Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
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The Daily Brief
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases."
(Lamentations 3:22)
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The Daily Brief
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1. Senate Intelligence Committee releases critical Benghazi attack report - Fox News
Senate Intelligence Committee report on Sept. 11, 2012, attack on US facilities in Benghazi finds attacks 'were preventable,' faults State and Defense departments, and cites failure of Obama administration to 'bring the attackers to justice.
(Read more)
- Lift up those who have been lying and covering up the facts about the raid at Benghazi, that justice would be served against them. May each one fall into his own net and web of deception that he has spun . . . and may he or she come to repentance, leading to salvation. In Jesus Name, amen.
- "Let destruction come upon him unawares, And let the net which he hid catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall." (Psalm 35:8)
2. Judge reaffirms 'Constitution-free zones' near border, teeing up high court fight - Fox News
A federal judge who endorsed "suspicion-less" searches of laptops, cameras and cell phones at the border has set up a possible Supreme Court showdown challenging what critics call "Constitution-free zones" and the Obama administration's dragnet approach to national security.
- Ask our Lord to grant His wisdom in this showdown.
- "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Prov. 2:6)
3. Pushing past partisanship, Congressional leaders back $1 trillion spending bill - CNN
Shaking off three years of partisan freeze, Republicans and Democrats unveiled a $1.012 trillion spending deal Monday night that would roll back some spending cuts, raise federal worker pay and have a surprisingly broad effect on Americans' everyday lives, from the light bulbs in lamps to the lines at airport security.
- Stand in repentance for our federal government, that seems unable to rein in this tendency towards runaway spending. May God yet show us His mercy.
- "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:13)
- Oh Father, we ask that You will delegate all this money to be spent for a good and profitable cause. Prevent fraud, stealing, falsification of records, deception and bind all this under the Blood of Jesus and hold Your hand steady over this one trillion spending bill. In Jesus' Name.
- "These are the things that you shall do speak every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, says the Lord." (Zechariah 8:16-17)
4. Spy court judge slams proposed privacy advocate - AP
The U.S. judiciary told Congress on Tuesday it opposes the idea of having an independent privacy advocate on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, while members of Congress lauded the idea at a Capitol Hill hearing.
- Thank the Lord that Congress is holding the line on hiring an independent privacy advocate overseeing the FISA court. Pray that our rights to privacy not be abrogated by the judicial branch of our government.
- "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:22)
5. Obama On Executive Actions: 'I've Got A Pen And I've Got A Phone' - CBS News
Calling for "all hands on deck" to assist the economy, President Barack Obama is urging his Cabinet to identify ways to keep his administration relevant to people struggling in the up-and-down recovery.
- Ask our Lord to forgive Barack Hussein Obama for his lust for unlimited power; he is a victim of his own mindset and must be set free through the love of Christ. Continue to lift up the U.S. Supreme Court as it begins to deal with issues related to the balance of power in all three branches of our government, and whether Obama has overstepped the boundaries defined by our Constitution. It is time for this engine of tyranny to cease functioning against our people.
- "This far and no further, and here shall your proud waves stop." (Job 38:11)
- Mighty God, this last minute push to supposedly assist the economy is a play on words that will sound good but the end result will be the same as it has been during this administration. Expose all lies and deception so that no one will be blind-sided. We need God in this situation to reveal truth and nothing but the truth. In Jesus' Name.
- "The transgression of the wicked says within his heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he has left off to be wise and to do good." (Psalm 36:1-3)
6. America's Dwindling Economic Freedom - Wall Street Journal
World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.
- Father, God, we see here what this administration has accomplished during their term in office. BUT GOD. We call upon You to make all the adjustments necessary to rearrange the plans of the One World Government and break its stronghold off of America. Restore, revive and replenish all the damage and corruption that has been done to America. We are a nation under God who are standing on Your promises and holding fast to God's eternal destiny for this country. In the Name of Jesus.
- "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph (and America), and I will bring them again to place them: for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them." (Zechariah 10:6)
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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:
"Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; and you shall crush many peoples."(Micah 4:12)
1.Lebanon Qaeda group to 'continue striking Iran, Israel' - AFP
A Lebanese group loyal to Al-Qaeda vowed Tuesday to keep up its attacks against Iran, Hezbollah and Israel, less than a fortnight after the death of its leader, Majid al-Majid.
2. Arab States Will Never Recognize a Jewish State - Arutz Sheva
Arab states "will never recognize Israel", the Palestinian Authority's (PA) foreign minister stated on Monday, according to NRG/Maariv.
3. PM: Abbas's hard-line speech shows he won't take tough decisions - Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's hawkish statements over the weekend show that he is not ready to make the decisions necessary to continue talks with Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told US Vice President Joe Biden Monday night.
