In this enlightening episode of Family Talk, Dr. Jerry Newcomb returns to discuss his latest project at the Providence Forum. Uncover the surprising role Christianity has played from the colonial period through modern times in shaping American ethos and policies. Drawing on historical documents, Dr. Newcomb highlights the significant influence of religious prayer in pivotal governmental moments, offering insight into why preserving these values is paramount for the continued prosperity of the nation.
00:20:42 Freedom of Religion vs. Freedom From Religion
00:21:35 Current Influences on American Governance
00:22:53 Concluding Remarks and Call for Donations
SPEAKER 01 :
Hello, everyone. You’re listening to Family Talk, a radio broadcasting ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Dr. James Dobson, and thank you for joining us for this program. Well, today here on Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, I’m Roger Marsh, sitting in the co-host chair and joined for this special segment by Dr. Jerry Newcomb, who’s the executive director of the Providence Forum, co-author of the bestselling book, George Washington’s Sacred Fire. He also serves as senior producer and on-air host for Truths to Transform. Yeah, on-air contributor. A contributor, yeah. The broadcast ministry of Dr. D. James Kennedy. B.A. in history, doesn’t surprise me at all, from Tulane. Masters in communications from Wheaton and his doctorate of ministry. That turned into a book, his dissertation did, The Book That Made America, How the Bible Formed Our Nation. Today we’re going to talk a little bit about a new project that they’re working on at the Providence Forum. And this is one that basically talking about the founding fathers establishing America based on God’s word. It’s a book called In the Footsteps of Giants. And we’ll have that link up at drjamesdobson.org. Dr. Jerry Newcomb, welcome back to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. Thank you, Roger. My privilege to be with you. with you again. It’s great to spend time with you. We always have such a good time talking about history and faith and how the two are intertwined. And I know a lot of people will look at, you know, say, well, gosh, America, who are these MAGA people? Who are these Christians? Who are these, you know, people who think that America is somehow a Christian nation? But I love the fact that you have historical proof and have done the research that back to the founding, this is where we are. This is what we’ve always been.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, America, in a sense, is one nation under God. The essence of the Declaration of Independence, which is our national birth certificate, is really self-rule under God. Our rights come from the Creator. Therefore, they’re non-negotiable. And here in America, we are ruled by the consent of the governed. That’s the key, those two key things. And in a very real sense, that all began, those two key principles, self-rule under God… as the American experiment. That’s the essence of the American experiment. It actually begins in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11th, 1620. And what I mean by that is when the pilgrims first came over, they were blown off course. They had permission to go to the northern parts of Virginia. Back then, that was around the mouth of the Hudson River and so forth. Virginia was much larger at the time. And bottom line is, since they were blown off course, They had to basically make their own government. So he wrote up an agreement, a self-government agreement under God, but giving the consent of the people. You know, this is really revolutionary. In the name of God, amen. We whose names are underwritten, having undertaken a voyage for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, we do covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic. Now, the pilgrims actually had been practicing that kind of rulership in their own self-created denomination about 15, or I should say congregation, 15 or so years earlier, the Mayflower Compact was, in effect, a political example of that. But this Mayflower Compact begins the whole process of Constitution-making, and there were literally about 100 or so different compacts, frames of governments, mostly by Puritans and Presbyterians and Quakers and Dutch reform, but leading all the way up 150 years later or so until it goes into full bloom with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And this is the essence of America. Take away God and… and you take away the essence of America. And frankly, Roger, as you know, in the last century, the 20th century, we saw all kinds of examples, and we’re still seeing it from time to time, where they take away God and the people lose their rights. I was just looking at some photos. of what happened in Ukraine with the Russian invasion. But all of those problems and conflicts in Russia and so forth, so much of that, when they said in 1917, we’re going to build this new nation with the Marxist-Communist revolution. We don’t believe there is a God. And people were punished for believing God. They killed Christians. priests, they destroyed churches, they turned other churches into museums and so forth. The whole thing was based on no God. And at the end of the day, after 70 years of this Soviet Union, what did they have to show for it? As a couple of former communists, former Marxists actually, fellow travelers, totally disillusioned when the whole thing collapsed, they said, what did the Soviet Union have to show? After 70 years of communism, nothing but tens of millions of corpses. I’ve never forgotten that line. I read that in the National Review in the early 1990s, you know, after the implosion of the Soviet Union. I think that’s a great summary. Bottom line is we can flourish here in America because of God-given rights. And that’s a huge difference in approach to government and daily living.
