Modern-Day Heroes Needed

From Dutch Sheets:

This month of July is incredibly significant. God is doing much. I have heard of at least four major prayer journeys to DC and elsewhere over the weekend, which Holy Spirit led others to do independently from one another. Some have sent us pictures from their prayer assignments. This is all so obviously orchestrated by Holy Spirit, which makes it incredibly encouraging. We must continue to persevere.

After my assignment in Washington, DC, on Thursday of last week, I went to Boston to be with my friends, Jon and Jolene Hamil, at Faneuil Hall. This gathering, like DC, was very powerful and timely. Faneuil Hall is referred to as the “Cradle of Liberty.” It was there where founder Samuel Adams and others met to give impassioned speeches, appealing to New Englanders to fight for liberty. The building reeks of history; when there, I can feel it oozing from the floors and walls. Without question, in the 1700s, the world was changed from Faneuil Hall. In our era, God has led many back to this important place in order to tap into the synergy of the ages and re-stake claim to our nation. I have spoken there four times in the last dozen or so years. Preaching with pictures and busts of Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, and other patriots staring at you is daunting and humbling, to say the least.

Last night for a couple of hours, I watched a TV series regarding the American Revolution. It was very moving. Thousands of patriots paid a horrible price for the freedom we enjoy and to further the God-given destiny of our nation. We must never let this be stolen. I cried as I heard a phrase from Emerson’s poem, Concord Hymn. The poem is considered a classic, but the phrase that overwhelmed me speaks of the “Spirit, that made those heroes dare to die, and leave their children free.” (1)

Those heroes indeed possessed incredible hearts and spirits, and they gave everything - including their very lives - to purchase the freedoms we enjoy. Yet, the price they paid forever changed the world. Their ranks consisted not only of fully grown men, but also young teenage boys and girls, women, and, yes, freed slaves.

Whether it be teenager Sybil Ludington’s 40-mile midnight ride to help gather militiamen for a battle in Danbury, Connecticut, or Betty Zane’s heroic dash to retrieve gunpowder for the fighting men around her, there were many heroes.

Nancy Hart is another example. “Standing six feet tall, the red-headed and muscular Hart made an imposing figure for those who dared to cross her. Her fearlessness prompted Cherokee neighbors to call her ‘Wahatche,’ which meant ‘war woman.’ This nickname would prove appropriate as the Revolution moved into the Georgia backcountry, and Hart became a staunch defender of the Patriot cause…

“As the Revolution moved into the Southern colonies, Nancy played an important role fighting against Tories in the Georgia backcountry. Hart succeeded in outsmarting British opponents on multiple occasions, frequently disguising herself as a ‘crazy man’ and wandering through British camps to procure information for the Patriots. When one of Hart’s children discovered a British soldier spying on the Hart home, Nancy doused the man with boiling water that she was using to make soap before tying him up and turning him over to Patriot forces…

“Though Hart gained recognition after the war for a variety of exploits, one of the most popular stories involved her capture of several British soldiers. According to local legend, six British soldiers entered the Hart home to question Nancy about assisting a Patriot in escaping from the Redcoats. The soldiers then demanded that Nancy feed them, and displaying unusual hospitality, Nancy agreed to host them, providing a fair share of food and drink. With help from her 12-year-old daughter, Sukey, Hart succeeded in discreetly removing several of the soldiers’ muskets from the stack they had formed in the corner of the room. Hart had passed two of the firearms to Sukey through a gap in the wall before the soldiers noticed. Hart instructed the soldiers to remain where they were, and when one of them rose to approach her, she shot him dead and wounded one of the others before taking the remaining four men hostage. Sukey ran to inform Benjamin [her husband], who returned to the cabin. After debating whether to shoot the remaining men or hang them, the Harts and their neighbors decided to hang the soldiers from a nearby tree. The story became a local legend after the war, and variations of the tale have continued to circulate since then. In 1912, a railroad company’s archaeological excavation of the land near Hart’s cabin unearthed six skeletons, suggesting that some version of [the story] was true.” (2)

I encourage you to pick up freedom’s baton; it has been handed to our generation, but we must each do our part. Though our weapons are spiritual, not physical - and the battle is, as well - it is no less real and important. If you see the spiritual war for America’s future as only about money, possessions, and physical well-being, you are missing heaven’s point of view. This spiritual battle is regarding the eternities of hundreds of millions of people around the world. America was raised up to take the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. That…is what we must contend for.

