Hurricanes, Pure Heart, D.C., and Elections (Pt. 2)

Ahh. Hello again.

If you missed the first part of this blog, you can read it here.

So, let me carry on with the trip to David's Tent....

Saturday night Sean Feucht (remember me talking about him?) led a 7p-9p set in the tent and, as always, it was glorious. Lots of dancing and clapping and laughing. And joy. Lots and lots of joy.

I have said it before and I will say it again: I love Sean Feucht. I think I will have him play at my wedding.

Here are a few clips of Sean's set. 

Have I mentioned how much I love this guy?

#Favorite 

Sunday morning we woke up at about 5ish to leave the church we were staying at at 5:30a. We needed to be at Gate Post by 6a for breakfast. The sky that morning was sooo beautiful.

It was almost like a dark blanket was being removed to reveal the sun!

Then after breakfast we went to David's Tent...

This is the guest book that they had out to sign. I also grabbed a few flyers. This event is so important to our history. Never before had there been a tent in the Ellipse of the White House for 40 Days of Prayer and Worship. Never. And how amazing it was that I would get to be a part of this.... I still can't even believe it.

Anyway, so more F&Fers led worship...

Then later in the day, Jason Hershey (the guy who started the tent) took us out in the park a little ways from the tent to tell us about how he ended up in D.C., some things God has done in his life, and how the tent was started. It was amazing to hear his testimonies, especially as something he desires to see God do is end abortion. He told us some Lou Engle-ish stories and how his life is interconnected with Lou's calling and Bound4Life. It was all really cool to see how God weaves people together. He also shared his connection with YWAM and Fire and Fragrance (and how our black van used to be his - haha).

The White House from the park.

This was pretty neat.... N, S, and I all bought hats off a street vendor on our way to a coffee shop. He gave us all discounts and afterwards we got to pray with him and totally bless him; he was so kind! 

And the joys of having 30 minute car rides everywhere to take a nap...

And on the way to dinner the sky was so beautiful we pulled off on the road so some of our crew could climb on top of the van and take pictures... I was lame and I didn't climb on the van (incase you were wondering)....but I did get some nice pictures :-)

This one I actually took while we were driving, before we pulled off the road.

Isn't it beautiful?

After dinner we went back to the church for an early night because we had to get up at least at 3a to leave at 3:30a to be at the tent by 4a for the 5a-9a night watch sets. Let me tell you: It. Was. Hard.

This is the team who was doing the 3a-5a set, as our team was getting ready and/or soaking in the presence of God. This was the hardest set to focus in on because not only were we tired from the early morning, but also it was FREEZING outside. And yes, we brought blankets.

At about 5:30a, me, N, and A all decided to walk to Starbucks to warm up and get coffee.

The streets of D.C. were beautiful in the early morning hours...

So we got our coffee and went back to the tent, where we enjoyed being with the Lord. Some of got caught up on our reading (sort of).

Just after 9 o'clock one of our school leaders approached us and asked if some of us would like to go Silent Siege at the Supreme Court. Of course, I took the chance. 

Five other girls and I joined YWAMers from other bases at the steps of the Supreme Court to pray that God would end abortion, pour mercy out on America (for mercy triumphs over judgement), and send revival to this nation.

So we joined a group of about 15 who were already standing and we all just stood in a line as though to form a wall and pray.

And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out My indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. Their own way I have repaid [by bringing it] upon their own heads, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 22:30-31 (AMP)

We were praying that God would forgive this nation for turning away from Him. He is a God who will bring justice for those He loves, even if they never get to take a breath on this earth, and we asked that He would send mercy on those who contributed in any manner to the shedding of the innocent blood of over 54 million babies since 1973. 98% of those babies have been by choice (*not including those done in the cases of rape/incest or medical emergency to mother/child). 

So there we were in front of the Supreme Court with about 20 others we had never met before, but it didn't matter. We were all from the same family. The YWAM Family. The LIFE Family. Most importantly: the ETERNAL Family. 

