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The WallBuilders Show
Biblical Foundations of American Liberty- with Stephen McDowell
The American Revolution didn't begin with a spontaneous uprising—it started with pastors who spent years teaching biblical principles of liberty. When the "shot heard round the world" rang out on April 19, 1775, it happened on the church lawn of Reverend Jonas Clark, whose congregation had been spiritually prepared for that pivotal moment.
Walking the hallowed ground of Lexington Green takes on profound meaning when you understand that Captain Parker and his militia weren't just angry colonists—they were church members who had been drilled after Sunday services by their deacon. Their pastor had prepared them through years of sermons on just resistance to tyranny, drawing from theological traditions like St. Augustine's just war theory.
This connection between faith and liberty forms the backbone of American independence. Colonial pastors preached sermons with titles like "A Defense of War in a Just Cause is Sinless Before God," providing the moral framework for resistance. When Jonas Clark was asked if his men would fight, he confidently responded that he had "prepared them for this very hour." Without this spiritual foundation, America's fight for independence might never have succeeded.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of these momentous events, we have an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover our spiritual heritage. The pastors who provided the theological justification for resistance weren't peripheral figures—they were central architects of the moral framework that made our liberty possible. Their sermons and leadership remind us that America's founding wasn't merely about political ideals but deeply held spiritual convictions about God-given rights.
The legacy of these faith-filled patriots continues today as God moves in remarkable ways around the world, igniting revivals in places like Colombia where Christianity has grown from 15,000 believers in the 1960s to 10 million today—20% of the nation's population. Join us in exploring how biblical principles of liberty continue to transform nations and shape history. The same God who kindled the flame of American independence is still at work today.
Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. Thanks for joining us today on the WallBuildersshow, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton and special guest today, Stephen McDowell back with us. Stephen, thanks for coming on again, man.
Stephen McDowell [00:00:21] Well, it's always great to be with you, Rick.
Rick Green [00:00:23] Well, we could cover so many different topics. I think of all the things I've ever done with you here on wall builders, especially when we did the 10 commandments and we broke it down one by one. And I think we spent like two weeks or week. Well, I guess 10 would be 10 divided by five would be two weeks. Anyway, I don't remember if we combined them or not, but just appreciate you so much, man, all the great teaching that you're doing. And, what a great, what do we got year in a couple of months to have 250th this and 250 at that. And it's just about every other month. There's some really cool celebration including last month Patrick Henry give me liberty or give me death and then last weekend we got Lexington and Paul Revere's ride just a lot of cool stuff to talk about today
Tim Barton [00:01:02] and Rick, you guys were up there. I saw a post on social media where y'all were there that night. I know you took some of the interns with you from Patriot Academy up there, what was that like? How late did you stay up? Because Paul Revere, obviously it was a bit of a late night for him. And when the British arrived the next morning, it was very early morning. How true do they stay to that story? And how short or long was your night?
Rick Green [00:01:29] Well, just to the embarrassment of WallBuilders, I snuck up the road and knocked Paul Revere off his horse and took over, just so that he would finally not get caught. That he would not only make it to Jonas Clarke's house, but then leave and not get, no, I'm kidding. I was tempted. I'll tell you what, guys, having a filming permit makes all the difference in the world. We did not have one this time. 10 years ago, we had one. We're right on the front row, getting to see everything. This time, wow, the crowd was huge and we were a little bit buried in the back, but it was still pretty amazing
Tim Barton [00:01:58] Well, I know this is not the point of the question, but I do feel like, had you taken Paul Revere's horse with your 1911 on your hip, you were probably a little better armed than he was. You might have navigate, right? The British wouldn't have known what to do with a, this repeating firing mechanism in your hand. They haven't seen before.
