Friday, May 9, 2008

The Daily Brief - Thursday, May 8, 2008

". . . the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" (Isaiah 30:18)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL!

Mazel Tov Israel! Congratulations on Your 60th Anniversary Today!!

We at Capitol Hill Prayer Partners wish to offer our congratulations to the Nation of Israel, as you celebrate 60 YEARS since becoming a nation.

In honor of your founding as a nation, on May 14, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the following proclamation:

"This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof.

The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel."

To learn more about the Nation of Israel today, and to see photos of its famous historic/biblical sites, you may visit the interactive map produced by Israel's Department of Tourism by going here.

Also, in honor of Israel's 60th Anniversary, we are reprinting an article by our good friends in Jerusalem, Bishop Dominiquae Bierman with Rabbi Baruch Bierman, titled THE POWER OF ONE, at the end of today's edition of The Daily Brief.

Mazel Tov Israel!

Today's Daily Brief
1. Israel Marks 60th Birthday Amid Frequent Clashes -AP



Israel staged its 60th birthday bash with fireworks, air force flyovers, and a great sense of pride Thursday, but also with uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians.

·We rejoice, Father, for the Promised Land of Israel. We thank You for Your continued protection over it!

·"For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us." (Psalm 44:6,7)

2. Russia Joins U.N. Economic Sanctions on Iran- Newsmax.com



Russia has signed into law, United Nations economic sanctions that world powers agreed to in March, according to a presidential decree published by the Kremlin on Thursday. The United Nations Security Council imposed a third round of sanctions on Iran on March 3 for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear activities.

·Thank You, Lord, for Russia's signing of this series of sanctions. We pray that You will hold them accountable for following them, rather than continuing to send aid and arms to the Iranian regime.

·"But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment." (Matthew 12:36)

3. House Set to Pass Sweeping Housing Rescue Bill - Newsmax.com

The U.S. House of Representatives is due on Wednesday to begin debating a housing rescue package that could see the government buy up $15 billion of abandoned homes and help an estimated half million homeowners facing foreclosure.

·Lord You alone know the ramifications of this bill. We ask Your mercy over the housing market, and Your wisdom to correct it.

·"Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy." (Psalm 82:3)

4. Army Oks $248 Million in Barracks Repairs After Father Posts YouTube Video- AP

After a soldier's father posted a video on YouTube last month showing the dilapidated barracks for paratroopers at Fort Bragg, N.C., Defense Secretary Robert Gates called those conditions appalling and ordered base commanders to ensure their troops have proper quarters.

·Lord, thank You for revealing this sad situation. We pray that You would bring honor to our troops by giving them proper housing.

· "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11b)

5. Severe Tornado Warnings Issued for Parts of Mississippi, Possible Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma- Fox News


Several tornado warnings have been issued for the Tupelo, Miss., area, indicating tornadoes have been spotted in the region, FOX News has learned. Reports were coming in of damage on the ground Thursday. Forecasters were predicting strong tornadoes and very severe weather in the area throughout the day.

·Father, we take authority over this severe weather in the Name of Jesus. We pray that Your mercy would reign over the lives and property of the Midwest.

·" in wrath remember mercy." (Habbakuk 3:2b)

6. Replacement Obama Pastor Just As Controversial As Wright - Newsmax.com

Barack Obama has finally distanced himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after a 20-year relationship, but the pastor who is replacing Wright at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ is likely to be just as controversial. New Trinity pastor Otis Moss has called Biblical patriarch Abraham a "pimp" and made other statements many would consider offensive.

·Father ,we praise You for truth as every candidate's personal connections are revealed. Make the distinction between Your truth and the enemy's lies so clear that no one can mistake one for the other. Let no muddy confusion be allowed.

·"He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." (Psalm 40:2)


The Middle East in Focus

This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:

"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His saints. Praise LORD." (Psalm 149:5-9)

1.Syrian-Israeli meeting fell through' - Jerusalem Post

A Turkish initiative to hold a meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials fell through after Damascus leaked to the press that Israel had agreed to relinquish all of the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported Thursday. According to another report, the chances that such a meeting will be held in the near future are slim due to the US administration's stance on Damascus.

2. US: Timing not right for three-way Mideast meeting - Ynet News

US President George W. Bush's second trip to the Mideast this year, designed in part to make progress toward a peace deal before the end of his presidency, will not see him hosting a joint session with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the White House said.

3. State of Israel turns 60 - Ynet News

Israel's 60th anniversary commenced Wednesday evening with a formal torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. The celebrations were held under tight security, due to warnings received on terror organizations' plans to carry out attacks.


IRAN IN THE NEWS

This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:

"You are My battle axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms; with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider . . . with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says LORD." (Jeremiah 51:20-24)

1. MI6 head to visit Israel - Ynet News

Head of the MI6 Sir John Scarlett will be visiting Israel later this month to meet with Mossad Chief Meir Dagan, the Sunday Times reported Sunday. According to the report, Dagan is expected to brief Scarlett on the intelligence Israel has on the Iranian nuclear program. It was further reported that Israel's intelligence on the subject is considered a "breakthrough."

2. Israel: Iran could have nukes by '09 - Jerusalem Post

With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The new assessment moves up Israel's forecasts on Teheran's nuclear program by almost a full year - from 2009 to the end of 2008. According to the new timeline, Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.

