ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE DAY OF PRAYER THAT SAVED AMERICA

The War was not going well for the North and it looked as though the American Union might well come to an end. In desperation, the United States Senate asked President Abraham Lincoln to call for a Day of Prayer throughout the land. Lincoln responded with the following amazing Proclamation, calling the nation to prayer on April 30, 1863.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:

And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.

Just two months later, General Robert E. Lee marched into Pennsylvania with 76,000 Confederate troops. There was great panic throughout the cities and countryside. Lincoln later recalled,

When everybody seemed panic-stricken, and nobody could tell what was going to happen, I went to my room one day, and locked the door, and got down on my knees before Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily. And afterward (I don’t know how it was, and I can’t explain it), soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 186-87).

The Union forces won a resounding victory at Gettysburg and this proved to be the turning point of the War. Some would suggest that the Union’s victory at Gettysburg was coincidental, but the fact that it occurred on the heels of the national day of repentance, prayer and fasting, would suggest Divine intervention.

Lincoln’s amazing experience in prayer just before the battle also indicates that God intervened. One writer surmised that, in fact, the North did not win the Civil War, but rather, that prayer won the war. It happened because America remembered her heritage. She remembered 1726.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

THE MISSIONARY VISION OF AMERICA'S FOUNDING GENERATION BEGAN ON THIS DAY

On this day, April 29, in 1607, a world missionary vision for American was birthed by the Jamestown settlers after stepping ashore at Cape Henry, Virginia. Upon disembarking, they gathered around a 7-foot oak cross they had brought from England. As they prayed and dedicated the land of their new home to God, their chaplain, Rev. Robert Hunt, declared, “From these very shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only to this New World but to the entire world” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 37).

It is, therefore, no fluke or coincidence that millions of missionaries have gone out from this land, taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It is also no fluke that just a short distance from where they made this declaration stands the Christian Broadcasting Network (home of the 700 Club) that has spread the Gospel around the world.

America’s Missionary Roots.

The Jamestown settlers came to America under the auspices of the Virginia Company and a charter that expressed a missionary purpose for the settling of Virginia. The Charter recognized “the Providence of Almighty and God” and stated that a purpose of the colony was “to propagate the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that DefinedAmerica, 37).

Thirteen years later, in 1620, off the coast of New England, the Pilgrims drew up the Mayflower Compact in which they declared their 2-fold purpose in coming to the New World: (1) for the glory of God and (2) for the advancement of the Christian faith.

Thirteen years later, after a massive wave of immigration, the United Colonies of New England was formed in 1643. The opening statement of its constitution reveals that the many thousands now living in New England shared the same missionary vision as their predecessors. It reads,

Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 31).

It is, therefore, no coincidence that the first Bible printed in America was printed for missionary purposes. In 1649 John Eliot (1604-1690) founded the first missionary society in America. He called it “The Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent in North America.” One of their first projects was the translation and publication of the Bible into the Massachusetts language.

America’s Founders Shared the Missionary Vision

This missionary vision of America’s earliest immigrants had a far-reaching impact, even influencing America’s Founding Fathers.

George Washington

In a prayer journal that George Washington kept while in his twenties, this prayer entry was found. “Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 132).

In a meeting with Chiefs of the Delaware Indian Tribe, Washington encouraged them to learn “above all the religion of Jesus Christ.” The Chiefs had come to meet with Congress, and they brought with them three of their youth, asking that they be educated in American schools. Washington addressed them as “Brothers” and said to them,

You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 172).

John Hancock

John Hancock served as president of the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. His signature is the largest and most obvious on that document. While serving as governor of Massachusetts, he proclaimed a Day Prayer in 1793 in which he exhorted the people,

That with true contrition of heart we may confess our sins, resolve to forsake them, and implore the Divine forgiveness through the merits and mediation of JESUS CHRIST our Savior . . . and finally, to overrule all the commotion in the world, to the spreading of the true religion of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, in its purity and power, among all the people of the earth (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Defined America, 173).

Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams has been called “The Father of the American Revolution.” He was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. While serving as governor of Massachusetts, he declared April 2, 1795 as a Day of Fasting and Prayer for both Massachusetts and America. He said,

I do hereby appoint Thursday, the Second Day of April next, to be observed as a Day of Public Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer throughout this Commonwealth: Calling upon the Ministers of the Gospel, of every Denomination, with their respective Congregations, to assemble on that Day, and devoutly implore the Divine forgiveness of our Sins, To pray that the Light of the Gospel, and the rights of Conscience, may be continued to the people of United America; and that his Holy Word may be improved by them, so that the name of God may be exalted, and their own Liberty and Happiness secured (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 104).

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is often pointed to as one of America’s nonreligious founders; yet, he too shared in this missionary vision of early America. This was made clear in a 1756 letter he wrote to George Whitefield, the most famous preacher of the Great Awakening. In this letter, Franklin proposed that they partner together in founding a new Christian colony on the Ohio frontier.

Franklin, who had developed a close friendship with Whitefield, said they would populate the proposed colony with a religious [Christian] and industrious people. He also presented a missionary motive for the new colony, saying,

Might it not greatly facilitate the introduction of pure religion among the heathen, if we could, by such a colony, show them a better sample of Christians than they commonly see (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 137).

Since he is writing to Whitefield, there can be no question that the “pure religion” Franklin wants to share with the “heathen” is the evangelical, Christ-centered faith that was preached by Whitefield.

Thomas Jefferson

The missionary vision of early America also impacted Thomas Jefferson. For example, as President, he negotiated a federal treaty with the Kaskaskia Indian Tribe, a treaty that, among other things, stipulated that federal funds be made available to pay for a Christian missionary to work with this tribe and for the building of a Christian church in which they could worship.

Jefferson, America’s third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, demonstrated his high regard for Jesus Christ by the manner in which he closed all presidential documents: “In the year of our Lord Christ.” Also significant is his remark: “Of all the systems of morality that have come under my observations, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year thatDefined America, 150).

The United States Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this missionary character of the nation in an 1892 ruling in the case of, “Church of the Holy Trinity vs the United States.” In this ruling, the nation’s highest court referenced the multitude of documents affirming America’s Christian origins and then said,

They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation . . .. The churches and church organizations which abound in every city, town, and hamlet; the multitude of charitable organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 170).

No Real Liberty Without the Gospel

America’s Founders believed so strongly in the Gospel as the basis of human freedom that they unashamedly prayed and publicly expressed their desire to see it spread throughout the earth.

Recent presidents have sought to export American style democracy to other nations apart from the Gospel of Christ. Indeed, the entire Western world is seeking to secularize liberty and remove it from any association with faith.

America’s Founders would say that such efforts are futile since true liberty cannot be had apart from the Gospel of Christ. They would all agree with Benjamin Rush, a Philadelphia physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, who declared,

The only foundation for a republic is to be laid in Religion [Christianity]. Without this there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments (Hyatt, 1726: The Yearthat Defined America, 163).

Yes, the original American vision was for a land of individual and religious liberty from which the Gospel would spread to the ends of the earth. Modern secularists have robbed the American populace of this vision by rewriting America’s history and turning the First Amendment on its head.

It is Time to Recover the Vision

In his classic book, 1984, George Orwell said, “Whoever controls the past controls the future.” And Karl Marx once said, “People without a heritage are easily persuaded.” It is time for Christians in America to take back our nation’s original vision, which I have documented in my latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America.

As we recover the truth of this nation’s origins, we can then pray with faith that God will visit us once again with “power from on high’ in the form of a national, spiritual awakening. It is time!

