Dallas Mayor Declares ‘Pray Dallas Day’ on Aug. 19 ‘for the Eradication of Coronavirus’
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson proclaimed Aug. 19, 2020 will be Pray Dallas Day. It will be “a day of prayer and fasting for the eradication of the coronavirus from the City of Dallas.” The proclamation says that residents are encouraged to “pray in place” wherever they are during the noon hour and “if so led, to fast and pray during all or part of that day.”
Pray Dallas was started by Tom Altemus, a home improvement contractor. In a video on the Pray Dallas website, Altemus says that the day of prayer started with a dream from God. In the dream Christians came out of their houses and united to oppose anti-God activity outside. The Christians lifted up their hands to heaven and lifted up the name of Jesus. Then the work of the enemy was destroyed. When Altemus woke up, God gave him the verse Joshua 8:19: “The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire.”
A statement from Pray Dallas explains:
He saw the scripture of Joshua 8:19 applied to modern day Dallas, where those awaiting the signal from God would take the city and light revival fires. The signal was the Day of Payer and Fasting to eradicate Coronavirus on the date corresponding to the scripture, 8/19. Let us pray that our Churches seize the opportunity to unite to bring healing and transformation to our city.
Altemus says he then read a quotation from Ruth Heflin’s 1990 book Glory. The quote ends with, “I saw America ablaze with God, and I knew that when the revival had fully been ignited across America, Dallas, Texas, would be the center of it.” He says he believes God has told him to lead this prayer movement to “eradicate coronavirus” and bring revival.
“We want the name of Jesus to be lifted over the name of coronavirus,” Altemus says in the video.
Julie Altemus, Tom Altemus’ wife, said in a Facebook video that they have received messages from people around the nation and the world. She encourages them to join in on Aug. 19 to “do this for your region too.”
Aliya Kuykendall is a staff writer and proofreader for The Stream. You can follow Aliya on Twitter @AliyaKuykendall and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.
