Friday, January 23, 2009

CHPP Daily Brief - January 23, 2009

In This Issue
· The Daily Brief
·
The Middle East in Focus

Greetings!
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
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The Daily Brief Friday, Jan. 23, 2009
"God our Savior . . . wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:3a,4)


The Daily Brief

1. About-Face on Abortion - FOXNews.com
Obama set to sign executive order lifting ban on federal funding for groups that help provide abortions abroad.· Intercede on behalf of our nation and Americans living abroad that the sanctity of life be upheld. God is the giver of life, and any man's actions that violate this gift from God brings judgment on the land. This order is not the will of the people but the will of a very vocal minority.
Please pray that the Lord will change the hearts of our leaders on this matter.
· "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you." (Jeremiah 1: 5a)

2. Nuclear Weapons from WW2 found in Garbage Dump - FOXNews.com
Workers cleaning up the Hanford Site, a huge decommissioned nuclear research facility in southeastern Washington state, came across an old safe buried in a pit. Inside they found a glass bottle - containing plutonium made for the Manhattan Project in 1945. Plutonium is extremely radioactive, and even a tiny amount could cause lung cancer in a human who breathed it in. But this wasn't just any plutonium - this was an extremely pure sample of the fissile isotope plutonium-239, used to make atomic bombs such as the one dropped on Nagasaki.In fact, it now turns out that except for a tiny sample stored at the Smithsonian, the 400 milliliters from the bottle is the oldest batch of plutonium-239 in existence. It's not enough to make a nuclear weapon, but it'd be plenty for terrorist to manufacture a "dirty bomb" with.
· Pray that any nuclear fissionable material anywhere will now be uncovered so that no harm comes to anyone, especially children. Praise the Lord for this discovery. Pray that God will continue to reveal hidden secrets in His great mercy over us, and that His light will be seen through us in the midst of fearful circumstances.
· "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5: 16)

3. GE Profit Down 44%, Meets Expectations - FOXBusiness.com
General Electric (GE: 11.99, -1.469, -10.91%), the Fairfield, Conn., conglomerate, posted a 44% decline in fourth-quarter earnings amid declines in its financial and consumer products businesses. Despite the results, GE said it will maintain its $1.24 a share dividend for 2009. Speculation has been rampant that GE would have to cut its dividend, or else its valuable AAA credit rating could be at risk. In December, Standard & Poor's Rating Services took the first step toward lowering GE's AAA credit rating due to concerns about GE Capital. GE is only one of six industrial companies that can boast a debt rating of AAA, according to The Wall Street Journal.
· Pray that GE will change its business practices, see that its ways are foolish, and receive wisdom from the Lord. It has continued doing business with Iran, a nation that has determined to eliminate Israel.
· "For what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (Luke 9: 25)

4. Militants Firing Mortars Towards Israel; Convoy Attacked - Worthy News.com
Humanitarian aid continued to flow into Gaza on Thursday, January 23, despite nearly a dozen mortar shells being fired towards Israel so far, officials said, and reports of a Jordanian convoy being attacked by suspected Hamas militants.
· Pray for the proteciton of Israel. Hamas has already begun to re-arm, according to news from Israel. Again, keep praying that warrior angels stand at the borders of Israel and are visible to the terrorists. Pray for some world understanding of Israel's plight and pray for America's standing with Israel.
· "O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption." (Psalm 130: 7)

5. Feds to 'rethink' license mandate - USA Today
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday afternoon that she will "rethink" a program that requires every state to issue more secure driver's licenses by the end of the year. The new licenses, required under a 2005 federal law, aim to prevent criminals and potential terrorists from getting fake IDs. But the licenses have been opposed by many governors, who cite the cost. Added opposition comes from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the cards are, in effect, a national ID card.
· We walk not by sight but in the trust of our Lord. It is not our job to be discouraged nor fearful. Ask the Holy Spirit to circumvent this elimination of driver's licenses, which are used for nearly all employment, financial, and travel transactions in America. Ask the Lord to reveal truth Janet Napolitano in this area.
· "Take heed that no man deceives you." (Matthew 24: 4)

