Members of the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast Committee, Government Members and Representatives, Ambassadors and Delegates from other nations, ministers and people of God, and to all who will hear these words.
We are gathered here in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2017, on the day of the changing of powers, leader, and governments. And we are gathered here in the name of Him whose kingdom changes not.
As we came here to this city four years ago, we come now with one agenda and one purpose, to seek His face and to pray for His will for this government and for this nation. It is fitting that we do so on this day which more than any other day represents the future of our nation. And on the day of the inauguration, we are here to inaugurate the purposes of God.
We’ve come from every part of this land to stand before the Almighty, before whom kings and kingdoms rise and fall, and nations ascend and descend, Who alone remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
We must pray according to God’s will and truth. So this message will not be politically correct, but it will be true.
The Message of the Arbella
Three Hundred and Eighty Six Seven Ago, the ship called the Arbella journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. Aboard that ship was John Winthrop who would pen the founding vision of the civilization that would be called ‘America.’
If America followed the ways of God, he wrote, then, ‘The Lord … will command a blessing upon us in all our ways … He shall make us a praise and glory … For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill.’ America was to be as a city on a hill, to which the eyes of all people would look. Winthrop’s vision was based on the nation of Israel.
In the history of this planet only two civilizations came into existence on the solitary foundation stone of God’s calling and purposes. The first was Israel. And the second… was America.
The Fall of Ancient Israel
Israel was consecrated to the will and purposes of God. But in the midst of its blessings, the nation made a fatal mistake, it turned away from God. The people began removing Him from their lives. They removed Him from their culture, they legislated Him out of their government, they silenced Him from their public squares, they ruled Him out of their kingdom.
In His place they brought in foreign gods and idols, gods of sensuality and materialism, and idols of wealth, carnality, and sexual licentiousness. They replaced the standards of righteousness on which the nation was founded for a new morality a new immorality. What they once knew as sin, they now called good, and what they once knew as good, they now called evil, and what they once knew as right, they now called intolerant and dangerous.
It was now a civilization inverted, at war against the foundation upon which it had been established, and at war against the God of its foundation. They blasphemed the name of God and descended into the darkest of sins. They now killed their own children on the altars of Baal and Molech. And those who remained true to God, were now vilified, marginalized, mocked, and persecuted.
And God called them back, and sent prophets to awaken them. But they hardened their hearts and warred against the prophets. And they stood at the brink of judgment.
The Fall of America
What about America? Those who came to these shores four centuries ago dedicated the new civilization to God and consecrated it to His will and purposes. America was to be a city on a hill, a holy commonwealth. Its first governments were established in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God. It public school system was founded for the purpose of teaching the Word of God. And as Winthrop had prophesied, God had commanded a blessing. America would become the most blessed, the most powerful, and the most prosperous, nation the world had ever seen, a praise and glory in the earth.
But something happened to the city on the hill. As the people of ancient Israel, in the midst of their blessings, committed a fatal error, so too have we. We have turned away from God. We’ve ruled Him out of our culture, out of our government, out of our lives, and banned Him from our public squares.
In His place we have brought in idols of carnality and gain, and gods of materialism and licentiousness. We have replaced the eternal standards of righteousness for a new morality of immorality. The nation that was brought forth to fill the world with the light of God, now fills the earth with pornography. And what we once knew to be sin, we now call good, and what we once knew to be right, we now call intolerant and dangerous. And those who held true to God and His Word, were now marginalized, mocked, and vilified. We have become a civilization inverted, at war against the foundation upon which it had been established, and against the God of its foundation.
We have descended to the darkest of sins. Israel killed thousands of its children on the altars of Baal. But we have killed millions. We’ve offered up our unborn children on the altars of self-obsession. It was here in this city that their murder was legalized forty four years ago. And their blood cries out to Heaven against us.
If John Winthrop could now return, he would find his city on the hill darkened and progressing to judgment. For no nation can wage war against the God of its blessings and expect those blessings to remain.
