Reflecting and Remembering God’s Prophetic Providence

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Welcome to A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.

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We share good news and godly wisdom to empower you to be salt and light in every season of life.

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It seems we live in a land of paradoxes and are witnessing the inclination to casually disregard

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what previous generations have held to be of fundamental importance.

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In this episode, Doug reminds us of how much we have to be grateful for

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and to reflect upon the fundamental values that our nation was founded on.

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After the episode, consider leaving a review and follow us on your favorite streaming service.

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If you've leaned anything from this podcast, consider paying it forward with a gift

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at somebodycares.org. Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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Each July 4th week, I take time to reflect and remember God's providence for our nation.

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In fact, reflecting on this upcoming July 4th, I'm reminded of how much I have to be grateful for.

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I'm grateful for all the sacrifices made by so many for the liberties and freedoms that I enjoy

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today, in fact that we all enjoy today. I'm also reminded by the words of our first president,

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George Washington. We have God to thank for America's birthday. He also goes on to say,

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No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of

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men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the

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character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of

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providential agency. Many will greet one another with happy 4th of July or display flags, have

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barbecues and picnics, attend parties, and of course watch magnificent displays of fireworks.

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I wonder though just how many will actually comprehend the history and the price paid for

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the liberties that we enjoy so much. It seems we live in a land of paradoxes. We are all the

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beneficiaries of the foundations laid through many a price paid and sacrifices made by which

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we enjoy the liberties and freedoms in our nation. Yet many forget the roots of those foundations.

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We are witnessing the inclination to casually disregard what previous generations have held to

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be of fundamental importance to us. Let us not only greet one another with happy 4th or

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Independence Day, but may we have a deep gratitude and appreciation for those who sacrificed for

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us to have them. May we also be keenly aware of just how volatile our liberties and freedoms are.

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They must not be taken for granted, but stewarded with respect and a sense of responsibility.

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Thus we find ourselves losing the very things we have so cherished. President Ronald Reagan once

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said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our

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children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for the future.

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We will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like

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in the United States where men were free. You see, our founding fathers understood that freedom

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naturally decays as societies expand unless people of principle defend it. That tendency

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has been true at every point in human history and always will be. Government has the necessary

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role of defending our liberty, free speech, and the right to property.

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But virtue can become a vice when it attempts too much. We must be watchful to ensure that the

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government's good intentions don't become the overreach that becomes tyranny. In our freedoms

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and liberties, we may not always agree on every issue, and that's very obvious on the day in which

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we live. But may we remember to always have respect and show civility in our public discourse,

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even in our strong disagreements. Let us remember that we are not the only ones who have the right

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to have a right to freedom. We must remember and reflect upon the fundamental values that our nation

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was founded on. The Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 is as providential and

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powerful today as it was when it was written and when it was signed back then. We hold these truths

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to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain

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values, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And yes, in our frail

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humanity, there have been many challenges and conflicts to address and work through since our

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very founding. Yet there is no other nation as young and as diverse as the U.S. So let us remember

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and reflect upon the redemptive and fundamental values that our nation was founded on. And to

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recognize that we are an indivisible, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice

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for all. I find the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts, Chapter 17, verse 26 through 28, and Galatians,

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Chapter 5, verse 1, fitting for us today. And it's part of my regular prayer time. And he has made

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from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined their

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boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they

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might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him

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we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, for we are

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also His offspring." That's Acts chapter 17 verse 26 through 28.

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Think of the possibilities. Of any nation in the world, the United States of America is

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made up of individuals and people from every nation. In other words, just like Paul said

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in Acts chapter 17, one blood from every nation. Through Christ we're one blood, we're unified

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in Him as a people of the United States of America, yes with all of our conflicts and

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challenges and differences and difficulties, yet we are brought from every nation to be

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one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. One blood, many nations.

