• The Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• The Daily Jot!
• Homosexual Activists Defile White House
• Contempt
• Today's Legislative Focus
• Crisis in Nigeria
• The Good News Corner (1)
• The Good News Corner (2)
• Worship with Us Today!
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
"Partners in Prayer for Our Nation"
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
The Daily Brief Friday, June 22, 2012
"I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." (Isaiah 45:3)
The Daily Brief
1. Police Chaplains Told to Stop Invoking Jesus - Fox News
For the past seven years Pastor Terry Sartain has ministered to police officers and their families in Charlotte, N.C. Whenever the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Dept. invited him to deliver an invocation, he prayed in "the name of Jesus." But not anymore. Major John Diggs, who oversees the chaplain program, told television station WSOC that the policy is a "matter of respecting that people may have different faiths and that it is not aimed at any one religion or denomination."
- Father, we ask Your forgiveness for Major Diggs, and any other officials who do not recognize that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Jesus told us He would be a "Rock of offense" to many. We humbly ask for a revelation of You as Saviour of the world, to all who are searching for meaning in their lives, and especially to those who do not think they need a Saviour. We thank You that Your love pursues them, and we ask that they would turn to You, and acknowledge You as the one and only true God. Amen.
-" This [Jesus] is the Stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which has become the Head of the corner [the Cornerstone]. And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved." (Acts 4:11,12)
2. Existing home sales fall 1.5 percent in May - Reuters
Home resales fell in May and the median sales price rose only because of a drop in sale of lower priced homes, casting a shadow on the country's nascent housing market recovery.
- Abba, we know that there is a global economic "melt-down" occurring now, and many people who trust in their riches and financial assets are literally experiencing the "rug pulled out" beneath them. Here in the U.S., the crisis seems to be deepening. The stock market is volatile, home sales are soft, and unemployment is the lot of many Americans. We ask, Lord, for Your forgiveness in unwise choices in spending, and we ask for Your wisdom to be given to all who ask for it. We ask for a revelation of You, as Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider...and with it, the wisdom to make conscious financial choices that will bring stability to the marketplace and to our individual lives.
-"Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy." (Proverbs 11:28;I Timothy 6:17)
3. Credit Suisse Cut as Moody's Downgrades Biggest Banks - Bloomberg
Downgrades of Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and 13 other global banks, announced by Moody's Investors Service after months of speculation about dire fallout, were met instead by rallies in stocks and bonds.
- Lord, again we see the uncertainty of riches as a poor foundation...one of sand, and not of Rock. Even the banks are struggling. Again we ask that those who desire true riches, would seek Your face, and find in You their firm foundation and stability.
-"The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:25-27)
4. Op-Ed: Obama's amnesty-by-fiat: Naked lawlessness - Washington Post
"With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations [of immigrants brought here illegally as children] through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed." Those laws remain on the books. They have not changed. Yet Obama last week suspended these very deportations - granting infinitely renewable "deferred action" with attendant work permits - thereby unilaterally rewriting the law. And doing precisely what he himself admits he is barred from doing.
- Abba, we are concerned about the lawlessness that is now prevalent in our nation, and in the world. We ask, Lord, for a president and congress who will respect our laws and faithfully abide by them. Give them a revelation of truth, honesty, integrity, and obeying the laws of the Constitution, and this land. We thank You, Lord, for our founding fathers - many of whom knew You - and endeavored to protect future generations by putting the Constitution into place. May all elected officials abide by it, we pray. Amen.
- "Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretense and lawlessness and iniquity. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." (Matthew 23:28; 7:22-23)
5. US Army Training In St. Louis City Streets - Fox
St. Louis Police say you shouldn't be frightened if you see Army vehicles in the city. The U.S. Army is conducting training in St. Louis city neighborhoods during the next week.