Rick Green [00:02:18] I'll tell you what was the coolest thing, though, guys, out of all of it. And we did, you know, we stayed up most of the night. In fact, the kids slept on the green so that they could save us some good spots. Not on the Green, but on the grassy knoll above the green. And so yeah, we did the Paul Revere ride thing. We did the reenactment there at Jonas Clark's house. Of course, the emphasis being the pastor's house, which we talked a lot about. And then the shot heard around the world. And then, then we went to the monument and got to do an Easter service at the monument, so it was all cool.
David Barton [00:02:45] Rick, Rick, wait a minute. Why do you assume anybody knows the relationship between Jonas Clark and Paul Revere and Lexington?
Tim Barton [00:02:54] Now, wait a second. We do have a historian friend with us as well. That's right. He's sitting right beside us, Steve McDowell. And so the worst game you can play is trivia with historian friends, right? Because any time you feel like you have them, they're like, oh, well, let me ask you a question now. So not to put our friend Steve McDowell on the spot. But I feel pretty confident. If anybody is going to be able to tell the story, Paul Revere, Pastor Jonas Clark, Lexington Green, the people on the green church connection. He's probably gonna know it. So Steve, not to filibuster since you're joining us, actually kind of in studio today. Will you tell the story of the connection? Who was Jonas Clark and why did this matter for this significant ride and then the shot heard around the world?
Rick Green [00:03:38] And before you answer, Steve, so one of the reasons that this guy should obviously know why the pastor would be involved. The name of his organization has an interesting word in it. Providence. So anyway, sorry, Steven, go ahead, man.
Stephen McDowell [00:03:50] Well, you know, I love Longfellow's poem listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul revere on the 18th of April in 75 hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year I learned that in school But what I didn't learn is that shot fire that was heard around the world took place on the church lawn of Reverend Jonas Clarke and it was his members of his church who were primarily the ones that stood out there that day and what, eight were killed, 10 were wounded, and that they had been prepared. Their deacon Parker had for months, every Sunday when they come to church, they'd bring their guns. Part of his responsibility as a deacon was to run these troops through military drills in case they had to defend themselves if it ever came to it. So that important event took place on the church lawn with members of Jonas Clark's church. And as he would say, someone asked him, will you fight, will your men fight? And he said, I've prepared them for this very hour. Because see, he had been teaching ideas of resistance against tyranny to his people for years. They were well-grounded in understanding these concepts of just war. And so when it came time to it, God providentially chose, all right, I'm going to start this important event, this shot that not only led to the liberty of the United States of America, but the United State has been an example of liberty to the world. Liberty began to advance throughout the world after the birth of America. And the whole thing began on a pastor's church with the pastor's parishioners. Who had been prepared with the character and world view necessary to stand up against the tyrant. So this, to me, is what's a revelation.
David Barton [00:05:47] Hey, I'm gonna jump in on this because as it turns out, Steve and I today were just, we were together, but he was reading a sermon from 1747. It's called an artillery sermon. Artillery sermon is something that goes back to 1633, where in Massachusetts once a year, as they would elect the officers of the militia, they would have a minister come in and address all the citizens, address the military and say, hey, here's why we as Christians are in the military and here's what we do with the military. Here's the proper use of the military, et cetera. And even as we were just talking this afternoon, he was kind of going back through some of that sermon and talked about how the pastor, Pastor William Hobby, was going through and talking about why Christians make better soldiers than others in the whole world view. So, Steve, kind of cover some of the that.
Stephen McDowell [00:06:36] Yeah, he says in this sermon that the Christian life is a warfare and that every Christian is prepared to really be the best soldier because he's taken up his cross, he's died to himself, he is not afraid to fight the battle that's necessary to give his life it's necessary for the cause of liberty. So when you enlist in Christ, you're part of Christ's muster role is what he says. So you're enlisted in the army when you become a Christian. And that's why they make the best soldiers.
