godly nations, and God We Trust tour guide Transforming nations through Biblical Work. So many different things that you can find. Find out you can. The contact information for more of those works that Stephen was referencing is the providencefoundation.com or you can email info providencefoundation.com when we come back, we'll have more from Stephen McDowell on looking at America's providential history and how we have practical discipleship and leadership in society. What his work has been through that. And I have a lot more questions about Monumental. So don't go away. We'll be right back on the other side of this break.

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I Thank God by Housefires

wandering Into the night • Wanting a place to hide this weary soul this bag of bones I tried with all my mighty But I just can't win the fight I'm slowly drifting a vagabond and just when I ran out of road I met a man I didn't know and he told me that I was not alone he picked me me up and turn me around and place my feet on solid ground I think the master I think the Savior because he healed my heart and changed my name Forever free I am not the same I think the master I thank the Savior. I thank God.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: welcome back friends. That's I thank God by Housefires and I thank God for you. Thank you for listening. In the fact that you have your radio tuned, your podcast downloaded for here tells me that you are looking for hope for healthy families and you are in the right place, my friend. Our prescription for hope today is sharing the history of God's faithfulness. And I thank God for the ability to be able to do that. And today we're featuring Stephen McDowell. He is the co founder and president of the Providence Foundation. He has a lot of accomplishments. He has been an adjunct professor at Regent University. He's been on a lot of different, very big TV shows. You've probably seen him on TV or in a documentary. But he does a lot of work in helping us to understand America's providential history.

Stephen McDowell says biblical principles shaped the founding of the United States

So Stephen, you, you've written extensively about that. How did biblical principles shape the founding of the United States?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, you know, the first podcast that we put up on AFR is titled the Bible Rock of Our Republic. President Andrew Jackson, our sixth, seventh president, said that the Bible is the rock on which our republic rests. And so I go through and explain how without God in the Bible, there would be no United States of America, because the Bible, the people who came and settled America carried that book with them and they sought to build their life, family and nation upon its principles. Foundation of our laws came, right out of the Bible. The founding charters and constitutions acknowledge God's higher law and appeal to him and actually appeal to propagating the gospel. as a primary reason why those early settlers came, the reason we started schools and colleges was to teach the truth of the Bible and train godly ministers to pass it on to all the members in the succeeding, generations. The worldview of our founders was shaped by the Bible. It motivated them as they went to make a new nation, formulate new laws, and give us a declaration and a constitution, motivated them as they trained their children and equipped them. So, without God in the Bible, there would be no United States. I would encourage folks to take a listen to that first podcast to get an overview of that. And of course we have many books that will fill in lots of details on that very truth. One in particular is called America's Providential History. It's our best selling book. It's been out about 35 years. And it, it looks at God's hand in our history and it's overwhelming. You know, I've been studying or teaching about this for 45 years and the more I learn, the more evidence is overwhelming of this simple truth that most Americans don't know. Because when it comes to teaching history in our schools, God is ignored and left out.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about Christianity in America's history

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: What do you think is the biggest misconception about the role of Christianity in America's history? This is a pretty contentious topic and you can Get a lot of, a lot of vitriol. Honestly, Stephen, what do you think is the biggest misconception?

>> Stephen McDowell: well, first, as I was saying, most people, when they think of God in America's history, they think had nothing to do with it. There's no mixture. Or if God was involved, you know, as these oppressive Christians trying to suppress people or cause them to live in very restrictive sense. But so most, most people are just ignorant of it. And when I know when I began to be introduced to these ideas that God inspired Columbus to set on out on his journey, that the all but two or three of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were orthodox Christians. When I began to learn these things, I thought, I've never been taught this in school. My response was, I've been robbed. Because these, this is what made America unique and special. It was these Christian principles. And so, and you know, for some, you know, they Christians were instrumental in the family of America. They'll say, oh, these people weren't Christians. Look, they had all kinds of faults, all kinds of sin, so they couldn't be Christians at all. But, you know, of course God uses sinful people to accomplish his purpose. If he had to find others perfect people, he couldn't do anything because none of us are perfect. So sure, our founders had faults and sins, but their heart, their motive, their desire, overwhelmingly we want to obey God and please him and follow his precepts. That's what motivated them to do what they did.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm really encouraged to hear that because I think that you're right. You look back at some of the founding fathers, and we see a lot of their flaws, openly discussed. And I, I, you know, I think any one of us, given that degree of scrutiny, we're all flawed people. We live in a broken world for sure. When we look back at the biblical history, we look at the history in the Bible, we see characters who are immensely flawed. I mean, we could talk about Abraham and, you know, the mistakes that he made and the mistakes that Moses made. I mean, they all had David, King David, all of them, and even King David, you look at his, his sins of adultery and murder, and yet he was called a man after God's own heart. And the reason that I find that encouraging is because I think that there's hope for all of us who are flawed, who do make mistakes. And God is so gracious in working through us anyway and using us anyway. And I think that's a message of hope that we can take forward to, to, future generations to know that, yes, we, you can't be perfect, that's impossible on this side of heaven, but God can still use you. And I think that's really encouraging.

