("Best-of" Edition from 2/6/26) Stephen McDowell, President and Co-Founder of The Providence Foundation, steps into “The Corner.”

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivering people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be His ambassador.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28And now, the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:33Good evening, everyone.
12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:35My name is Abraham Hamilton, the third host of the program
14. 0:38joined by Purdue's extraordinaire,
15. 0:41often imitated, never duplicated the real J. Mac.
16. 0:45Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to rock and roll
17. 0:48with today's edition of the program.
18. 0:51At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you,
19. 0:53are making your transition from your part-time jobs,
20. 0:56where you generate an income to your full-time jobs,
21. 0:59where you cultivate an outcome.
22. 1:00And as you do so, I want to remind you to do it with intentionality,
23. 1:04understanding the promise that God places on family and allowing that to govern,
24. 1:09guided, instruct, instruct our engagement.
25. 1:12You know, before coming on, Jeff and I were talking about being grateful and how
26. 1:18it's, it's circumstances, small things sometimes can remind us of our need to be
27. 1:24grateful, certain things we take, you know, for granted, you know, my own family.
28. 1:28we have in a little situation with hot water and all following the ice storm we just had,
29. 1:33but it's easy to take for granted small things like turning on your faucet and having hot water
30. 1:40to come out and forgetting that man, that's a blessing from God.
31. 1:46And I want to have a conversation with us this morning from Philippians, sorry this evening,
32. 1:52Philippians chapter 1, verses 15 through 24, and there's sometimes an expression that's
33. 2:00offered, and I know what people mean when they say this.
34. 2:03They're so heavily minded that you know earthly good, you know, and the truth is, for a person
35. 2:10who is properly, heavily minded, that person will be maximally good in the earth because
36. 2:19it is the reality of the eternal hope, the blessed hope that really provides outsized and appropriate
37. 2:28meaning to the time we get to live in the here and now.
38. 2:31So we're going to get into that in a moment.
39. 2:35But as you're making your transition to your full time jobs, and I'm describing it that
40. 2:39we intentionally because outcome cultivation is the obligation and opportunity of every
41. 2:43believer.
42. 2:45And we need to truly have a radical recalibration of our mindsets concerning what it is God gives
43. 2:50us the opportunity opportunities to participate in and to be a part of.
44. 2:57So in Philippians chapter 1 you're going to see from the text the Apostle Paul is writing,
45. 3:00he's incarcerated at the time and he's writing to the church at Philippi and the text will
46. 3:06bear, will demonstrate that he's keenly aware that his natural life may be ending.
47. 3:15and he has some things to share with us inspired by the Spirit of God.
48. 3:21And I truly commend this to you for your consideration and to also ponder how might the
49. 3:28truths conveyed from this scripture inform your lives?
50. 3:32How should you respond in light of the truths contained here?
51. 3:37So Philippians 1 verses 15 to 24 and read it first all the way through,
52. 3:41then kind of dig into it a bit.
53. 3:42The Apostle Paul is writing, and he says,
54. 3:44is some to be sure are preaching Christ,
55. 3:47even from envy and strife,
56. 3:51but some also from good will.
57. 3:53The latter do it out of love knowing
58. 3:56that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
59. 3:59The former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition,
60. 4:03rather than from pure motives.
61. 4:05Thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
62. 4:10What then? Only that in every way.
63. 4:14Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.
64. 4:19And in this, I rejoice.
65. 4:23Yes, and I will rejoice.
66. 4:27For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance.
67. 4:32Through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
68. 4:36according to my earnest expectation and hope
69. 4:40that I will not be put to shame in anything,
70. 4:43but that with all boldness Christ will even now,
71. 4:48as always be exalted in my body,
72. 4:53whether by life or by death,
73. 4:58for to me to live as Christ and to die as gain.
74. 5:04But if I am to live on in the flesh,
75. 5:06this will mean fruitful labor for me,
76. 5:09and I do not know which to choose.
77. 5:15But I am hard pressed from both directions,
78. 5:17having the desire to depart and be with Christ.
79. 5:21For that is very much better yet to remain on
80. 5:25and the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
81. 5:29Mm man, Lord, thank you for your word.
82. 5:34So the Apostle Paul is writing and he's confronting people
83. 5:40who are proclaiming the gospel with false motivations
84. 5:43and some who are doing it genuinely,
85. 5:45But the point of Paul's rejoicing is that Christ is being proclaimed.
86. 5:51Then he goes on to say in verse 19,
87. 5:55for I know that this will work out for my deliverance.
88. 5:59Now, most people when you point out or would say to a person who was incarcerated,
89. 6:06that the Lord God is at work,
90. 6:08the Lord is making himself known through his people and that there is a direct
91. 6:13application to how it will work out for my benefit, for my deliverance.
92. 6:17That incarcerated person might immediately conflate
93. 6:20that the deliverance of the Lord will come through what?
94. 6:23What would you expect?
95. 6:25You would expect?
96. 6:27Well, he surely delivers means I'm getting out of jail.
97. 6:31I'm getting out.
98. 6:32But that's not what Paul says at all.
99. 6:35Paul's concept of the circumstances that he is in
100. 6:40at the time he is addressing the church at Philippi
101. 6:44and that the Lord's work will work out for his deliverance.
102. 6:47He explains what his deliverance is.
103. 6:49and even adds a personal investment in his own deliverance.
104. 6:52He says, I know that this will turn out from our deliverance
105. 6:56through your prayers, right?
106. 6:58The prayers of the saints,
107. 6:59well, what are the saints praying for?
108. 7:03Release them from jail?