SPEAKER 01 :
And it’s interesting, Jerry, because what you’re describing, the rights come from God. The government is implemented by the people. So as long as we don’t get those two confused, which it seems like a lot of the leftist mentality here in the United States has it the other way around. They’re saying we create the rights and then we let the universe or God or whoever it is kind of meet out the justice. It’s whoever’s on the bench that day. We’re here at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas. And last year at the convention, you’ll remember the Pastor Jack Hibbs. Remember, he went before the House of Representatives, the Joint Session of Congress, offered a prayer, and it was so heinous that they banned him from Congress. Well, when he revealed what his text was, he said, I was just quoting famous prayers that were given in Congress. I mean, I… I’m not making this up. I pulled a little bit. He chaptered in verses where he got those prayers that were seen as milestones. They were seen as foundational in American history. And he said, now you’re telling me if I pray that prayer in 2024, which is when he did it, that I’m banned from Congress?
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. Yeah, and 26 congresspeople wrote to Speaker Johnson, Mike Johnson, said, what are you doing? This is terrible. This guy was guilty of hate speech and all these different things, which is ridiculous. Think about this, though, Roger. Why do they even have prayers in Congress? They have prayers in Congress. That’s been challenged, of course. And the Supreme Court basically said, well, wait a minute. We’ve had chaplains both in the legislature, as in Congress, and in the military before we even became a country. So we will not agree with you, ACOU, or with you, Freedom From Religion Foundation, to say, oh, no, no, no. Prayers in Congress are unconstitutional. Now, of course, they’ve become very watered down, a lot of these prayers, very mamby-pamby, if you will, or to whom it may concern. Or, you know, whatever. But when Jack Hibbs did that, what he was saying in his prayers, and it’s very short, by the way. I interviewed him about it. It’s only about a minute and a half or two minutes, three minutes. Yeah, it’s not long at all. Not long at all. And, you know, bottom line is you’re 100% right. It was definitely in the tradition of having those prayers. In fact, think about this. The Continental Congress first met in Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia in September 1774. They didn’t know each other, but they first meet. And the question on the table on September 6th was, tomorrow’s the day that we open the proceedings. Should we or should we not open in prayer? And there were a couple of people that said, well, maybe if we pray in one tradition, it will offend people of another Christian tradition. And Samuel Adams said, I’m no bigot. I can listen to a man who loves his country and loves his God first and foremost, you know, any day. So let’s open in prayer. And he moved. that they had this reverend, a local Episcopal, you know, Anglican minister who was very respected, Christ Church, Philadelphia, and he’s the one who came. They ended up having about a two-hour opening of Congress with prayer. He read the scripture for that day, which was Psalm 35. It’s a psalm of persecution where David is saying, Plead my cause, O Lord. And a lot of the founding fathers, especially the ones from Massachusetts, knowing Jesus, That the British were, you know, descending on Massachusetts with the, you know, with their ships out in the sea, you know, in the harbor with the cannons ready and so forth. They were like, oh, God, please help us. We’re appealing to you. And so this is a really important point that the founding fathers looked to God for help. For example, during the time of the American War for Independence, when it became a war, 15 times Congress refused. wrote out, you know, basically a proclamation for fasting and prayer and thanksgiving, but asking God for God’s help. And these, again, these weren’t mamby-pamby prayers. They were, you know, like, through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, you know, please forgive our sins and our many manifold discretions or, you know, trespasses against your divine law, you know, et cetera. Very, very meaty and weighty things. But they appealed to God because… You know, basically they couldn’t, there was no other appeal to go to. Right. As they said in the Declaration of Independence, and Dr. Lilbeck notes, this is talking about Jesus, it said, we appeal to the supreme judge of the world.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Because Jesus is the one that the Father has entrusted judgment to. And so this is, this is our history. Roger, I want to get, you know, I want all of us. I mean, you want that too, but let people know about this today. You have kids that, that, that hate America, but a lot of, you know, it reminds me of George W. Bush when he was president, he had so much criticism and he said, you know, if I listened to what these people said and I believed what the, all these negative things, these people are saying to me, I’d hate me too, you know. But, you know, America, for all of its warts and faults, I mean, you know, there’s a lot of prosperity and human flourishing that’s occurred because we are one nation under God.