By Ray Cardello for May 8, 2026, Season 35 / Post 20

It was a night of stark contrasts as hundreds of believers gathered under a tent in a park, in the shadows of the Maine Capitol building, to pray for Maine and to formally ask for help from the Divine One, Jesus Christ. It was a powerful night of singing and prayer, very reminiscent of the revivals Billy Graham held. Four generations gathered in Augusta, on the National Day of Prayer, symbolic of the theme of this, the nation’s 75th celebration of prayer, “Glorify God among the nations, seeking Him in all generations.” It was nearly 80 years ago that Graham held his first revival in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Tonight’s event may be evidence that eight decades later, Americans are ready to accept that they cannot turn this wayward ship around alone, and must ask for help from above to get ourselves, Augusta, the state, and the country back on a course.

America was created by people who wanted the freedom to celebrate their God and religious beliefs. But they have grown passive and have sat idly as progressives have stripped God from our culture, and left us with a darkness where evil is not only justified, but it is celebrated. We need only look to the books and movies that have come out to elevate Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the man accused of assassinating Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, or to the judge apologizing to Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, the man accused of carrying out the third assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, for being held in an isolation room and placed on suicide watch. People in the media, like those on The View and late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, joked about the shooting and the attempt to kill the President and his staff. Current polls show that nearly fifty percent of Americans under the age of 45 think that political violence should be tolerated. If that is not evidence enough of how far our nation has fallen, then look to the fight by some on the Left for the right of adolescents to have abortions and mutilate their bodies for gender reassignment, or the acceptance of homeless people living on our streets, or the senseless battle to keep illegal alien killers and rapists out of jail and in our neighborhoods. Too many have turned their backs on God and taken all of us down the wrong path. But tonight, hundreds gathered at the Maine Capitol, joining thousands from coast to coast, peacefully singing and praying to announce that we will not sit idly by any longer. Tonight was a call to action to save this great nation.

One of the four pastors who spoke to those gathered pointed out that many people proudly wear the red hat, symbolic of the MAGA movement that asks us to Make America Great Again. The speaker said that before we make America great, we must Make America Godly Again. Tonight may have been a first step in that quest, but so are the many since the end of the Pandemic who are packing our churches again on Sunday mornings. The number of people returning to God, especially young men, is huge and large enough to prove that an army of believers is forming who will inject God back into our culture and country, but they are wise enough to know that they cannot do it alone. The song and prayer sounded out from that white tent in the park across the street from the Capitol dome were a cry to above for help from Jesus Christ, who aptly said so long ago: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Along with Christ, we are bigger and stonger than the enemy. It may not happen overnight, but in short order, we will make this country “One nation, under God” again.