Our latest 8-state cross walks began with Salem, the capital of Oregon. Between 2015 and 2020, my wife and I will travel to all fifty states and walk the cross at each state capital, Capitol Mall, City Hall and Police Stations and hoist the cross upright at each place and pray long and hard for all the people living in that state, including its governor, state representatives and senators, city leaders  and the state’s Thin Blue Line of law enforcement officers.

As is usually the case, Jeanette and I try to stay at a motel within a few miles from each Capitol Mall and downtown area. I love walking the cross down the major streets and thru the residential areas leading to each Capitol building. I get to talk with and pray with the everyday people this way, and hundreds of people get to see the large cross before I make it to my destination.

Arriving in the afternoon in Salem on the 20th of February, we checked into our motel room and spent a peaceful night plotting out my route for the next day, as well as discussing the previous cross walk in Redding, California, where we had spent ministering 1½ days prior to driving to Salem.

A FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING DIVINE WAKE-UP CALL AND A COMBAT PRAYER

I slept soundly this night, until 4 o’clock in the morning. For some reason, I was wide awake. I felt very fresh and rested, but though I do get up early, this is not the usual time that I arise. And, just like that, a very familiar Scripture from the Bible flashed like lightning across my mind.

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” I distinctly heard a still small voice speaking these special words of promise. Because I knew this was the LORD, I also knew it was time to pray. This was my prayer:

“LORD, You are my Shield and my Defender, my Strength and my Protector and the One who goes before me. I ask You to rebuke the evil one, Satan,  as well as the evil principality and overlord that hovers over Salem, the evil powers and dominions that are oppressing and influencing this city, the dark light rulers and evil spirits that have infiltrated this capital’s political and religious structures, and the demonic forces that are attacking and distressing the people of this city. Greater are You who is in and with me than he who is in the world…and there are many more of your angelic warriors with me than those that are with the devil. Lord, I thank You for the combat armor and armaments You have given me to wear as I enter this spiritual battlefield. And, I thank You for being my all-encompassing, all-around-me, surround-me, protective and indestructible shield of divine protection. I enter into Your victory over this city’s forces of evil and any weapon that might be used against me. I ask You to give me divine favor with the people of this strategic city. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.” This prayer is based upon Daniel 10, 1st John 4:4, Ephesians 6:12, and 2 Kings 6:12-18.

PUTTING ON THE ARMOR, TAKING UP THE ARMAMENTS AND EATING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Of course, that wasn’t the end of my prayer.

As I do each and every time before I walk the cross, I literally put on and take up the entire panoply — the armor and the armaments — of God (Ephesians 6), naming each piece and its vital function as I put the armor on and take up the armaments. And, I also eat “much fruit of the Spirit.” In John 15, Jesus spoke of four degrees of fruit-bearing — “no fruit, fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.” Each cross walk has its own unique spiritual warfare, and I fully understand that the devil will attempt to defeat me even before I take one step. So, the combat armor goes on, in my hand the armaments are placed, and inside me the nine spiritual fruit of the Spirit are eaten! For my safety. For my strength. And for the victory in Christ!

I CLAIM OREGON AND ITS SIX MILLION RESIDENTS FOR THE LORD GOD!

At 7 in the morning I was ready to walk the cross. The Capitol Mall was my first destination, which was about two miles from our motel. As I walked down Capitol Street, I prayed for the people living in Salem, that each and every one of them would eventually accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Salem is a beautiful place and the Williamette River runs north through the city.

Beautiful homes on clean residential streets surround the Capitol Mall and I was able to talk with and pray with many people as I walked the cross toward the Mall, handing out the special 2-sided tract card I had created for this Oregon cross walk.

I also asked the Lord of salvation to pour out His Spirit on all six million residents of Oregon and to show each and every one not only His amazing love, but also just who He is, the awesome God who will one day call each of us into account — and accountability — for our lifestyles, mindsets, preferences and mannerisms that are contrary to His will for each of us.

NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY MY SPIRIT!

Praying Hard And Long At The Capitol Building

After a pleasant and prayerful walk along a very busy street, I reached the large and stately Capitol building. Hoisting the 10-foot cross upright, I began to pray both loud and long, asking the LORD of the Harvest to send forth the Spirit of Great Revival, Great Awakening, Great Godly Sorrow that produces genuine repentance, and Great Restoration throughout the entire state. As is my normal mode of operation, I walked the cross to each of the building’s four main entrances, hoisted the cross upright at each entrance and prayed long and hard for God’s Great Salvation to breakout throughout Oregon. At the Capitol’s Visitor’s entrance, I also hoisted the cross upright, literally lifted the 60-pound cross upward off the ground and then softly slammed it back to the cement walkway and immediately prayed:

“LORD God Almighty, the Earth is Yours, and the fullness thereof. I claim all six million souls living in Oregon for Your kingdom. Even as this cross is slammed to the ground, I ask You to send forth and release Your dynamic resurrection power and let it implode and explode from this epicenter and ground zero and spread like a mighty ground swell and holy firestorm across the entire state. Pour out the Spirit of Grace and supplication across the entire land and let everyone look upon You whom we all have pierced and crucified, and let us all mourn the fact that we took the life of Your dear Son. Let the people of Oregon repent and come to You for the salvation of their souls, even according to Zechariah 12:10. LORD of hosts, use Your omnipotent power to knock down the lofty and flint rock mountains — the stubborn and prideful mindsets — of all the people and bring forth Your mighty Capstone — Your restraining power and might — to keep their pride, haughtiness, arrogance, conceit, and swagger from rising up. And then, LORD, shout out loud, “Grace, grace to all,” even according to Your almighty word in Zechariah 4:6-7!”