This article is derived from Eddie Hyatt’s book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website, www.eddiehyatt.com. He is also the founder of the “1726 Project” which you can read about on his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

THE POWER OF A PURE HEART

The Key to a Revival that Stopped Contagious Diseases

When the Great Awakening came to Northampton, MA in 1735, it had an amazing impact on the entire populace of the city. Not only was there a spiritual impact, but as Jonathan Edwards said, “It was the most remarkable time of health I ever knew.” 

The Spiritual Transformation

There was an incredible spiritual transformation of Northampton. Everywhere one went in the town, people were talking about God. Edwards, who was pastor of the Congregational Church in Northampton, said, “The town seemed to be full of the presence of God” (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Transformed America, 57).

People came to Christ in droves. The one bar in the town was soon left empty. The town was transformed and Edwards said, “A loose, careless person could scarcely be found, and if there was anyone that seemed to remain senseless or unconcerned it would be spoken of as a strange thing (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Transformed America, 57).

Without any emphasis on church growth methods or other human attempts to increase attendance, the church in Northampton filled with those already born again and with others seeking salvation. Edwards wrote,

Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God’s service, everyone intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly were in general from time to time in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Transformed America, 57-58).

The Physical and Mental Transformation

This Awakening also impacted people’s health both mentally and physically. We must remember that this was before penicillin and modern vaccines. The only weapon they had against contagious diseases was quarantines, which they called “bills.”

Edwards says there were normally several quarantines (bills) put on houses every week. But during the Awakening something wonderful happened. He wrote,

We seemed to be wonderfully smiled upon and blessed in all respects. Satan seemed to be unusually restrained; persons who before had been involved in melancholy [depression], seemed to be as it were waked up out of it; and those who had been engaged with extraordinary temptations, seemed wonderfully freed. And not only so, but it was the most remarkable time of health that I ever knew since I have been in the town. We ordinarily have several bills [quarantines] put up, every sabbath, for the sick persons; but now we had not so much as one for many sabbaths together.

This is even more amazing when we realize that Edwards did not believe in Divine healing. As a staunch Calvinist he believed sickness to be sent by God. He never preached a sermon on healing and never prayed for anyone to be healed. He never made any prophetic-healing proclamations.

The Power of a Pure Heart

How then are we to explain this marvelous manifestation of healing and health? I believe it had to do with the purity of the motives of Edwards and his wife, Sarah, in seeking God. They may not have understood some of the doctrines we know today, but they far surpassed us in their pursuit of holiness and purity of heart before God.

Their prayers for an Awakening were borne out of an intense desire to see God’s name honored in New England and to see people turn to Christ and be saved. They were not concerned for personal fame, larger offerings, or a bigger building. Their motives were pure and Godward.

Edwards was not an entertaining preacher. In fact, he wrote out his sermons and read them in a monotone voice without ever moving from behind the pulpit. He was, however, a person of prayer and was known to spend as much as eleven hours per day in study and prayer. 

In response to their fervent prayers for a "revival of religion," God invaded the community with His manifest presence. In His presence, there was health and healing even apart from healing sermons and healing prayers.

What We Can Learn from Them

This should encourage us who preach and teach divine healing. If this could happen with people who did not preach and practice divine healing, how much more should it happen with us. Here is what we can learn from them.

1)       Seek God with a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. It is obvious that Edwards and his wife, Sarah, strove to have pure hearts before God. They knew the power of David's prayer in Psalm 139:23, Search me O God, and know my heart . . . and see if there is any wicked way in me. Their prayers for an Awakening were not self-serving, but honorable and pure.

2)       Be jealous for the honor and glory of God. They were grieved and distressed to see the name of Christ dishonored by the spiritual apathy and indifference of the people of their city. They prayed for an Awakening that would turn the hearts of people to God and ignite in them a desire to serve and honor Him. 

3)       Stay focused on Jesus. Edwards considered this to be the number one sign that a revival is a true work of the Holy Spirit. He wrote, “If the spirit that is at work among a people is plainly observed so as to convince them of Christ, that He is the Son of God . . . to beget in them higher and more honorable thoughts of Him, and to incline their affections to Him, it is a sure sign that is the true and right Spirit."

