Training leaders to transform nations is a part of the mission of the Providence Foundation. Over the decades we have trained thousands of people who have become involved in government via starting political parties, seeking political office, setting up organizations to train youth in governmental affairs, serving in local parties, assisting in political campaigns, teaching others of their civic responsibilities, and much more. One man impacted by our teachings, Lloyd Smucker, is now a United States Congressman.

Over thirty years ago, Lloyd attended a week-long America’s Providential History (APH) instructor training seminar in Charlottesville that we hosted. Eager to make this training available to folks in his home of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he invited Stephen McDowell, President of the Providence Foundation, to conduct a week-long seminar there. While only about one dozen people attended the in-depth training event, these folks went on to impact many, many people. Some of the folks started an organization – Lancaster County ACTION (Americans for Christian Traditions in Our Nation) – whose mission is to mobilize Christians to be involved in government. Under the leadership of Bob Kettering, ACTION has encouraged and supported hundreds of people to run and win various government offices, local, state, and national.

Stephen recently spoke at a quarterly breakfast hosted by Lancaster County ACTION. The seventy people in attendance, including numerous officials, heard Congressman Smucker share how the seeds we planted nearly 35 years ago helped produce ACTION and his own involvement in government. After the initial APH seminar, Lloyd spent many years in business but then felt called to run for office. He was elected and served many years in state government, and then ran for U.S. Congress about four years ago. He is now serving in his second term. He participates in regular Bible studies with other members of Congress and has invited us to teach this group in the near future.

Congressman Smucker attributed his current service to the training we provided decades ago. It is encouraging to see how God can take our small efforts and produce good fruit. Your support enables us to continue to plant seeds that can produce new organizations like ACTION and new congressmen like Lloyd.

Please consider giving a donation today. Thank you!

If you are interested in hosting an America’s Providential History or similar seminar, contact us here. We can format an event especially to meet your needs.

Greetings! We appreciate your support of the Providence Foundation.

We wanted to share with you a report on some of the things we did in 2018 in order to bring Godly transformation to America and the nations.

Washington Post Publishes Article on Providence Foundation’s Christian History Tours

In May the Washington Post published an article on the first page of the Metro Section presenting Stephen McDowell giving a Christian history tour of Washington, DC, to a group of students and parents from a Christian school in Mississippi. “In God we tour” is a primarily positive look at how America’s historic sites reveal her Christian foundations.

While a few contrary statements were presented, it was refreshing to have the liberal Post publish a truth of which most of the paper’s readers are likely ignorant; that is, inscribed upon our buildings, monuments, and national symbols is our nation’s faith in God.

The article generated many comments. Not surprisingly, many of them reflect the liberal, leftist views of the people who regularly read that newspaper. But perhaps some of the readers will begin to consider that there is a reason why our Founding Fathers spoke so often about God and why biblical passages and ideas can be found throughout the buildings and monuments in our nation’s capital.

You can read the article at: washingtonpost.com (search conservative Christian guide)

Working with Renewanation to Train Christian School Teachers

During the past year Stephen began working with Renewanation to promote biblical worldview education by writing articles for their magazine and training teachers at their annual worldview camps. One article on “A Nation at Risk” shows how textbooks have changed over the years from what was clearly a Christian content to what is now secular. This change reflects the secularization of American education and helps to explain why more and more Americans embrace non-biblical worldviews. As has been said, the philosophy of the school room in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next. Moreover, whoever controls the children controls the future of a nation.

To combat this unbiblical trend, we have since our beginning about 35 years ago sought to train teachers, principals, and parents in a biblical worldview. We have recently partnered with Renewanation to provide biblical worldview training to Christian school teachers throughout the country.

Over a two week period during the end of July and first of August, Stephen taught (along with other instructors) at three different Biblical Worldview Training Camps held at Renewanation’s newly built Manderley Camp near Pikeville, Tennessee. Over 300 teachers and administrators from dozens of schools in many states attended these intensive seminars. In addition to educators in Christian schools, a number of public school teachers also attended, desiring to implement some biblical ideas in their classrooms. For many of these teachers it was the first introduction to a biblical worldview of education. Stephen taught on the central role of the Bible in the foundation of America, how to educate in a biblical manner, and practical ways to implement a biblical philosophy and methodology in the classroom. Other instructors taught such topics as: the authority and sufficiency of the Bible, practical tools for biblical worldview integration, the lost purpose of education, creationism, the critical role of textbooks, donor development, and more.

Many of the attendees expressed how the ideas they were learning were life-changing and when applied would make their classroom instruction more meaningful and exciting. One attendee wrote: “If you ever get the opportunity to hear Stephen McDowell speak on Biblical Worldview, please take full advantage! It’s refreshing to hear someone speak the truth with such clarity and conviction!”

We will be conducting similar training events next summer at Manderley Camp and perhaps in other cities before then. Please contact us if you or anyone you know are interested in attending.