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, we’re talking with Dr. Jerry Newcomb today here on Dr. James Dobbs’ Family Talk, and we’re discussing a new project from the Providence Forum. It’s a new book called In the Footsteps of Giants, and We’ve got a link for providenceforum.org up at drjamesdobson.org, and you can find that information as well. Thinking about who has gone before us, thinking about where we are. And I have to admit, one of the more popular broadcasts we’ve done here in 2025 already was when Gary Bauer, our senior vice president of public policy, and I went back and just played some of the prayers from the inauguration. And we prayed from Rabbi Berman and from Cardinal Dolan and from Franklin Graham. And just, and Gary said, you know, when you look at what our history looks like, you know, the artwork and you listen to these people praying, he said, you know, this is what America is supposed to be. And there weren’t a whole lot of people, even full-on atheists were saying, well, I’m not really into this religion stuff, but that was beautiful. It was very meaningful. It was very powerful. And I think it’s comforting even to people who aren’t part of the Christian faith to know that when the government is operating the right way in a way that’s good and pleasing to God, it benefits everyone.
SPEAKER 02 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I know that’s part of what you do at Providence Forum is a lot of educational, whether it be films, books, things of that nature, that are all trying to just encourage people not to browbeat and win arguments on the Internet, but rather say, if you knew what our history really is, and you guys do, then you’re sharing that with others to say, hey, this is something that brings comfort to people of all backgrounds. Exactly. Talk about that, if you would. Why it’s so important for us to just tell that story. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think it’s important because a nation that doesn’t know what it was in the past or what brought us to this point doesn’t know what it is now and doesn’t know where it’s going in the future. And the foundation of American liberty is our Judeo-Christian heritage and When you just peel back the onions, you just look, you look at the original colonial charters, you look at so many of the original documents, you see God and the Christian faith played a key role. I mean, for example, Os Guinness, Dr. Os Guinness, he put it this way. He said the American, or I’m sorry, the biblical concept of covenant gave rise to the American Constitution. Hmm. And I think that’s a really great way of putting it. That’s kind of what I was describing earlier when I was talking about how the Mayflower Compact begins the whole process of self-rule under God in a written agreement. And one thing that I… I am so privileged. I got to spend about two or three hours years ago with the late Dr. Donald S. Lutz. And he was a professor at the University of Houston. He wrote a book called The Origins of American Constitutionalism. And he’s the one where he and another social scientist, Charles Heinemann, they studied all these different documents from the founding era. And the question was, what sources were important to the founding fathers? What were they quoting? And the Bible was being quoted by the founding fathers four times more than any human author. But then when you deal with the human authors, you’re dealing with Christian sources. Montesquieu, Sir William Blackstone, and John Locke, in that order. And it’s really a fascinating thing when you actually read these. You see, again, the Christian faith is the key. Sir William Blackstone. British jurist. He wrote four volumes, the commentaries on the laws of England. Very influential in American history. And, for example, when Abraham Lincoln is a poor guy, you know, in Kentucky, in the Illinois frontier and so forth. He, at their version of a yard sale, he gets a barrel. And in the barrel is a volume of one of Blackstone’s commentaries. He studies that, and that’s how ultimately he was able to become an attorney. And then, you know, that propelled him on eventually to the White House even. Incredible. And he learned this from Blackstone. Okay, so William Blackstone said things like this. He said that the creator has impressed within the creation itself his will, and we can know that by studying it. However, this is a fallen world. Therefore, the creator has supplemented natural law with additional revelation so we can know the specifics about God. And where is that found? That is found only in the holy scriptures. So it’s like, whoa, the laws of nature and of nature’s God. I mean, it all kind of fits together. America was born from a Christian worldview is the bottom line. And ideas have consequences. And