August 2, 2024

Tear It Up and Burn It!

In 2001, a team of intercessors, led by Will Ford, Lou Engle, and me, conducted a prayer journey to the northeast part of our nation. Will is a black American; other blacks and Native Americans joined us, along with Caucasians. The purpose was to break demonic roots and strongholds over significant places, re-dig the wells of revival, and pray for awakening. At Holy Spirit’s orchestration, we took a large, old black kettle/pot used for cooking, laundering, and prayer by Will’s enslaved ancestors. 

Yes, prayer. 

Will’s ancestors were believers, but were forbidden by their “owners” to pray. They did so anyway, using the kettle to muffle their voices. Turning it upside down, they suspended it off the ground with rocks, laid face down, and prayed into the opening. This pot “caught” and muffled their voices. The kettle literally became their “bowl” of intercession, symbolizing the bowls containing our prayers in Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-5. [“When He had taken the book, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8). “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:3-5).]

Holy Spirit led us to take this pot/kettle along with us and use it to symbolize these bowls of intercession in heaven. He confirmed this by giving me Zechariah 14:20. “On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.” (NASB) 

On this journey, we repented at the locations of grievous national sins, prayed at places of America’s founding, and visited past wells of revival; over 30 places total. One of our first stops was a place on the James River, where some of the first slaves were brought into America. In God’s providence, the land was now a Christian Camp owned by a black family. We hadn’t planned to visit this location but as happened occasionally, the Lord added it to the agenda. And He had prepared us. 

Before the Kettle Tour began, one of my friends, Charles Doolittle, a black brother who accompanied us on the Kettle Tour, gave me a copy of a 300-year-old letter, written by a man named Willie Lynch, saying he thought it was significant. Charles said he saw things in his race today that were the stated goals of this letter. He felt as though the letter and its instructions had released a cycle of curses that continued still. At the very least, the letter was a blight on our society. After reading it, I had no doubt that it was an entry point for demonic curses and influences.

Written to the slave owners in the James River, Virginia, area, it was titled “Let's Make A Slave.”(1) Lynch also gave a speech to the slave owners, which he titled “How to Control the Black Man for at Least 300 Years.” No white person I spoke to had heard of the letter, yet almost every black person had. 

Conceived in hell, this letter was the most insidious piece of literature I had ever seen. It spelled out how to steal male slaves’ dignity, rob them of their identity, pit one against another, and destroy the family unit by removing the father from the home. While praying before this prayer journey, I felt a strong witness from Holy Spirit that I was to take the letter with me.

We began our time at this entry point of slaves by praying, “Lord, what do You want us to do here?” This was always our modus operandi on the tour. We did nothing until we knew we had the leading of the Lord. To my surprise, I clearly heard Holy Spirit say, “Get the Willie Lynch letter, and burn it in the kettle.” I felt chills go up and down my spine as I began to envision what the Lord was saying. 

There were four pages to this letter. We asked four whites in our group, who were descendants of slave owners, to participate. They each took a page and, one at a time repented to the Lord and asked forgiveness of our black brothers and sisters present. This is what is meant by “identificational” repentance. They had not committed the sins, but just as Daniel and Nehemiah (mentioned in yesterday’s post), they identified with the sins of their ancestors and repented of the sins. They then prayed that any resulting curses operating against America as a nation, and against American citizens in general, be broken. After doing this, each one handed their page to a black representative on the team. This person forgave them and their family, decreed that the curses were broken, tore the page into small fragments, and burned the pieces in the kettle.

As Holy Spirit allowed us to feel His grief, we were very moved. There was much weeping as our hearts were broken in intercession. But more importantly, we could sense strongholds breaking in the spiritual realm. Finally, in this place of pain, the peace and presence of God began to hover. 

The black owners of the camp, whom we did not know before arriving, were deeply moved as well. They began the time observing us, wondering what we had come to do; they finished it by participating. One of the young ladies in the family had a dream of creating a memorial to the Lord’s faithfulness on the property. She wanted to build a barn to replace an older one - which was now torn down - that was used to house the first slaves. As she shared her dream, a spontaneous offering ensued. The kettle was emptied of its ashes and became an offering container.

Wow! Can God ever write a script?!

Pray with me:

Father, You have made provision for the reversal of all our failures. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. You can even reach back in time to cleanse sins from long ago, and “rebuild ancient ruins” (Isaiah 58:12). You answered the intercessory prayers of Nehemiah, Daniel, and others, cleansing Israel of past sins and restoring the nation. 

We, too, can be used to intercede for our nation’s past sins; many have done so. We have repented for the sin of slavery, for the broken covenants and mistreatment of the First Nations people, and believe much has been accomplished in the spiritual realm. We ask for the fruit of this to now manifest. We are aware that much work needs to be done in order to bring forth the practical fruit, but we believe this can occur. And we ask for it! 

And again today, we ask for those who oppose this to be removed from positions of influence. Entire organizations seek to keep old racial wounds from healing, just to gain and maintain political power. This is an abomination; they are despicable people. You called satan “the devil,” meaning the one who slanders, accuses, and divides. We bind this spirit of diabolos(2) and his hold on America in Jesus’ name. Father, release the redeeming power of Christ’s blood to break this hold. Heal our land from hatred, bitterness, and ancient wounds. 

All of this we ask in the authority of the Lord, Jesus. 

Our decree: 

We decree that Jesus defeated satan, the accuser, and that America will not remain under his divisive control.

Click on the link below to watch the full video.

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1. http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/willie-lynch-making-slave 

2. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 1228.