Prior to the 2016 election, many intercessors around the world were praying for our election. People in Europe, China and Latin America said intercessors were praying fervently that Trump would be elected. Many took the election so seriously, they were fasting and praying for hours each day.
Lou Engle, a revivalist and co-founder of TheCall, a group that hosted 12-hour prayer rallies, sent out a call to friends and supporters to begin a three-day Esther fast—meaning no food and no water—as a petition for God’s mercy. He rallied thousands to join him because the situation looked so bleak. Conservative Christians believed that if Hillary Clinton won the election, it would be “game over” for religious freedom.
The stakes are again high in 2020. Ministries are not only mobilizing intercessors in the U.S., they are asking their international prayer networks again to fast and pray for America in the run-up to the election.
Charismatic prayer leader and Bible teacher Dutch Sheets believes this revival will be “like the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s–’70s except on steroids.” He’s been traveling the country announcing that God is “birthing the future,” adding, “We’ve been having some of the most powerful, significant gatherings I have ever participated in. And it’s not because there is a great explosion of power; it’s because there is such incredible depth that has come to the remnant church—the praying church. In the past 25 years, millions have prayed and fasted, and we are seeing those prayers answered. It’s been encouraging.”
But at the same time, Dutch, like other leaders, is aware of the vitriolic hate and the attacks against Trump, which are exposing the left for who they really are and what they really believe.
“I believe it’s all demonically motivated because I believe the powers of darkness are so angry to be seeing the momentum they had gained for the last 40 to 50 years being reversed,” Dutch said. “Because if America becomes weak and loses these markers and loses our strength, we can no longer be the basis for [spreading] the gospel around the world that we need to be. The awakening that’s coming in is going to impact America, but it’s going to be around the world.”
Dutch told me of a prophetic word he received from the Lord. “[God] told me this so clearly years ago, and he may have told me for America: ‘I must have this nation to do what I’m going to do around the world, and Trump is a part of that, and God is using him, and he’s using him as some have said as a wrecking ball.’ The left hates it. They want somebody in there they can ‘get along with,’ which means [someone who will] compromise a little, and Trump won’t.”
Dutch went on to make an even more sobering statement: “It’s why we must pray for [Trump] so diligently, because they’re going to try to kill him. They’re going to try to silence him with persecution, slander and with all these court cases. What strikes me as so amazing is there seems to be insulation around him that has to be spiritual that is keeping this from discouraging him or slowing him down. It’s almost like the more they do it, the tougher he gets. It’s almost like he is a John the Baptist, [saying,] ‘Bring it on! I don’t care.'”
As Christian Americans, you and I have enjoyed the traditions of freedom and religious liberty that we’ve inherited from generations before us—values that have defined the United States from its inception. President Trump has vowed that, under his watch, we will continue to reap these blessings in our nation. He has vowed that America will never become a socialist country. He has vowed that we will be a nation that believes in the power of prayer. And he has vowed that we will remain one nation under God.
As people of faith, we cannot stand by and allow these rights and privileges to be erased. We must stand up and be counted, casting votes that protect the values we hold most dear. It is the only way we will preserve those rights and freedoms for the generations that follow. {eoa}
This is an adapted excerpt from God, Trump, and the 2020 Election by Stephen E. Strang. Copyright ©2020, published by Charisma House. Used by permission.
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