Friday, August 1, 2014

CHPP Daily Brief - Friday, August 1, 2014





Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
"A National Prayer Alliance"
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net



The Daily Brief:

"Praying for All in Authority"

Friday, August 1, 2014

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle . . ."
(Psalm 144:1)
Note:

All prayer requests for the Persecuted Church and for the Harvest are now posted on our blog:

http://chpponline.blogspot.com


The Daily Brief

1. Flight en route to Liberia to evacuate Americans infected with Ebola - CNN

The fear began just after news broke Thursday that a long-range business jet with an isolation pod left the United States for Liberia, where it will evacuate two Americans infected with Ebola. . . It was not immediately known when the two Americans -- identified by the source as Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol -- would arrive in the United States, or where the plane would land.

With the return of Brantly and Writebol to the United States, it will be the first time that patients diagnosed with Ebola will be known to be in the country.

Brantly and Writebol are described as being in stable-but-grave conditions, with both reportedly taking a turn for the worse overnight, according to statements released Thursday by the faith-based charity Samaritan's Purse. There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola . . .(Read more)

- Lord God Almighty in Heaven, our Great Physician, we ask for a miracle of healing for these two brave American missionaries. Man may not have found a cure for this dreaded disease, but we know that You know the cure. We ask for healing, in Jesus' name, amen.

- "You will not be afraid of . . . the pestilence that stalks in darkness . . ." (Psalm 91:5,6)


2. Obama Prepares 'Executive Amnesty' To Millions of Illegal Immigrants - Time

When President Obama issues executive orders on immigration in coming weeks, pro-reform activists are expecting something dramatic: temporary relief from deportation and work authorization for perhaps several million undocumented immigrants. If the activists are right, the sweeping move would upend a contentious policy fight and carry broad political consequences, Time reported. Illegal immigrants are flooding the border.The Obama administration is considering a proposal that would allow foreigners to apply to admission to the United States on humanitarian grounds while still in their native country. Meanwhile, the National Guard troops sent to the border by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas may have the power to make arrests and apprehensions, if the governor chooses to do so.

- Abba, Father, we know Your heart is toward the widow and orphan, and You wish to provide for them.  However, You know that we, as a nation, cannot single-handedly support the world, and all the hurting people within this world.  We ask You, Lord, to empower the two-party system in this country, that both sides of these issues can be discussed and resolved.

We ask You to please intervene and stop this President from ruling as a dictator through his "executive orders" to bring about his own will and that of his political party, while Congress is on summer break.  If necessary, may they reconvene to prevent this abuse of power, we pray.

Please bless, protect, and give Your wisdom to the Governors of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California in stemming the tide of these illegals, and, in some cases, terrorists from entering our country. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

"The day is Yours, and Yours also the night; You established the sun and moon. It was You who set all the boundaries of the earth; You made both summer and winter. Remember how the enemy has mocked You, Lord, how foolish people have reviled Your Name." (Psalm 74:16-18)


3. Dow plunges over 300 points, erasing its gains for the year - Fortune

Geopolitical worries weighed on investors Thursday, with the Dow dropping 317 points and leading a broad market retreat that left the blue-chip index down for the year. By the close of trading, the Dow had chalked up its biggest drop since February. In addition to the Dow's sharp slide, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq both fell 2% in afternoon trading. The Dow is now lower than where it began the year. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), known as the "fear index," rose 27% hitting a multi-month high.

Contributing to the market's retreat: news late Wednesday that Argentina's credit rating has been downgraded to selective default by Standard & Poor's. The country's second default in 13 years sent its Merval stock index plummeting Thursday afternoon. There are also lingering questions over how the latest round of sanctions on Russia issued by the U.S. and Europe will affect the global economy, including the energy markets. Exxon Mobil XOM, which has a multi-billion dollar partnersip with Russian company Rosneft, saw its stock drop 4% on Thursday.

Some investors attributed the day's decline to fears that Federal Reserve may raise rates more quickly than expected. The possibility of an upbeat labor market report, due Friday morning, added to those worries.

