Anne Graham Lotz: Day Four
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
"A National Prayer Alliance"
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
Happy Fourth of July!
Friday, July 4, 2014
". . . proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. . ."
(Leviticus 25:10)
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On July 4, 1776
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JULY 4, 1776:
The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
38-year-old King George III ruled the largest empire that planet earth had ever seen. The Declaration of Independence, approved JULY 4, 1776, listed the reasons why Americans declared their independence from the King:
He has made judges dependent on his will alone . . .
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies . . .
To subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution . . . (and more)
John Hancock, the 39-year-old President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration first, reportedly saying "the price on my head has just doubled."
Next to sign was Secretary, Charles Thomson, age 47.
70-year-old Benjamin Franklin said:
"We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately."
The Declaration referred to God:
"Laws of Nature and of NATURE'S GOD . . .
All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights . . .
Appealing to the SUPREME JUDGE OF THE WORLD for the rectitude of our intentions."
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Many of the 56 signers sacrificed their prosperity for their posterity.
Of the Signers:
11 had their homes destroyed;
5 were hunted and captured;
17 served in the military;
and 9 died during the war.
41-year-old John Adams wrote of the Declaration:
"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more."
Daniel Webster stated in 1802:
"Miracles do not cluster, and what has HAPPENED ONCE IN 6,000 YEARS, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."
Ronald Reagan stated 1961:
"In this country of ours took place the GREATEST REVOLUTION that has ever taken place IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY - Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another . . .
Here for the first time in all the THOUSANDS OF YEARS of man's relation to man . . . the founding fathers established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God-given right and ability to determine our own destiny."
(Source: The American Minute by William Federer.) Read more here.
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Happy 4th - from FRC
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The Declaration's Self-Evident Truths
by Tony Perkins, President
Family Research Council
www.frc.org
The enemy fleet was nearing Philadelphia. Many delegates to the Continental Congress knew that if they were arrested, they would be tried for treason against the British Crown.
The punishment for treason was hanging, drawing and quartering.
Massachusetts' Samuel Adams was not afraid. He moved that the delegates pray for God's protection and guidance. But we are not all of one denomination, responded the devout young New Yorker, John Jay. Sam Adams said he could pray with any man who sought his country's good. With delegates from all the other colonies, Sam Adams prompted America's first national prayer session. We might even term Adams's motion the original call to fall (call2fall) on our knees before God.
Within two years, Sam Adams and his cousin John had pressed those delegates toward Independence. We celebrate their Signing with our July 4th holiday.
The Signers put their lives on the line when they affixed their often beautiful signatures to that parchment. "We had better hang together, or we shall all hang separately" is a bit of gallows humor long attributed to wise old Ben Franklin. They vowed to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
How many of us on this two hundred thirty-eighth birthday of our nation can truly say that we would rather be killed than give up the sentiments embodied in that ancient Declaration?
As a young man, I was unchurched. I was not taught the story of that first prayer session in Congress, but I was thoroughly imbued with the ideals of the Declaration they signed. So when I was running for office and urged to back abortion, I refused to support the slaughter of innocents.
I believed, I still believe, we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that the first of these is the right to life . . . So, it seemed to me I should not go along with alienating the right to life. "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time," wrote Thomas Jefferson just two years before he was chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence. . . .
. . . John Adams pressed the Second Continental Congress toward the break with England. He nominated Washington to lead the armies that would fight for independence and tapped Jefferson to draft the document that declared it.
"Facts are stubborn things," honest John Adams wrote. Indeed they are. Human life begins at conception. That's a fact. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman. That's a fact. These facts are stubborn things. We knew these facts at our origin.
Our religious freedom secures our right to state these facts, freely and without fear. As the Library of Congress has noted of our origins:
"The first national government of the United States, was convinced that the "public prosperity" of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a "spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens," Congress declared to the American people, would "make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people."
Today's a good day to reflect on these enduring Self-Evident Truths. We can remember Sam Adams's prophetic words, too:
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."
We can declare our own Independence -- from those vain and aspiring men whose words mean whatever they want them to mean. And we can emancipate ourselves from the politically correct nostrums of the left. Independent we can remain. John Adams's last words of encouragement for a long ago Fourth of July were: "Independence Forever!"
[Excerpt. Go here to read the entire article.]
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Happy 4th from Gary Bauer
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Celebrating Independence Day
by Gary Bauer
American Values
Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays -- celebrating patriotism, our history and the tremendous courage, faith and sacrifices of our Founding Fathers. As the 238th birthday of America dawns tomorrow, millions will get together with friends and family for backyard barbeques, games and fireworks.
By all means, enjoy the day! But please remind your children and grandchildren about America's exceptionalism and the significance of Independence Day. Tell them about America's "values statement," found in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . ."
My educational organization, American Values, recently went to Washington, D.C., and asked those visiting our national monuments what liberty and the Fourth of July meant to them. I was particularly impressed by those who said liberty meant the freedom to do the right thing.
Take a moment to watch this brief video. Share it with friends and family members. I hope you find it as encouraging as I did.
God bless you, my friends, and may God bless the United States of America!