ideas against God, you know, just reap all kinds of terrible ideas. May I take a moment to just contrast two things? Please do. Okay. In one of my documentaries, I have… these different documentaries about America’s Christian roots at ProvidenceForum.org, but endowed by their creator, there’s a section there where we’re dealing, you know, this is all about the Declaration of Independence. Sure. And there’s a section there where we contrast 1776, the year of the Declaration, with 1789, the year of the French Revolution. Oh, okay, yeah. And a lot of people think, yeah, the Constitution went into effect 1789, but… you know, in July of 1789 in France, they had the French Revolution. And some people think, well, that’s two sides of the same coin. It’s not. The French Revolution was explicitly anti-Christian and They stopped, you know, worship in Notre Dame, for example. They put a half-naked actress on the altar, called her reason, said, you worship here, but you’re not going to, you know, no more church services here and so forth. They even changed the calendar. So year 1791 became year one of the republic. Yeah. And because they didn’t want to have a Christian calendar, they even didn’t. They abolished the seven day week and made it a 10 day week so that there wouldn’t be any reference to, you know, Shabbat from the Jews or the Lord’s Day from the Christians. And, you know, so they did all these things to get away from Christian. Oh, and then they, of course, beheaded. Priests and nuns and, you know, anybody affiliated with the church. It was an explicitly anti-Christian revolution. And what ended up happening? Well, they killed all kinds of people. They just, they beheaded people. And after a while, the revolutionaries began to consume themselves. As revolutions do. Yeah, right, but ours didn’t. That’s the exception. Ours was based on liberty under law. It’s the God factor that’s the difference. Politics isn’t going to save us. It’s important, but it’s not going to save us. And I think ultimately we do need a revival. We need spiritual revival, and the other option is ruin. Revival or ruin.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s one or the other.
SPEAKER 02 :
As John Adams put it, our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. At the end of the day, Roger, as you well know, the Bible says we’re all sinners. And the reason the Constitution has done so well… And has worked so well, you know, despite all the attacks on it and so forth. The fact is, it was based on the premise that we’re sinful. And because we’re sinful, as James Madison put it, he’s a key architect of the Constitution. He said at the Constitutional Convention, All men having power ought to be distrusted. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So if you read the Constitution, you see, wow, they were really careful to divide power, to separate power, so that you wouldn’t have the accumulation of power into the hands of too few people, or even worse, just one man. Mm-hmm. So in the American experiment, it was no man is sinful. We’ve got to separate this power. Isn’t it interesting that George Washington, the father of our country, after the successful victory at Yorktown, but before we officially became independent and was recognized by England, there’s about a two year period there. And some of the troops came to George and they said, you know, why don’t you become a king? Hmm. We’ll follow you. We’ll make sure that that gets implemented. He said, I didn’t fight one king to become a king. He pushed away power, which is really a great thing. And then when they finally did negotiate the peace in the Treaty of Paris, 1783, how did they begin? Between England and America. They said, in the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity. That’s how our treaty of peace, you know, was, you know, that’s how it’s worded. That’s how it opens. And so we need to get back to God. And, you know, when a little kid… you know, gets in trouble for, you know, like having a patch or something, one nation under God or something like that. It’s absurd. You know, what is the motto of this country? In God we trust. In God we trust is our national motto, and yet people will get in trouble for, you know, saying anything about God in a public setting. That’s just—that’s wrong. They need to—we need to— you know, get back. And, you know, to be frank with you, the atheist has the freedom he has to rail against all these things because, you know, we’ve granted that. And that’s fine. I mean, free speech is such a gift. But when you have these other worldviews, it just clamps down on the Christian. I like to put it this way. The founders gave us freedom of religion. Freedom of religion includes those who don’t share those convictions. Right. But if you have freedom from religion, then all of a sudden you restrict what is allowed and you inhibit the believer’s you know, from practicing their faith. Or you can practice your faith, but only in the four walls of your church. Right. You can’t bring any of those ideas out and so forth. So the modern secularism, in effect, is