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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
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