America's Providential History (Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life) [Paperback]

Mark A. Beliles (Author), Stephen K. McDowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1991

Even "Newsweek" now admits: "Historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document." In this enlightening book, you'll discover the remarkable evidence for this truth. Based on the assumption that all history is Providential (i.e., it reflects God's purposes) you'll learn how God's presence was evident at our nation's founding in the hearts and minds of the men who fought for independence and shaped the Constitution. Numerous illustrations, portraits, and visual aids make this book a valuable resource.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This volume seems destined to become one of the best selling Christian books of our time." --Conservative Book Club

About the Author

Dr. Mark Beliles is the President of National Transformation Network of Providence Foundation and senior pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Beliles has lectured throughout the U.S. and in over 30 nations and frequently advises Christian prime-ministers, vice-presidents, congressmen, and members of parliaments on Biblical principles of government. Beliles has co-authored several books, including Contending for the Constitution, and his essays and doctoral dissertation (Churches and Politics in Jefferson s Virginia) are cited and published by various academic journals.

Stephen McDowell is the President of the Providence Foundation s Biblical Worldview University. In over 26 years of full-time work with the Foundation, Stephen has trained many thousands of people from every U.S. state and over 100 countries. He has traveled to 30 nations in six continents where he has consulted with government officials, assisted in writing political documents, advised political parties, and started Christian schools and Biblical Christian worldview training centers. He has authored and co-authored over 20 books, videos, and training courses including Liberating the Nations and In God We Trust Tour Guide. McDowell holds a master s degree in geophysics, served for several years as a pastor, and has been an adjunct professor at Regent University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Providence Foundation; 2nd edition (December 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887456007
• ISBN-13: 978-1887456005
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading in these trouble times, August 31, 2009

By 

SUCCISA VIRESCIT (Brentwood, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Providential History (Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life) (Paperback)

I consider "America's Providential History" one of the most important books in my rather large library. It does a wonderful job of documenting the very facts that drive the skeptic/humanist/materialist mad (see the one-star reviews here and for other similar books - like Skousen's "5000 Year Leap"): that America was founded primarily by Christians as the first nation in history to self-consciously seek to have -- as the popular cry of the War for Independence declared -- "NO KING BUT JESUS." And more to the point, this book also documents the many instances where this King superintended the creation of this Christian republic -- events that can only be called miraculous -- and that powerfully demonstrate just how "providential" America's creation really was.

As for the quote or two that modern scholarship now views as likely apocryphal; given when the book was written, such mistakes (and they are few) are inevitable. Note them and get on with it. It doesn't take anything away from the powerful message of this important book. They strain at gnats while swallowing the camel served up by the modern revisionists who simply will not have God in their thinking.

160 of 237 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Christian Homeschooling Pseudo-History, September 10, 2007

By 

Chris Rodda - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America's Providential History (Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life) (Paperback)

America's Providential History contains far too many lies to cover in a short review, but here is a sampling of what you'll find in this popular homeschooling pseudo-history book.

To begin with, you'll find many misquotes that appear on David Barton's "Unconfirmed Quotations" list -- misquotes that even a revisionist as bad as Barton advises his minions not to use. These include the infamous James Madison Ten Commandments misquote, and this one, allegedly from Thomas Jefferson:

"The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty; ...students perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens."

The first part of this, "The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty," is a complete fabrication, appearing nowhere in Jefferson's writings. The second part doesn't come from Jefferson either, but from an 1852 letter written by Daniel Webster, an ardent promoter of Sunday schools. Webster claimed in this letter that Jefferson, in a conversation twenty-five years earlier about Sunday schools, had said, "the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands."(1)

This Jefferson misquote is followed by one from James Madison:

"religion... [is] the basis and foundation of government."

According to Beliles and McDowell, this comes from Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance."

Here's what that document actually says. Notice how many words appear between the word "Religion" and the phrase "the basis and foundation of government," words omitted to create a "quote" with an entirely different meaning.

