Thursday, July 16, 2026

Valued Praying Americans,

Thank you for continuing to prayer. Together, we shape and steer nations under God.

This issue: the 5 pillars of the American Founding. "The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3 NLT).

— Brian

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Five Pillars, One American House

Before America had a Constitution, it had founding influences. Five of them. We can think of them as 5 core pillar’s — American DNA.

Here they are in brief, in one line each:

🏛️ Greece gave the Founders a warning. Pure democracy devours itself and cannot last.

🏛️ Rome gave the Founders a blueprint. A republic built on representation and restraint.

🏛️ Jerusalem — Judeo-Christian truth gave the Founders wisdom and revealed truth from above. Every person carries the image of God.

🏛️ Scottish political philosophy gave the Founders a mind. Common sense, moral conscience, capitalism and free enterprise.

🏛️ English political philosophy gave the Founders a case. Common law and natural rights strong enough to break from a king. Think John Locke and others.

Five pillars. One house. Over 4 issues, we'll walk through each one, and we'll pray the DNA of each back into the nation today.

In this issue, we’ll get a snapshot of 2 paired pillars: Greece and Rome.

Athens Warned Us About Unbridled Democracy

508 to 404 BC.

The Founders studied Athens closely. They admired the idea of citizens having a voice. But they did not want to copy a pure democracy.

James Madison put it plainly in Federalist No. 10. Pure democracies, he wrote, have "ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention" and have always proven "incompatible with personal security or the rights of property."

He said such governments tend to be as short-lived as they are violent in how they end.

John Adams was even blunter. In a letter late in his life, he wrote that democracy never lasts long. It wastes itself. It has never once failed to destroy itself from the inside.

This is hard-won wisdom from history. The Founders looked at mob rule and refused to build on it.

You need to know there is a movement today pushing for a “pure democracy” and the mob rule it can unleash.

The Roman Republic Was Key to the Founders

509 to 27 BC.

So they studied the political history of the Roman Republic too.

Not the Rome of emperors. The Rome of the early Republic. A Senate. Representatives. Written law. A structure built to slow down passion and force wisdom to catch up.

The proof is hiding in plain sight. When Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers defending the Constitution, they didn't sign their own names. They signed as "Publius." A name borrowed from Publius Valerius Publicola, one of the founders of the Roman Republic itself.

They weren't just quoting Rome. In a sense, they were writing as Rome.

Greece taught the Founders to fear a pure democracy. Rome taught them to build a republic with elected representatives.

I think if you can understand these 5 pillars of American DNA, you are in the top 1% of all Americans who really appreciate what America is about. A singular jewel in world history.

Brian

BTW, is anything perfect? Your wellness and fitness? Is your marriage perfect? Your church? Your business? Learn to appreciate what is good and beautiful about these things. So, we’re grateful about all that is good and beautiful about America.

We can draw on America's founding prayers, covenants, documents, and early experiences as "prayer architecture" for today. Adapt the prayer language below to your prayer voice as the Holy Spirit leads.

🏛️ Order Over Chaos — Father, I pray against the spirit of mob rule rising in our culture. Where there is division built to destroy instead of debate built to strengthen … silence it. “In order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2 NASB).

⚖️ Order That Holds — Lord, I pray for every leader holding power today. Give them the humility Rome tried to build into law. Guard against pride that reaches for more than it was given. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18, NKJV).

📜 A Foundation That Holds — Lord Over All, root the Church deeper in what does not move. Let us build on rock. Prepare our hearts for the pillars still to come … the covenant, the conscience, the case for liberty. "The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3 NLT).

📖 2026 Summer of Readiness — Lord, use this summer to sharpen us the way the Minutemen sharpened themselves before the moment came. Give us hunger to read, to study, to know our history and our times. Prepare us now so we are ready later. "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit" (Jesus in Luke 12:35 NASB).

🛡️ Lord, protect this nation by Your sovereign hand — You govern nations. We ask for Your protection over America — its people, its children, its institutions. Where the Church has been absent from its post, cover what we have left unguarded. “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me: fight against those who fight against me” (Psalm 35:1 NKJV).

As you pray, tune in to the Father’s heart. Resonate with the sharp prayer edges he surfaces in the Spirit. Leave “white space” in prayer for fresh prayer improvisation.

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Brian Del Turco
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