If we can couple their purity of heart with our understanding of faith and spiritual authority, who knows what sort displays of God’s power we might see in the days ahead.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is an author and ordained minister with a passion to see America return to her founding principles in the Great Awakening. His latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, is available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

FINDING GOD IN THE MIDST OF OUR CHAOS

Even when life seems out of control, God is powerfully at work advancing His kingdom and cause. This is powerfully illustrated in Paul’s second missionary journey; a journey that began in strife, continued in uncertainty, and encountered violent opposition. Yet, in hindsight, it is clear that this second missionary journey was the most significant of Paul’s three missionary journeys (four if we include his journey to Rome as a prisoner).

Begins in Strife

It was not the way you want to begin a missionary outreach. Strife erupted over whether Mark should go with them on this second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-41). Paul was adamant that he should not go because he had abandoned them during their first missionary journey and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13).

Barnabas was just as adamant that Mark should accompany them on this new mission. Neither would yield. Luke says that the contention between Paul and Barnabas, became so sharp that they parted from one another (Acts 15:39). How sad! Two friends who had labored together and seen God work so powerfully, now go their separate ways.

Barnabas took Mark and departed on their own missionary journey to Cyprus. Paul found a new ministry partner in Silas and they departed on their missionary outreach. Can God bless such strife and dissension?

Continues in Uncertainty

Although Paul’s idea was to visit all the places he had preached on his first missionary journey, it is obvious that he grappled with where to go first. Acts 15:6 says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia, which would have been the Roman province of Asia.

Put yourself in Silas’s shoes. He knows that he is with Paul because of his falling out with Barnabas and his insistence that Mark could not accompany him on this outreach. They get up one morning planning to go into Asia (present day Turkey) and Paul says, “No, God says we are not to go to Asia.”

Paul is not sure where to go from there, but heads for Bithynia. However, en route to Bithynia he changes directions again. In Luke’s words, the Spirit did not permit them (Acts 157). Paul then decides to go to Troas.

How is Silas dealing with the uncertainty? How well do you handle a companion’s uncertainty? This missionary journey that began in strife is continuing in uncertainty. But it gets even worse.

Encounters Violent Opposition

Timothy joined up with Paul and Silas in Lystra. They journey on to Troas where Luke joins the team.

In Troas Paul has the vision of the man of Macedonia saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us (Acts 16:9). Paul shares the vision and Luke says they began making plans to go to Macedonian, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:10).

They journey to Macedonia and stop in Philippi the first major city in that province. There is no synagogue, but they find a group of women who meet regularly for prayer at the nearby river. The Lord opens their hearts and one of them, Lydia, who is a successful businesswoman, invites Paul and his team to stay at her home.

They continue going to the place of prayer by the river and encounter a young woman with a demonic fortune-telling spirit. She follows Paul and his group proclaiming, These men are servants of the Most His God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17).

Recognizing that it is a demonic spirit moving the young woman, Paul casts the spirit out of her. From that point, she is no longer able to tell fortunes, and this creates big problems for Paul.

The young woman is a slave and her masters rake in a lot of money through her fortune-telling abilities. When they realize their avenue of money is gone, they forcibly apprehend Paul and Silas and drag them through the streets to the city magistrates. They proceed to accuse Paul and Silas of being trouble-making foreigners.

The magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. They were beaten until the blood ran down their backs, which also turned black and blue with bruises from the beating. After the beating, they were taken to jail and put in the inner dungeon and their feet fastened in stocks.

The missionary journey that began in strife and continued in uncertainty, has now encountered violent opposition.

Reflections on the Above

If you were Silas, what would be going through your mind at this time? Would you be questioning Paul’s ability to hear the Lord? Would you want to say, “Paul, tell me again about that vision you claim to have had about us coming to this place.” You might be tempted to say, “I now understand why Mark left in the middle of your first missionary journey, and if I ever get out of this jail, I am leaving too.”