I encourage you again, as I did in Monday’s post, to move out from the prayer closet occasionally, and do some onsite praying. Ask Holy Spirit to show you, your prayer group, or even your congregation where He needs you to pray. It may be your neighborhood, a school (after hours), your city or state government headquarters, a historic site, or perhaps a trip to DC. Be wise, obey laws and respect other people, but consider doing this. I’ve been on some prayer journeys that have changed my life!

And one other thing: Pastors, I urge you never to let a service take place where prayer for government, your city, and the coming revival does not take place. Real prayer! - not just a perfunctory mention. Take some time and pray! Ask a trusted leader or two, or perhaps some kids to lead in prayer for a couple of minutes. Doing this regularly will help you build your church into a house of prayer, as Jesus declared it to be (Matthew 21:13).

I also challenge pastors and leaders to pray over the children before this new school year begins. It’s important that we are diligent in keeping them covered with prayer, and also teach them about the armor of God, placing it around them each day (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Let’s all do our part to continue the prayer siege in America. We are winning…because appealing to heaven still works!

Pray with me:

Father, thank You for the awakening that has occurred in the Ekklesia. Incredible amounts of revelation have been poured out on us over the past 40-50 years. “Yet, still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate” [taken from A Mighty Fortress (3)]. He works consistently to counteract us. But we declare that he will lose.

We ask You for a heightened level of alertness and discernment for Your church. We are grateful for increases of prophetic revelation - dreams, visions, prophecies, and Spirit-led direction for our prayers. But we ask for more…from glory to glory, faith to faith, and strength to strength. You overcame satan; as Your body, we will enforce Your victory. Send Your people out into their world to release Your Kingdom authority.

We continue to ask for the release of Your battering rams into the spirit of Baal’s defenses in Washington, DC, especially at the White House. We ask for warring angels to implement these battering rams. You have exposed Baal, now you are expelling him. We declare by faith that we will have a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led person in the Oval Office, one who openly welcomes You in on a daily basis. Give us anointed worship and 24-hour prayer in the White House. Take over, Lord! We boldly ask for these things in Christ’s name.

Our decree:

We decree that when we die, we will leave our children free, and America will continue exporting the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

1. https://www.preaching.com/articles/preacher-get-it-right/
2. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/301222-you-and-i-have-a-rendezvous-with-destiny-we-will
3. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63389/roosevelts-man-arena

July 4, 1776

  WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

          We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
          He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
          He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
          He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
          He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
          He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
          He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within. 
          He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
          He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
          He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
          He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.
          He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
          He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
          He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
          For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
          For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
          For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
          For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
          For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
          For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
          For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
          For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
          For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
          He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
          He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
          He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
          He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
          He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
          In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
          Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
          We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress,
JOHN HANCOCK, President.

Prayer For America

Pray with me:

America was raised up by God to be a city on a hill, a beacon of light to all nations.

America was called to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to all nations of the earth.

America is one nation, under God. We have put our trust in Him and no other. We have no king but Jesus.

The “Laws of Nature and of Nature's God;” an appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the world;” “the Creator;” and “divine Providence” are all in our Declaration of Independence. We decree that, as a part of this legal document that birthed our nation, they remain true today. We declare them into the atmosphere of America!

Leviticus 25:10 is on the Liberty Bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” This verse, describing Christ as America’s jubilee Redeemer, rang out at our birth, announcing our faith and our destiny. We declare its message over America again today: Christ is our Redeemer! Proclaiming His message is our purpose!

America is in covenant with God, He keeps covenant and mercy, and AMERICA SHALL BE SAVED!

We speak these words in the name of Jesus our King, Lord, and Savior - Amen!

America: Born by Providence

It used to be unquestioned that our nation’s founding, while imperfect due to the original sin of slavery, was exceptional in the history of the world and worthy of adulation. However, some so-called scholars have recently tried to literally rewrite the date and reframe the context of America’s inception.[1] They have virulently espoused the false ideology that our nation is completely evil and should be scorned. This has caused segments of the citizenry to ponder, ‘Is America’s birthday even worth celebrating?’