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Happy 4th from George Whitten
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Don't forget the price that was paid!
By George Whitten, Editor
Worthy News
(Published on July 3)
As the United States celebrates the 4th of July tomorrow - Independence day - we're often reminded of the price that was paid for our freedom. But today, in that spirit, I want to recall a time when a heavy price was paid for a translation of our Bible.
William Tyndale, a 16th century Englishman, translated the Bible into English while living in Germany. Finally in 1525, he was able to publish a New Testament in English. But the church authorities at the time were not pleased and they angrily sought to destroy Tyndale and his translation. Finally, he was caught and brought back to England where he was burned at the stake.
As he was dying, he uttered these words: "Lord open the eyes of the King of England." His prayer became a prophecy, as it was the King of England, King James, who finally did publish the entire Bible in English about a hundred years later.
Our English Bible translations became a reality through William Tyndale's heroic sacrifice and bravery, ultimately at the price of his lifeblood. This Independence day, don't let your Bible sit on the shelf gathering dust. Considering the cost that was paid so you could read it in your native tongue, let's all take full advantage of this precious gift.
Sara, the freedom that we so enjoy on this day is only a taste of the real freedom we have in Messiah; the promise of eternal forgiveness and freedom from sin. The cost of that freedom was the precious blood of the savior Yeshua (Jesus). William Tyndale offered his life so we could read about this spiritual freedom in our own language. As we celebrate our earthly freedom, let's not forget to also give thanks for our eternal liberty that we find in our Lord.
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Negev Desert, Israel
Editor's Note (Part One): The Whitten's are contemplating a speaking tour of the U.S. and Canada. We're looking to fill up every day of the week, so if you have a small group, Bible study, Congregation, Fellowship, or Church and you'd like to have the Whitten's come and share, please send an email as soon as possible to george [@] worthyemail.com.
Editor's Note (Part Two):
Worthy News is the primary source of the headlines that we post and pray over in each edition of the Daily Brief. Thank you for supporting their ministry as you can.
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Happy 4th: The Daily Jot
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Our heritage, our freedom
Blessings to America and her sons and daughters on this day; the celebration of our nation. But the nation we know and love as America, The United States of America, really began in the early 1600's when settlers came from other countries, mainly England, on an adventure that spawned the beacon of freedom and the light of Jesus Christ for the world. The Mayflower Compact, which many believe today to be the first significant governing document of what would become the United States was very specific about the covenant these men and women were entering into with God for this new land.
The Mayflower Compact of 1620 reads: "IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid."
Some 18 years later, The Fundamental Orders of 1638, were adopted in Connecticut. Its preamble says, "For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God...knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; ... to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus ... which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees...
These documents and many others like them dispel the lie that America is not a Christian nation. We allow freedom to all religions, because our God in Christ Jesus will not force Himself upon others, but rather allow them to come voluntarily. But the foundation of our nation must remain Christian -- otherwise we will not so long be a nation of freedom and justice. God's sovereignty must be the rule of man. The Lord said in Jeremiah 34:15, "And you were now turned, and had done right in My sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name." Remember your heritage in order to keep your future.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com
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Anne Graham Lotz: Day FOUR
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Anne Graham Lotz: Day FOUR
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive all STRENGTH
"That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet . . . " (Ephesians 1:19-22)
We worship You, Lord Jesus Christ, on this our nation's birthday, as the All-Mighty - our breathtaking and all-powerful Lord. You measure the waters in the hollow of Your hand. You weigh the mountains on scales. You stretch out the heavens like a curtain. Your immensity is impossible for us to comprehend. You make a way when there is no way. You are a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering, miracle-working God! Our nation's history gives testimony to Your strength to establish, preserve, and prosper us.
- I worship You as ______________
- We repent of our arrogance and pride that have led us to think we are sufficient in ourselves.
- We repent of believing that the prosperity of our nation is because we are great, while refusing to acknowledge that all blessings come from Your hand.
- We repent of looking to the President or to our Pastor or to a Priest or to a government agency for the help we need before we look to You.
- We repent of depending upon our military might and our weapons systems to protect us from harm and danger, while denying, defying and ignoring You. - We repent of disobeying Your commands, using our weakness as an excuse.
- We repent of living under the burden of our problems instead of rolling them onto Your capable and strong shoulders.
- I repent of___________
- We choose to rely on You and to pray without ceasing. - I choose now to_________
- We ask that You strengthen Your people with might on the inside; that You make one of us as mighty as a thousand.
- We ask that You give us deep convictions regarding the truth of who You are and what You have said, and the courage to stand up and speak out for them.
- We ask that You give us experiences of Your miraculous enabling as we live in total dependence upon Your strength, so that we boast of our own weaknesses.
- We ask that you give us blessed assurance that greater are You in us, than the evil that's in the world, so that we stand against it. Remind us that Your love is stronger than hate, and the Light of Your Truth will never be overcome by the darkness, so that we lovingly and boldly proclaim that victory has been won! Jesus saves!
- And we ask that You would continue to bless America and return her to the foundation of her faith in You.
- I humbly ask that____________
FOR YOUR GLORY,
AMEN