Stephen McDowell: God can use an individual to change nations

Do you have a specific story that maybe is one of your favorites, Stephen, of some. Someone, some place, something where biblical principles were initiated and brought about some transformation. Like, can you maybe tell us one of your favorite stories?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, I, of course I love the story of America, but, but God's been moving and changing nations centuries before that. I love to tell the story of Patrick of Ireland. You know, Patrick lived in the late 300s, early 400s. He was born in what is today England, actually. His parents, he were Christians. He was born in a Christian family. The age of 16 though some, some marauding, by some people from Ireland. They, these were kind of modern day terrorists, if you will. They made a living by stealing, killing and destroying. So they invaded his village, stole a lot of stuff and took him captive. So six years he was a captive in Ireland during that time of being put in slave labor. He remembered the teaching of his parents, that Christian faith. And he pented, gave his life to God and began to pray. And his prayers are recorded. You can go and read these marvelous prayers of Patrick. But to make a long story short, God supernaturally delivered him. After six years, he went back home, but felt the call. God put into his heart a desire to transform these completely pagan people. Because Christianity had not come to Ireland, at this time. So for the next, oh, something like 38 years, God prepared him. And when he was 58 years old, he went back to Ireland with this vision of transforming the nation. And so for the next, 26 years, until he died at age 84, he worked to transform the nation. Thousands were converted. He founded 700 churches, trained church leadership, 700 bishops, 3,000 ministers, set up many training centers to educate thousands and future generations. He worked with civil leaders to write godly laws. King Larry, he wrote a bunch of, some laws called the Liber eggs Legemoisi book from the law of Moses, which he extracted civil laws right out of the Bible. And so in his lifetime working in all these areas of the church, of education, of government families, he literally discipled the nation as Jesus told us to do. It was transformed. But it wasn't just Ireland because people began to come to these schools. And his disciples, like Columba, after he died, set up other training centers. People from all over Europe came to these schools to get equipped in a biblical worldview. And they then went back to their countries to teach how Christianity transforms society. And the outcome over those centuries after Patrick was the preservation of Western civilization. and so all the Western civilization was saved and preserved because of the work of Patrick and what came forth from him. So it's a, it's a marvelous example of how God can use an individual to change nations. And, it's true today too. God will use individuals and can use some people listening right now to this to say, hey, you know, God can cause you and use you just like Patrick to impact nations.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Stephen, you've just given us a beautiful example of why history is so important. Because of course, you're talking about St. Patrick, who people might know as, ah, St. Patrick's Day, the day in March where you wear green. And people most often, I think, associate it with wear green or get pinched or leprechauns or pub crawling or whatever you know, culture puts on that day. But you just told the story, the history behind that, which is so inspiring. And I think this is one of the reasons why we need to preserve this history, because over time the message gets muddled and then lost as to why this even started. And I think that's really instructive to talk about whether we're talking about the founding of America in 1700 or St Patrick's work in 300 in England and Ireland and over overseas. That is really beautiful. And it applies, just like you said to people today, that God is using people today.

