In This Issue• The Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• The Daily Jot
• The Good News Corner
• Worship with Us Today!
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The Daily Brief - Friday, June 24, 2011
"Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon." (Neh. 4:17)
The Daily Brief
1. Solar Flares Could Cripple Earth's Tech Infrastructure in 2013 - PC World
This week's solar flare will likely go unnoticed by most people on Earth, but NASA says that might not be the case two years from now, when a peak in solar activity could cause trillions of dollars in damage to our high-tech infrastructure.
- Father, we ask that you would use this occasion to attract people's attention to you, and your Word; and that they would seek you and come to know you personally. May the Heavens truly declare your existence and your glory! May your creation testify to its Creator, and One who is the Master Designer and Lover of us all! Amen!
- "I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below,blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:19-21)
2. Multiple Ocean Stresses Threaten 'Globally Significant' Marine Extinction, Experts Warn - Science Daily
An international panel of marine experts warns in a new report that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
- Lord, it seems that nature continues to show signs of aging and decay, as we race toward your return and redemption. Again, we know you are the God of Creation, and it responds to your voice. We pray for your mercy on our seas, and the life within them. We ask you to speak through these situations to draw people to you, their Redeemer. May they see that you are the Source of all life, and we ask for your mercy upon your creation. Amen
- "We know that the whole creation has been groaning and travailing as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:22)
3. US to Lose Second Place in World Trade to India: Citi - CNBC
In less than 40 years India will overtake the US as the world's second-largest trading nation, pushing today's superpower into third place and Europe in to the little leagues, according to a new report by Citi.
- Father, we thank you for allowing India to prosper to the point where they are able to trade with other nations. We ask for wisdom for our economic leaders to know how to proceed in our ability to pool our resources to effectively and efficiently take care of our own needs, and yet share/trade with other nations, and thereby be a blessing in the earth. Amen
- "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." (James 1:5)
4. Congressional Budget Office warns of debt explosion - Washington Post
The national debt will exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy by 2021 -- and balloon to nearly 200 percent of GDP within 25 years -- without dramatic cuts to federal health and retirement programs or steep tax increases, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.
- Lord, we come to you as our Provider. We thank you that you have promised to meet all our needs, if we follow you and your Word. We repent for our disobedience in the area of finances. Where you have told us not to owe anyone anything, except to love them. We, as a nation, have been consumed with entertainment and "things", and have borrowed against the future. Forgive us Lord, and help us to turn this around with your help, as we reassess our priorities.
- "Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law." (Romans 8:13)
5. Study: $1400 Tax Hike Needed to Fund US Pensions - CNBC
U.S. state and local governments will need to raise taxes by $1,398 per household every year for the next 30 years if they are to fully fund their pension systems, a study released on Wednesday said.
- Lord, again we come to you asking for your wisdom in this situation. Help our federal, state, and local government bodies to throw themselves on your mercy and ask for your wisdom. Please show them where they can cut wasteful spending, and prioritize in wise ways to avoid raising taxes, or cut back vital programs. May they be humble before you and repent for their foolishness in spending.
- "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God." (Psalm 20:7)
6. Sirens Blare as Flooding Hits North Dakota - ABC News
Sirens are blaring at this moment in Minot, N.D., as the overflowing Souris River floods over the top of local levees five hours before the evacuation deadline for 11,000 residents. Farther south, the overflowing Missouri River has put two nuclear power plants at risk, necessitated evacuations and produced a travel nightmare as interstate highways shut down.
- Lord, we come before you asking for your mercy in this flooding situation. We ask you to protect your own, and to protect the two nuclear power plants from being flooded. You have promised in your word that when we pass through the flood you will be with us, and we will not drown. We pray for your people to not only survive, but are able to help rescue others. Lord, may we be like an ark of safety, ministering your love to those in need.
- "Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." (Psalm 32:6,7)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Your name give glory, for Your mercy, and for Your truth's sake. Why should the nations say, Where is their God? But our God is in the heavens. He has done whatever He has pleased." (Psalm 115:1-3)
1. Israel served as 'main course' at EU dinner, official says - Jerusalem Post
Quartet envoys are expected to meet in Brussels at the end of the week amid increasing concern in Jerusalem that the EU hopes to avert a Palestinian statehood bid at the UN in September by, as one senior Israeli official said on Wednesday, "giving something" significant to the Palestinians.