- Father, we find it interesting that our Army would be training in the streets of our cities. We have been blessed by not having experienced a war, as such, on our streets...with the exception of the attack on 9/11 on the Trade Center. Even then, there was no foreign army on our streets. We ask, Lord, that You would expose the plans and identities of our enemies, both foreign and domestic. We pray for Your divine protection, and wisdom in dealing with these threats against us. Our Hope is in You! Amen.
-"The way of the righteous is level; Righteous One, you smooth the path for the righteous. Following the way of your judgments, we put our hope in you.The desire of all our soul is to remember you and your name. My soul desires you at night, my spirit in me seeks you at dawn; for when your judgments are here on earth, the people in the world learn what righteousness is." (Isaiah 26:7-9)
6. Southern Baptists: Gay rights aren't civil rights - MSNBC
A day after electing their first African-American president, Southern Baptists on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing the idea that gay rights are the same as civil rights.
- Abba, we thank You that the Baptists have reaffirmed their beliefs in Your Word concerning these matters. We thank You for their new president. We pray You will abundantly bless him, and give him Your wisdom in dealing with all issues they face, we ask in Your precious Name. Amen.
-"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:33,34)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"For You, Lord, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods." (Psalm 97:9)
1. Mofaz to Obama: Israel's broad coalition will enable renewal of Mideast talks - Ha'aretz
Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and emphasized that Israel's new coalition government is an opportunity to restart negotiations with the Palestinians.
2. Barak hints world might not take action against Iran - Times of Israel
Israel must be ready to defend its own interests against a nuclear-armed Iran because there is no guarantee world powers will, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Washington Post, in a lengthy interview with Lally Weymouth published Wednesday.
3. PM: Militant Islam will be defeated by end of century - Ynet News
Discussing the "infinite possibilities of progress and technology," Netanyahu said that "Israel is number one in the world per capita in producing more conceptual products than any other nation -- by far more than any other nations."
4. Analysis: No light at end of Egyptian tunnel for Israel - Reuters
Egypt's political upheaval is by no means over, but its uneasy neighbor Israel is not waiting for the outcome. Desert defenses are being strengthened and strategy revised as a once stable relationship splinters.
5. Israel says clock ticking after Iran talks fail - Reuters
Israel has responded to the failure of the latest nuclear talks between world powers and Iran with a familiar refrain: sanctions must be ramped up while the clock ticks down toward possible military action.
The Daily Jot!
Giving terrorists elected credibility
There is a story in The Daily Beast about Hani Nour Eldin, an elected member of the Egyptian Parliament, who came to Washington for a meeting with senior Administration officials. Turns out that Eldin is a member of the Gamaa Islamiya, the Egyptian Islamic Group, which is a designated terror group by the US State Department. But wait, there's more...Eldin, according to The Daily Beast, was arrested in 1993 on terrorism charges when he and his radicals "got into a shootout with Egyptian security officials at a mosque." The spiritual leader of his political party, Omar Abdel Rahman, is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina prison convicted in 1995 for plotting terror attacks on New York landmarks.
The Eldin visit has put the White House in a tight position. Eldin should be denied a US Visa and should not be allowed entry to the US because he is a leader of a terrorist organization and has a record of being a terrorist himself. So how did he get into the US? Eldin told The Daily Beast, "I have taken the American visa from the embassy as a member of the parliament representing a political party that has been elected and is a legitimate party." A State Department official concurred: "We have no information suggesting that he or anyone else in the delegation is a member of the Egyptian Islamic Group." Obviously, the State Department's private records are not as good as what is made public.
This Administration is known for turning a blind eye to the obvious in order to do what it wants. We see it everyday as the White House refuses to enforce laws Congress passes, or to create laws by Executive Order that Congress will not pass. But the problem here is deeper. When President George W Bush set out to legitimize the Palestinian Authority with elections, Hamas, a known terrorist group, took power. Bush set a precedent: Democracy in Islamic majority nations results in duly elected terrorists holding office. It legitimizes terrorism and terrorists. It legitimizes Islam. The current White House has followed suit by encouraging the same in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and soon to be, Syria.
