God’s Hand Runs Through America’s History - with Cynthia Scott

America’s 250th anniversary is forcing a blunt question: are we willing to tell the real story of the nation’s founding, or only the version that fits today’s politics? We dig into why we see the “hand of Providence” as more than a slogan, walking through moments from early exploration to the Pilgrims, the awakenings, and the ideas that shaped the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If you’ve ever wondered why so many leaders spoke openly about God’s guidance in public life, we lay out the historical logic and the original-source mindset behind that claim. 

We also wrestle with the present. A recent act of violence in Washington, DC becomes a sober doorway into the breakdown of shared moral language and what happens when people are trained to see their neighbors as Nazis or enemies who must be stopped at all costs. We connect faith, moral formation, and constitutional liberty, and we talk candidly about why a free society can’t survive if everyone invents right and wrong for themselves. 

Then Cynthia Scott joins us to share why she wrote “Celebrating God, Our Founder at America’s 250th Birthday,” a blend of historical truths and chapter-by-chapter prayers designed for personal devotion, small groups, and corporate prayer. We close with practical ways to mark the 250th in your own community, including reading the Declaration aloud and using trusted resources to teach the next generation. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one piece of American history you wish every student learned?

Transcript

Rick Green [00:00:07] This is the intersection of faith and culture. It's The WallBuilders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Two websites for you, wallbuilders.com for virtually everything you need to celebrate the 250th, to get educated about what happened 250 years ago, what the foundation of our country is and how to preserve and protect it and move forward into the future in a strong way. Wallbuilders.com and then wallbuilders.show for the radio program and catch up on shows you might have missed. Then be sure and check us out on all the different podcast apps out there and share the program with your friends and family. Be a force multiplier and help us increase the audience so we can teach more people the truth on all of these issues. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Later in the program, Cynthia Scott will be with us to talk about her book about Celebrating God as Our Founder in America. So not only our Founding Fathers, not only in fact we were founded on the Christian faith, but how God actually ordained this nation to be a positive influence in the world. And as we've seen in the last even hundred years, hundreds of millions of people that have been able to live in freedom as a result of America's impact on the world. So she'll be with us a little later to talk about that, oh man. 

David Barton [00:01:17] So Rick, hang on, I gotta interrupt for a minute. I just hear critics' voices going off in my mind. You know, you made the comment that God ordained this nation, I can just hear people say, no, He didn't. It just, you know, well, if he didn't then he's sitting in heaven saying, man, I never believed it'd turn out this way. I had no clue. You know it's like saying God didn't know how this was gonna turn out and didn't orchestrate things to do that. We believe that he does that. And so now you get a theological debate are you Armenian or your reformation? Do you think it's preordained or whatever? I just, I'm with you and I echo what you said. And for anybody who, who's a critic of the fact that God planned this, what do you think he's doing now? Being surprised at the way it turned out after 250 years? I don't think so. 

Rick Green [00:01:59] Yeah. He's sitting up there going, well, these Americans, man, they're doing a pretty good job. Maybe I ought to be watching them. You know, Ronald Reagan used to say it this way. He said, I always believed that God made it where between these two shores there would be this special place that ultimately became America because of its geography and because of the way that it's, you know, why it was founded and the people that came here, it would end up being this incredible blessing of the world. So even Ronald Reagan in the way he described it said, God set this in motion and planned for this place to be that. And I always think about when I say that word ordained, you know, I think about, I always, I don't know why, maybe the two words aren't even having the same root, but I think of a city council doing an ordinance for their area, right? It's like they're planning the area, they're actually putting in place these different rules or whatever, or how things are going to work. That's how I see the way that God raises up kings and sets down kings in the same way as nations. 