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I love what Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty

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by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

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I pray that our liberties would not become a license for licentiousness that causes greater

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division and schisms between us, but realizing we're part of something bigger than ourselves,

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that the providence of God has brought us together for a time such as this. And first and foremost

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it starts with a heart awakening in us, so we can have a church-wide corporate awakening

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and so that together we can reach the soul of our nation. The nations of the world are

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here and it's here that we need an awakening and a personal sense of responsibility for

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the freedoms and liberties God has given us, so that we can, like in the covenant of Abraham,

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be a blessing to the nations. Let us truly recognize the depth and the breadth of the

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foundations laid, the price that's already been paid for our liberties and freedoms,

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so that we can take the responsibility to be a light that shines like a lighthouse to

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a world that's desperately working through the fog, through the darkness, through the

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storms of life. We need the presence and the peace of God like never before. And I pray

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that the church awakened together, crossing our racial, denominational, generational lines,

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becoming part of something greater than ourselves, would recognize this awesome responsibility

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for a time such as this.

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Back in 2015, in preparation for a city-wide gathering of pastors, intercessors, leaders

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in the greater Houston area, I was preparing, but yet I was also losing all my hair. It

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was July 3rd. I was preparing for July 4th to speak at this gathering, and yet I was

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losing all my hair from chemo. I won't get into the whole story, but it was called,

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The Eagle is Balding. And I talked about, is there hope and healing for the bald eagle

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nation? Now we know that our national bird is a bald eagle, so I was using that prophetic

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drama of the very things I was going through in my own body. And like the prophets of the

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Old Testament, or the early church leaders, many times when they were going through something

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personal, it became a part of what was called a prophetic drama. The message became larger

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than the context of what they were going through.

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In retrospect, recognizing it's been eight years now since that moment when I was losing

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my hair on July 3rd, and I jokingly said to my wife, the eagle is balding in preparation

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for that July 4th city-wide gathering. But I realize now how prophetic that really was.

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The things we were going through, the message I ended up writing about in an article in

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July of 2015 called, The Eagle is Balding. Can the church help heal a nation? Looking

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back now, that was five years before COVID, five years before all the challenges and the

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divisiveness and the increase of challenges and anarchy and divisiveness in our nation.

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It was five years before all the beginnings of all this unraveling in our nation and around

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the world. God was preparing His people, and He's always looking to us to look introspectively

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– looking at our own hearts, our own heart conditions. You've heard me say before in

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the Reform of Josiah in 622 BC that King Josiah, when he realized how everything had gotten

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out of kilter and he began to legislate the laws of God when he saw how far we'd become

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untethered from the laws of God. Jeremiah and Zephaniah, the prophets in the Old Testament,

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who were contemporaries at the time, although commending King Josiah, made a strong statement

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and alluded to this, lasting change will never take place until the inward corruption of

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the heart is first dealt with. That's why you've heard me say with redundancy over

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and over and over, we need an individual heart awakening, a corporate church heart awakening,

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if we're going to heal the soul of a nation. There is no hope, and there will be no lasting

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change until we first deal with the inward corruption of our own hearts. Anyway, if you'd

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like a copy of that prophetic drama, that message I wrote in July 2015 and was published

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by various online magazines, I'd be happy to send you a copy. In fact, you can go to

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dougstringer.com and look up The Eagle is Balding. It's from July 2015. Or you can

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email us at somebodycares.org, requesting the prophetic drama message, Is There Hope

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and Healing for the Bald Eagle Nation by Doug Stringer. I'd be happy to send it to you.

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So in conclusion today, let me remind us that we are from every nation, one blood in Christ

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Jesus. We can cross our racial, denominational, generational lines meeting at the cross of

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Christ and together become part of something greater than ourselves. The Church in our

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nation and our nation together can be a blessing to the nations of the world or continue to

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be a blessing to the nations of the world. And again, as Paul said in Galatians chapter

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five verse one, let's stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us

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free and do not be entangled again in yokes of bondage. So again, may I say to you, have

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a great Fourth of July week, have a great blessed Independence Day in July Fourth, enjoy

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family, enjoy all the festivities and the fireworks, but let us never forget the foundations

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laid, the sacrifices made and the price has been paid for you and I to enjoy the liberties

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and freedoms that we have. Happy and blessed Independence Day and every day, happy Fourth

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of July.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and Friends and

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ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the ministry at somebodycares.org or by texting

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your donation amount to 805-422-7348. Please join us again for A Word in Season with Doug

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Stringer and Friends.