Cynthia Scott is the author of Celebrating God Our Founder.
We talked about God's influence on the Founding and the Keeping of America.
There's also a little discussion of the meaning of Psalms 33:12:
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
How can God inherit something? We figured it out.
Ed Bonderenka:
Well, welcome back to Your American Heritage. My name is
Ed Bonderenka. I must tell you, since I'm broadcasting in studio today, I am on
Zoom with my guest and we're back to where when Derek plays the theme music, I
can't hear it and it's so unnerving. I hear little bits of it back and forth.
So I'm waiting for him to point his finger and tell me it's time to go on the
air. And then my guest of course can't see that because she's in another state.
But let's go back to what we were talking about. Welcome to your American
heritage. I'm Ed Bonderenka. Producing the show is that guy, Derek Stone. He
answers the phones like a prophet wandering the streets with a sign. He warns
me that the end is near or he tells me -
Derek:
Hey Ed, your microphone is muted.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yeah, but that's not happening in studio today. So we are
in the middle of a struggle for the soul of this nation. And as such, we need
to know what we can do to hold onto or even reclaim the soul of this nation.
And there's things we have to do. We have to get organized. We have to go to
court. We have to educate our neighbors. We have to support those who take the
battle to the enemy. They have to be like conservative organizations. And then
we have to support those who are running for office that support godly and
conservative values. Those are usually one and the same. And then we make sure
they do it. We keep on their tail and make sure they vote correctly or we vote
them out the next time or we threaten to. And we encourage each other. And once
again, we arm ourselves intellectually and we arm ourselves physically.
And there, I hope I sound better now. I was told I sound
like I'm in a cave. It's because of the microphone I was using. Sorry about
that. And then we arm ourselves spiritually. We find a good church. We join
with others in prayer for our nation. So let's pray. Father, we face challenges
daily in our lives and as a nation. Please strengthen us and help us to face
these challenges with your wisdom, courage that you give us and strength from
you. And please lead and guide the people that we elect to office and even
those who are appointed to office. And where necessary, please admonish and
correct them. And if needed, bring them to a place of repentance. And if that
doesn't work, please remove them from positions of power and authority. You
gave us this nation. Please help us to keep it as you have in the past.
Amen. Thank you. So my guest today is Cynthia Scott and
she was on last December in case you think this is a rerun or sounds familiar
or you're having a flashback. Okay? So I trust you're not having a flashback,
but if you have my background, there's always that possibility. Thank God it
hasn't happened. So Cynthia wanted to come back and talk about prayer for this
nation and how it's happened, how it's worked for us in the past and how we
hope it works for us in the future. And so welcome back, Cynthia. Why don't you
give our audience a quick curriculum vitae on yourself? I think that's the way
it's pronounced.
Cynthia Scott:
Well, thank you so much for having me back, Ed. It is
great to be back. Gosh, it's been a long time since I've been with you. So much
has happened since then. We celebrated the 4th of July, 250 years. And I have
been in -
Ed Bonderenka:
And counting.
Cynthia Scott:
And counting, that's right. I was a business owner and
then I was in ministry. I worked with the Billy Graham organization in the area
of prayer, going out in advance of some of Franklin's big rallies. I then wrote
a book as we discussed back in December, Celebrating God, our founder at
America's 250th birthday. And it recounts the true history of America in an
overview, starting with the pilgrims, going through the Puritans, the first
great awakening, all through the revolution, the constitution, the second great
awakening, and through the Emancipation Proclamation and American prosperity,
showing in an overview God's hand in the founding of America, not just what the
men did, not just what men and women did, I should say. And then in each
chapter, in addition to the history is prayer because this nation was founded
by God. It was bathed in prayer by generations, really over 400 years of people
wanting to worship God freely and live according to his principles in this
great nation.
And a nation that has been based in biblical principles
undergirded in its founding documents with eternal truths is a rarity. I mean,
we're it. We're it in all of history. There's no nation that has had the
founding that we've had. There's no nation that has had the history and the
prosperity. And not that we're perfect. I do not glaze over those things. But
when we go back and really look at what God has done in America, it is nothing
short of astounding. And they've buried this. I say they, the people who write
history books that are taught in schools have buried the true history and we
need to uncover it just like Josiah uncovered the scrolls, right? And we need
to see what God has done. And since December when we were together last, I have
seen God use our true history to open eyes across America.