The Last Eight Years
A nation’s apostasy cannot be blamed on any one leader. It is the nation that is ultimately accountable. But an ungodly leader, a Jeroboam or an Ahab, can help turn a nation away from God, and deep and accelerate its departure. And a godly leader, a Hezekiah or a Josiah, can slow a nation’s fall, or help lead it back to God. In the past years eight years, America’s spiritual fall and moral descent has both deepened and accelerated.
The present administration has led this nation to champion the killing of the unborn, and not only within its own borders, but in that of other nations across the world.
The present administration has laboured to strike down the standards and order ordained by God concerning man and woman and marriage, not only within these borders, but around the world.
Under the present administration, relations between the United States and Israel have been brought to their lowest point in the history of the two nations. And the administration’s parting gift to the Jewish nation was to abandon it at the United Nations, to allow and even foster a resolution declaring that Israel’s ancient holy city Jerusalem, belonged not to Israel, but was, quote, “Palestinian territory.” In this way too, the present administration was waging war against the Word of God.
From the days of pagan Babylon and Rome, to the Soviet Union and Communist China, governments at war with God have not only persecuted His people, but have used the powers of state to coerce them to desecrate their faith and commit acts against the commands of God.
And now in the United States of America, under the present administration, the government has used the powers of state to force believers to commit acts against the commandments of God, to take part in the overturning and destruction of God’s sacred order of marriage, to pay for and become accomplices in the murder of the unborn.
And for the first time in American history, those who refused to violate the Word of God, faced being put in prison by the state. And of their imprisonment, the present administration issued its blessing.
But in a very short time, the present administration will cease to be the present administration.
America at the Threshold
The stakes of this election could not have been any higher. The Democratic campaign for the presidency was a battle to seal the changes enacted in the past eight years into permanency. At stake was the appointing of the Supreme Court justices who would determine America’s future as touching life and death, morality, and religious freedom.
For the first time in history, the Democratic platform called for the striking down of the Hyde Amendment, so that all Americans, could now through their taxes, directly fund the murder of unborn children.
And for the first time in American history, a major presidential candidate uttered these words: “Deep seated religious beliefs… must be changed…” The war against God had now reached the stage that a mainstream candidate for the presidency could call for the overruling of God’s word, and for the eradicating of faith. And why was that faith to be altered? So that abortion could be expanded still further.
America stood at the threshold in the face of an election that threatened to establish for ages the edicts of apostasy and the ways godlessness, and an open war against the people and gospel of God.
The Surprise
And then there was Donald Trump. There had never been a candidate like him. Whatever it was that one was never supposed to do when running for president, he did them all. Poll after poll after poll foretold a sure Democratic victory if not a landslide. The only question was how much of a landslide and how much destruction the Republican Party would incur. The Democrats prepared for victory. The Republicans prepared for defeat. And the media, the pollsters, and the president prepared to be vindicated.
But then something happened. And nobody was sure exactly what. The election took a strange turn. And what everyone was sure could never happen… happened. The media was in shock. Democrats were in shock. Obama was in shock. The Republicans were in shock. And it appears that Donald Trump couldn’t believe it happened either.
But as it was written in ancient times, it is no less true to this day: “As high as the heavens are above the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways. And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
And as we can bear witness today in the city of Washington, on January 20, 2017 … “With God, nothing… shall be… impossible.”
Donald Trump had not lived the life a believer, and there was much concern among God’s people. Can God use those who have not known or walked with God to accomplish the purposes of God? Can He choose them and anoint them to lead nations?
In Isaiah 45, God speaks to Cyrus, King of Persia:
“Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand… to open doors so that gates will not be shut… The Lord God of Israel who calls you by your name for the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, Though you have not known Me, I have called you by name.”
The Lord called the prophet Elisha to anoint the warrior Jehu, to be king over Israel. Jehu didn’t know God and was a man of fiery passion. But God chose him and used him as a vessel, a vessel to cause the shaking of a nation and the ending of the dynasty of Ahab and Jezebel, and the rule of the priests of Baal, along with their evil.