Stephen McDowell says key qualities of a good leader are character and truth worldview

And Steven, I know you do a lot of work in training leaders across different sectors in education and business and government. What are the key qualities of a leader who wants to transform culture for Christ?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, the. We need both the character of God and the truth worldview. We need both of those things to be good leaders. And, you know, the founders of America understood what was necessary to build a free nation. You know, if you go to Plymouth, Massachusetts today, there's a monument there honoring the Pilgrim Mother. And on the base of that statue is this engraving speaking of the Pilgrim Mother representing mothers in colonial America. Really says they brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nations perish. So here's a kind of a broad. This is what is needed to build a free society, to be a good leader for God, to use you. The pilgrims understood this. They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living face, a godly character, a living faith in God. Because if we don't have that, our nation will surely, perish. And that was a key foundation to why, America became the most free, prosperous, flourishing nation that the world has ever seen. Because the families understood the mission of training the generations to follow. Another important characteristic of a leader is being self governed. You know, self government is a key foundation for any free nation. Self government is, you know, is basically doing what you're supposed to do without anybody telling you what to do. And so people are motivated from it within. They have really God's word planted in their heart and mind. Because God's word tells us how we're supposed to live. And then we're to train our children. Because you want a good leader, you got to train good children. Train your children. Okay? You need to do what you're supposed to do, without anybody telling you. I tell this story when I speak about self government to people in government today. And our government leaders certainly need to understand this. You, know, I tell them about how my, my oldest son, he's now, I think he's like 44 years old, but when he was 5 or 6, I was teaching him about this concept of self government. I gave him a definition he could understand. I said, self government is doing what you're supposed to do without anybody telling you. Well, the next morning he woke up real early, came into my room, woke me up and said, dad, come here, I want to show you something. So he led me into his room, he pointed to his bed, which he had made up all by himself without anybody telling him. And he looked up at me and he said, dad, I was being self governed, wasn't I? And the foundation of transforming nations began here. You know, that's why anybody can impact the nation. You train your children, train yourself, equip those that you come in influence with, teach them to be self governed. Teach them to understand the importance of Christian character, a sturdy faith in God, and, those will produce good leaders. And if I may, one more story that illustrates this in our history. You know, John Quincy Adams was our sixth president. He was the son of John and Abigail Adams. And John Adams was our second president. And John Quincy was trained at home by his parents. And, at age 11, John Quincy traveled with John to France because he was the ambassador to France. And his mother, who had trained him at home up until that time, done a great job, continued to instruct him through letters that she wrote.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hold on, I'm going to hold you right there, Stephen. Hold on, because I want to know what happens. But we're on, we're up against a break. So hold that thought and we will find out what happened with John Quincy Adams and learn more about America's Providential history with Stephen McDowell. I hope you'll listen in to the podcast America's Providential History and come back after the break so we can find out the end of the story. Don't go away.

The early church fathers viewed the Scriptures as divinely inspired

Here's Dr. Carl Trueman from the American

Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks.

The early church fathers viewed the Scriptures as, ah, divinely inspired. Often they would use the image of a, musical instrument, as if scripture had been written in the way that, say, notes come out of a flute when it's played by a flute player, as if the writer was the flute and the spirit was as that which was creating the tune. Certainly they regarded scripture as authoritative. When you look at the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, they're very happy to quote Scripture and consider that to have closed down the argument. So obviously the Apostolic Fathers rooted tremendous authority in the actual words of Scripture itself, which implies they had a very high view of its inspiration.

Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.

>> Goodbye Yesterday by Elevation Rhythm: Goodbye yesterday I'm living in the light of a new day I won't waste another minute in my old ways Praise the Lord I've been born again Goodbye yesterday I'm living in the light of a new day I won't waste another minute in my old ways Praise the Lord I've, been born again.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That song is Goodbye Yesterday by Elevation Rhythm. But you know what the funny thing is? We're not saying goodbye to yesterday today. We are looking at yesterday. We are looking at America's providential history. We are looking at what God has done. Our prescription for hope today is sharing the history of God's faithfulness across time, across continents, across cultures, across countries. God is at work. And we're talking with Stephen McDowell about his new podcast, America's Providential History.

Stephen McDowell: John Quincy Adams was educated at home by his parents

And Stephen, you were right in the middle of telling us about John Quincy Adams being trained at home, ah, by his mother and traveling overseas with his father. And I'm gonna let you pick up the story from there.

