In This Issue• The Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• The Daily Jot
• DISCLOSE Act Fails in Senate!
• News from the Senate Judicial Committee
• Restroom Confusion in Schools?
• "A Pledge To America"
• ObamaCare: Update
• The Good News Corner
• Worship with Us Today!
Greetings!
In This Issue
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
The Daily Brief - Friday, September 24, 2010
" . . . he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved." (Mark 13:13)
RECOMMENDED READING:
"America's First Martyrs," by Sara Ballenger.
This book tells the moving story of the Huguenots who sailed to our land from France, seeking religious freedom, and who eventually died for their faith. "America's First Martyrs" is being released this week, in remembrance of their sacrifice,
445 years ago. (September 20, 1565).
To learn more about the content of this book, go here. To purchase a copy of "America's First Martyrs," go here.
"And they overcame them through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death." (Rev. 12:11)
The Daily Brief
BREAKING! Texas ed board adopts resolution calling for textbook publishers to limit references to Islam - Fox News
The Texas State Board of Education has adopted a resolution seeking to curtail references to Islam in textbooks. Social conservatives on the board had asked that the resolution be put on Friday's agenda. It was approved by a 7-6 vote. The one-page resolution calls on textbook publishers to limit what they print about Islam in world history books and says the board "will look to reject future prejudicial social studies submissions."
- PRAISE THE LORD FOR THIS ACTION TAKEN TODAY BY THE TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION! May our nation's youth continue to be protected from the lies of Islam, and be taught only the TRUTH about our nation's history and its founding. We are STILL "One Nation Under God!" PRAISE HIM!
- "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the LORD!" (Psalm 150:6)
1. Top World Islamists Meet Next Week in Chicago - Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI)
On September 28th to 30th, 2010, Chicago will become a destination point for the international community's top Islamic representation which includes the entire top leadership of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) together with the top leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. They will join the leadership of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) at their 6th Annual Conference. Also in attendance will be the Obama Administration's OIC liaisons Sada Cumber (from the Bush Administration), and Rashad Hussain (from the current administration), and Dalia Mogahed and Farah Pandith from the State Department.
- Questions are being raised about the legality of having known terrorists as speakers at this conference. Pray that our national security is not compromised next week in Chicago, and for the federal government to fulfill its mandate in protecting our people. PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, POSTED ON THE WEBSITE OF THE UNITY COALITION FOR ISRAEL, ABOUT THIS MEETING BY GOING HERE.
- "For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open." (Mark 4:22)
2. 'Don't ask, don't tell' injunction now up to judge - AP
U.S. government lawyers are trying to stop a federal judge from issuing an injunction that would immediately do what President Obama has yet to accomplish so far in his first term: Halt the military's ban on openly gay troops. Now it is up to U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips to decide if she is willing to do that.
The White House says the legal filing Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in a federal court in Riverside follows government procedure by defending an act of Congress that is being challenged, but it does not detract from the president's efforts to get 'don't ask, don't tell' repealed. Read more. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100924/ap_on_re_us/us_gays_in_military
- Pray that every effort by the Obama administration to repeal the longstanding policy of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the military is defeated. Stand in the gap for our leaders who have been blinded to the truth, for homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord. Ask our Lord to forgive those who are trying to repeal this polilcy, for they surely know not what they do. Amen.
- "Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us." (Isaiah 8:10)
3. Dems Intentionally Released My Social Security Number, GOP Candidate Says - Fox News
It's not unusual for political races to turn nasty. But one congressional race in Florida is reaching a new low as Lt. Col. Allen West, the GOP challenger to Rep. Ron Klein, accuses state Democrats of intentionally including his Social Security number in a mailer to hundreds of thousands of voters.
- Lift up all matters pertaining to our upcoming elections before the Lord, for no detail ever escapes His eye. Pray that any and all similar "irregularities" will come to light quickly, and be dealt with.