109. 7:05That's not what Paul is talking about, guys.
110. 7:07I know that this is turned out from our deliverance
111. 7:09through your prayers and the provision
112. 7:11of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
113. 7:14Verse 20, according to my earnest expectation,
114. 7:17The people of God are praying.
115. 7:19The Spirit of God is at work on Paul's behalf.
116. 7:23And Paul has an earnest expectation and a hope
117. 7:26based on all of those things coalescing together.
118. 7:30The prayer of the saints, the Spirit of the Lord,
119. 7:33and His own expectation and hope.
120. 7:35What is that expectation and hope?
121. 7:37What is his expected deliverance from the Lord?
122. 7:40That he will not be put to shame in anything,
123. 7:42but that with all boldness, Christ will even now,
124. 7:49as always be exalted in my body.
125. 7:56Hmm, Paul is saying that the circumstances that work out
126. 8:00for his deliverance following the prayers of the saints,
127. 8:03the work of the Spirit of God.
128. 8:05And according to his earnest expectation and hope,
129. 8:07is that he would not be put to shame,
130. 8:08how is he not be shamed?
131. 8:10That Christ, even in these circumstances,
132. 8:13will be exalted in his natural,
133. 8:16temporal, physical life engagement.
134. 8:19then he has this, whether by life or by death.
135. 8:24Guys, Paul is saying that his deliverance and his expectation
136. 8:30that will result in him not being shamed
137. 8:32is that even in these circumstances
138. 8:34where he's incarcerated, he ultimately faces martyrdom
139. 8:38via execution at the hands of Nero,
140. 8:41his earnest expectation is that Christ will be exalted
141. 8:44in his body.
142. 8:46Oh, brethren, that that would be our greatest desire,
143. 8:51that our earnest expectation and our hope
144. 8:54would be that Christ would be exalted in us and through us,
145. 8:59in the lives that we live,
146. 9:00or even if that life requires us to lay down our lives,
147. 9:06that Christ would be exalted.
148. 9:08Then he goes on to state a familiar
149. 9:11and somewhat popular passage of scripture for to me
150. 9:14to live is Christ, but to die is gain.
151. 9:19Then he offers this,
152. 9:22but if I'm to live on in the flesh,
153. 9:23This will mean fruitful labor for me.
154. 9:28To live on a flesh will mean fruitful labor for me.
155. 9:32This concept of fruitful labor for Paul,
156. 9:35put him in a position where he didn't know what to choose.
157. 9:38This is what the text says.
158. 9:40Look at verse 23 in Philippians chapter one.
159. 9:42He says, I'm hard pressed from both directions.
160. 9:44Having the desire to depart,
161. 9:46I wanna be with Jesus in the tangible presence of my Lord.
162. 9:51And he says, for that is very much better,
163. 9:54but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
164. 9:58And I don't know which to choose.
165. 10:00There is no one who will ever be able to persuade me
166. 10:03that Paul was confused as to what was the better
167. 10:05circumstance for himself.
168. 10:08Being in a tangible presence of Jesus in heaven
169. 10:11or to be on earth,
170. 10:12where you still have to do things like sweat
171. 10:15to do things, you know.
172. 10:18No, no one will be able to convince me
173. 10:20that Paul was confused.
174. 10:21Well, what is this tension that Paul is expressing
175. 10:23that he doesn't know which to choose.
176. 10:24The tension that he is expressing,
177. 10:27is the tension that flows from him,
178. 10:30loving his Lord so much so that he loves the Lord's purpose
179. 10:34for him.
180. 10:36This idea being so heavenly minded that you're not earthly
181. 10:39good is actually a misnomer for those who are appropriately
182. 10:41heavenly minded.
183. 10:43Having this blessed hope, this earnest eternal expectation
184. 10:47gives appropriate and necessary significance to our
185. 10:51engagement in the here and now.
186. 10:53Remember Acts 17, for he has determined before time
187. 10:56the boundaries of our habitations
188. 10:57and the times in which we will live.
189. 10:59Why?
190. 11:00So that men should seek God.
191. 11:03Brothers and sisters, God is ordained for you and me
192. 11:06to be alive right now in the 21st century.
193. 11:09He's not surprised by all of the craziness
194. 11:12that is happening in our world,
195. 11:13the sexual confusion, the trans insanity,
196. 11:17you know, the current cultivation
197. 11:19and stoking the flames of lawlessness that's happening
198. 11:22like in Minnesota and other places.
199. 11:23God knows about all of that, but He's ordained you and me for this moment.
200. 11:28If we love the Lord, as we say we love the Lord, we simultaneously will love His purposes
201. 11:33for us that we would have a similar disposition like the Apostle Paul.
202. 11:37Yes, Lord, I want to be in your tangible presence.
203. 11:40I likewise want to be all that you call me to be.
204. 11:43I likewise want to fulfill all that you call me to fulfill.
205. 11:46And because I had this blessed hope that I want to be able to stand at the judgment seat
206. 11:50of Christ and have a triumphal entry into the eternal state that as the quality of my life
207. 11:55as a believer is evaluated to determine whether or not my life consists of wood or hay or stubble
208. 12:02or whether or not it consists of precious stone, eternal investment that I want to stand before
209. 12:10you in that stage at that time being able to lift up holy hands and to glorify your holy
210. 12:18name because like the Apostle Paul said, man, I have fought the good fight.
211. 12:24I have finished my race.
212. 12:26I have finished my course and I have kept the faith.
213. 12:29This idea being heavenly minded, so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good is
214. 12:34a misnomer biblically.
