Back in 2009, the Family Research Council launched a prayer effort timed to coincide with the 4th of July holiday called “Call 2 Fall” during which churches across the country would commit to dedicating several minutes to praying that God will save our nation.
It has since turned into an annual event and, as FRC reports, the event is needed now more than ever because, thanks to the passage of marriage equality in New York, “our nation has already crossed thresholds of decline and decadence which, unless the spiritual leaders of our nation (pastors and churches) arise to pray, take hold of God and follow His leadership to turn the tide in our nation, America’s destruction is virtually assured.”
So it is perfectly understandable why FRC would undertake this endeavor, especially considering that Tony Perkins was personally chosen by God for just this purpose:
The rot in American culture and our social institutions is beyond man’s redemption.
Our hope is in God, not men! … FRC President Tony Perkins has long pondered the promise of Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14. He was uniquely prompted by the Holy Spirit to lead this effort.
In early 2009, Tony preached in a large Southern California church about “Real Change” in America — the message of “repentance,” preached by Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter and all of the apostles (see Mt 3:2; 4:7; Mk 6:12; Acts 2:38; 17:30). After church a little lady stood in line to greet Tony. When she reached him, she told Tony his message was for the entire Church in America; that God was calling him to call the Church to get on its knees. Tony thanked her, and told her he would pray about it. But she stopped him, “No, you don’t understand… God has called you to call His people to get on their knees.” Later that day, flying home, Tony opened a book he had been reading, Ira Stoll’s biography of Samuel Adams, and began to read where he left off.
Tony’s eyes fixed upon a paragraph recounting how the Continental Congress proclaimed a day of “public humiliation, fasting, and prayer throughout the Colonies on July 20th, 1775,” a full year before the Declaration of Independence. Military clashes between Britain and the colonies were already underway. It was a time of great perplexity, but God-fearing men like Samuel Adams, knew what they had to do. They called Americans to seek the face of God. Three million heeded that urgent “call to fall.” Later, Adams’ friend, James Warren, described what he observed in his own church that day.
This fast,” he wrote, “has been observed as you could wish; with that deference to the authority that appointed it; with that devotion that our circumstances require. It is a grand solemnity. Three millions of people on their knees at once, supplicating the aid of Heaven, is a striking circumstance, and a very singular one in America. May the blessings of Heaven follow in answer to our prayers!
When Tony saw, “three millions of people on their knees at once…,” he remembered the little lady’s words, “God has called you to call His people to get on their knees.”
Deeply stirred, Tony conferred with FRC’s Pastors Council, who wholeheartedly affirmed the call and the need to obey. The urgency of the hour demanded a response. July 5th, 2009, the Sunday after “Independence Day,” was chosen to declare our “national dependence upon God.” Obedience was our driving motivation.
