|
May 31, 2006
Dutch Sheets: "MANY PROPHETS
AND INTERCESSORS CALLING FOR URGENT PRAYER FOR PRESIDENT BUSH"
 Urgent
Prayer Alert
I have been waiting several weeks to write this prayer alert--making every
effort to hear from the Lord as clearly as possible. I try not to write national
prayer alerts frequently--only when I feel they are urgent. This is probably one
of the most important assignments I've ever had. Although it is unusually long,
please read it prayerfully and pass it on.
In our partnering with God, to turn America back to its Christian heritage and
God-given destiny, and to experience another great awakening that will impact
every aspect of our culture and bring millions of people to Christ--we are at a
great crossroads. I believe we are at the deciding point in the war. While
writing this letter, I was handed a newsletter of Cindy Jacobs, a prophet and
international leader in the prayer movement. She believes this also, stating:
"As I pray for the United States, I see that we are at a crossroads where we
will either keep the ground we have taken and advance to see our nation
transformed, or we will deteriorate at an alarming rate."
The Battle of the Bulge
A friend of mine likens where we are at to the Battle of the Bulge. This battle
was an intense counter offensive launched by Hitler in WW II, after D-Day. When
it looked like the Allies had won the war, Hitler tried one final desperate
onslaught to turn the tide. This caught the Allies by surprise and, though we
eventually defeated Hitler's armies, it was for a season, demoralizing and very
costly to us.
Likewise today, an intense counter offensive has been
orchestrated from Hell, to pull down President Bush and derail the destiny of
America. This whirlwind of darkness over America is bringing great national
confusion and is causing paralysis even in the praying church.
I have sensed this strong confusion in both the civil and spiritual realms, from
leaders on down. It is strong in Washington D.C.--godly governmental leaders
know things are in disarray and that something is desperately wrong, but they
also say that nothing seems to work when it comes to reversing it. Spiritual
leaders also know things are not right--that we have lost momentum and
anti-Christ forces seem to be prevailing--but no one seems to know what to do
about it. My friend Lou Engle, in a recent prayer alert said, "Wherever I go, I
can feel the attitude of resignation, criticism and despair..." Lou's entire
alert can be found at
www.justicehouseofprayer.com.
The Spirit of Babylon
Chuck Pierce, another friend and internationally trusted prophet, connected our
desperate condition to the war in Iraq: "The spirit of Babylon is slapping us
around." Iraq is modern day Babylon. Babylon means "confusion," which is
obviously one of the results of this spiritual war. America's armies had no
problem taking out Saddam's physical army. But we are now dealing with an
ancient principality, the spirit of Babylon, which cannot be defeated with
natural weapons and strategies. This spirit is currently (though I believe it
not to be permanently) prevailing against us. As previously stated, the symptoms of
confusion and disarray can be seen in the church, on our president, and in the
nation in general.
A further result of all this on our president is political disfavor. He has one
of the most unfavorable performance ratings of any president in history--ranking
down with Nixon during Watergate. The cover of one major magazine reads: "How
Low Can He Go?" Usually when the economy thrives (and ours is), a president's
ratings are high. But not this president. He has lost his favor
and consequently his voice, neither of which will return until certain things
occur.
A Dream About the President
Regarding this loss of voice, a pastor related to me a dream he had recently
about President Bush. The president was in a jail cell in a desert region. He
was very agitated and his bottom lip was torn in half. (I believe this desert
region represents Iraq and the tearing of the president's lip--it pictures my
assertion that his voice has been torn from him.)
As the dream continued, a man grabbed the president from behind, and said, "Let
go. Give in." Snakes then came out of the man's cloak, wrapped around the
president and one of them bit his torn lip. The president fell to the ground and
disappeared. The snake then took the form of a woman and looked at the man
having the dream (who had run in to try and help the president), and said,
"There is nothing you can do to stop this."
The man in the dream changing into a serpent, confirms to me, that we are no
longer dealing with flesh and blood in Iraq, but with "principalities and
powers" (see Ephesians 6:12). They have
entrapped our president, stolen his voice, and intend to completely destroy his
effectiveness. Their ultimate goal is to steal his destiny--which is warring
against terrorism and shifting the courts, especially the Supreme Court of
America. Though the president has been disabled and seemingly taken out by this
spirit, it is not true that there is nothing we can do to stop it. I will
address this momentarily.
The Reality of Where We Are
It is vital for us to grasp the magnitude of this spiritual war against America
and our president, and also to realize that the forces of evil are currently
prevailing, though it need not remain so. If the November, 2006 elections were
held today, it is almost certain that pro-life and morally conservative voices
would lose some, if not complete control of Congress.
It is also quite likely, that if the third vacancy
occurred on the Supreme Court now (and I believe it is coming soon), one of two
things would happen. Either Bush would bow to the temptation to appoint a
moderate, because of his weak position; or if he appointed a true conservative
constitutionalist, like Roberts or Alito, the liberals would be empowered enough
to stop the nomination through filibustering or character assassination.