 Pastors’ Seminars

Since our beginning in 1984 we have worked to train pastors because they have such a great influence in equipping Christians to fulfill their Godly vocations. They are to be watchmen on the walls, warning of the dangers to society and teaching biblical principles for all spheres of life. In the past year we taught at numerous pastors’ conferences and gatherings, in the U.S. as well as in Colombia and Brazil.

Our book Watchmen on the Walls, Pastors Equipping Christians for Their Civil Duties was recently published in Colombia (Spanish) and Brazil (Portuguese). We also offer an online course via our Biblical Worldview University on “Watchmen on the Walls,” which is free for pastors. If you are a pastor or ministry leader contact us for how to access this course taught by Stephen McDowell, David Barton, and Mark Beliles.

International

Transformation of Colombia

God is doing something special in the nation of Colombia. Great revival has been occurring over the past few decades and God is now awakening His people to bring biblical transformation to all spheres of life.

Between July 2017 and October 2018, Stephen McDowell visited Colombia six different times, spending about eleven weeks traveling throughout the country and teaching on biblical worldview and transformation. He traveled to 15 cities teaching thousands of leaders in the church, government, education, media, law, and business. Much of the time was spent training hundreds of pastors who desired to be equipped in biblical principles of government and economics for the purpose of training their congregations, believing this is vital for the future of the nation. In addition, Stephen consulted and taught the leaders of the newly formed political party Colombia Justa Libres.

These were not his first trips to Colombia. He had visited there four previous times prior to 2017, speaking at conferences, churches, and YWAM schools.

What has produced this great hunger in Colombian Christians for biblical transformation? In the past 40 years, the number of Christians in Colombia has risen from around 15,000 to over 8 million (20% of the population). This is a huge growth, but typical of other nations in the world. What is not typical of all the nations experiencing a great outpouring of God’s Spirit is the stunning increase, mostly in the past two years, in the number of pastors awakening to their civil duties and getting training so they can teach others. Exposure to ideas like we teach at the Providence Foundation (undergirded by much prayer) was instrumental in this awakening. Also contributing to this awakening was the action of their previous president.

In the fall of 2016 Colombia voted to reject a peace plan that their former socialist President Santos negotiated with the rebels in hopes of ending 50 years of fighting. It was a bad deal, giving away land and permanent seats in the legislature, yet everyone thought it would be easily approved as the government and most of the media supported it. However, the people rejected it. The vote was as surprising as Brexit (where the English people chose to leave the European Union) and the election of Trump in America.

Unfortunately, after the vote Santos decided he would go through with the peace plan regardless of the will of the people. That action, coupled with a flood of people coming into the nation from Venezuela who are escaping the failure of that nation’s socialist leaders, has caused many pastors and Christians to awaken. Not wanting to become like Venezuela, and fearing that many people may fall for the false promises of socialist leaders (as happened in Venezuela), thousands of pastors begin attending biblical worldview training events in many cities.

At the first nationwide pastors gathering, the Spanish edition of our book, Watchmen on the Walls, Pastors Equipping Christians for Their Civil Duties, was published and given to each of the 1500 pastors in attendance. In the months following, Stephen taught at many of these pastors’ events including a three-day 2017 conference in Cali attended by two hundred pastors from 30 cities (see picture, top right).

One action of many of these church leaders was to support the formation of a new political party that would run candidates for the 2018 elections. During many of Stephen’s trips to Colombia he consulted with the founders of Colombia Justa Libres and taught at various rallies of their supporters and candidates (see picture at right).

To be officially recognized as a party and to obtain representation in the national senate,

Colombia Justa Libres (CJL) needed to get 500,000 votes (out of about 15 million total) in the election that occurred on March 11, 2018. Initially it was announced they fell just short of that number. But when folks in CJL noticed some irregularities, they protested and upon review tens of thousands of uncounted votes were “found.” Therefore, they now are recognized as an official party with three members in the senate and one representative. One of the newly elected senators from CJL is Jhon Milton Rodriguez, who is a pastor of a large church in Cali. Jhon Milton had previously hosted a couple of training events where Stephen taught 2000 leaders of his church and 1500 Colombia Justa Libres constituents.

An important reason that CJL has had such success in such a short time is that many of the leading pastors in the nation were involved in the formation of CJL. Many of their churches sponsored biblical worldview training events to teach their members how to reason governmentally. (The American church could learn from their example.) The awakening of Christians and the rise of CJL is very significant for Colombia and for Christians obtaining a national voice in government.

Colombia Justa Libres is not the only avenue for Christian involvement in politics. There are numerous Christians in other political parties and many who serve in local, state, and national government. Stephen has taught seminars to many of them.

