In This Issue• The Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• The Daily Jot
• Obama Demands Tax Hikes
• The Good News Corner
• Worship with Us Today!
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The Daily Brief - Thursday, June 30, 2011
"When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness." (Isaiah 29:9b)
The Daily Brief
1. Riyadh will build nuclear weapons if Iran gets them, Saudi prince warns - UK Guardian
A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the spectre of nuclear conflict in the Middle East if Iran comes close to developing a nuclear weapon.
- Pray that God will intervene as only He can to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. From "accidental" explosions to computer viruses, or removal of leaders, He can stop Iran from their plans.
- "For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain 'Move from here to there.' And it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20b)
2. Greek Lawmakers Pass Austerity Measures Following Days of Riots - AP
Greece has bought itself some time to deal with its crippling debt crisis after lawmakers cleared the final hurdle for crucial bailout funds to be released that will prevent the country from defaulting next month.
The European Union and International Monetary Fund had demanded Parliament pass two bills -- an austerity law and a second bill detailing how it will be implemented -- before they approve a $17.3 billion installment from the country's $159 billion package of rescue loans.
Parliament passed the second law by majority vote Thursday.
- Lord, we pray for stability to Greece, as well as all other nations in economic turmoil. We ask that those affected by these austerity measures would be touched by Your Holy Spirit, and provided for by Your mercy.
- "Let the weak say I am strong." (Joel 3:10c)
3. An Israeli algorithm sheds light on the Bible - AP
Software developed by an Israeli team is giving intriguing new hints about what researchers believe to be the multiple hands that wrote the Bible. The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book.
- Father, we praise You for revealing more and more of Your truth to the world. We ask that You use this research to point the way to Christ for the Israeli people.
- "according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent by long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the Eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations" (Romans 16:25c,26a)
4. Investigation Launched After Nigerian Man Boards U.S. Plane with Expired Boarding Pass - Fox News
A Nigerian national boarded a Virgin America flight from New York to Los Angeles last week without a passport and with an expired boarding pass that did not belong to him, Fox News confirms.
Read more:
- Thank You, Lord, that this man was discovered before any harm was done. We pray that You will tighten the obvious loopholes that allowed him to get through the TSA process, and establish the gift of discernment for those who are charged with our airline safety.
- "Lord, do not grant the desires of the wicked; do not let them achieve their plans." (Psalm 140:8a)
5. Could be Days Before Wildfire Effects on NM Lab are Known -- AP
Officials at the nuclear laboratory that created the first atomic bomb say it could be a few days before they know how experiments have been affected by a shutdown forced by a 125-square-mile (323-square-kilometer) wildfire.
- Lord, we pray a hedge of protection be erected around and over the NM laboratory. We apply the Blood of Jesus to all contents of the lab, and the land around it.
- "I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it" (Ezekiel 22:30)
6. Debris narrowly misses International Space Station - AFP
A piece of space debris narrowly missed the International Space Station on Tuesday in a rare incident that forced the six-member crew to scramble to their rescue craft, space agency officials said. The high-speed object hurtled toward the orbiting lab and likely missed it by just 1,100 feet (335 meters). The crew moved to shelter inside two Soyuz spacecraft 18 minutes before the debris was expected to pass, NASA said.
"It was probably the closest object that has actually come by the space station," said the US space agency's associate administrator for space operations, Bill Gerstenmaier. "We didn't have any information that it was coming until it was very, very close." The size of the space junk remains unknown and no harm was done by its fly-by.
Read more:
- Father, thank you for protecting the International Space Station and the crew from this debris. May they determine why they had no knowledge the debris was coming until it was very close. We plead the blood of Jesus over the crew that no harm shall befall them.
- In Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)- upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3)
7. Obama: It's Kids Versus Corporate Jets on Debt-Ceiling Talks - National Journal
If Obama's news conference accomplished anything on Wednesday afternoon, it underscored, in striking tones, his strategy for winning the debt ceiling fight with Republicans: Make it a clash of classes.
- Lord, we are incensed at the continual attempts to breed conflict between people of lower income and those who have built businesses that created wealth. We pray that You will stop the manipulation and cause truth to be the basis of the debate over debt.
- "For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil." (James 3:16)
8. Older Workers Could Face Cost Disparities in Health Care Law Glitch - Fox News
Older adults of the same age and income with similar medical histories would pay sharply different amounts for private health insurance due to what appears to be an unintended consequence of the new health care law.
Read more:
- Lord, these kinds of disparities place undue burdens on the people of America. We pray for Your mercy over older Americans who have little resources. We call for a move of Your Spirit over our courts, to reverse their support of Obamacare.
- "There is a generation whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, devouring the oppressed from the land and the needy from among mankind." (Proverbs 30:14)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"For the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people." (1 Samuel 12:22)
1. Israel warns Assad: Attack us, we'll hit you personally - Jerusalem Post
The government sent a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad in recent days, warning him that if he started a war with the Jewish state in order to divert attention from domestic problems, Israel will target him personally, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported on Tuesday.
2. US Senate: Cut aid if PA declares state - Ynet News
The US Senate approved a bill Wednesday that calls for suspension of American aid to the Palestinian Authority if it insists on carrying out a plan to gain UN recognition for its statehood declaration in September.
