Family Talk

Dr. James Dobson: You're listening to Family Talk, the radio broadcasting division of the James Dobson Family Institute. I am that James Dobson, and I'm so pleased that you've joined us today.

Roger Marsh: Well, welcome once again to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, the broadcast division of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. I'm Roger Marsh. And as our country approaches a milestone birthday—yes, it's been 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence—today we're asking a question that many Americans have actually stopped asking, and that is: Who do we have to thank for it all?

Well, my guest today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk believes that the answer is God Himself. Cynthia Scott is an author, a prayer leader, and a longtime intercessor for our nation. She has a new book out called Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday. That'll be our topic of conversation on today's broadcast.

On the last edition of Family Talk, Cynthia walked us through God's hand of providence on America—from the covenant of the pilgrims to the faith that shaped our founding. She also reminded us that remembering our true history is one of the ways that we honor the Lord.

Today, she and I will pick up that conversation, looking at where our nation stands right now and what it will take to see genuine revival in the years ahead. So, let's buckle up for part two of my conversation with author Cynthia Scott, talking about celebrating God our founder, on today's edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk.

Well, welcome back to Family Talk, the broadcast ministry of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. I'm Roger Marsh. Our continuing conversation with Cynthia Scott, author of the book Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday. Cynthia, it's good to have you back on the program today.

Cynthia Scott: Thank you so much for welcoming me back. It was fun the first time. I'm looking forward to today.

Roger Marsh: It's interesting every time I talk to someone who is in the battle for religious liberty—whether it's Becket Fund, Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council—and we have conversations about religious liberty. It's amazing to me, Cynthia, how many people don't understand that religious liberty based on biblical principles grants all liberties to people whether they are saved or not. I mean, that rain will fall on the just and the unjust, if you will.

Gary Bauer, one of our colleagues, is a member of the Religious Council and he is a frequent visitor now in the White House and they have guest appearances and prayer meetings and things of that nature. And people, what do you hear? "Oh, Donald Trump wants to start a theocracy," without realizing that God's plan for the United States was not a theocracy, it was religious liberty. And we have these things that God has provided for us, but He gives us the liberty to choose whether or not we will accept them.

For those who are looking at the 250th anniversary celebration of the United States with a certain measure of disdain, please be encouraged by what we're hearing from Cynthia Scott today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday is the book, and there are so many powerful principles in this resource that will help you as a citizen, as a Christian, as a parent, as a grandparent, that we can't recommend this book enough.

Cynthia, let's take a look at another aspect of the United States founding with God being our founder. That is, it's kind of a tough spot, I think, because a lot of people totally get Declaration of Independence—you know, we have inalienable rights, they are endowed by our Creator, so they all come from God. But then you fast forward 13 years later, we have a U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution doesn't give everybody all of those rights at that point. It had to be amended—you know, Bill of Rights, 13th, 14th Amendment, things like that. Talk about why we can still know that God was very present in American history when the Constitution was founded, even though it was ratified and then had to be amended several times.

Cynthia Scott: Right. God is perfect, but men are not. We know that. And this is so interesting to me because I think sometimes churches miss this. He moves in the moment in time in which something is happening. He moves among the issues of the day. If we go back to our founding, the research that I have done shows that the original founders that penned the Constitution, they did not want slavery.

But two states, Georgia and South Carolina, threatened to remove themselves from the process, which really threatened the Union. The Union was extremely fragile after the war. Think about it: all that fighting, loss of men, loss of resources—you know, many states were out of money. And they were not only battling for the creation of a nation, but they were battling for the existence of their own colonies, their own states.

So, it's messy. The affairs of men are very messy. It's amazing that God works through us at all, really, if you think about it. So, the principle of freedom for all was very much present. Also present at that moment was the need to keep this fragile Union together.

Interestingly, our Union has only been threatened seriously twice, and both were around the issue of slavery: at the time of the founding and at the time of the Civil War. God prevailed in the end. It took more time, I think, than any of our founders wanted, and certainly more than God wanted. But God did prevail in providing freedom for all ultimately.

You mentioned also—and I'm going to just switch to a different point here slightly—theocracy. You mentioned theocracy. And the more I think about it, even after finishing the book, I still think about all of these things. I think about how amazing God is. When you think about the way He shaped our government, it was different than Him shaping Israel, for example, where there was at first a theocracy and then a king.

But when it came to America, and as America having been shaped out of this 150 years of biblical thinking on the continent, even though we had a decline and needed that Great Awakening, we still had been grounded in that. When He brought the minds of the founders together to decide how this government was going to be shaped, He didn't go in the direction of theocracy or monarchy. He went in the direction of republic.