To help Christians in Colombia bring transformation, we have had many of our books and materials translated and published in Spanish. With new and prior efforts we now have in Spanish six books (Watchmen on the Walls, Liberating the Nations, The Ten Commandments and Modern Society, Crime and Punishment, Rendering to Caesar the Things that Are God’s, and In Search of Democracy), three articles, one course manual (Biblical Economics and Business), and 16 PowerPoint Presentations. (All of these resources are now available in electronic format on one memory disk. Some are available in print form in Colombia.) In addition, video recordings of Stephen’s in-depth teachings on government, economics, and education are being offered to folks throughout Latin American.

The work of Christians in Colombia has just begun. Most Christians are very new to understanding the biblical role of government and need much more training. Understanding the need for continuing education has led many YWAM bases to offer schools of government. Medellin YWAM director Paulo Fillion conducted a number of these schools inviting Stephen and other Christian educators to teach in-depth lessons on government, economics, education, and biblical worldview. This school is now offered online.

Another group providing continuing education is the Transformation Institute. Rodrigo Tapia started the Institute in Brazil in 2010, inviting Stephen McDowell to conduct the inaugural classes. The Institute has now spread throughout Latin America, having an especially large influence in Colombia under the leadership of Augusto Bernal.

In August 2018 the Transformation Institute organized a series of conferences and seminars in six cities (Bogota, Medellin, San Andres, Buenaventura, Barbosa, Soacha). Stephen McDowell, Vishal Mangalwadi of India, and Rodrigo Tapia taught on biblical transformation at 17 different venues including: churches, conferences, pastors groups, the state legislature of Antioquia, Transformation Institute classes, and individual meetings with national and local government leaders.

A month later Stephen returned to Colombia to teach three different Transformation Institute schools, as well as in various churches and at other gatherings. In addition, he taught a group of local, state, and national leaders including Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal.

God is awakening His watchmen in Colombia. Christian leaders in the church, law, education, government, and business are seeking to bring God’s kingdom to the nation. They have just begun and much work remains. Continuing education is vital for them to succeed. Thankfully, many folks are carrying on the task. We are thankful we have been able to play a small part in this historic work and have plans for many future visits.

Brazil

During the end of August and beginning of September, Stephen traveled to Brazil at the invitation of Rodrigo Tapia and the Transfor

mation Institute. We have been working with the Institute since its founding in 2010, when Stephen taught its inaugural classes. In multiple visits since then, Stephen has taught in nearly a dozen cities throughout the nation.

The 2018 trip began in the southern city of Gravatai where Stephen and Vishal Mangalwadi taught a two-day conference, at a pastors’ gathering, and at a YWAM base. They, along with Mark Beliles, conducted a half-day training event for the mayor, members of the police force, and over 100 members of the city government.

Vishal, Rodrigo, and Stephen then traveled to the northeastern coastal city of Sao Luis, where they conducted a multi-day conference

on transforming Brazil to hundreds of people, spoke at a pastors’ breakfast, and taught a two-day seminar to many students at Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), the leading university in the area. These were attended by many pastors, lawyers, government officials, future leaders, and others desiring to see Brazil discipled. They also spoke at the largest churches in the area and while visiting a local Huguenot Museum learned that French Protestants played a part in the beginning of the city, erecting a cross for prayer when arriving in 1612 and writing laws based upon the Ten Commandments.

Two of our books (Liberating the Nations and Watchmen on the Walls) and six PowerPoint presentations are available in Portuguese.

Bolivia

In the summer of 2017 Stephen spent three days in Cochabamba, Bolivia, teaching biblical principles of societal transformation to pastors, government officials, educators, and business leaders. Those in attendance included a man and wife who founded and run a Christian school in La Paz. The wife, Cecilia, recently wrote us:

I would like you to know, that I shared your teachings with my teachers and students. The study of the law of God, of the Ten

Commandments, opened my eyes to integral salvation and the essential subjects in a Christian education, we are also deepening this study with other authors. We are implanting these teachings very slowly but consistently in our Christian School, with my husband Oscar teaching the students in class and I teaching the teachers.

Now, we are starting a school of Christian leaders, where we will plan to teach biblical worldview, reasoning and fallacies, basic theology, history, and biblical designs. It is aimed at pastors and young Christian professionals. If you could help us it would be wonderful.

We are watching from Bolivia to your country, very happy of the changes that are happening, and with the hope that in Bolivia we can also see the hand of God one day and we can return to the biblical designs, which we know start with changed hearts.

I am sending you this letter to thank you and to tell you that the seeds that you planted here in Bolivia gave good results. Thank you, many congratulations and blessings from Bolivia.

Video Clips

Seven videos ranging from 2 to 15 minutes in length covering such subjects as socialism vs. biblical capitalism, Christians’ involvement in government, the role of the church in society, the Bible as the foundation of America, and the Christian nature of our historic sites are available to view on our website home page, YouTube, and Facebook (Providence Foundation). These are great introductions to many important and relevant topics.