Now we have terrorists entering the US on State Department-issued visas because they have been elected "Democratically." Moreover, the State Department denies that these known terrorist organizations turned political parties are indeed still terrorist organizations. The White House is jeopardizing the security of our nation, of you and your children, by allowing this. In the Bible, the king of Babylon sent ambassadors (read spies) to King Hezekiah, who showed them all his armaments and treasures. In Kings 20:17, Isaiah prophesied to him: "Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left." Is America repeating this grave error?
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com
Homosexual Activists Demean Reagan; Defile White House
The White House is a place where Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and others made the most monumental decisions about war and peace. The Oval Office became a sexual playground when Bill Clinton frolicked there with a White House intern. And now the White House has been defiled by homosexual supporters of Obama.
A Philadelphia columnist has broken a story, now picked up by Drudge, that attendees at last week's White House Gay Pride reception used the event as an opportunity to pose for photos under the portrait of Ronald Reagan, in which they displayed their hatred for him.
They gave Reagan "the finger," and then proudly posted these pictures on their Facebook pages. A lesbian couple thought it was really cute to make out under Reagan's portrait. All this took place while the Marine Corps Band, under order from the Obama White House, played Barbara Streisand songs popular in the so-called "homosexual community."
Ronald Reagan was one of the most decent men I have known in my entire life. He was a strong conservative who battled the left. But he never allowed his strong convictions to lead him to hate or disrespect his opposition.
Reagan had such reverence for the White House that he always wore his jacket in the Oval Office. In his White House, any group of conservatives or anyone else who demeaned a previous president with obscene gestures or any other unacceptable behavior would have been escorted out immediately!
. . . Obama should immediately apologize to the American people for the inexcusable behavior of his "guests," and he should denounce the vitriol and hatred of his militant homosexual supporters. But I doubt he will. Some "spinner" at the White House is probably trying to figure out some way to blame the conduct on Bush!
I don't think this latest outrage is going to play well in Middle America. I doubt if "swing voters" will find this incident to be the kind of hope and change for which they were hoping. Sure the election is about the economy, and on that issue alone Obama should be fired by the voters.
But the election is also about our values and our increasingly defiled culture. From top to bottom the Obama White House should be ashamed.
Contempt
Attorney General Holder has ignored the rule of law and prevented the American people from learning the truth in the Fast and Furious scandal.
It is time for Attorney General Holder to resign.
Sign our urgent Petition for Attorney General Holder to Resign
For over a year, the Attorney General claimed that neither Obama nor the White House was involved in this scandal. Now, with a contempt vote looming in the full House just days away, the White House has claimed Executive Privilege - another attempt to block the truth from the American people.
The nation deserves a chief law enforcement officer who is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution - not playing politics. It's time for the Attorney General to resign.
Jay Sekulow
ACLJ Chief Counsel
Today's Legislative Focus
From The Madison Project
www.madisonproject.com
Bonus Legislation
[Every week, we will try to spotlight some positive legislation that is worthy of conservative support.]
S. 3302/3303 - Air Travelers' Bill of Rights/Privatize Airport Scanning
There is no worse illustration of government infringing upon our freedom than airport security. The humiliation and hardship that all American air passengers must endure would make our Founders roll over in their graves. In many respects, the fact that the TSA screens for items instead of terrorists shows that the Islamists have already won. They have taken away our liberty.
Once again, Senator Rand Paul has come to the rescue to save our liberties. Last week, Paul introduced two bills to restore our rights and dignity at airports. The first bill, S. 3302, establishes a passengers' bill of rights, which among other things, would offer travelers more options to appeal decisions made by TSA officers and would eliminate pat-downs on children. The second bill, S. 3303, would end the TSA screening program and require screening of passengers at airports to be conducted by private screeners only. Please call your senators and request that they cosponsor both meritorious pieces of legislation.