215. 12:37Now we understand the realities, you know, living in the earth where sin and the evidence
216. 12:41of the fall are all around us where, you know, we read about Daniel and his friends in the
217. 12:46book of Daniel, though they were Yaled when they entered Babylon during the Babylonian
218. 12:51exile. Yaled meaning that there were miners, there were boys when they arrived in Babylon.
219. 12:58But they had a time prior to being in Babylon. Well, we in many ways are living in a modern
220. 13:06day Babylon, and nevertheless called to be faithful to the Lord. I simply want to encourage
221. 13:11you and to challenge you. What will you do with the moment that God has ordained for
222. 13:16What will I do with the moment that God has ordained for me?
223. 13:19If we love the Lord as much as we say we love the Lord,
224. 13:23that love should be evident in how we live our lives.
225. 13:27What is our personal true life definition of success?
226. 13:33How do we evaluate whether or not we're living the quote unquote,
227. 13:36good life? I would challenge that we shouldn't seek to live the good life.
228. 13:41We should seek to live the abundant life.
229. 13:43What is the abundant life?
230. 13:44abundant life is the abundant life made evident by the quantity of
231. 13:48consumerism that we enjoy, the accumulation of material possessions,
232. 13:53the number of vacations that we take, or is the abundant life reflected in us living lives
233. 14:01given wholly fulfilling our Lord's purpose?
234. 14:05It's not that the Lord doesn't want us to enjoy life.
235. 14:06He gave us bodies that require fuel, and then he gave us an incentive to fuel our bodies by
236. 14:11giving us taste buds.
237. 14:12where we can distinguish vanilla ice cream from mashed potatoes.
238. 14:17But my challenge and my encouragement
239. 14:21is to ascribe towards a life disposition
240. 14:24similar to the Apostle Paul,
241. 14:26to where we mature to the place
242. 14:28where Paul says, I know it's far better
243. 14:29to be in the presence of our Lord.
244. 14:32But because he's ordained me
245. 14:33to serve his purposes in his time,
246. 14:35man, I don't know which to choose.
247. 14:39God has ordained you and me for this moment, guys.
248. 14:41By his divine providence,
249. 14:43we have been made a citizens
250. 14:46the greatest nation in the history of this world. Our engagement is for our King.
251. 14:52And because our King has deposited us here, we are invested to be salt and light in the
252. 14:57time and the land we've deposited us." Friends, every day in America, thousands of babies lose
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269. 16:05Shining light into the darkness,
270. 16:07this is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
271. 16:10Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton
272. 16:13the third here and I am just delighted
273. 16:15to have on the program with me a brother in Christ, a shepherd in the Lord's body.
274. 16:22You know, I view him as a general, frankly, in the Lord's army.
275. 16:27It's a brother who is the president and co-founder of the Providence Foundation.
276. 16:31He's led the Providence Foundation for 42 years in counting.
277. 16:35I'd learned that.
278. 16:37He's trained people from 100 countries to apply biblical truth in all spheres of life.
279. 16:41He's traveled to 45 nations and six continents where he's consulted with government officials,
280. 16:46assisted in writing political documents, advised political parties, and started Christian schools
281. 16:50and biblical worldview training centers.
282. 16:52He's authored and co-authored over 40 books, videos, and training courses, and his books
283. 16:57and writings have been translated into 18 languages and distributed to more than one million
284. 17:01people.
285. 17:02He holds a master's degree in geophysics, which I just learned, and he also has served as
286. 17:07a pastor for several years prior to founding the Providence Foundation.
287. 17:15He's been an adjunct professor at Regent University and he and his wife live in Charlottesville,
288. 17:18Virginia where they have four children and ten grandchildren.
289. 17:21My guest is none other than Stephen McDowell, as I mentioned, president and co-founder of
290. 17:25the Providence Foundation.
291. 17:27Mr. McDowell, thank you.
292. 17:28Brother McDowell for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner.
293. 17:32Well, it's great to be with you Abraham and I appreciate all that you've been doing
294. 17:37to transmit the truth. So it's great to spend a little time with you.
295. 17:42Oh, the pleasure is mine and I am confident that the audience here will enjoy what you have to share.
296. 17:49Now, I want it just a personal thing that I am grateful to be able to do. And when I get the
297. 17:55opportunity to talk to people like you, you know, being in ministry for 48 years, you know,
298. 18:00you've been in ministry longer than I've been alive, you know, and not only being in ministry,
299. 18:07being faithful for that time period, what is one thing that would come to mind that you've learned
300. 18:14over that time period that you would say is probably one of the most important or the top two or three
301. 18:20most important things you've learned in serving in Lord for that duration faithfully for approaching
302. 18:26really half a century now? Well, there's a whole lot of things obviously, something that always
303. 18:32comes back to me as a teacher and what God has me doing in teaching biblical worldview is that
304. 18:37What God says is true, and His principles work.
305. 18:44And if we obey His truth, if it's personally in our family, in our nation, we are blessed.
306. 18:51We have good fruit.
307. 18:52But if we disobey Him, we go backwards like Jeremiah said.
308. 18:56So that comes over, all over and over again.
309. 19:00Again, I remind people like ask the question,
310. 19:04why has Venezuela suffered so much
311. 19:06in the last few decades?
312. 19:08Why are the average person lost 10 kilograms away?
313. 19:11They can't feed their own people.
314. 19:13It's because we live in God's world.
315. 19:16We don't live in the made up world of Karl Marx.
316. 19:19Those principles don't work.
317. 19:21God's principles work and produce good fruit.
318. 19:24We just need to discover them and apply them
319. 19:27and we'll bring flourishing.
320. 19:30And that's so true.