New Books and Publications

1. Transforming Nations through Biblical Work

This book examines the biblical doctrine of work and looks at dozens of Christians who have led the advancement of mankind in all spheres of life, including: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Christopher Columbus, Samuel Morse, George Washington Carver, John Locke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Johann S. Bach, Daniel Webster, and many others.

2. The Hand of Providence

Providence signifies the biblical doctrine of the overruling power of God that governs in the affairs of men. Providence is “the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures.” The Bible teaches that God moves providentially in the lives of men and nations to accomplish His purposes in history. Our providential purpose is a part of God’s overall purpose for mankind.

3. Biblical Principles of Business, Exemplified in the Life of Cyrus Hall McCormick

Work and business are a part of God’s calling through which people can fulfill their divine mission and manifest God’s Kingdom on the earth. The primary way we will fulfill the creation commission to take dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28) and Jesus’ command to “occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13) is through our occupation or vocation. Cyrus McCormick understood his profession was a ministry from God. He not only invented the reaper, but he also built a new form of business—a new species of commercial organization—one based upon biblical principles.

4. Memory Disk with Spanish Resources

With our extensive travels to Latin American in the past few years, we have begun to make our many books and PowerPoint presentations available in electronic format via memory disk. Our Spanish resources disk contains Spanish versions of 6 books, 3 articles, one course manual, and 14 PowerPoint Presentations.

5. Providence Foundation Pen

Christian Heritage Week

Stephen wrote a series of American history lessons that will form the core of a project we are working on with David Barton and WallBuilders to provide teachers with resources to teach about the Christian heritage of America. We will be encouraging governors and legislators to set aside one week during the school year as Christian Heritage Week. The online resources we are developing will provide teachers all the information they will need to impart this important history to their students. We have special days, weeks, and months for all kinds of things but neglect the most important item for students to be learning; that is, God’s hand in our history.

Christian History Tours

Stephen and John McDowell conducted numerous tours of Washington, DC, and Virginia for various groups including the three annual week-long tours we do with Tim Wildmon and America Family Association. Stephen also conducted a tour for Christian leaders organized by D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship. One of our board members, Bill Ostan, began conducting tours for the Providence Foundation and will continue to do so in the future.

Presentations, Interviews, and Articles

Seminars and presentations were given at numerous churches, schools, and social impact organizations in many states. Stephen was interviewed on a number of radio programs, plus he wrote a number of new articles for our regular emailers, with some being published by AFA and other groups. He was also asked to write articles on “God’s Providence in American History” and “Changing Textbooks Reveal the Secularization of American Education” for publication in the Revewanation Review. A number of new PowerPoint Presentations were produced including four on Christian education and biblical worldview. We reach tens of thousands of people each month via our bi-weekly email newsletter and almost daily Facebook posts.

Legislators’ Project

18 states have now been reached, with legislators in one or both houses having received this important book.

In January 2016, working with West Virginia State Senator Mike Azinger, we published a new book by Stephen McDowell, The Bible: America’s Source of Law and Liberty. Representative (now Senator) Azinger distributed a copy to every member of the House and Senate in his state. This was so well received that we launched our Legislators’ Project with the goal of giving copies to all 7383 state legislators in the 50 states. Within a few months we had distributed so many copies we had to reprint the book.

Thanks to the generosity of our members and other donors, we have been able to give free copies of this book to legislators in one or both houses in eighteen states – West Virginia, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming, Nebraska, California, Michigan, Oregon, Arkansas, Florida, New Mexico, Idaho, and Indiana. In each of these states we enlisted a legislator or government official to write a cover letter explaining why their colleagues needed to read this book. In his cover letter accompanying the book, Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey encouraged the senators to read this book saying, “If this state and this nation is to survive into the next generation and beyond, we must all cherish and pass along this great history and heritage.”

Book Publishing and Sales

Since our founding in 1984, we have published about 40 different books, over 20 Biblical Worldview Courses, a dozen videos, and scores of audios and other resources. Over 300,000 of these have been sold in the United States. Our books and materials have been translated into 18 different languages and distributed to one million people in about 100 countries.

We hear regularly from folks who have benefited from our books and materials, which always encourages us. One man wrote after reading our most recent book, Transforming Nations through Biblical Work, saying:  “As in your other works, you present such clear facts and lucid portrait of our blessed Christian liberties in America! Well done!!”

Dave Meyer wrote in the spring 2018 edition of “Enjoying Everyday Life” (the magazine of Joyce Meyer Ministries): “It’s been over 20 years since a friend first gave me a copy of the book, America’s Providential History. I’ll never forget how God used it to open my eyes to all of the great and mighty things He did to establish this nation.” Ever since then Dave has taught about America’s Christian history and promoted our book at their conferences, selling about 100,000 copies.

