THE NAZIRITE UPRISING
by Lou Engle
www.TheCall.com 

"America is receiving Her apostles, prophets, and evangelists, but She has not yet seen Her Nazirites!"

In fact, God's answer had come quickly to my heart's searching the night before when my 13-year old son had asked permission with determined insistence to take the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6:1-21. In his persistence, he said to me, "Dad, I don't want to cut my hair until TheCall DC" which was 8 months away at the time. He continued, "I don't want to eat meats and sweets until TheCall and I want to go on a juice fast the 40 days before TheCall. And Dad, I don't want to play baseball this year. I want to run with you and pray for revival in America."

The voice of the Lord could not have been any clearer to me through that audible voice encounter. I could hear the Lord saying to me through that encounter: "Lou, do not hinder your son from being extreme for Me. Let the young man go for it. Let him go as far as he can go with his consecration before Me. I am the One raising up the Nazirites." With fear and trembling, I knew what He was saying and I knew the holy admonition of Amos 2:11-12 where God thundered, "I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as Nazirites... But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets saying, 'Do not prophesy!'"

I believe that God is saying in this passage that He was and is the One who stirs up this counter-cultural youth movement of prophets and fasting and praying Nazirites who are the dreamers that shift the destiny of nations. I knew from the encounter that night that God is raising up a new breed in America that will not be known so much for its gifts and position, but for its passion. They would be known more for their fasting and hunger for God than their feasting and games.

God is Raising Up His Nazirites

As I read the Scriptures, I believe the Lord makes very clear the reasons why He raises up Nazirites throughout history - to save a nation from Her enemies (Samson), to restore a nation to its moral foundations and establish a worship and prayer movement (Samuel), and to raise up a "voice" burning like a torch that can turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebellious back to the wisdom of the righteous (John the Baptist) and thus, prepare a nation to receive the visitation of Jesus Christ.

Because of this scriptural vision and hope of the Nazirites, a week after the 1997 Promise Keepers' Stand in the Gap gathering in Washington, DC, I prophesied at a youth/young adult conference in the deserts of the Southwest that God was raising up a young Nazirite, John the Baptist movement that would go to the Mall in Washington, DC to fast and pray for a spiritual awakening in America. I declared that when they would go to fast and pray, it would be a sign that America is turning to God.

On September 2, 2000, over 400,000 people gathered to the Mall in Washington, DC for the first TheCall DC gathering. I believe that solemn assembly was a fulfillment of the prophecy I received in 1997 in the deserts of the Southwest and it was a sign from heaven that this nation was turning to God.

And after 8 months of his Nazirite separation and preparation before the Lord, when my 13-year old son prayed at TheCall DC for the Nazirites to arise in this nation, a roar shook that field in agreement and a generation was marked. Today, wherever I travel across America, I run into young people who were there that day in 2000 and say that the Nazirite call changed their lives forever. I still believe that despite a darkening culture around us, this nation can turn back to God because America is beginning to receive Her Nazirites in this hour of our nation's history.

The Nazirite Summons to TheCall Las Vegas

Thus, seven years after TheCall DC, we are summoning all those who gathered then to come to Las Vegas on October 20, 2007 for TheCall Las Vegas to renew their consecration before the Lord to turn a nation to God.

For decades, hundreds of thousands of people have been going out to the deserts of Las Vegas, a citadel of ungodliness now known as "Sin City" that has become a worldwide attraction for gambling, sexual immorality, materialism and wickedness.

Elsewhere in Nevada, a gathering called the "Burning Man" is held in the middle of the desert year after year. For a week, tens of thousands act out their fantasies of a world without rule and restraint in an orgy of hedonism and fire.