People really are astounded to hear about what God has
done and very, very encouraged because God has not changed. And if we turn to
him wholeheartedly and seek him, he will do again what he's done before for us.
Ed Bonderenka:
Oh, well, as long as we're on it, Derek, would you play a
word from our sponsor please? We have a word from ours. I'm sorry, commercial
interruption.
Scherie Bonderenka:
My people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then will
I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Ed Bonderenka:
Amen. That was our sponsor, my wife Sherry. I asked her to
do that.
Cynthia Scott:
I love that.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yeah. And I got a call, I hate to make this family time,
but I got a call from my son today and he asked me about Psalms 33:12. Blessed
is a nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own
inheritance. We got into a little discussion about that, about the word
inheritance because he said he found it in a couple other versions where it
said heritage instead of inheritance. And we've had that discussion here being
your American heritage. What's the difference between a heritage and
inheritance? And inheritance seems to be more physical objects and inheritage
seems to be more ideals and philosophies. And we're talking along those lines
there. My question when he read it was, how does God inherit something that
when he's created everything? And I'm still going over that. I told him I'd
bring this up during the discussion because I thought it would be germane.
How does God have an inheritance? Who did he inherit it
from? So I was hoping to have Pastor Rick on, maybe he could have gone
theological on me. If any are callers, I mean John Tebei or any of the other
pastors who listen to the show, if you want to clear me up on that, you know
the phone number just in case. Derek, what's the phone number?
Derek:
734-822-1600.
Ed Bonderenka:
But meanwhile, it could be that Cynthia has the answer to
that. I don't mean to put you on the spot, trust me.
Cynthia Scott:
No, I think of it in terms of heritage. I think of it more
in terms of that. I mean, he is our... You're right. It's an interesting play.
It's an interesting two words here against each other. I'm not sure exactly how
to answer that, to be honest. I haven't thought about that too much.
Ed Bonderenka:
Me neither.
Cynthia Scott:
But we are his, let's just put it that way. He and he has
started this nation. We are a Christian nation. We are, I guess it would be his
inheritance, what comes after the people that possess what he has given and
what he's given us is so unique. It's so precious. It's so amazing. It's
freedom. And I don't mean to sound in any way trite. People throw that word and
a lot of other words around very loosely these days, but yet what God has given
us is precious. And as we look back, we've got to remember. In Psalm 145, it
tells us to recount to the generations should each recount what God has done in
the past so we do not forget his mighty acts. And we tend to do that as we look
at the scriptures. We tend to do that sometimes in our own lives, but I wonder
how many times we've actually recounted his mighty acts in the history of the
United States of America.
It is astounding when you go back and study.
I want everyone to know what God has done, which is why I
wrote the book. I would like to tell you something that I just did, Ed. The
book is available on Amazon, but I put the ebook at 99 cents. I don't want...
It's as low as you can go on Amazon and still have it maintained so that people
can, if they're interested, if they're interested in knowing something about
our history, it's very accessible because like you, I look at this as a
ministry, an assignment from God to honor him, to obey him, to get the truth
out about our history, and also to really encourage people to pray, to pray for
our nation, to gather in prayer, to gather in small groups, because there's
nothing that's impossible for God.
Ed Bonderenka:
I'm glad you mentioned that, and that's 99 cents. I don't
mind promoting the book anyhow, but that Cynthia Scott, give the title of the
book so I don't butcher it.
Cynthia Scott:
It's Celebrating God: Our Founder at America's 250th
Birthday. And the book has done really well. I was on Newsmax. You mentioned
you were on Newsmax. Newsmax actually did a documentary based on the book
called God and America's 250th.
Ed Bonderenka:
Oh, great. You had to one up me there. Okay, that's fine.
I don't care. My feelings aren't hurt.