He fashioned it—I say God fashioned it, I believe He did—around His three roles. He is judge, He is king, and He is lawgiver. And we have our three branches of government, which reflect those roles of God. And additionally, the way they shaped it is that they held each other accountable. So, we have this system of checks and balances, which prevents any single man or entity or group of taking control and ruling as a dictator.

So, it's brilliant. It's brilliant. And the proof of its brilliance is that it's maintained, it's kept the nation alive and free for 250 years. It's really astonishing to me.

Roger Marsh: The idea that you talked about, no theocracy, no dictator, that type of thing—and there are so many people who are afraid of something like that happening and they don't realize that the God of the Bible, who is basically the author and perfecter not only of our faith but also of our nation if we will follow His way, provides for not having to ever worry about that.

And this is a great message of hope and encouragement for us in the body of Christ that we can share with people outside the church. What a great message from Cynthia Scott today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. Her brand-new book is called Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday, and we have a link for the book up at JDFI.net.

Okay, you were getting into a good groove here with regard to the Constitution and God being perfect and men being not perfect, so we understand that. But I find it fascinating when you mention the South Carolina-Georgia connection to the slavery issue, the Constitution, and then ultimately the Bill of Rights.

This is just an observation and I'd love to get your feedback on it. It seems very interesting to me to see that South Carolina has kind of turned a corner with some of the leadership they've had over the years, but Georgia seems to be falling into a pit where there's a good biblical base there, but it seems like Hollywood and some of the less desirable elements of the culture have been congregating in Georgia for some reason. And you have to wonder if there's still that kind of stain, that kind of curse if you will, of a colony that said, "Okay, we'll be part of this, but we want to differ from what the original intent of the United States was." Do you get the sense that maybe God is still waiting for a kind of a Great Awakening in Georgia to repent of some of the attitudes and the presuppositions that have kind of carried through for the past couple hundred years?

Cynthia Scott: I don't think I'd pin that on Georgia. I think as a nation, we've repented of our sin of slavery, which is a huge sin by the way. And we've changed our ways, and that is a testament to God's faithfulness. He led us in that.

But there is always a battle going on against Christ and against His principles. There is a battle for America going on. And to my way of thinking, behind the battle is the spirit of Antichrist. Because the founders that came to America, they really did have a heart to see the gospel spread. They not only wanted to live freely and they wanted to live according to the word of God personally, but they wanted to share the gospel.

I say in my book: Jesus is in America's DNA. And I truly believe that. And we have seen their desires come to fruition in many ways. You know, the body of Christ has flourished. I mean, we've had our dips and we've had our heights in America. Just think about the missionary movement after the Second Great Awakening and how Americans have funded the missionary movement, which really is an answer to the prayers of the Puritans and the Pilgrims centuries ago.

So, I think that as long as we are on this earth, Roger, you and I both know it, that spirit of Antichrist is not going to give up. And too bad for that spirit of Antichrist because it loses in the end every time. And we are going to prevail.

We were talking about America, we were talking about Americans and what they think and know. And I wrote this book to give honor to God because I just was shocked. I thought we never heard that God was the founder of our nation. He did not get the credit He deserved, and He needs to, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to share it.

The other thing I've learned is that as Americans learn the real history about our founding and God's involvement, they take courage because now they are armed with some facts: the facts of God's actual involvement in our nation and how it translated into our Constitution, into our Bill of Rights, into our prosperity.

Deuteronomy—I talk about Deuteronomy—you know, the blessings and the curses of God. For those who follow Him, there will be blessings; for those who disobey Him, there will be curses. And of course, we've experienced both. But the story of America really is a story of such great blessing, and we have our forefathers and their deep faith to thank for that.

And when we start seeing cracks in America and we start seeing these anti-Christian movements and we're shocked by it—I mean, I was, I was shocked, I was raised just I took God as being part of America for granted in my life. And then when you see all this, you realize, wow, we cannot take this legacy for granted. We have got to be the protectors of the legacy.

We have got to make sure that our people and our children know the true history. It's not your truth and my truth; it's the truth. And the truth is that God was in the midst of the founding, the initiating, the shaping, the founding of our nation. And in covenant with Him, we can return to Him and see Him move again.

And I'm praying for that Third Great Awakening. I know you are too. We want to see not just a move in the church, we want to see millions of people swept into the kingdom and transformation in our institutions. When our institutions begin to legislate things that are against the Bible, then we know we are in trouble. And we've got to move into those spaces.