Tim Barton [00:02:52] Well guys, this is one of the things that we've been telling for decades here at WallBuilders is if you actually knew the story of America, whether it be go back to the Pilgrims and of course we can go back to Jamestown or Columbus. Actually, let's go back Columbus first. Cause Columbus is the guy who says he was inspired by God. The Holy Spirit led him in his journey. And of course, we have been defenders of Columbus in a lot of ways. Not that he did not have sins in his life, because we know all of sin and come toward the glory of God, but acknowledging he's not the villain he's been labeled to be in the more recent decades. He actually is someone who's far more honorable, incredible things. But from Columbus, you can jump forward similar with the pilgrims when in the midst of their voyage, they encounter a storm and the main beam breaks, but it just so happens on an overcrowded ship that one of the guys brought the jack screw, allegedly this is William Brewster from his printing press. That helps elevate the main beam, that there's a guy that gets washed overboard and somehow he grabs a rope that wasn't supposed to be dragging, but in the midst of the storm, it's dragging. And they're not even sure it's tied to anything on the other end, but he's able to hang on and they pull him back up. You go through the miracle after miracle where they encounter Somerset. And Somerset's like, hey, I got this other guy, speaks way better English. Squanto comes back. Again, you can go through and stack up all of these miracle, providential moment and if you understand the odds it would take for this to happen if God wasn't involved, you would go, yeah, there's no way! The probability, this is too crazy! There had to have been a God involved. And I say a God we know there's only one true God I'm saying for a skeptic you would have to go, man, for this many things to go right, for this many people, for this far along the way, clearly there is a providential aspect to this story. And so tying in with you guys, exactly what you're explaining that the notion that God was not directly involved and directing all along the way. You only can come to that conclusion if you are ignorant of history or, and I say that with love, if you're ignorant of history... 

Rick Green [00:05:06] It's not an insult, just means you don't know. 

Tim Barton [00:05:08] Or you have to be somebody who's really salty and angry at God. And therefore, you want to explain things away without God. But there's too much evidence for the foundation of our nation to come away thinking anything else, if you actually know, study and read from those original documents and stories. 

Rick Green [00:05:27] Well, and you know, we just we've talked about it on so many programs We need to get them to pay us some advertising but A Great Awakening, the movie. You know Benjamin Franklin's speech at the end. The whole thing is about the hand of Providence and how God moved throughout the revolution. That didn't stop. He kept doing that throughout our history in an amazing way. I think one of the coolest things you guys have been able to do this year in the 250th is point to this stuff that people just forgot because, you know, like you're saying, if, if they're ignorant, just because they don't know, because it wasn't taught in our education system. I mean, we've got the President of the United States pointing this stuff out because y'all fed so many great dates to the White House of, of moments in our history where it was acknowledged that the hand of Providence was, was being seen in what was happening with our country. So, you, know, maybe this 250th thing can really be an awakening of even just that knowledge. Cause once you recognize that and you see that history. Wow, then you start even looking for it going into the future. 

David Barton [00:06:25] Yeah, I've got a question throw at you because Rick, you mentioned it. Tim and I were just at New York city. We were at the Statue of Liberty after we did an event with, with Moms for Liberty. It was an awesome event and Statue of Liberty, all the fireworks going off in New York City. I'm sure everybody in the city was wondering what the special event was. And it was just an awesome, awesome event. And Trump had been invited to be there. He couldn't be there, but he showed up by video and did this peace for them on video. And so all this cool stuff. But I was thinking about what we've all been doing so far. We're not even to July yet. And all of us have been swamped with all these 250th events and they're going all over the nation. They're awesome events. They're big events. And I was just thinking, let's just, now I want to create a nightmare situation here, so, you know, if you need some therapy, grab therapists now. But if Kamala Harris had been the President of the United States, what do you think would be different about the way we celebrate the 250th? What do think we would have been doing at this point? 

Tim Barton [00:07:27] Well, we would be doing nothing but apologetics about why America is not an evil nation, and actually why we should be celebrating instead of bashing her in these moments, because when you come from the Marxist communist side that Kamala Harris advocates. They're not people that are acknowledging of God's Providence in the building and forming this nation. They're not people that want to celebrate the greatest good that any nation has contributed for the last 250 years coming from this nation, they want to point out the sins of this nation and in fact, in many occasions, they're creating and making up the sins of this nation in incredibly dishonest ways because if they told the true story, we wouldn't be as bad as they want to paint us as. And if you knew it in the context of other nations, you'd realize, wow, America really is the greatest nation, the most free, stable, prosperous and benevolent nation there's been for the last 250 years. And it's not even close. 

Rick Green [00:08:28] Yeah, I remember, wow, I mean, even like three years ago during the Biden administration, the 250th commission and all the efforts for getting ready for this year, oh man, they were so woke already. I mean they were; you'd go to their websites and what would they be talking about how the Declaration of Independence, you know, provides for LGBTQ this and that. And I mean the whole thing was left, left, left, left, left. So man, David, I hate to say it. No, no, I'm, I've happy to say I'm joyful to say it, it would have been horrible. But it's not because we get to have President Trump during the 250th and, and the access that we've all been given to be a part of these things and, and to watch the, the people that are connected to WallBuilders or our Patriot Academy grads that are in all of these positions, getting to influence it. It's just beautiful, man. I, I, I hated going to Washington DC during the Biden administration. It was just like this dark cloud, but I have so enjoyed my trips lately, especially taking the scholars last week and them getting to see all of that, all the Patriot Academy Scholars. It's a beautiful, beautiful time to be a part of all this. 