321. 19:31It's almost like rebelling against God has consequences.
322. 19:34Yeah.
323. 19:35Yeah, we learn that in the Bible, don't we?
324. 19:37And in real life.
325. 19:38We certainly do.
326. 19:40You know, some people may be aware, some may not be aware.
327. 19:43The mission of the Providence Foundation is that it is a Christian educational organization
328. 19:48whose mission is to train and network leaders to transform their culture for Christ and to
329. 19:51teach all citizens how to disciple nations, how to disciple nations, which is what Jesus
330. 19:58command us as recorded in Matthew 28.
331. 20:00Yeah, he said to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations. Matthew Henry,
332. 20:06the great Bible commentary read by the founders of America said, the principal intention of
333. 20:11this passage is clear. It's to do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations. That's
334. 20:17our job. That's our task. What he meant by that is not with a national church, but he
335. 20:22He meant build your nation upon biblical principles.
336. 20:26Every nation is built upon a set of principles that are ultimately rooted in what they consider
337. 20:30to be ultimate.
338. 20:31It's their God.
339. 20:33The founders of America built this nation upon biblical principles.
340. 20:37That's why we became the most free and prosperous nation in history.
341. 20:41Not perfect, we had problems, but they looked to the Scripture.
342. 20:44How do we deal with things that face us and it produced good fruit?
343. 20:51Now one other thing I learned and prepared for this interview is that you actually have
344. 20:54a master's degree in geophysics.
345. 20:57So how do you go from being a geophysicist basically by training to surrendering to the
346. 21:03Lord and becoming basically a biblical worldview teacher and a disciple maker in that regard?
347. 21:09Well, I grew up in a church, but it's what I call a head-only church.
348. 21:14It didn't really introduce me to the living God.
349. 21:17My mom got saved during the Jesus revolution in the late 60s and gave me books and Bibles,
350. 21:23and after God chased me down for a number of years, I discovered God is alive and real.
351. 21:30At that time, I was studying undergraduate school at the University of North Carolina,
352. 21:35studying physics.
353. 21:36I was going to be an astronomer.
354. 21:37I loved science and things.
355. 21:40But when God revealed Himself, and I saw the God of,
356. 21:45of the Creator God of the Bible is alive and real,
357. 21:49and He has a purpose and a mission for me
358. 21:52that over a few years in graduate school
359. 21:54I began to recognize a calling of God.
360. 21:57So when I finished graduate school
361. 21:59I had an opportunity to go work for an oil company
362. 22:02with oil exploration, art to go help,
363. 22:05start a church at a university.
364. 22:07So I chose the latter, not for the money,
365. 22:10but I believe that's God's calling.
366. 22:13So about six years I've passed through churches
367. 22:15and began to, as I was studying, read the Bible,
368. 22:18see that the Bible not only tells us
369. 22:22how to have a personal relationship to God,
370. 22:25to transform in, but the Bible has principles
371. 22:27of transforming culture, transforming life.
372. 22:30It speaks to all of life,
373. 22:32and it's our duty to learn what God says and apply.
374. 22:36That's how we disciple nations
375. 22:37by teaching all that Jesus commanded,
376. 22:40and Jesus taught all kinds of subjects,
377. 22:43not just personal,
378. 22:44biotistic subjects,
379. 22:46but economic, governmental, familiar,
380. 22:49every area of life he addressed,
381. 22:51and the scripture addressed.
382. 22:52And so to help facilitate training,
383. 22:55the church in these wonderful principles,
384. 22:58I resigned my pastorate,
385. 23:00and in 1984,
386. 23:01went to help start the Providence Foundation,
387. 23:04which teaches biblical principles
388. 23:06law, government, education, economics.
389. 23:09And I've been doing that for 42 years.
390. 23:11Mm, that is profound.
391. 23:13You know, you said earlier in quoting Matthew Henry's
392. 23:16commentary on Matthew 28 that he said the instruction
393. 23:21of the passage is clear that the disciples of Christ
394. 23:24should seek basically to Christianize nations, you know?
395. 23:27And as you mentioned, not advocating for a national church,
396. 23:30but to have the institutions built upon the truth
397. 23:33of God's holy word.
398. 23:34Well, I'm sure you're aware that today,
399. 23:37having that statement where the word Christian
400. 23:40is said right before nation,
401. 23:42kinda makes you a Christian nationalist.
402. 23:45Yeah.
403. 23:47How do you address that whole phenomenon
404. 23:51and people who listen to this show
405. 23:54and watch this show know where I stand,
406. 23:55that's kinda absurd.
407. 23:56But how do you navigate that when you assert rightly
408. 23:59what Matthew Henry explained that Matthew 28
409. 24:02is directing the disciples Christ to be and to do?
410. 24:05Yeah, you know, anytime someone uses a phrase
411. 24:07like Christian nationalism or anything else,
412. 24:10you have to ask them, what do you mean?
413. 24:11How do you define that?
414. 24:13Everybody has a different understanding of terms.
415. 24:16So I always have to find out, well,
416. 24:18what are you talking meaning when you're asking the question?
417. 24:20But it's our duty, it's our task.
418. 24:26He got his sovereign overall things.
419. 24:28He created all things, he's sovereign over this earth.
420. 24:31He's a King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
421. 24:34And so he demands that everybody submit to his truth.
422. 24:41And it's for our good, because if we obey him,
423. 24:43we're blessed as we were talking about before.
424. 24:46So my duty as an ambassador for Christ
425. 24:49is to exert the crown right,
426. 24:51the King Jesus in every sphere of life.
