Sunday, October 26, 2008

A CALL TO PRAYER - from Dutch Sheets

I know this is very long, but please take time to read it. He points out why we must pray about this election.


Dear Praying Friend,

In 2000, I wrote the 2nd most important letter of my life-a call to prayer for the elections of that year. I'm now writing what may be my most important letter. I knew the importance of those elections in 2000 was beyond any in my life up to that point and that the spiritual warfare surrounding them would be unlike anything any of us had ever seen. That letter was read by millions of people and I believe millions of them responded by praying. I also believe the prayers turned the tide.

You may question whether President Bush was the right choice; obviously, he has made some blunders in his tenure as president. But two of his decisions alone left no doubt he was God's choice: Roberts and Alito

These two Supreme Court Justices have proven critical in the process of breaking the hold of humanism, death and anti-God agendas that have ruled the Court for 50 years. I assure you that more devastation-the shedding of innocent blood, immorality, decay of the family and an erosion of our godly heritage-has flowed into our nation through that institution than any other door in America. Many times more. The poison allowed into America through their decisions is beyond any of our abilities to articulate. The reality in America is that you don't need to control Congress or the White Hose to rule the nation. You only need 5 people - 5 out of 9 on the Supreme Court. And for decades those who disagree with just about everything you and I stand for have been in control!

In Bush's two terms, the process of turning this around began with the appointments of Roberts and Alito. Now, we win some cases 5-4 and lose some 4-5. (We barely outlawed partial birth abortion. The vote of one judge saved thousands of babies from this horror.) We need one more conservative Justice for a consistent majority, then more to build a strong majority.

In Obama's own words, "the next president will appoint at least one, perhaps two or more Supreme Court Justices." He's right. Almost certainly two or more older, liberal Justices are waiting until after the elections to retire, in hopes of Obama winning and appointing more liberals to replace them. And he certainly would. He voted against the confirmation of Roberts and Alito. So did Biden. And Biden led the fight against Justice Thomas several years back, another of the 4 solid conservatives. Make no mistake about it, the two of them do have a litmus test for Supreme Court Justices, and a major part of that test is Roe vs. Wade. McCain and Palin, on the other hand, both have very strong pro-life positions. This alone makes the choice for President simple. To vote for the 2nd and 3rd most liberal senators (Obama and Biden), both of whom are firmly and blatantly pro-abortion, would be unconscionable.

Obama has actually said that if he wins, he would like his first action as president to be the signing of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate every other law against any aspect of abortion (partial birth abortion, parental notification, etc.). And with a democratic majority in the House and Senate, pretty much any legislation he and Biden want to pass will be a slam-dunk. There are many other unrighteous positions they hold but this position alone makes the choice easy. If they win this election, it will set America back decades in the cause of life and the restoration we seek.

Just as many of you do, I too, want to see a first black President, but not Senator Obama. To allow that noble and godly desire, the economy or one's position on the war to trump this issue of life and death for the innocent unborn is simply wrong. The scriptures teach that if we choose first to exalt righteousness and turn from evil, God promises to heal our land (see Proverbs 14:34; 2 Chronicles 7:14). It is righteousness that exalts a nation, not wealth, prosperity or armies. If we will finish the process of removing the curses of death and anti-God laws off of America by electing a president that will continue to shift the Court, God will grace us with breakthrough in other areas such as the economy, the war against terrorism, etc.

My faith is not in a person, and certainly not a political party, for the healing of America, but I know God's word and His ways well enough to know that our decisions do move Him to action or inaction. Now to the heart of my reason for writing this letter (I realize I am "preaching to the choir"-most of you who know or listen to me are conservative enough to vote for McCain and Palin.)

I have not written any appeals for prayer concerning this election because: 1) others have, and 2) I believe our movement has matured to the point that the prayer base of the Church is already praying.

But I now feel the need to raise my voice. I am appealing to you to pray for these elections the next two weeks like you've never prayed for any in the past. Faithfully. Passionately. Boldly. Ask God for His mercy and grace. We deserve His judgment for removing His influence and authority from our government, schools, homes and businesses; for the killing of 50 million babies; for leading the world in the consumption and exporting of pornography; for passing laws to reject His; etc. But mercy triumphs over judgment and in His wrath He remembers mercy. In 2000 we actually lost the popular vote and won the election-talk about grace! Please pray for this grace to be released again.

But I am also asking you for something more than normal prayer. For those of you who understand spiritual warfare, I am asking you to also include this aspect of prayer. There is no doubt that we have entered a Daniel 10 moment in time: "Then he said to me, 'Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia'" (Daniel 10: 12-13 NAS). The spiritual warfare in this election is incredibly fierce, and just as it was in Daniel's day, is all about the restoration of a nation. And also like Daniel, we must keep praying until we win the battle in the heavens.

In August of this year I predicted that September would mark a shift in momentum for these elections. This happened with the appointment of Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential nominee (who is a true Esther in our generation), but when the economy began its meltdown and the media ramped up their unprecedented attacks on Palin, that momentum wasn't sustained. But we can see it turn again if we approach this battle as the spiritual warfare it truly is and bind the evil forces involved (see Matthew 16:18-19). The reality is that this election can be the breakthrough we need to fully shift the Court (and ultimately our nation) or it will be an immeasurable setback that could take many years to reverse-if ever. (Italics/Hilites, Mine - David Crowe)

Please understand what I am saying: if we engage in this battle and do what I am asking-in mass-we will win; if we do not, we will lose. I, for one, don't intend to allow the latter.

