· The Middle East in Focus
· Pray for the Persecuted Church
· The White House in Transition
· Of Lawyers, Courts, A President and the Truth
· Obama's 'Alta' Ego on Stem Cells
· Challenges to Prop 8 Before CA Supreme Court
Greetings!
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
Thursday, November 20 , 2008
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and power. . . for everything in heaven and earth is Yours." (I Chronicles 29:11)
The Daily Brief
1. a) Israeli Air Force "Ready for Iran's Nuclear Sites" - Fox News
The Israeli Air Force is ready to attack Iran's suspected nuclear weapons project if diplomacy fails to persuade the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment, said Commander Ido Nehushtan in an interview published Tuesday. b) Iran Said to have Fuel for One Nuclear Weapon - NY Times Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.
· Lord at this extremely volatile time for Israel, we ask that Your wisdom and protection cover them. Lord, set Your heavenly host around the borders, bring righteous and strong leadership that know You, and hedge them about with Your power.
· "And shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." (Ezekiel 37:14)
2. Peres - Iran Wants Mideast Religious Block - Ynet News
"The Iranian leadership's grand design is to convert the Middle East into one religious bloc," President Shimon Peres said Wednesday during his address to the British Parliament.
· Lord as this plan has been revealed, we pray that You will give truth and understanding to all leaders of the free world. May they move in wisdom to stop this plan from fruition, and may Your Holy Spirit rise up against the plans of the enemy.
· "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19b)
3. Economic Crisis Prompts Anti-Semitism in Europe - Ynet News
The global economic crisis, which is beginning to be clearly felt across Europe, has brought with it another concerning phenomenon -- a rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic assaults throughout the continent.
· Lord we bind the spirit of jealousy and murder against Your people, and loose Your protection over them.
· "And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will slay my brother Jacob." (Genesis 27:41)
4. Senate Approves Extending Unemployment Benefits - AP
Jarred by new jobless alarms, Congress raced to approve legislation Thursday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for a million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out. The Senate's vote followed Thursday's government report that laid-off workers' new claims for jobless aid had reached a 16-year high and the number of Americans searching for work had surged past 10 million.
· Offer praise for this act of mercy on the part of the United States Senate for the millions of Americans who find themselves unemployed during this holiday season. Lift up these citizens -- Father knows their names and their needs -- thanking Him for the plan He has yet in store for their lives. God is good.
· "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer. 29:11)
5. Recount Underway in Minnesota Senate Showdown - Washington Times
City and county workers across Minnesota began a laborious recount Wednesday of more than 2.9 million ballots in the tight U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
· Father you know the importance of balance in all things political. We pray again that You will not allow a filibuster-proof Senate.
· "Deliver me from the oppression of man; so will I keep Thy precepts." (Psalm 119:134)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE: "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1-2)
1. Abdullah holds secret summit with Olmert, Barak - Ynet News
Jordan's King Abdullah summoned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to his palace in Amman on Tuesday night and implored them not to launch a military operation in Gaza, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
2. Peres: Settlement evacuation may lead to civil war - Ha'aretz
President Shimon Peres told members of the British Parliament Wednesday that Israel would have difficulty dismantling West Bank settlements without causing a civil war in Israel.
3. Survey: Likud growing in strength, Labor collapsing - Ynet News
If the general elections were to be held today, the Likud would have won with 32 Knesset seats, whereas Kadima would have received only 26 mandates, a new survey published in Yedioth Ahronoth on Thursday revealed.
4. Hamas: We're prepared to end cease-fire and confront Israel - Ha'aretz
Hamas' military wing announced Tuesday it was "prepared for a confrontation with Israel" and for the end of the cease-fire with Israel. But political sources said the cease-fire was expected to go on.
Pray for the Persecuted Church
For all the needs listed below, let's pray THIS PROMISE this week for the persecuted church across the world:
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." (Matthew 25:40)
1. Iraq Releases Christian Girl From Prison
Authorities in northern Iraq have released a 16-year-old Christian girl who was serving a 3 1/2 years jail sentence for killing her uncle after he attacked her, observers of the case confirmed Wednesday, November 12.
2. Pastor Still Missing In Colombia; Christians Fear For His Life
Christians in Colombia were still searching for a Christian leader Wednesday, November 12, more than six weeks after he disappeared amid reports that several fellow pastors were killed by leftist rebels.
3. House Church Leader Zhu Baoguo Sentenced to 'Re-education Through Labor' China
Aid learned a house church leader in Henan province, Pastor Zhu Baoguo, was sentenced to one year of "re-education through labor," accused of being an "evil cult" leader
The White House in Transition
1. Election Officials May Audit Obama's Fundraising Machine - Newsmax.com
Despite efforts to sweep Barack Obama's questionable fundraising tactics under the rug, the Federal Election Commission still may investigate numerous suspicious campaign donations uncovered by Newsmax. Questionable transactions include donors with fake names and large wire transfers from places like the Gaza Strip.
· Lord let truth be revealed in this situation, so that all will understand what is false and what is fact. If fraud has been perpetuated, we ask that justice be served and laws be enforced which will stop this from occurring again.
· "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)
2. Keep the Change - Fox News
Obama promised change, but so far he's outdone Clinton and Bush in picking Washington insiders for his Cabinet.
· Continue to pray for the president-elect as he attempts to build a new cabinet "from scratch." He is moving quickly now into a huge new role; thank our Lord that, as kings seek His counsel, He will give it!
