Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
The Daily Brief Thursday, March 14, 2013
"The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace."
(Psalm 29:11)
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The Daily Brief
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1. Senate committee poised to approve assault weapons ban - Fox News
Senate Democrats are poised to pass a renewed and strengthened assault-weapons ban out of committee Thursday as part of a package of measures advancing to the floor, but are appealing to President Obama to help battle opposition from Republicans and gun-rights supporters.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, after advancing bills earlier in the week to enact near-universal background checks and combat gun trafficking, on Thursday morning will take up what is arguably the most controversial measure drafted since the Newtown, Conn., shooting.
- Father we understand that we are living at a time when our leaders do not honor or value the Bill of Rights. We ask for Your solutions and protections for the weapons our citizens use to defend their families from criminals and the tyranny of government.
- "They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted against Your hidden ones." [Psalm 83:3]
2. Senate Immigration Group Likely Dropping National ID For Workers
Due To Cost - CBS
Senators working on a bipartisan immigration bill are likely abandoning the idea of requiring a new high-tech federal ID for workers because it's too expensive.
- Thank You, Lord, for this plan to drop the national ID. We know that this administration does not appear to stop at one group in its penchant for control, and would have likely advanced the idea that all Americans should be required to carry a national ID card. Thank You for allowing this plan to be too expensive, and for granting Your wisdom to this Senate so that this agenda will be stopped. In Your Name, amen!
- "The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing: He makes the devices of the people of no effect." [Psalm 33:10]
3. Wary of Attack With Smallpox, U.S. Buys Up a Costly Drug - NYTimes
The United States government is buying enough of a new smallpox medicine to treat two million people in the event of a bioterrorism attack, and took delivery of the first shipment of it last week. But the purchase has set off a debate about the lucrative contract, with some experts saying the government is buying too much of the drug at too high a price.
- Father, we are not privy to the same information as the deepest parts of our government, but we pray for Your protection against whatever situation would cause a massive bioterrorism attack on US soil. We cover this country with the Blood of Jesus, and command any plans of satan to be stopped before they are allowed to move forward.
- "There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling." [Psalm 91:10]
4. Russia to Complete Asteroid Shield Plan by Yearend - RIA Novosti
Russia will complete a plan for a program to protect itself against threats from space by the end of this year, Civil Defense and Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said on Tuesday. That comes a month after a meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere undetected by existing space-monitoring systems and slammed into Russia's Urals on February 15.
- Father we ask that if this platform ostensibly intended to stop asteroids has any hidden agenda, that You reveal it to the world.
- ". . . and these kinds hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be the time appointed."
[Daniel 11:27]
5. Obama makes little headway with Republicans over deficit - Reuters
President Barack Obama met on Wednesday with his toughest critics in Washington - House of Representatives Republicans - and made little headway in convincing them to accept his demand for tax increases as part of a deficit-reduction deal.
- Lord, we cannot seem to move past gridlock because the administration seems to not understand the debt versus income ratio. Lord God, only You can change hearts and minds, and only You can cause truth to be seen by those in leadership. Help us, Lord!
- "He that speaks truth shows forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit." [Proverbs 12:17]
6. New pope has history of good relations with Jewish community - Times of Israel
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentinian cardinal who was elected pope late Wednesday and will take the name Francis I, is said to have a good relationship with Argentinian Jews.
- Father, we thank You that Pope Francis has a good relationship with Your People. We ask that You jealously guard that relationship and not allow any pressures from outside to sway him against the Jewish people.
- "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you: and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed." [Genesis 12:3]
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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:
"He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:22-25) (Isaiah 48:11)
1. Israel's next government agreed: 4 parties, 68 members - Times of Israel
Six weeks of coalition talks drew toward a successful conclusion Wednesday evening, when the Likud finally conceded the Education Ministry to Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid, and Lapid reportedly accepted the other terms of Likud's compromise offer.
2. New swarm of locusts plagues southern Israel - Times of Israel
The Agriculture Ministry launched a major crop-dusting campaign Wednesday to combat a large swarm of locusts that entered the country from Egypt. The campaign was set to focus on the Har Keren, Ashalim and Ruhama regions in the south of the country.
3. PM: Yielding Temple Mount would be a fatal mistake - Jerusalem Post
Whoever proposes that giving up the heart of Jerusalem - the Temple Mount - will bring peace, is fatally mistaken, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared on Monday evening.
4. Syrian rebels: New battlefront near Golan Heights - Jerusalem Post
Heavy fighting erupted in an area between Damascus and the Golan Heights on Wednesday in what could be a new battlefront between Syrian troops and rebels, opposition sources said.
