Op-Ed: Trump Should Follow Lincoln's Example and Declare a Day to Fast and Pray for America
What if President Donald Trump were to use his platform to call for a national day of prayer and fasting to petition God to forgive America its trespasses?
The next question would be: Would your average American patriots think such an endeavor important enough to set aside their chores and meals for a day and join Trump in prayer?
If we did the above en masse, would it be unreasonable to expect that God might be inclined to bless us by showering this nation with His grace, love and mercy? And, if He did, what might that look like?
In his book “The Harbinger II,” Jonathan Cahn provides two examples of prior presidents who did exactly this at critical junctures — examples that Trump, and his supporters who hope to help him Make America Great Again, should seriously consider.
On April 30, 1863, following a series of military defeats, Abraham Lincoln declared, in part, the following: “It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Within days of that national act of contrition, it can be credibly argued that the providential hand of God provided Lincoln with two seminal victories that effectively reversed the tide of the Civil War in his favor.
On May 1 — the day following Lincoln’s day of prayer — Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the rebel forces at Port Gibson, which enabled him to subsequently emerge victorious a little over two months later at Vicksburg.
And, on May 2, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s most capable officer, Stonewall Jackson, was killed by friendly fire in the battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson’s death is believed to have contributed significantly to Lee’s defeat a little more than two months later at Gettysburg.
The battle of Gettysburg ended on July 3, 1863, and Vicksburg fell to the North on the following day, July 4 — two pivotal victories that came only two months after Lincoln’s day of prayer, and that ultimately enabled Lincoln to achieve his righteous goal of eliminating American slavery while also allowing the country to move past the conflict as a still-united nation.
Then, a century later, another man came on the scene at a critical time in our nation’s history. Like Lincoln, he called upon God to help America rechart its course away from what had become a disaster.
In 1980, due to the feckless policies of a Democratic president, America found itself in what that president described as a seemingly incurable “malaise” — a state of national despair attributable to cultural divisions, a faltering economy, runaway inflation, a shortage of oil, and Americans being held hostage by an Iranian regime that President Jimmy Carter was seemingly unable to deal with.
Then, in the summer before the elections that year, Christian patriots united on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to pray for our nation. Their plea was soon thereafter taken up by the candidate seeking to displace Carter.
On the night before Election Day, Ronald Reagan gave a speech in which he proclaimed to the nation the following: “It is not bombs and rockets but belief and resolve, it is humility before God that is ultimately the source of America’s strength as a nation.”
He closed his speech with these words of commitment: “They will say of our day and of our generation that we did keep faith with our God, that we did act worthy of ourselves, that we did protect and pass on lovingly that shining city on a hill.”
The next day, Reagan was swept into office in a landslide. Almost immediately, America secured the return of its hostages, its economy was placed on the path of recovery, inflation was brought under control, and the long gas lines disappeared. And all that happened long before Reagan was used by God to bring about the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Which, of course, should bring to mind our country’s current state of affairs… and President Trump.
Our nation is once again dangerously divided, the economy is in the tank, inflation and gas prices are out of control, our borders are being overrun, and our enemies are mocking us at every turn.
But today, we must also add to this mix the current administration’s legalization and even encouragement of the debauchery being promoted by certain nefarious factions within our society. It is nothing short of evil in its purest form that screams for God’s attention, cultural cancer that none should expect God to accept, much less lend His blessings to.
By the same token, neither should Trump and those who support him ever expect to reverse the course of this godless juggernaut without God’s help!
Which brings us back to the question: Will Trump be willing to publicly demonstrate the humility required to seek that help for the sake of our nation?
Were they alive today, his predecessors — Lincoln and Reagan — might suggest he would do well to consider the following summary of God’s assurance to us all: “If my people … 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 will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
And, as Reagan demonstrated 43 years ago, there is no need for Trump to be in the White House to do this. He need only appoint the day and encourage patriots to join him.
What say you, President Trump? Will you call for a day of prayer and fasting sometime between now and the 2024 elections?
Many of us very much hope so and, even now, are praying you will be led to do so while the opportunity remains.
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