>> Stephen McDowell: Yeah, so he was educated at home and they did a marvelous job, John and Abigail. In fact, you know, when he was 10 years old, John Quincy Adams wrote a letter to his father and he, had included a P.S. this was June 2, 1777. And the P.S. to his letter. Now remember, he's 10 years old. He said this. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with the blank book, I will transcribe the most remarkable occurrences I meet with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind. Now, when I was 10 years old, I was watching George of the Jungle on tv. That was where my mind was. John Quincy Adams obviously had been instructed not only in the ability to communicate well at 10, but he understood this notebook method of education, which is, a very important key in learning, developing how to think and reason. He said, look, give me a blank book as I'm reading things. And he read deep stuff that college graduates would find hard to read today and understand. Said, give me a blank book so when I'm reading I can write these truths down, which will serve to fix them upon my mind. And so they obviously had done a wonderful job in educating him. But then the next year when he was 11, that's when he was traveling with his father to go to France. But Abigail continued her education through the letters that she wrote. And she was giving him advice. You need to have great learning, superior abilities, but they are of little value unless you have virtue, honor, truth and integrity added to them. And then she ends this instruction with this for dear as you are to me, I would much rather you have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed than see you an immoral, profligate or graceless child. This is an amazing statement. You know, she didn't say, you know, I'd rather you find your grave than see you become a murderer. No, he, said, an immoral, profligate or graceless child. They obviously understood what was important to produce citizens who know how to live in liberty. And of course, John Quincy Adams went on to become a great leader. At the age of 14, he received the United States Congressional diplomatic appointment to be the secretary to the Ambassador of Russia. Later on he became ambassador to England, France, Holland, Prussia, Russia. He was United States Senator, secretary of state, sixth president, United States, then served after that 18 years in U.S. house of Representatives. He was a great leader in the anti slavery movement, but he was a product of biblical education, of parents who understood what it took to build a leader. And he was a great example of that. And our founding fathers have many marvelous stories like this and we write about it my podcast. I've already told a number of stories. We looked at George Washington and William Penn and we'll look at many figures in our history that reflect the same Christian upbringing.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, your study, monumental and the work that you did with Kirk Cameron highlights a lot of these kinds of stories and the importance of remembering and retelling these stories and passing them down to our children. Just like you were just saying, Stephen. And I think it's Instructive for parents now to see. What does it take? What kind of training does it take to produce a leader of the courage, of the moral courage that you were describing? And why is knowing our history so crucial to maintaining our freedom? Tell us more about your work with Monumental and how you learned and grew through that.

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, as I mentioned earlier, history is his story. And if we want to understand what is my purpose in the earth today? What does God call me to do? We have to understand his overall purpose for mankind. So if we don't know what God's done from the very beginning, and if you read the Bible, it's just a book of history, and Jesus is, the God himself who came down and lived in history. The whole setting of Scripture is providential history. That's why Paul and others recounted providential history when they were making a point in Stephen before he was stoned. And so we gain insight. We see and learn God's plan and purpose for man, which then gives us the proper understanding of how we fulfill our purpose today. The Scripture says those that have gone before us, though dead, they still speak. So we learn from those who've gone before us. We learn of God's plan, but we also learn of, how to apply God's truth in life today, in our personal life, in our civil society. And that's why America's providential history is something everybody should study, because it's an example of individuals who purposefully came to build a civil society based upon the truth of God's word. Did they end? And the reason America became the most free and prosperous nation in history is because they consciously built it upon his principles. Were they perfect? Did they do it perfectly? No, of course not. But they did it better than any other example that we have in history. So we can learn all the problems we face today. you know, we can learn from Scripture and from history, the solution to all of those problems. So we need to learn them. Then we can apply that today. And to the extent that we do, we will flourish. Benjamin Rush. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the father of medicine in America, the third most famous founding father, though most Americans today don't even know his name. But he reflected the worldview of the founders when he said that Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy. So if we want to be wise and happy today, if we want to flourish today as a society, we need to adopt the Principles of the Christian faith and obey the precepts. And to the extent that we do, then we can see positive transformation. You know, that's why you mentioned I've been able to visit scores of other countries, and I go teach principles of transformation, and I teach from the scripture, but I give historical examples, like Patrick, but especially examples from America's history, because it encourages them to see, okay, if we apply God's principles, are any examples of the good fruit that came forth? I say, there certainly is. Look at the United States of America. Now, the goal isn't to copy and be like America. The goal is to apply the same principles applied in America, and you'll get the good, same good fruit. And I found that most nations, most people in other nations, they understand that. They understand something special about America more than most Americans do today. And they want to learn, that story. Like, once, back in the 90s, I traveled to South Africa, number of years, spent many, many weeks there. They were actually undergoing a transformation, getting rid of apartheid. And I remember speaking at a church of a friend of mine who's the pastor of a township in Veslures near Johannesburg. And I was. He wanted me to tell the story of America's history and God's hand in our history. And they got so encouraged, you know, all these. These, South Africans, black South Africans, got so encouraged. Look, these principles work. We want these principles in our nation so we can have the same fruit. So that's some of the things we can learn from history.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Wow. You know, it's interesting. So interesting to hear about your experience all over the world. Interesting to hear you bring up Benjamin Rush. Because, you know, for me, as a nurse practitioner, I'm very familiar with Rush College, you know, which is, Rush Medical College, Rush University, which, is in Chicago. And many people may know the name Rush, but not know it. It was named, in fact, but, after it was named for Benjamin Rush, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was, as you said, a physician and signer of the Declaration of independence in the 1830s. The school was founded by Daniel Brainard, who was a distinguished surgeon and scientific investigator, but named it for Dr. Rush. And so seeing some of these threads pulled through is so important in some of the preservation of the work that you have done. And, you know, what. What do you see as biblical principles? How. What role do they play in shaping the laws and policies of our country?