There could have been questions about the whole legitimacy of this missionary journey. Silas could have said, “Paul, your strife with Barnabas and Mark is the cause of this situation. You have opened the door to the devil. You are going to have to go back and make things right with them.”

God Was Powerfully at Work in the Midst of Their Chaos

Paul and Silas, however, believed in the Sovereign work of Almighty God. They believed that even in the midst of their chaos God was powerfully at work advancing His kingdom and cause. That is why, at midnight, the darkest part of the night, with blood caked on their bruised and beaten backs, they were praying and singing praises to God (Acts 16:25).

At this point, there was a great earthquake and every prison door was opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. The old black preacher was preaching from this passage and quoted Isaiah 66:1-2 where God said, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.

He pictured the singing of Paul and Silas getting God’s attention. He said as God leaned forward listening to them sing, He began to pat His foot and that is when the earth and the old jail began to shake.

Even though the doors were open and everyone’s bands loosed, not a single prisoner fled. The jailer was so overwhelmed that he fell down before Paul, asking, What must I do to be saved? The prisoners, the jailer and his family, Lydia, and the other women became the nucleus for the church in Philippi, which was first church in Europe.

The Historic Significance of this Second Missionary

This was the first time the gospel was peached in Europe. It was the beginning of the church in Europe. This was significant for Europe would become the bastion of Christianity throughout the Middle Ages. It was out Europe that missionaries carried the gospel to many parts of the world, including North and South America.

It was devout Christians from Europe who founded the United States of America from whence the gospel has been taken to the ends of the earth. Even the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged this missionary role of the United States of America.

In the 1892 ruling, Church of the Holy Trinity vs The United States, the nation’s highest court declared America to be a “Christian nation.” Among the evidence listed for this conclusion, the court mentioned,

The gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 170-71).

This can all be traced back to Paul's second missionary journey--a journey that began in strife, continued in uncertainty, and ran into violent opposition.

It is Now So Clear

With the advantage of 2000 years of hindsight, it is obvious that Paul’s second missionary journey was by far the most significant of all his journeys. At the time, life seemed chaotic, but now it is obvious that God was powerfully at work advancing His kingdom and cause during it all.

God worked His will and way through Paul because Paul was committed to God’s will and way. Paul was not chasing personal success. He was not trying to build a large ministry with a large mailing list and network of supporters. He was, instead, totally committed to making Christ known and calling people everywhere to submit their lives to Him.

I suspect that Paul refused to take Mark on that second missionary journey because he believed that Mark could be detriment to their godly mission. It was not something personal. It was an expression of His total commitment to God and the preaching of the gospel.

Paul did later reconcile with both Barnabas and Mark. Many years later, in his final letter written from a Roman prison cell, Paul admonished Timothy, Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry (II Timothy 4:11).

You Can End Well

All is well that ends well. And like Paul on his second missionary journey, and Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers, if we keep our eyes on Jesus during the chaos and trust completely in Him, it will end well. Roman 8:28 will be fulfilled, which reads,

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love (agape) God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is a historan and Bible teacher with a vision for another Great Awakening in America and throughout the earth. His latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, documents how the Great Awakening had a direct bearing on the founding of America and the end of slavery on this continent. His books are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

"REDEEMING THE TIME" DURING THE CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools 

but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15-16

“Squeeze all you can out of this time,” I heard the Holy Spirit say as I was fretting about my circumstances and wanting a change of location as quickly as possible. God was telling me, in the words of Paul, to redeem the time, and it proved to be a strategic and timely word. After this, I did one of my most important research and writing projects ever, which could only have happened in that place and at that time.

When Paul instructed the Ephesian believers to redeem the time, he was on lockdown; under house arrest awaiting trial in the city of Rome. Instead of fretting and questioning God, he redeemed the time by praying and writing letters that became foundational for our faith and continue to bless and instruct believers around the world.

