Fasting and Praying for President Clinton to be Born of God
A report of a month-long experience I had focusing on President Clinton in 1995

  Introduction

From: Sterling D. Allan <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
To: Davids_outcasts@listbot.com <Davids_outcasts@listbot.com>
Date: Sunday, October 10, 1999 11:01 PM
Subject: {888} Clinton & Lamoni? -- the power of prayer

In the spirit of upliftment; in the spirit of the discussions of late (David's outcasts) regarding the power of thought, the power of faith, the power of fasting and prayer; and in the spirit of the discussions regarding the power of words;  I would like to tell you of a month-long experience I had in the Winter of '95 while living down in Tucson, fasting, praying and focusing on behalf of President Clinton.

I have been working on telling you about this for a couple of weeks now, off and on.

To supplement my telling you this, I have created a section on my web site where I can post and link related materials from my archives: letters, photos, journal accounts.  This piece I am writing to you now is included there as the "home page" introductory overview, with links to these materials [this page].

Though President Clinton doesn't seem to have been lastingly impacted by this time of my focus on his behalf, this experience turned out to be a major turning point in my life.  I have to wonder what could happen if many people held a similar focus.  Though agency will never be crossed, the power of united prayer sure could go a long way in fostering circumstances conducive to change.

I imagine that most of you reading this account do not need to be convinced of the power of prayer, fasting and focused faith.  Some of you may be interested to read the whole story of what happened during the month-long experience I had focusing on President Clinton, but others may be pressed to do something else at this point.  So for you, I will summarize the account by directing you to the attached photo of President Clinton on President's Day 1995 (February 24).  That was the pinnacle day of this month-long period of focus.

I don't recall ever seeing a picture of him prior to or since this experience in which he actually looks contrite, pensive, reflective, somber.  Still today, I am nearly moved to tears as I look at this picture of him.

If only for a moment, something profound was happening.  The angels were getting through and touching his soul, inviting him to turn his life around, to turn more to God and live.

Call me delusional or misguided, but I honestly believe that this pensive look on his face that day was a direct result of the fasting and praying I was doing for him that month and especially that day up on Mount Lemon on the outskirts of Tucson.

What would happen if many people were to similarly focus on him.  Could we see a modern occurrence of the story of king Lamoni in the Book of Mormon, or of Paul in the New Testament? 

Here was a reprobate king who routinely killed his servants at the tiniest infractions.  But because of the interceding power of faith, love and service, his heart was struck to its core, and he was laid out as if unconscious for three days while his spirit was administered to by angelic hosts and even God himself.

When he came to, he was a changed man, having been born of God, being given a new heart.  Then his whole household was converted, followed by many of his hitherto-heathen people, who subsequently laid down their weapons of warfare and refused to take them up again.

Tell me why such a thing could not occur today?

Has the day of miracles ceased?  Of course not.

I don't know about you, but for many years -- actually ever since I had this experience -- I have been laboring with all my might to seek to invoke the repentance clauses of prophecy so that the destructions prophesied to come as a result of our wickedness might be lessened if not turned away all together.

Miracles of the heart on this magnitude could have a huge effect on the world.

Can you imagine what would happen if President Clinton had a king Lamoni-like experience?

Wow.

And what, may I ask, is there to keep such a thing from happening other than his agency?

But I can't help but believe that the most callused of hearts could be softened if the angels could be given sufficient access to his or her surroundings so as to so encircle him or her with love, so that all resistance would melt away as the dew before the sun.

Already, I believe we have seen destructions turned away or lessened because of the increased spirituality of enough people.  It would have taken just ten righteous people to turn away the destruction of Sadam and Gomorrah.

I believe we live on a most unusual planet and that we will see some astonishing manifestations of the redemptive power of God.

While some are hunkering down, getting ready for the flood of calamities that are prophesied to come upon this people, I can't help but believe that at least as much of our energy should be directed toward seeking repentance -- both in our own lives as well as in the world around us.

So with that preface, let me now tell you briefly what transpired during February 1995 in Tucson when my heart was turned in fasting and prayer on behalf of President William Jefferson Clinton, whom I love, though my heart is grieved at the many things he does to sicken himself, this nation and the world.