427. 24:53And when Jesus came into the world,
428. 24:55and he rose again in bodily form
429. 24:58and gave us the mission, all right?
430. 25:00Now go out, I've bound Satan and I've given you the capacity to reclaim the earth that was
431. 25:05given up at the fall and fulfill the mission that I created at Adam and Eve to do in the
432. 25:10very beginning, which was to rule over the earth, take dominion, cultivate the earth because
433. 25:15God's given that to us.
434. 25:17And so in the past 2000 years in the Christian era, that is what the church is supposed to
435. 25:22be doing.
436. 25:23Satan's bound, but we've got to plunder what he stole or what was given up to him.
437. 25:30Him and that includes reclaiming education, reclaiming government, reclaiming the family,
438. 25:35the biblical family, biblical morality, the value of life.
439. 25:40God speaks to all of these things and it's our task to do that.
440. 25:44And unfortunately, the church, especially in the last hundred years, has relegated, they've
441. 25:50preached a truncated gospel message.
442. 25:52They preached only part of the gospel, the part that says we're sinners, we need a redeemer
443. 25:57and Christ came to redeem us and restore our relationship and get us to heaven.
444. 26:01This is true, it's central, but that's not all the truth.
445. 26:05Because what the Bible teaches is God created all things good.
446. 26:09It's very good, this earth. Man fell, Jesus came to redeem, but not just to get us to heaven,
447. 26:15but what does the Lord's Prayer say? Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
448. 26:21So our task is to bring His kingdom, His government, His rule, His authority to earth,
449. 26:27just like it is in heaven. So I would submit that making Christian nations is central to
450. 26:35that aspect of the mission that the cultural mandate has called it, the Creation Commission,
451. 26:41the part of the Great Commission that Jesus gave us.
452. 26:45Now, I've often lamented and decried on this program, though Jesus instructed when he was
453. 26:52asked what's the greatest commandment and he gave two, he quotes from Deuteronomy 6 and
454. 26:56says you should love the Lord with all your heart,
455. 26:57your soul, your mind, and your strength.
456. 27:00Jesus in answering in that way literally lays out
457. 27:04that the cultivation of the mind is central
458. 27:07to being a worship of the Lord, but in our nation,
459. 27:10and though we have texts like Proverbs 1-7,
460. 27:12the fifth of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
461. 27:13The fifth of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
462. 27:15And knowledge of the whole one is understanding
463. 27:17that we have an entire system of instruction
464. 27:19and mind cultivation that denies the knowledge of God.
465. 27:22And I've simply said that we shouldn't be surprised,
466. 27:26surprised if we have relegated mind cultivation
467. 27:29generationally to people who hate God
468. 27:31that that result in a society can comprise the God haters.
469. 27:36And so if we are going to be obedient to the Lord's command
470. 27:39and execute in the Great Commission,
471. 27:40the body of Christ has to once again lead
472. 27:43in cultivating the mind.
473. 27:44And I've had the privilege in participating
474. 27:47in a film that the Providence Foundation
475. 27:49has commissioned called Educated for Liberty
476. 27:52and that you are the host and the moderator for,
477. 27:56what caused you to want to participate in this film?
478. 28:00And in a moment, here we're gonna play a snippet
479. 28:02from the trailer and then talk a little bit more
480. 28:04how people can watch it,
481. 28:05but what made you want to participate
482. 28:07in the creation of this film?
483. 28:09Well, of course, my work at the Providence Foundation
484. 28:12for the past 42 years has been all about biblical education.
485. 28:16And I have the same concerns and have for decades
486. 28:20that you've just expressed.
487. 28:22And so we've written lots of books, we've put out DVDs,
488. 28:25and so we decided we need to provide
489. 28:29a easy way for millions of Americans
490. 28:33to understand the value and the importance of education.
491. 28:38We call this film Educated for Liberty
492. 28:42because to live in liberty is difficult.
493. 28:46The default state of sinful man is not to live free.
494. 28:49You leave man to himself, he won't spire,
495. 28:52you know, he won't become more and more free and prosperous,
496. 28:54he'll spiral downward into more bondage.
497. 28:57And so to live in liberty,
498. 28:59it takes a lot of effort, education, knowledge, character,
499. 29:02truth, in essence it takes the Christian faith
500. 29:06because Christianity changes the heart,
501. 29:08the only religion, if you will,
502. 29:10if you wanna call it a religion that changes the heart,
503. 29:13but it also gives us principles of how to live.
504. 29:17So in this film, it explores how home-centered biblical education produced the free and flourishing
505. 29:25nation of America, but the last hundred plus years, secular education has led to a great moral
506. 29:33and academic decline.
507. 29:35And when government took over schools and the secular philosophy captivated our government
508. 29:40schools, it s sowing bad seeds that we re seeing the fruit of today.
509. 29:46For centuries in the beginning we sowed good seeds. That's why colleges were started to train godly ministers
510. 29:53Schools were started teach people to read the Bible Bible center good seeds were planted produced good fruit
511. 30:00Unfortunately in the last many generations we've been producing a lot of bad fruit
512. 30:05but the solution then is to
513. 30:09restore biblical education to our nation and the good news is God is doing that and
514. 30:16And this film is our contribution, which people can see free, by the way, at educatedforliberty.com.
515. 30:23It's our contribution to help show parents you have the right and responsibility to govern
516. 30:30the education of your children.
517. 30:32And you might delegate aspects of that to others, but it's still your responsibility, and churches
518. 30:38ought to help them in that responsibility.
519. 30:41So it's primarily the God gives families the primary responsibility, not civil government.