"Because finally, 'the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his Religion according to the dictates of conscience' is held by the same tenure with all his other rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consider the 'Declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis and foundation of government,' it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or rather studied emphasis."(2)

Among the many lies about Jefferson promoting religion, you'll find this one about him putting the Bible in public schools.

"...while President, he also chaired the school board for the District of Columbia and authored its plan of education using the Bible and Watt's Hymnal as reading texts."

This lie is created by combining two things -- Jefferson's election in 1805 as president of Washington's school board, and an 1813 report by the teacher of one of the city's early schools, showing the school's success in teaching reading by the number of children who could read from the Bible and Watts's Hymns. Jefferson had nothing to do with this. The school in this report didn't even exist until 1812, three years after he left Washington.

Jefferson did not approve of Bible reading in schools. Describing his 1777 plan for public schools in Virginia in his "Notes on the State of Virginia," Jefferson made it clear that the absence of the Bible in that plan was not an oversight, but a deliberate exclusion.

"Instead therefore, of putting the Bible and Testament into the hands of the children at an age when their judgments are not sufficiently matured for religious inquiries, their memories may here be stored with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European, and American history."(3)

You'll also find some popular lies about the Continental Congress, (called "The Christian Continental Congress" in this book), importing and printing Bibles.

"In 1782, Congress acted the role of a Bible society by officially approving the printing and distribution of the `Bible of the Revolution,' an American translation prepared by Robert Aitken."

There are many versions of this story floating around, all worded to mislead that Congress either requested the printing of these Bibles, granted Aitken permission to print them, contracted him to print them, paid for the printing, or printed them for the use of schools. Congress did none of these things. All they did was grant one of Aitken's many requests by having their chaplains examine his work, and allowing him to publish their resolution stating that, based on the chaplains' report, they were satisfied that his work was accurate.

Aitken actually asked Congress for quite a bit more, requesting that his Bible "be published under the Authority of Congress,"(4) and that he "be commissioned or otherwise appointed & Authorized to print and vend Editions of the Sacred Scriptures."(5) He also asked Congress to purchase some of his Bibles to distribute to the states. None of these requests were granted.

In addition to the typical lies above, which can be found in most revisionist history books, you'll find others that are quite unique, like the ridiculous claim that, since 1862, the words "so help me God" have been legally required at the end of the presidential oath of office.

You'll also find some twisting of fundamental government principles when necessary to make the religion lies seem plausible. For example, in describing an 1805 treaty with Tripoli, which didn't contain the "not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" phrase found in the previous 1797 treaty, Beliles and McDowell claim that Congress changed this treaty just to remove these offensive words.

"Congress renegotiated and ratified the `Treaty of Tripoli' in 1805 after repudiating and deleting the phrase: `The United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.'"

So, thanks to the fact that this book is so widely used among Christian homeschoolers, countless children are being taught a version of the separation of powers in which Congress has the power to repudiate, delete a phrase from, renegotiate, and ratify a treaty.


1. The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster, vol. 16, (Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1903), 656-657.
2. Letters and other Writings of James Madison, vol. 1, (New York: R. Worthington, 1884), 168.
3. Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2, (Washington D.C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), 204.
4. Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, r48, i41, v1, p63.
5. ibid.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pure Gibberish, August 9, 2011

By 

Thomas E. Wisniewski (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America's Providential History (Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life) (Paperback)

This book is the most poorly written and thought-out book I have ever read. It is literally 296 pages of gibberish. There are far too many examples to cite (the other reviewers have already covered this), so please forgive me while I generalize:

* The authors take statements by historical figures as well as Biblical verses out of context, then mix and match them to make their point (which in a couple of cases is contradicted elsewhere in the book).

* When the authors can't establish some kind of foundation for their point, they make incredible leaps of thought (I can't even call it logic), implying that the point they are making is obvious.

* The authors don't appear to me to be either historical or Biblical experts, so they freely quote others similarly unqualified to bolster their argument - a kind of "Blind leading the blind".

It's truly sad because I believe the underlying premise of the book is true: God has blessed the United States of America from its founding and as Americans we and our government have gone astray. Our churches have become watered-down and ineffective. But this book neither helps explain the decline nor offers a well-justified prescription for fixing it.