3. Report: Jordan to oppose PA statehood bid - Ynet News
A senior Jordanian official says the Hashemite kingdom will vote against a Palestinian statehood bid scheduled to be put before the UN General Assembly in September.
The Daily Jot
The Heartbeat of America and the rights of pre-born citizens
The Declaration of Independence expressly states as a foundational precept to government 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 further states the social contract basis for government "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Here we have two concepts at play that are integral to the debate over what can be considered an illegal or in the very least an errant decision by the US Supreme Court in allowing any type of abortion.
First, if all men are created, and they are endowed at the time of that creation with the unalienable Right to Life, then it is impossible to separate the point of creation, which begins life, and the unalienable Right of that Life. The foundational core of the Supreme Law of the United States as found in the Constitution is that Life is an unalienable Right. Any court ruling against such Life is breaking the law it is required to uphold. In America, there have been over 40 million citizens whose lives were snuffed out by the Supreme Court's allowance of legitimized murder--citizens who could in no way protect themselves from the actions of those who conducted or allowed this murder.
Which brings us upon the second point. Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. In an open and free society, there is true democracy. That is, majority rule without regard for law. If a majority consisting of brown eyed people want to kill all those with blue eyes there is nothing to prevent it. Conversely, if green eyed and blue eyed people were in the majority and wanted to kill all the brown eyed people, they could do it. This is why government is instituted with just powers which come in the form of laws. Every citizen gives up a certain amount of liberal freedom to be protected by laws administered justly by the government. Where is the protection for the pre-born?
The Supreme Court in 1973 failed to protect this innocent and defenseless people group leading to the establishment of an entire multi-billion dollar abortion industry. The Ohio House of Representatives Tuesday passed legislation that would restore at least some rights to this unprotected class by making abortion illegal once a heartbeat is detected. When signed into law, it will surely test the decision that erased an entire generation of Americans. Jeremiah 2:34 says, "Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these." In America this is so true. May the actions in Ohio convict the nation that no more will innocent blood be shed by the canceling of the rights of the pre-born.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com
Obama Demands Tax Hikes!
In his first press conference in weeks, Obama came out swinging and left no doubt that tax increases are a key demand to any debt limit deal. While the president gave lip service to tackling entitlement spending, he also said, " . . . we're going to have to tackle spending in the tax code."
Such absurd euphemisms indicate how conservatives are winning the battle of ideas. Obama will not utter the phrase "tax increases," and he knows spending is unpopular, so he wants to "tackle spending in the tax code." What on earth does that mean? How does the tax code spend money?
Obama wants you to believe that the government "spends" when you get a tax cut. This only makes sense if you start out with the assumption that all money belongs to the government and not the individual who earned it.
But don't worry. The president has his proposals to solve our debt crisis. He returned to the theme of class warfare, this time throwing out a new focus group tested applause line: "Ask Republican constituents if they're willing to compromise their kids' safety so some corporate jet owner continues to get a tax break."
Really? We have a $1.5 trillion deficit and Obama rushes to the microphones to complain about tax breaks for corporate jet owners? I'm not sure that strategy is going to work. One veteran journalist wrote: "If Obama's news conference accomplished anything on Wednesday afternoon, it underscored, in striking tones, his strategy for winning the debt ceiling fight with Republicans: Make it a clash of classes. . . In Obama's world, Democrats are for kids and Republicans are for corporate jets."
My staff has been furiously searching the Internet to find out exactly how much money the government is "spending" on tax breaks for corporate jet owners. Unable to find the figures, we have asked our friends on Capitol Hill.
But since the president raised the issue at his press conference today, it must be a huge sum that would go a long way toward closing our budget gap. Why hasn't anyone thought of it before? Probably because it wouldn't amount to a drop in the bucket. It is just one more example of Obama's deceptive and disingenuous rhetoric. (Gary Bauer)
The Good News Corner:
Texas Moves to Defund Planned Parenthood, Test Administration
Summary: Days after a federal judge put on hold Indiana's decision to deny Planned Parenthood of state and federal funds, the Lone Star state moves to take away some of the abortion seller's funding -- and put the Obama administration in a precarious position.
Undeterred by a federal judge's decision on Friday to temporarily block the enforcement of Indiana's ban on all health-care contracts with any "entity" that performs abortions, Texas is moving forward with proposed changes to the state's family planning services. The Lone Star state's Health and Human Services Commission made changes to its Medicaid-waiver program -- which is not only different than Indiana's program, but it also falls outside of the administration's abortion provisos that protect the likes of Planned Parenthood.
If the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services decide to play hardball and add the Medicaid waiver program to its "free choice of providers" requirements -- not to mention 72 percent of Americans who don't want to subsidize abortion -- Texas could lose $150 million in federal Medicaid funding.
In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Americans United for Life Action's President and CEO Charmaine Yoest, along with Denise Burke, the group's vice president of legal affairs, noted that the administration's response to Texas will be revealing.
"Will it again, in defiance of the will of the American people, join forces with Planned Parenthood to protect the abortion industry's government funding?" they asked. "Or, true to its claims during last year's health-care debate, will its priority instead be access to health care for thousands of low-income Americans?"
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read AULA's opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.
[Source: Citizenlink]
Worship with Us Today!
"Even So"
Even so come, Lord Jesus . . . take your bride away. How my soul longs to be with you night and day.