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The Persecuted Church
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Today's Focus: The Persecuted Church
"For the Lord will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance." (Psalm 94:14)
No News of Imprisoned Christian Lawyer in Over a Year - China Aid
(Editor's note: This report is written from an interview done for radio.)
The New Year is here and the Spring Festival is around the corner. The Spring Festival is the most important day in a year for the Chinese people when they get together with family. The saying goes like this: "On festive occasions more than ever, one thinks of one's loved ones far away." When this program was broadcast for the first time, there was no news within the past year of Gao Zhisheng, the rights defense lawyer who is serving his time in Shaya Prison in [the far western region of] Xinjiang, China. His wife and children in America and his brothers and relatives in his native town miss him very much and hope they can visit lawyer Gao Zhisheng in jail to learn about his recent situation. They all the more hope that he can be released from prison as soon as possible.
Zhang: On the evening of Jan. 9, Beijing time, I made a trans-Pacific call to Mr. Gao Zhiyi, the eldest brother of Gao Zhisheng who is now in his native town in Northern Shaanxi and asked him about the recent situation.
Gao Zhiyi: I called Shaya Prison the other day, and they didn't take the call. One must make an appointment with Shaya Prison. Otherwise, they wouldn't let you visit him. How can I see my brother? I must get an approval from Shaya Prison. Without their approval, I can't see Gao Zhisheng. As you know, we went there the year before the last, and they wouldn't let me see him. On the morning of the day before yesterday and on the morning of three days ago, I called Shaya Prison. They didn't take the calls. There's nothing I can do here."
Read More
For more news about the Persecuted Church, and how you can be more involved in intercession for these precious saints, go here.
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The Daily Jot
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The immoral grip on a free society
Free society is in trouble when you see headlines quoting the president elling his Cabinet, "We're not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help they need. I've got a pen and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward in helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating." This is dictatorship.
The results are a moral and economic bankrupt nation where the people this president feigns supporting are the ones who suffer. There will still be Hawaii vacations that cost taxpayers tens of millions. There will still be the expensive suits and the haughty high life. There will still be the limousines and the balls. This is evident in every third world dictatorship where evil men and their minions have been allowed to suck the lifeblood from the people "they are helping" like the political parasites they are. And it is happening to America right before our very eyes. Another headline shows just one small result: US drops out of top 10 most economically free countries.
The immoral and amoral have secured a death grip on our free society. "Freedom sees in religion the companion of its struggles and its triumphs, the cradle of its infancy, the divine source of its rights. It considers religion as the safeguard of mores; and mores as the guarantee of laws and the pledge of its own duration." - these are the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, a French aristocrat who came to America in the 1830s to observe what made the country so great. His "Democracy in America" is considered a historic treasure about the unique success of the United States. Tocqueville wrote that America is free because of its collective Christian religion.
He pointed out that the laws that governed the Plymouth colony were derived from the Hebrew texts. In the later 1600s, even the law of Connecticut stated that man shall not "have or worship any other God, but the Lord God." He said that Americans "have succeeded in incorporating somehow into one another and combining marvelously...the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom." According to the laws and the nature of early Americans, men and women who have the religious and political beliefs of most of our current leadership would have been forbidden to serve in such capacity, if not put to death for their immorality.
Cotton Mather wrote in 1820, "There is a liberty of corrupt nature, which is affected both by men and beasts, to do what they list; and this liberty is inconsistent with authority, impatient of all restraint; by this liberty we are all inferior; 'tis the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent against it. But there is a civil, a moral, a federal liberty, which is the proper end and object of authority; it is a liberty for that only which is just and good; for this liberty you are to stand with the hazard of your very lives." Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." As Christians we must demand and accept no other form of liberty.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com
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Comments by Gary Bauer
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Four Comments by Gary Bauer
[In order to reduce the length of this edition of the Daily Brief, we are providing a link to each article below, written by Gary Bauer. We encourage each of you to please go to the link provided, and reach each article in its entirety for yourselves. Thank you!]
1. Obama's Three Branches Of Government
When most of us went to school, we were taught that there are three branches of the government -- the executive branch, that's the president; the legislative branch, that's Congress; and the judicial branch, the courts. Yesterday Obama made it clear that he sees things differently -- there's the president, the president's pen and the president's phone.
Speaking before reporters during his first cabinet meeting of the year, Obama said, "We're not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help they need. I've got a pen and I've got a phone." (Read more here)
2. Senate Benghazi Report: Warnings Ignored; Attacks Preventable
The Senate Intelligence Committee today released its report on the September 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The bi-partisan report is extremely critical of the Obama Administration, especially Hillary Clinton's State Department, for ignoring growing threats in Benghazi, as well as repeated requests for improved security. As a result, four Americans, including our ambassador, were killed by Islamic extremists. (Read more here)
3. Government Is The Problem
Gallup's latest poll should have Washington liberals worried. What is the most important problem facing America today? It's not the economy or even unemployment. Dissatisfaction with government (corruption, abuse of power, poor leadership) tops the list. And it's no surprise why. (Read more here)
4. Reid's "Rules" Ruining The Senate
Here's one example of what's wrong with Washington today: A deal to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed fell apart in the Senate yesterday. Of course, Obama, Senate Democrats and their liberal media allies will accuse callous Republicans of waging war on the poor. But here's what really happened: Harry Reid told Senate Republicans that they would be allowed to offer only five amendments to the jobless benefits bill and that each amendment would require a super-majority vote to pass. (Read more here)
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Good News from the House Judiciary Cte.