Tim Barton [00:07:08] Well, I think that's a pretty bold and significant contrast, guys. As I guess it was yesterday morning that the world was notified that Pope Francis had passed and one of the things that I remember very well when Donald Trump was elected and actually even recently when Donald Trump was deporting some of these criminal, violent, illegal alien offenders. The Pope said that it's really unchristian to try to remove these people, right? You shouldn't be building walls, you should be building bridges, and the irony that like the Vatican is surrounded by this impenetrable wall, I mean there's so much in this, but I say that because it is an interesting contrast where some pastors, preachers, spiritual leaders have come today as compared to where ministers, pastors, and leaders were in many cases early American, of course, Not every pastor in early America was on the side of the cause of liberty. There were many against it, but certainly there was a very vocal group of leaders of these pastors and ministers who were very clear on what these biblical positions were. And Steve, as you were acknowledging that, I chuckled a little bit in my head because I have dealt over the last several days talking to people about some of this Christian nationalism conversation. And if you're a Christian and you think that that biblical value should be a part of the nation and involved in this, you know, for some reason then you are a Christian nationalist. If they thought you were a Christian nationalist for just thinking that traditional biblical value should be applied to the nation, I cannot imagine what they would say if they went back and reviewed or even had conversations with some of these early pastors who were so vocal about one of the most godly, Christ-like things you can do. Is not just promote your nation but but fight for your nation at times even kill to defend your nation in freedoms and liberties. A pretty significant contrast to say the least.
Stephen McDowell [00:09:06] Many ministers preach sermons around the time of the American Revolution. Before fighting had begun, when it first begun, they were preparing the members of their church. Okay, a defensive war has just caused a sinless before God. That's the name of the sermon Reverend Jones preached in 1775. So these were not just a bunch of rabble rousers who went out and drank too much and took out their guns, started shooting people. These were people who were prepared with principles from the Bible. Of why it's so important to stand up against the tyrant, because if it wasn't for that, we would not have become a free nation. And if it weren't for, we would have not had the great liberty that exists around the world today, which people take for granted, but it was people like this prepared by the pastors to stand for this truth.
David Barton [00:09:58] You know, one of the things that's interesting too is when you have wars, they're fought by soldiers and soldiers are citizens. You know I don't care what country they're from, it's the average people that become soldiers. They can be used for good or bad depending on what your nation is. But specifically when you look at going into a war, all these guys were equipped to go into war. I mean as Steve has mentioned these sermons, this is one of things that was out then. This goes all the way back to, If you go back to St. Augustine in the third century. He's already talking about just war and helping Christians understand that look wars are part of it Bible says there's gonna be wars. There's gonna be rumors of wars we know that even at the very last that the last Participation we have in Revelation 19 is will be warring with Jesus Christ and that great fight at the end So wars are all the way through the Bible and so way back in the third century AD you have st Augustine laying out look here's what the Bible says about war. It's really clear here's what makes it just war has what makes an unjust war and every individual needs to know that When he goes to war, he doesn't want to participate in something unjust, but even as you go 1,000 years later, you get St. Thomas of Aquinas, same thing in the 1200s. He's going through and talking about wars. There are wars, there's always wars. There's wars and rumors of wars. There's always a time of war, but what is right and what is wrong about war? And I think that's one of the things that most average citizens today don't have the biblical understanding to say, this is what makes it right, this is makes it wrong, and as an individual, and by the way, every citizen back then was trained to be part of the military, the militia. You had to rouse around to defend your town or your community or your church or whatever was going on. I think most citizens today would have a difficult time knowing what's just and unjust biblically. It's more like, well, I was told to go and this is what my commander told me to do. That just wasn't the case back then. The individual interpretation of the Bible through the traditional lens of biblical interpretation. Every individual knew that Bible and studied it because their preachers really helped them be equipped in case war ever came. And if it did, what are we going to do when it gets here?