Worse yet, if the vacancy doesn't occur until after the November elections and
conservatives do lose control of Congress, we can very likely kiss goodbye our
current opportunity to shift the Supreme Court of America. This would be the
most devastating setback of our day. The consequences are unthinkable. The
killing of babies and pro-death culture would continue; God would continue to be
unwelcome in schools; and government, public life, and another generation, would
spiral further downward into Godless, humanistic relativism. Our God-given
destiny in America could be lost indefinitely, perhaps forever. We simply
cannot allow this.
Regarding the war on terrorism--if we don't turn the tide spiritually and do so
fairly soon, it will turn into a quagmire that our generation doesn't have the
strength, courage, boldness, or selflessness to endure. This is the reality of
where we are.
What God Is Saying to the Church
What must happen in the praying church and with our president at this critical
time? There are biblical pictures that can help us identify our current position
and point us toward the right strategy. First--where is the church and what must
we do?
If the praying church does not re-engage in informed, consistent and fervent
intercession for our nation and president NOW, we will lose our Battle of the
Bulge. Our past victories and the ground we have gained, are all on the line. So
is our future. We have grown complacent and overconfident, as did the Israelites
at Ai. In their attempt to conquer the promised land, Israel had won a great and
impressive victory at Jericho (see Joshua 6).
However, they grew overconfident and when they confronted the next town--small
and insignificant Ai, did not pray for God's help and strategy. Consequently,
God wasn't with them. The result was a devastating defeat.
We, too, have grown spiritually overconfident and complacent due to our recent
victories. Now, like Joshua after the defeat at Ai, we are confused and
disoriented (see Joshua 7:6-9). We must
re-engage in prayer immediately. Lou Engle, in the above mentioned prayer alert
also said, "Maybe President Bush's legacy and the future of our nation, hinge
more on our prayers than on the whole political debate that rages now." Right
on, Lou, except I believe we can scratch the word "maybe." Our future absolutely
hinges on our prayers.
What God Is Saying to Our President
What of our president? In biblical context, where is he and what must he do? In
Genesis 32, Jacob, Abraham's grandson, and
the man who produced the nation of Israel through his twelve sons, came to his
own personal crossroads. He, like our president, had come to a great crisis.
Years earlier, Jacob had connived to attain his brother Esau's birthright and to
steal the blessing reserved for him as the firstborn son. Now, twenty years
later, Jacob is returning to face Esau, who has sworn to kill him. On the way,
he has a life-changing encounter with God (see Genesis
32:24-32). Several parts of this story, parallel where our president
currently is and what he must do:
Jacob was Left Alone
Consistent with his conniving nature (which
is what his name meant), Jacob's possessions, servants and family, had all been
sent ahead to "appease" Esau. Then, in his wrestling with the angel, Jacob's
thigh (a symbol of strength), was dislocated, causing him to walk with a
permanent limp. Everything Jacob owned--all of his family, and now all of his
strength, was gone. God was allowing him to lose all (at least Jacob thought
so). God also removed from him what he had relied on all of his life--his
ability to connive (which, again, is the meaning of his name) his way out of
trouble, and connive blessing through his own strength and manipulation.
For our president, I believe this conniving nature of Jacob, pictures what
occurs so often in the political realm. Not that the political world and those
who are a part of it are necessarily evil, but a political spirit is. It is the
equivalent of a "Jacob" nature (which we're all born with), that believes there
is always a way to reverse our fortunes through manipulation and control,
conniving and self-effort. Some actually prevail through this spirit, but God
will not allow Bush to succeed by operating in it. He has, therefore, allowed
our president to lose favor for a season and nothing Bush has done can, or will,
reverse this. Politics cannot help him--Rove can't, his party can't, and his
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot. God wants our president to know that the
only one who can help him now, is the One who put him where he is: God Himself.
This does not necessarily mean our president has sinned or failed. Of course, he
is human and therefore imperfect. And like all of us, he has a Jacob nature to
contend with. But this doesn't make him a failure in God's eyes. There is
nothing to indicate that God was angry with Jacob. But rather, He wanted to
move him further toward his destiny, which was to birth the nation of Israel.
His Jacob nature stood in the way and God needed to change it. This is what must
occur in our president, which brings me to the second parallel to Jacob and our
president.
Jacob's Name was Changed to Israel
Names represented nature, identity and
purpose in those days (see Genesis 32:28).
Jacob was after one thing (restored favor and blessing), and God was after
another (a nature change), which is obvious in the story. Jacob finally realized
this when he responded to the angel's question of what his name was:
"The Man asked him, 'What is your name?' And in shock
of realization, whispering he said, 'Jacob' (supplanter, schemer, trickster,
swindler)!" (Genesis 32:27, Amplified.)
