This might be the most important posting of our prayer project. Please lock in with us for the next few minutes with unhindered concentration, and earnestly take to heart the message below. Above all else, please pray.

This morning, Holy Spirit showed me that God’s judgment has been rendered over America. A verdict has been delivered. I knew a few weeks ago, right after the derecho storm knocked out power to Washington DC, that His council had been convened regarding the nation. In fact, we held a private prophetic roundtable with a few DC friends for this very reason.

Tisha b’Av: Violation of Sovereignty
Holy Spirit first brought revelation regarding Tisha b’Av that I had never seen before. We know how both the First and Second Temples were destroyed on this same date. What the Lord spoke to me was that before the First and Second Temples could be destroyed, Israel’s sovereignty first had to be violated.

These Tisha b’Av tragedies began with a violation of national sovereignty. In other words, before the enemy overtook God’s dwelling place, he had to first conquer Israel’s government.

Now I’ve felt by the Spirit that we in America have been contending over this same issue for many years. Our sovereignty has been jeopardized!

One Nation Under God?
Lamplighter’s ministry theme for 2011 was “Dawn’s Early Light.” We asked three primary questions. Would we remain One Nation under God? Would we succumb to dictatorship? Or would we remain the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

We also shared how, through covenant with the Lord, the Pilgrims intentionally established our governance as a beach-head against antichrist dictatorships. God earnestly desires for us to retain this inheritance of freedom today.

The Pilgrims evacuated Europe and sailed to America in a quest for freedom to worship. As Tisha b’Av shows, this is what the enemy is ultimately seeking to destroy. Whether a nation’s sovereignty is conquered through military might or handed over by back-door treaties and alliances–both of which happened to Israel–the effect is the same. The enemy’s next step is to destroy the temple. To remove the lampstand of freedom to worship!

Freedom of Religion
How is it that the mayor of Chicago can declare to a restaurant chain, “We won’t let you in Chicago because your Christian worldview does not reflect the values of our city?” Their company president Dan Cathy is a conscientious objector to homosexual unions, and he funds Christian ministries taking a stand for what he believes.

Beloved, he’s allowed to. This is America. You don’t have to agree with him. But Cathy is asserting a freedom my Pilgrim forefathers lived and died to give future generations–by covenant with the Lord. Sealed and secured by our US Constitution!

It’s called freedom of religion. When a mayor, governor, or president uses a seat of authority to deny your freedom, that leader has potentially assumed the role of a dictator. And liberty’s torch, this beacon that has inspired oppressed and subjugated people the world over, falls to the ground.

Council of the Lord
I share this in part to help you understand the seriousness of the verdict I feel the Lord has governmentally issued for America. Again, there is a council whose rulership supersedes the confederacies of both man and devil. “Who has stood in the council of the Lord,” Jeremiah asks. “Who has perceived and heard His word?” (Jer. 23:18).

From Psalm 2: “The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying ‘let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will surely declare the decree of the Lord…” (Psalm 2:2-7).

He Judges and Makes War
Watch this now–when heaven renders judgment, Yeshua Hamashiach and His armies wage war to enforce His decree! From Revelation 19:11, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness HE JUDGES AND MAKES WAR.”

First God judges. He renders a verdict. He then wages war to enforce what has been decreed.

Judgment: Sovereignty of America…
In my brief revelatory experience this morning, the Lord first showed me how the violation of Israel’s sovereignty came before the destruction of the temples on Tisha b’Av. He then spoke to me a very simple phrase, which I knew was His verdict for our land. “Sovereignty of America retained.”

Sovereignty of America retained. This honestly surprised me! Immediately the Lord quickened to me the experience He granted this July 4, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The 7-7 posting “Angelic Re-emergence” biblically conveys the experience.

What happened to me there is a lot like what happened to Gideon in his weakness. All of the sudden, I knew the angelic hosts of the Lord had returned. A strength in the Holy Spirit came alive within me, a grace for the nation I had not felt in almost a year.

I can’t explain it. But his year on July 4, this grace returned to me–and I believe to many others. And the Lord reminded me of this experience when He spoke to me, “Sovereignty of America retained.”

Inheritance of our Fathers
Beloved, this doesn’t mean there won’t be battles ahead. More like the opposite. Again, Christ judges–He renders verdict–and then He makes war! The armies of heaven, you and I included, follow Him.

According to Jewish tradition, Tisha b’Av began when God’s people decided not to take the land God had commissioned them to receive. Forty years in the wilderness followed. Then Joshua and Caleb were again commissioned to lead Israel into the Promised Land. “Be strong and very courageous; for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them” (Joshua 1:6).

There is an inheritance God swore to our forefathers. Courage is the essential weapon needed to posses it. Watch and identify cycles of 40 year judgments that God desires to overthrow. It’s time to possess the land!

Gideon Anointing
I want to end with this. After Joshua took the Promised Land, Israel defiled themselves with foreign gods, and their sovereignty became compromised. They succumbed to captivity in that very land!

That’s when the angel of the Lord re-emerged, visiting Gideon. He was commissioned to tear down his father’s altar to Baal. He was then released into an anointing to deliver his nation, just like Joshua.

You can see how this anointing was passed down through many generations–from Moses to Joshua to Gideon, David and Elijah. And this grace is available today!

We are now together positioned as Gideon. This Tisha b’Av, lets pick up the mantle, tear down our idols, and bring deliverance here and to the nations. Lets secure the inheritance sworn to our forefathers. One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!