During this coronavirus crisis with its confinement and restricted activities, I encourage you to “squeeze all you can out of this time.” Do things that you would not be able to do if life were “normal.” Take the opportunity to read books, study the Bible, pray and nurture family relationships.

In my situation mentioned above, Sue and I were doing doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. The studies were fine, but we felt cut off from the rest of the world and did not like our living situation. We were there for one year and I had settled into an “endure and wait it out” mindset.

But when I heard this word from the Lord, I knew He was telling me to be proactive and make the most of the fact that I was in the midst of an academic community with access to one of the best theological and historical libraries in the world. God was telling me to redeem the time—"squeeze everything you can out of this time.”

As a result, I accepted the opportunity for a Directed Study, which was a course that I would create and do all the research without attending classes. It would be an intense four months of research and writing and I would be graded on the final paper, which I would produce from the research.

I chose to do a study of the Montanists, a second century Christian movement that has traditionally been condemned as pagan and heretical. Based on my research, I concluded that the Montanists were a legitimate second century revival group that was seeking a renewal of New Testament Christianity. I can't begin to tell you how significant that research project has been for me and for the church at large.

That research paper became a chapter in my first book, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity, which is used as a textbook in colleges and seminaries around the world. I presented the paper to a group of Protestant and Catholic scholars and it was very well received. I was later invited to write the entry on Montanism for the massive Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization published in 2008. Numerous articles and books have utilized that research and it has helped reshape the church’s thinking about the Montanists.

I am so glad I responded to that word to "squeeze all you can out of this time."

So, during this coronavirus lockdown, do not squander the opportunity. Redeem the time. Squeeze everything you can out of it. You may be amazed at what God will do once this crisis is past.

Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is an author and Bible teacher whose passion is to see the church return to her roots in New Testament Christianity and America return to her roots in the First Great Awakening. His books on the topic are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S EASTER ADDRESS IS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE AMERICAN CHURCH

On Good Friday, President Donald J. Trump presented an incredible Easter address from the Oval Office in which he acknowledged "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" and referred to "His glorious resurrection." He also thanked the American people for praying for him and his family and asked for prayers for the nation.

I don't think there has been such a bold statement of faith and call to prayer from an American president since Abraham Lincoln's Prayer Proclamation for April 30, 1863 in the midst of the Civil War (see Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 186-84).

This address should be seen as a wake-up call for the American church. It is time for us to wake up and step up. This could be the time of the Reawakening for which we have prayed.

Ten years ago, when I had given up on America, God pulled me up short and assured me that America "could" see another great, national spiritual awakening. My hope was restored but it was clear that the promise was conditional. Never forget that the promise of a national healing in II Chrn. 7:14 begins with, If My people.

It is time, therefore, to put aside our religious games. It is time to lay down our spiritual pride and realize that we are more like the Laodicean church of Rev. 3:14-22 than we would like to think. That church was very self-sufficient and proud, claiming to be rich and in need of nothing. But in the words of Jesus, they were "wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked."

It is time for us to humble ourselves by acknowleding that we (the American church) are not as great as we think. We are actually very needy, and according to II Chrn. 7:14, acknowldging that fact is the starting point for another Great Awakening and national healing.

President Trump has opened the door. It is up to us to now walk through it.

President Donald J. Trump's Easter Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqOP5pWjtrM

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is the author of numerous books on America's Christian origins, including his latest, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. He is also the founder of the "1726 Project" that is dedicated to helping America reconnect with her Christian roots in Spiritual Awakening.

THE BIG LESSON GOD WOULD HAVE US LEARN THROUGH THE CURRENT CRISIS

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in Asia. We were under pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead (II Corinthians 1:8-9).

Self-reliance rooted in pride is the essence of the original sin. Our first parents declared their independence from God and chose to go their own way, relying on mere human strength and wisdom. This same flaw has been passed down through their posterity and continues to plague and hamper the world and the church.