· "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)
3. White House Pushes Through a Flurry of Rule Changes Sought by Business - Wall Street Journal
The Bush administration in the past week has adopted several hot-button regulatory changes long sought by business groups, drawing criticism from congressional Democrats.
· Father we know that Presidents have a history of pushing through last minute items prior to going out of office. We ask that President Bush be granted wisdom in the final days of his office, that any items that are wisdom from You be kept into the next administration.
· "That they may know that this is Thy hand; that Thou, Lord, hast done it." (Psalm 109:27)
Of Lawyers, Courts, A President and the Truth
Barack Hussein Obama has until December 1st to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court's Writ of Certiorari. The Writ was issued to Obama by Justice David Souter in concurrence with three additional Supreme Court Justices. The Writ of Certiorari is derived from the Latin word of the same, meaning "to be informed of, or to be made certain in regard to." This particular Writ of Certiorari, or "Cert" in shortened legalese, is in response to Philadelphia Attorney Phillip Berg's lawsuit demanding that Obama must prove his natural born citizenship which was denied by a Clinton-appointed Circuit Court judge, saying that mere citizens of the country had no right to challenge whether a candidate meets Constitutional eligibility requirements.
It is unclear whether Obama himself must respond to the Writ or whether the lower court must provide information for which the Supreme Court will use to review the case. Conservative website Atlas Shrugs and Berg's website both indicate that Obama must respond to the Supreme Court Writ. By not producing a "vault" copy of his birth certificate, these sources say Obama will have raised the suspicions of at least four US Supreme Court justices as to what is being hidden from the public, and more importantly, as to what it means to the US Constitution. If Obama cannot verify his natural born citizenship, he may not be able to be seated as President.
Article II Clause 5 of the Constitution says, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." And the 25th Amendment outlines how a president that cannot fulfill his duties is succeeded. Most likely, the Vice President will step in and become president. In this case, however, the president has yet to take office or even be elected by the electoral college. A murky area of history if Obama cannot prove he is a natural born citizen.
Meantime, the American Independent Party has filed suit in California Superior Court seeking to bar California's Secretary of State from certifying the presidential election results until documentary proof of Obama's citizenship is presented. These suits at various levels of the court system are being undertaken because Obama has failed to respond with a legitimate copy of his Hawaiian birth certificate, and instead has relied on an electronic one posted on his website that forensic experts claim is a fake. Jesus said in John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Freedom in this case comes at the very expensive hands of lawyers and courts when straightforwardness from an elected official could provide the truth.
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministry
www.dailyjot.com
Obama's 'Alta' Ego on Stem Cells
In the past few days, we've barely been able to keep up with the flood of articles about the progress with adult stem cells. The headlines read like medical miracles-"Doctors transplant windpipe with woman's own stem cells"; "Bone marrow stem cells restore hearing, vision in animals"; "Researchers to use patient's own stem cells to treat heart failure"; and "Mother-of-two becomes first transplant patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown from her own stem cells." And those were all articles published since Monday! The amazing flexibility of adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) has launched the scientific community into a new era of almost daily discoveries.
Although ethical alternatives are light years ahead of the research that destroys innocent human life, the incoming Obama administration insists on revisiting a failed and controversial technique -- embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. While iPS is already treating patients, the over-hyped and underperforming ESC will have a new champion in Obama's health care expert, R. Alta Charo, a staunchly abortion, cloning, and embryo research advocate. A professor and advisor to Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute, Charo was appointed to the Obama transition team last week. Obviously, a policy change on stem cells is coming -- one that is unlikely to favor principle, progress, or patients. (Family Research Council)
Challenges to Prop 8 Before CA Supreme Court
In a suit that is as much about preserving representative democracy as it is marriage, the California Supreme Court has been asked to rule on the fate of Proposition 8, the marriage protection amendment that passed with 52% of the vote on November 4. Six legal challenges are now pending against the ban, making it even more likely that the same group of judges who imposed their liberal views on America will have another say in the future of marriage in California. On Monday, state Attorney General Jerry Brown filed briefs urging the court to move quickly. "The people have a right to know . . . the status of marriage under the California Constitution."
The people also had a right to decide the issue, but even that privilege is in danger. Every aspect of the ballot battle was in the homosexuals' favor, including the court's first ruling overturning the people's will, the millions of dollars raised by wealthy opponents of Prop 8, and even the unfavorable ballot language, which was written by Brown to invoke more sympathy for same-sex "marriage." Despite the obstacles, voters made their objection to homosexual "marriage" clear. Will the court respect four hundred years of democratic tradition or substitute its judgment for that of 6,358,610 Californians? (Family Research Council 11/18/08)
Update: Activist Judges v. The People of California
The state of marriage in California is officially back in the hands of the court that ignited the controversy. Yesterday, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear the challenges to Proposition 8 in a suit scheduled for argument next March. Although the court rarely overturns voter referendums (only twice since 1911), it will face intense pressure to do so.
The Left claims that voters stripped them of a fundamental "right to marry," when in fact those "rights" had never been granted by the people in the first place. As legal experts have explained, the reason California has such a simple amendment process is to empower the people -- not the court -- to decide the state's most important issues. That said, the ultimate question in March is not what constitutes marriage but rather what constitutes the California government - democracy or oligarchy? (Family Research Council; Nov. 20, 2008)
· [From: Intercessors for America] Let us join in prayer with multitudes of Christians in California and across the nation, asking that the Lord uphold His institution of biblical one man/one woman marriage. Pray that He will intervene, grant wisdom from above, cut off demonic wisdom from below (James 3:13-18) and convict the CA court to honor the will of the people and show restraint.
