This summer my wife and I are enjoying watching Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies: The Patriots, a television mini-series. The companion book by the same name is currently the number one best-selling non-fiction read in the United States.

The series unearths some of the unknown details on the American Revolutionary time period–the era that produced the most exceptional nation in history because its social and political ideas were based on God’s wisdom as found in the Bible.

As an American, I’ve always thought about the Revolutionary War from the standpoint of being a Yank. We won. The British lost.

But after the Brexit vote on June 23–with 52% of the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union–at least for the moment, I’m changing sides. Hail the Tories!  They won (and we’re still losing).

Here are my thoughts on the Reverse Revolutionary War.

It was quite a global stunner on June 23, 2016 when the people of the United Kingdom shocked the pollsters and bureaucrats in Brussels and voted for the European Union’s second largest economy to exit the EU.

My response was emotionally similar to Michael Goodwin, a managing editor of the New York Post. He wrote, “As results poured in [from the vote] I caught myself humming a tune from Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’.”

“The song,” he says, “follows the decisive Battle of Yorktown in 1781, after which the Redcoats surrender and America is free. It’s called a drinking song, and there’s not much to it except these words, ‘The world turned upside down’.”

“It certainly has,” he continued, “The world is also coming full circle because now it’s the Brits who are free. It took them awhile, but they finally had their own Tea Party and their own Revolution.”

Amen.

I was so excited that I fired off an e-mail to a long time British friend whom I call the “old tulip” (in proper British pronunciation, that comes off as “old chulip.” He calls me affectionately the “old bean.”) Here’s our brief correspondence:

“Congrats old tulip on the Brexit vote!  I’m deeply proud of your country for standing up for freedom, independence and national sovereignty. You are setting a good example for other nations–including our own.”

“If I was you, I’d be proud to be a Brit today–and ask God to use it for His glory in the British future.”

Here’s his thoughtful response:

“Hi old bean, 

“God will use it for his glory I am sure in many ways. It may have taken this separation to waken minds in Europe to the undemocratic nature of much of the European project.”

“I personally find internationalism a difficult idol to combat. The globalised world has bought with it many benefits, but there is a hidden insidious side. This vote has definitely been a significant setback for that cause.”

“Democracy, at best, the best of a bad range of governance options, really only works well when it is close to the people. The structures of the EU have always been distant and unaccountable. For the many in Britain that was a big issue.”

“There will be some serious ramifications, which could well include another referendum on Scottish independence, but we will see. In a month or two we can pray that wiser voices will prevail, and that the changed emotions of the present will have settled down.”

“I found this article a helpful assessment of these hugely significant events.”

I think you would enjoy reading his recommended article from the BBC.

Why? Because a reverse Revolutionary War is taking place. This time the Brits are the ones voting and acting for liberty while America (Barack Obama encouraged the UK to remain in the European Union) and the powers that be in Europe are the Tories of old.

Here are some of my thoughts on the Brexit vote.

1.  We are witnessing a tear in the aura of secular-progressive ideology.

The Western World has moved in the past seventy years from a strong liberty/biblically-based worldview to one of secular tyranny. What the British revolted against in the Brexit vote was centralized bureaucrats in Brussels telling them what’s moral, what to regulate, how many refugees to take–and basically controlling their lives.  That same liberal fascism is currently in vogue in the United States via the Obama Administration.

The Brits said NO to unrestrained cultural diversity, job and wage losses, greater threats of terrorism, loss of sovereignty, and forced immigration.

2. An anti-establishment (against liberal fascism) movement is gaining steam in the West.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingich shares the story:

“The first harbinger of change this year was May 23, the day of the Austrian presidential elections.”

“In the first round, the two parties that had dominated Austria for the past half-century came in fourth and fifth. An independent came in third. The two formerly minor parties in the run-off were a hardline conservative anti-immigrant candidate and a green who favored more immigration. The entire national establishment mobilized to block the anti-immigrant candidate. He got 49.65 percent of the vote.”

“The second big signal of change was the Italian municipal elections. Out of disgust with widespread corruption, an Italian comedian named Beppe Grillo launched the Five Star Movement in 2009. In the 2013 elections, it came in second. This month, the Five Star Movement candidates won the mayor’s offices in both Turin and Rome.”

“Virginia Raggi, 37, became the first female mayor in Rome’s 2,800-year history. In the midst of a corruption scandal which forced the previous mayor to resign, Raggi got 67 percent of the vote against the Prime Minister’s party. In Turin, the results were similar and the reform movement won in 17 other cities.”

“Brexit, then, was at least the third big-change election in the West this year. The entire British establishment, the business leadership, President Obama and Hillary Clinton all came out for the Remain side. They lost 52-48 in a stunning upset which the polls did not predict. In England and Wales, the margins were much higher as people voted to make Britain independent again.”