Rick Green [00:12:03] Well, that's part of why it's so important to remember the former days and to know the details like Ronald Reagan said, if we forget what we did, we won't know who we are and forgetting what we Did on that on that incredible day on April 19th, 1775, not knowing that Captain Parker and these others had been trained by a pastor in just war theory. As you mentioned, Steven, by the fact that his words were so important, don't fire unless fired upon and that it was defensive that, uh, you know, David, one of the best gifts you ever gave me was that sermon of, of uh... Jonas clark on the anniversary on April 19th, 1776, when he lays out, like a lawyer, the details of what happened that morning on April 18th and proves that it was the British that fired first, that he had taught his men not to be offensive, that you had to play defense in this case. And so, yeah, just another great example of teaching the truth. But, you know, like Stephen, you're saying it, without the pastor's influence, it would have been what you said. You know, a bunch of guys just going out and drinking at the tavern and pulling out their guns. No, this was a- This was a community and a group that had been taught by that pastor for years. That's why when we did our chase in American legends episode, we came to the conclusion that on the field that day, the British fired first, but in truth, it was actually Jonas Clark firing with the pin, writing his sermons for 10 years, 12 years, sowing those seeds of Liberty. I wasn't familiar with you said that was a pastor Jones. What was the name of his, his sermon? Cause it sounds like it was very much like what Clark and others were teaching.
Stephen McDowell [00:13:25] Yes, a defense of war and a just cause is sinless before God. That summarizes the whole concept of just war just in the title of it. So, and there's many sermons like that were preached. And by the way, if there's anybody who's listening that wants to go to Lexington and Concord and Boston and see this for themselves, this fall in October, Tim and I are going to be leading a tour. It's open for everyone. We've got folks from all over the country. That American Family Radio, Tim Wildman and his sons are, we're gonna be having a tour of the Boston area, Plymouth, Boston, Lexington, Concord. So we're going to go to these sites. We're gonna see where they took place. We're going be telling you the story. So if you want to know more, you can go to spiritualheritagetours.com, spiritualheritagetours. Com, see what we're gonna do, sign up, come join us, and learn that marvelous story.
Tim Barton [00:14:22] So for all of the American history nerds who want to go experience the non-woke version of American history and hang out with Steve McDowell and I, we would love to have you guys join us. We're gonna have some links also on the Wall Brothers website. We're going to send out some email blasts. We would love for people to come. And I'm saying that we're taking a couple of busses. So there is definitely limited availability for people that be able to go, but we would have to have your family join us if you're able and available. If you want to have kids come. See firsthand, if you've never been up to like the Boston area, seen the Freedom Trail, there's just so many cool things up there. We would love to have you guys join us and here's some of this history firsthand from people like Steve McDowell who really know what they're talking about and I'll probably repeat a lot of what he says to sound really smart as well.
Rick Green [00:15:09] I just want everybody to know if you wanna donate to the bail fund, then I'm organizing that because I'm just thinking about this. Stephen McDowell, Tim Barton, Tim Wildmon, Walker Wildmon. This group is gonna be in Boston on the Freedom Trail and then Lexington and Concord. I just have a feeling another revolution is gonna happen with these guys getting together. So I guess David, you and I will go raise the money to bail them all out because they get their muskets and start some kind of skirmish before this thing's over.
Tim Barton [00:15:37] I mean, don't be surprised if you see my social media posts and I've got like this William Wallace face paint, right? This is that moment coming back. Let's go.
Rick Green [00:15:47] Well, and, and you know, you, you've made this point already, but I just want to reiterate, there's nothing like walking into the footsteps of the founding fathers and having somebody there that could tell you the true history to, unfortunately, most of our national treasures have been co-opted by these leftist Marxists and they changed the story and they, they emphasize bad and, or they make up the bad and they ignore the good. And, and so they get to go do this and to go, do the freedom trail, go see where the Boston massacre happened at Tim, you know when you talk about Crispus addicts and you talk all of the things that, that happened in the Revolution. It's just powerful to, but to be able to stand there while you're telling the story and be where it happened, go to the old South meeting house to talk about Joseph Warren. And I mean, you guys, this, this is an incredible opportunity. What is by the way, the best place to find out the schedule, the dates, um, how to get there and sign up and that sort of thing. Uh, do we go to AFR or
Stephen McDowell [00:16:33] Well, you can go to spiritualheritagetours.com, spiritualheritagetours.com, and it will have the schedule, the dates, the events, the things that we'll see. And you also, we do a couple of other tours of Washington DC, Jamestown, Williamsburg, in mid-June and mid-September, and those are other options for you. But that you can get right away. You can go that today and see all that information.
