Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
The Daily Brief Friday, January 25, 2013
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants." (Dt. 30:19)
Guidelines for today's American Prayer Initiative can be found by going here.
Today's Daily Jot can be found by going to: www.dailyjot.com or by using
this link.
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The Daily Brief
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1. Court: Obama appointments are unconstitutional - Fox News
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Obama violated the Constitution when he sidestepped the Senate to fill open spots on a labor relations panel, in a major setback for the president.
Attorneys for the Obama administration argued that he had the authority because the Senate was in recess. But a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia said the appointments were not valid because the Senate was not officially in recess. If the decision stands, it could invalidate hundreds of board decisions. "Either the Senate is in session, or it is in the recess. If it has broken for three days within an ongoing session, it is not in 'the Recess,'" the panel said. Read more.
Editor's Note: It is perhaps significant that tonight, on all the nightly news stations, this breakthrough decision, upholding our Constitution, was not mentioned even once. Is the mainstream media scared of this development? Please pray intensively over this matter, as suggested below. Thank you.
- Abba, we thank You that You have revealed this discrepancy, and we ask that it will be made right, according to our Constitution. We ask that "the rule of law" would replace the lawlessness that has been so rampant in this government. We bind up all spirits of intimidation and threats that might try to attack all court proceedings regarding this subject. We ask that You would be the Supreme Judge, in Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.
- "You are not to distort justice or show favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of even the upright. Justice, only justice, you must pursue." (Deuteronomy 16:19,20)
2. March organizers predict record attendance, impact on Congress - WND
Barack Obama probably is one of the most abortion-minded politicians Washington ever has seen, and under his watch pro-lifers have been hounded by the Department of Justice, Planned Parenthood tax funding has rocketed to $540 million and coming health care laws are going to force business leaders of faith to pay for abortifacients in violation of their religious rights.But organizers of this week's March for Life, a recognition of the 40 years that Roe v. Wade has been enforced as the law of the land, say optimism is surging for those who are arriving in Washington to participate in the march.
Jeanne Monahan, the president of the March for Life, is optimistic about the crowd size of this year's event. But Monahan declares that the goal of the March for Life is to "positively impact Congress by showing the vast support for pro-life laws in our country.""It is our desire," she said, "to enable legislators to be courageous on the life issues by introducing and enacting legislation that protects the dignity of the human person."
- Abba Father, we come to You asking for Your favor and protection on those who are participating in this March for Life today in Washington, D.C. We bind up violence, hatred, intolerance, and discord from operating against these marchers. All life comes from You, Lord. Please forgive us as a nation, for the slaughtering of 55 million unborn babies in these last 40 years, since it became "legal" to do so. Their blood cries out to You, the Life-Giver. We ask, Lord, that somehow this murder of innocents will end. In Your Name we pray, Amen.
- "You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you." (James 5:5,6)
3. Thousands of Egyptians protest lack of change on 2nd anniversary of uprising - Fox News
Two years after Egypt's revolution began, the country's schism was on display Friday as the mainly liberal and secular opposition held rallies saying the goals of the pro-democracy uprising have not been met and denouncing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies are expected to mass in Tahrir Square later on Friday to revive the demands of a revolution that they say has been betrayed by the Islamists.
- Lord, we ask for Your protection over these who wish to protest the current government. We understand they are frustrated, because the changes they wanted two years ago, have still not materialized. We ask that there be no blood-shed, and that they will be allowed to demonstrate peacefully. As the nations struggle in aligning themselves in these last days to fulfill Your Word, we ask You to keep Your hand upon all nations, especially with respect to their relationships with Israel. May You be glorified, Lord. Amen.
- "Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the Lord understand all things." "Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice." (Proverbs 28:5;29:26)
4. SABOTAGE! KEY IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITY HIT? - WND
An explosion deep within Iran's Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime. The previously secret nuclear site has become a center for Iran's nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. A further enrichment to weapons grade would take only weeks, experts say. Read more
- Father, we come to You asking that in the midst of this explosion, that those who remain trapped underground will be rescued. We thank You for exposing this nuclear facility, and trust that this damage will result in setting the Iranians back in their quest to use these weapons to annihilate their enemies, i.e. Israel and all freedom-loving countries. We pray that good will come out of this evil. We ask You to visit those still trapped, and show Yourself to them, that they may realize Who You are, and accept You as their Savior. Amen.