Cynthia Scott:
I was just saying that Newsmax is doing a great job,
right? Getting the truth out. They've had you on and they've had many, many
others on. But the point is that it's about the message. It's about getting
this message out. I think that every American needs and deserves to know what
is really in our history, that it wasn't just men who created America, but from
the very beginning with the pilgrims and the Puritans, God sort of pushed them
out of Europe and they had such a desire to worship him freely. Where did they
get that desire? They got that desire from God himself, and then he established
them in the new world. He brought in the Puritans who loved education and they
set up colleges that had a biblical worldview so that the thinking that would
then shape our nation's founding was coming straight from the scriptures.
It's really amazing what God did. And as I have studied
our history, and I don't put myself out as a scholar, I'm just a regular person
who God said, "Pray for the nation out of the history of the nation."
So I began to do some research and what I found was stunning, that God himself
is our founder. And when we look back and we see that the many ways that God
has intervened in our nation, it gives us hope for the future. My daughter
mentioned that to me once. She'd read the book when it came out back in late
December, and then she listened to the audiobook, which came out in February.
She called me one morning and she's in her early 30s and she said, "You
know mom, my generation lives with existential dread. They've been through
COVID. They've been through riots. There's so many financial collapse, all
these things that they..." And she said, "But when I read your book,
it gave me hope." And I said, "That's because there is hope in
Jesus." When we read the facts of God intervening in our nation, not only
to found it, but also to deliver it from the sin of slavery and to prosper it,
we know that we have a God who loves us, who wants us to turn to him and who's looking
to bless.
He's not going to bless sin, as you know, Ed, but if we
turn to him earnestly and seek his face on behalf of ourselves and this nation,
I believe that he will hear as your wife, your sponsor said, "Hear from
heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land."
Ed Bonderenka:
Amen. She's on the phone right now, but I'm going to make
her wait a couple seconds because she often makes me wait for minutes. Darn,
did I say that out loud on there? Oh boy. So I wanted to say that. I wanted to
compliment you because the last time we talked, we talked off air afterwards
and we talked about the sales of your book and you said, "I don't know
what it sells, but I want to get the message out." I was impressed by
that, which is why I was more than willing to have you come on, give you air
time today because you are message driven and here you are giving out... I
didn't know this before this conversation, that you're basically giving your
book away for 99 cents. I mean, 99 cents, that's less than a dollar. Carry the one.
Yeah, that is.
That's less than a dollar. Even with inflation, it will
always be less than a dollar. But my point is that I had another guest on, Sue
Jo John, and a survivor of the World Trade Center who ended up in ministry and
he set up a ministry and he would like collections for his ministry. And for
practically the whole hour, I had to pull teeth from him to get him to speak
about how people could contribute to his ministry because he wanted so much to
get his message out. He just focused on getting the message out that we talked
about afterwards. It's not the money God will provide. It's the message. So
thank you so much for that. I want to say one more thing. You said you're not
an expert, you're a student of history. As a student of history, God can gift
you with the gift of understanding and insight and show you things that maybe
somebody else didn't see.
You might be wrong, you might be right, but that's what
being a student's about is to get fresh insight sometimes that the experts just
regurgitate because that was what they wrote on their PhD or whatever, their
doctoral thesis. We have two callers and one from Wyandotte is going to have to
wait for the other one from Ypsilanti and now for a word from our sponsor
again.
Scherie Bonderenka:
Thank you sweetheart.
Ed Bonderenka:
Okay.
Scherie Bonderenka:
I don't mind waiting. I think that our inheritance is the
kingdom of God. We get to spend eternity with our heavenly Father, our creator,
our Lord in perfect peace, no pain, no suffering, no sorrow, no tears, just
wonderful joy being in the presence of the man who made us, our father.
Ed Bonderenka:
Amen. Good point. And now I suspect our caller from
Wyandotte may have... No, he hasn't hung up, but he's certainly topped what I
think will be his response to that. Let's see. Thanks for calling, honey. I'll
see you later.
Scherie Bonderenka:
Thank you. Love you. Bye-bye.
Ed Bonderenka:
Let's talk to Joe Leonard, the author of, what is it,
Terror?
