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You are here: Greater Things > Newsletter > Archive > Sept. - Dec. 1999 > #55 |
Clinton & Lamoni? -- the power of prayer
Message #55
Date: Oct 11 1999 01:04:32 EDT
From: "Greater Things" <Greater_Things-owner@listbot.com>
Subject: Clinton & Lamoni? -- the power of prayer
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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.
It is located at www.GreaterThings.com/Essays/ClintonPrayer/
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.
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.
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.
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
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To see the picture of Clinton along with other materials related to this
month of focus, go to www.GreaterThings.com/Essays/ClintonPrayer/