My experience began with a dream I was given in which President Clinton was with my Dad, Mom and I on a sort of P.R. vacation -- kind of like those cottage meetings he used to have.  He was asking us what we thought ought to be done in government, and we were gladly offering our suggestions. He was very cordial and likeable -- like a brother.

At one point he started buying us presents -- with government moneys of course.  He didn't seem to sense anything wrong with that, so in a spirit of a friend, I began to tell him the story of Davey Crockett's lecture to congress about how public moneys should never be used for private interests.

It was at that point that I awoke and began musing on how realistic the dream was.  But I was struck more as I pondered the bond of friendship and love I felt toward this man who I previously had considered but an enemy of the Constitution and righteousness.

That day, as I passed the news stand which announced that Clinton had just sidestepped Congress in granting a multi billion dollar bail-out of the Mexican economy, rather than feel animosity toward this deed (though I disagreed with it), I was filled instead with love toward President Clinton.

At the time I was reading a book called "Heavenly Ways of Earth's Graduates."  It is an account of two soldiers who die and how they learn and grow through serving as angelic assistants in various tasks on earth. Toward the end of the book there is this statement about how when someone is brought strongly or persistently to mind, it is often because the Angels need our focus of thoughts and prayers toward that person so that they can then work miracles on their behalf.

Two days after the dream, after reading this statement in Heavenly Ways of Earth's Graduates, I wrote a letter to President Clinton, telling him of my dream and of the love I felt for him and the faith I had that he could turn his heart more toward God.  It was the first time I had ever written a letter exclusively to the President of the United States.

This was the beginning of what turned out to be a month-long focus of prayer, fasting, and meditation regarding President Clinton and the hope that he might receive a change of heart similar to what King Lamoni experienced.

I had a second and third dream about him the morning of the a three-day fast I had for him about a week later.  In the first of these I was walking and talking with him outside somewhere on white-house property.  I was offering to serve as a chaplain for him, which token he graciously received but turned down saying he already had someone -- maybe later.

The next dream was more a flash vision in which I saw him and Boris Yeltsin on a billboard, advertising beer.  They were in a spirit of fraternal camaraderie and were intoxicated.  The impression I had upon seeing this was as if Boris was saying in his mind to Clinton, "Got ya where I want ya."

I then wrote a second letter to the President, again expressing my love for him, but also sharing the third dream and the warning I felt it contained regarding how the Russians are using tactics of deceit, impairing our keen senses and sober judgement.

Also during this time, I began reading a book called "The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff," which gives a brief biography of the men besides the Founding Fathers who appeared to Wilford Woodruff in the St. George temple to have their vicarious ordinances done for them.  The remarkable thing about these great men of history is that they all made contributions toward increasing freedom and righteous civilization.  (There is another book by the same author about the women who also appeared to Wilford Woodruff at that time.)

In conjunction with the notion of "Heavenly Ways of Earth's Graduates," I had the strong impression that these men who were so instrumental in bringing changes for good to this world did not lose their interest upon dying, but would continue to strive with people here through the means available to them as spirit personages.  I couldn't help but think that they helped function in the office of the Holy Ghost, inspiring men and women with the ideas and truths which would continue the work they did while here.

So as President's day came rolling around about a week after the two dreams, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to exert a strong effort in prayer on behalf of President Clinton.  On that day, it would be likely that he would be thinking upon the great men and women of the past who helped lay the foundations of freedom.  I couldn't help but think that this would create a catalyst for the angels to be able to get through in a more pronounced way.

So on that day, I drove to Mount Lemon, northeast of Tucson, to find a place to spend a good part of the day in fasting and prayer on his behalf.

About a quarter of the way up the mountain, I found a spot removed enough so that I could no longer see the city so as to afford a more peaceful environment.  There was a sizeable brook running down a little draw, creating a small oasis with green vegetation in the midst of this desert mountain.  This would serve as my outdoor chapel, making for a deeply religious experience as I focused in love and faith on the President of the United States.

Upon completing my prayer, I noticed that the sun which previously had been unencumbered by clouds, was just now being snuffed behind a dark rain cloud which had by now nearly filled the sky.  By the time I was back in town, I looked in my rear-view mirror to see a sight so spectacular that I ended up stopping my car and getting out so I could take it in.