520. 30:47If assume that responsibility primarily because families have given it up and we see the bad
521. 30:53fruit of that today.
522. 30:55You know, I've said there are a couple things I want to say in light of this and we won't
523. 30:58have time to get to it before the next segment.
524. 31:00But I want to play a snippet from the trailer for the audience here.
525. 31:06But I've said that there is no way to reverse course in our nation if we continue to see
526. 31:13the discipleship of subsequent generations of Americans to the world.
527. 31:19There's no way around it because a lot of the negative things we see in government policies,
528. 31:24for example, that we see in social statistics that are indicative of negative benchmarks
529. 31:32of our society, all of them highlight and really amplify deficiencies that abound in
530. 31:38the home, starting with the cultivation of the mind.
531. 31:41Do you think I'm overstating that case?
532. 31:43No, not at all.
533. 31:45I think the primary reason for the decline of America is government control of education,
534. 31:51because education is discipleship, as you know, talked about in the film.
535. 31:57Everyone's going to be discipled.
536. 31:58can either be discipled toward Christ in his truth or we're going to be discipled to anti-Christian
537. 32:06ideology. And so we now 90% almost of youth in America are being discipled toward anti-Christian
538. 32:16ideas and we have to take that back. We have to be getting with Christians,
539. 32:22Reassume that responsibility are it there is no hope I agree with you. All right, I got a breaking right here because a disrespectful music
540. 32:30That's what I call a bumper music
541. 32:32It's disrespectful because we having a great conversation
542. 32:34But we'll continue it on the other side of the break
543. 32:37My guest is the president and co-founder of the Providence Foundation
544. 32:40We're discussing the brand new film that you can see with for free
545. 32:45No charge by going to educate it for Liberty dot com more in our conversation more of our conversation
546. 32:52was Stephen McDowell on the other side of the bridge. Stay with us.
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560. 34:29I've had the privilege to be a part of the film
561. 34:32and I have to tell you it's a wonderful, wonderful resource
562. 34:35that will bolster your commitment, frankly, to the Lord
563. 34:38and your discipleship responsibilities.
564. 34:40And we'll provide some resources for you
565. 34:43to enable you to do that well.
566. 34:45Brother McDowell, I had the opportunity one time
567. 34:48to address a group of pastors,
568. 34:49and I was talking about this very topic,
569. 34:51and I just say it very plainly.
570. 34:53You know, where do you think the idea
571. 34:55is that the young people in your church
572. 34:56are struggling?
573. 34:57Where do you think they come from?
574. 34:58I said, do you think that they're at home and their parents are telling them, hey, you need to go and
575. 35:02you know, smoke weed, you need to fornicate, you need to steal, you need to go rob, you need to do
576. 35:07what is the idea is coming from? And they're like, no, I don't think the parents are doing it.
577. 35:11I say, what do you think is coming from? They say, well, probably it's coming from their peers and
578. 35:15what they're learning at schools. And I said, by seeding this ground outside of what God mandated,
579. 35:21as you said in the previous segment, God has called parents really and fathers ultimately be
580. 35:25responsible for the Pidea and New Thesia of our children.
581. 35:29Ultimately, we're responsible for it.
582. 35:30But by seeding that to God haters, we as pastors are working against ourselves.
583. 35:37We are creating the environments that are working, the circumstance that are working
584. 35:42against our efforts to rear our children in the nurturing admonition of the Lord.
585. 35:46Who else does that?
586. 35:47That's like running on a treadmill and eating ice cream sundae at the same time.
587. 35:51Why would we continue to do that when we see the evidences of it?
588. 35:55And so when I said that, there were a couple of passes, the lights went on in their heads,
589. 36:00but because we've done things in this way for so long, even though it really is a relatively
590. 36:08recent departure from the way we've done things dating back to our founding era, that some
591. 36:12people have kind of been imprisoned by the most recent practices.
592. 36:16Is that something that you have found, as you alluded to earlier, that we need to appeal
593. 36:19to get Christians to understand that this is something that parents and families need to
594. 36:23lead out on in their homes.
595. 36:25Yeah, exactly.
596. 36:26There's three main things we want to accomplish through this film.
597. 36:30One, to show parents you have the right and responsibility to govern the education of your
598. 36:36children.
599. 36:37Not just the right, but responsibility.
600. 36:39Two, the church should assist parents in this mission.
601. 36:45And then three, the reason the way to become a free nation and live as a free nation is
602. 36:50to be educated in biblical truth.
603. 36:52You know, you were saying that Psalm 127 tells us that our children are arrows in the hands
604. 36:59of the Lord.
605. 37:00The greatest weapon God has given us to transform culture and affect the future is to our children.
606. 37:06And so we're preparing them and sharpening them, we're aiming them to be effective at
607. 37:11transmitting the kingdom of God.
608. 37:14But unfortunately, we've given our greatest weapon to the enemy.
609. 37:18When we send them to government schools, they then are preparing them in their philosophy,
610. 37:23and turning around and using that our greatest weapon against us and against God's kingdom.
611. 37:30Colossians 2.8 says, Paul writes, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy
612. 37:36and empty deception according to the tradition of the world, according to the elementary principles
613. 37:42of the world.
614. 37:44So worldly philosophies, man-centered, worldly philosophies bring captivity.
615. 37:51Rather and then he goes on to say rather than according to Christ, Christian principles bring
616. 37:56liberty.
617. 37:58And as we've surrendered our children, our greatest weapon to the secular ideas, they've
618. 38:03been led astray, they've been led into captivity and of course not just they, but that impacts
619. 38:08all of life, the way because our children's education determines the future of our nation.