Joe Lenard:
Terror Strikes Coming Soon to a City Near You, as well as
12 other international books now I'm up to.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yeah. So let's authors on today. So what's your comment
about... You had a comment about inheritance.
Joe Lenard:
Reaction to something, but first, the inheritance, context
of things matter. And in this, how could God inherit? Well, in this context, I
think it means ongoing. It is with God, remains with God, but also extends
outside of God and is ongoing. It's like you and I, and this is what I want
your guest's reaction to, kind of butted our heads over the word pride. I say
it's not really pride, it's pridefulness is what it's meant, or hubris. We
should be proud of our children and let them know in a loving upbringing
family. Yes?
Ed Bonderenka:
You know something? You just triggered off a thought in my
mind while you were talking, and I appreciate that. It's what we give back. He
has chosen us as his own of what we give back to him because he cannot regulate
what we give back to him. That's our free will. So his inheritance is his
people giving back. Wow. Folks, welcome to Theology Talk with your host, Ed Von
Regan, our guest, Cynthia Scott and callers. I mean, look, I didn't want to get
into Bible study time, but I found that fascinating. Thanks a lot. Joe, was
there something else?
Joe Lenard:
No, no, that was it. Thank you, brother. I would like to
get her reaction to the inheritance thing now that we've updated and the pride
thing. Again, it's pridefulness and hubris, really. There's a difference in the
meaning there.
Ed Bonderenka:
Okay. I'm going to say something now. There's people...
Theology talk, but I don't mind. There's this concept of being saved by faith
and just believing. And frankly, I think that word is better translated
faithfulness, which is translated, it's not works. It's your allegiance.
Faithfulness talks about who you are giving your allegiance to, and as such,
when you give your allegiance to somebody, you will do what they tell you to
do, and you'll only do it because if you believe in their position. So there
you go. There's another meaning of not obscure word, but the alternate
definitions. Here we are on Grammar Talk with Edbond Rankin, I guess, Cynthia
Scott and callers. So Cynthia, let's get... Thanks, Joe. Appreciate it. We've
got a couple minutes before the break, and then we're going to keep going after
this with more historical stuff. I want to talk about the first great awakening
too, because that is historical.
That's not just something that happened on a spiritual
level, but that had definite impact on the people and our heritage and our
culture. So did you have anything you wanted to say about inheritance or did I
interrupt you? I can't remember. It's been so long. Sorry.
Cynthia Scott:
No, not at all. And I think what your caller said about
the difference between hubris and that pridefulness, that is most definitely a
sin. I think there is a difference in terms of having gratitude for your
nation, being proud of your children, being pleased with your children, that's
different than hubris. So I sort of understand what he's saying in terms of
that. I do think we should be very proud of our nation. We should be proud of
our God for creating such a wonderful nation that doesn't make me a boastful
person. We boast only in the Lord, but we should honor what he's done and give
him the glory and the credit for that. So yes, I just wanted to mention that,
but I would love to talk for a minute about the first great awakening because
it -
Ed Bonderenka:
Oh, more than a minute. We're going to talk about that
after the break.
Cynthia Scott:
Yeah.
Ed Bonderenka:
I mean, if you want to get into it early, that's fine, but
please carry on.
Cynthia Scott:
Well, there's one thing that has been... Since we spoke
last, there are a few things that have really been on my mind. One of them has
been that George Whitfield's last sermon was preached in 1770. That is just six
short years before our Declaration of Independence was written and signed. And
what that shows us is that our founders lived in this era of God consciousness
that we can't even imagine in our nation.
Ed Bonderenka:
In our secular days.
Cynthia Scott:
No, we really can't. But I do love to think about it
because what it says is that the people that were living in the time of our
founding were saturated in biblical principles and biblical ideas. I call them
the eternal truths of the word. And God did that in his mercy, as you know, Ed,
because after the colonists came and they experienced some success in the early
1700s, they got prideful. Let's go back to prideful and self-sufficient, right?