Tim Barton [00:09:30] Well, guys, one of the things too, that we have talked about a lot, the Founding Fathers highlighted this and we are just repeating what they said, is if we ever get away from this religious and moral foundation, then we will be ultimately risking everything and losing everything. Because as John Adams so eloquently said in 1798, that letter to the Massachusetts militia, where he says that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, it's wholly inadequate to the government of any other. One of the things that is very clear is this experiment only works if we maintain the foundation. And I say that knowing that yesterday there was a shooting up in Washington, DC, as more details, of course, are emerging as we're doing this early in the morning. There, there's still a lot that has not been released yet. I'm sure we'll find out more as the day goes on, but somebody was apparently had a concealed handgun and Rick, when I was reading details on this, I just thought, man, this guy was called out because somebody saw him printing so badly. They're like, hey, hey what are you doing? And he turns to run, they chase him. He draws a gun to shoot, they return fire, he gets hit. Which, just as a total side note, as people that do conceal carry often, if you are getting called out for printing, you're not doing something right. I'm not saying that because I want bad guys to do a better job of concealing. I'm just saying, what are doing right now? 

David Barton [00:10:58] I gotta believe that half the people out there that may not be in the country don't know what printing means. When you say the guy was printing, what's that mean? 

Tim Barton [00:11:06] So if you have a weapon and let's say you're wearing it somewhere around your waist and you have a shirt over that gun, printing means the gun is pressing, protruding from your body, pressing against the shirt. So, you basically have the outline, the silhouette of that firearm showing through your shirt. So, it's printing through the shirt is what they would say. And the guy at the time was closer to the Washington Monument. And then he was the White House, but there's a lot of speculation of what that is, but, but again, I bring it up because we have seen an increase of violence when it was just a week ago, you had at the White House Correspondent Dinner. Was that a week, maybe two weeks ago now? I don't even remember. We we've been traveling a lot, but when you had another targeted shooting and, and one of the things, you know, Rick, we've talked about it some off air is the media right now is trying to spin and say, hey, there's violence on both sides. You can't label this a left issue, you know, leftist violence just because we're progressives and Marxists and Communists, it doesn't mean that we're inherently violent. This is a rhetoric coming out, but what is evident is there is an increase in the violence and I think a lot of it is there's a lot of spiritual things in that because we recognize that the Bible tells us in Ephesians 6, that that our battle is not just against flesh and blood. There are spiritual things that happen is what the Bible tell us. And so there are spiritual realities that we are navigating, but also there's practical realities, pragmatically speaking, if you stop teaching people right and wrong from the Bible, if you stop teaching kids the 10 Commandments. If you start telling people, programming them, that the other side is evil, that they are Nazis, that they're Hitler, then what you are doing is you are basically giving them the justification for them to do something that we would argue is very immoral, is heinous behavior, but you are now giving them, in essence, this moral equivocation that they can justify and defend their position because of how evil the other side is. This is again, and I'm saying all this connecting some dots and bows now, this is why it matters that we have to restore a biblical foundation. Or freedom will not work, number one, and number two, we will not be able to function well in society if we have removed the, the common morals and values. If everybody decides what's right and wrong for themselves and one side is saying the other side is evil, they're Nazis, they are Hitler, and they must be stopped at all costs, that is going to be a very hard society for us to function in as free people. 

David Barton [00:13:44] You know, I've kind of decided that they are into gun control because the people they're around the most need gun control and it's their own people. You know why they like to say both sides are doing the same thing. That's just not it. I don't know. I I'm going to grant that I think I've heard of one semi conservative person who got into a situation like that. So, I don't know, maybe it's one out of fifty out of a hundred, whatever it is. It's their side that of course they are so opposed to religion, morality which was what Washington said you had to have the nation's gonna survive and they're the ones all calling for gun control. It's really their side that needs it. It's not the other side that's the problem on this thing. It's their side, which is one of the ironies of it. And Tim you're right they try to project it and say both sides are guilty of it. Yeah, about one out of every hundred maybe the other side or three or whatever it is but it's a small percentage. So it is a real disappointing thing to see them jump all over that bandwagon when it's really there side but- That's always the thing you throw a rock and a pack of dogs and one gets hit the hardest gun bark the loudest and it seems to be them that bark about gun control and it seems to me because they're the ones that engage most often in abusive gun control. 