Many people passed by, curious why so many young people would stand with red tape on their mouths in a line in front of the steps of the court. Some asked if we were protesting; others pretended we were not even there. Still some gave us a thumbs up and told us we were to doing a "good job!" and to "keep it up!" There were quite a few school tours that walked past us (from what looked like middle school and some college group). 

You could hear the junior high schoolers asking each other over and over again what we were doing. Finally, one of them stepped out with two of his friends. About two/three feet behind me, I heard a voice that said, "Why are you all standing there with tape on your mouths?"

I turned around and saw the few middle schoolers. I took my tape off. 

"We have gathered here to pray that God would end abortion in America." I had no idea if they even knew what abortion was. I certainly didn't want to be the one to tell them! Scenarios of possibly angry parents calling the school flashed through my mind in a moment as I carefully weighed my words for a way to speak honestly to them without scarring them with the horrific truth. So I asked them if they knew what abortion was. I figured that was a good way to find out how to gauge my words. They said they knew. So I gave them the simple truth as I answered their questions: Jesus died for everyone including the babies. Jesus loves the babies. We were standing here praying that God would end abortion in America. The tape was symbolic to the fact that we had the opportunity to be a voice for the voiceless and our silence was symbolic of the silenced voices of 54 million human beings. This is not a protest. It is a prayer meeting.

As I began talking to the first three boys, the other students took notice and within seconds I had the entire field trip class in front of me, including parents who were chaperoning. One parent was encouraging in response, while another was very clearly trying to shrug off my words. 

I left the conversation plain and simple as the tour guide or teacher was ushering them back to the bus. 

Awareness was raised. Seeds were planted. The rest was in the hands of the Lord.

*For more information on abortion, the covered Truth, Silent Sieges, Life Tape, Life Bands, and God's heart concerning abortion, visit Bound4Life.

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That afternoon after lunch, we met up with Jason Hershey again, who was going to take us on a tour of the monuments and give us the Biblical history left out of modern textbooks from this nation.

So there we sat in the grass beside the Lincoln Memorial as Jason shared with us why he gives this tour, what he has learned from Lord during these tours (on his personal time) and Biblical passages to show how our governmental system and the Bible are inter-relevant. 

This is where the tour really started....In the walk from the van to the Lincoln Memorial. 

Inside that circle is what was the home of Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederate Army. Abraham Lincoln and asked Lee to be general of the Northern army just a couple days before the Southern army asked Lee. Lee chose the South. As an act of revenge, the north began to bury bodies in Lee's yard, which led it to it becoming Arlington National Cemetery. 

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Genesis 9:6

Jason taught us about the Civil War and about Bible scriptures where God directly says that there will be punishment for shedding blood. He told us that America saw more deaths in the Civil War than all other American wars combined. 

"Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two-hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, 'The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous all together.'" 

- Abraham Lincoln, The Second Inaugural Address

Jason explained to us how because God is a God of His word, because the blood of man has been shed, He has to bring justice. For instance, in the story of Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel. The Lord asks Cain, "Where is your brother?" and Cain pretends not to know. God says, "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." (Gen. 4) God needed to bring justice for Abel and because of that He sent Cain away. 

Now, because God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, even in this present day God must bring justice for bloodshed. 

For us, He has sent Jesus. Jesus became the justice of Genesis 9:6 and also the reason God could send mercy on us (Heb. 12). Justice and mercy.

God does justice because He has to, He is bound by His words, but He does mercy because He wants to. 

Jason showed us how the Civil War became God's justice and mercy over the injustice of slavery. God brought both justice and mercy in the Battle of Gettysburg. So many men were killed as justice, but mercy came and the tide of the war turned in favor of the North.

