Organizers of “The Call,” a kind of youth-oriented spin-off of the Promise Keepers on the National Mall in 2000, said the D.C. location wasn’t about influencing politics but about “fasting and prayer for the benefit of the nation.” But as “The Call” continued over the years as an itinerant stadium show, that apolitical evangelism attitude apparently wore off. Founder Lou Engle described his goals for an August 16 rally on the National Mall to OneNewsNow:
There is good reason to make a plea for heaven's intervention, he says. "Just to see what's taking place in California: redefinition of marriage -- [and] the next thing is transgender marriage," Engle laments. "This is part of what's going on, let alone with DC and the elections coming up."
He includes an election-related issue that surfaces now and then -- judicial appointments. "I believe it's a defining moment of who the next judges are," says Engle. "Those judges are going to help shape the future of America unless something happens. We desperately need heaven right now."
Engle told the Christian Post that he’s not making any endorsements, but he made clear what the presidential election boils down to:
We don’t purposely hold gatherings before elections, but this one I felt was so critical because the ideologies that are being promoted through different candidates have the implications just like in 2000.
The implications are huge for the issues of abortion, issue of marriage, or the kind of judges that don’t keep opening the door to the legality of every kind supposed freedom – which is really no freedom. It is really licensing to break away from the foundational moral principle upon which society will really flourish. …
We will not be praying for any candidate or against any candidate. But our declaration is that abortion is not a political issue, it is a moral issue and we are praying that God will raise up candidates that will hold high values on the life of the unborn. And so we will cry out, “Give us judges, give us a candidate, give us a president who will stand for life.” And obviously some of the statements that these candidates have made really are…we are really in a defining moment.
While Engle is unlikely to come close to the 400,000 people organizers claimed attended the 2000 rally, he will have the help of Mike Huckabee, as Sarah Posner reported. Posner also noted that Engle is taking his act on the road with a 40-day fast in California culminating in another stadium rally days before the election. Engle told the Christian Post that this will be about “the salvation, for the deliverance, and healing of the homosexuals”:
We are not coming pointing the finger with anger at the homosexuals, but we do believe that what is taking place here with these bills is fueled by another realm. It is a spiritual realm of power of darkness.
Spiritual power of darkness seeking to release ideologies that destroy lives, families, nations, [sic] and on that day, Nov. 1, we are going to pray and resist with the power of the cross – God hold back these power that’s seeking to be released. We are standing and saying God have mercy, hold these things back so that the definition of marriage can be sustained in this nation for our children and our children sake.