The answer is a resounding yes, for innumerable reasons, but I will focus on the most important one - that the United States of America is the only country, ever, (including ancient and modern-day Israel), to be founded on an idea, not an ethnicity. This idea is best summarized in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence where our Founders boldly proclaimed, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’[2]

This single sentence is what makes America exceptional. It is what makes her beautiful. It is what makes her praiseworthy. But how did the idea become a reality? How did the rag-tag Continental Army led by General George Washington that was made up of colonial farmers and part-time patriot ‘minutemen’ defeat the British Empire which boasted the world’s mightiest military? Put simply, but powerfully - America was born by Providence.

What is ‘Providence’? Theologian R.C. Sproul teaches us:

The word providence is made up of a prefix and a root. The root comes from the Latin videre, from which we get the English word video. Julius Caesar famously said, “Veni, vidi, vici“—”I came, I saw, I conquered.” The vidi in that statement, “I saw,” comes from videre, which means “to see.” That is why we call television “video.” The Latin word provideo, from which we get our word providence, means “to see beforehand, a prior seeing, a foresight.” However, theologians make a distinction between the foreknowledge of God and the providence of God. Even though the word providence means the same thing etymologically as the word foreknowledge, the concept covers significantly more ground than the idea of foreknowledge. In fact, the closest thing to this Latin word in our language is the word provision.”[3]

Our founding fathers and mothers were very learned, highly literate leaders who understood what providence meant and accurately used it to describe the active interventions that the God of the Bible made on behalf of our emerging nation. They knew then, as we do now with 20-20 historical hindsight, that the God of Providence was providing a way for the United States of America to be born. The Lord was literally our provision.


A revisionist history agitator might contend that this is mere hyperbole or a misapplication of ‘Providence,’ a seemingly forgotten word. Their line of argument is disproven by two rebuttals.

First, it is disproven by the many descriptive phrases from the Declaration of Independence – to include ‘Creator,’ ‘Supreme Judge of the World,’ ‘Nature’s God,’ and ‘Divine Providence’[4] – which prove that clear cognition of and credit to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was firmly embedded in the 18th century’s social consciousness. Our entire founding generation, including even skeptical men like Ben Franklin, all understood that without God, there would be no United States of America.

Second, it is disproven by the countless writings of both the founders and historians.

In his private journals, George Washington gave credit to the ‘finger of Providence’ when it came to both the formation and successful ratification of the Constitution in 1787.[5]

John Adams said,

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."[6]


Emma Willard, the historian and leading educator of women, stated,

"In observing the United States, there is much to convince us, that an Almighty, Overruling Providence, designed from the first to place here a great, united people."[7]

John Dickinson, one of the 39 signers of the Constitution, left nothing to doubt by writing, ‘Our cause…is nothing less, than to maintain the Liberty with which heav’n itself hath made us free.’[8] Thomas Jefferson’s pastor, the Reverend Charles Clay, summarized all of the above by stating, ‘the sacred cause of liberty [is] the cause of God.’[9]


“There are hundreds of thousands of quotes like the ones above in our National Archives and Libraries. The evidence is irrefutable that Divine Providence was present in the rise of our democratic republic that has now lasted for almost 250 years. This truth begs the question – ‘If our nation was birthed by God, then what does He require of us to keep His beloved country alive?’

Because you are reading ... this, then you are already doing the most important thing – praying! But we must also vote for politicians who will legislate from a Biblical worldview (anyone can say they are a Christian – check their voting record and/or stances on issues), find ways to be ‘salt and light’ in our local communities, and be completely resolved to have our families stand strong for Christ’s truth in every sphere of culture from our house to the White House.

Let’s recommit today to play our part in fulfilling God’s providential plans for America by repeating what the 56 signatories to the Declaration of Independence bravely proclaimed on the 4th of July 1776 - ‘with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’[10] 

Amen!!

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage.” Psalm 33:12 (ESV)

~ Major William Ostan, USA (Ret.)

An American's Creed

 “I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek to develop whatever talents God gave me—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say – ‘This, with God’s help, I have done.’ All this is what it means to be an American.”