- Father, we can only imagine the fear that must be gripping the hearts of those investors, as they see their stocks devalued, and the "fear index" rising amid unstable times worldwide.  We thank You that You are concerned about every detail of our lives, and prepare provision for us, sometimes before we even know we need it. We ask that these investors would look to You for Your wisdom as to how and where they should invest, as You are the only One, Who actually has foreknowledge of future events, and their timing.  We pray that they would "lay up treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust can break through, or thieves break though and steal." (Matthew 6:20)

- "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)


4. Only two years until Social Security's disability fund runs out - Washington Examiner

The Social Security disability trust fund is only two years away from exhaustion, Social Security's Board of Trustees announced Monday, while saying that Medicare's finances appear to have strengthened, thanks to slowing growth in the cost of health care. The trustees, tasked by Congress with overseeing the trust funds of the nation's retirement programs, estimated that the combined trust for Social Security's retirement and disability programs would be depleted by 2033, the same year as in last year's projections. After that point, beneficiaries will face a 25 percent cut in benefits, as all payments must be financed by incoming tax revenue."Social Security is insolvent," Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff told the House Subcommittee on Social Security at a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "And it's not bankrupt in 30 years, or 20 years, or 10 years. It's bankrupt today," CNS News reported. Social Security has been spending more than it has been taking in since 2010, and that imbalance is expected to worsen.

- Lord, we are certainly living in uncertain times, financially, as well as in every other area of life.  We thank You that You are our Security, and we look to You to provide answers to these tough funding questions, and hurdles. We ask, again, for Your wisdom, and for Your protection and provision.  We thank You for Your assurance that if you provide for the sparrows, and You do, how much more You will provide for us, the objects of Your love! Please give wisdom to those who are heading these programs about how to fund them in the future, without eliminating vital, necessary services, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

- "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6,7)


5. Radical action required': Drug-resistant malaria spreads in Asia, Africa - RT News

"It's worse than we expected. We have to act quickly if we are going to do anything," he added. Conventional malaria-control approaches would not be enough, Professor White stated. "We will need to take more radical action and make this a global public health priority, without delay," he said. 

- O Jehovah Rapha, You who brings healing, we ask for Your divine intervention in this situation of global proportions.  Your Word tells us that in the last days, there will be deadly plagues and pestilences, such as this drug-resistant malaria spreading in Asia and Africa.  We also know that Africa is experiencing the deadly ebola plague, even closing off airports to and from these nations.  We thank You that our CDC is interested in helping these people and nations, and we pray that they will be able to share their expertise with them, in order for them to defeat these diseases.  We ask for Your supernatural healing to come forth against these diseases, and we pray for the protection of our people; as possible carriers of these diseases seek to enter our nation. Protect Your people, Lord, as we abide under the shadow of the Almighty, Amen.

- "He said, 'If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, Who heals you.'" (Exodus 15:26  


6. Increased Earthquake Risk Along New Madrid Fault, USGS says,Where Many People Are Unprepared - Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Geological Survey updated their seismic hazards map last week, and identified states along the New Madrid fault has the potential for larger and more powerful earthquakes.Earthquake Risk Rising in Central U.S., where many people are unprepared. According to the USGS, the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. has quintupled, to an average of 100 a year during the 2011-2013 period, up from only 20 per year during the 30-year period to 2000. USGS says the New Madrid Fault, which runs through a number of midwestern states, has been identified as an area that has potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought.Far Western Kentucky is highlighted on the map as being an area of "high risk." Geoscientists say if a major earthquake hits along the New Madrid Fault, damage and possibly even fatalities could reach as far as Louisville, Ky. If a big quake hits the region, there will be plenty of aftershocks. He said unlike California, which experiences little tremors all the time, tension is built up in the Midwest. 

- Father, You know that when an American thinks "earthquake", we tend to think of California. Perhaps that is why the New Madrid fault, in the heartland of our nation, is not usually thought about. The U.S. Geological Survey says that many people are unprepared for such an event, and the data seems to indicate a rapid increase of frequency and intensity of quake activity here in the Midwest.  We ask for Your wisdom to be given to the residents of this area, and also to those who would give aid if an earthquake does occur along this fault.  We come against fear, and pray, of course, for Your protection, and also for proper preparations to be made, and for Your peace, we pray.  We repent on behalf of our nation, especially in regards to our president's treatment of Israel, and ask for Your mercy and grace to be extended to us.  In Your Name we pray, Amen.