The temptation to self-reliance can be very subtle. Even Paul the Apostle had to learn not to trust in his own human wisdom and strength. In the above passage, he mentions an excruciating time he and his team experienced while ministering in the Roman province of Asia. It was a situation, he said, Far beyond our ability to endure.

Although God did not send the trouble to Paul, He taught him this vital lesson in the midst of the trial. Paul learned the lesson of not relying on his own human ability and later wrote, Not that we are sufficient of ouselves to think of anything as of ouselves, but our sufficiency is of God (II Corinthians 3:5).

America Founded on “Humiliation” and Prayer

America’s founders understood this truth for they and their parents and grandparents had suffered much for their faith and had learned to renounce self-trust for complete trust in God. A common word they used for corporate and national times of prayer was “humiliation.” By this they did not mean a groveling or self-flagellation, but rather an admission of their own human frailty and their utter and complete dependence on God.

For example, during the fall of 1776, when the morale of the American army and populace had sunk to an all-time low because of a poor harvest and hardship on the battlefield, Congress proclaimed December 11, 1776, as a day of “solemn fasting and humiliation.” The proclamation called on all Americans,

To implore of Almighty God the forgiveness of the many sins prevailing among all ranks, and to beg the assistance of his Providence in the prosecution of the present just and necessary war (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 117).

After this day of “humiliation and prayer,” there was an amazing change in circumstances with successes on the battlefield and the reaping of abundant harvests. There was, in fact, such a turnaround that Congress issued a proclamation for a national Day of Thanksgiving for October 20, 1779 because, “It hath pleased Almighty God, the father of mercies, remarkably to assist and support the United States of America in their important struggle for liberty” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 117).

America Saved by “Humiliation” and Prayer

“Humiliation” as a necessary ingredient for successful prayer was not lost on succeeding generations. When Abraham Lincoln called the nation to prayer during the midst of the horrible Civil War, he listed pride and self-sufficiency as sins for which the nation must repent. In his Prayer Proclamation for April 30, 1863, the President said,

We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 185).

There was tremendous response to this call for a day of humiliation and prayer. Lincoln himself later said,

I went to my room and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed. Soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands (Hyatt  1726: The Year that Defined America, 187).

After this day of prayer, repentance and humiliation, there was an immediate change in the war in favor of the North. Whereas the North had suffered one defeat after another, just two months later they won a resounding victory at Gettysburg, and this proved to be the beginning of the end of the Civil War and the preservation of the American Union.

God Will Do It Again

God will do it again if we will meet His conditions. His conditions are found in II Chronicles 7:14, which reads,

If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The very first condition for seeing a national healing is for God’s people to humble themselves. As mentioned above, this is not a groveling or a self-flagellation. It is not a cringing, fawning fear. It is, instead, an honest admission of our own human inadequacy and our desperate need for God in our lives.

The Greatest Threat to America

Matthew 5:3 in the NKJV says, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The phrase, the poor in spirit, may also be expressed as, those who realize how much they need God. It is those who realize their own human frailty and their desperate need for God’s mercy and grace in their lives who will see His kingdom power at work in their midst.

That being said, the greatest threat to America at this time is not the coronavirus. The greatest threat to America is a proud, self-sufficient church that has no sense of her own need. This was the case of the Laodicean church whom Jesus sharply rebuked, saying,

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked . . . (Revelation 3:16-17).

What will save America is not pontificating declarations and prayers. What will save America is a realization of how poor and needy we are apart from His mercy and grace. As we turn to Him in humiliation and prayer, we can expect to see displays of His power that will change the course of history.

We will also see the great, national spiritual awakening for which so many long, for the promise of a national healing in II Chronicles 7:14 begins with the condition, If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray . . ..

Another Day of Humiliation and Prayer would do wonders for us as a people and nation.

This article was derived in part from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's latest book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. He is also the founder of the "1726 Project" that is dedicated to helping America reconnect with her Christian roots in Spiritual Awakening.