Crisis in Nigeria
300 Suicide Bombers to Attack Churches in Nigeria
Nigerian Islamists Say June Will End Up Being Bloodiest Month Yet
Washington, D.C. (June 21, 2012) -International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that members of the Nigerian Islamic group, Boko Haram, plan to make the month of June "the bloodiest month yet" in terms of attacks on Christians and promise more bloody attacks on Christians in the coming days.
The Islamists revealed their plan in their statement to Sahara Reporters, a New York based online news agency yesterday. In the past three weeks alone, more than 100 people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks by Boko Haram and the ensuing clashes between Christians and Muslims.
"I can't dismiss the rumor and I can't 100 percent accept that it will happen. But because of the trend of events, there is every possibility that something like that will happen," said Rev. Lawi P. Pokti in an interview with ICC. Rev. Pokti is the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bauchi state.
"We should pray and watch. We should also remember that Jesus said in the world there is tribulation but with Him there is peace," said Rev. Pokti in his message to Christians in Nigeria.
Addressing the Nigerian security officials, Rev. Pokti said, "My message for Nigerian security is that they are called to serve the Nigerian nation so they should do it without religious bias. They should defend the nation irrespective of one's religion so that peace will prevail in the nation."
ICC's Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, "This latest threat by Boko Haram to mass murder Christians is extremely alarming. The Nigerian government has utterly failed to protect its citizens from attacks by Boko Haram. It has been years since Boko Haram declared war against unarmed Christians. Where is the Nigerian government when the country is descending into a devastating civil war? It is high time for Nigeria to deploy all its military forces to crush Boko Haram. Boko Haram must be destroyed before it is allowed to destroy Nigeria. We also call upon our supporters to call Nigerian government officials and strongly urge them to prevent the attacks by Boko Haram."
THE NUMBER FOR THE NIGERIAN EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. IS: (202) 986-8400
You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
The Good News Corner (1)
World's First Of Its Kind Surgery Saves Miami Girl's Life
For toddler Leyna Gonzalez, every day is a gift. "She's perfectly normal, thank God," her mom Tammy says. Almost two years ago, that seemed like an impossibility. Doctors had discovered a tumor the size of a tennis ball on her tiny unborn baby's mouth. Left untreated, the tumor could have taken Leyna's life--or, at the very least, made her birth and early months very traumatic. Barely four months along, Tammy turned to surgeon Ruben Quintero for help. Together, they decided to take proactive measures and operate on the baby in the womb--who, at just 17 weeks gestation, was only about four and half inches long. It was the world's first-ever surgery of its kind. "This was an opportunity to expand the field we have developed," Dr. Quintero said, "to treat birth defects in utero." The procedure was a miraculous attempt to rescue this little life--and, to the relief of the Gonzalezes, it was completely successful.
Twenty months after her birth, all that's left of Leyna's tumor is a little scar on her mouth. Her heartwarming story is the subject of a new article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Let me repeat, Leyna was only 17 weeks along--too young for the abortion lobby to even acknowledge her humanity--and yet doctors raced to save her. Would they have gone to all that trouble for a blob of tissue? Of course not. This was a living, breathing, heart-beating life. We praise God that Leyna is a healthy, happy toddler--and a living testament to the extraordinary dignity and personhood of the unborn. (Read more.) [Reported by: CBS News, Miami; and Family Research Council]
The Good News Corner (2)
Thousands in Egypt Shout Yahsua for 10 Consecutive Minutes
This clip was shot live during the "Night of Prayer and Return to God" where people gathered together to pray for 12 continuous hours in the Cave Church in Cairo, Egypt. The congregation was praying for peace to rule over Egypt and surrounding turbulent countries. This event took place on November 11, 2011.
Watch This Video Now!
- We agree with the cry of the Christians in the nation of Egypt for PEACE in their land . . .shalom . . .
- "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11 KJV)
Worship with Us Today!
The Power of Your Name - Lincoln Brewster and Darlene Zschech
I will live
To carry Your compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be Your hands and feet
I will give
With the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion
To see the world be changed
By the power of Your name
