Ronald Reagan And The D.P.

When there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint

Proverbs 29:18

Bible scholars often speak of the “law of first mention,” by which they refer to finding where a word first appears in Scripture as an aid to understanding its meaning. The Hebrew word hazon first appears in the book of 1 Samuel and is translated there as “prophetic vision”: … 

In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

1 Samuel 3:1

When we’re lacking a personal prophetic vision from the Lord, we can easily drift away from the perfect plan God has for our lives. But when we have a prophetic vision and seek God, there is near certainty that our lives will fulfill His purposes.

President Ronald Reagan received a deeply personal hazon from the Lord that guided and empowered his pursuit of presidential purpose — and of divine providence.

One afternoon in 1970, as he neared the end of his first term as governor of California, Reagan was in an informal meeting at his Sacramento residence. The attendees included Nancy Reagan, Pat and Shirley Boone, as well as Herb Ellingwood, the governor’s legal affairs director — who was also IFA’s first California state coordinator. Ellingwood had made it his practice to pray daily over Gov. Reagan’s chair before the start of every workday. That day’s messenger of the Lord’s hazon, though, turned out to be pioneering Christian broadcaster George Otis Sr.

At the meeting’s end, as people began moving toward the foyer, Pat Boone asked: “Governor, would you mind if we prayed a moment with you and Mrs. Reagan?”

Those faithful few then formed a circle and held hands for prayer. Otis began praying out loud. By Otis’ own account, his prayers felt uninspired and directionless at first. But suddenly, he said, “the Holy Spirit came upon me, and I knew it.”

Otis’ hand, holding the governor’s, began to tremble, which in turn caused Reagan’s hand to tremble too. And the whole tone of the prayer changed. After a few affirming words addressing the governor as “My son,” the Lord began pronouncing His hazon to Reagan through Otis:

If you walk uprightly before Me, you will reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

According to people close to Reagan, the governor took that prophecy very seriously. And its eventual fulfillment proved that he was right to do so, and that he had obviously taken great pains to obey its exhortation.

Throughout Reagan’s political career, his foes often scoffed that he was only feigning Christian faith to help him garner the votes of the faith-filled. But Reagan’s life and upbringing contradicted those unfair accusations. Long before he ever held office or began his movie career, faith in God had been a cornerstone in his own heart and within his family. 

The fiery faith of his mother, Nelle, a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination, made her a foundational figure in his life. The other sculptor of Reagan’s early discipleship was the family’s pastor, the Rev. Ben Cleaver. Nelle held fast to her trust in Christ amid the struggles of her husband, Jack, with alcoholism, and Cleaver became something of a father figure to young Ronald during those challenging years.

Thus, Reagan grew up with a powerful sense of God’s providence, such that in later years, whenever he pondered the significance of some of the events in his public life, he’d often say: 

Well, it must be the D.P.

And those closest to him knew precisely what he meant by that acronym: that God was surely unfolding a “Divine Plan.”

So, when Reagan felt the hazon surge up his arm and ignite divine destiny within his soul, he was constrained to live up to that conditional precursor of his mighty call: “If you walk uprightly before me. …”

There surely seemed to be a great D.P. over Reagan’s governorship. Even as he was being sworn in as governor of California in January 1967, the hippie youth movement of Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, was emerging. This movement was about to explode in a chaotic, self-proclaimed “Summer of Love.” Surprisingly, these tumultuous anti-establishment types were being romanticized by some as being bastions of peace, when in fact, drug addiction, sexual perversion, and outbreaks of violence were the visible rotten fruit of that flower-child tree.

But where the head goes, as the adage says, the body follows. And with the prayerful Gov. Reagan now serving as head of California, could the Lord have been on a move toward transforming and redeeming an entire generation? It would appear so.

By January 1971, Reagan was being sworn in for a second term, and this time a new — and redemptive — youth movement was getting underway in California: the Jesus Movement. It turns out that many of those hippies from Haight-Ashbury were now miraculously coming to faith in Christ, repenting of their sins, and being set free from addiction, and they were inviting others to experience the same.

In June 1971, as this new movement migrated from San Francisco and revival began breaking out in Newport Beach, Time magazine came out with its famous cover story titled “The Jesus Revolution.” At about that same time, Reagan recounted a conversation he’d had with Pope Paul VI: 

I told him of the so-called Jesus Movement in America and how so many young people had simply turned from drugs to a faith in Jesus. As you can imagine, he was not surprised, nor should we be, for He promised that He was our salvation.