- "I will gather all thenations together and bring them down into the Valley where 'the Lord Judges'.  There I will judge them, because those nations scattered My own people, Israel, and forced them to live in other nations. They divided up My land." (Joel 3:2)


The Middle East in Focus

OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE

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

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of YHWH our God." (Psalm 20:7)

1. Netanyahu says tunnels will be destroyed with or without ceasefire - Times of Israel

Rockets cause damage in Sderot; despite criticism, government resolves to intensify Gaza offensive; Israeli delegation returns from Cairo after truce talks.

Wednesday saw the heaviest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and three soldiers killed in a booby-trapped building. The security cabinet approved ongoing strikes at Hamas, as the IDF continued tackling the Hamas cross-border tunnels. (Read more)


2. Calls Grow to Upgrade Operation Protective Edge to 'War' Status - Israel National News

MK Nachman Shai on Thursday urged the Prime Minister to officially "upgrade" the status Operation Protective Edge from an IDF operation to a "war." The government has been under pressure to do so, political and economic experts say, but has been reluctant to do so, because it will require greater outlays in compensation for those damaged by the war - precisely the reason why many are calling for the change in status.

With the fighting moving into its third week, an additional 16,000 soldiers are being called up for reserve duty, bringing the total of active reservists to over 85,000. The reservists, mostly of working age, are having their salaries covered by the National Insurance Institute, while individuals and businesses suffering from property damage due to rocket attacks are being compensated by the Mas Rechush (Property Tax) division of the Finance Ministry. (Read more)


3. US slams 'indefensible' Israeli strike; PA could press war crimes charges; PM says tackling tunnels 1st step to demilitarized Gaza - Times of Israel

The Times of Israel liveblogged events as they unfolded through Thursday, the 24th day of Operation Protective Edge. Wednesday had seen the heaviest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and three soldiers killed in a booby-trapped building. The security cabinet had approved ongoing strikes at Hamas, as the IDF continued tackling the Hamas cross-border tunnels.

Fifty-six soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side in the 24 days of fighting, while Gazan health officials put the death toll there at over 1,400. Israel says hundreds of those are Hamas fighters. (Friday's liveblog is here.)


4. Sides agree to 3-day ceasefire from 8 a.m., followed by talks in Cairo - The Times of Israel

Read more here.


5. Stories From The Battlefield: Hamas Tunnels Used To Target Israel's Kindergartens - Daily Caller

Multiple media outlets report that Hamas's offensive tunnel network - now known to have been composed of over forty attack tunnels dug underneath Israel's border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip - was set to be activated during the Jewish High Holidays (September 24th) as a mass terror attack.

The attack was meant to generate as many as ten thousand casualties, men, women and particularly children and hundreds of captives. Explosives were particularly placed underneath kindergartens to make certain that these "institutions" would be the first struck, even before any thing else.

The IDF recently published the below map showing that tunnels were created in pairs, to empty out on both sides of nearby communities. The known cost of the infrastructure - each tunnel costs upward of some $1 million - clearly shows that Hamas was planning a coordinated mega-attack. It must be understood that use of even one tunnel would inevitably trigger Israeli retaliation against the entire network. (Read more)


6. THE BATTLE IN GAZA IS A SPIRITUAL BATTLE! - Elijah Prayer Army

Read article here.


7. BULLETS OF INTERCESSION: July 30, 2014 - CHPP

To read these bullets, go here.


8. Is A Nation Standing Alone? - Watchman's Prayer Letter

To read this letter, go here.


9. AIPAC Daily Update: Operation Protective Edge, July 31, 2014

To read this article, go here.

10. Anyone Seen Hamas? - Gary Bauer

Have you noticed in all the press coverage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas that no one ever actually sees Hamas? Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who was on a panel last week at the annual Christians United for Israel Conference, has noticed this unusual absence of Hamas in the wall-to-wall press coverage.

What is coming into our living rooms is non-stop footage of suffering Palestinian civilians. Who can help but be moved by wounded and dying women and children? It would be easy to conclude that the powerful Israeli military has declared war on defenseless Palestinians.