I am in Washington, D.C. now (October 20-22) with Lou Engle and a team of prayer leaders from around the nation to war for this election. Join us! Lose some sleep, miss some meals- pray! Pray like never before for these elections. And as you do, involve yourself not only in petitioning prayer but also in spiritual warfare. Use your God-given authority over the plans and strategies of satan's kingdom. Bind all witchcraft that is working to control the outcome, including occultic powers that are suppressing truth. Release Christ's Kingdom rule in every way the Holy Spirit leads you

Don't be deceived and don't lose hope (if you have to, turn off the TV.) It is not too late to turn these elections. God is plenty powerful enough to do so. The real question is will we rise to the level of prayer and spiritual warfare necessary to release that power. And remember, we don't need a majority of Christians who are willing and able to do this-only a praying remnant. We can do it!

Here are some practical suggestions to consider:
1) Fast (a meal a day; a day a week; a Daniel fast; 3 days; 10 days; TV; etc.) and spend the time praying.
2) Agree in prayer with someone everyday for God's will to be done.
3) Form/participate in prayer groups regularly. Churches could pray everyday. 4) Take time in every gathering to pray. (Take 15 minutes in every service to pray for the elections. Turn an entire service to harp and bowl style intercession-worship and prayer combined.)
5) Join 2 or more on a conference call and pray for 15, 20, or 30 minutes.
6) Pray on the way to work (and on the way home).
7) Pray before you go to sleep.
8) Pray before church services.
9) Ask God to give you His strategy-He will!

In His grip,
Dutch Sheets
Senior Pastor, Freedom Church, Colorado Springs


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16 comments:

Pear tree cottage! said...

O! I thank the lord I do not have to vote at this election.....in your beautiful country.

I'll pray for you all.

Lee-ann

Anonymous said...

Amen and Amen! Sending this one on to all I can!

Brenda said...

Thanks so much for posting this, Susan. I'm going to add your link on my post today to get folks over here to read this.
God bless,
Brenda :)

Anonymous said...
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Anne Rettenberg LCSW said...

GW Bush was elected based on an alleged "Christian" agenda (we can see how well that worked in practice) and the end result was:

1. Widening gap between rich and poor (leading to misery for already born children).
2. Death and destruction overseas (lots of dead children there).
3. 1,000 dead people in New Orleans.

I could go on.

I have my pet issues too, and yes, they also have to do with life and death (of already born people). But I would never vote for a candidate based on one issue. That's crazy.

Anne Rettenberg LCSW said...

I meant to post this link too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?em

Unknown said...

This is so important to get across. Thanks so much for this post. I will add a link from my blog too.

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

Susan, this is great, thank you for posting it. If only the non-Christians (and some Christians) would read it and understand! I'm praying the scales will be removed from their eyes.

Voting for a candidate for "one" issue is NOT crazy!!! Not if the issue has to do with killing babies!!! Why can't people understand this?!

I'm posting your link on my Power of Prayer blog.

Katherine

Anonymous said...

I appreciate your entry on Dutch Sheets call to prayer, I really do. However, this is my first time to your blog and I just wanted to congratulate you on 49 years and counting. I got a chuckle out of your desire to live to at least 120. I was just telling my dh today, we need to set a goal to at least 135. :) We are 18 and counting by the way. :)

Maalie said...

I don't understand the point of praying. Surely the omnipotent and omniscient almighty heavenly father, in his mercy and wisdom, has already decided the outcome of this?

Won't the outcome be dependent on how people vote? If anyone can persuade others to vote a certain way by logic, reasoning and argument, that is democracy. Nothing to do with praying.

Cherdecor said...

My hubby and I were discussing this whole election issue this morning at breakfast. My hubby thinks that God's mind is persuaded by how Christians live and not how they pray. On the other hand, God is merciful but not until we have repented.

"Everyone does what is right in their own eyes" and are not obedient to the Word of God so sometimes God has to do something drastic in order to discipline us. Why pray that our country be blessed so we can continue to heap us to ourselves houses, lands and stuff, drink what we want to and watch what we want to and live lives doing church instead of living lives surrendered to Christ?
I think that at some point, God is going to spew us out of his mouth.

What is happening to our country at the moment is a direct cause of how we as Christians have lived our lives.

However, this is a great post. I am not at all criticizing it. Just added thoughts.

Anne Rettenberg LCSW said...

Of course, we all know that making something illegal makes it go away. Just like it did during Prohibition.

How many people here adopted unwanted babies?

Anonymous said...

maalie, I just wanted to comment on your thoughts. God being omnipotent and omniscient does know what the outcome of all this is, but the value of prayer by concerned believers can still influence the ALMIGHTY to interviene in the outcome. I personally know of people whom have changed their minds on issues and they cannot tell you why and it IS THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTING THEM. The experience in which I saw this occur was with non christians,thus THEY the person does not necessarily have to be persuaded, as they can be divinely influenced and they don't ever reconigze/know it. therefore our freverent prayer can and does influence the Holy Spririt. SO PRAY... Don

Maxine said...

Oh, Susan! This has touched my heart. Making a link to it right now on my blog!

TO BECOME said...

I have been fervently praying for some time now. I see the spirtual warfare at work. People are blinded, their ears do not hear,their eyes do not see that they are about to step off into a world that they can't even imagine except that God intervenes. Our God is a God of might and miracles and if we pray and believe, I believe along with you that the victory will be His. Thank you Susan. connie

Darian Hickman said...

I heard from a friend that attended the Call in San Diego that you prophesied McCain would win? Are you going to admit that you heard wrong publicly?