Rick Green [00:14:55] Yeah, man, we've got it. We've got to both stop the poison from going in that produces these results, just like Tim saying, and then also teach the good stuff, get back to the foundation that makes America great in the, in the first place. And Cynthia Scott has a book literally about that Celebrating God, Our founder at America's 250th Birthday. So this is part of that effort here in the in the 250th to, to rediscover for many people, the foundation that made America the greatest nation in history, and then build on that for our future. Cynthia Scott, when we return, you're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:16:34] Welcome back to the Wallbuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Cynthia Scott is with us, author of Celebrating God, Our Founder at America's 250th birthday. Cynthia, thanks for coming on. 

Cynthia Scott [00:16:44] It's great to be on with you, Rick. 

Rick Green [00:16:46] What a great year. This is incredible. We're getting to talk about what made the nation great in the first place. And of course, you cannot have a great America if you don't have a great God that actually is the foundation of, of what we're all about. So thanks for bringing attention to that. 

Cynthia Scott [00:17:01] Well, it's great to do it, you know, it is such a joy to be able to talk about God in relation to our nation. And this is the year to do that; you are absolutely right. People are interested, Rick. 

Rick Green [00:17:12] What would you want people most to focus in on? I mean, there's kind of an information overload right now happening with the 250th, which is great. Two or three years ago, we weren't sure. Okay, is this gonna get passed by and we're not gonna pay attention to it. Now there's so many groups, so many things happening. The President is talking about it. So there's a little bit of information overload. What would say is most important for people to emphasize during the 250th? 

Cynthia Scott [00:17:36] Well, I think it's the reasons that I wrote the book. And the book started with prayer. The prayer is both history of the hand of God and the founding of our nation and prayer for the nation in every chapter. So, the book really arose out of prayer. The Lord laid it on by heart to pray for the Nation out of the history of The Nation. And that was six years ago. And those outlines sat in my computer until last May. So most importantly, to answer your question, is that we give God the honor that he deserves as our Founder. You know, I never learned that in school, but when I started to research our history and God's hand in it for these prayers that I wrote for corporate prayer meetings, I realized by the time I got to the fourth or fifth one that God himself is our Founder, and we never learned it. So yes, we are talking a lot about America 250, but we need to be talking about the truth of our founding. And that God is the one who really, from the beginning, from our inception, brought us into existence and has sustained us. 

Rick Green [00:18:41] And you basically take people through really the whole history, tying it to the First Great Awakening, you go through the Pilgrims, the Puritans, First Great Awakened, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Second Great Awakening. I mean, you really kind of show the thread of God's hand in all of those different major moments in our history. 

Cynthia Scott [00:19:01] That's exactly right, and that was the intention, to show an overview. People often ask me, well, what is the one moment in American history that really has convinced you that God is our Founder? And I said, there isn't one moment, that's the point. It's all through our history, from going back to the pilgrims, the covenant they made with God at the time of the Mayflower Compact, as you mentioned, through our educational system, the biblical foundation of thinking in America, of the First Great Awakening, the Revolution, you know, just the fact that our Constitution is based on the eternal truths of Scripture. All these things and many, many more show that God is our Founder and that he should be honored. That's my heart, Rick, that God would be honored at this moment in history. He deserves to be. And it's also my heart that Americans would know the truth so that we can have confidence when we defend our Christian heritage and our freedoms as coming from God. Many people will say that, well, our nation was built by God, but the facts elude them oftentimes. And the more facts we have as Americans and as Christians, the stronger we'll be in defending our freedoms. 

Rick Green [00:20:14] Okay, personal question. I'm curious because you're there in or outside of Pittsburgh. Did you get any of that into the book? Like any of the Battle of the Monongahela or any of stuff Washington going up there? I mean, you got so much history right by you. I don't know if it fit for the book. Oh, you do? Okay, cool. Okay, cool. 

Cynthia Scott [00:20:30] Well, you know what? Actually, there is a little bit of history for this region, and that is the Washington, you know, when he had two horses shot from underneath him and bullets all through his coats and really survived, God preserved him. And even a great Indian chief acknowledged that 15 years later when he said, I've got to meet this great warrior that our braves could not hit with a bullet because the great spirit was on him. And so, yes, there is some local history involved in the book.

