• The Daily Brief
• News from the Middle East
• Patriotism Matters!
• Who Among You Is A True Patriot?
• July 3: Battle of Gettysburg
Greetings!
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
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The Daily Brief Thursday, July 3, 2008
". . . when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)
THE DAILY BRIEF WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW, FRIDAY, JULY 4TH.
Please join us tomorrow in celebrating 232 years of the founding of this great nation on the earth.
As you do so, may we invite you to view this video of the 50 states of these United States? When you click on, the outline of the United States will appear and frame all of the pictures slowly in a slide type presentations.
To view this video, go here. Make sure your sound is on!
The Daily Brief
1. Conservative Evangelicals Discuss Backing McCain - Newsmax.com
Conservative evangelical leaders, who have been slow to warm to John McCain, met privately this week to discuss coalescing around the Republican's presidential bid.
· Father we thank You for this move toward unity by Evangelical leaders. The future of America rests upon the shoulders of Your people - let us hear from heaven and do what You want.
· ". . . and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice . . ." (1 Kings 19:12)
2. Bush Says U.S. to Send more Troops to Afghanistan - Newsmax.com
Grappling with a record death toll in an overshadowed war, President Bush promised Wednesday to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan by year's end. He conceded that June was a "tough month" in the nearly seven-year-old war.
· Father, we ask humbly in the Name of Jesus that You will cause the enemies of peace to be destroyed in Afghanistan; nevertheless, we pray for their souls.
· "Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; let them be turned back and ashamed suddenly." (Psalm 6:10)
3. President Bush Speaks with Colombian President Uribe Following Rescue of Three U.S. Hostages - White House Press Release
Three American defense contractors held since 2003 by narco-guerillas in steamy jungle captivity were choppered to freedom here; it was announced Wednesday, in a daring rescue operation that resembled a Hollywood action film. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. was aware of the operation in advance and supported it.
· Thank You, Lord, for the safe return of these hostages!
· "Bless the Lord, O my soul . . .Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. . ." (Psalm 103:1, 4)
4. Oil Prices Near $146 - Newsmax.com
Oil prices neared $146 a barrel Thursday for the first time ever on reports of declining U.S. stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran.
· Father we ask that You stabilize the stock market and oil futures in particular, that fear will no longer be its driving force.
· "Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant. . ." (Psalm 106:44)
5. Fed Auctions $75 Billion to Ease Credit Stresses - AP
The Federal Reserve has auctioned another $75 billion in loans to squeezed banks to help them overcome credit problems and announced it will provide a fresh batch of the loans this month.
· Father we pray for a fresh wind of Your wisdom to flow through the Federal Reserve leadership. We ask that Your mercy and truth will guide them to make decisions for our nation which will bring relief that is permanent rather than make the situations worse.
· "Keep sound wisdom and discretion; so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way . . ." (Proverbs 3: 22,23)
6. "Paradise is Burning" Fires Prompt California Evacuations - NY Sun
On the eve of one of the biggest tourism weekends of the summer, rampaging wildfires are prompting the evacuation of a picturesque stretch of the California coast and blanketing other popular spots with a haze of brown smoke.
· Lord we continue to call for the heart of repentance for all of California, and cry out for your mercy and forgiveness over all.
· "O Lord, be gracious to us; We have waited for You, Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble." (Isaiah 33:2)
7. George Washington's Boyhood home Found - Newsmax.com
Archaeologists were delighted to at last find the remains of George Washington's boyhood home. . . Most biographies offer little detail of the first president's youth, so the discovery may provide insight into Washington's childhood, he said.
· Lord as the childhood roots of our first President have been revealed this week, we humbly pray that You will return our nation to the Biblical roots espoused by our founding fathers. We pray as Washington prayed:
" . . . my fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign Arbiter of nations, that His providential care may still be extended to the United States; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved; and that the government which they have instituted for the protection of their liberties may be perpetual." (Quotation from "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States," Benjamin F. Morris, 1863)
News from the Middle East
The Middle East in Focus This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming
THIS DECREE: "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. " (Zech.12:6)
1. Former Mossad chief: Israel must attack Iran - WND
Israel should use force to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, urged a former director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in an exclusive interview with WND.
2. Pentagon Warns Against Israeli Attack on Iran - ABC News
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who was in Israel over the weekend, issued a strong warning today about the dangers of a military attack on Iran.
3. Tehran dismisses Pentagon reports of impending Israeli attack - ICEJ News
Responding to claims by an anonymous Pentagon offical on Tuesday that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program was likely by the end 2008, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that, "where Israel is today . . . will not allow it to engage in regional adventurism." During an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Mottaki dismissed the chances of an impending Israeli attack. "Israel is still facing the post- trauma of the attack against Lebanon in 2006. So we don't believe that Israel is in a position to be able to engage in another attack in the region," assessed Mottaki. He threatened that Tehran's response to any attack from either the US or Israel would be widespread and called for all efforts to "be made towards Israel avoiding a militaristic action in the region."
4. Nasrallah: Deal with Israel a Lebanese victory - Ynet News
Kidnapped soldier Eldad Regev's father, Tzvi Regev, said Wednesday night that the speech given by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, is another attempt at mocking the kidnapped soldiers' families. In his first reference to the prisoner swap deal, Nasrallah said that Israel has no information regarding the fates of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
5. Senate confirms new US ambassador to Israel - ICEJ News
The US Senate approved last week the Bush Administration's appointment of James Cunningham to replace Richard Jones as US Ambassador to Israel. Cunningham previously served as the US consul general in Hong Kong and earlier as US deputy ambassador to the UN. He is scheduled to arrive tin Israel this August. US officials believe that Cunningham will remain ambassador even if Barack Obama becomes president because he was appointed by a Democratic-controlled Senate. Cunningham has Middle East experience at the UN but is not acknowledged as a expert, said one official. Meanwhile, Jones is set to become the deputy executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
Patriotism Matters!