6. Egyptian troops training in Texas - WorldNetDaily
Secretive U.S. technology help find Hamas weapons tunnels. Egyptian troops are undergoing training in Texas on the use of American military technology to uncover Hamas weapons smuggling tunnels. A top Egyptian intelligence official said the Egyptian troops arrived in Texas in recent days, where they have been undergoing private courses on the use of proprietary, secretive U.S. technology that makes use of sonar and certain frequencies to locate underground tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border. Also, the intelligence official said a team from the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers, which has been aiding the location of funnels, recently arrived in the Egyptian Sinai desert. The IDF reportedly destroyed 60% to 70% of the 600 smuggling tunnels, which Hamas uses to bring munitions into Gaza. Hamas is working to rely more on sea shipments rather than tunnels.
· Pray that all tunnels will be destroyed and that the Lord will allow the earth to loosen so that more tunnels cannot be built. Pray that the greenhouses built by Hamas over the tunnels will also be destroyed so that the deception can be revealed. Praise the Lord for the USA's military helping to destroy the tunnels.
· "Unless the Lord builds the house [tunnels], they labor in vain who build it." (Psalm 127: 1a)

7. Abortion Foes Recall Lincoln's Slavery Stand - Washingtonpost.com
The inauguration of a president who supports abortion rights fired up the annual March for Life yesterday, with activists warning of new, more liberal legislation and urging President Obama to view abortion as a civil-rights issue akin to slavery. Signs read: "Yes we can -- eliminate abortion." One speaker took the microphone and called for anti-abortion "community organizers," a job the president held in Chicago. Another taunted Obama with references to one of his heroes. This is the 36th Right to Life March.
Looking east at the thousands of marchers gathered from Fourth to Seventh streets on the Mall, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said Obama needed to be reminded "that the reason we built that monument to President Abraham Lincoln is because he saw the humanity in a slave that the Supreme Court said was not human." Nothing could make Obama less like Lincoln than "forgetting that the unborn are also little children of God," he added.
· Praise the Lord for those who came to cold Washington, D.C, to stand for God's principles and against the ruling that has brought so much judgment on America. Pray that God would intervene against all governmental actions which support abortions, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research
· "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is His reward." (Psalm 127: 3)

The Middle East in Focus

The Middle East in Focus This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"In that day shall LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate." (Isaiah 28:5-6)

1. Polls: Likud leads Kadima by 4 mandates - ICEJ News
With under three weeks left before Israel's national elections, several polls released on Friday indicate a tightening four-seat race between Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu and the ruling Kadima party led by Tzipi Livni. A poll conducted for Yediot Aharonot gave Likud 29 seats, Kadima 25, Labor 17 and Yisrael Beiteinu 14; a separate survey in Ma'ariv predicted 28 mandates for Likud, 24 for Kadima and 16 for both Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu. Three polls released earlier this week, just after the end of the IDF offensive in Gaza, had given the Likud a lead of eight to 12 Knesset seats over Kadima. Meantime, cabinet minister Isaac Herzog of Labor on Friday mimicked recent claims by Kadima that if Netanyahu is elected prime minister, he will find it difficult to work with new US President Barack Obama. "It will be hard because it seems that Netanyahu's policies will be in direct contrast with those of Obama," Herzog told Army Radio.
2. Hamas reacts quickly to Obama's call to end rocket fire - ICEJ News
Hamas officials were quick to react on Thursday to remarks on Middle East tensions by new US President Barack Obama, with the Islamist terror militia insisting he does not represent any change towards the Palestinians and will lead to the same mistakes that former president George Bush made. In his first public comments concerning the recent Gaza conflict since his inauguration on Tuesday, Obama insisted that Israel's unilaterally declared cease-fire can only hold if Hamas stops firing rockets, and the US and its allies support an anti-smuggling system that prevents the Palestinian group from rearming.

3. Progress reported in deal for Gilad Shalit - ICEJ News
Progress has been made in negotiations to free Hamas captive Gilad Shalit, Palestinian sources reported Thursday. The kidnapped IDF soldier was one of three major issues discussed when Israeli defense ministry official Amos Gilad returned to Cairo yesterday. The parameters of the possible agreement are beginning to emerge: Shalit's release in exchange for hundreds of Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners and the opening all crossings into Gaza, including the Rafah terminal that borders Egypt.

4. A reminder for prayer: Israel holds its elections on February 19th.
Pray for God's choice to win the election as Prime Minister.
· "Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you" (Deuteronomy 1:13).