On-Going Classes

1. Monumental: Restoring America as the Land of Liberty

Many churches and groups continue to use our Monumental study (a 12-session course we put together with Kirk Cameron) that teaches how to restore America as the land of liberty. West Virginia State Senator Mike Azinger has taught a number of Monumental courses at his local church. Stephen spoke to the class via phone at its concluding session in November just before Mike was reelected.

2. God’s Blueprint for Life, Liberty, and Property: A Bible Study on the Ten Commandments

Thousands of individuals, groups, and churches have been going through this study, and we have received much positive feedback. One woman said it was the best Bible study she had ever done. One man wrote, “This study of the Ten Commandments was a refreshing study of God’s Word. It is an important combatant in the war against lawlessness in America.”

3. America’s Providential History has been used as a textbook for classes in homes, churches, and schools for nearly 30 years. It remains our biggest seller, with Joyce Meyer Ministries alone ordering 4000-5000 annually.
4. The Threat of Islam to Liberty and Christianity –The Institute on the Constitution is one of many groups that uses our book as a regular part of their training courses.
5. Contending for the Constitution – our book on the Constitution is regularly used as a textbook for classes at a number of schools including Liberty University.

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Your support has enabled us to accomplish the above items and more. Thank you so much! Your continued support will help us spread Christian liberty and truth among the nations and train others to transform the culture for Christ.

Donate Today! 

Greetings! We appreciate your support of the Providence Foundation.

We wanted to share with you a report of some of the things we did in 2017 in order to bring Godly transformation to America and the nations.

New Website

A new state-of-the-art website was designed and initiated in 2017. This new site not only enables us to present ideas and offer products much more effectively, but we can also manage our data and communication much more efficiently. In addition, our Biblical Worldview University courses have a much improved template for access. Along with the new website design, we also redesigned our logo. Please visit our website and check back often as we add new materials regularly.

Video Clips

We filmed seven videos ranging from 2 to 15 minutes in length covering such subjects as socialism vs. Biblical capitalism, Christians’ involvement in government, the role of the church in society, the Bible as the foundation of America, and the Christian nature of our historic sites. We have released three of these via our email newsletter, Facebook, and Youtube, and will release the remaining videos in the coming months. These videos are posted on our website home page, as well as our Youtube page (Providence Foundation). To make sure you see these, sign up for our email newsletters (sign up at our website) and like our Facebook page (Providence Foundation).

Legislators’ Project

Six new states were reached in the past year, making a total of 18 states where legislators in one or both houses have received this important book.

In January 2016, working with West Virginia State Representative Mike Azinger, we published a new book by Stephen McDowell, The Bible: America’s Source of Law and Liberty. Representative Azinger distributed a copy to every member of the House and Senate in his state in January 2016.  This was so well received that we launched our Legislators’ Project with the goal of giving copies to all 7383 state legislators in the 50 states. Within a few months we had distributed so many copies we had to reprint the book.

Thanks to the generosity of our members and other donors, we have been able to give free copies of this book to legislators in one or both houses in seventeen states – West Virginia, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming, Nebraska, California, Michigan, Oregon, Arkansas, Florida, New Mexico, Idaho, and Indiana. In each of these states we enlisted a legislator or government official to write a cover letter explaining why their colleagues needed to read this book. In his cover letter accompanying the book, Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey encouraged the senators to read this book saying, “If this state and this nation is to survive into the next generation and beyond, we must all cherish and pass along this great history and heritage.”

We have received many encouraging responses from those who have received and read the book, including from those who have a differing governmental philosophy. One leftist liberal who read the book said he found it very interesting and had never heard such ideas. We believe getting a copy of this book to each legislator will bear much fruit; thus, we continue to work toward this end. We need your help to accomplish this. We need contacts with legislators who might sponsor the distribution to their colleagues, as well as funds so we can provide these to legislators for no cost.

Here are a few endorsements from state legislators:

“If you are a leader, this is absolutely essential knowledge. On our shoulders rests the future of the greatness of our nation. Read this! Finish it. Read it again. Retain it. Teach it until it is retained!” – Kevin Jones, Kansas State Representative, 5^th District, Former US Army Green Beret

“Stephen McDowell’s newest book is must reading for any legislator—any American!—with a desire to learn the story of America’s Christian heritage.” – John D. O’Neal IV, House Majority Whip, West Virginia, 28th District

“This book looks to be the answer I’ve wanted when I am challenged by a liberal saying our country did not have Christian roots – our Founders were a bunch of opportunists and theists. I appreciate all the research and footnoting that supports this information. This is definitely both a book that inspires and one that needs to be on every conservative’s shelf for quick reference.” – Dennis Guth, State Senator, Iowa, District 4

New Books and Publications

1. No Cross, No Crown – The Life Message of William Penn

In December, 1668, William Penn was thrown in jail for expressing his religious views. While imprisoned for over eight months, he wrote No Cross, No Crown. In this book he states that “Christ’s Cross is Christ’s way to Christ’s Crown.” Penn’s life is a great example of one who bore the cross and, therefore, did bear the crown. This book presents what it means to take up your cross and tells the story of how God used William Penn to bring great blessings to America—blessings which still affect the world today.

