William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author of 20 books and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s Christian heritage. He is a brilliant man who is able to assimilate both the big picture and historical details of what America once was, and where she is headed.
As a former U.S. Congressional Candidate, he has developed a unique expertise in both American and world history, while grounded in the Bible. A person would be wise to listen to his words of wisdom as we celebrate our 237th birthday.
William Federer is the fifth of eleven children. He attributes his love of history to his father, Richard Federer.
A Spokesman for Faith and Freedom
Federer has been quoted or referenced in numerous noteworthy publications including USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Townhall.com, and World Magazine. His American Minute is broadcast daily across America on radio, streamed over the internet, and is also carried daily by Sonoma Christian Home. In the popular American Minute he summarizes historical events including the spiritual perspective, which occurred on that particular day in American history.
William has been married to his high school sweetheart, Susie, for 32 years.
William and Susie are the proud parents of four grown children.
He has appeared on multiple TV programs such as CSPAN, FOX, Hannity & Colmes, The O’Reilly Factor, MSNBC, The 700 Club, as well as the major networks. He has been interviewed on thousands of radio programs including Focus on the Family, Janet Parshall’s America, Bott Radio Network, American Family Radio, and Family Life Radio.
William Federer is one of the most interviewed experts on the faith and history of our nation. He is a patriot who stands for faith, family and freedom.
Federer has spoken across America at events from Mount Rushmore to the Lincoln Memorial to our Nation’s Capitol. He has addressed audiences with congressman and senators, candidates, sports figures, military officers, and students.
His speaking career has included thousands of engagements from prayer breakfasts (including the National Day of Prayer) and government events to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, PTA meetings and colleges and universities.
William Federer speaks on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol for a Tea Party Rally.
William Federer speaks at an Eagle Forum meeting in Dallas, Texas.
He has garnered numerous recognitions including an Honorary Doctorate from American Christian College in 2004, The Eagle Award from Phyllis Schlafly, Bott Radio Network’s Great American Award, and The George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms Foundation in Valley Forge.
Dr. James Song of Midwest University in Missouri bestows an Honorary Doctorate upon William Federer.
Best-Selling Books about Faith in our History
William Federer is best known for his writings as an American historian. His works include The Faith of FDR, The Ten Commandments and their Influence on American Law, America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations (over a half-million sold), American Minute, Change to Chains, Backfired, and most recently with his wife, Miracles in American History.
Miracles in American History contains 32 amazing stories of answered prayer in our nation’s history. You can discover the many times our country’s fate hung in the balance and how the courage and prayers of Godly men and women averted disaster.
Unfortunately, most of these important stories have been edited out of our history books and classes, but they clearly reveal the Hand of God in our nation’s history.
William and Susie Federer are adept in bringing spiritual applications to light in historical context. Did you know that Buzz Aldrin had a private communion service during that first adventure on the moon? Or that a hurricane scattered the French enemy fleet when it sought to bring Boston to flames in 1746?
Did you know what freak accident happened two days after Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a Day of Fasting which changed the course of the Civil War? Or did you know George Washington Carver prayed every time he entered his laboratory and acknowledged his source of knowledge as “The Bible?”
After reading this book, no one can deny our nation was established upon Judeo-Christian principles and has been blessed by God.
This book is also offered as an eight-part DVD series where Federer walks you through history with charts and pictures. I highly recommend this as an enlightening crash course in world history.
Change to Chains gives an eye-opening summary of world history in a nutshell and distinguishes the uniqueness of America’s form of government.
Federer clearly states, “In the 6000 year history of civilizations, the default mode is monarchy with power tending to concentrate in the hands of a few.”
America, however, is one of the rare exceptions because Judeo-Christian principles and faith played a key role in its founding as a republic with the power in the hands of the people.
Federer postulates, “The story of liberty is a history of the limitation of a government power, not the increase of it.” We are losing our freedoms to government control more each day, and he cleverly shows how with every crisis, power is being taken from “we the people” and is being transferred to the federal government.
This realization and warning from George Washington in his Farewell Address in 1796, should be a wakeup call for all who value freedom:
Disorders and miseries…gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an Individual…[who] turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public…and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.
Change to Chains is filled with threads of wisdom, events of world and American history and inspiring quotes from historical figures. These chapter titles will peak your interest: If No God, the State Becomes God; Capitalism Checks Concentrated Power; History of Republics – How They Rose and Fell; Constitution – An Attempt to Harness Selfishness; Religion’s Role in a Rare Republic; and Fewer Outside Laws if More Inside Laws.