Rick Green [00:17:00] All right, we're going to have a link today at wallbuilders.show there on the radio program site as well. We got to take a quick break, guys. We'll be right back. Folks, you're listening to the WallBuilders show.
Rick Green [00:18:16] Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us on the WallBuilder show. Stephen McDowell sitting in with us today. We're talking about not just the tour coming up, uh, that they're going to do in Boston, he and Tim Barton and the Wildman's and going to have a great time, but also other opportunities throughout the year and of course all leading up to the 250th of the declaration next July 4th, 2026. So guys, there's going to be so just, just such a great opportunity to teach people what it is we're celebrating. I mean, every time we have one of these 250s celebrations, we need to be emphasizing not just a shot or the, or the people or whatever it But as we just talked about in the first part of the program, the principles, in this case the Biblical principles of of just war theory, but now we're going to be getting into the principles of when you form a nation, what are the foundations upon which, or the principles upon which you'll build the foundations of the country, so this is a really good opportunity over the next year or so.
David Barton [00:19:00] Yeah, and I think that America is gonna get re, it's gonna have an opportunity to be re-exposed to a lot of history that it hasn't really heard formally in a long time. One of the things that I really appreciate about what Trump is doing with the 250th celebration of America is he's gonna start it really early. It's his plan to start rolling stuff out this Memorial Day. So essentially we're talking 14 months before the actual anniversary. And I thought he really set a good tone just a few weeks ago when he did that proclamation on the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry, give me liberty, give my death. And that was one of those big kind of seminal moments that they kind of really helped crystallize people's thinking in some area. And so you look at that and imagine all the things coming between now and next July 4th that he's gonna be talking about and highlighting. And it's really is the traditional kind of history stuff, the approach that really makes you feel I don't know. Maybe we say that it's the Christian nationalist approach because if you look at his Easter message, that was really Christian. And by the way, I've just got to shoot down this Christian nationalist stuff. Nationalist by definition is someone who has an affinity to or a loyalty to their nation. I have a loyalty America. I have an affinity America. I love America and I also happen to be a Christian. So by definition, that's a Christian nationalist. That's not what they've redefined it into. But by definition, I am a Christian who has a love for and affinity for my country, and I thank God put us here. This is the nation he chose to put me in. He didn't choose another nation. I hope everybody else in all their nations are also nationalists for their nations. If everybody would seek the best of their nation, it would be really good. So anyway, I just think it's gonna be really good for all of us, the amount of history that we'll be exposed to over the next 14 months or so.
Tim Barton [00:20:42] Well, to add to your point, that's Jeremiah 29-7, for those that want to do a quick Bible study, right? Where Jeremiah tells the Israelites that are being carried captive into bondage, into Babylon, to not despair, but seek the peace and prosperity of the land to which they're being carried away captives. Pray to the Lord for it, for when it goes well with the land, it goes with them. This is the idea. And by the way, we can go through a lot of scripture. When you look even at Hebrews 11, it's known as our faith hall of fame. We're told to look to the Hebrews, the fate who have gone before us and their lives are examples to us in those great moments of faith. It's quite interesting how virtually every single person in Hebrews 11 was connected and involved with government on some level. And so our greatest heroes of the faith were political leaders in the midst of them following God's call on their life. Just a lot of connections with this. So just to give a caveat for people that want to discount the idea that as Christians we only care about one kingdom and that's God's kingdom. And of course, that is the primary kingdom. But as long as God has us here, we need to be good stewards of the place where God has planted us. And that means taking some level of stewardship and being engaged and involved to make the place better where God, has us now with that being said, guys for us, we've talked a lot about how we see God on the move all around the nation but Steve, I know that you do stuff. Even outside of the nation, we, it seems like every now and then we're talking to you.