2. Why Do the Leftists Rage

This booklet by Stephen McDowell explains why there is such a great uproar among the secularists/leftists in America today. Basically, they see man as god and savior, and having lost control of the mechanism to bring about their salvation (that is, via government), they will stop at nothing to regain control.

3. Transforming Nations through Biblical Work

NEW BOOK

This soon to be released book examines the Biblical doctrine of work and looks at dozens of Christians who have led the advancement of mankind in all spheres of life, including: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Christopher Columbus, Samuel Morse, George Washington Carver, John Locke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Johann S. Bach, Daniel Webster, and many others. A copy will be sent to Providence Foundation members in the near future.

4. Providence Foundation Resource Catalog

We published a new catalog in 2017 that contains our growing list of books and materials to train people in a Biblical worldview. Our newest additions include The Bible, America’s Source of Law and Liberty, No Cross, No Crown: The Life Message of William Penn, The Bible: Divine or Human? and others.

5. Memory Disk with Spanish Resources

With our extensive travels to Latin American in the past few years, we have begun to make our many books and Powerpoint presentations available in electronic format via memory disk. Our Spanish resources disk contains Spanish versions of 6 books, 3 articles, and 14 Powerpoint Presentations.

Our books, videos, and courses have impacted hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and in many nations. While not listed in our catalog, we have books and writings translated into 18 different languages and published in 17 different countries. Copies of our non-English books have only been available in the nations where they have been printed, but with our new website we have begun to offer electronic copies of some of our books, making them accessible to anyone in the world.

6. First Prayer in Congress Magnet

This magnet depicting the First Prayer in Congress serves as a great reminder to pray for the Providence Foundation. Let us know if you would like a magnet.

New Film

In the summer, Tim Mahoney interviewed Stephen McDowell reenacting Thomas Jefferson for a follow-up film to his successful “Patterns of Evidence: Exodus.” Filming took place at James Madison’s home, Montpelier, and included discussions of how these American Founders applied ideas originating with Moses and the nation of Israel.

McDowell Chosen as One of AFA’s 40 Faithful

In 2017, in observance of 40 years of ministry, American Family Association spotlighted 40 faithful men and women who have appeared in their AFA Journal and worked with them to promote faith, freedom, and family. Stephen was one of the “40 Faithful who represent the best of Christian and conservative activists in our midst.” A few of those 40 were interviewed in their July-August Journal. Stephen’s interview was posted on our Facebook page (in a July 19 post) if you wish to read it.

Christian Heritage Week

Stephen wrote a series of American history lessons that will form the core of a project we are working on with David Barton and WallBuilders to provide teachers with resources to teach about the Christian heritage of America. We will be encouraging governors and legislators to set aside one week during the school year as Christian Heritage Week. The online resources we are developing will provide teachers all the information they will need to impart this important history to their students. We have special days, weeks, and months for all kinds of things but neglect the most important item for students to be learning; that is, God’s hand in our history.

Presentations and Interviews

Scores of seminars and presentations were given at numerous churches, schools, and social impact organizations in many states and nations. Stephen was interviewed on a number of radio programs on topics including: judges and the constitution, religious liberty, the Ten Commandments, why the leftists rage, and America’s historic monuments.

Christian History Tours

Stephen and John conducted numerous tours of Washington, DC, and Virginia for various groups including the three annual week-long tours we do with Tim Wildmon and America Family Association. In addition with assisting with the AFA tours, John also conducted numerous tours on his own.

International

Transformation of Colombia

God is doing something special in the nation of Colombia. During three separate visits, Stephen spent six weeks in seven different cities in the summer and fall of 2017, speaking to thousands of pastors, lawyers, businessmen, and Christian leaders. These Colombian pastors desire to be equipped in Biblical principles of government and economics in order that they may train their congregations, believing this is vital for the future of the nation.

Last fall the nation voted to reject a peace plan that their socialist President Santos negotiated with the rebels in hopes of ending 50 years of fighting. It was a bad deal, giving away land and permanent seats in the legislature, yet everyone thought it would be easily approved as the government and most of the media supported it. However, the people rejected it. The vote was as surprising as Brexit (where the English people chose to leave the European Union) and the election of Trump in America.