It was as if the Lord was responding to the desires of Reagan’s heart, even as Reagan himself was responding to the desires of the Lord’s heart.

By the time Reagan became the nation’s 40th president ten years later, in January 1981, the Jesus Movement had swept the country, and even mainline churches had been experiencing an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a movement called the Charismatic Renewal.

Meanwhile, Reagan also knew that he was being called into a war to defeat a growingly evil global foe: atheistic Soviet communism. But on March 30, 1981, less than three months into his first presidential term, Reagan was shot. The nation and the world were stunned. Millions prayed, and God mercifully spared Reagan’s life. 

Through the ordeal, his life in the balance, Reagan showed that his faith was genuine: He demonstrated how a godly man deals with his enemies. As Ed Meese, a senior member of the administration, recalls Reagan was laying on his deathbed praying for the young man who shot him. 

Here is what Reagan wrote in his personal diary:

Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God’s children and therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.

Then, on May 13, some six weeks after Reagan’s shooting, Pope John Paul II was shot. The pope’s response in his peril was as Reagan’s had been: He chose to forgive. In his first address a mere four days after he was nearly killed, the pope said: “I pray for the brother who struck me, whom I have sincerely forgiven.”

The divine plan here was hardly lost on Reagan’s son Michael. He remembers his father’s resolve during that crisis, and he said this: “Look how the world changed because of two bullets — one for dad, one for Pope John Paul II — both men thinking they were saved from the assassin’s bullet for a greater purpose. My dad believed that; he absolutely believed it.”

And so God-appointed two leaders who shared a heartfelt mission to defeat atheistic Soviet communism were also revealing a love for their enemies that only the Lord Jesus Christ can impart. Therefore, when Reagan began relentlessly calling for the defeat of communism, it was no warring despot’s cry for blood. Instead, it was a benevolent ruler’s desire for and insistence upon the abundant life that Jesus had promised not only to Americans, but also to the people under the enemy’s oppressive reign.

Reagan articulated that very point many times, particularly in this 1982 speech: “Let us now begin … a crusade for freedom that will engage the faith and fortitude of the next generation. For the sake of peace and justice, let us move toward a world in which all people are at last free to determine their own destiny.”

Such a view is also why Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin on June 12, 1987, was not only soul-stirring, but also powerfully effective and successful. Reagan wasn’t merely reading some words written for him on a page. Nervous people had tried to dissuade him from uttering these lines that have since become a blazing part of history: 

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Peter Robinson, the brave writer who drafted that day’s speech, knew that Reagan’s words would not only carry over the wall through amplified speakers, but also carry into the hearts of the East Germans by radio signal — and into the hearts of many multiplied millions all over the world. And that’s what happened.

The U.S. State Department, the National Security Council, and even Deputy National Security Advisor Colin Powell had begged the president not to speak those lines. But how could they know that Reagan was once again feeling that awesome power of hazon surging up his arm? 

And though Reagan was certainly no coward, it wasn’t any mere bravery alone that made him deliver that line on that day — it was the D.P.

A year and a half later, the Berlin Wall did come down.

Thus, having been raised in the knowledge and love of God, Ronald Reagan took steps in this nation and in the world that few others have ever been able to take. But he didn’t take credit for this. He recognized the D.P. at work, and he also realized his life was only possible because of the prayers of intercessors.

On Jan. 21, 1983, Reagan had invited 20 national pro-life leaders to the White House. The impetus for this meeting was the 10th anniversary of what was perhaps the most devastating decision ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court: Roe v. Wade. Intercessors for America co-founder John Beckett was among the guests at the gathering. 

Toward the meeting’s end, Beckett told Reagan: 

Mr. President, something else needs to be said, and if we don’t say it, you may not hear it. You should know that literally tens of thousands of people are praying for you each day and have a great admiration for the clear and bold stand you are taking on behalf of the unborn. We want you to know of our appreciation and respect.

Reagan responded: 

I can’t tell you how much I value those prayers. I firmly believe in intercessory prayer, and I know that it’s prayer that sustains me. Thank you, and thank your people for me.

It must have been the D.P.

This piece was originally commissioned by Intercessors for America as a chapter for a book. The book deal fell through, so please enjoy a professionally edited version of my work.