Last week, a young Jewish woman was choked, beaten, and stripped of a chunk of her hair by a hateful fellow subway rider — a woman who claimed she could smell the children the far smaller woman had “eaten.”

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This happened at the same time as Mayor Zohran Mamdani became the first NYC mayor to skip the Israel Day Parade in its 60+ year history. Allegedly, big balloons of the mayor and his wife attended, but those images appear to have been AI-generated.

Even so, the mayor’s anti-Israel rhetoric is more than hot air; his active hostility toward the state of Israel and, by extension, its people, puts 1.3 million Jewish people in the city at risk.

Antisemitic attacks surged 182% in the first month of Mayor Mamdani’s installation, according to police data. This hate was anticipated by opponents and recently drove a large protest at the mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion.

As a Muslim and socialist, Mayor Mamdani is just a visible evidence of the city’s forfeiture of its early Christian and democratic heritage and origins.

New York IFA Prayer Group Takes Action

Our members decided it was time to fulfill IFA President and CEO David Kubal’s call to:

• Recount the hand of God upon our nation,
• Reclaim what God has done and will do again,
• Rededicate our nation to the glory of God.

We did this by retracing the steps of our forefathers in lower Manhattan.

After most members met up at the famous clock in the main hall of Grand Central Terminal, the team traveled by subway — a prayer adventure of its own! — to City Hall to collect additional team members for the prayer walk.

City Hall

Strolling over to City Hall Park, the group was met by our nation’s third President and principal draftsman for the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson (portrayed by Rich Swingle).

New York Prayer Group leader, Mary Massoud, set the tone for the day, and then Eric Wurthmann set the historical context of the location, as he did eloquently at each stop along the way.

“President Jefferson” read from the stirring words of the Declaration in the spot where it was first read to General — later President — George Washington and his troops.

“President Jefferson” included a story told in Eric Metaxas‘ book Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World, about how the soldiers were inspired by the reading of the Declaration to topple a statue of King George and reshape it into 42,000 musket balls they used against his soldiers.

While on site, we prayed in unison, a powerful dedication brought to us by Sharon Levy. It was written for Rededicate 250 on May 17 at the Christian Missionary Fellowship International church of Westminster, MD.

Then Pastor Desiree Bernstein prayed and blew a shofar over City Hall, which was draped in three flags celebrating Pride Month and encouraging citizens of New York City to engage in sexual sin. Pastor Bernstein was anointed as a member of the modern Black Robe Regiment by Bishop Harry Jackson and David Barton at the Restoring Honor rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 2010.

One of the twelve members of our group was Héctor J. Ramírez, a former communist we interviewed for IFA. He said:

I’m not American. I’m Spanish, but I’m a Christian because an American missionary preached the Gospel to me, and that’s why God put in our hearts to pray for America. In the last five years, I never thought in my life I would ever see America in the way you’re going right now, and it breaks my heart.

He prayed…

… that God will do His will in this city and this country, and that you recover what you’re losing right now, and that God brings the Holy Spirit and brings revival and repentance to this nation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. Wurthmann pointed out that Spain was one of the nations that supported the colonists during the War for Independence.

Federal Hall

Though the original Capitol of America was demolished in 1812, Federal Hall was reconstructed on the ground where George Washington was inaugurated for his first term as our nation’s first president.

Mr. Wurthmann — beside the stone on which President Washington stood for his inauguration — read from his address, picking sections that highlighted the President’s gratitude for God’s hand in establishing our nation, such as this:

…it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes…

Rich Swingle shared from The American Spiritual Heritage Project that Rev. George Whitefield had preached throughout Manhattan in the years that led up to our War for Independence. Rev. Whitefield shared the Gospel with 80% of the colonists, laying a major foundation for the people to fight for their religious freedom.

Ms. Massoud prayed to reclaim the city and state for the Lord.

St. Paul’s Chapel

After his inauguration, President Washington walked with many of those present to St. Paul’s Chapel, where they prayed over our new government.

While inside the church, Pastor Bernstein led us in singing “God Bless America,” including the preamble, which makes it clear that the song is a prayer.

Brett Collier, who — with his wife Sonia — leads the Hollywood Prayer Network gathering for Broadway actors, noticed that one of the security guards was moved by the singing. Mr. Collier prayed with the young man and later led many in the group in prayer over a couple from Brazil, who were also moved.

Gracie Mansion

After retracing, recounting, reclaiming, and rededicating these historic spots and the events they hosted, team members took a ferry from Wall Street up to the current mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion.

On the ferry ride, the team prayed over Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx, and surrounding areas such as New Jersey, Westchester County, and Long Island, all touched by the waters the ferry traversed. Mr. Wurthmann said, “We prayed for the Lord’s protection over these areas, as well as a spirit of repentance, a desire to turn to the Lord, and that He would send revival and awakening.”

Mr. Wurthmann continued:

When we got to Gracie Mansion, a former “country estate” that has become the Mayor’s residence, we all prayed for the mayor, his wife, and New York City, again rededicating New York City, NY State, and the U.S. to the Lord.

The day was hot and humid, much as it would have been in its earliest days. Team members were indefatigable; however, in their zeal for the city, its populace, and its importance in the state, the nation, and the world.

Click on the photo below to see more:

We’ll close with the prayer “Thomas Jefferson” prayed in City Hall Park:

Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; we humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Amen.

Add your prayers for New York and your own state in the comments.

Rich and Joyce Swingle are intercessors, contributing writers, and webcast prayer leaders for IFA. They travel the world bringing the Lord’s word in drama, intercession, and speaking. Rich will be portraying founding fathers at Rededicate America on July 3rd and 4th. Their home mission is New York City. www.RichDrama.com.