FRANKLIN GRAHAM SHARED THAT THE HOMOSEXUAL FLAG BANNER FLEW AT CITY HALL

This Banner Flies Arrogantly At Salem’s City Hall

After an awesome and special two hour prayer walk at the Capitol, wherein the LORD of hosts began to unleash His mighty power throughout the area, I walked the cross a mile or so from Capitol Mall to City Hall. Franklin Graham (Billy Graham’s son and 50 state Decision America Tour leader) had shared that Salem’s City Hall flew the homosexual banner in its Civic Center Square. Of course, my purpose was to hoist the cross upright at City Hall and pray for the salvation of its mayor and other city leaders.

But seeing the large homosexual flag banner flying at City Hall gave me the opportunity to pray not only against the powerful demonic forces behind homosexuality, but to also ask Jehovah-Nissi (the LORD my Banner of Protection) to rebuke the powerful spirit of harlotry hovering over this capital city as well. In the Bible, the spirit of harlotry speaks of every type of sexual and spiritual perversion, including homosexuality (Hosea 5:4).

And so, I prayed long and hard at City Hall, that Salem’s leaders would turn to righteousness and not remain in unrighteousness, for the sake of the city and the state (Proverbs 14:34). I also prayed hard against the spirit of harlotry that had slowly but surely enveloped itself around the entire city and throughout the state, asking the LORD of glory to tear down the numerous strongholds of deception and replace them with His towers of truth throughout the land!

Certainly, there are many Christians living in Salem, and I had spoken with and prayed for several during the cross walk. One thing is certain: there is no sin that God won’t forgive. And, just as true, there is no sin that God can’t rid from the life of anyone, no matter the iniquity, transgression, trespass or err. All it takes is GODLY SORROW! This godly sorrow, says the Bible, produces true repentance, which is not only the desire to turn away from our sins, but the ability to do so as well — regardless the fact that we’ve been taught that we were born a certain way or that we can never ever change because such a change is impossible. But nothing is impossible with the living God!

THE GROWL, THE THROWN FIST AND THE POWER OF THE NAME!

After praying hard and long at City Hall and the Police station, I began the short journey to downtown. Salem’s downtown is beautiful and, of course, there is river water and little streams and ponds all over the place.

Reaching the hub of downtown, I began hoisting the cross upright at every street corner and praying for God to continue pouring out His Spirit of Salvation across the city. Of course, Salem had never seen such an event, and there was much curiosity, gawking and picture-taking. But there were a lot of believers, too — and they sensed what I was doing, even if they didn’t completely understand the open-air praying.

The sidewalks were crowded, but everyone made room for the cross. I greeted everyone with a smile and hello, passed out different 2-sided tract cards, and was enjoying talking with individuals and small groups of people about the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing love for them.

Then it happened! 

As I was walking  on the sidewalk with a large group of people and sharing God’s Good News, I heard a loud growl and then, in slow motion, saw a large fist coming toward my face. I dodged the blow, instinctively balled up my fist and said in a very loud and commanding voice to the man who had tried to hit me hard, “If you try that again, I will protect myself and I will subdue you. I will not let you hurt me! In the Name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke you!!! Be gone!”

The man who tried to hit me looked normal, but I knew he was demon-possessed. The loud growl told me this. I had run across such individuals throughout my 43-year Christian ministry, and had rebuked many demon-possessed, demon-influenced or demon-controlled individuals and seen these evil entities leave the bodies of those they had controlled.

All this is happening in slow motion. The demon-possessed man looked startled, and then he literally ran down the sidewalk and far away from us. The people I had been talking to looked shocked and in complete disbelief. I smiled at the, and explained in layman’s terms what had just happened in their very presence. When I was sure that they were OK, I shouted out, “God bless you! Jesus loves you all, and He wants you to come to Him. I hope you all do! Contact me at the number on the card I gave you if you have any questions”

With that, I continued the downtown cross walk, all the while thanking God for His divine protection — and for allowing all these people to see this scary event. The large cross, the two-sided tract, the Gospel message, and the power of Jesus’ Name are very powerful witnesses as to God’s great love and His ability to protect His people from harm.

Salem will never be the same! That’s because God loves the people who live there. And He wants all to come to Him. On this day, the LORD of hosts revealed Himself strong on the behalf of the people of Salem, as well as Oregon. If there’s one thing I do know after these 43 years of street evangelism, it is that whenever God reveals Himself to people, it is not the last time! I won’t be surprised at all to, one day in Heaven, having people come up to me  and saying, “I used to live an ungodly life in Salem. But one day God revealed Himself to me, and I exchanged my citizenship from there to His Kingdom on Earth!” As you all know, that is so God! That’s what the arrival of revival does!

And, of course — now I understand why the LORD of hosts woke me up in the wee hours of the morning before the cross walk and gave me that powerful Scripture of truth and divine protection. That is so God! Praise His mighty Name— \O/