Unfortunately, after the vote Santos decided he would go through with the peace plan regardless of the will of the people. That action, coupled with a flood of people coming into the nation from Venezuela who are escaping the failure of that nation’s socialist leaders, has caused many pastors and Christians to awaken. Not wanting to become like Venezuela, and fearing that many people may fall for the false promises of socialist leaders (as happened in Venezuela), thousands of pastors are attending many training events in many cities like the ones Stephen conducted. Two hundred pastors from 30 cities came to a three-day conference in Cali (see picture at right top). Stephen also spoke to 2000 church leaders at another event in Cali, and 200 more attended another two-day training event in a nearby city.

Many of the primary Christian leaders in the country are also supporting the newly formed political party, Justice Colombia. Stephen spoke to the leaders of that party in July, and they have plans to use our courses to train all the party leaders and their candidates for the national elections in March 2018. They see next year’s elections as a crucial time for the country. Stephen will be returning in February 2018 for further training events in many cities.

In the past 40 years, the number of Christians in Colombia has risen from 10-15,000 to over 8 million (20% of the population). This is a huge growth, but typical of many nations in the world. What is not typical of all the nations experiencing a great outpouring of God’s Spirit is the stunning increase, mostly in the past year, in the number of pastors awakening to their civil duties and getting training so they can teach others. To help them, we have had many of our books and materials translated and published in Spanish. With new and prior efforts we now have in Spanish 6 books (Watchmen on the Walls, Liberating the Nations, The Ten Commandments and Modern Society, Crime and Punishment, Rendering to Caesar the Things that Are God’s, and In Search of Democracy), 2 articles, one course manual (Biblical Economics and Business), and 14 Powerpoint Presentations.

Bibles to Nigeria

We reported earlier how Nigerian John O. became a Christian as a result of reading one of our booklets (four of our books have been printed in Nigeria), and how he then led 104 people to the Lord. He asked for Bibles for these folks, and as a first step we arranged in early 2017 for 37 of them to get their first copy of a Bible through a local bookstore. Many of these recipients wrote how much this gift meant to them. Here are two:

“I had no Bible and my stand in Christ was not strong until I received the Bible you sent. I started reading it daily, having fellowship with other Christians, and attending church meetings. Because of this Bible my life changed completely. I read my Bible daily in church when we are asked to read any passage. I quickly jump up and I read it out. Each day that passes by my faith in Christ becomes stronger and stronger. I can now use my Bible to tell others about Christ. I am the happiest person. I thank you very, very much.” – Micheal C.

“Today I am the happiest person on earth because I have completely decided to follow Jesus. I almost went back to living my old life because I lacked a Bible to read or take to prayer meetings, but today I am filled with joy because of the Bible you sent through Brother John. I have been reading my Bible every day and I am gaining peace with God and do go to church regularly and participate in the activities and also in telling others about Christ’s saving grace.” – Edward M.

Thanks to gifts from our friends and supporters we arranged in the fall of 2017 for the other 67 converts to get a Bible. Please pray that God will continue to use and protect these new believers as they face much opposition. John wrote that he and friends were evangelizing door to door when “a group of Boko Haram Muslims attacked us with cutlass and rod; we have to run for our dear life. Only 3 people were wounded but no body died. Please, we need your prayers. They cannot stop us from spreading the gospel of Christ. We are not ashamed.”

Training Bolivian Leaders

We conducted our first training event in Bolivia when Stephen traveled to Cochabamba, Bolivia, in July to teach Biblical principles of societal transformation to pastors, government officials, educators, and business leaders who had traveled from many cities for the three-day intensive seminar. These leaders plan to teach others and put into effect the nation-changing truths they learned.

Book Publishing and Sales

Since our founding in 1984, we have published about 40 different books, over 20 Biblical Worldview Courses, a dozen videos, and scores of audios and other resources. Over 300,000 of these have been sold in the United States. Our books and materials have been translated into 18 different languages and distributed to one million people in about 100 countries.

America’s Providential History is our most popular book. It has been used by many well-known ministries and Christian leaders including American Family Association, Joyce Meyer Ministries, and Actor Kirk Cameron who wrote:

My family and I have been captivated by Stephen and Mark’s America’s Providential History. It is the best book I’ve read that shows God’s miraculous hand in American history. If you want your children and grandchildren to understand why America became the freest nation in all of history, then you need to read this awesome book. I highly recommend it.

On-Going Classes

1. Monumental: Restoring America as the Land of Liberty

Many churches continue to use our Monumental study (a 12-session course we put together with Kirk Cameron) that teaches how to restore America as the land of liberty. In October, Stephen taught at a conference at a church in Ohio who had offered the course.

2. God’s Blueprint for Life, Liberty, and Property: A Bible Study on the Ten Commandments

Thousands of individuals, groups, and churches have been going through this study, and we have received much positive feedback. One woman said it was the best Bible study she had ever done. One man wrote, “This study of the Ten Commandments was a refreshing study of God’s Word. It is an important combatant in the war against lawlessness in America.”