I HAVE A DREAM....That one day, PRAYER WILL BE RESTORED IN SCHOOLS, ABORTION WILL END, AMERICA WILL TURN BACK TO GOD, AND A REVIVAL/AWAKENING WILL SWEEP THIS NATION LIKE NEVER BEFORE SEEN.

Our next stop was a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. As you can see, me and Rev. Dr. King Jr. are almost the same height!

In all of Jason's explaining the memorial, the greatest thing we could learn and remember in the memorial is that: You cannot force people to be moral. Morality is in your heart. You can, however, make a law that upholds morality as a standard for those who lack it.

Our next stop, I did not take any pictures at (so I will take one from Google), BUT let me tell you WHY I did not take any pictures:

The last time I was at this memorial was about 4 1/2 years ago. I was on an 8th grade school field trip and we were walking along the path near all of the trees. I was looking down on my cell phone, texting my dear mother, when all of the sudden I walk - SMACK - right into an extremely low tree branch, that quite honestly should have been trimmed off. 

Having such a history at this memorial, I remembered it quite well and did not feel a need to take photos.

Alas, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.

Here Jason discussed with us the New Deal policy and how FDR created the programs that provide government assistance to low income families and how Biblically inaccurate it is.

The truth behind all of this is:

The belief that it is the governments responsibility to take care of the poor is a demonic lie that has come from the orphan spirit. 

You see, God is our Father. He is the Father to every single human being on this planet. What are one of the many responsibilities of a Father? To provide. When we take that responsibility off of the Father and project it onto the government, we have put ourselves in a place where our actions say we do not need a Father. We are keeping from allowing Him to do the job that He loves to do. When we don't have a Father, we are an orphan. 

It is the responsibility of the church to take care of those in need.

Why? Because when we (the church) take care of those in need and we give them money/clothes/food/whatever/etc, not only are we caring for their physical needs, but we are adding having a relationship with those people because our actions are saying, "I care about your well-being. How are you doing?" with the desire for a genuine answer. It is a way allowing Jesus to show himself through his people.

However, when we take the Father's responsibility of provision and put it on the government, not only do the people become orphaned, but the church becomes complacent and stagnate because no longer is it their concern to care for those in need of help; they know someone else will. We are trading our Father, who always has enough, for a creation of men who will never have enough.

Our next stop was George Mason. Many people don't know George Mason, but this man is the reason we have a Bill of Rights. He was man who was in the "in crowd" of the forefathers. Washington..Jefferson..Hancock..George Mason was part of the crew. In drawing up the Constitution, George Mason was adamant that this Constitution needed a Bill of Rights to the point where he refused to sign a Constitution without a Bill of Rights. All of the other forefathers disagreed with Mason and he left that meeting, having not signed the document. Later the forefathers realized the George Mason was right - they needed to draw up a Bill of Rights. So the first 10 Amendments were amendments that George Mason himself wanted. 

It was said that after George Mason declared he would not sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights, he left, not signing, and him and George Washington never spoke again.

The thing to remember from this memorial: Always stay true to the word of the Lord, even if it costs you popularity.

Our final destination was the Jefferson memorial. Many people often claim that the First Amendment gives us the separation of church and state. This is a LIE. The phrase "separation of church and state" was actually penned by Thomas Jefferson in a letter. He was writing to a church that was afraid - there were many people of a particular denomination coming into political power, and this church was afraid that the difference in denomination was going to affect them. Thomas Jefferson was writing to them to reassure them that the government would stay out of the affairs of the church, NOT that the church needed to stay out of the affairs of the government. The church MUST involve itself in the governmental affairs. This is something Thomas Jefferson himself did.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, His justice cannot sleep forever."

Thomas Jefferson

God chose Israel. America is still the first nation to choose God in its founding documents.

  THERE IS HOPE!!!

Hahahaha...ah... now that I have taken you through the tour of the D.C. Monuments, via Blogger, I must get going... It is late.... and there will be a third part to this post very soon!

I love you all.. I hope you enjoy reading this!

Xoxo,

Cheryl