And you know, we have the great sin of abortion in our nation. And that's it's a huge stain on America, not to mention a great sin and a sin against God and a sin against people. We've got to fix those things. We as Americans need to return to the God who founded us and gave us such great freedom and opportunity and exceptionalism. And we've got to wrong the rights.

And I'm encouraged. This is not in my book, but you know, in the book of Esther, we see these dictates being put into law to kill people—these murderous dictates being put into law—and we also see them reversed as the people of God turn back to God. So, there is precedent in the Bible for the overturning of these kinds of laws. And I think we need to press forward on that.

Roger Marsh: Now, Cynthia, you have a chapter in your book, and this is I think what would have been Dr. Dobson's favorite part of the actual book, because he loved not only the American concept but the fact that our faith could thrive and that everything that he did and said was about helping to encourage people to see the good news of the gospel, the need for the gospel in a country where you could thrive and really have just an awesome, amazing life.

You talk about the fact that American exceptionalism really is a biblical concept and a lot of people in our world—we had a president who, once he was elected, went over to Europe and apologized for America: "Oh, we're not that great and there are lots of exceptional people and everything." And I remember first thinking, "Okay, he's trying to be diplomatic," but he was also rather unbiblical.

Talk about why American exceptionalism and prosperity is not about the greed of capitalism and the sin of corrupting markets that God says are good, but rather this is another fruit of God's hand of providence on our country when we are doing exceptional things, when we are prospering in the things God wants us to prosper in.

Cynthia Scott: Well, let's go back to the beginning again of the Garden of Eden. It's not like I do this in the book so much, but think about it: God created us for a love relationship with Him. He has called us to Himself in a love relationship. He loves us. So, we need to start with that premise. He is the God that wants good for us. "I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans for good and not for evil, to prosper you and to give you a hope and a future," paraphrasing from Jeremiah 29:11 there.

And so, this is God's heart towards all people, not just Americans, and we know that. This is God's heart towards His creation. And He says in His word, "I have come to give you life and give you life abundantly." That is spiritual of course, but He wants to bless us. He is a good father who wants to care for us, His children.

And He knows what's good for us and He knows what's not good for us. And He calls us to live in obedience—that's where we go back to Deuteronomy—and to follow Him. Because He knows that if we live according to His ways, it will bring blessing to us. So, that's as individuals, but it also applies corporately. If we corporately follow God, there will be blessing.

Now, I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel certainly, and I'm not saying that everything in any person or nation's life is going to go perfectly. We live in a sin-filled world. However, God's desire for us is to prosper. So, in creating this nation—it's not just about the land, although He did bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. It is an incredibly rich and bountiful land that He brought us to.

But He also brought us into obey Him, to live under His commands so that He could pour out those blessings on us. And in the Constitution where men are given freedom, they're given freedom not only politically and spiritually, but they're given freedom economically.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—when you look back at that concept of happiness, it's very closely related to property. Property ownership was very much a part of the colonists' thinking and what they felt God had for them. And we think about that.

When they started some of these colonies, you look at Jamestown and very briefly in Plymouth, a tiny bit of socialism was introduced, didn't work. That was shut down very quickly. And at that point, they assigned plots of land and people were to work those plots of land and prosper according to their work.

That is very much a part of God's ways and it's very much a part of our history. And it's part of what has made America prosperous and exceptional because we had that freedom to flourish. God says in the Bible to discover all the mysteries that He's created. He said to manage the land, I mean going back to the Genesis.

And this is God's way: to give us this means of production, this means of creating government, this means of flourishing and then to flourish. And I do give God all the credit for that. And I do think that our founding documents, our system, our American system has very much produced the prosperity that we've enjoyed.

Roger Marsh: Yeah, I loved hearing you talk about this, Cynthia Scott, especially not only what you've written about in your book Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday, which is up at JDFI.net. What do we look forward to now? Gary Bauer and I like to have this conversation where we say, "Boy, if we were sitting around with Dr. Dobson right now and saying, 'What's America look like at 300?' we might sometimes say, 'Will America still be here at 300 for the tricentennial?'" What do you talk about in your book that we can look forward to for, say, the next 250 years of our nation?

Cynthia Scott: Well, the book, as you know, is half history and half prayer in every chapter. So, we start with the history so people understand the facts. And then we move into engaging with God to pray, starting with repentance—a very positive word that we can get back on track with God. Thanksgiving for all He's done.