- "Blessings are on the head of the righteous. But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the names of the wicked will rot." (Prov. 10: 6,7)
4. At U.N., Obama Eyes Sudan, Southeast Asia Tensions - Fox News
Obama is using his third and last day at the U.N. General Assembly to focus on averting renewed conflict in Sudan and easing growing maritime tensions between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
- Lift up any and all speeches, negotiations, and "behind closed door" talks that have been led by Barack Hussein Obama in this international forum. Cast down any works that have not been in the center of God's will for our nation and the nations, and call forth blessings upon works of righteousness. Pray!
- "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 18:19)
5. US Walks out on Ahmadinejad's UN Speech - ABC News
Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked yet another controversy Thursday saying a majority of people in the United States and around the world believe the American government staged the Sept. 11 terror attacks in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.
- Offer praise that the U.S. delegation -- and others -- actually walked out during Ahmadinejad's speech. Pray that the nations will continue to turn a deaf ear to all propaganda being spewed forth from this dangerous regime; and pray that the world's leaders will join in confronting and dismantling a nuclear Iran.
- Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause: And let them say continually, "Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." (Ps. 35:27)
6. North and South Korea on the brink of war, Russian diplomat warns - UK Telegraph
North and South Korea are on the brink of war, a top Russian diplomat has warned, calling for both countries to exercise restraint and sit down for talks.
- Thank the Lord that this report has come to light, and pray for peace -- now -- on the Korean peninsula.
- "When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, " Come and see Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it gathered to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword." (Rev. 6: 3, 4)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"the nations . . . shall come up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." (Zechariah 14:16)
1. PA may not bolt talks after all when freeze ends - Jerusalem Post
There are growing signs that the Palestinians will not follow through on their pledge to pull out of direct talks with Israel once the moratorium on new settlement construction expires this Sunday.
2. Olmert urges 'int'l trusteeship' for Holy Basin - Jerusalem Post
Israel should agree to an international trusteeship in Jerusalem's Holy Basin, should allow non-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state, and should offer to solve the Palestinian refugee problem within the framework of the Arab peace initiative, former prime minister Ehud Olmert urges in an op-ed article in today's Jerusalem Post.
3. Settlement construction to be resumed, limited - Ynet News
Only two days are left before the end of a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank, and the Israelis and Palestinians have yet to reach a compromise which would allow the peace talks to continue.
4. Jordan's king warns of war by year's end - Ynet News
Several hours after describing what Israel and the Palestinians are expected to gain from peace in his UN General Assembly address, Jordan's King Abdullah warned Thursday night that if the settlement construction freeze issue would not be solved, a violent conflict could break out by the end of 2010.
5. Netanyahu slams 'distorted' flotilla report - Ynet News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Thursday the UN Human Rights Commission's report on Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish vessel in May.
6. 'Palestine new UN member in 2011 if talks succeed' - Jerusalem Post
In his address to the UN General Assembly Thursday, US President Barack Obama called for a continuation of the settlement freeze and expressed the hope that by next year, current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will have resulted in "an independent, sovereign state of Palestine."
The Daily Jot
The Plague of the Halymorpha Halys in our nation's capitol
When the LORD God was trying to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to free the Israelites, plagues came upon Egypt. One of the plagues described in Exodus10:14, 15: "And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt."
This was the eighth plague sent upon Egypt because the Pharaoh was a stubborn man with a hardened heart. And more plagues were sent upon he and his people before he gave in to the will of the LORD. The LORD gives plenty of warnings to those whom he wishes to persuade. And like Egypt of old, America should examine itself as a nation and as a people and try to discern what the LORD is after. America has had costly natural disasters. America has had political disruption such as a nearly decade long war against terrorist forces. America has had tremendous financial disaster brought on by its elected leadership. And all the while, the leadership continues to say there is more than one way to heaven.