“Fourth and finally, last Sunday was the little-noticed election of a new president in Iceland. The former president had resigned in a scandal caused by release of the Panama Papers. He had broken no laws but his previously secret investments were very unpopular. The winner of the presidential elections with 39 percent of the vote was Gudni Johannesson, a history teacher. Second, with 28 percent of the vote, was Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman. The leading professional politician, a former prime minister, got 13 percent.”

“These results from four different countries show a consistent momentum toward throwing out established politicians and rejecting the establishment.”

3.  Secular-based globalism is tyranny, not liberty.

My English friend’s comments are quite astute on this point. He understands that globalism is a quite mesmerizing phenomenon (an attractive idol) but it’s atheistic base produces tyrannical leaders and governments. He is quite right to believe that democracies need to be kept “close to the people.” I would add:  They must be based on God-given rights and responsibilities that emanate from self-government. Europe lost that foundation decades ago. The United States is now following suit.

Let’s be honest. Cultural diversity and tolerance as a formula for successful societies is a sham. It’s a feel-good smokescreen for atheism which hurts people.

Here’s a new banner to lift up: Western values are superior because biblical ideas produce the most liberty and prosperity. Secularism and Islam both impoverish and enslave.

4.  America should follow the British example, reject the secular establishment and seek moral, economic and military freedom. 

Donald Trump may not be the best messenger for the cause of liberty in America (Cruz, Rubio, and many others were better). But he has a partially right message that resonates with the Brexit vote. Hold your nose if you have to, but vote for Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton is the secular-progressive establishment poster child. Plus corruption and lying.

5.  A One World Anti-God Government will come one day, but maybe not now.

We don’t know when the One World System will come. The Bible says it will happen one day. But we do know what freedom looks like–and we are to fight for biblical liberty in Christ in every generation along with the fulfilling of the Great Commission.

Brexit is a small step of renewal. Will it give birth to Italeave (Italy), Czech -out (Czech Republic), Finnish (Finland), Oustria (Austria) or Departugal (Portugal)?

I’m praying for a new American Revolution.

USAmen. 

In this century, as opposed to the 18th, let’s hope that we follow the Brits.

A lot of prayer is taking place this year. There’s also been a huge uptick in Islamic terrorism.

On June 29, I stood with thousands on the Washington State Capitol lawn to repent and pray as a part of Franklin Graham’s Decision 2016 tour of all fifty state capitals. On July 3, I had the privilege of leading my home church in the Call2Fall movement. July 10 is another day of coordinated special prayer for America.

And then comes Together 2016 on July 16 where hundreds of thousands will gather on the Washington, D.C. These calls to prayer focus on unity, repentance, and petitioning heaven to restore His protective blessings. 

But did you know that after the American Great Awakening (1730s-40s) and Revolutionary War (1770s-80s)–a time of increased prayer–the threat of radical Islam actually created the US Marines?

Here’s the untold story.

I know that the crescendo of prayer now taking place in America begins with individual humility, repentance, salvation and “turning from our wicked ways.” But the final aspect of 2 Chronicles 7:14 talks about God “healing the land”–which most certainly involves His divine protection and favor.

If you have a little time and want to watch the best video on radical Islam you’ve ever seen, pause for a moment and click here. The video is called “The True Threat of Islam in Fourteen Minutes.”

Then, ponder for a moment how the prayers of the 18th century actually led to the creation of the US Marines and halted the dangers of radical Islam in the time of our Founding Fathers.

Here’s the brief story.

“At the height of the 18th century, Muslim pirates (the “Barbary Pirates”) were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic.  They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant ransoms. Those taken hostage were subjected to barbaric treatment and wrote heart-breaking letters home, begging their government and family members to pay whatever their Muslim captors demanded.” 

“These extortionists of the high seas represented the North African Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers – collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast – and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American Republic.” 

“Before the Revolutionary War, U.S. merchant ships had been under the protection of Great Britain.  When the U.S. declared its independence and entered into war, the ships of the United States were protected by France.  However, once the war was won, America had to protect its own fleets.  Thus, the birth of the U.S. Navy.” 

“Beginning in 1784, 17 years before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America’s Minister to France. That same year, the U.S.Congress sought to appease its Muslim adversaries by following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes to the Barbary States rather than engaging them in war.” 

“In July of 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships, and the leader of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom of $60,000.  It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson was vehemently opposed to any further payments.  Instead, he proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could force the Islamic states into peace.  A disinterested Congress decided to pay the ransom.” 

“In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.” 

“The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja answered that Islam “was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran that all nations who would not acknowledge their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Muslim who was slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.” 