5. Nuclear Iran would permanently change region - Times of Israel
Italy's foreign minister on Wednesday said that a nuclear Iran would permanently change the political landscape of the Middle East and urged immediate action to prevent a regional nuclear arms race.
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The Persecuted Church
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Today's Focus: The Persecuted Church
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:28)
1. CHINA: 20 Chinese Believers Escorted Away from Outdoor Worship Service - (China Aid)
Peace in the Lord! On this past Sunday, we held the tenth outdoor worship service of 2013. It was a sunny day. As far as we know, including two sisters who were taken to be detained at a hotel separately on Friday and Saturday, at least twenty believers were taken away from locations near the platform or from home. Some of them were released soon after they were taken away, and the rest of them were detained at two police stations, including Zhongguancun Street police station. They all got released around 11:30am on Sunday.
Let us continue to pray for our country. May our Lord Christ show special mercy on this country, and reveal His work during this period of time. May He continue to sustain us with His mighty hands, and continue to guide, protect, and bless His Shouwang Church.
2. MALAYSIA: Ban on Use of "Allah" Could Cause Trouble for Christians - (Mission Network News)
There is tension in Malaysia between Muslims and Christians, but it's not all about religion. "You've got the political, you've got the religious, and it becomes very difficult for those that may be suffering harm because of it," says Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
Malaysia's sultan recently made it illegal for any group except Muslims to call God "Allah." But "Allah" is the Arabic word for God, and it's used in the Malay translation of the Bible. While the issue seems religious on the surface, Musselman suspects it has political roots.
3. LIBYA: Attacks on Christians Spike in Number - (ICC)
With the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, anit- Christian violence is quickly rising under the influence of Islamist extremism, thus raising concerns about the future of religious freedom in the country.
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The Madison Report
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The Madison Report
www.MadisonProject.com
THE MADISONIAN
FY 2014 Budget Resolution
Even as the final budget CR for FY 2013 is debated in the Senate, the House will introduce the concurrent budget resolution for FY 2014 (beginning October 1, 2013). Pursuant to the 1974 Budget Act, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan plans to introduce his concurrent budget resolution on Tuesday. Unlike the last budget which failed to balance until 2040, this one is going to balance in 10 years. Ryan said on Sunday that his budget will cut spending by about $5 trillion, lowering 10-year outlays from $46 trillion to $41 trillion. Meanwhile, the Senate Budget Committee will begin marking up its version of the budget resolution this week for the first time in 4 years.
Punchline: There is no doubt that the Ryan budget will be a solid proposal, almost as good as the annual Republican Study Committee budget. The RSC budget proposal will balance in 7 years and will undo the Obama/McConnell tax hikes, whereas the Ryan budget will not only keep the tax hikes, but use them to count towards balance. Nonetheless, both budgets will be great. But the real issue is whether Republicans plan to actually stand behind key elements of the budget, most importantly by defunding Obamacare. Unilaterally passing a budget out of the House without using the debt ceiling or the September CR to force adoption of the budget is worthless. That is what they have done for the past 2 years, and they have not demonstrated why this year will be different. Instead of getting all caught up in the details of a budget that holds no force of law, conservatives must force leadership to use the debt ceiling to defund Obamacare and push a balanced budget amendment.
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The Good News Corner
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The Good News Corner:
In Israel:
Intel-Young Scientists competition gives nod to
. . . paper on Paul the Apostle
A paper on Paul the Apostle that refutes his attempt to separate Judaism from Christianity and claims he was a Jew who tried to understand the new situation after Jesus, as well as a project on "catching multipole ions," shared first prize in the Intel-Young Scientists competition on Tuesday.
With the winning innovation on a religious theme, Dimitri Azrohi of Jerusalem's Arts and Science Academy High School will be awarded a full university scholarship, and will also participate in an academic delegation to Germany initiated by that country's government.
Only rarely has a project on history won the top prize in the competition, which is now in its 16th year and initially attracted 220 projects by teenagers.
Forty-eight innovative ideas by 69 teenagers - girls and boys, Jewish and Arab - were examined by a panel of judges at the competition at Jerusalem's Bloomfield Science Museum. The contestants competed in four categories: history and social sciences; life sciences and the environment; technology and computer sciences; and natural sciences and mathematics.
The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus. The winners are usually announced on National Science Day on March 14 - Albert Einstein's birthday - at the President's Residence or Knesset, but because the new coalition has not yet been formed, it was held two days early. (Jerusalem Post)
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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.
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Worship With Us Today!
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Worship With Us Today!
Psalm 27a
Sons of Korah
1 By David: ADONAI is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
ADONAI is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assailed me to devour my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
they stumbled and fell.
3 If an army encamps against me,
my heart will not fear;
if war breaks out against me,
even then I will keep trusting.