>> Stephen McDowell: Well, the Bible speaks to all of life, so it gives us governmental principles. You know, Jesus taught principles of civil government. We usually don't Think of him doing that. You know, he taught the concept that our civil leaders are to be public servants. and Matthew Luke 20, when they came to him and said, you know, who's going to be the, they're arguing among themselves who's going to be the greatest. And he said, look, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them, but it's not so among you. If any of you wish to be great, you need to become a servant of all. And of course, the rulers of the Gentiles, they weren't church rulers he was talking about, they were civil rulers. And throughout most all of history, civil, most civil rulers have had the top down mentality. We're in charge, we're going to impose laws, you common people serve us. But Jesus taught, no, no, no, if you're going to be a proper civil leader, you need to serve the people. So this was a civil teaching of Jesus. He taught, he had lots of m. We covered these in our books and he taught principles of economics as well. I've taught a lot of economic principles in Latin America in recent years because if you apply those principles, it will help solve our problems with our 35 trillion dollar national debt, problems with inflation, you name it. The Bible gives the answers to the problems that we face today. So it's very important we teach all that he commanded. Principles of government, principles of economic, principles of law, principles of education, because they work, they produce good, fruit. And if people are interested, we have many books that you can get and read and be introduced to these ideas and concepts. And, over the months, coming months, we'll cover some of these. In the podcast, I will present some of these principles the Bible teaches in these various spheres of life.

Stephen McDowell says God uses individuals to change course of history

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Stephen, you have such a vast amount of knowledge of things that have happened in the past. What have you learned from studying the past that gives you hope for the future?

>> Stephen McDowell: For one, I, learned that God uses individuals to change the course of history, even seemingly insignificant individuals. So that means, hey, he can use me, he can use anybody who's listening, you know, now because God calls people, he equips people, and he is the one that will bring fruit in their life. So that's encouraging. You don't have to be rich, you don't have to know the big shots to be famous. You just perform your duty. You know, John Quincy Adams said he wasn't the first one, but he said, duty is ours, the results are the Lord's. So we just each of us perform the calling, the duties. We have duties to our family, our community, our church, our civil realm, and our business and calling. we do the duty. God will bring forth the fruit. So that's, one very encouraging thing. I've not only learned from history, but, you know, the people that, you know, we've had people come to our training events. Some now are members of congress on the national level, many on the state level and local level. We, we've trained people in congresses of other nations. And these people, most all of them are just common person, just like you and me, who felt called and labored and didn't quit and prepared themselves from, that. So we, see that from history. And we also see God mercifully moving in history to awaken man if he needs to. In other words, you know, God has sent many revivals in history because he knows that it's, you know, we're not just copying external principles, but God in His mercy writes these principles in our heart and gives us a desire to live them. But, you know, it's, hard to live free. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. So man tends to lose this fire. But historically, God sends revival to revival to awaken man, to set that burning flame within him. And so he's doing that in nations today and will continue to do so.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: That is an encouraging word. I couldn't think of a better place to end. I hope that you'll check out Stephen McDowell's podcast, America's Providential History, and take hope in the prescription for hope to share the history of God's faithfulness. Because he is faithful. He has been faithful. He will continue to be faithful, and we can be so encouraged. I, pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you as you do that. We'll see you right here next time.

>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.