“Despite this stunning admission of premeditated violence on non-Muslim nations, as well as the objections of many notable American leaders, including George Washington, who warned that caving in was both wrong and would only further embolden the enemy, for the following fifteen years the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages.”  

“This payment in ransom and tribute amounted to over 20 percent of the United States government annual revenues in 1800.”

“Islam, and what its Barbary followers justified doing in the name of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson quite deeply.  America had a tradition of  religious tolerance. In fact Jefferson, himself, had co-authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, but fundamentalist Islam was like no other religion the world had ever seen. A religion based on supremacy, whose Koran not only condoned but mandated violence against unbelievers, was unacceptable to him.”  

“Shortly after his being sworn in as the third President of the United States in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli sent him a note demanding the immediate payment of $225,000 plus $25,000 a year for every year forthcoming.  That changed everything.”  

“Jefferson let the Pasha know, in no uncertain terms, what he could do with his demand.  The Pasha responded by cutting down the flagpole at the American consulate and declared war on the United States.  Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers immediately followed suit.”

“Jefferson, until now, had been against America raising a naval force for anything beyond coastal defense, but, having watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for long enough, decided that it was finally time to meet force with force.”  

“He dispatched a squadron of frigates to the Mediterranean and taught the Muslim nations of the Barbary Coast a lesson he hoped they would never forget.  Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to ’cause to be done all other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify'”. 

“When President Thomas Jefferson saw there was no negotiating with Muslims, he formed what is the now the Marines (sea going soldiers).  They had been originally commissioned in 1798 by President John Adams but never used in this manner.”

These Marines were attached to U. S. Merchant vessels.  When the Muslims attacked U.S. merchant vessels they were repulsed by armed soldiers. Then the Marines followed the Muslims back to their villages and killed every man, woman, and child in the village.”  

“It didn’t take long for the Muslims to leave U.S. Merchant vessels alone.  English and French merchant vessels started running up our flag when entering the Mediterranean to secure safe travel.”  

“The bravery of the U.S. Marine Corps in these wars led to the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Hymn, and they would forever be known as “leathernecks” for the leather collars of their uniforms, designed to prevent their heads from being cut off by the Muslim when boarding enemy ships.” 

“When Algiers and Tunis, who were both accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence, saw the newly independent United States had both the will and the right to strike back, they quickly abandoned their allegiance to Tripoli.”  

“President Jefferson’s greatest fear was that someday this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat to the United States.”

It’s now back-in a time period in which the Western World has turned away the God who gave them liberty.

May God hear our prayers in the 21st century, forgive our sins, and raise up a new force of brave men and women to deter and destroy evil as happened three hundred years ago.

I have prayed for a spiritual and moral awakening in America for over forty years. Why? Because I believe that  a great reformation of the world’s leading nation would make a profound and positive impact on fulfilling the Great Commission in this generation. 

Also–it’s happened before–three times actually. And each time revival came to America, a surge of spiritual life sent waves of blessing all over the world. 

Are you a part of the Call2Fall?

Here’s America’s revival history:

The First Great Awakening – It began in the 1730’s in New England and lasted for over a decade. One-fifth of the Colonies committed their lives to Christ and the moral steel to build a new nation was born. Our founding fathers were children of the America’s first great spiritual gusher. 

The Evangelical  Revival took place in the early 19th century centering in camp meetings in the “western” frontier. Thousands of people renewed their faith in God with much supernatural phenomenon. This was the mega-church movement of the time, and greatly aided America’s continental development and missionary advance around the world. 

The Great Revival – It began after the Stock Market Crash of 1857 and lasted through the Civil War. Over 60% of the Confederate Army gave their lives to Christ during the awakening–and following the war’s end and the abolition of slavery, the largest missions movement up-until-that-time was launched. The Student Volunteer Movement sent 100,000 missionaries world-wide between 1880 and 1930. Many of them were women (because 600,000 men had died in the War Between the States). 

There have been other moves of God in the 20th century including the Pentecostal Revival, the charismatic movement, and the rise of evangelicalism–including the national and spiritual renewal during the Reagan years.

But there has not been a great awakening for over one hundred and fifty years. 

By American standards, we’re overdue. Will 2016 be the year that God visits us once again? 

Only he knows–and he usually doesn’t tell. He just “sets his people praying” and comes in power when we meet the conditions of humbling ourselves, seeking his face, and turning away from sin (2 Chronicles 7:14). 

That’s what the Call2Fall is all about.

On Sunday, July 3, 2016, millions of Christians in the United States will fall to their knees in repentance and prayer and ask God to do in our hearts and nation what no man or government can accomplish. I have been working with the Call 2 Fall for seven years and and encourage you to talk to your pastor or priest and make sure your congregation participates. 

Here is the vision for Call2Fall. 