God can and has used such men as His vessels – for the sake of His kingdom and His people. And now we must pray for Donald Trump, that he will fully yield his life to be used as a vessel for the purposes of God.
In the days of Israel’s apostasy, when the people were warring against His ways, God extended His mercy. He gave the people time to repent. So too, in the days of our apostasy, God is giving us a time to repent.
To Barack Obama in the Last Hour as President
Before I speak of the significance of what we have witnessed, and of what we must do as we go forth from here, and of what lies ahead, we must first speak to that which is about to lie behind, namely this administration. On the day of the last Presidential Inauguration, I asked a question of President Obama. Now as we approach the President’s last hour, there are other questions that must be asked. These words are being recorded and now he will have more time to see it.
President Obama, with all respect that is due, as you approach the last hour of your presidency, you were shocked by the outcome of the election. And it now appears that your legacy will largely be undone.
You came to the presidency claiming that as a Christian you could not support the ending of marriage as it had always been known. And then you did everything in your power to end that very thing. And then you sought to force believers to take part in that very thing you said a believer could not support because of God. And then, those who would not take part of it, you sought to punish them.
If one believes that God is real, how can one do such things?
You came to the presidency speaking of tolerance. And yet you showed no tolerance for the lives of the unborn. But you zealously fought to defend the carrying out of their murder and, beyond that, to expand their murder around the world.
And then you went farther. You sought to force God’s people to partake in the killing of the unborn, to pay for their deaths. You even took them to court to coerce them into doing it.
If one has any fear of God, how can one do such things?
President Obama, on the day when marriage as we know it, as ordained in the Word of God, was, with your help, struck down in this land, you celebrated it by lighting up the White House in the colours of the rainbow. Did you not know that the rainbow does not belong to man – or to any movement of man? The rainbow… belongs to God. It is the sacred sign of God’s covenant, and the sacred colors of His throne?
If you believe that God is real, how could you use the sign of God to celebrate the striking down of the Word of God? And if you dishonor His throne, will He not dishonor yours?
If you overturn the edicts of God, should you be surprised that your own edicts will now be overturned? And if you strike down the precepts of God, will not your own precepts be struck down?
The Covenant of Abraham
You launched accusations against the leader of Israel in a way you never have against the leaders of enemy nations. You took part in isolating and condemning Israel before the world, and advancing a resolution that proclaimed that Israel had no right to Jerusalem.
If one has ever read the Bible, how could one foster such a thing? Did you miss what the Word of God says concerning Jerusalem?
There is only one who has authority over Jerusalem. And it is not the United Nations. It is not the European Union. And it is not you. There is only one. And His name is the Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the Holy One of Israel.
Long before there was a United Nations or a United States, or any of the nations that cast this vote, the Lord issued His own resolution concerning Jerusalem. And no law, no executive order, and no U.N. vote will ever overturn it. And concerning that U.N. resolution, the Almighty has issued His own response…….. He vetoes it.
Four thousand years ago God made a covenant with Abraham, that states that whatever you do to Israel, shall be done to you.
You sought to intervene in an election held within the borders of a sovereign nation, Israel. Therefore should you now be surprised if God intervenes in the election in your own borders? You sought through Israel’s election to nullify the stands and legacy of its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.
So should you now be surprised if God through the American election overturns the actions and positions of your government and nullify your legacy?
Despite how you treated the name of God, the Word of God, the ways of God, the hand of God, and the people and kingdom of God, the inconvenient truth is – God is real, His Word is true, His ways are eternal, His hand is mighty, and His kingdom is without end, and the darkness will not overcome it.
Mr. President, I am here to report to you good news – the God of Israel is alive and well and His arm is strong, to the rising up and casting down of kings and kingdoms, governments and administrations. You don’t think He can do that? To paraphrase your own words – Yes He Can!
The Three-Thousand-Year-Old Word
Three thousand years ago, King Solomon stood in front of the temple and prayed for his nation, that if it the people of Israel ever departed from God and His ways, that the Lord would have mercy on them. And God answered His prayer with these words: “If My people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.”
