Berkeley was on fire. It was a night of terror. Rioters were smashing cars, windows, throwing homemade firebombs into buildings. The night sky was lit up in flames. And I watched it, as I sat on the hood of my car with a garden hose running.
It was 1969, and, even though our ministry was in Berkeley to evangelize, I was alone that night. Just days before, someone had thrown a large chunk of concrete through a window of our staff housing. Shards of glass flew into the crib of a 6-month-old baby. The child was unhurt, but that was it! And so, I had insisted that my entire staff leave the city.
Somehow, back then, I owned a red 1969 Chevy Malibu Super Sport with a black vinyl top. Being a poor boy from the barrio, I wasn’t sure which would be the greater loss—the car or the building.
As the mob approached, I reflected that, as Marxists, these students had been taught to hate Christianity. Therefore, this property was a delectable target in their eyes. The devil seized the occasion to revile me, ridiculing every promise God had made to me about Berkeley. The enemy spewed venomous despair over me. This was, according to Satan, a scar of defeat that would cripple me for life. I bowed my head and prepared to meet the inevitable.
The rioters stopped right in front of our building, so they could take direct aim. One of them was screaming obscenities about Christians into a bullhorn, and he ordered them, “Burn ‘em out!!” Then it happened. The most, out of the blue, inexplicable, and utterly unexpected act of God. I watched as his superior ripped the bullhorn from his hand and shouted an order, “These are good people. Passover them!”
After that night, we began 10 years of soul-winning harvest at the University of California, and many thousands came to Christ.
Of all the words in the world, why would he say, “Passover?” Well, you and I know why…
I told you this because the army of God in America is right at that same moment. We are hearing the devil revile us. The nation is seemingly sinking into evil. Promises are on fire. Words from the Lord are being mugged—even by Christians. That is why I know the moral reformation and the political transformation are ready to begin!
Satan wants us to collapse beneath an avalanche of disappointment. He is working hard to get us to turn on each other. We must resist the temptation to give in to anger and despair, with all of our might. Instead, we must engage in specific acts of defiance and faith.
Nehemiah 14:4 is the verse for this hour, “I looked [them over] and rose up and said to the nobles and officials and the other people, ‘Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord, great and terrible, and imprint Him [on your minds], and [take courage from Him] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.’”
NOTE THAT THE FIRST THING NEHEMIAH SAID WAS: “REMEMBER!” That is how we begin to shake off anger, disappointment, and division. All these years later, Satan bears a special hatred for my ‘Passover night’. Why? Because it is an ongoing weapon. A devastating one at that. Remembering that night has helped me stand against untold setbacks and storms. At this very moment, it makes me strong. It compels me to believe for a miracle when all seems lost.
Why is that memory so lethal to Satan? Because God came through when it was impossible. Because human wisdom and explanation had expired. When there was no way—God made a way.
The Bible tells us, ‘Remember!’ And warns of the danger of forgetting.
Psalm 103:2, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…”
Psalm 78:10, “They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them.”
Judges 2:10, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which He had done for Israel.”
That is the reason the Left has tried to destroy our history because it chronicles the impossible miracles God performed in American history. Our history is a weapon we must protect!
You have that weapon, too! The weapon of remembering the times God did the impossible for you. David killed Goliath with two weapons. The second one was the sling. The first one was his memory of God’s intervention. He explained his confidence to Saul, “Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:36).
No wonder Nehemiah told a weary army to remember the majesty of God in Jewish history! Again, you have that weapon at your disposal, right now. You remember the impossible things God has done for you. Use that memory! Let that remembrance refuel your passion to fight! Use it to see why it is not too late for the promises God made about our nation to come to pass.
The second thing Nehemiah said was, “Fight!” “Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Of all the things we must do, we must stop the infighting and get back to the real fight. Satan knows how urgent that real fight is. Which is why he used extremists to stage an abomination in the Capitol of our nation. That was meant to enrage our enemies against us by a false accusation, and it was meant to scare us away from opposing the rogue administration.
Tens of thousands of Biden/Harris voters have buyer’s remorse. They are infuriated with what is going on. Yet, Biden is too scared, and Harris is too jaded, to care. They are both ignoring the needs of Americans—both those on the right and those on the left. China empowered them and China’s needs are their only concern.
America is finally onto the elitist media, and the Republican and Democrat stooges who are all in on the deal. The sudden return of Trump seems inevitable. That is why we must shake off our timidity and fight.
After only 7 days of this faux regime, the momentum in America is already shifting. We have a doorway to a miracle if we will just shake off the dust and get back up. I am talking about fighting with the weapons of the Spirit—not carnal weapons.
We found out in Bakersfield that Californians—who are on the verge of recalling Governor Newsom, by the way—are also rethinking their rejection of Christ. Thousands are ready to be saved. We are spread thin by the great number of open doors available for winning souls. We are not simply on the verge of a return to conservative thought—we are on the verge of a national moral awakening!
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Mario Murillo
Featured Image by Humble Lamb on Unsplash