Rick Green [00:22:09] Are you saying God's God not just in America wait, you're interesting. Okay, this should be
Tim Barton [00:22:15] Well, you know, when we think of places that revival is happening, there are places right now that, like France, that we never thought we might be talking about the baptisms and revival in France. And as you look at the nation, it's not just America, but the nations around the world, it is clear that God is on the move and Steve, you've had opportunities now, it seems like for decades, you have been doing stuff around the world. Are you getting any sense that there's some of the same revival type thing happening. And I'm saying Central South America, because I know you kind of go that way sometimes. What are you seeing in your travels?
Stephen McDowell [00:22:55] Well, God is definitely moving in many, many nations. I've been traveling to Latin America for the past 30 years, probably been there 15 or 20 times, many of the nations, and I just got back from Columbia. And it's amazing what God is doing. You know, I have a friend of mine, he's a pastor. He's 85 years old. His father was head of the guerrillas in the 1950s. He got saved out of the guerrilla camp. But when he got saved in the early 60s, there's 10 or 15,000 Bible-believing Christians in Columbia. Today, there are 10 million. That's 20% of the population of that nation. And that's happened really since I've been going there 30 years. And they're starting new churches, Christian schools, but they're also getting involved in shaping their culture in government. Many different areas and that's why I'm going there to teach these people what does the Bible say concerning how do we govern our nation in accordance with biblical truth because they want the fruit of obedience to God which is flourishing its its liberty and so in all kinds of areas and that's happening not just in Colombia but in Brazil and in Chile lots of parts of Asia and Africa That there's an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit of God in the nation, you know More people have gotten converted in the world today since we've been alive David and I've been alive here same age and getting kind of older then all through the last two thousand years of the Christian faith so God is at work doing something mighty transforming nations and they've never seen anything like it You know Columbia didn't get religious liberty recognized by law until about 20 years ago and their whole history. This was a brand new thing for them You know in America, we think we've had liberty since for 400 years. They've had it for 20 years and so God is at work. God is moving. He's doing something unprecedented in many nations Today and that the kingdom of God is advancing
Rick Green [00:25:06] Yeah, I was actually surprised over the last couple of years, Stephen, even to see other nations leading the way before us on some of these things. And even on the liberty issue, watching some of these nations that were seeing a return to basic liberties. And it was almost like it gave us courage a little bit, you know, to be able to stand up for those things as well. Hey, Stephen, what's the best, you know, for a person that's listening today and they're seeing all of these new things like the tariffs and just all kinds of economic new topics that they're not familiar with in the past. You've got so many good materials on economics. What's the best place to start to just get a basic understanding of biblical economics.
Stephen McDowell [00:25:43] Well, the newest book I wrote is called Steward in the Earth, a biblical view of economics. You can find that at providencefoundation.com, you can get it at Amazon as well. That I would say is a great introduction to get an overview of what God has to say about this very important topic of economics, because God created the world to be productive, and that's at the foundation of a flourishing economy. So that's what I would point people to first.
Rick Green [00:26:13] That's out of one more time.
Stephen McDowell [00:26:14] Steward in the earth, a biblical view of economics.
Rick Green [00:26:20] And ProvidenceFoundation.com. Calm, I was gonna say dot com, but every time I say dot come, it ends up being dot org, so I should remember that. Anyway, Providence Foundation.com. Stephen McDowell, our special guest today. Stephen, thanks so much for joining us, man.
Stephen McDowell [00:26:32] Great to be with you guys.
Rick Green [00:26:34] Thanks for listening today folks, be sure to visit the website wallbuilders.show to catch up on the radio program and wallbuilder.com for more information and great tools. You've been listening to the WallBuilder show.
