Does a religiously pluralistic civil government weaken prayer?

Confidence in prayer requires three beliefs. One, God has the
authority to grant a request. Two, God agrees that the request
is something He too desires. Three, God actually has heard the
prayer. All three of these ideas are worth investigating. But
let's assume the Bible-believer agrees God has given Christ power
to do anything and everything (Matthew 28:18). Let's also assume
the Bible believer daily confesses any known sin and lives with
the intent to please God and believes God hears him. Thus, the
only question left is this: is the prayer within God's will.

The Old Testament has much to say about the destiny of civil
authority in opposition to God's law. When Israel was suffering
under Pharaoh of Egypt, God responded to their prayers by giving
them self-government under God with Moses as the human leader.
They only asked for relief. They didn't specifically ask for a
civil government change (Exodus 3:7-10). In spite of the ungodly
civil government of Pharaoh their prayers were effective; God
rescued them. Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in the Red
Sea. Abraham prayed for his nephew's city, Sodom. He asked God
to spare it for the sake of the righteous living there. God told
Abraham there were less than 10 righteous people living in the
city of Sodom. Abraham's prayer was outside of God's will and
God consumed the city with fire and brimstone.

What does the New Testament have to say? In 1 Timothy 2:1&2 Paul
tells us to pray for kings and those in authority. Paul unafraid
calls the civil ruler God's servant in Romans 13. Paul as well
as other New Testament believers resorted to only prayer and
teaching because they had no legal role in the pagan Roman
government. However, they understood the Old Testament. For
their own peace the civil government needed to be under God's
Law. However, following Jesus' example these believers wrote
about a soon-coming wrath of God upon the earth. Using the Roman
army God layed waste Jerusalem and totally destroyed the Jewish
temple in 70 AD.

It appears the presence of a non-Christian civil government is
unrelated to prayer being within God's will. However, if the
person praying held to the world-view that God wants civil
government without Christ at its head; this will influence what
the person will pray for. Why waste time praying for a change in
our civil government placing it under God's authority if you
don't believe God desires it? Instead, prayer for God's wrath to
come swiftly would be in order. Indeed, those who believe in a
pre-tribulation rapture and pray for the saint's rapture to take
place are praying for this very thing!

Hal Lindsey believes the prophecy in Scripture about God's
soon-coming wrath isn't fulfilled yet. He puts it this way in
his "Vanished into Thin Air" book. "We live in a world
essentially devoid of hope. Visions of the future as portrayed by
popular books and films include catastrophic events like asteroid
strikes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and plagues. Images of
the future are more often than not eerie, post-apocalyptic scenes
complete with darkened skies over ruined cities presided over by
chaos. Those images are completely in harmony with the
prophecies of the Book of the Revelation for the last days."

I wonder what world-view Hal's grandchildren have? Do they even
plan to have children if they believe their grandfather?

Do you believe the 'world' is doomed? Do you believe the ungodly
civil governments of today are going to take the ship called
'planet earth' down with them? Then you also probably believe
that God wants the United States to maintain a religiously
pluralistic civil government. Effective prayer to change our
nation placing authority back under God (Christ) Himself is
simply - absent. Instead, unanswered prayer asking for Christ's
coming for his own and swift judgment on the rest of the world
fills the void. Thus, prayer is weakened because unanswered
prayer erodes faith in God. Who's prayers are the opposite of
the powerful effective righteous man [James 5:16b]? "He who
doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." [James
1:6-8]

As Dr. Gary North would say, eschatology matters.