The whole range of mountains was capped about 1/3 from the top by the flat underside layer of dark rain clouds.  The sun was close enough to the horizon that it was shining under the clouds, painting them various hues of deep purple and dark red.  The rain that was descending from the clouds but which had not yet reached the ground, was painted orange-red by the sun, and formed a circular shape about the mountain like a huge halo of fire.

My apartment was just far enough away that I could not get my camera in time to take a picture, so I stayed there and soaked in this majestic show of nature, wondering if maybe, just maybe, it was a sign from heaven to me that my prayer had been heard.  I wondered if this was close to what Moses might have felt like when God bedecked the mountain he was on with a similar display.

See journal entry for this day.

Following that experience, a day or so later, I went to the library to look at the newspapers to see if there were any clues that something profound might have happened with the President on that day.

What I found was a picture of the President reviewing color guards in Canada.

What is most striking about the picture is his look.  He is pensive, near the point of tears, somber, reflective.  It is a very different Clinton from what we usually see in the news -- the happy-go-lucky, everything-is-a-big-game and lots of fun, I-sure-have-you-fooled, Clinton.

Another thing remarkable about the photo is the news story that accompanied it.

Warren Christopher, Secretary of State, who was almost always by his side most any other time, had become sick that day with a bleeding ulcer and was in the hospital.

Though surrounded by color guards, Clinton was alone, without his peers to put on for.

Perhaps I am wrong and am reading something into this that was not actually there.  However, my faith tells me that something did happen that day.  He was impacted by the angels.

I was so moved by that picture that a week later I composed a poem that turned out to be chiastic in structure and superimposed it on the picture as a watermark, framed it in a humble frame, and sent it to President Clinton.  It is called "The Warrior."  I had in mind the spirit that resides in the soul of President Clinton, which though overpowered at present by the conscious man who is engulfed in a tangle of intrigue against the freedoms and social mores we hold dear, nonetheless is a child of God and capable of heroic goodness if he would but turn his heart fully and finally to God.

See picture and poem.

Though whatever change might have come upon him that day does not appear to have been permanent -- perhaps he was on the brink of choosing change, coming to the very edge -- I am convinced that SOMETHING happened that day.

Though his life did not dramatically change during this month that I devoted so much energy of thought, prayer and fasting on his behalf, I can say that mine did. 

As a direct result of this month of prayerful focus, I ended up leaving my career path of becoming professor of Physiology, and chose instead to focus my energies more exclusively toward the ministry work of God.  It was just a couple of weeks after this that I withdrew my application to become a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Physiology at the University of Arizona -- one of the best schools in the nation in this subject -- just one day prior to the final day of interviews in which they would narrow their pool of applicants from eight to the four who would be accepted.

Though I was working for a couple of professors and taking a couple of classes at this time, within a month I ended up withdrawing from those as well, devoting all my energies to the discoveries I was now making in the scriptures as if a gate of heaven had been opened and a torrent of knowledge was being unfolded to me.

See Index below.

That month turned out to be a pivotal turning point in my life for which I am enormously grateful.

I have not talked a lot about it to other people, for it would seem from the outside that Clinton is no different today than he was four years ago -- if anything a little more hardened, a little more tricky, and more bent on seeing this nation become the bastion of world socialism.

Yet that picture and the whole experience of praying for President Clinton remains with me still as an illustration of the power of prayer and focused faith.

Then I was so very much alone.

But now I mingle with many friends who have had similar experiences in their lives.  We work together as equals in the great and marvelous work of the Lord.  Though we don't always agree on points of doctrine, we are learning more to value our differences, learn from one another, and hearken to truth as it is presented to us from whatever source.

So in sharing this now with this circle of friends, I can't help but hope that this offering might be yet another catalyst in moving us toward seeing a miracle of grand proportions.

What do you think?  What do you feel?

What would happen if all of us -- or at least many of us -- or even two or three of us -- were to focus in a similar fashion in faith and prayer on behalf of a key world leader such as President Clinton?

I love you all and want you to know that I find it a great pleasure mingling with you as we each strive to do our part in the body of Christ to carry forth this great and marvelous work.  May each of you be blessed in that portion you are foreordained to carry. is my humble prayer.

Sincerely your brother in Christ,

Sterling D. Allan
http://www.GreaterThings.com
new scripture word studies

  Calendar of Events During the Month of Focus

  List of Chiasms & Parallels Brought Forth Prior to, During, and Subsequent to this Clinton-focus Month

  Bibliography