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FRC Praises House Judiciary Committee Passage of 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act'
January 15, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the House Judiciary Committee approved by a 22 to 12 vote H.R. 7, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," authored by U.S. Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.). This bipartisan bill would permanently prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortions.
Family Research Council Director for the Center for Human Dignity Arina Grossu responded with the following comments:
"This is a victory for women, their unborn children, and taxpayers who should not be forced by the government to pay for someone else's abortion.
"We applaud the passage of this bi-partisan pro-life legislation to remove abortion funding from Obamacare and apply the long-standing Hyde Amendment across the government. Most Americans, regardless of their view on abortion, oppose government funding for the atrocity of abortion. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act restores government neutrality on abortion by removing government funding for abortion and yet allows private health insurance to cover abortion.
We also know that government funding for abortion will increase the number of abortions, a prospect troubling to all but a handful of Americans. With the Obamacare rollout, it has become clear that many health plans being subsidized by the government cover elective abortion. Even more incredible is that Obamacare requires an abortion surcharge, which in most cases is not even revealed to consumers shopping for a health care plan. (Family Research Council; excerpt)
- Offer praise that this bill has now come out of the House Judiciary Committee and pray that H.R. 7 will be passed by the full House of Representatives when it comes to the floor for a vote. Pray, too, that a companion bill, now in the Senate, S. 946, will be passed as well.
- "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 18:19)
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Afghanistan and Pakistan Prayer Initiative
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Afghanistan and Pakistan Prayer Initiative
Published by International Prayer Connections (IPC)
(Message from IPC):
Let's continue to pray for God's transforming hand to bring down the wicked powers (both spiritual and human) that stand in opposition to God's good purposes for these lands and their peoples. Here are some fresh prayer concerns from our friends who know the situation. (Read more here)
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The Good News Corner
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The Good News Corner:
"Duck Dynasty" Inspiring Lunch Prayers in Schools
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." - (1 Corinthians 1:27)
(Montgomery, AL) - The Duck Dynasty juggernaut continues to confound America's media establishment with its ability to impact society with a Christian perspective. Who would have ever thought that a little ol' family company in America's rural south could cause such a stir in the big ol' US of A?
But then, God seems to enjoy using ragtag groups of "out-of-the-box" individuals to stir things up in His "Out-of-the-Box" Kingdom. (Read more here)
Reported by: Breaking Christian News
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Signs and Wonders
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Signs and Wonders:
Bright Flash (Meteor) Across Providence, RI, on Sunday Night
A mysterious light flashed through the sky Sunday night, maybe you saw it? Reports of a green and white, sparking light came pouring in across New England, but what exactly was that bright flash?
Wrigley Bynum said his friends called him crazy, "I had people telling me, oh, you're nuts!" He wasn't sure what he saw from his Charlestown deck flying through the sky. He goes on, "I thought maybe it was an aircraft, a shooting star at first, it didn't burn out at first like a shooting star, so then thought maybe it was a plane or something going down but it didn't have flames just a long tail."
But Bynum wasn't the only one who saw the bright green and white flash, in fact 188 reports came into the American Meteor Society from Philadelphia all the way up to Maine.
Michael Umbricht is the Curator of the Ladd Observatory at Brown University. He explains, "Basically this was a type of meteor that is sometimes called a fireball because it is so bright."
The Observatory records just about every night with their sky camera. Unfortunately timing Sunday wasn't in their favor. Due to the meteor passing during twilight, the sky was still too bright and they weren't able to catch it.
This "fireball" wasn't part of a meteor shower, it was a sporadic meteor. Sporadic meteors aren't that unusual (the last one recorded on film at the Ladd Observatory was about two years ago), but this one was a bit special. Umbricht goes on, "this one happened to be much brighter than the ordinary ones so that's a little rare."
The flash lasted only a few seconds around 5:20PM. (ABC6 News; Providence, RI)
[View this report, with video included, here.]
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." (Luke 11:25-28)
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Worship With Us Today!
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Worship With Us Today!
"Find Us Faithful" by Steve Green
"When they sort through what we've left behind . . . may the footprints that we leave lead them to believe; and the lives we've lived inspire them to obey . . . .May all who come behind us find us faithful."
Worship Him here . . .