They fell away from God, and what did God do? In his great mercy, he brought
that first great awakening. That makes me think about the covenantal
relationship that the pilgrims had with God from going back to the Mayflower
compact. It's just all God and he's so good and he's so amazing. When you begin
to sort of weave these things together, you see his sovereignty over our
nation.
Quite frankly, it is mind-blowing and humbling to think.
It's not that God isn't sovereign over all the nations, but clearly he's done
something special. I do believe we were meant to be that city on a hill. I do
believe in some ways we have been. Of course, we've fallen short. We've had
many sins. We've had many national sins. But what God did using those eternal
truths of his word and shaping the thinking that brought forth our founding
documents, it's mind-boggling. It's astonishing to me. I think we glaze over
history. We celebrate.
We say the words, we read in the books, but do we think
deeply about what God has done? I've really been thinking deeply about it this
whole year. It's a privilege to think about this. It's a wonderful thing to
acknowledge God's hand in our nation and to know the facts of it, which is why
I put him in the book. I mean, the book started with prayers way back six years
ago, and then I added the history.
Ed Bonderenka:
Excellent. Folks, we're going to talk to Cynthia Scott
some more after the break and we'll take your calls. Come on back. Your
American heritage.
Music:
This is your American heritage. This is where faith, freedom,
and truth still matter. This is your American heritage.
Ed Bonderenka:
Well, welcome back to Theological Talk with your host, Ed
Bonderenka, our guest is Cynthia Scott. Actually, welcome back to, as you
guessed, from the theme music, My Son So Wonderfully Provided: Your American
Heritage. And before the break, Cynthia had mentioned the concept of Americans
forgetting who to be grateful to, and I was reminded of a movie that my wife
really loves, and it's a Jimmy Stewart movie. It's good. I like it. It's set in
the World War 11, that's when it was set. It was set in the Civil War. I'm not
Ilhan Omar or whatever her real name is. It was set in the Civil War, and at
the beginning of it, Jimmy Stewart is being urged by his wife, I believe, to
say grace over the family meal. And he is a very secular person, and he says to
Grace something to the effect of, "We thank you, Lord, for this food that
we went out and sowed, that we worked hard to reap, that we gathered, that we
cooked." Basically, me, me, me, we, we, we, and we thank you for that.
Amen. The family looks at him with a pained look like,
"That's the best you can do." By the end of the movie, God has
intervened so miraculously in his life through the war and restored his family
that he gives a very thoughtful thankfulness in the next meal scene. So there
is that. Yo might want to look it up. Speaking of movies, you and I were
talking about George Whitfield or Whitefield, folks that spelled one way and
said another, and a great awakening. He gave us the first great awakening.
Before we go further, we said we were going to pray for Rick's family. I'm
sorry, because Rick wasn't here earlier, and I said that he had a... Father,
would you please help Rick and his family with what they're going through right
now, this trauma and dealing with hospice and everything else? Would you bless
them and see this through?
And we thank you for your provision. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. All right. Before we go any further, you had a scripture you want to
mention.
Cynthia Scott:
I did. I did. We've been talking about God being the
author of freedom, God being the founder of our nation, us needing to remember
his mighty acts in America. And over the summer, scripture was really... I
really felt God laying this scripture on me over and over again. And it's one
Timothy 6:20, "Guard what was committed to your trust." Very strong
command. Think about those words, guard what was committed to your trust. And
that was, of course, Paul talking to Timothy about the gospel, but it's
applicable to whatever God commits to our trust. And when he commits something
to our trust, he expects that we're going to protect it, that we're going to
guard it. He did that very deliberately, and I really believe what God is
saying is that we need to guard the freedom that he has committed to us. And we
as all Americans need to, but we as American Christians are especially charged
to guard what he has committed to us.
So in these days where there's so many ideologies that are
being thrown around in America, Marxism, socialism, communism, Islam, where
people are trying to rewrite our history, we need to remember the truth and we
need to guard it. We cannot let anyone steal from us the truth of our founding
in God himself, the truth that we are a Christian nation. I say that on the
basis of the eternal truths of scripture being embedded in our founding
documents. I truly believe that God is the only author of freedom. And if you
look at all of the other worldviews upon which governments have been established,
none of them but Christianity have provided freedom. So I wanted to share that.