And then praying for the government, praying for the leaders of our nation where we're instructed, we're commanded to do that in the Bible. Praying for our people, for our culture, and for the church. So, I have prayers in the book that people can follow and it's just a starting point, Roger, for people to pray for the nation. But then I encourage them to listen: What is God saying to them personally? And then to take action.

And when you talk about the next 250 years, or until Jesus comes back, that's on us. What are we going to do? And I believe that the most important thing that we can do in looking forward is turn back to God wholeheartedly. Turn back to Him personally and in our families and as a nation.

We need to reinvigorate our relationship with Him through prayer. Prayer is conversation. It's a two-way conversation. Of course, we make our requests to God, but what's more important is what He says back to us. And He will stir every single person who seeks Him. He will speak to them and He will call them for their part in America and in America's future.

I like to think of it as "We the church, We the people." That's the way God creates community. Every single person matters. He speaks to and through every one of us, and each one is called to something special in this moment. And so, that's how we look forward.

We look to God first. We surrender to Him. We come to Him. We thank Him for our amazing history. Rewriting history does not honor God. Remembering what He actually did does honor God. So, remembering is the first thing: repenting.

When I wrote these prayers, it was like a lightning bolt that hit me that said God Himself founded our nation. And maybe the biggest sin of our nation is that we have forgotten that and not acknowledged that. Perhaps if we had kept that first and foremost in our mind, we would never have had the length of slavery that we had or the sin of abortion, if we had kept God first.

So, I say what we need to do is remember and turn back to God and seek Him, knowing that He loves each person, each one of your listeners He loves, and He has a purpose for their lives—not only personally, but as we celebrate this great nation and as we move forward in it together.

Roger Marsh: Such an invigorating conversation here with Cynthia Scott today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. The book is called Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday. Highly recommend it. Go to JDFI.net and you can learn more about the book.

And as you were talking about our future, Cynthia, I couldn't help but remember back to the earlier part of our conversation here where we were discussing God being the God of liberty and the fact that all of this is set up to run so smoothly and to run so perfectly if we will submit to His authority, if we will repent of our sins, if we will truly take Him at His word and strive to be fruitful and to multiply.

And so, I'm hopeful. I'm cautiously optimistic that we're starting to see that revival, not just for the preservation of America, but literally for the glory of God and for His purposes to be accomplished through our citizenship, our citizenry, and our leadership here.

Cynthia Scott, thank you so much for the book. Thank you for putting all your time and effort into praying for our nation but then showing us our history and why we all need to be spending more time not only in prayer but also in the streets talking to people about God's providence for our nation. And thank you for being with us today here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk.

Cynthia Scott: Thank you so much, Roger. It's been a joy.

Roger Marsh: Well, I love how Cynthia Scott left us today: cautiously optimistic. Not because of anything we can manufacture on our own, but because she believes God is not finished with this nation yet. And that's truly a hopeful note upon which we can land.

Well, that wraps up my two-part conversation with author and prayer leader Cynthia Scott here on today's edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. Cynthia's new book is called Celebrating God Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday, and you'll find a link to it along with both halves of our conversation at JDFI.org.

And speaking of America's 250th birthday, this week we are releasing a series of five new videos from our own Gary Bauer, Senior Vice President of Public Policy here at the Dobson Policy and Culture Center, honoring this historic birthday. Gary has spent a lifetime defending the faith and family principles our nation was built upon, and these short videos are a meaningful way to commemorate our nation's semiquincentennial—that's a fancy way of saying 250th birthday. You can look for them at JDFI.org or DrJamesDobson.org.

Well, the America we hand to the next generation depends on whether we turn back to the God who founded her. That is the heartbeat of our ministry here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. And when you give to this organization, you help us defend religious freedom, uphold respect for our nation's founding, and champion righteousness in a culture that has drifted far from its roots.

If you share that hope for our nation's future, we invite you to join with us to partner in this ministry. Your gift of any amount carries biblical truth into homes all across this country and it helps this nation come back to God.

You can make your donation by mail when you write to The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Once again, our ministry mailing address is The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, or you can just use the initials JDFI for short, P.O. Box 39,000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949.

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Well, I'm Roger Marsh. Grateful that you spent time with us today. From all of us here at Family Talk and the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we're grateful for your prayers and ongoing support. Be sure 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.

This is Roger Marsh from Family Talk. The freedoms we enjoy today were hard-won by those who came before us, and it's up to all of us to protect them. Here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we're committed to defending religious liberty and the timeless values that shaped our nation. Through our broadcasts, articles, and resources, we equip you to stand for godly principles in your own community. So thank you for partnering with us to protect faith, family, and freedom for future generations.