From Dutch Sheets

April 16, 2009

"Today, I am coming to you with a message from my heart. Now, more than ever, the need to stand for our Christian beliefs is apparent. There is a war taking place attacking our Christian heritage, values, and even life itself.

On April 30, 1863, during the darkest days of our country, President Abraham Lincoln called for a day of united pray and fasting. As we approach the anniversary of that historic day, I am asking that we again petition God on behalf of our nation. In the following brief video I explain this call to prayer beginning on April 30, 2009, whereby we can agree together with millions leading up to May 7, 2009, the National Day of Prayer.

This is very important. Please join me in this endeavor."

Gripped by Him,
Dutch Sheets

And also:

"Hi, my name is Dutch Sheets, and I have a short but very important message to share with you.

President Obama has said twice now—in his inaugural address and on a recent trip to Europe—that America is no longer a Christian nation. In fact he implied in his inaugural address that we never have been a Christian nation, that it was many faiths that shaped and defined who we are as America. In a recent Newsweek magazine they basically agreed with our president. The headline read, “The End of Christian America.” What are they and others really saying about America when they say we are not a Christian nation? In essence, they are saying we lost the culture war for America. They’re either saying that we never were a Christian nation, that we’ve always been a mix, or they’re saying maybe were at one point, but are no longer—this culture war is over and we are announcing Christianity has lost. What is the truth about our roots as a nation? The following are a few quotes that demonstrate clearly what we were in the founding of this nation, and what our founding fathers and early leaders really wanted us to be. The first one is from, of all places, the United States Supreme Court in 1892. “From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…that this is a Christian nation.” I guess the Supreme Court of that point in time did not agree with our current President. John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, said, “Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved Son.” Is that a Christian statement? I believe it is. Fisher Ames is the author of the first Amendment. (By the way, remember that the first Amendment is what the revisionists try to use saying our forefathers didn’t want Christianity influencing our government or anything in the public square.) Here is what the author of that first Amendment said: “Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book?” I don’t think he agreed with today’s version of separation. John Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and our 2nd President, said this: “The general principles of which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity.” Our second president and signer of the Declaration of Independence certainly thought we were a Christian nation, founded upon Christian principles. Here’s something that will really surprise many of you. This is a statement in the Handbook of Harvard University in 1642 called “The Rules and Precepts:” “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3)…and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.” Our educators today do not agree with it, but that was in the handbook of Harvard University. Here is one final quote and I want to read a portion of it to you: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, power, as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied, enriched, and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” Who made that powerful statement--some great preacher? A spiritual leader in our nation, perhaps? A statement made even recently? No, that statement was made in 1863 by none other than President Abraham Lincoln. It was made during the Civil War when he called our nation to prayer and fasting, asking God for His help in that troubled time. What our founding fathers and early leaders believed about God and this nation, and the connection there, is indisputable. Why does our history matter? Why do our roots in this nation really matter? Why is it important to revisionists and secular humanists that they re-write and distort our history? You know, if it really didn’t matter what our history was, they wouldn’t bother to re-write it and distort it. I’m here to say to you that it matters much whether or not we were a Christian nation in our roots. Why--first of all, because God honors covenant. The Bible says he keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations. You’ll find leaders all throughout scripture, when calling upon God for his help and His mercy, basing it on covenant – promises made in the past between God and people. And when we call upon God, we have to call upon Him, at times (of course always based on scripture), based on the fact that we are honoring the covenant that we made with Him as a nation. Our history is also important because it demonstrates that God had a purpose in the founding of this nation. God was involved. Our forefathers knew that God was involved, and it demonstrates our Godly heritage that our founding fathers believed in—that purpose and destiny--and dedicated this nation to it. The liberals, humanists, and those who want to re-write our history, they don’t want you to know that God had a purpose in the founding of this nation and that our forefathers intended to honor that purpose. Our history also demonstrates that our founding fathers were influenced by God’s word and His ways when writing the Constitution and forming our government. Those who don’t like this and want to twist the meaning of our founding fathers and founding documents try to negate God’s influence by re-writing our history. Is it important to know that in our roots we are a Christian nation and do have a God-given purpose and destiny? You better believe it is!
We know that we were a Christian nation in our early days. We know what our founding fathers and early leaders wanted, but have the humanists, secularists, atheists, and revisionists really won this culture war? Are we, as Newsweek said, at the end of Christian America? No, they have not won the war! It is true that they have made great gains and, in many areas of our culture, they do currently rule: education, media, government, and so on. And many in government—the President, Congress, Judges—are pulling out all the stops to remove anything and everything that would make us a Christian and godly nation. They are attacking biblical values and life. President Obama, who voted for the right to finish taking the life of a baby born alive after a botched abortion and many in Congress, are trying to reverse every restriction ever placed on abortion through the Freedom of Choice Act. They are trying to pass legislation making it illegal, even for churches, to refuse to hire an individual who violates their moral beliefs. They are trying to make doctors violate their consciences by forcing them to perform abortions. They want to remove tax deductions for you if you donate money to your church. They want to make it illegal for ministers to preach and quote scriptures calling various behaviors a sin. They are requiring you and me to fund abortions. Whether you know it or not, or like it or not, they are requiring you and me to fund abortions, even in other nations. The current administration and Congress have the most radical anti-Christian, anti-Bible agenda in the history of our nation. They are serious and they have pulled out all the stops. In essence they are saying, “We have won the culture war—now we are going to shove it down your throats.”