- "He brings the changes of seasons and times; He installs and deposes kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those with discernment. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what lies in the darkness; and light dwells with Him." (Daniel 2:21-23)
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The Middle East in Focus
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The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"You, O God, sent a plentiful rain, by which You upheld Your inheritance when it was weary." (Psalm 68:9)
1. Netanyahu holds long, 'very good' talks with Yesh Atid leader - Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid Thursday afternoon for the first time since election results placed the political newcomer at the helm of the country's second-largest party.
2. Gaza teens graduate from Hamas military school - AP
More than 3,000 Palestinian teenagers on Thursday graduated from the ruling Hamas militant group's first high school military training program in the Gaza Strip, displaying mock weapons, crawling commando-style on the ground and taking up fighting positions for thousands of cheering supporters.
3. Lapid's terms: Universal draft, peace talks - Ynet News
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid will set two basic conditions to joining the coalition: equal share of the burden legislation and the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
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The Persecuted Church
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Today's Focus: The Persecuted Church
"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
(2 Corin. 12:10)
1. China removes Shanghai Catholic bishop from state-run church post - Compass Direct News
In a move characterised in Western media as a fresh challenge to Vatican authority, China's state-run Catholic Church has revoked the title of the auxiliary Bishop of Shanghai.
Thaddeus Ma Daqin, who is in his mid-forties, was ordained in July. His appointment had the rare approval of both Pope Benedict XVI and the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CCPA). Both lay claim to the leadership of China's Catholics, who are said to number up to about 12 million. Both claim authority to appoint Bishops, and each denies the authority of the other. (Read more)
2. Tanzania--Christian Teen Released from Prison - VOM
Eighteen-year-old Eva Abdallah, who spent the past year in prison on blasphemy charges, has been released from prison after the High Court of Tanzania overturned her conviction. Eva was arrested in January 2012 when local Muslims in her home state of Bagamoyo accused her of urinating on a Quran, and in July she was sentenced to two years in prison. But on Jan. 9, 2013, the High Court acquitted her of the charges and ordered her release. (Read more)
3. Colombia--Rebels Kill Widow of Murdered Evangelist - World Watch Monitor
Four months ago, National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas demanded that Alicia Castilla leave her home in Arauca, in northeastern Colombia. On the evening of Jan. 7, during a visit from the family's pastor, assassins entered her home and shot her in front of her three children and her father. She died immediately.
The guerrillas had killed Alicia's husband, a lay-minister, two years earlier. Pray for Christians in Colombia, who face daily threats from rebel groups opposed to the spread of Christianity.
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Life Begins at 40
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Life Begins at 40
For four decades, families have traveled over miles of wintry highways in the hope that their trips to Washington, D.C. will someday end--and with it, one of the darkest periods of American history. Until then, they continue their pilgrimage to protest a ruling now responsible for the slaughter of millions of unborn lives. Undeterred by ice or snow, this generation of abortion survivors has resolved to never let the nation forget the blood spilled in the name of "choice." Today, despite freezing temperatures and whipping winds, people came by the hundreds of thousands to fill the National Mall with a word the media won't even say--life.
In bundled-up babies to busloads of students, this year's March for Life was a powerful reminder that Americans have not forgotten the ugly legacy of Roe. As somber as the occasion was, I couldn't help but stand at the podium and marvel at all the young faces staring back at me. Looking out over the vast crowd, it was clear that in 40 years, our movement has not deteriorated but is thriving as never before in the passion of the next generation. These are children who grew up knowing nothing but a society of abortion-on-demand and witnessing the devastation it inflicts on women, families, and millions of their peers whom they will never have the opportunity to meet. They are the torch bearers of a movement that will build on the legacy of life in clinics, laboratories, classrooms, and legislatures. They are the ones who will live to see this grave injustice undone. (Family Research Council)
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Roe Will Fall
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Roe Will Fall
While Roe v. Wade has stood for 40 years, it stands on very flimsy ground, and I believe it will fall.