620. 38:14So they've been led astray. And so that is then the message, well, let's take back the
621. 38:21best weapon God has given us, let's prepare them to accomplish what education does. It
622. 38:27forms godly character internally, it forms a biblical worldview, and it equips youth
623. 38:33to fulfill their godly calling every sphere of life.
624. 38:38So when we do that, we will have a tremendous impact
625. 38:42upon the future.
626. 38:43If we fail to do it, as you point out,
627. 38:45we are going backwards.
628. 38:48And it should be instructive to us that when you refer
629. 38:50to Colossians 2-8, I've talked about in the verse four
630. 38:54of that same chapter, he warns against being deluded.
631. 38:57And if the delusion is not intercepted,
632. 38:59that delusion metastasizes into full blown captivity.
633. 39:02as you pointed out, but we should recognize that Paul,
634. 39:05by the spirit of God, is writing this to warned Christians.
635. 39:07He's writing to the Christians
636. 39:09so that you won't be taken captive.
637. 39:11This is how you should be fortified against that captivity
638. 39:14as you rightly pointed out.
639. 39:16But let's do this.
640. 39:17Jeff, would you please queue up a snippet from the trailer
641. 39:21from the film Educated for Liberty?
642. 39:23Go.
643. 39:40All worldviews are simply trying to answer
644. 39:43the major questions of life.
645. 39:44Like, where did we come from?
646. 39:46What is our purpose for being here?
647. 39:48A biblical worldview is answering those questions from the authority of Scripture.
648. 39:53If you can't think biblically, then what you have is a bunch of secular thinking people
649. 39:59who attend church which will never change the community in the right direction.
650. 40:02We're not as a church raising up parents that understand their responsibility in the education
651. 40:09of their children.
652. 40:11Summit School is fine.
653. 40:13It's good.
654. 40:14education, Bible school, fine and good, but it's not enough.
655. 40:18Education is discipleship one way or another,
656. 40:23discipling our children in a secularized society,
657. 40:26or it's discipling them to Christ.
658. 40:29How could you possibly segregate the concept of education,
659. 40:33from the duty and responsibility of the Christian faith,
660. 40:36and that they should be trained in the Christian faith
661. 40:39and in a Christian way?
662. 40:41For hundreds of years in this country,
663. 40:43The Bible was the essential book.
664. 40:45It was the foundation of everything.
665. 40:48And yet here we aren't where it's actually controversial,
666. 40:51that we should have the Bible in education.
667. 40:53It's truly astounding.
668. 40:56That last voice you heard was my friend Alex Newman,
669. 40:58a lot of the people in the film.
670. 41:00You've heard them and seen them on this show.
671. 41:02As I mentioned, I'm in this film as well.
672. 41:05My friends Will and Mikey Addison are in the film.
673. 41:10The Barton's Tim and David Barton are in the film.
674. 41:12host of people uh... who i love admire and respect
675. 41:16are in this film and honestly i don't think there's a more critical issue
676. 41:20that needs to be discussed and and
677. 41:22and on the show on a daily basis often say
678. 41:24uh... that because i have an evening drive time show that you're transitioning
679. 41:27from your part-time job
680. 41:29to your full-time job and that we have an obligation to welcome the primacy that
681. 41:33god places on family
682. 41:35to govern and guide our engagement and family and as you rightly pointed out
683. 41:39One of the greatest weapons, if not the greatest weapons,
684. 41:42that God has given us to establish
685. 41:43multi-generational faithfulness to the King of Kings
686. 41:46and the Lord of Lords is the family
687. 41:48and with the privilege to rear children
688. 41:50and the nurturing admonition of the Lord.
689. 41:52And unfortunately, people who hate God
690. 41:54seem to understand that more than others.
691. 41:56You know, yeah, people like Leningut said,
692. 41:57you know, give me your children at four years old
693. 41:59and one generation I'll change the world.
694. 42:01You know, we could people have understood that,
695. 42:03but unfortunately the people of God
696. 42:05have been a little bit slow on the uptick in this regard.
697. 42:07But I believe this film is a vital resource in reversing that reality.
698. 42:12And it's something that I believe can happen in a far more quick manner than we
699. 42:16think that it can happen.
700. 42:19To that point, Brother McDowell, what do you think in terms of what people will say,
701. 42:23well, man, look how far gone we are.
702. 42:25Can we really make an about face in our nation if we respond to the Lord's command
703. 42:31to us to rear our children in the nurturing admonition of the Lord with the cultivation
704. 42:35of the mind at the center?
705. 42:36Can we have an about face within a generation or two?
706. 42:39Well, absolutely.
707. 42:40You know, God's seed is good.
708. 42:44You plant God's seed in good soil, it produces abundant fruit.
709. 42:48I love the saying you can count how many seeds are in an apple, but you cannot count how many
710. 42:54apples are in a seed.
711. 42:56One seed has the potential to producing millions of pieces of fruit.
712. 43:01Now secular seeds are bad.
713. 43:03Weeds grow, but they're not good.
714. 43:05They don't produce good stuff, but God's seed, it's so powerful that for a hundred years, we've
715. 43:10been kicking God out of schools and government and everything else, but we're still the most
716. 43:15free and prosperous nation in the world, even after backsliding for generations.
717. 43:20That shows you the power of truth in God's seed.
718. 43:24So there are, you know, I've been doing this, you know, ministry almost 50 years.
719. 43:29And I first started not so many people aware and teaching these kind of things of the impacting
720. 43:37culture and worldview in the late 70s, 10 or 15,000 homeschoolers perhaps in America.
721. 43:43Today there are three to five million.