But they have not won the culture war! The war is not over! I believe, as do many Americans, that God is about to send a great revival to our nation and that as we work and plan, He is going to give us strategy to produce a great reformation that shifts our culture back again to what God intended it to be from the start. This brings me to the very simple plan that I want to share with you right now. The anniversary of that powerful proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, of which I shared a portion of it just a few moments ago, is coming up on April 30th. It is a powerful proclamation. I only shared a small portion of it to you. It talks about reformation. It talks about a nation being blessed whose God is the Lord. I tell you, we could not improve on this statement. Go to our website, www.dutchsheets.org, and download the entire proclamation sending it to everyone you know: family members, friends, educators, government officials, congressmen and women, judges. Send it to everyone you know and ask them to do the same. Let’s make a statement on that day and leading up to that day that we agree with Abraham Lincoln who certainly believed we were a Christian nation. Then, on that day, April 30th, let’s begin to pray it. Let’s pray that prayer as individuals. Literally, let’s read it out loud and say, “Lord, I want to come to you and say that I agree with President Abraham Lincoln, that we are a Christian nation and that we are dependent on you. We need your help; we repent for our sins; we cry out to you just as they did in the Civil War…” If during the Civil War, at that desperate time, they called on God and He saved a nation, we can do that now. Let’s take this and pray it individually. Some of you may want to have prayer meetings Thursday night, April 30th, and together read and pray portions of this prayer. Let’s do it every day for a week—7 days leading up to the National Day of Prayer—even on May 3rd, the Sunday between April 30th and May 7th, the National Day of Prayer. Let’s do it as congregations. Pastors, read this to your congregations and pray it. Put it on your Power Point, somewhere where you can read it together. Pass it out when congregants come in. Let’s have this read and said millions and millions of times from April 30th to May 7th. Then on that day, May 7th, the National Day of Prayer, let’s do it again! Let’s do it individually, in prayer meetings; let’s do it on State Capitol steps; let’s do it in Washington DC; let’s come into agreement with what President Lincoln said and let’s make a statement to this nation, to the spiritual powers that are trying to steal from us our Christian heritage, and let’s say, “The war isn’t over! We are not going to give this nation away and the culture war isn’t over!” God is going to help us reform this nation. We are going to get it done. Let’s do this millions of times between April 30th and May 7th. I believe it will make a huge difference! God bless you, and God bless America! " Dutch Sheets