Now a plague of a different sort is annoying all who live within 200 miles of Washington, D.C. It is causing damages from 20- to 100% on farms across Maryland, Pennsylvania and up the New England coastline. It is invading houses by the millions. Maryland Republican Congressman Roscoe Bartlett recently organized a briefing on the threat, bringing together congressional staff, regional and federal agricultural officials and others to understand the problem and to try to find ways to combat it. Bartlett was quoted in the Baltimore Sun saying, "If you wanted to design a terrorist bug, it would have the features of the brown marmorated stink bug."
Yes, the plague is called the stink bug. It is a bug thought to have made its way to the United States in containers shipped from China. And if one smashes the bug, it will take no time to know why it is called the stink bug. It has no natural predators and its population is exploding. The irony is that this bug is invading the area surrounding the nation's Capitol--the NBC affiliate in Washington, DC led with the story "Stink Bugs taking area by storm." Indeed, we have been gathering up hundreds of stink bugs each morning in our windows and on our walls. Perhaps the stink bug from China is a not so subtle message about the leadership in America and Americans' tolerance of it.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministry
www.dailyjot.com
DISCLOSE Act Fails in Senate!
Free-Speech Killing DISCLOSE Act Narrowly Fails (Again) to Pass Senate
The DISCLOSE Act failed on a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate today. In need of 60 votes to move forward, the final tally was 59-39.
The Act -- formally titled the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act -- would chill the free-speech of groups and companies that want to speak out during campaign season.
This was the second time Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., attempted to pass the bill, in an attempt to galvanize the liberal voter base.
Sean Parnell, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, said the bill was the Democrats attempt to silence and limit criticism to their agenda.
"All the Republicans in the Senate recognize that this was a bill that directly targeted the political speech of groups that the Democratic majority finds unwelcome," Parnell said. "We obviously had a big victory for the First Amendment today, but I also expect that there will be some version of the DISCLOSE Act coming down the pike, either soon or later."
Pete Sepp, executive vice president with the National Taxpayers Union, said groups often pronounce victory after a failed Senate vote; however, the war is not over.
"Constant vigilance will be necessary on bills like the DISCLOSE Act," he said, "Because in the Senate, the sands of politics shift all the time, and taxpayers might be the ones trapped in that quicksand." (CitizenLink)
News from the Senate Judicial Committee
Obama, Democrats Try Again to Push Five Activist Judicial Nominees Through Senate
Five of the most highly controversial judicial nominees, offered up again by Obama, were voted out of the Judiciary Committee -- each receiving strong Republican opposition.
The five nominees at issue:
* Goodwin Liu for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
* Robert Chatigny for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
* Edward Chen for the Northern District of California
* Louis Butler for the Western District of Wisconsin, and
* Jack McConnell for the District of Rhode Island
Sen. Jeff Sessions from Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Committee, said Obama and top Democrats will continue to try to push through objectionable judicial picks -- all without attracting too much public scrutiny:
"President Obama's empathy standard is not grounded in law, but in lawlessness. It is bias and politics, not law. It must and should be rejected.
It is plainly contrary to the oath that each judge must take, which states:
"I . . . do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me . . ."
"America needs judges on the bench who are honorable, intelligent, capable, and, most importantly, who understand that their role is to enforce the law as written, not judges who will render rulings that go beyond the plain meaning or manipulate words to give them new and different meanings in order to promote their vision of what America should be." (CitizenLink) Read more.
Restroom Confusion in Schools?
Maine Public Schools Under Pressure to Let Boys Use Girls' Restrooms
The Maine Human Rights Commission ruled this week that Orono Middle School discriminated against a sixth-grade male student who wants to live as a female by only offering the student access to a gender-neutral bathroom.
The Commission said it will work with the state education commissioner to add rules pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity, as it pertains to education, in the Maine Human Rights Act.
Dr. Dean Byrd, president of the Thrasher Research Fund, said that the school appeared to provide a safe environment, but the Commission appears to be pushing a "transgender" political agenda.