These quotes found in Change to Chains give us food for thought on our nation’s birthday:
The COUNTRY is controlled by LAWS
LAWS are controlled by POLITICIANS
POLITICIANS are controlled by VOTERS
VOTERS are controlled by PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC OPINION is controlled by the MEDIA (News, Hollywood, Internet…) & EDUCATION
So whoever controls MEDIA & EDUCATION, controls the COUNTRY.
William J. Federer
Crisis alone permitted the authorities to demand and obtain total submission and all necessary sacrifices from its citizens.
Joseph Stalin
Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there would be anarchy all over the world.
Daniel Webster
Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. . . It must be fought for, protected. . . or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren what it was once like in the United States when men were free.
Ronald Reagan
Sonoma Christian Home Editor at Large, Ginny Dent Brant, grew up in the halls of power in Washington, D.C. and is uniquely prepared to converse with William Federer about the history and direction of this country.
SCH – Share with us a short synopsis of your wife’s favorite miracle from Miracles in American History.
William Federer – During the War of 1812, when 4500 British troops invaded Washington, D.C., British Admiral George Cockburn set the White House on fire, held a mock Congress and torched the Capitol. He then proceeded to burn other buildings.
As the sky began to darken, a destructive tornado touched down striking the troops and causing them to flee. When the astonished Admiral inquired of a local lady about the intensity of the storm, she referred to it as, “The Providence to drive our enemies from our city.”
The rains put out the fires and a British historian later wrote, “More British soldiers were killed by this stroke of nature than by all the firearms the American troops had mustered . . . “
President James Madison, the “Chief Architect of the Constitution who also wrote the First Amendment,” had proclaimed a Day of Prayer at the beginning of this war, and three months after this event, he declared a Day of Fasting and Prayer. After the War was over, he proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving to God.
This story is my wife’s favorite and is just one example of how in times of crisis, America turned to God and He was faithful.
British Burn the Capitol, 1814, a painting by Allyn Cox in the Hall of Capitols, a corridor in the House side of the United States Capitol. It depicts the burning of Washington during the War of 1812. Source: U.S. Diplomacy Center
SCH –Who was your favorite president and why?
William Federer – George Washington. He was the Commander of the Army who could have used his popularity to make himself king, but after the war, he went back to farming. He was chosen to be president twice, but he retired to farming. Like The Lord of the Rings, he held that ring of power twice, yet had the character not to covet it. He gave it up for the good of the country.
SCH – Since George Washington was your favorite President, what do you have to say about the criticism he receives from those who say that as one of our Founding Fathers, he was a mason and not a Christian when he dedicated our country to God?
William Federer – He was a Christian and also a mason. He was baptized, married, and buried in the Anglican Church. His Great Great Grandfather John Washington fled England as an Anglican and his relatives were all involved in planting Anglican churches.
One must understand the masons went through three stages. This is why many are confused. In the first stage masons worked with stone and built castles all over Europe.
In the second stage, which is the one George Washington and some of our Founding Fathers were involved in, the masons provided a place to gather to speak against the king. After the American Revolution, membership dropped off in the US as there was no longer a king to speak against.
There is a very clear distinction between the first two stages and the third stage which occurred after the French Revolution. During this third stage, atheism-deism filtered in and it took a more anti-Christian view.
When Marquis D’ Lafayette came from France to the US in 1826, he brought a resurgence of mason membership with more of the French infidelity mixed in. This is when the Anti-Masonic Party was established as the first third party system in the US.
Federer joins Rick Scarborough of Vision America, Alan Keyes and James Dobson at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota for a Pro-Life rally.
SCH – As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, tell us more about the role of Christian faith in the forming of our government?
William Federer – I have read the charter of every colony and found that each was started by a different denomination. For example, Virginia was started by the Anglicans, Massachusetts by the Puritans, Rhode Island by the Baptists, Maryland by the Catholics, and Pennsylvania by the Quakers, etc.
They were constantly chasing each other out of each other’s colonies. They did not always get along, but they learned to work together against the king. After the Revolution, they became more tolerant of each other.
And it was based on this, “We may not always agree on religion, but you were willing to fight for my freedom, so I’m willing to allow you to practice yours.”
In 1776, ninety-eight percent of our country was Protestant-Christian, less than two percent was Catholic and one-tenth of one percent was Jewish. Of the states that ratified the US Constitution, nine required you to be a practicing protestant to run for office.
Maryland required belief as a Catholic or Protestant, Pennsylvania required belief in the Scriptures and God, and Delaware required belief in the Trinity. Rhode Island was the most liberal believing true religion comes from within and should not be a requirement to run for office.
Eventually they all revised to just “belief in God” until the Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that “belief in God” can no longer be required.