I do think it's a charge to all of us to really be very active in prayer. And
as you said, when you started the show, to support godly people, to support
godly candidates, to support conservative values, God fearing values in this
nation and not to shrink back.
Ed Bonderenka:
Amen. My friend Bill Fetter has been on the show a number
of times. He has spoken about God's hand in the founding of our country. His
books, I think they're called Miraculous Moments in American History, Volumes
one and two. The stories he tells in there, some he's told on there with us
about fog banks that have moved in.
Cynthia Scott:
When Washington was escaping, right.
Ed Bonderenka:
Exactly. Washington's army would've been decimated if that
fog bank hadn't moved in. Things happening just in such a way, people making
stupid decisions on the other side or walking into a trap or for instance,
Washington himself earlier in his life being shot at by Indians who later said,
"How'd you do that? I managed to hit everybody but you. I'm a good shot.
How did I do that?" And they knew God's hand was on George Washington.
That's a profound thought that there is a God who protects national leaders like,
oh, say some president or guy running for president who turns his head just at
the right moment so his ear is nicked instead of his brain's blown out. What's
the odds of that? Wow. Of course, wow, national television cameras are all
there from the major networks to capture that moment when they had been
avoiding all of his appearances up until then.
Yeah.
Cynthia Scott:
Much to think about there.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yes, exactly. Exactly. So back to Whitfield. I was telling
you that I saw this movie, A Great Awakening, and you saw it too, and we were
talking about the people that put it out. Sight and Sound, was it?
Cynthia Scott:
Sight and Sound Theater.
Ed Bonderenka:
Amazing. I know that I had that group on my show to talk
about something else they did a few years ago, but I can't remember what it was
off the top of my head, but they started out in a, did you say in a theater
in... I thought it was a barn in Pennsylvania.
Cynthia Scott:
Well, it is in Pennsylvania. It's a theater. It's quite a
large theater now in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They also have a theater in
Branson, Missouri, and they are a very godly family that runs this. I've heard
them speak. In fact, I was the National Prayer Committee meeting and we were
the first to see a great awakening back in January. And it's a mind blowing.
Everybody should see it because apart from God uniting the Christians during
the first great awakening, we would not have had united colonies. It was the
Christians who were united first, as you know. And Sight and Sound, getting
back to them, they do a lot of great productions, a lot of biblical
productions, big productions, animals, smoke, water, the whole thing. I was to
one of their productions. Right now, I think they have Joshua going on in
Lancaster, and I do recommend it to people because they're fantastic.
Ed Bonderenka:
A destination.
Cynthia Scott:
It's a destination. It absolutely is. And it's a godly
destination. I love that there seem to be more movies coming out that are
honoring God, honoring some of what he's done in our history. And George
Whitfield really is a highlight. I can tell you love him too. I mean, I love
the way he preaches in that movie. Did you like that?
Ed Bonderenka:
Well, yeah, it's a great representation, but he's
preaching to a gazillion... Keep moving the microwave from me. A gazillion
people, you know what I mean? With his voice and it carries. And I like the
portrayal of Benjamin Franklin that everybody knows early on, he was not a
Christian. He was quite the sinner. And he saw in Whitfield, and it's portrayed
as much, he saw in him, a buck to be made.
Cynthia Scott:
Absolutely.
Ed Bonderenka:
You say it, I'll print it because people are really loving
this and they're laughing it up. But it occurred to me in preparing for this
that George Whitfield was the first. Now you said, what, rock star? I was
thinking celebrity.
Cynthia Scott:
I read that he was America's first celebrity. Yes.
Ed Bonderenka:
I was thinking social influencer. He was America's first
social influencer in that he would give a sermon and then Franklin would print
it. Franklin would increase sales because people were lapping it up. A lot of
what he was... He was leading souls to Christ and he was turning hearts to God,
which is a big prerequisite for having an army that's willing to march into
eternity because they know where they're going should they catch a bullet. It
makes you fearless. And a friend of mine just said thanks to Angel Studios
presenting it. Yeah, that's true. I think I may have watched it on the Angel
Studios channel. But the fact of the matter is that I think some of it rubbed
off on Franklin. Later in his life, I think Franklin exhibited a conversion
that wasn't there earlier in his life. So people like to talk about, oh,
Franklin, he was a wastral and a sinner.
