Intercede for Our Nation

I’m calling the charismatic community to rise up, get involved and pray for our nation.
James Robison was the first person to tell me what an extraordinary leader Mike Huckabee is. I was complaining to Robison last spring about the current slate of presidential candidates. He told me Huckabee had been on his staff for four years in the 1970s and had gone on to become governor of Arkansas.

I admit, I hadn’t paid much attention to who the governor of Arkansas was. But because another Arkansas governor had overcome his lack of name recognition to become president, I decided to check Huckabee out.

As a result of my investigation, I became one of the first to support Huckabee when he was still only an asterisk in the polls. I was impressed not only with his skills as a governor but also with his ability to communicate his beliefs, the ease with which he handled critics and his rock-solid stand on the issues.

Back then most of my friends were saying he was unelectable. But I was concerned that in a rush to elect anyone other than Hillary Clinton Christians might compromise our values.

I reasoned that if we elected a social liberal such as Rudy Giuliani, we’d be stuck with him for eight years. At least if we lost on principle, we’d have a better chance of putting someone with our values in office in four years.

I never expected to be thrust into this election either editorially or personally, agreeing to raise more than $100,000 for Huckabee. I had never given money to a presidential candidate before, let alone raised money for one. And I found that most of those I raised money from were in the same category—they had never previously given to a politician.

I found it hard to raise funds even from Christians who I knew shared Huckabee’s values and were concerned that the wrong candidate would be elected. Why? Probably because Pentecostals—with a few exceptions—have no history of being involved in the political process.

Maybe it is because we consider politics “dirty” and want to remain pure. Or because our eschatology tells us that Jesus will return any moment and there’s no need to change the system. Or perhaps because we don’t think anyone listens to us, anyway.

But our record is about to change. Charismatic leaders such as Dutch Sheets are speaking prophetically to encourage the body of Christ to become involved in electing godly officials who will protect the sanctity of human life and incorporate godly principles into our laws. And some are running for office, as Bishop Keith Butler of Detroit did for the U.S. Senate in 2006.

Charismatic leaders also have supported Huckabee in this election cycle. But our cover story shows that a few evangelical leaders have become political insiders—more eager to protect their hold on power than to be prophetic voices to the nation.

I’m calling on the charismatic community to rise up as never before and to not only get involved but also pray and intercede. Maybe this is our calling. We understand that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
I believe prayer and spiritual warfare brought about shifts in prior political campaigns—such as the narrow win in Florida for George W. Bush during the recount in 2000. Prayer was also responsible for the installation of certain Supreme Court justices when their appointments appeared to be politically unlikely.

Prophet Chuck Pierce recently said he believes Christians must “pray in a different way to produce an atmosphere of change” and that “there will have to be a 21-day ‘push’ in the Spirit culminating on April 20 for … the atmosphere in our nation to shift so voters are not deceived by all the political rhetoric from the candidates and the media.” Pierce believes the results will be pivotal for the future of this nation. You can read more on our Web site (charis mamag.com/pierce) and also find a link to Pierce’s Web site.

If you agree that Christians must get involved, do what you can: Work for the best people to get elected, and encourage your friends to do the same. But mostly pray. Join with others to intercede for this nation—not just that we would have the right elected officials in office but also that revival would come to this land.

Stephen Strang is the founder and publisher of Charisma. To sign up for his newsletter, The Strang Report, which deals with issues facing the nation and the church, go to strangreport.com.