"Children should be safe at school, but I'm not so sure that particular worldviews ought to be primary," Byrd said. "Diversity by its very definition means different world views and those different world views may contradict the worldviews of particular families, so I think parents ought to be concerned."
"When you get into areas of gender identity, development, sexual orientation, we're talking about worldviews," he added. "It's certainly a slippery slope, schools ought to educate, not indoctrinate." (CitizenLink)
"A Pledge To America"
House Republicans today unveiled their much-anticipated Pledge To America, which many pundits are comparing to the 1994 Contract With America. With the elections now 40 days away, House Republicans understand that most voters want something to vote for; they want to know what the GOP would do differently.
Polls show that most Americans realize that the Obama socialists have led us down the wrong track. House Republicans have provided an outline of what they would do differently. On balance, I think it is a good document that outlines a conservative vision for putting America back on the right track.
As expected, the document is heavy on economic issues, and Republicans can't be faulted for focusing on the voters' main concerns - jobs and the economy. . .
The pledge also promises to "honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values." In addition, the document promises to end taxpayer funding of abortion. We are gratified that congressional leaders like Rep. Mike Pence sought our input on these values issues and made sure they were included.
There is much more in the 20-page document, which you can read here. (Gary Bauer; edited)
ObamaCare: A Six-Month Check-Up
One of the first lessons everyone learns in life - sometimes the hard way - is that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Today marks the six-month anniversary of ObamaCare becoming law. As the law begins to take effect, many experts are now questioning whether its promises were too good to be true. Let's consider some of those promises and what has actually happened.
• We were told that ObamaCare would lower healthcare costs. How many of you have seen your insurance rates decline? In fact, premiums are going up by double digits in many states, according to the New York Times, "largely to address the expanded benefits [that Obama/Reid/Pelosi mandated] under the new federal law." You just can't get something for nothing.
• We were told that ObamaCare would save the government money. But yet another report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency, finds that ObamaCare will in fact increase healthcare spending as it provides coverage to more than 30 million people. This should be no surprise. Obama's claim that he could cover more people and still reduce costs was absurd.
• We were told that ObamaCare would cut the deficit over ten years. But this was based on unrealistic promises such as slashing $500 billion from Medicare and reducing payments to doctors by 20%. Few outside experts trust the cost projections and some suggest ObamaCare will cost nearly $2.7 trillion over the next ten years, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt.
• We were told that if you like your current coverage, you'll get to keep it. But even the Obama Administration knows that is not true, estimating that as many as 67% of individual policies and 80% of small business policies will be forced to change as a result of the 3,000-page law.
ObamaCare is already costing jobs and contributing to the nation's unemployment crisis. The New York Times reported yesterday that many insurance companies were "scrambling" to comply with the law, and many were cutting jobs to compensate for the costs associated with ObamaCare.
According to the Times report, "Adjusting to the new terrain could push some insurers out of business, health care analysts say . . . many of the markets where they operate will become much less profitable. 'A lot of health plans will struggle and fail,' said Jeff Fusile, a health care partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers."
Unfortunately, this is what happens when government mandates manipulate the free market, and it's why command economies don't work. Try as they might, liberal politicians simply cannot override the fundamental laws of economics. (Gary Bauer)
The Good News Corner
Live Streaming of New England Solemn Assembly
Dear Friend in Christ,
New England Solemn Assembly 2010 is coming this Saturday, September 25.
PrayTV will be streaming this amazing event LIVE from historic Plymouth, Massachusetts, 12 noon to 4:00 pm.
You can join the webcast at www.PrayTV.org.
Sincerely,
Brandt Gillespie
Worship with Us Today!
WATCH THE FEAST!
If you have not already, please take the time to sign up to recive email alerts listing evening broadcast times - since they will change from day to day depending on the length of the program.
We pray that this year's Feast will be a blessing to you as you join us in Jerusalem from the ends of the earth!
The ICEJ Feast Team
