From The President’s Pen

I was an 11-year-old boy when I arrived in America on August 9, 1964. Everything seemed so new and different from the island home where I had spent my boyhood years on the other side of the world. The Vietnam War was claiming the lives of hundreds of young men in the far-removed jungles and rice fields of southeastern Asia. Our nation was still reeling from the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy just nine months earlier. Another heavily contested presidential election was underway between incumbent President Lyndon Johnson and Senator Barry Goldwater. As I arrived on the shores of what would eventually become my new homeland, I had no clue about America’s role in prophecy.

In our American political landscape, we have recently experienced a very divisive yet decisive presidential election. Much of the nation is elated with the outcome, while many are devastated. Yet we must remember, nothing happens on earth without God’s consent, as Romans 13:1 confirms.

On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln addressed his Republican colleagues in the Hall of Representatives, well before he was elected as our nation’s 16th president and before a single shot was fired in the Civil War that almost tore our nation apart. In that speech, Lincoln stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” a concept familiar to his audience as a statement by Jesus recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

Then, on November 19, 1863, at the height of the greatest challenge this nation has ever faced, Lincoln stood on a blood-stained battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Courageously, he delivered a short but powerful speech that resonated with these words: “… this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

So, where are we as we open the pages of 2025? Are we a house divided or a nation experiencing a new birth of freedom? I thank God for the inspired words of prophecy that provide a glimpse into America’s climactic role in the culmination of the great controversy between good and evil. We pray fervently for the power of Pentecost to sweep over this nation and North America.

We are reminded of God’s message of merciful caution in Revelation 13:11: “I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” It makes sense that the most powerful and influential nation on earth will play a vital role in the final stunning events of the world’s closing history.

Pentecost 2025 is our calling as a people to pray passionately, like Elisha, for a double portion of the spirit that Elijah exemplified. Pentecost 2025 is our calling to pray fervently for the Latter Rain spoken of by the prophet Joel. Pentecost 2025 is our calling to accept Christ’s loving and persistent invitation to ask, seek, and knock until the floodgates of prophetic truth are opened by the power of His Spirit.

The prophecy involving America will be fulfilled regardless of who serves as president. A new president may temporarily hasten or delay the fulfillment, but the final outcome is assured.

I thank God for every church and school in the Carolina Conference committed to proclaiming the everlasting gospel of Jesus in 2025 and every year until we see the face of our Savior. May our prophetic understanding be an anchor for our faith and love for Christ. Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain! Come, Holy Spirit, we need You!

Your servant leader,

Leslie Louis

Carolina Conference President