Rick Green [00:21:01] Cool. 

Cynthia Scott [00:21:04] And prayer and prayer for our cities, you know, mine and all of the cities, and to prayer for the nation. We've got to pray for the nation, Rick, you know that. 

Rick Green [00:21:11] Amen. And it's a great call to prayer. The book itself. What's the best way to get the book? Where do you want to send people? 

Cynthia Scott [00:21:17] Well, the book is available on Amazon, hard copy, soft copy, audio book. And if anybody is interested in, some people have been interested in using it as a tool for small group study or devotions. If you wanted to buy them in bulk, it's Redemption Press, redemptionpress.com. 

Rick Green [00:21:36] Okay. Redemptionpress.com or go to Amazon. It's called Celebrating God, Our Founder at America's 250th Birthday, Historical Truths and Prayers for the Future of America. Cynthia Scott, God bless you. Thanks for coming on The WallBuilders Show. 

Cynthia Scott [00:21:49] Thank you so much Rick, it's been a pleasure. 

Rick Green [00:21:52] Stay with us folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton. 

Rick Green [00:22:56] . Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us back with David and Tim now. And thanks to Cynthia for coming on the book Celebrating God, Our Founder and America's 250th Birthday. Oh man, guys, there's so many good things coming out this year, movies, books. I mean, the focus is fantastic and hopefully it's not just for this year. Right. I mean David, you're the one that I was, I was so worried. Oh, it's all going to stop July 4th, 2026. You're like, no, Rick, we got another year, man. The 250th goes until July 4, 2027, but hopefully it even goes beyond that guys that hopefully all of this good stuff, if you will, these good seeds being planted into the soil of America, into the hearts and minds of Americans, will carry us forward for years and decades. 

David Barton [00:23:42] You know, the Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus talked about that. And for the last half a year and for the next year, we're going to be celebrating so much of America. People's hearts are going to filled with some really good things about America. And I think you're going hear this resonating and going on for the next few years because it's going to in the minds of the kids that got to see all these celebrations. It's going be in the in the mind of the hearts of the parents who are into their kids. And the minds of the school teachers who are doing special lessons on it, and pulpits who are now preaching about America and the things from America. I think this will go on, the ripple effect will go for years, and it will be a generational effect, which is what we needed. I think that this really is part of, we all think we're in a revival right now, we hope it's gonna become a great awakening that lasts for years and years and influences the culture, but I think it's part of it. I think what Trump has done to put such a big emphasis on this, what is doing to reshape DC? Returning heroes and statues and getting good things back in front of the people that'll be there for years and years and decades on the National Mall, all these new statues. And even statues of you know Ezra and Moses and St. Paul and all these Bible heroes as well. That's the kind of stuff that you're gonna keep thinking about in your mind and one of the things we know from the scriptures is the Bible says in Romans 1 because they did not like to retain God in their consciousness, they did all these evil, wicked things. And so we're making a much more God conscious society as a result of the 250th. And I think the really, basically the two years of intensive focus on the 250th that we're gonna have is gonna have a ripple effect for, I don't know how many years and decades to come. It's gonna be amazing. 

Rick Green [00:25:30] Well, Tim, you mentioned yesterday so many events coming up. You got the March 17th big event in D.C. You guys are going to be there. The whole rededication thing, I mean, that's going to be huge. 

Tim Barton [00:25:42] It's going to be incredible. There are so many things going on. So many of our friends are doing events. And that, as you mentioned, we are so busy going from event to event to event, obviously there's a ton of stuff that is also on our website, all kinds of resources. And guys, we're on so many podcasts, so many news sites, websites. So between Patriot Academy, WallBuilders, there's plenty of content out there where people can find out more the stories of the history of America. They can share it with their friends and also there's plenty of events if they want to come show up and support and celebrate America together. 

Rick Green [00:26:21] Alright folks, make sure you're listening to The WallBuilders Show. We'll keep you updated on some of those events as they continue throughout the year. And then do your own. Get together with people. Plan a July 4th celebration at your church, in your community, in your neighborhood, wherever. But get together with the people, read the Declaration of Independence, get some good WallBuilders materials. Again, wallbuilders.com for all of those things and then wallbuilders.show for the radio program. Thanks for listening to The WallBuilders Show.