722. 43:46Most of those are Christians and new seeds have been planted and are being planted and
723. 43:51we already see some good fruit coming forth from that.
724. 43:55So yes, because God knows the frailty of man and our tendency for the fire to go out, so
725. 44:04throughout history he sent revival.
726. 44:06And revival is not just a kind of a one-time little outpouring people get saved, but biblical
727. 44:13revival results in the permanent transformation of society and societal institutions and laws.
728. 44:21And so God, I believe, is pouring out His Spirit in America.
729. 44:26He is awakening a lot of people.
730. 44:29You know, American family radio and ministries like that in the past number of decades or indication
731. 44:36God is doing something.
732. 44:37Awakening people were sowing seeds that used to not be there.
733. 44:42So God hasn't given up on us.
734. 44:44I still believe He has a plan in accordance with the vision of the Founders for America
735. 44:50to be a city set upon a hill and an example to the nations. So he is at work. Good seeds are being
736. 44:56planted. Now we've got a lot to do. We haven't tanked out, but we've got a whole lot more.
737. 45:05But I love John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, said he said, duty is ours, the results are the
738. 45:12Lord. And so the fact that there are many people recognizing their duty, acting upon their duty
739. 45:19is an indication to me, God is bringing forth the fruit.
740. 45:23We can't cause seeds to grow, but we sow the seed,
741. 45:26we can water the seed, we can pull up the weeds.
742. 45:29So yes, I do have hope, but I also recognize
743. 45:33it's gonna take a whole lot of prayer,
744. 45:35a whole lot of work, a whole lot of God's mercy
745. 45:38to turn this nation around.
746. 45:42I'm so encouraged and moved and stirred
747. 45:46about what you said because it is so true.
748. 45:49I was talking earlier in the first segment
749. 45:52before you came on from Philippians chapter one
750. 45:54when the Apostle Paul being keenly aware
751. 45:56that he may very well be at the end of his life
752. 45:59and he remarks on not knowing which to choose
753. 46:01to be with Jesus or to be engaged in fruitful life labor.
754. 46:05And I said, there's nobody who can persuade me
755. 46:07that Paul was confused as to which one is better.
756. 46:09But he loved the Lord so much so
757. 46:11that even though he was in a first century
758. 46:13Roman Empire dominated world,
759. 46:16that he didn't have an escapist orientation
760. 46:18because he loves God's purpose for him.
761. 46:21And so that put him in that position,
762. 46:23yes, I want to be in Jesus' presence,
763. 46:25but I likewise want to fulfill
764. 46:26all these called me to in the hearing now.
765. 46:28And I feel that there's a similar reality on our standpoint,
766. 46:33that the focal point that we need to have
767. 46:35is not kind of limiting it to an external analysis
768. 46:39and observation based on how we feel
769. 46:41the nation is succeeding or not,
770. 46:43but giving ourselves wholly to what God has called us
771. 46:46to personally that we find ourselves being poured out in service of our Lord's purpose out of
772. 46:52a worship filled response to the transcendent eternal gift of salvation. And as we respond
773. 46:58in that manner, embracing John Quincy Adams' statement, duty as ours results to the Lord's
774. 47:04that we invest ourselves in duty in a worship filled response to the one who saved our souls.
775. 47:10Do you see that as a means by which the body of Christ in our nation right now?
776. 47:15I'm grateful for what the Lord is doing all over the world, but I desire for the believer
777. 47:19in our nation to respond to our Lord's call.
778. 47:21Is that a way for the believer here to invest ourselves in what God is calling us to?
779. 47:26Yes, if all of God's people working together, if we fulfill our calling and duty, we are
780. 47:35all together, inching forward the kingdom of God. You know, biblical education will advance
781. 47:41God's kingdom with good fruit. It will. It can't help but do that. It will produce and advance liberty.
782. 47:48And again, all of us fulfill our duty in whatever God's called us to do. So if we're a business man,
783. 47:55we conduct our business providing a needed, good or service to our fellow man, do it in a
784. 48:00in a biblical manner, that's actually advancing God's kingdom.
785. 48:04Parents, if we assume responsibility to train our children
786. 48:07and do all our other responsibilities,
787. 48:10we're advancing God's kingdom.
788. 48:12Farmers, when they produce food, excellent food
789. 48:16at the cheapest price, that's advancing God's kingdom.
790. 48:19So we do that in every sphere.
791. 48:21We don't have to think, oh, I'm not a preacher
792. 48:24or I can't make a film or something like that.
793. 48:26We just do our duty in every area and every sphere of life and we will inch forward the
794. 48:32kingdom of God.
795. 48:34So and this is good news because I can do that.
796. 48:38You know, I might not know the president.
797. 48:40I might not be able to enact a law, but I can fulfill my duty and responsibility to my
798. 48:47family, my community, my church.
799. 48:50And I can do that.
800. 48:51And if each of us understand and act that way, we can have great confidence God will bring forth the fruit because
801. 49:00He's the one that's directing the events of history. He has a plan for history. They will be fulfilled. Amen. Where America fits in,
802. 49:07you know, that's up to him, but it's up to us too because we have a responsibility in that.
803. 49:12But I know God is moving among the nations. I've been to many nations. He's pouring out his spirit in an unprecedented
804. 49:18and I believe he's at work in the United States as well.
805. 49:23Amen.
806. 49:24Educator for Liberty is the film.
807. 49:26You can watch it for free at EducatorForLiberty.com.
808. 49:29Watch it, share it with your friends, family and loved ones, and let's live for the glory of our king.
809. 49:37The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.
810. 49:46American Family Radio.