“We’re asking churches as an act of humility, on behalf of the church first and the nation second, to get on our knees and cry out to God on July 3,” said Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins, who is spearheading the initiative. “On July 4 we celebrate our independence, and it’s our desire on July 53to declare our dependence upon God as a people and as a nation.” 

Perkins hopes to see millions of Christians in scores of thousands of churches nationwide kneel in prayer for three to five minutes this coming Sunday before Independence Day, and he is urging pastors to register their congregations at the Call2Fall Web site. Perkins noted that the prayer call is not to advance public policy, but to see spiritual renewal. 

“I think the church is coming to a point where we’re coming to the end of our own devices and we’re looking to God for the prescription of what it will take to turn this nation around,” Perkins said. “And I think we can’t come to God on our terms, we have to go to Him on His terms, and He’s made it very clear [in 2 Chronicles 7:14] … that we are to humble ourselves before Him and seek Him and turn from our wicked ways—and that’s not the nation, that’s the church. So I’m very encouraged that if the church will take this challenge, take the call to fall, that God will move in this nation.” 

Although other movements have called Christians to prayer and repentance, the Call2Fall uses Independence Day as a touch point for addressing the Church’s need to seek God for national renewal. 

“We feel deeply and passionately that if something is not done quickly, we really could lose our whole country,” says Pastor Larry Stockstill. “As Paul Revere woke up the nation to the invasion of the British, we’re waking up the nation to the invasion of the demonic powers that are pulling us away from God.” 

“There really isn’t a new political agenda we can pull out of the hat or any other form of medicine for America,” Stockstill added. “It’s only prayer and fasting.” 

Another Call2Fall supporter, Dr. Richard Land, notes that great revival movements typically start with fasting and prayer, and he expects Southern Baptists to be very receptive to the prayer effort. “We are similarly convinced that the only real answer for America is spiritual renewal and revival that must start with those that claim the name of Christ,” Land said. “We believe that as Christians we have failed to live in a way that would be as pleasing to the Lord as we would hope, and we need to repent of that and humble ourselves, and we need to seek His face and seek His guidance and direction for ourselves, for our churches and for our country. 

“I think that the Holy Spirit is leading different segments of the Lord’s kingdom in a very similar direction to call for the revival that our hearts yearn for.”  

African American pastor Wellington Boone says the nation is at a point of repentance or humiliation. “I know that I’d rather be voluntarily humble than to be humbled by God,” said Boone, who leads a national network of churches.

“Our nation is seeing some judgment, and the men of God have to stand up and say what’s necessary to get God to turn for us instead of turn against us,” Boone added. 

Stockstill, who helped New Life Church address a sex and drug scandal involving its pastor, Ted Haggard, in 2006, said the call to repentance begins first with pastors, whom he said are often failing to offer moral leadership in the nation. He said churchgoers, too, have drifted into carnality, prayerlessness and compromise.  

“[Christians must] decry our own failures, our own sins, our own loss of influence to the nation and ask God to restore first pastors, then churches and then our nation into revival,” Stockstill said. 

Another supporter, Bishop Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition comments:

“This is not an anti-Obama or anti-administration movement. Every president needs the power and wisdom of God in order to take our rightful position in the world and appropriately administer justice and represent not only the nation but the world in God’s name. … I am just expectant that we’re going to see something dramatic happen. Not through demonstration, not through political action … but the spiritual dimension, God awakening and quickening the hearts of our people, causing them to be revived by His grace.”  

However, Jackson said religious liberty will be in jeopardy without a significant cultural shift. “We need to recognize that if we do not violently—in terms of spiritual violence, not physical violence—violently, aggressively seek God in these spiritual things, we are going to be the Christian community and oppressed people, discriminated against and put down by this culture,” he said. “But God has ordained that we turn this around. I believe we’re going to see America changed.”  

Real change. Spiritual and moral change. That’s what we need in 2016.

Just thirteen days following the Call2Fall, hundreds of thousands of believers will converge on the Washington Mall for Together 2016: Re-set, another special day of prayer for revival in America.

The Call2Fall is the heart cry of primarily older leaders in the Church.  Together 2016 is a vision of the younger generation to “re-set” our nation back to seeking and honoring God.

July 30, 2016 is also the 60th anniversary of our national motto:  In God We Trust. There is a movement underway to saturate the nation with “window decals” as an expression of the American identity and our true hope for the future. You can get your window decals here.

America’s fourth great awakening is upon the heart of God. Let’s prepare ourselves. Let’s pray individually and in small groups. Let’s fall to our knees on July 3. Let’s converge on the nation’s capital on July 16.

Let’s not ask God to bless America. Let’s change our hearts and lives  so that we can be a blessing to Him in reaching the world for Jesus Christ.