3. Iran: We Won't Abandon Nuclear Aims for Western Incentives - Ha'aretz

Iran ruled out halting its disputed nuclear work on Monday, saying it would reject any incentive package offered by world powers that violated the Islamic Republic's nuclear rights. Six world powers agreed at a meeting in London on Friday to offer a new incentives package to coax Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which the West believes Tehran wants to master so that it can build nuclear weapons. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, says enrichment is a national right that it will not give up.

"Those incentives that violate the Iranian nation's right in any form will not be reviewed by the Islamic state," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference Monday. Iran's English-language Press TV earlier translated Hosseini as saying incentives violating Iran's rights would "not be supported by us". It said Iran had not officially received any package.

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - and Germany, known as the P5+1, offered a package to Iran in 2006 that demanded Iran halt enrichment. Tehran rejected it. "Regarding the incentives package . . . we believe the path adopted in the past should not be continued. They should act based on realities and international regulations. Talks should be held based on respecting nations' rights," Hosseini said.

4. Iran clerics rebuke Ahmadinejad over "hidden imam"- Breitbart

Clerics have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stick to more worldly issues after he was quoted as saying the "hidden imam" of Shiite Islam was directing Iran. Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, the twelfth imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony.

But in a speech to theology students broadcast by state television on Monday, Ahmadinejad went further than ever before in emphasising his belief that the Mahdi is playing a critical role in Iran's day-to-day politics. "The Imam Mahdi is in charge of the world and we see his hand directing all the affairs of the country," he said in the speech, which appears to date from last month but has only now been broadcast. "We must solve Iran's internal problems as quickly as possible. Time is lacking. A movement has started for us to occupy ourselves with our global responsibilities, which are arriving with great speed."

Two leading clerics retorted that Ahmadinejad would be better off concentrating on Iran's social problems -- most notably its double-digit inflation -- than indulging in such mystical rhetoric.


400 Immigrants to Arrive in Israel on Monday

More than 400 new immigrants from 23 countries will be arriving in Israel on Monday, May 12, for what has been declared International Aliyah Day 2008.

Aliyah means immigration of Jews to the Land of Isael.

The one-day display of the ingathering of exiles, orchestrated by the Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency, will mark the absorption of more than 3,000,000 Jewish immigrants to the Promised Land in the 60 years since the State of Israel declared independence.

The new immigrants will hail from almost two dozen countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. They are planning to settle in more than 50 communities throughout the Land of Israel.

(Source: KAD-ESH MAP Ministries)


THE POWER OF ONE

By Bishop Dominiquae Bierman with Rabbi Baruch Bierman

KAD-ESH MAP Ministries

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

Honoring the 60th Anniversary of Israel

"Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons." (Isaiah 66:8)

Shabbat shalom dearly beloved:

This Fifth Day of the week (Thursday the 8th of May) we will be celebrating a 60 year old miracle of rebirth. Against all odds Israel was established as a reborn state in ONE day: the 14th of May 1948. The voting in the United Nations was so tight that it seemed tied until ONE vote tipped it over towards establishing the Modern State of Israel in the confines of the then called "Palestine". This one vote that made the difference was the Filipino vote, and forever we will thank YHVH for that precious vote and for the Philippines!

It makes me think how important is ONE vote, ONE person, ONE nation? So many times we think that in order to succeed we need a majority to stand with us, but the Bible and Israel's history is filled with testimonies of the importance of ONE. During the Shoa, (Holocaust,) it was only ONE Corrie Ten Boom and ONE Oscar Schindler. Unfortunately, the enemy also knows the Power of One and uses it constantly. So it was also ONE Hitler that caused all that devastation then, and ONE Nasharalla from the Hizbullah and ONE President Ahmadinajad from Iran that is a threat today to the very existence of Israel. It was the same over 2500 years ago in Persia, (Iran of today,) that ONE Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, and YHVH answered with the Power of ONE Mordechai and ONE Queen Esther. It was ONE Pharao in Ancient Egypt that sought to annihilate all the Jewish boys, and it was ONE Moses that answered Yah's Call to deliver His children from the bitter bondage of Egypt.

Of course it was only ONE Y'shua that stretched his bruised arms on the execution Tree, (Cross,) and giving up his spirit said "IT IS FINISHED" and redeemed all of mankind starting with the Jew First!

ONE man managed to establish the State of Israel. That ONE man was our First Prime Minister: David Ben Gurion. A peculiar man of very short stature, (not even 5 feet, less than 1.50 meters) that fought and obtained a country. This ONE man that carried the responsibility of ending the 2000 year exile for the Jewish People; ONE man through whom the long term promises of Return and Restoration for Israel was fulfilled.

It also took ONE man to bring the Jews from Chile to make Aliyah, (Immigrate and come UP to Zion). That ONE man was my beloved father Professor Hiram Albala. He prepared us for years for the Great Move and on the 22 of November 1970 we landed by boat on the shores of the Haifa Port together with an entire group of "Olim", (Jewish Immigrants) from Chile. I cannot express the joy, excitement and deep passion that I felt upon arrival. We had been at sea for one entire month from Santiago, Chile to Napoli, Italy on one boat called the "Rossini", and from Napoli to Tel Aviv on another ship called the "Dan". I led the children and the youth on board in the songs of Zion as we were approaching the Land. At last our 2000 year old dream was going to be personally fulfilled!

PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR A HAPPY AND SAFE 60th ANNIVERSARY FOR ISRAEL!