Thirty seven years ago America was in deep crisis. Its economy was in shambles, inflation was in double digits as was unemployment. And around the world, the nation’s prestige and power were crumbling. The Soviet Union was advancing. And over fifty Americans were taken hostage in Iran.
Every day Americans turned on their television sets to see multitudes across the world chanting “Death to America. Death to America. And then the president sent in a rescue mission. But it ended in disaster. The helicopters crashed in the desert and the bodies of American soldiers were now displayed in front of the world. America was helpless, and a gloom fell upon the nation.
It was then that believers gathered from across the country to this city with the hope of one Scripture that was proclaimed that day over and over again, 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name.”
The Gathering
They gathered on the Washington Mall to humble themselves and pray, to seek His face, to turn from their evil ways, and to cry out for America.
Two prayers were foremost above all, one, that where America’s military was helpless, God would by His own hand set the hostages free. And, two, with the multitude lifting up their hands toward the western side of the Capitol Building, that God would bring to Washington, those of His choosing to lead the government.
That following autumn came the presidential election and there was a revolution at the polls. Those candidates supporting Judeo-Christian values were swept into power. Foremost among them was Ronald Reagan. On Inaugural Day, 1981, Reagan made a change. He altered the location of the Inauguration from the eastern terrace of the Capitol Building, where it had always been, to the western terrace, where it has been ever since.
And as he stood on the western terrace, he was now facing the very place where the believers had gathered that day to pray. He was standing on the very spot to which they had pointed their hands as they asked God to bring into power those of His choosing. God was answering the prayer in the very place it was prayed.
And then, the hostages were released from Iran in that very same hour. The two prayers were answered at the same time and in the same place where they had been lifted up to God.
The Left Hand of God
With the raising of Reagan’s right hand to take the oath of presidency, America’s history changed, as did the history of the world. American economic power rebounded, as did American military power, and American prestige around the world. Its arch-nemesis, the Soviet Union, began to collapse, leaving America the world’s only superpower. It was called morning in America.
And it all began, and the history of the world changed, on that solitary moment when Reagan raised his right hand. But there was a mystery to that moment, a mystery the world never saw, a mystery that resting on Reagan’s left hand, and the left hand of God, the secret ways of the Almighty. And in the mystery of that moment are the key to the changing of history. Reagan’s left hand was placed on the Bible – and not only on the Bible, but on one particular verse in the Bible to which he was led. The history of the world changed on a Scripture. What was it? It was this:
If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.”
His hand was resting on the exact same Scripture proclaimed the day when believers came from all over America to do that very thing in that very place. It was not politics that changed the world, or economics, or military power. It was God. It was the hand of the Almighty, in answer to the prayers of His people. And it changed the course of world history.
I know. I was there. And in the spring of this year, I returned to the Mall, for a gathering of prayer and intercession for America. And I led those gathered to turn to the Capitol Building and lift up their hands to the western terrace where the presidential inauguration would take place – and pray for God to have His way in that Inauguration and in America.
And so in this last election, the pollsters couldn’t believe what happened and the experts couldn’t explain it. But there was a reason for what happened. Against all odds, the people of God gathered to pray for the election – in small groups and large gatherings, around the nation and across the world.
What was it that all the experts and pollsters missed? The answer was 3000 years old: If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.” For the power of prayer is stronger than kingdoms. And God is faithful. And His promises are true.
Charge to the New President
And now to you, Donald Trump, who will shortly take your oath of office. As you are lifted up to become the most powerful man on earth, remember always that it is the Almighty who lifts up kings to the throne, and the Almighty who removes them.
Your authority comes not from man but from God, the King above all kings. Therefore, submit your life to His authority and by His authority you shall lead.
Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
Your life has been a vessel of your will. Now it must become the vessel of His will and His purposes. Walk in His footsteps, seek His righteousness, and follow the leading of His voice.
Uphold His ways, and you shall be upheld. Keep His Word and you shall be kept. Give honour to His name, above all names, and your name shall be honoured.
Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you do this, and you will arise, and you will shine, and the glory of the Lord will rise upon you.
