Commentary on Mike Evan's request letter

I had mentioned in yesterday’s commentary that I would be making some comments on the cover letter sent out by Mike Evans in regard to his book The Final Move Beyond Iraq and the direction he is going with the Jerusalem Prayer Team. However, before I write anything I want everyone to know I whole heartedly believe we are to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem as commanded by the scriptures. Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.

I am looking forward to reading the book as I can see by his credentials that he has some real insight into the dealings of the Middle East. But there was something in the cover letter he sent out to one of his prayer team that made some red flags go up. The idea behind the program of the cover letter was to add to his prayer team by getting some of the existing members to send out copies of his book to people they think are prayer warriors. Along with this request was another to give him the names and addresses of those who were receiving this book. That part was a bit “borderline” for me, but the real “red flag waving” came in with the following paragraph after his request toward the end of the cover letter.

“After twenty-one days of fasting and prayer, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me to ask you to help birth a national prayer campaign, “If my People” for the U.S. and Israel from the King Solomon prophecy in II Chronicles 7:14;m God says He will “heal our land”.

I have some real problems with people who state that the Spirit of the Lord has spoken to them by using the Word, that the Spirit wrote, out of context and coming to a conclusion like “God says He will heal our land” The first problem is the scripture out of context. It is very plain to see that because of the sentence structure in II Chronicles 7, verse 13 must accompany verse 14 to be contextually correct and completely understood.

2Ch 7:13 "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
2Ch 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked NASB

As anyone can see, “and my people” must be tied to all of verse 13 because of the comma in the NASB or semi-colon in the KJV……….you cannot separate it out into a separate sentence or thought. The reason most people do this is because it removes God’s sovernty and allows a person to force the verse to read another way. What Solomon is saying here is that God is in ultimate control and if the people who are called by His name will behave as they are commanded, even when He brings about discipline, then He will hear their prayers and grant their request. That’s a far cry from what is being proposed in the cover letter. It sounds more like “arm twisting” God into doing our bidding just because we pray…..and the reasoning behind it is purely selfish in nature. What gives us the idea that we can alter God’s plans for bringing Israel into a position where they will do anything for peace…..including signing a contract with the antichrist. What that process is going to look like is entirely up to God’s sovernty and has little to do with how we pray for “land healing”.

If this truly were the case then all of the Christians throughout all of history who have been tortured and killed for their faith would not have had to go through it if they would have just prayed a little more and taken some of the scripture OUT OF CONTEXT.