2. Netanyahu: Abbas must say he accepts 'the Jewish state' - Jerusalem Post
On the eve of a meeting of Quartet envoys in Brussels to review ways to restart the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday night that the end to the conflict will begin with the Palestinian leaders uttering six simple words: "I will accept the Jewish state."
3. Hamas, Fatah deflect blame for failed Palestinian unity - Jerusalem Post
Hamas on Thursday accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of backtracking on the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement between the two sides.
The Daily Jot
Clinton to the people's chamber: Whose side are you on?
Congress is laying the groundwork for a vote on whether it will fund the White House's war in Libya. There are members of Congress in both political parties against the Libyan hostilities. On June 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Jamaica for a conference where she was asked a question about America's involvement in Libya. Her reply was astonishing because it clearly revealed the mentality of this Administration. She asked Congress whose side it was on?--the side of dictator and terrorist Moammar Qadhafi or the Libyan people. And she firmly implied that the White House stood for the LIbyan people. This is what she said:
"I say with all respect that the Congress is certainly free to raise any questions or objections, and I'm sure I will hear that tomorrow when I testify. But the bottom line is, whose side are you on? Are you on Qadhafi's side or are you on the side of the aspirations of the Libyan people and the international coalition that has been created to support them? For the Obama Administration, the answer to that question is very easy." The Libyan people, according to the White House and Mrs. Clinton are represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda, and former leaders of the Libya Islamic Fighting Group, which was designated in 2008 by her own State Department as "the most serious threat to US interests and personnel in Libya."
When the Founding Fathers established the three branches of the federal government, they wanted the US House of Representatives to be the "People's House." They therefore vested certain enumerated powers in the House, including the responsibility to declare war and to appropriate funds for war. These representatives were elected every two years to keep them close to the people. When the Secretary of State asks Congress, "Whose side are you on?" the proper answer would be that of the American people, not the Libyan people. The Libyan people never elected the Congress or this Administration. Clinton's taunting of Congress should be quite revealing to the discerning American.
Actually, the American people should be asking the question as to who's side this Administration is on. Clinton's top aide has family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is now this Administration's Middle East "peace partner." It is an amazing thing when our government is partnering with the very organization that has public plans to overthrow it. Notwithstanding, the Muslim Brotherhood's core principle of establishing Sharia Law is the antithesis of everything American and Christian. I believe I see whose side the White House is supporting. I am with Joshua who said in Joshua 24:15, "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." So should be the response of the People's House.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com
The Good News Corner
Divorce Loses its Appeal
Divorce is no longer "cool."
That's the message of a New York Times article published today, "How Divorce Lost Its Groove."
"The shift in attitudes and behavior is very real," Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, told The Times. "Among upper-middle-class Americans, the divorce rate is going down, and they're becoming more conservative toward divorce."
Cherlin said it's part of a generational shift -- today's parents have reflected on their parents' divorces and said, "Not me."
Writer Claire Dederer agreed.
In the 1970s, "the feminists, the hippies, the protesters, the cultural elite all said, It's OK to drop out," she writes. In contrast, "We made up our minds, my brother and I and so many of the grown children of the runaway moms, that we would put our families first and ourselves second. . . We would stay married, no matter what."
The Times cites the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, which has found that just 11 percent of college-educated Americans divorce within the first 10 years of marriage, compared with almost 37 percent for the rest of the population.
"There has been a striking shift in both beliefs and behavior toward marriage among educated and affluent Americans," W. Bradford Wilcox, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, told The Times. "There's a tacit or explicit recognition among well-educated parents that their kids are less likely to thrive if Mom and Dad can't be together." (CitizenLink)
Worship with Us Today!
"It Is Well With My Soul" by Wintley Phipps
"God told me to share this with you. It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." -- Wintley Phipps
Worship our Lord with us this weekend . . . go here.