What we aren't seeing are the Hamas fighters launching rockets, often hundreds a day, at Israel.

We aren't shown Hamas terrorist squads sneaking through the massive tunnel network to launch attacks inside Israel.

We have not been shown schools with stocks of rockets and mosques used to store war supplies.

Hamas doesn't allow western reporters to be embedded with them. Some compliant western journalists have allowed themselves to become the propaganda tools of the Hamas jihadists.


Tracking the Ebola Virus

Tracking the Ebola Virus


Please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE over the headlines below:

"You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you."
(Psalm 91:5-7)


1. If Ebola Hits U.S, Even Healthy Americans Will be Quarantined - Hebrew Nation News

Read more.


2. Congressional Report: Ebola Bio Kits Deployed to National Guard Units in all 50 States - Hebrew Nation News

(Read more)


3. Liberian Official: Ebola Outbreak 'Is Above The Control Of The National Government' - CharlotteCBSlocal.com

(Read more)


4. Heroic American doctor stricken with Ebola forgoes treatment for gravely ill colleague - Fox News

Two gravely ill American medical workers in Liberia who were infected with the Ebola virus are said to be in stable condition as the humanitarian organization Samaritan's Purse works to bring them back to the U.S. for treatment.

Dr. Kent Brantly, the second American stricken by the disease, yesterday was offered an experimental serum but only one dose was provided.

"Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol," a nurse working with him who also infected, Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse said in a press release. "However, Dr. Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of Dr. Brantly's care. The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor that saved his life." (Read more)


5. Sierra Leone president declares state of emergency over Ebola - Fox News

Sierra Leone has declared a state of public emergency to tackle the worst ever outbreak of Ebola and will call in security forces to quarantine epicenters of the deadly virus, President Ernest Bai Koroma said in a statement.

The measures resembled a tough anti-Ebola package announced by neighboring Liberia on Wednesday evening. Koroma announced he was cancelling a visit to Washington for a U.S.-Africa summit next week because of the crisis and would instead hold an emergency meeting with regional leaders in Guinea on Friday.

Highly infectious Ebola has been blamed for 672 deaths in the West Africa nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization. (Read more)


6. Liberia shuts schools as Ebola spreads - Fox News

Peace Corps leaves three countries

Liberia will close schools and consider quarantining some communities, it said on Wednesday, rolling out the toughest measures yet imposed by a West African government to halt the worst outbreak on record of the deadly Ebola virus.

"This is a major public health emergency. It's fierce, deadly and many of our countrymen are dying and we need to act to stop the spread," Lewis Brown, Liberia's information minister, told Reuters. "We need the support of the international community now more than ever. We desperately need all the help we can get."

Security forces in Liberia were ordered to enforce the action plan, which includes placing all non-essential government workers on 30-day compulsory leave. (Read more)


7. VIDEO: What would happen if Ebola hit the US? - Fox News

Go here to see this video.


8. Taxis, planes and viruses: How deadly Ebola can spread - Reuters

For scientists tracking the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, it's not about complex virology and genotyping, but about how contagious microbes - like humans - use planes, bikes and taxis to spread. So far, authorities have taken no action to limit international travel in the region. The airlines association IATA said on Thursday that the World Health Organisation is not recommending any such restrictions or frontier closures. (Read more)


9. US Health Officials Announce Surge of Support to Combat Ebola - VOA

The United States is sending more health experts to the three West African countries struggling with an Ebola outbreak. The experts will help the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea manage the crisis. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addressed what he called the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history, centered along the common border of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. "Over the next 30 days, we plan to send an additional 50 CDC disease control specialists into the three countries," he said.


The Daily Jot

A New American Civil War

Thursday, July 31, 2014


It's been brewing and now it is starting to boil. The America of just eight years ago is no longer the America of today. We are about to face a new Civil War. This war pits race against race; pits liberal against conservative; pits countrymen against colonist; pits the have-nots against the haves. It is the classic social class struggle brought on by communists and socialists who have been able to convince the majority of Americans to elect them to office. You see, a Republic can only stand with a moral and religious people as its pillars. From quantitative easing to socialized medicine to illegal immigration to the breakdown of the family structure, the ingredients became right for the perfect storm to remake America.