3. America’s Providential History has been used as a textbook for classes in homes, churches, and schools for nearly 30 years. It remains our biggest seller, with Joyce Meyer Ministries alone ordering 4000-5000 annually.
4. The Threat of Islam to Liberty and Christianity –The Institute on the Constitution is one of many groups that uses our book as a regular part of their training courses.

New Articles and Presentations

We authored a number of new articles which were not only distributed through our network but also via other publications, such as Stephen’s article on “Why Do the Leftists Rage” published in the AFA Journal. A number of new Powerpoint Presentations were produced including:  Biblical Revival, Overcoming Socialism with Biblical Capitalism, No Cross, No Crown, and Matrix of Liberty. We reach tens of thousands of people each month via our bi-weekly email newsletter and almost daily Facebook posts.

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Your support has enabled us to accomplish the above items and more. Thank you so much! Your continued support will help us spread Christian liberty and truth among the nations and train others to transform the culture for Christ.

By David Barton

In 1945, George Orwell penned Animal Farm. One of his characters was Squealer the pig, who arbitrarily redefined words so that they would mean what he wanted. As Orwell explained about Squealer, “he could turn black into white” as part of his attempt to get the other animals to accept his message. It appears that Secular Progressives are the modern Squealer.

According to them, Donald Trump has now shown us who he really is: a Theocrat. Never mind that leading up to the election, we were all fed a steady diet of how irreligious he was. That doesn’t matter anymore. Now’s he a Theocrat!

Ironically, they don’t even call the Pope a theocrat, and especially not their Sharia Supremacist friends seeking to install a global caliphate. The term “Theocrat!” is so repulsive that it is reserved solely for Donald Trump and those who support him.

They are so repulsed by traditional religion that they exploded in derision after First Lady Melania Trump recited the Lord’s Prayer at a rally in Florida. And then when a public meeting in Louisiana was opened with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, it was repeatedly interrupted with vocal outbursts and heckling. All of this was nauseating to them, but then—horror of horrors!—Trump promised to restore constitutional protections for the rights of religious conscience and to level the political playing field to allow people of faith to have the same constitutional free speech rights that secular folks have. That announcement was so terrifying it caused a Washington Post columnist to warn the nation that “Much-dreaded ‘sharia law,’ or something resembling it, may well be coming to the United States.” Wow.

Let’s see if I get this right: if you want to restore the constitutional free speech rights of all citizens, including pastors (rights which were unconstitutionally removed by Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1954), and if you want to protect the constitutional rights of religious conscience (which, historically speaking, is America’s first-protected, most-important, and longest-cherished politically-protected right), then you are establishing a “Theocracy”?

To quote a famous line from Inigo Montoya in the popular movie Princess Bride: “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

I understand that it might be difficult for Secular Progressives to know the meaning of a word as simple as “theocracy.” Most of them probably went first to public school and then attended an “elite” academic college afterwards, and study after study affirms that most of those who attend such institutions no longer receive even a rudimentary knowledge of basic historical facts (and they certainly don’t get much logic or common sense).

So just for clarity, here’s the simple definition of “theocracy”:

• “A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God, or a god.” (Oxford Dictionary)
• “A form of government [with] the God’s or deity’s laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical” “A system of government by priests claiming a divine commission.” (dictionary.com)
• “Government ruled by…religious authority.” (American Heritage Dictionary)

Do they really believe that Trump is a priest, or an ecclesiastical authority? How silly! And a theocracy also uses coercion and force to enforce its beliefs and dogmas. Furthermore, it excludes input from the people—no elections. So by definition, a constitutional republic with open elections, such as America has, cannot be a theocracy (but let’s not confuse them with something so simple).

However, there is one other important fact that Secular Progressives ignore: just as religion can be the basis of a theocracy, according to the US Supreme Court, so, too, can non-religion. Back in 1965, the Court held (and reiterated many times since) that all that is required to be a “religion” is “whether a given belief that is sincere and meaningful occupies a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by the orthodox belief in God.” The Court has therefore repeatedly ruled that Progressives, Humanists, Satanists, Atheists, Evolutionists, and other such secularist groups are just as religious as Bible-based groups, and so each of these secularist groups now receives the same religious tax-deductible standing as traditional religious groups.

So, if what Trump believes can represent a theocracy, so, too, can what Secular Progressives believe. In fact, Secular Progressives are more likely to be truly theocratic, for they regularly exercise coercion to force dissenters to adopt their beliefs. If you doubt this, just ask the bakers, florists, photographers, clerks, chaplains, and others who have tried to avoid participating in the Progressives’ religious rites to their great goddess of the Sexual Revolution, whether abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, or other manifestations of the LGBT agenda. (Significantly, Romans 2:21-23 in the Bible points out that critics are often guilty of the very crimes and shortcomings they accuse others of. That certainly appears to be so in this case.)

So how does the charge of “Theocracy!” relate to what Trump and his administration is doing? It doesn’t—unless you are Squealer the pig.