The Window and the Call of God
And now to you, God’s people: We have witnessed the fall of a nation away from God as in the fall of ancient Israel to judgment. But even in the ancient template, God gave to His nation windows of mercy. And so God has now given a reprieve, a window of grace – to return. But what shall we do with that window?
If we should now place our faith in man or in our own powers, our pride and greatness, then we will have repeated the mistake made in ancient Israel, as recorded in Isaiah 9:10. Then we risk disaster. America can be great again. But it will not be by trusting in its own greatness or relying on its powers. The only way America will be great again… is for America return to the God who made America great in the first place. Without that return, there will be no greatness and no hope.
For the answer is not government, not the military, and not the economy. The answer… is God and the only way… is revival. And for revival to come, there must be repentance. For without repentance, there can be no revival. And that repentance must begin with the people of God – If My people who are called by My name…”
We have not come to Washington DC to seek the agency of government. We have come to seek the agency of the Holy Spirit. We have not come here to place our trust in the abilities of man. We have come to invoke the power of the Almighty… for revival.
We have been given this window and we must not waste it. We must work while it is yet day. This is the Inauguration Day. And beyond the Inauguration that the world will see with its eyes, we are here to inaugurate the purposes of God.
Before God
So let the word go forth from this place and this day to every child of God in this land, to every church and gathering in His name, that we commit ourselves from this time forth to fervently pray for revival, to work for revival, to repent for revival, to humble ourselves for revival, to seek His face for revival, to turn from our evil ways for revival, to proclaim the Gospel to revival, and by the power of God to live our lives in revival. For there are only two options: revival or judgment. The answer must be revival. However it comes, whether by blessing or by the shaking of a nation, let revival come.
We come now before the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of Elijah, the God of the prophets, the God of Messiah, the God of the Red Sea, and the God of the Resurrection, we to the throne of the Sovereign Almighty God of Israel.
Let this Inaugural Day be the Inauguration of a New Day, of the moving of God’s Spirit across this land.
And we cry out to God, ‘Have mercy! Have mercy on this land! Lift up your eyes again upon this city on the hill, and have mercy. Let your power again be seen in this nation. Let it fall upon your people. Let it fall upon your Churches. Let it fall upon the heartland. Let it fall upon the coast land. Let it fall upon this capitol. Let it fall on the White House. Let it fall upon the Congress. Let it fall upon us. Let there be revival in the land. Let the lost be saved. And let the saved be revived. No matter what it takes, let there be revival in this land!
God of the Impossible
Is it possible? We declare that with God, nothing shall be impossible. Can He do it? We answer: Yes He can.
For our God is the God of Israel. And Israel is the nation of the impossible. And for over three thousand years all the forces of hell have tried to wipe the children of Israel off the face of the earth.
The Pharaohs tried to destroy them. The Assyrians tried to bury them. Babylon tried to crush them. Rome tried to wipe them off the annals of history. The Third Reich tried to annihilate them. The Soviet Union tried to eliminate it. And the terrorists have tried to obliterate them.
But the Pharaohs are gone. Assyria is no more. Babylon has fallen. Rome has perished. The Third Reich is destroyed. The Soviet Union has crumbled. And the terrorists, the will be no more.
But the Nation of Israel Lives. Am Yisrael Chai, The nation of Israel lives. For the God of Israel lives. For the Messiah of Israel lives. And so you His people will live. For the light of God is stronger than the darkness. And the name of God is stronger than the kingdoms of this world. And the government shall rest upon His shoulder. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
For some trust in chariots, and some trust in princes, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God, and in the only name under heaven by which we must be saved. We will trust in the name of Yeshua Ha Mashiach Jesus the Messiah.
Let the name of God be lifted up. And let this city on the hill called America shine again with the light of the fire of the presence of the glory of the living God in the name above all names, the name of Yeshua Ha Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the Name of all names, the Light of the World, the Glory of Israel, and the one and only hope of these United States of America. So help us God. Amen.
Culled from Charisma magazine online: Jonathan Cahn is a Messianic Jew and is the author of The Harbinger, The Mystery of the Shemitah and other books