By: Gary Bauer; End-of-Day; Thursday, July 3, 2008
July 4th, along with Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, is one of America's patriotic holidays, and there is a lot of evidence that we are not teaching patriotism to our kids. That our children are not learning their history and basic civics is a sad fact. For example, a 2006 survey of 14,000 college students by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute found that just 46% of college seniors know that the line "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" comes from the Declaration of Independence. Even worse, the ISI study found that college seniors at some of the nation's most elite and prestigious universities actually graduate knowing less about American history and civics than when they arrived as freshman.
From my experiences in many schools, it seems that all we are teaching our children are America's failures and shortcomings. Political correctness is rampant, and anti-Americanism is chic. Reflecting on the results of a previous ISI survey that was just as disappointing, Eugene Hickok, former U.S. deputy secretary of education, said "America's students need to understand what America is about. Nothing less than our nation's future is at risk. We need to be about the business of making patriots." In fact, Thomas Sowell wrote a brilliant column yesterday entitled, "Does Patriotism Matter?" noting how French intellectuals and "educrats" - liberal bureaucrats who control the teachers' unions - scrubbed the history books of patriotic references following World War I. Sowell wrote, "Marshal Philippe Petain, the victor at Verdun, warned in 1934 that teachers were trying to 'raise our sons in ignorance of or in contempt of the fatherland.'" And, not surprisingly, the nation collapsed in just six weeks after the beginning of World War II.
Today we face many dangers - economic challenges, the threat from Islamofascism, etc. But one of the greatest dangers we are facing is that the next generation will fail to learn what is good about America and that it is worth defending. Our kids must know that our founders believed America was and should always be "a shining city upon a hill." They must understand what our founders meant when they wrote in the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It was to this principle that Washington and Jefferson and the men of Bunker Hill and Concord Bridge pledged their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor."
Do our kids believe that today? It's hard to fight for an idea you don't even know exists. President Woodrow Wilson reportedly said, "A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about." Thankfully, there are still many young men and women who do appreciate America and cherish our freedoms even to the point of laying down their own lives. They are demonstrating their love of country in the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq and in other far away places. May God bless them and protect them. May we always honor their service and the sacrifice of their loved ones who will miss them tremendously this holiday weekend.
On this July 4th, by all means enjoy that hotdog. Go to the baseball game. Enjoy your time with friends and family. But, my friends, please "be about the business of making patriots." Take a moment to talk to your kids and grandchildren about the meaning of America, the risks our Founding Fathers took to win our freedom and the sacrifices that were made then, and those being made today to defend our liberty. Because patriotism does matter.
Who Among You Is A True Patriot?
The Founding Fathers knew that the acts of tyranny by the British in the American colonies were ungodly and unrighteous. The colonists had watched as the British moved massive amounts of troops into America. The British commandeered private homes to house troops and officers. They didn't allow people to gather on the streets to talk. They suppressed free speech. They discouraged worship apart from the government religion. And they taxed the colonists without representation. The Founding Fathers set apart this new nation from the British rule knowing that only the moral and Christ-like could govern righteously.
Perhaps our second President, John Adams, said it best: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other." The Constitution is the covenant with the people that guarantees the nation we have to be a moral nation. Not only did our Founding Fathers risk life and fortune for it, many of our forefathers have died that we may enjoy its liberties.
Throughout history until now, any invasive threat to the Constitution was met with decisive force--the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War II, even the Afghanistan war against terror. If an entity were to invade America and threaten its Constitutional liberties, Americans would fight to the death to preserve the Republic. So today, why is it that we are not called to arms when the immoral, unjust and unrighteous threaten our very existence as a nation? Putting it plainly, we are faced now with an invasion of illegals, Muslims, homosexuals, baby killers, and ungodly socialists and communists who seek to destroy the way of life guaranteed by the Constitution, inked by the blood of our forefathers.
Yet we are allowing them to colonize, to take over and twist the meaning and intent of the Constitution, "unbridled", as John Adams would say. Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." It is time to stand as did our forefathers and fight the fight for this nation against the unlawful, the immoral, and the godless. Have we as a nation been so saturated with an imbalance of Biblical grace that we cannot stand against sin and unrighteousness as commanded by the Bible? Wake up Americans. Who among you is a true patriot?
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministrywww.dailyjot.com
July 3: Battle of Gettysburg
THE AMERICAN MINUTE:
July 3: Battle of Gettysburg
Washington, D.C., was in a panic as 70,000 Confederate troops were just sixty miles away near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The furious battle had lasted three days. As General Lee found his ammunition running low, he ordered General Pickett to make a direct attack. After an hour of murderous fire and bloody hand-to- hand combat, the Confederates were pushed back and the Battle of Gettysburg ended JULY 3, 1863, with over 50,000 casualties.
President Abraham Lincoln confided to a general wounded in the battle: "When everyone seemed panic-stricken...I went to my room . . . and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed."
Days later, July 15, 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer: "It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father and the power of His hand equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows. I invite the people of the United States to render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion." (Source: The American Minute, by Bill Federer)