Yeah, well, so was I at one time. You catch me before 1979
and boy, I'll tell you, I'll show you a sinner on the rampage. Go ahead.
Cynthia Scott:
I was going to say you make an excellent point about
Franklin because remember, after the brutal war, I mean the war of the century,
the war of the millennia, they gather at the constitutional convention as you
well know, and they cannot agree on anything. I mean, here are these 13, the
representatives of 13 war torn states each with their own significant needs and
problems. I mean, they've lost people, they've lost land. It's almost
impossible for me to understand how difficult it was. I mean, maybe it is
impossible, but here they are, not in agreement. And who is it that suggests
that they pray? It's Franklin. He's the one who said, "In this room during
the war, we prayed constantly. Do we think now that God is..." And I'm
paraphrasing, of course, going to build -
Ed Bonderenka:
Oh, he said it so eloquently.
Cynthia Scott:
He did that we can create a nation without the help of
divine assistance. And it was after they gathered in prayer at Franklin's
insistence that the greatest constitution the world has ever seen was penned,
which has provided freedom for us that other countries only dream of.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yes. Amen. I just remembered somewhere I had audio from, I
think that movie, Franklin's Prayer. Let's pray this. Let's play this.
Cynthia Scott:
Yes.
Ed Bonderenka:
See if it works. See if this works.
Cynthia Scott:
Good idea.
Ed Bonderenka:
Come on. You can do it today. Come on. We're waiting. Oh,
come on. I may have to send this. Where are you? Oh, great. It's going off the
page. There we go.
Ben Franklin:
Mr. President. Mr. President, the small progress we've
made after four or five weeks close attention and continual reasonings with
each other, our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the
last producing as many nos as eyes, Ismae thinks a melancholy proof of the
imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of
political wisdom since we have been running about in search of it. We've gone
back to ancient history for models of government and examined the different
forms of those republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own
dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed modern states all over
Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our own circumstances.
In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find
political truth and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has
it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to
the father of lights to illuminate our understandings?
In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when
we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine
protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All
of us engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a
superintending providence in our favor. To that kind province we owe this
opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future
national felicity. And have we now forgotten this powerful friend or do we
imagine we no longer need his assistance?
I have lived a long time, sir. And the longer I live, the
more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of
men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it
possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in
the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that without his
concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the
builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial local interests,
projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a
byword down to future age. What is worse? Mankind may hereafter from this
unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and
leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers
imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be
held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business and that one
or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. I
thank you.
Ed Bonderenka:
And they weren't looking for a Muslim to be the cleric
either. They were looking for a Christian. They were looking for a preacher.
They went through the city and they looked to see who was available to lead
prayer in the mornings. And he talked about we would avoid reproach and avoid
becoming a byword, and that's why we have to keep on track. I'd like to say
that I commented recently on a friend of mine's blog about our Judeo-Christian
principles and a friend of mine commented back and I'm not quite sure what
motivated this, but he pointed out that, well, it's not Judeo-Christian
principles, but it goes back to the Greco-Roman era and even before that, back
to the Abyssinians and Hamarabe's law and all that. I told him, I says, "I
didn't say influences, but our culture is Judeo-Christian, not just our
influences, but our Western European Western civilization culture is distinctly
Judeo-Christian, and there's a reason for it.
It's the God of the Jews, and they are informed by the law
and the Old Testament as Christians are informed by both that and the Holy
Spirit and the teachings of Jesus Christ." So there's no real conflict
there.
I have friends who are not Christians, but they admire the
Christian ethic and they see that as having to... And feel free to chime in,
buddy. You know who I'm talking about if he calls in again. But there's an
influence on this culture, the salt and the light that preserves and cleanses.
Cynthia Scott:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I would like to say that I
think that we need to be very forthright about the fact that Christ is at the
center of freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Apart from
Christ, there's no freedom.