trying to turn America into a secular wasteland. That’s not what the founders intended. Right. You know, so help me God, you know. You know, from the beginning to the present, you know, we see all kinds of different ways in which the Christian faith has impacted this nation and it’s led to human flourishing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, the brand new book from Providence Forum is called In the Footsteps of Giants. And we’ve got a link up at drjamesdobson.org for all things Providence Forum and Dr. Jerry Newcomb. who’s the executive director of Providence Forum, has been our guest for the past half hour discussing this, especially in this transitional year. We see a new leadership in Washington that whether or not it is infiltrated with Christians, there is a Christian influence returning to the White House. Is that a fair assessment to say? I think that is.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I think we also always remember, put not your trust in princes, put your trust in the Lord. And so, because we know that these movements come and these movements go. Yes, they do. There’s going to be, you know, possibly in future times, you know, the freedoms could be restricting again. And through it all, God’s kingdom will always continue and advance. Uh, so we know that, um, it is in the Lord we need to put our trust. And in the meantime, I’m grateful. I think actually when president Trump almost got killed and he recognized God spared his life, I think that helped to change him in a very strong way. And, uh, The prohibitions against pride still apply to everybody. You know, we reap what we sow. And if you don’t like what you’re sowing, change what you’re reaping.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I think we as a nation need to do the same. Amen. Amen. That’s great counsel. Dr. Jerry Newcomb, the executive director of Providence Forum. Thank you so much for being with us today here on Dr. James Thompson’s Family Talk. Thank you, Roger. America’s 250-year experiment in liberty stands as living proof that a nation built on God’s principles can endure and flourish. You’ve been listening to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk and a conversation I recorded with our special guest, Dr. Jerry Newcomb. We recorded this a few months ago at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas. Jerry’s deep dive into our founding documents clearly shows that faith wasn’t just present at the start of our nation. It’s the very foundation upon which America was built. Now, if you missed any portion of today’s conversation, or if you’d like to share these historical insights with a friend, go to drjamesdobson.org forward slash familytalk.org. There you’ll find the complete audio of this conversation, as well as information on Dr. Jerry Newcomb’s new book called In the Footsteps of Giants and the important work of the Providence Forum as they preserve America’s Judeo-Christian heritage. You’ll find all that and more at drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. Here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we believe that strong families are the cornerstone of a healthy society and understanding our nation’s spiritual roots can help us protect those family values for future generations. But these daily broadcasts and the many other resources this ministry provides are only possible through your prayers and the generosity of listeners like you who partner with us financially. Your gift today helps us continue promoting the sanctity of human life, God honoring sexuality, and the biblical principles that support marriage and family, principles that have sustained our nation for nearly 250 years. You can make a secure donation when you go to drjamesdobson.org. You can also give a gift over the phone when you call 877-732-6825. Or if you prefer to send your gift through the U.S. Postal Service, our ministry mailing address is Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. And for more content from Dr. Dobson and Family Talk, be sure to download the official James Dobson Family Institute mobile app, available for both Apple and Android devices. You can download the app today from your app store and experience how easy it is to strengthen your family with God’s truth. Well, I’m Roger Marsh, and from all of us here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we’re thankful that you joined us today. Hope to join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, the voice you trust for the family you love. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
In this enlightening episode of Family Talk, Dr. Jerry Newcomb returns to discuss his latest project at the Providence Forum. Uncover the surprising role Christianity has played from the colonial period through modern times in shaping American ethos and policies. Drawing on historical documents, Dr. Newcomb highlights the significant influence of religious prayer in pivotal governmental moments, offering insight into why preserving these values is paramount for the continued prosperity of the nation.
