Whether it’s Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Easter, or the 4th of July, or any time of the year, are we really truly thankful for the country that we live in today – or do we often take it for granted? For example, have you ever wondered what makes America different from every other nation in the world – what some refer to as America’s “exceptionalism”? Is it just because we are more wealthy, or more powerful, than any other country? Or is it something more “spiritual”?
VFIA #223 – Giving Thanks for our Godly Heritage from Dean Welty on Vimeo.
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Have you ever wondered what America would be like if the first settlers had come from a different part of the world, such as Asia, or Africa, or Latin America? Or what if they had come 200 years earlier – before the Protestant Reformation — and had not been raised on the Bible?
Have you wondered what the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Black Regiment of early pastors, and the Founding Fathers did to build the America that we enjoy today? Are they just a bunch of dead white men who we would rather forget about – or do we owe them a debt of great gratitude?
Have you wondered what America would be like today if our forefathers had not pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to win our independence in the 18th century, or fought to end slavery in the 19th century, or defended us from tyrants and terrorists in the 20th century?
Do you also wonder what people mean when they refer to America as a Christian nation? And do you wonder if America can still be called a Christian nation today, or what kind of country we will be tomorrow? Finally, do you wonder what we can do to keep our Godly Heritage alive?
Those are some of the questions I’ll be asking this weekend on Valley Faith in Action as we talk about “Giving Thanks for Our Godly Heritage”. Our guest is Stephen McDowell, President of the Providence Foundation in Charlottesville and also President of the Foundation’s Biblical Worldview University. He has written numerous books and training courses on America’s Christian history and on the need to live by Biblical principles in order to prosper as a nation.
Stephen McDowell (left) as an advisor on the Virginia Christian Alliance. Dean Welty serves on the Board of Directors and
Valley Faith in Action airs on WAZT-TV at 8:00 p.m., Friday, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, and Wednesday midnight. It is available on Comcast Channel 13 in Harrisonburg and parts of Rockingham, but varies in other areas. However, if you miss the TV program, you can also watch it and earlier programs online any time HERE.