Ed Bonderenka:
Excuse me. In Detroit, there is a statue outside, I think
it's of City Hall. There's a statue of a man carrying a globe. He's all green.
He's not a Martian. I think it was brass and they didn't clean it. And above
it, it says, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
Cynthia Scott:
Amen. Amen. And that's the only place there's liberty, and
that's why I think that we have got to get back to a place of boldness in this
nation. Going back to the founding era, they were saturated with God. They were
living in the midst of a nation of a people that espoused a biblical worldview
unapologetically, unapologetically. On another note, a friend of mine just did
a talk on communism and gave 45 principles that the communists were espousing,
introduced into our read to Congress in 1963. I read...
Ed Bonderenka:
Uh-oh. Did you freeze up or did I freeze up? Derek, did
she freeze up? Okay. Our guest froze up on Zoom. Darn. I'm hoping she unfreezes
soon because it was interesting what she was saying. Oh, there, you're back.
Good.
Cynthia Scott:
Yes. I was going to say -
Ed Bonderenka:
Could you please -
Cynthia Scott:
Yeah. I'm sorry if I lost you there for a second. What I
was saying is that the goals of the communists that were introduced into the
record in 1963 were audacious, 45 goals that they wanted to take over
everything, destroy the family, et cetera. We cannot shrink back. We have the
truth. We not only have the truth for eternity, we have the proof that God's
principles, his eternal truths work in the governing of men. We have the best
example that has ever been, and we cannot shrink back from that. We are not
perfect. We have had our sins. We have corrected some of them. We still have
some to correct, but we have got to guard what was committed to our trust.
We've got to constantly fight for the best of Christian governance. And every
atheist that lives in America should be happy that we have a government that's
based on Christian ideals because they have freedom.
They have freedom because of it.
Ed Bonderenka:
I know a couple who do. By the way, except for outer
space, nature abhors a vacuum. So remove Christianity from America and
something else will rush in to fill that void. And we've seen that to be
Islamism. We've seen that to be leftist Marxist ideology, stuff that actually
is actively looking to displace God. It's a spiritual battle.
Cynthia Scott:
It is. Absolutely.
Ed Bonderenka:
Yeah. And I want to say this, I don't believe in a God who
just is written down in a book, and I'm going to take it at face value. I
turned my life over to Christ. I actually made him my master. I told him that
you are my master. Long before I knew anything about sin and forgiveness of
sins, I just realized he's who the prophets said he was. But the important
thing is that he rose from the dead. And there's no disproving as scientists
who are looking at the shroud of Turin are becoming converted to Christianity
because they are looking at that and saying, "Okay, I give up." There
are scientists who are looking at cellular biology and they went, "Okay, I
give up." That's exactly what I did. I said, "I give up. You are the
one you said you were." And people are giving up and they're surrendering
themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
I am unashamed of that. And there's scientific roots for
that, and it's this word that he gave us brings us liberty. Go ahead and speak
for a bit. I talked too long.
Cynthia Scott:
No, no, no, you didn't. I mean, I couldn't agree with you
more. And I think America is a proof in terms of governments that God is real
and that he is good and that what he does really is best for the people. I
mean, think about the way our constitution was put together, the balance of
power, avoiding the opportunity for any one person, any one of us is
corruptible to get in charge and just corrupt everything. And this was a
brilliant strategy that I believe God imparted to our founding fathers after
they had prayed. And America really is so amazing. Special. Special. Amazing.
We should be so grateful and we cannot let her fall. We cannot let Christ down.
Ed Bonderenka:
Amen. Let's say right now, Father, thank you for this land
we live in. Once again, please help us to preserve it with your help and your
guidance. Amen. Folks, we've been talking to Cynthia Scott. Her book is 99
cents almost free. Cynthia, real quick, 20 seconds.
Cynthia Scott:
Yes. It's celebrating God, our founder at America's 250th
birthday, godourfounder.com, but available on Amazon in beautiful books, but
also for 99 cents on ebook.
Ed Bonderenka:
Thank you. Okay. See you folks. Have a great weekend. Bye.
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