The House of Representatives voting along distinct party lines to sue the occupant of the Oval Office over abuse of power. It is obvious that elected officials prefer to window dress the current abysmal, unethical and illegal leadership situation rather than cure it with Constitutional authority. The "president" mocked the action saying, "They're going to sue me for taking executive actions to help people. So they're mad I'm doing my job . . . And by the way, I've told them I'd be happy to do it with you. The only reason I'm doing it on my own is because you're not doing anything." The "president" will dig in with his socialist agenda and House Republicans appear too timorous to exercise their authority to save the Republic.

Meanwhile the United States is being invaded by illegal aliens carrying the virus of revolution, disease and crime--all at the "president's" invitation. Many Americans are now becoming alarmed and angry. It starts to hit home when these displaced illegals are brought into hometowns are expected to be housed there. In addition, Americans are about to suffer in their personal budgets--the Federal Reserve is preparing to reverse its quantitative easing policy and raise interest rates. Financial times reports the Fed will quit flooding the financial system with liquidity. This will reveal a weak economic market, a scarcity of money, and will eventually lead to inflation and high interest rates for every citizen.
As these divisions deepen and events sharpen to a point, the falling away from God by Americans over the past 50 years is going to come home to roost. The lack of good morals, sound doctrine, and relationship with the one true God will exacerbate the other irritants that immoral elected leadership has implemented. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." He also said in Mark 3:25, "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." A country once similarly and uniquely united in Christ has suffered such unsound doctrine and subsequent decline in morals that it has no true bearing or foundation upon which to stand. This division may well be the basis for a new American civil war.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!

Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com


Update on the Border Crisis

Update on the Border Crisis

Submitted by Mike and Cindy Jacobs, USRPN


Dear Friends,

The immigration problem at our southern border has turned into a humanitarian nightmare. Thousands of adults and children have poured into the United States recently seeking freedom from poverty and violence, but they have no where to go and our nation's leaders must now decide what to do with them.

We encourage you to read the full update with prayer points on this issue below, written by Hal and Cheryl Sacks, our Arizona State Prayer Generals. Let's continue to pray for our southern border, for those coming into the U.S., and for our leaders to make wise decisions regarding the crisis.

For the nation,
Mike and Cindy Jacobs

To read the full article, with prayer points, go here.

Note: This article presents an excellent analysis of the current situation in Congress and includes strategic prayer points for our border crisis. Thank you, USRPN!

Update: As of this writing, it looks as though Congress will not pass the Border Supplemental Bill before going into recess. Please take the time next month to contact your member and to ask him or her to vote for passage of this critical bill. Thank you.

Capitol Hill Prayer Partners


The Good News Corner

Even More Arab States, Including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan-Turning against Hamas and Coming Out in Support of Israel


"The Arab states' loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu."

The New York Times reports that Israel has the unspoken support of Arab states led by Egypt in its war against Hamas, indicating Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined Cairo in backing Israel's anti-terrorist campaign.
As reported in Newsmax, the Times pointed to Egypt's "Arab Spring" as the impetus that began threatening conservative Arab leaders in the Mideast.

Martin Kramer, president of Shalem College in Jerusalem and an expert on the subject, was quoted by the Times as saying the Cairo-led Arab coalition doesn't want to see Hamas emerge from the conflict as "the most powerful Palestinian player."

"There is clearly a convergence of interests of these various regimes with Israel," noted Kramer.

Another Mideast expert, David Miller, agrees. "The Arab states' loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu," he said.

According to the Newsmax report, it is one of the reasons Secretary of State John Kerry has been forced to turn to Qatar and Turkey to seek intermediaries with Hamas, rather than Egypt. (Read more)

> Also reported by: Breaking Christian News

Signs and Wonders

Signs and Wonders:

INCOMING STORM CLOUD


Yesterday, July 30th, a dark magnetic filament on the sun erupted and hurled part of itself into space. Although the CME is not coming straight for Earth, it does have an Earth-directed component. Computer models suggest it will deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on August 2nd. (SpaceWeather.com)


"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 21:25-28)


Worship With Us Today!

Worship With Us Today!

God Will Make A Way


Praise Him today, for He is faithful!