Federer joins forces with Ollie North in the fight for freedom.
SCH – How did we go from freedom of religion under state control to the federal government enforcing freedom from religion?
William Federer – Our Founding Fathers put religion under state jurisdiction and tied the federal government’s hands in the First Amendment. They did not want the religion of one colony to be elevated above another.
Ironically in our day, the Supreme Court now defines atheism as a religion and tolerance has extended to different religions. The Fourteenth Amendment is now used to take rights away from the state and to put religion under the federal government.
I wrote about this in my book called Backfired because the faith of the ones who started this country is now the one being thrown out the door.
SCH – As someone who has studied both world and American history, do you feel America is falling from within just as Israel and the Roman Empire did?
William Federer – Interesting you mention Israel and Rome as they were both republics at one time. It’s rare in history for people to rule without a king.
Throughout most of the 6000 years of human history, monarchy is the default mode. Israel was the first to rule without a king and to allow individuals to own title to their property. Rome was a republic from 527 – 509 B.C.
In our country, we took the power of King George III, and divided it into three branches and separated it into federal and state with the state (closer to the people) having the most power.
Then we tied it up with ten handcuffs, the Bill of Rights, to preserve liberty and prevent the control from going back to a few in power.
Unfortunately, with every crisis, the tension created causes control to snap back like a rubber band to more government control. America has been the greatest experiment in liberty because she was able to get the closest to anarchy while still maintaining order.
But the secret ingredient was our Judeo-Christian values which gave us internal morals so we needed fewer laws. As we continue to remove God from our lives and lose our morals to do what is right in our own eyes, new laws must be passed to control us. But each takes away more of our freedoms. Our apathy has clearly contributed to our downfall.
Federer gives an interview to Channel Five in St. Louis.
SCH – With our national debt, declining morals, open borders, and movement towards government control of everything, what hope do you see for America?
William Federer – Our only hope is repentance. Israel made a covenant with God and was blessed. When they backslid, God sent prophets to warn and bring her back. Israel went through several cycles of repentance and restoration until she was finally judged.
We have experienced similar cycles of dedication, backsliding and repentance from major to minor degrees. We are doing it in a major way today as we continue to go against God’s design for creation, kick God out of everything, and kill babies in their mother’s wombs. We need to repent as a nation and turn back to God.
I’m praying for a Josiah generation. God gave them a Passover from His judgment during the years when Josiah was king because he sought the Lord, cleaned up temple worship, and turned Israel back to God after the wicked days of King Manasseh.
We’ve sinned like Manasseh as a country and we deserve His judgment. If we have a young generation like Josiah that seeks the Lord, maybe God will give us more time to do His will.
SCH – Amen! You stated that our Declaration of Independence mentions God four times. After the Democratic Convention in Charlotte where they took God out of the platform and they half-heartedly put him back in, what does this say about our country when this platform won reelection in the Presidency and the Senate?
William Federer – Recognizing God is vital to maintaining rights, equality and a government with fewer laws. There are three secular reasons America should be under God: 1) our rights come from a higher power; 2) we are created in the image of God, and 3) our internal morals lessens our laws. What a difference being under God makes!
Art Linkletter endorsed Federer in his run for Congress in 2004. Federer’s endorsers and contributors came from across this country.
SCH – As a child of Watergate, I believe that Nixon was guilty of believing as President he was above the law, but the media was there to hold him accountable. Do you believe our current president is acting like a king, with the majority of the media not holding him accountable?
William Federer – Our current president has clearly stated he does not like being accountable to the Constitution or the Congress. He continues to try and usurp their power. George Washington warned this usurpation would bring the end of our republic.
Our Founding Fathers did not fear the media; they feared what the pastors would say about them on Sunday. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The church is to be the conscience of the state.” Today the news media has taken the role that was formerly given to the church.
SCH – Do you believe the church showed up in this last election?
William Federer – Much in our country depends on what people are taught. People act differently when they believe in a state of eternal rewards and punishment and think of what they do in light of being held accountable by God. It is the job of the church to teach people what the Bible says and to provide a moral populous to reflect the moral view of the people. The church has not been taking its expected role.
SCH – If you ever have a question about American history, William Federer is the man to go to. He uniquely combines the big picture of world, American, and Biblical history while also providing the details. Absolutely fascinating! And if you think Christianity did not play an important role in the founding and forming of this great country and its unbelievable success, think again.
Read another exciting interview by Ginny on Valedictorian Roy Costner Goes Rogue with a Pound of Courage.
For more information about William Federer, his writings, speaking, and ministry go to www.americanminute.com.
Is William Federer a Free Mason?