Jacob's acknowledgment of his condition (equivalent to repentance and
confession), allowed God to break off of him the Jacob nature. God then re-named
him Israel, moving him into his destiny. Likewise, God has a destiny on our
president that cannot be accomplished through politics or human ability. Only
the power, wisdom and enablement of the Holy Spirit, can equip President Bush to
accomplish his destiny concerning terrorism and the courts of America. I want to
be very bold and make a statement that may seem unusual regarding a government
leader:
God has removed favor from our president
and is wrestling with him, in order to remove from him all confidence that he
can prevail through human strength and methods, including politics. He wants him
to walk with a limp. God wants to anoint him for his assignment, giving him a
supernatural ability to prevail. To accomplish this, He desires to visit our
president in a holy and awesome way, just as He did Jacob. President Bush has an
appointment with God!
Jacob Named the Place Peniel, which Means "The Face of
God"
He stated, "I have
seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved" (Genesis 32:30).
Jacob's life was transformed, favor with Esau was given, and all
possessions were returned. In an interesting irony, the word "appease" (Genesis
32:20)--what Jacob was attempting with
Esau, and the word Peniel, come from the same Hebrew root which means "face." To
appease is to put something in another person's "face" in order to buy or
procure favor. God was in essence saying to Jacob, "You
can't appease your enemy, but you can appease Me. Facing your enemy through the
Jacob (political) spirit, won't help you anymore, but facing Me will."
Likewise, God is saying to our president, that He alone holds the key to favor
and blessing in this hour. President Bush cannot prevail through appeasement,
politics or any other human effort alone. But if he will face God and rely
solely on Him, God will visit him face to face, favor will return and the
president can fulfill his destiny. We must pray this understanding/revelation to
our president and we must birth this holy visitation. For him to live and
operate in a political world without being caught up in it, will indeed require
great revelation and humility. This could come either through God speaking to
him personally, or by getting the right individual to him with this message.
Our responsibility is to pray until it
happens. If it does not, our president will not recover and America is in big
trouble.
(For a complete explanation, you can order the message I recently shared on
this subject, entitled "Jacob at Peniel." Order it by going to
www.dutchsheets.org and clicking
on the link on the home page.)
Nuts!
In closing, a final story related to the Battle of the Bulge is pertinent. The
Allies chose to stop Hitler's advance at a place called Bastogne. The 101st
Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles," were assigned against all
odds, to hold Bastogne. The Germans surrounded the 101st at Bastogne and
demanded their surrender. Brigadier General, Anthony McAuliffe's now famous
response was "Nuts." When the Germans asked for an interpretation of this, the
American officer delivering the message said, "It means
you can go to hell."
The Allies then needed the weather to clear up in order to use their air
superiority. General Patton ordered his chaplain to compose a prayer asking God
to clear up the weather. The next day, the skies were clear and our aircraft
began to control the air war and destroy the enemy. Before the battle, the
101st's first commander, Major General William C. Lee, made the following
statement to his soldiers:
"The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no
history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like the early American pioneers,
whose invincible courage was the foundation stone of this nation, we have broken
with the past and its traditions in order to establish our claim to the future.
Due to the nature of our armament, and the tactics in which we shall perfect
ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching
military importance, and we shall habitually go into action when the need is
immediate and extreme. Let me call your attention to the fact, that our badge is
the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will
crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies. The
history we shall make, the record of high achievement we hope to write in the
annals of the American Army and the American people, depends wholly and
completely on the men of this division. Each individual, each officer, and each
enlisted man, must therefore regard himself as a necessary part of a complex and
powerful instrument for the overcoming of the enemies of the nation. Each, in
his own job, must realize that he is not only a means, but an indispensable
means for obtaining the goal of victory. It is, therefore, not too much to say
that the future itself, in whose molding we expect to have our share, is in the
hands of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division." (Emphasis mine.)
The Screaming Eagles Must Arise
Hitler personally orchestrated the Battle of the Bulge. I believe satan is
personally orchestrating his forces in the battle against Bush and the church of
America. God is calling the "Screaming Eagles" of intercession, to take our
stand and win the air war in the Heavenlies, stopping the enemy's advance. Like
the Screaming Eagles of yesterday, we can write a history of commitment,
bravery, self-sacrifice and victory.
The future itself, in whose molding we
expect to have our share, is in the hands of the church. Satan says we can't
win, I say, "Nuts!" We can win this war against terrorism and for the soul of
America, but only in the spirit. If we don't do so, the greater sin won't be our
president's, but ours--the church of America.
If this word rings true in your heart, pass it on--and PRAY! Pray in church
services; hold special prayer meetings; fast and pray; send a prayer team to
Washington, D.C. to pray; pause at family gatherings to pray; pray at home
groups. Pray, pray, pray.
Let's do our part and win this war.
Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries
www.dutchsheets.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dutch's
Itinerary:
June 1-3, 2006
Destiny Bible School
6927 Lefferson Rd. Middletown, OH 45044
Contact: (513) 424-7150 or
www.destinybibleschool.com
June 8-9, 2006
Pentecost Conference
Glory of Zion International
Denton, TX
Contact: (888) 965-1099 or
www.glory-of-zion.org
June 15, 2006
Prayer Quake
Word of Grace Chruch; Phoenix, AZ
Contact: (800) 296-0659 or
www.prayerquake.org
|
"The Call Revolution"
NEWSLETTER