Dean Alfange, 1952

THE National Anthem As You've Never Heard It

I'm sure my regular readers will be aware of how I feel about having another "national" anthem added to the observance of the one for the American people.

For all of the American people.

All set? Here we go:

Dr. Suess and a Bedtime Story for America

Wild Bill NAILS It: "Welcome to America"

An American's Creed

A Dangerous Old Woman in Georgia

A Dangerous Old Woman in Georgia
by Roswell

Nancy Hart was redheaded, six feet tall, gangly, scarred from smallpox, cross-eyed and reportedly, ugly as sin. One account pointed out that Hart had "no share of beauty—a fact she herself would have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking into a mirror." In contrast to these attributes, she was known to be extremely mean-spirited. In all seriousness, she was a hard woman in every sense of the word, but she had a love for Liberty that knew no bounds.

Nancy was also fiery of temper, fearless and had a penchant for exacting vengeance. Local Indians referred to her as "Wahatche," which meant "war woman." Although illiterate, she was known to be an expert herbalist, a skilled hunter, and despite her crossed-eyes, a deadly shot.

She often disguised herself as a simpleminded man and wandered into Tory camps and British garrisons to gather information, which she subsequently passed along to patriot authorities. She was also an active participant in the conflict and, according to some accounts, was present at the Battle of Kettle Creek on February 14, 1779. There are numerous stories about Nancy Hart so, here are only a couple of the more famous ones.

One evening, a Tory spy crept up to the log cabin, and one of the Hart children, noticing an eyeball peeking through a crack, secretly informed her mother. Hart, who was boiling some lye for soap around the fireplace, casually filled her ladle and flung the contents through the crack. A blood curdling scream confirmed her aim. The Tory was hog-tied and taken as a prisoner to local militia, probably blind for life, at least in one eye.

The most famous story of Hart's escapades as a frontier patriot began when a group of six Redcoats came to her cabin and demanded information concerning the location of a certain Whig leader. Only minutes earlier, the Whig, hotly pursued by them, had stopped by the Hart cabin and enlisted Hart's aid as he made his escape.

Hart insisted that no one had passed through her neck of the woods for days. Convinced that she was lying, one of the soldiers shot and killed Hart's prized gobbler. Understand, this was not a time of abundance, it was war and food was very hard to come by. As in Boston, the redcoats had much disdain for the “rebels”. They ordered her to cook the turkey, and entered the cabin. As they came in, they stacked their weapons in the corner, and demanded something to drink. Hart obliged them by opening her jugs of moonshine. Once the soldiers began to feel the intoxicating effects of the shine, Hart sent her daughter, Sukey, out, telling them she was headed to the spring for a bucket of water. Hart secretly instructed her to blow a conch shell, which was kept on a nearby stump, to alert the neighbors that redcoats were in the cabin.

As Hart served her unwanted guests, she frequently passed between them and their stacked weapons. Inconspicuously, she began to pass the loaded muskets, one by one, through a chink in the cabin wall to Sukey, who had by this time slipped around to the rear of the building.

When they noticed what she was doing they sprang to their feet. Hart threatened to shoot the first man who moved. Ignoring her warning, one soldier lunged forward, and Hart pulled the trigger, killing the man. Seizing another weapon, she urged her daughter to run for help. Hart shot a second man who made a move toward the stacked weapons and held off the remaining soldiers until her husband and several others arrived.

Her husband, Lt. Benjamin Hart, wanted to shoot them, but Nancy Hart wanted them to hang as was the price of thieves. Consequently the remaining men were hung from a nearby tree.

There has long been some speculation as to the truthfulness of those events… but in 1912 workmen grading a railroad near the site of the old Hart cabin unearthed a neat row of six skeletons that lay under nearly three feet of earth and were estimated to have been buried for at least a century. This discovery seems to validate the legend.

Today, Hart County, Elbert County's neighbor to the north, was named for Nancy Hart, as was its county seat, Hartwell. In the same general area, Lake Hartwell and the Nancy Hart Highway (Georgia Route 77) commemorate the legendary woman. And if you are up in Elbert County, you can still visit a re-creation of the Hart homestead.

Nancy Hart, as depicted in an 1896 book