Its moral flaws are self-evident. The court's majority claimed in 1973 that it was in no position then to "speculate" as to when life begins. Basic biology has always been clear on that point, but ultrasound technology has given us a window to the womb, so we can now witness the life growing there.
But as a matter of law, even liberals freely admit that Roe is deeply flawed. In a column this week, Tim Carney wrote about abortion's "foundation of lies." Consider this excerpt:
"'One of the most curious things about Roe,' wrote liberal Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe 'is that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.' Alan Dershowitz, another legendary liberal Harvard Law professor, called Roe 'judicial activism' lacking 'clear governing constitutional principles.'
"Even [Justice] Ruth Bader Ginsburg called Roe 'Heavy-handed judicial intervention' that 'was difficult to justify.'
"'As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible,' wrote Ed Lazarus, an Obama administration appointee and avowed pro-choicer who clerked for the decision's author, Justice Harry Blackmun."
There are more examples, but you get the point, which brings me to my next point. The men and women we elect to public office appoint and confirm the justices who sit on the Supreme Court. On the issue of life, public opinion is moving our way. Men and women of faith must remain engaged in the political arena so we can get pro-life judges nominated and confirmed. (Gary Bauer)
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Obama Overruled
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Obama Overruled!!!!!!
Barack Obama got smacked down today by one of the most important courts in the country -- the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In a unanimous decision, three federal judges declared Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board to be unconstitutional.
Obama made the appointments in January 2012 when the Senate was not in recess. Yet Obama claimed the power to unilaterally make the recess appointments anyway because most senators were out of town and no votes were being taken.
Under Obama's logic, he could, without congressional approval, make recess appointments every weekend. The court strongly rejected Obama's position, writing in its opinion, "Allowing the president to define the scope of his own appointment power would eviscerate the Constitution's separation of powers."
The ruling likely invalidates hundreds of decisions made by the board. Prior to Obama's illegal appointments, the board did not have a functioning quorum.
Whenever Obama pulls a stunt like these illegal appointments, I get an avalanche of emails asking, "Why aren't Republicans fighting back? Why do they let him get away with this?" Well, my friends, they did fight back. They didn't let him get away with it.
In our system of divided government, courts settle disputes between the branches of government.
Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner joined lawsuits challenging Obama's appointments, and, while it took a year, they prevailed. (Gary Bauer)
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Sen. Feinstein: Using Prayer for Political
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein opens up anti-gun presser with a prayer
. . . Led by Dean of National Cathedral . . .
(See two articles, below.)
As Sen. Dianne Feinstein D-Calif. opened her press conference on gun control today, she invited Dean of the National Cathedral Rev. Canon Gary Hall to offer a prayer.
Hall spoke briefly before the prayer, calling for Washington lawmakers to stop fearing the gun lobby and fulfill their "moral duty" to restrict guns.
"Everyone in this city seems to live in terror of the gun lobby," Hall said. "But I believe that the gun lobby is no match for the cross lobby."
Hall said that he could no longer justify a society that allowed ordinary citizens to keep and bear "assault weapons."
During the prayer, Hall asked God to "bless our elected leaders with the wisdom and the courage needed to bring about the changes that the people demand." (Washington Examiner) Read more
From the Family Research Council:
"You Can Fight This City's Hall"
At Sen. Dianne Feinstein's gun control press conference, Rev. Gary Hall was supposed to offer the opening prayer. Instead, the Dean of the National Cathedral delivered a sermon--and not the kind most churchgoers expected. The self-described "left-wing Democrat" and head of "America's church," used his moment in the spotlight, not to ask wisdom for the debate, but to preach from the gospel of radicalism. Hall, who rankled plenty of churchgoers this month with his decision to host same-sex "marriages" at the National Cathedral, said he could "no longer justify a society that allowed ordinary citizens to keep and bear 'assault weapons.'" Everyone in this city, he said, "seems to live in the terror of the gun lobby. But I believe the gun lobby is no match for the cross lobby!"
Unfortunately for Rev. Hall, in many instances, the gun lobby is the cross lobby. Christians may not all agree on the particulars of gun policy, but most would tell you that parents have a moral obligation to protect their families. And stripping Americans of their fundamental means of self-defense is a gross overreach of our rights and the U.S. Constitution. What Rev. Hall means is that good Christians should support a tyrannical government--a suggestion that, given his own advocacy, drips with hypocrisy. Leaders like Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rev. Hall use kids as their motivation for gun bans, while they fight for other policies that contribute to the breakdown of the family and the murder of thousands of children a day. If faith should motivate people to action, where was Rev. Hall when unborn children needed protecting? Apparently, in Rev. Hall's world, religion should inform your opinions on everything but abortion and same-sex "marriage. It's a convenient argument, but not a biblical one.
In reality, Sen. Feinstein didn't want to open the meeting with prayer--she wanted to exploit the church to gain credibility for a bill sorely lacking it. Unfortunately for her, the Episcopal Church, which has turned its back on basic truths (and consequently shrunk its membership), no longer speaks for America's Bible-believing Christians. So when Rev. Hall prays to "bless our elected leaders with the wisdom and the courage needed to bring about the changes that the people demand," let's hope God answers. Because the change the people demand--and the change he demands--couldn't be more different.
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The Good News Corner
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The Good News Corner:
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, 2013
Our dear Jewish & Christian Friends,
We are happy to announce airings of "Repentance" January 26-27, 2013, on two Jewish Networks.
We pray that the film will bring comfort and help to build a bridge of understanding.
Please tune-in and notify your friends and family!
Shalom! Sister Mary Anne
Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary
Title: Repentance
Featuring the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary's inspiring work of reconciliation with the Jewish people and an interview with Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel.
Film description: Two thousand years of anti-Semitic Church history deeply wounded many Jewish hearts and have burdened the Christian conscience. Is healing and reconciliation still possible? The 1950s saw the rise of a repentance movement in Germany, which has continued to this day. In this documentary, Christians and Jews speak openly. Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel states, "It is rewarding to see good Christians who realize that the past of Christianity for us Jews is a source of anguish." This unique presentation provides an answer that deeply touches the heart.
OPTION ONE:
Jewish Life Television - JLTV
Airdates: January 26, 2013 at 10 PM (EST)
January 27, 2013 at 1 AM, 1 PM & 3PM (EST)
1. On DIRECTV - channel 366
2. Streamed Live at: www.jltv.tv
3. Cable systems: check web-site for cable systems in your area
OPTION TWO:
National Jewish Television - NJT
Airdates: January 27, 2013 at 1 PM & 3 PM (EST)
1. Many cable systems on the East coast - check local listings
2. Streamed Live at: www.jltv.tv
(TV viewers are encouraged to check local listings for last minute schedule changes.)
> > > Please pray that many will tune in and for a good response!
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Pray for the Harvest!
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Pray for the Harvest!
"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." (John 4:35)
Every day, in every nation on earth, tens of thousands of men and women are making decisions for Christ. Now, you can monitor this amazing fact online by literally "watching" as these souls are born again into the Kingdom.
Of course, the identities of those who are coming to the Lord are never revealed, but our God knows who they are!
Join us as we monitor these "names" daily, praying over each one to be mentored and to grow in his or her faith . . . even in these perilous times. You may visit either or both of the sites below, to pray for fields that are ripe for harvest.
> > > OPTION ONE: AboutJesus.net
Go here!
> > > OPTION TWO: The Great Commission Map!
Go here!
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Worship With Us Today!
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Worship With Us Today!
Kari Jobe
The More I Seek You
The more I seek you,
The more I find you
The more I find you, the more I love you
I wanna sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breathe, feel your heart beat
This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming
